The easiest way to be a good parent to a gamer is to game with your children

It really can be that easy. Play with them. Learn how to use a controller. Not only will you have another activity you can share together, but you’ll be able to better understand what games your child likes, and why. Talk about what game you’re playing, and the themes and characters contained in it.

I wholeheartedly agree. The artilce also has links to numerous sites that can help parents be better informed about the games their children are playing. One they leave out however, is my favorite, the blog of Andrew Bub aka GamerDad that is called Gaming With Children. All parents with children who play video games should keep this article, and the resources it links to along with Gamerdad in their favotires.

Thank you to all who participated in any way, shape, or form. Without your heroic efforts that day the world would be a different place.

Joe Marini, Rich Neves, Anthony Fama

It was May of ‘85, and if I remeber correctly they three goons in the photo were waiting for the limo to show up so they could go pick up their dates. I am pretty sure this photo was taken by Joe’s mom while we waited. I had a thing for white that year, not sure why. A few weeks after this I went to the Carey Sr. prom with a young lady named Laura who I worked with at Wendy’s and I had rented a white tux. If Christine thought I looked like the Sta-Puffed marshmallow man in this photo, she should see those!

It’s a shame that Joe won’t be able to come to the “reunion” at Miller’s on the 20th. If he came I would see if I could get this blown up to poster size and bring it. Hey, maybe get it made into one of those things where you stand behind it and put your face in the hole and take a picutre. That would be cool. Everyone at Miller’s could pretend they were us…

The first few weeks that the store was open we did pretty good business. People seemed to be finding us even though we didn’ have a Grand Opening or anything like that. A lot of customers evern expressed excitement about the new store because they were tired of the other options in the area (OfficeMax, WalMart, Target) and didn’t really want to have to drive to Freeport, Hicksville, or Farmingdale to other Staples stores. So that was pretty cool. The only consistent complaint we get in the store is that there is no rear entrance for customers (or staff) and as anyone who has been to the shopping center where we are located knows, there is a TON of parking in the back and not so much up front. During these first few weeks maybe 30-40% of customers would mention this.

Then the town ripped up that parking lot in front of the store. People still came in, but the traffic dwindled. And the customers who did come in, every single one of them complained about the lack of the back door. For just over two weeks there was no parking in front of the store and it killed us. There would be nights when I was there from 5:30-9:00 where it seemed like maybe 20 people came in the store the entire time. Thankfully they finished the constuction in front of our store last weekend and the parking lot is back and paved. Though as of last night there were no lines to show people where to park…..

Oh, and that Grand Opening I mentioend, Sat. Jue 13th. Should be fun!

(In the following sections names have been changed to protect the innocent/guilty parties)

So I work with some really great people. Most of my time is spent in the front of the store in the Customer Service area with the primary cashier who is working. And believe me, they keep it interesting. There is “Ms. Firecracker” who has been out most of the month due to being in a car accident. I miss her, she is a real character. Then there is “Ms. CatchMe!” who literally passed out on me one night. She simply turned to me at one point and collapsed. While the official cause of her fainting was due to not eating or drinking, I think she just finally realized how awesome I am and it overwhelmed her. We also have “G.I. Jane” who, well, hasn’t done anything really worth noting here other than brining her mom to the store to buy a laptop. And finally there is “Giants Fan”, who thinks she is really tough, and tries to act it, but I know it is all a show. I mean, she has 4 brothers, she *has* to act tough all the time.

I could go on and on about the others, but I can’t think of anymore catchy fake names. So that is it for this episode of Adventures at Staples. Stay tuned for the next episode when we will introduce our very own super-hero, Captain Awesome! and the rest of the Store 1886 Crew.

So after re-scheduling the review about 7 times in the last 3 days (all by my manager) we finally got together today to go over it. Here are some quotes from his comments:

In respect to supporting the sales team

“I expect that he will continue to provide critical support to the sales team in the coming year.”

“I think he can be very proud of what he has accomplished in supporting the Federal Team.”

In respect to customer support:

“He has been an integral part of ensuring that we continue to provide optimal support for our clients with a smaller staff. Additionally, I have been grateful that he has jumped in with a positive can do attitude.”

Overall ratings are on a 3 point scale (Meets some, Meets All, Role Model) for “What” of performance and “How”. I got a Meets all and Role Model. I’m pretty happy with this review. Too bad it doesn’t have a raise attached to it….

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day!