For those of you who do not know, I am new to blogging and don’t really have a clue as to what is happening out in the great “bloggersphere”.  However, part of having a blog is to make connections, whether the author of a blog means to or not the posts we write are out there and open for all to read…and to connect to.  From what I can tell, most of the folks that read my posts are friends of mine from Facebook (thank you friends), but I also have a few readers from people I have never met and do not know anything about; and that is cool.  And I have been lucky enough to find a few blogs out there that I really enjoy too.  Anyways, I mention this because I made a connection with a pretty cool and resilient momma of two high-octane boys.  She has a blog called Of Moms and Monsters and she recently awarded my blog the Liebster Award.

From what she has shared, and a very brief further internet search revealed, the Liebster Award is intended for new(ish) bloggers, or at least blogs with less than 200 followers, and it is intended to “spread the love”.  The award lets a blogger know that their blog is appreciated and lets others know of it too.  Once receiving the award, that blogger must then award other blogs the award as well, hence paying it forward and spreading the love.  But, there are a few rules tied to it. (These rules I am liberally taking from Of Moms and Monsters.)

• When you win, you post 11 random facts about yourself
• Answer the 11 questions posed to you by the kick-a** person who nominated you
• Pass it on to 11 (I’ve also read 4 – so I’m just gonna go ahead and be flexible on this one) other blogs – making sure you let them know!
• Write 11 questions to pose to your nominees
• You cannot renominate the person who put you up (or I totally would)

So, 11 random facts:

1. When I was a kid, I wanted to be the President of the United States of America…and as an adult I still think I would make a kick-ass president.
2. I want a dog.  I really want a dog…just waiting for the boys to grow up a bit more and for us to settle in at a place for a bit longer and I am going to have a dog.
3. The dog must be willing and able to catch and return frisbees.
4. I have had a beard since I was 17.  I have only shaved it all off once and my wife told me to never do that again, which I completely agree with.
5. I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, but have not been able to keep up with the sport post college, which I regret greatly.
6. I was a band & theatre nerd in high school and am hoping to have my boys follow in those footsteps.
7. I grew up as an Air Force Brat.
8. I’ve got a thing about cleaning my ears, I love Q-tipping my ears and do so nearly everyday.
9. I have never had a dishwasher nor have I ever wanted one until now as a hemmapappa I am doing dished two to three times a day.
10. While I try to be very generous and giving, I am actually very selfish.  There is a constant struggle between these two going on within me.
11. I love frisbee sports.

Now to answer the questions posed by my nominator:

1.  What prompted you to start writing? Help keep my sanity as I adjusted to being a stay-at-home daddy.

2.  Do you have any long term goals for your blog? I secretly hope that in a couple of hundred years some historian with be able to use this as documentation of something important, or at least random.

3.  What are you most passionate about? Social Justice and Multicultural issues.

4.  What are you least passionate about? Peas…yeah, I have no strong feelings one way or another when it comes to peas.

5.  Who inspires you? My wife, she is pretty freakin awesome.

6.  What is your favorite time of day to write? During M’s morning nap time.

7.  What have you learned since entering the world of blogging? I am not alone, nor is my blog the type to attract a lot of visitors.

8.  If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be? Columbus’ discovery of the “New World”.  I would really love to see how the societies in the Western hemispheres could have continued to evolve without the horrific interactions with European Colonialists.

9.  What would be your perfect day? Any day I could really sleep in and cuddle with my wife.

10.  What do you hope people feel/think after reading your blog? Never really gave this any thought…I suppose I would just like them to leave with a slight smile on their face.

11.  What’s your favorite thing about blogging? Getting comments, which I hardly ever get and seeing the vast diversity of folks from different countries that read my blog.  (I love it one I get a post that has been read by someone on each continent, excluding Antarctica.

Following the lead Of Moms and Monsters set forth, I am awarding the following four blogs the Liebster Award:

ParMieux Adventures – this blog addresses two of my passions, travel and food.  In addition, one of the co-bloggers on this has been a friend of mine for a very long time and is one of the first blogs that I have followed.

Edge of the Arctic: Tales of a Yankee adventurer in Norway – It has been fun to read of another American in a neighboring Scandinavian country and to compare notes on the similarities and differences.

The Evolving Dad: A father, a writer, and associated musings on life – It has been very enjoyable to read the experiences of a man that is new to fatherhood, which brings back my own memories from when it was just K and I was doing all this stuff for the first time too.  In addition, the author is working to be a writer, which is a dream I have had for myself now and then, so it is good to see him actively pursuing that, versus myself who just dreams of it.

Dork Daddy: misadventures in raising two… wait, no THREE well-adjusted kids in the grandest dork-tradition – This guy is the nerd I have always wanted to be.  I missed out on the comic book life as a child and regret that, so reading this blog, which infused comic illustrations and examples of all things nerdy with fatherhood is a lot of fun.

And now for my 11 questions to these bloggers:

1. Who is the greatest superhero of all time and why?
2. What has been the best destination you have ever been to?
3. What has been one moment as a parent that you hope to always cherish? (If you are yet to be a parent, what do you think that moment will be?)
4. If you had to cook a “date” meal for your significant other, what would you cook?
5. Do you believe there is life on another planet?
6. What is your favorite mode of transportation?
7. What blog post that you have written is your favorite?
8. If you could have lunch with any literary character, which character (and from what book/comic/etc) would you choose?
9. What do you do for a bit of “escapism”?
10. What is the most exotic food you have eaten?
11. What is the view from your favorite window in your current residence?