Lessons from unemployment

2018-02-16 by dadgoesround 2 Comments

Unemployed Life

It has been a little over two weeks since I lost my job.

So far it has been a bit like being on vacation without having to worry about how many emails are building up in my absence. This is so far a very different experience from the first time I was unemployed 13 years ago. That time I had to rely on employment insurance and whatever money I could make through temp jobs and short-term contracts. This time I have severance to give me breathing room while I look for work. [Read more…]

I Got Fired…

2018-02-03 by dadgoesround 3 Comments

Surprise you don’t have a job anymore!

Have you ever walked into a meeting only to have your brain suggest that it is not the meeting you expected it to be?

That is what happened to me this week. I went to a meeting that was supposed to be about communications outreach. Instead I walked into a room with my boss and two people from HR waiting for me. I knew what was happening before my boss delivered the news that this would be my last day with the organization. [Read more…]

Work Life Flexibility

2016-03-02 by dadgoesround Leave a Comment

I am a provider.

Growing up, and even now, I don’t fit many of the male stereotypes. I don’t watch sports – except during the Olympics and the occasional soccer match. I don’t care about hockey and that statement may require me to hand in my Canadian citizenship. I didn’t chase girls in school and I wasn’t an underage drinker – no, really.

As a dad I do a reasonable job being engaged with my kids. I could do better. [Read more…]

6 Lessons from a Paperboy

2016-01-27 by dadgoesround 3 Comments

Lately we have seen further evidence of the struggles of the newspaper industry in Canada. Postmedia laid off 90 people, merged newsrooms and now the Guelph Mercury has announced that they will no longer produce a print edition. The Mercury provided me with two firsts in my working life. [Read more…]

Exploring Creativity

2015-12-05 by dadgoesround Leave a Comment

Where does creativity come from?

Over the past year I have been exploring creativity in a few different ways. It wasn’t planned as an exercise in inspiration or a test of how creative I could be.

It actually started more than a year ago with this blog. I like to write and have long enjoyed the exercise of putting words on paper and refining those words and sentences to express an idea. All of my jobs since university have had writing as a component from marketing to speech writing, advocacy and political communications.

More than two years ago I started writing this blog as a space to express ideas, explore parenting and ideas around gender, sexual health, feminism and masculinity. Well it didn’t actually start out covering all of those topics. They evolved through writing and whatever moved me at the time. Sometimes I have been a prolific writer and at other I have had nothing to say or at least nothing to say that didn’t in some way conflict with my professional life.

At other times – like the past few months – writing has taken a back seat to other projects and family life generally.

Sources of Creativity

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