AKA: What I Was Up To The Last 3 Months of 2010

This is a calendar summary. Use the links to individual posts if you're curious about a particular item.

OCTOBER

Boot Camp for New Dads (Oct 16)

Community Education Classes (iPhone class Oct 19 & 20 in the 2 districts)

Mundelein Seminary First Year Field Ed Inservice (Oct 27)

NOVEMBER

Chicago Catechetical Conference (Nov 5 & 6)

Boot Camp for New Dads (Nov 13 - inaugural NMNB)

Confirmation Retreat at St Cyril & Methodius (Nov 20)

Youth Group Pop Goes Catholicism Presentation (Nov 21)

DECEMBER

Boot Camp for New Dads (Dec 4)

Pop Goes Catholicism Movie Night (Dec 4, pilot series in Jan and Feb)

Family Faith Weaving Presentation on Gospel of John Chapters 3-7 (Dec 5 & 10)

The fourth quarter of 2010 brought the beginning of monthly Boot Camps for New Dads coaching for me. I finished my first contract year with Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, IL (and will be rolling right into 2011 with a renewed contract) for bi-monthly classes. Additionally I'm thrilled to announce that I've been invited to bring Boot Camp to New Mother New Baby, a retail establishment in Northbrook, IL. I'll be coaching there every other month as well, the opposite of the hospital classes. Thus, I coached Boot Camps on October 16 and December 4 at the hospital and had the first ever Boot Camp for New Dads at New Mother New Baby on November 13 (from which the pictures in this post were taken).

Boot Camp for New Dads provides men expecting their first child (we call them "the rookies") an opportunity to not only learn about childbirth and baby care with traditional topics and learning but also through discussion with men recently gone through it (we call them "the veterans" who all have babies 6 months of age or younger) who not only share their experience but also their babies. Veterans bring their infants with them to the three hour course and allow the rookies to change diapers, give feedings, burp babies, and generally get a feel for an infant in their arms. For many rookies it's the first diaper they've ever changed or first bottle ever held. Almost exclusively everyone involved finds it a valuable experience. As a stay at home dad I'm obviously committed to being an involved and engaged father. I think it's one of the most important things to foster in men and feel grateful to be able to play a part in helping men begin their fatherhood feeling more confident and comfortable.

A rookie gets some lap practice!

In December I had the opportunity to debut a new class in the community education programs of two of my local high school districts that I called iOS Complete: Getting The Most Out Of Your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. Owning all of these devices myself, it was fun to share my knowledge with folks who had bought them but didn't really know much about how they worked or how to use them. The class is introductory, explaining the basic operation of the device itself (from beginner OS navigation and use to acquiring new content directly on the device) as well as how to use iTunes in conjunction with the device.

The class in District 128 was a cozy gathering of a half dozen folk looking to learn more about how to use the devices they owned. It was a nice small informal discussion that mostly answered questions.

The class in District 214, on the other hand, was a large group (about 15, if I recall correctly) that called for a more formal presentation style walking folks through the various elements of the devices step by step. The class was very well received but generally thought too compressed for one 3 hour evening. As such, the community education director and I agreed to break the two parts of the class into two evenings and I'll actually be teaching that two part class next month (April 2011) for their spring semester.

To visit the websites of these Community Education programs visit our CMR Projects page.

For those of you reading this post who are not part of Faith Weaving, skip to the bottom paragraph for an explanation.

For those of you who are Faith Weaving, thanks for visiting and considering supporting me in this way! If you've never been to this site, please feel free to click around and explore what other pies I have my fingers into: Pop Goes Catholicism, Soul Play, CMR Talks, and CMR Projects.

If you'd like to purchase the book upon which Roz and I are basing lessons this year, use this Amazon link at right and I get a little money back from the sale!

For anyone wondering what the heck this post is about: I write lesson curriculum for 5th-8th grade classes for my parish's Family Faith Weaving family-based religious education program. This year, the monthly catechetical sessions are about the Gospel of John and the program director, Roz, and I are using this book as inspiration for themes and direction for lesson material. For anyone who'd like a beautiful prayerful book walking you through the Gospel of John in a completely readable, relatable way that I'm finding quite moving, buy this book - using this link!

I learned about it by responding to an article in my parish's bulletin to see if becoming a mentor might be something I could do. While I don't have the time to properly commit to being a mentor right now (doing things like this!), I did volunteer my knowledge of digital media editing and posting online. This overview photo montage is the first result:

You can see my other CMR Projects and if you're interested in getting your organization into digital media or social media online, contact me.

YouTube Channel Up and Running

Visit Youtube.com/CatholicMR to see the CMR Youtube Channel.

That channel includes introductory videos including

• What Is Catholic Media Resources?
• What is Pop Goes Catholicism?

As well as PGC Weekly Roundups in which I provide a summary of the subjects of the previous week's episodes. Here's the latest:

Pop Goes Catholicism Progress

Currently at Episode 21: X-Men Origins: Wolverine! I maintain a schedule of releasing at least three audio episodes a week, providing Resource Sheet subscribers with either 6 or 12 resources a month direct to their inbox. Or if you'd like to purchase a particular Resource Sheet (see the Sample if you're wondering what that is) you can do so a la carte for just $.99!

And speaking of finding a particular resource: Pop Goes Catholicism now features new navigation options making it easier than ever to see what resources are available. You can either visit the Resource By Faith Topic page or the Resource By Media page.

Coming Attractions

In addition to the latest Promotional Video CMR Project just released, more Community Education classes will be taught beginning next week. If you're in Lake County or the surround areas, check out these class descriptions:

• What is Facebook?
• What is Twitter?
• Getting the Most of Your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch

So, as you can see, I've been keeping busy over the last few months. If you'd like to support my efforts, check out the all new Support CMR page]]>http://www.catholicmediaresources.com/blog/rss-comments-entry-8970777.xmlCatholic Media ResourcesSun, 04 Jul 2010 03:14:37 +0000http://www.catholicmediaresources.com/blog/2010/7/3/pop-goes-catholicism-special-offer.html596757:6923192:8171276If you're aware of my work and want to support it, now is a good time! I'm making this special offer to all early subscribers to Pop Goes Catholicism. Basically, if you subscribe now, you'll receive double the usual number of monthly Pop Goes Catholicism Resource Sheets than you normally would!

This special offer is only good for this month (July 2010). And if you haven't checked it out yet, visit the Sample page to see what Pop Goes Catholicism sounds and looks like.

The technical difficulties have been overcome; individual a la carte purchase downloads of Resource Sheets will be available from the first episode of the audio program!

The show has been submitted to iTunes so hopefully you'll be able to subscribe there very soon!

Actual episodes with Resource Sheets for sale to launch tomorrow!

Here's something that I've been up to for the past week:

- 300 CDs burned (both sides: lightscribe discs)
- 20 3-disc DVD sets burned (also both sides)
- 300 CD case inserts printed, cut, insert
- 20 DVD case inserts printed, cut, insert
- 320 price labels printed & ready for application

All that's left is to shrink wrap them all and apply the price labels.

This production run should supply Dr Terry Nelson-Johnson with product to sell at his presentations for a while. If you're interested in these products, visit the Soul Play Store for digital downloads.