Before I get into this post, I’d like to write a bit about how we come up with ideas for the blog here at Dadwagon. Many of our posts are derived individually, from things that happen to us in our daily fathering lives. Others come from our wasting time reading. And a few are referred by the other contributors to the blog.
This morning, for example, Matt sent around a lead for a post that was based on this NY Times article: “New York Ranks Last in Happiness Rating.” Here’s the obvious bad news, folks:
A study by two economics professors, newly published in Science magazine … examined piles of data, tossed them into a research Cuisinart and came up with a guide to American happiness, ranked by state. On the smiley scale, New York landed on the bottom.
Fine, a nice little snippet of misery for the boys here at Dadwagon to examine, poke a bit with a stick, complain about in a journalistic sense, then miraculously bring back to something to do with our puppies.
Generally with this kind of lead, whoever is interested in the idea claims it and then files. What was interesting here, however, was that Chris announced that while he found the topic of merit, “frankly, it sounds like material for Theodore.”
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen: unhappiness is my beat. I’m on the prowl for the bummer, apparently. I pour my vitriol out on this little blog so that JP (and my boss) don’t have to witness it.
Call me Grumpy Dad. Makes sense, don’t it? I live in New York, after all.