No Dads Sipping the Java at CafeMom.com?

Reader Chris e-mailed the other day to see if I've been following CafeMom.com, which has been selling itself for a while with the just-us-gals slogan "No men, no kids." Chris wasn't entirely happy with being barred from what appears to be a successful online community for parents.

While I think it is absolutely silly that a site would take pains to exclude otherwise-capable parents who could add a useful perspective, I'm not all that worked up about CafeMom.com. It's their loss.

What is more bothersome is that Chris learned about the site in the first place by a card that came with his latest batch of Pampers. I've said before (because Pampers has a recurrent problem with this) that if Pampers is serious about moving more diapers, they're going to have to acknowledge at some point that dads make up a growing percentage of nappy-buyers. Partnering with a site that excludes half of the potential market ain't smart.

** CAVEAT: For what it's worth, I can't find any explicit no-dads-allowed language based on my quick zip through the site. Anyone know if that's a recent development?

A Facebook Posse?

Apparently, the RebelDad tendrils now stretch to Facebook. I've been there for a while, but Tom Vasquez was nice enough to set up a Facebook blog network for RebelDad. Not entirely certain what to do with it, but it's there if you want to visit ...

A Quick Note on my Whereabouts

As you've no doubt noticed, I have pretty much fallen off of the radar this month. I started July by taking the longest non-holiday-related family vacation in the seven years I've been a parent -- a full seven days.

While on vacation, we received excellent news. RebelMom was offered an extraordinary opportunity at the University of Illinois' law school, and we immediately began plans to move.

The length of time from when we found out about the job to when we will arrive in Champaign, IL will be exactly one month. I know people have moved farther in less time, but this is all new to me. I've maintained my professional responsibilities, but almost everything else has suffered as we've gone through the process of renting our house in DC, renting a new place in Illinois, finding schools, transferring medical records, meeting with movers, etc. etc.

I won't say that I'll be back to my usual posting volume immediately (there are some personal obligations and work obligations that will combine to make the next four days or so cuckoo), I will start rolling out the posts back out. Thanks for your patience.

-- Brian

P.S. Thanks to all who have been so generous with your time in telling me about my new hometown. I look forward to meeting all of you Champaigners in the next month or two, and if someone could suggest a good bar for such a get-together, I'm all ears. I'm sure I'll need a drink -- and some company -- by then.

Annual Daycare Bill for Google Folks: $57,000

This is one of those items that would get On Balance treatment if On Balance was still around: the New York Times reported that Google has revamped its daycare, which has boosted the annual cost for a family of four from a jaw-dropping $33,000 to an almost-defies-belief $57,000.

I know I pooh-pooh those surveys that claim an at-home parent is "worth" huge amounts of money, but this suggests that if you're in the Bay Area and staying at home, you're worth waaaaay more than I would have expected.

Champaign/Urbana Help?

It looks like the RebelFamily may be making a big move ... to Champaign/Urbana IL. Any dads out there that can offer me the skinny on places to live/schools/etc? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian (rebeldad@gmail.com)