Here's a handly list of Tools and their REAL uses (you may have seen a few of these posted on the web, but you'll find several extras in this must-have guide for dad's tools):

DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against that freshly-stained heirloom piece you were drying.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned guitar calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, "YEOWW ...."

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age.

SKIL SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used to create blood-blisters.

BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

WELDING GLOVES: Heavy duty leather gloves used to prolong the conduction of intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub you want the bearing race out of.

WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars and motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 9/16 or
1/2 inch socket you've been searching for the last 45 minutes.

TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.

EIGHT-FOOT LONG YELLOW PINE 2X4: Used for levering an automobile upward off of a trapped hydraulic jack handle.

TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters and wire wheel wires.

E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool ten times harder than any known drill bit that snaps neatly off in bolt holes thereby ending any possible future use.

RADIAL ARM SAW: A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to scare neophytes into choosing another line of work.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.

CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 24-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A very large pry bar that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end opposite the handle.

AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.

TROUBLE LIGHT: The home mechanic's own tanning booth. Sometimes called a drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, "the sunshine vitamin," which is not otherwise found under cars at night. Health benefits aside, its main purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate that 105mm howitzer shells might be used during, say, the first few hours of the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is somewhat misleading.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids and for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws.

AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty bolts which were last over tightened 30 years ago by someone at Ford, and instantly rounds off their heads. Also used to quickly snap off lug nuts.

PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit. Also commonly used to make gaping holes in walls when hanging pictures.

MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.

DAMMIT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling "DAMMIT" at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.

Spring is here and if you're like me then your "Honey Do" list has started to grow as fast as your lawn. But there's a sweet side to the situation if you play your cards right - the chance to score some new power tools!

Let's face it guys, you know as well as I do that just asking your wife if you can buy a new powertool - out of the blue - is flat out not going to work. What? You claim you don't have to ask? Ha, I call bull.

But if you start on a house project before posing the question to The Committee, then you have at least a 50% chance of closing the deal. Don't ask before you start the project either, or she'll be the one calling bull before you can even get the car keys out for the trip to Home Depot.

My current project is putting window seats in the kid's rooms upstairs. The window space is just under 5 feet wide, and I built 3 cubbies for easy access to toys. I just finished the first coat of primer and should get the final finishing coat on tonight.

This was of course all my wife's design. She designs - I build. It's a beautiful system that works great for us.

Now, in order to do this job right, I really needed a nail gun. Fortunately I already have an air compressor, and Home Depot was having a sale on their Bostitch nail guns for about $90. It's pretty much one model up from their bottom end, but I'm not going to be using it for any industrial contract projects, so it'll be fine for home use.

The nail gun made a huge difference in the project, and I'll be able to use it for future projects too.

While sitting in my doctor's waiting room last week for a checkup, I browsed through a recent copy of FamilyFun Magazine. They did a survey of 2900 families and found that 40% of dads never make dinner. I hate to admit it, but I'm smack dab in the middle of that group.

When my wife and I were dating, I was somehow able to cook her a grilled halibut dinner complete with all the trimmings. But now that we've been married for well over a decade, about the best I can do (or at least choose to do) is flip some burgers on the grill or boil up some mac and cheese.

Nevermind that I can build a computer from scratch, change the spark plugs on my Ford Ranger, or install crown molding in the whole downstairs area of our home. Those kinds of physical mechanical tasks come naturally for me, and I enjoy doing them. But the thought of buying ingredients, preparing them and cooking them sounds like drudgery to me. I guess I'm fortunate that my wife is a great cook and enjoys cooking, but maybe it's time I pitched in for a change!

Our routine is for her to cook and me to either clean up or put the kids to bed, whichever she chooses. I'm sure I could score some serious points though by offering to both cook and clean one night. Know of any good recipes that a cooking-handicapped dad like me could whip up for my family?

Getting back to the FamilyFun magazine survey... they also found that only 38% of families eat together every evening. I think the family meal thing has become under-rated. Yes, it can be a drag with smaller kids – constantly getting after them to take another bite, but it's also a priceless chance to connect and discuss the day's events. We eat together every night of the week on most weeks, although occasionally I'll end up staying late at work or will be out with a buddy for a movie night.

For kid's chores related to meal time, they found that 88% clear the table, 83% set the table, 77% help prepare the food, and 62% wash the dishes. Our kids are doing great with the “clearing the table” chore, and sometimes help their mom prepare the food for simpler meals. I think the trick to success with any chore is consistently enforcing it until it becomes a habit. I find I have to remind them less and less as time goes by, and the older daughters are starting to do it on their own now without prompting.

What are your mealtime rules for whether they get dessert or not? According to the survey, 44% of families let their kids eat dessert "if you eat most of your dinner", 24% "rarely serve dessert", 14% had no dessert policy, 10% insisted that their kids "must try everything first", and 8% said "no dessert until your plate is clean" (that's us).

Without a doubt my #1 and favorite "dad gadget" is my black Motorola Razr camera phone. I mean, I have a Nikon D50 digital SLR camera that I use for serious-duty photography of my kids in action, but my Razr slips right into my pocket so I always have it with me. The Razr holds about 105 photos, and even takes color video with audio.

Take tonight, which was Family Fun night at my kid's elementary school. They had a jello eating contest, and my kids were chowing down in front of the whole gymnasium full of friends, parents, and teachers. I was able to whip out my Razr and capture the moment... along with a couple other dads doing the same thing. The picture's are not as clear as the ones I get with the Nikon, but they're fine as far as I'm concerned (more shots at the end of this article).

We took our Nikon D50 with us to Disneyland last year and snapped over 600 shots in 3 days - thanks to a 2 GB Sandisk memory card that holds about 1100 high quality images. But the D50 is way too bulky to carry around to all my kid's events. The Razr is perfect for that, although I wish it had more than a 640x480 resolution.

To top it off, I got my wife and I each a new Razr a few months ago and both phones were free, thanks to Wirefly (an authorized wireless reseller with a wide range of free phone deals when you sign up for a two year contract - or extend your existing contract like we did).

Check out the deals for dads section on this website to learn how you can get a Razr camera phone for free.

Here's also a link to a discussion on the Nikon D50 that provides a lot of useful information about its features, as well as several recommended photo editing tools.

As promised, here are a few more shots that I took with my Razr... or rather, that my kids took. It's so easy to take pictures with, that my 5-year old took these shots of me and our dog Otis:

The Razr isn't the greatest for motion shots, but it does alright with still shots. Here's a 4-wheel drive tire shot I took a couple months ago when Regan and I visited Les Schwab to get a flat fixed:

I have taken hundreds of pictures already with my Razr of my kids inner tubing on Mt Hood, birthday parties, soccer games... and the list goes on and on. It has easily earned my "Ultimate Dad Gadget" award in the 3 short months that I've owned it.

Here's an article that describes how I transfer photos from my Razr phone to my PC using Motorola's Phone Tools and a data cable. You can also use BlueTooth if you have a BlueTooth-enabled PC and a BlueTooth adapter.

So what's your favorite "dad gadget"?

At work, an open door policy means that employees are encouraged to talk with their managers about any concerns they may have. However, the effectiveness of such policies are only as good as the manager's approachability. His or her willingness to listen, validate, and work through the problem with the employee has a huge effect on their relationship with the employee. It only takes one or two run-ins with a brisk, arrogant manager, and employees won't make any further attempts to communicate.

I think it's the same way at home with my kids. I want them to communicate with me about their lives - especially as they get older. But I know their willingness to talk with me about things that matter to them is linked to how I respond to them when they're frustrated with me.

One of the things my wife and I encourage our kids to do is to make "When you, I feel" statements to both of us. When I lose my temper or make a bad disciplinary decision, I want them to come to me and say things like "When you were mad at me it hurt my feelings", or "It hurt my feelings when you weren't willing to listen to my side of the story".

Can I brag a little this morning?

My 7-year-old daughter Delaney was recently accepted into the TAG program at school (Talented And Gifted). We received a letter from the school indicating that she scored 99.5% in math and 98.5% in reading!

One of her nicknames is Laney Brainy because she's very smart and has a great memory. We also call her Laney Goose because she can be such a crack-up and always keeps us laughing.

It's really fun when our kids excel, but we also make sure they know we would love them regardless of their accomplishments.

I walked into the lunch room at work today, and as usual was the only American in a room of about 5 other contract employees - mostly from India.

I work in a large IT department for a major truck manufacturer in the Portland area. They hire a lot of contractors - often from other countries. They each have distinct accents and different cultures than what I normally experience in suburban America.

It struck me that my kids are growing up in a typical suburban community, with primarily white American neighbors, and they have little to no exposure to someone with even a slight accent... let alone a completely different culture or life style. This may not be the case in your neighborhood, but it made me ask myself what I'm doing to expose my kids to other cultures.

Last week my mom called to tell me that my dad had been rushed to the hospital for chest pain and possibly a heart attack. He has been working on a high-stress project in Longview and had been complaining of chest pain throughout the week.

This was the first time in my adult life that my dad has been hospitalized for something potentially fatal, and it really caught me off guard. Even though my dad is only in his early 60s, I realized that I might only have a few minutes left to talk with him. I also realized how un-empathetic I was towards my wife when her father passed a few years ago, especially when compared to the rush of emotions I was experiencing on the drive up to the hospital.

It took me about 40 minutes to drive up from Portland after letting my boss know I'd be taking the afternoon off. I was the first to arrive at the hospital, which gave Dad and I a chance to talk for a half hour before Mom and my brothers arrived.

As parents we sometimes make mistakes - some of us more than others. How we handle those mistakes sends a message loud and clear to our children.

This evening after dinner my wife and I took the kids to the YMCA to see my 5-year-old's new swimming abilities (he's been taking swim lessons for a few weeks now and was dying to show off his stuff).

Regan had climbed up to the top of the 30-foot water slide, and had started his descent. I was at the bottom of the slide in the 5-foot deep end to catch him, since he's not able to swim more than a few feet.

At the same time Delaney, my 7 year old daughter had swam out to hang onto my arm. She can swim about 20 feet or so, and had already used up her energy getting out to me.

Just as she reached me, Regan came off the slide, and I instinctively let her go to grab him - since I knew he wouldn't be able to stay afloat very long. But then I forgot about her momentarily as I pulled Regan up from his downward plunge.

Those of you who know me, know that I have a passion for computers.

I've been a professional software engineer for over 12 years, have taught computer programming for over 4 years at Portland Community College, and have about a dozen web sites that I maintain - with another few in the works.

I try hard to keep it all in balance with my family life, but I haven't been doing as well as I should lately.

In fact, last week my kids confronted me with "Dad, we think you love your computer more than us". They were dead serious too!

I brushed it of at first, but eventually realized that I needed to listen to them and make some changes. I even agreed to pay them each a dollar if they caught me on the computer.