I recently took my car into my local mechanic to fix a very worrisome problem. Every time I used the brakes my car would shake. On the streets it was somewhat noticeable. On the highways and at high speeds it was furious. I knew it was time to take the car in when my daughter asked, "Daddy, what's wrong with the car?"

Turns out the problem was very fixable. My front rotors, the silver discs that the brake calipers clamp down on when you place your foot on the brake pedal, were warped from heat and normal usage. They needed to be resurfaced. A couple hours later and $135 lighter I drove off my mechanic's lot with what felt like a brand new car. What's more I felt safe. I was reminded of a time long ago, when I was much younger and was getting my first brake job on my first car in Queens, New York. My mechanic at the time told me, "I spend top dollar on brakes because what you're riding on will protect you and what you're riding in." He had kids and spoke of his "precious investments." Now that I've got kids, I understand exactly what he meant.

Summertime is for having fun and being spontaneous. The stuff of memories is the weekend excursion with the wife, or the road trip with the kids. It's not a good feeling to be on the road and not feel safe with the people you value most. Renting a car isn't always an option. Sometimes it's nice to take the vehicle you own out on the road. But before doing so make sure your vehicle is "road trip ready" by following these three steps:

1 - Maintain Your Tires

Unless your vehicle is a complete hazard to the road, oftentimes what you're riding on is more important than what you're riding in. As I explained to my daughter last week, tires lose air and ultimately pressure over time and use of your vehicle. But the beautiful thing about this is that it is a free to inexpensive fix. Most vehicles built since the year 2005 have tire pressure monitors built right into the dashboard, so your car will let you know when it's time to re-inflate them (be sure to check the writing on the side of your tire or just inside the door jamb of the driver's side for the correct amount of pressure --- PSI - pounds per square inch - your tires should have). If you don't have a tire pressure monitoring system and even if you do, make sure you have a tire pressure gauge in your glove compartment so you can do spot inspections and see, with your own eyes, your tires' current air pressure. Not to insult anyone, but if you don't know, you can refill the air in your tires at gas stations either for free or at a cost of $1.50 - $1.75 in quarters.

I could go into great detail about how to check for tire tread wear, especially since my own tires are getting a little on the "bald" side. But this guy does it better then me and he using a tire to demonstrate:



There's nothing between you and the road, but the tires you're sitting on. Given weather, changing road conditions and other drivers, you simply cannot put yourself, your passengers or your vehicle at risk with inadequate tires. Should you need new tires, Hankook's new Ventus S1 Noble2 line has an option for every vehicle.

2- Check Your Brakes

If you missed my intro for this post, please read it again. An even better solution is not to wait for a problem to arise. At winter's end or the beginning of spring take your car in to your trusted mechanic and have them give you an honest evaluation of your brakes. The questions you'll need to ask are:

1. How much time do I have before the brakes need to be replaced?
2. How worn down are they?
3. When do you recommend replacing them (if not, now)?
4. Do the rotors need to be resurfaced?

A mechanic worth his salt will answer your questions and rather than immediately pushing you to replace your brakes. Should you need to replace your brakes, don't skimp. There are plenty of things you can save money on when having repairs made to your car, the parts that stop your vehicle from moving should not be among them. That trusted mechanic I mentioned will have more than one option available. Ask him or her for the best one for your vehicle and don't hesitate making that purchase.

3- Check Those Wipers

You may need more than the newest "streak-free" windshield wiper fluid to get your windshield clean. There is nothing worse than driving on a bright, sun-shiny day and being blinded by dirt, smudges and streaks left by your windshield wipers. The short video below shows you how to maintain or replace, if necessary, your blades.



There are plenty of other checks and fixes you can make to your vehicle such as cleaning out the cargo bay or trunk of non-essential items, making your sure your fluids are topped off and all your light bulbs are working, but the above are my top three based on my own personal experiences. The reality is that car maintenance isn't cheap. But you can't skimp on yourself or the precious cargo you need to haul around from day to day and for the fun stuff. If you happen to be in the market for a new set of tires like me tire maker, Hankook, is offering a significant rebate on qualifying tires via their 2013 ‘Great Catch’ Mail-in Rebate offer.

Where do you like to go on road trips during the summer? What is your number one suggestion for getting your car summer-ready to hit the road?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Hankook Tires. The opinions and text are all mine.

Right now, I'm sitting in a hotel lobby just outside the French Quarter siphoning off some free Wi-Fi like everyone around me who is sitting on these oversized, overused, butt-dimpled couches. The warmth of the sun bathes me and partially blinds me as I type these words. It is a motley crew that darts back and forth past my square of comfortable, but posture-damaging furniture. It is a hustle and bustle of the business people heading out or heading home, mixed with the people who are obviously here to have fun.

I'm wrapping up a 3-day hop here to the Big Easy where my son may or may not attend college. He was accepted to the school we attended and what's more, he fell in love with the town. But not the smut or the promise of rivers of alcohol, but rather, the food and the music --- the kids playing big band jazz in the streets, the art, and the food (that's right I wrote it twice). And he seems to be fully aware that college and all that is the French Quarter are two separate things. He's smiling from ear to ear. Constantly. The last time he smiled like this was the year before he became a teen. And he hasn't smiled much at all since we moved to Atlanta. The experience has left me looking at him a little differently and wondering if maybe he's found his space for the next four years.

Time will tell.

I haven't had much time to blog, or Facebook or do anything. This Year of Restoration has been filled with rewards but I have been burdened like never before. Heading up the social media for an entire company has left me scatterbrained by the end of most of my days. Able to retain little, interested in doing less. Bills are piling up around me at every turn although I'm spending nothing and paying them off at a furious pace. Ignorance is bliss I suppose because I didn't have these concerns when I was unemployed and unable to pay my bills.

I've also been repairing my relationship with my wife. Not having money, not having mutual understanding, not having peace, not being able to work together through the tough times did a real number on us. There are days when I've been tempted to ask myself why keep trying, why carry this mantle and then I just keep on carrying. Here in New Orleans I've been able to take my wife out on a couple of dates and we strolled the streets of the French Quarter together as we did many years ago in Brooklyn and Central Park.

To make a long story short I have been way too busy to blog. Instead I've been growing, changing, fighting and reflecting and my life is changing around me.

Please, bear with me.

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Thoughts? Please, let me know in the Facebook or Disqus comment sections below.

Yeah, that's me full tilt on the Disney sauce. It's been almost two weeks since I posed for my wife here (she rolled her eyes as soon as I posed). Although it's only been a short time I feel like I've been gone for centuries. Each day the "magic" fades just a bit more than it did the day before. Of course I am thankful I have the gift of life and I'm gainfully employed but I'm no longer waking up to the sound of the ferry that shipped patrons to Epcot. There are no more smiles that greet me in a ginormous lobby. The traffic I'm in now isn't headed to happy-land. No one is asking me if I'm enjoying myself or if I need anything. I'm not powering up at 9 pm in anticipation of a fireworks show that is better than the one that happened the night before. I'm back to my usual station --- the wonderfully exhilarating but thankless job of being Dad. Dad who isn't buying everything he's being asked for. Dad who is saying, "no" and "go to bed" and "throw out the trash."

By my pic you might think it was my first time there and not my daughter's. She went full tilt on the Princess sauce and didn't have a care in the world. Neither did I and that's a good thing at a place like Disney World where you can wind up spending the equivalent of half a year's worth of mortgage payments or more once the smoke clears. In the eyes of a storyteller (myself) Disney is a monster storytelling machine, selling narratives at every turn from the time you wake up until you return back to your hotel or resort wishing you could do more before morning and excited to get going the next day.  Stories, whether written or visual, create the canvas for the mind to imagine and dream. I wasn't about to let something like money get in the way of my daughter's, and to some extent my own, desire to plunge as far down the rabbit hole as possible.

So how did I and how can you experience the Disney Vacation YOU want to have without being left in the poorhouse upon your return to reality?

I have been doing quite a bit of traveling over the last couple of weeks. Denver, Seattle, and then back down south to Destin for a quick weekend getaway. Travel for a foodie like me equals indulging in the local fare and of course lots of enticing food photos.

This past Labor Day I had the unexpected pleasure of vacationing in Virginia Beach. Unexpected because the true intention of the trip was to attend a send-off for one of my wife's young cousins --- he enlisted with the Army. My wife did everything, arranged for the room, rented the car (a minivan - my arch nemesis of vehicles) for the very long, but manageable drive from Atlanta to Virginia Beach and bought enough snacks (including fruit) to feed a small army which is what I suppose we are. Her plan was to visit family at the appropriated times and be on the beach at every other time.

For starters the minivan was pretty amazing. Leather seats, two DVD players, wireless headphones so the movies didn't bother anyone else in the car, satellite radio, a backup camera and storage for days. Although I am pretty positive I will never own one they definitely serve a purpose.

After a fiasco of and experience leaving town we arrived at our hotel at 5am, beaten, broken and exhausted. The kids slept most of the way, of course. So imagine our terror when our daughter popped up at 8:30 am ready to go. But she was on to something. Outside on the balcony of our hotel was the beach pictured above. I went for a quick run along the boardwalk and after hunting down some food, we hit the beach.

Me, 2005 (not me, currently).

As a man there are plenty of things I think I know. Now that I am married I spend plenty of time defending my knowledge base understanding that I can and will be wrong from time to time.

One of these times happened during a recent trip to the Bahamas where I was immersed up to my eyeballs in a culture that I previously thought was limited to merely the offerings of the Atlantis Resort and Casino (not that there isn't plenty to do there) and the pink sand beaches I never saw during my first trip there in 2005 (see picture, inset).

Boy, was I wrong. Check out the teaser video below for a sampling of my 4-day experience on the Islands of the Bahamas. I did visit more than just one.



Disclosure: My Bahamian adventure was provided courtesy of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism. The thoughts and opinions expressed in this and subsequent posts and videos are wholly my own.

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Thanks for reading! To learn more about me, you can read my story.

I was here...



And now I am not.

By the time you read this post I should be comfortably in the air headed toward sunny Barbados to join the female half of my family. Yesterday, I experienced a real travel nightmare that left my son and I grounded, exhausted and starving and cut our trip one day short. I'm convinced the T in travel is for terrible. If it wasn't it'd be called something else, maybe, "schmavel". If teleportation ever becomes an option in my lifetime I will be be one of the first people on line to get vaporized.

But it is what it is. Rules are rules. I'm pretty black and white on that, especially if I don't have the time to contest it, such as in an airport. Yesterday my wife and I had to split up for the sake of salvaging our reservations. Since she has family on the island, had set up the accommodations and rented the car, I opted to stay home with the boy and renew his passport. Plus, I'm the one who's cooler under fire. I know how to speak to people who annoy me without appearing annoyed and when required, I can drive like a bat out of hell. All of these traits came into play yesterday. And thankfully by 5 pm all was resolved.

But there was one major problem:

For all the posts I've written about my exploits with my son, for all my claiming my son as, "my son," for all the doctor visits, tutoring sessions and emails and phone calls made by me on his behalf, I'm as official as the bootleg purses and watches sold on the sidewalks 42nd Street (before Mayor Bloomberg).

I stayed behind to set my son up with his new passport and my name wasn't on a single sheet of paper stating that I'm his father. After passing all of the necessary documents over to the clerk at the passport office, she looked them over and then looked up at me to ask, "Who are you? There's nothing here stating that you're his father?"

That was a gut shot that hurt quite a bit.

Thankfully, my father-in-law was with us to vouch for me, but all his vouching did was keep me from getting turned away without any consideration. At the end of the day, and I literally mean the end, my wife had to verify that I was who I was. And my son wasn't exhibiting any behavior that indicated that I was holding him captive against his will.

When I first met my wife she said any man she married would have to adopt her son. Since we've been married I've started the conversation several times, but nothing has come of it. Life gets in the way. There's not enough time. Simple procrastination. These are all things that I've observed as getting in the way of this process. And as a man with no claim to him it's not like I can adopt him by myself without getting arrested. When my son entered high school, I warned my wife that my signing off on all of these documents was going to catch up with us sooner or later. Yesterday that truism came to pass.

The craziness and the red tape didn't really bother me. As I stated before, rules are rules. The goal was to get the boy on the plane so whatever it took was whatever it was going to take. Having it officially brought to my attention that I am about as official in my son's life as a wet stamp with no glue on the back bothered me tremendously.

My father always says, you learn sooner or later, hopefully sooner rather than later. Later seems to always come with higher stakes and harsher consequences. Hopefully the hoops I had to jump through yesterday while being invalidated will be the highest our stakes ever get.

Opt for sooner rather than later when it comes to the really important stuff.