Spotlight on Dads is a weekly feature that Jeremy runs on Discovering Dad. This week’s spotlight is on me.

Jeremy publishes one of the best dad blogs I’ve ever seen. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a small village to publish a great blog.

As of this writing, the contributing authors are:

Jeremy Biser is the founder, editor and publisher of Discovering Dad. He has three amazing kids and one incredible wife. His objective with Discovering Dad is to showcase articles about “learning what it means to be a good Dad

Matt Pfingsten is the co-author of The Playpen, a blog dedicated to providing support, humor and resources to parents of preemies, infants and toddlers.

Tom Bowns has a personal blog called Being Michael’s Daddy, where he shares personal experiences and wisdom about raising his fourth child Michael.

Chris Lewis writes about his quest to regain control of his kingdom at Dad of Divas. Each day he finds himself learning more and more of what it means to be both a father and a husband, and his writing is a tribute to this daily journey.

Daniel DeGuia s a 26-year-old proud dad of two and happy husband. Daniel’s first child was born five months after he graduated from high school. Becoming a dad at the age of 18 has given him a unique insight into parenting and has also enabled him to shatter some stereotypes. He writes on his blog, deguia.net, about current events, life in Sonoma County and the West Memphis Three.

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If you missed it the first time, my article on using window light to take better photos of your children is featured in using window light to take better photos of your children is featured in Discovering Dad’s October 2008 Carnival.

The Editor’s Pick honor is well-deserved. Josh presents She’s leaving home. Bye, bye. posted at Raging Dad.

Since my posting schedule is very relaxed, you have no excuse. Visit the Discovering Dad October 2008 Carnival now.

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Has it really been two weeks? Yes it has. There’s a lot going on, but I haven’t totally dropped off the face of the earth. You can still find me on Twitter, and I recently added a bunch of new friends on Facebook.

Here’s an open invitation to y’all from south of the Mason-Dixon Line and youse guys up north. I’ll be back on track soon. I’ve had a major shift in my daily and weekly routine along with some unusually heavy demands on my time. Ironically, there are a few guests posts in that queue.

Coming soon to a blog near you!

I’m with Jeff at Daddy’s Toolbox. Social media has replaced nightly TV. I don’t feel there is much worth watching on TV these days. The things I used to think were worthwhile aren’t so anymore (with the exception of hockey games and Family Guy). Like Jeff, I would rather spend my spare time on Twitter and Facebook.

I’ve been online since 1992. The internet looks very different, but we still use it for very similar purposes. I searched for information. I stayed in touch with people I already knew. I looked to make new friends. Internet porn is almost as old as the internet itself. There. I said it. I said “PORN” in a blog post. All it takes is one mention of “PORN” and you become a spam magnet. Just ask Jeremy at Discovering Dad. Spamdora’s Box is already open. If comment moderation slows down, you’ll know why.

Where was I? Oh yeah, social media. I don’t even use instant messenger and I got sidetracked.

Jeff’s post and some recent email conversations with some old friends got me thinking. My friend Pat has been online since 1994. He’s extremely tech-savvy, can build an entire website in Notepad, assemble a computer from parts, troubleshoot Windows (that alone deserves praise!), and gets along with technology in general. However, he flat-out refuses to go anywhere near MySpace and has put signing up with Twitter, Facebook and  LinkedIn on his procrastination list.

There are times when I feel cutting-edge, and there are times when I feel like I’m only Web 1.6. Pat and I email each other and have “conversations.” Instead of replying in one big block of text, we reply to each other’s emails paragraph by paragraph. We keep track of who’s saying what by the presence or lack of >’s.

We rarely send attachments in our emails. Back in the day, attachments were unwieldy, requiring you to manually encode and decode them. We simply posted files up on our web servers or FTP sites and put the link in the email.

I have benefited a great deal from using social media. What Classmates.com charges money to do, you can do for free on Facebook. I’ve had some great Tweet sessions. StumbleUpon continues to send traffic to my blog.

But all this takes time. MySpace and Digg are like gym memberships. I’m beyond inactive on those sites. I check in with Facebook and LinkedIn periodically. I don’t post nearly as many photos as I should to my Flickr account. If you ask nicely, I’ll Stumble your page or site. I also use Entre Card to promote my blog. All of these sites take time to work. If you’ll excuse me, someone has added me as a friend on Facebook. I’ll need to sign in and confirm them.

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One month ago, we made a family decision to downsize to one vehicle. We took inventory of our needs and our expenses, and it made sense to get rid of one car. I am glad to be free of life’s most inconvenient convenience.

We’re not disadvantaged with the lack of one car due to our circumstances. One parent stays at home with the baby and home-schools the older child. I’ve learned how to use public transit and I ride my bike whenever I can.

The prevailing attitude in South Florida is that a car is a necessity. The lack of a car would be a hindrance. I have not felt that hindrance. Did I miss the meeting? Did I not get that email? I’m supposed to feel stuck! Why has an overwhelming sense of liberation come over me?

• I’m not a believer in multi-tasking, but this is as close as it gets. I’m getting recreation, exercise, and transportation at the same time.
• Riding the bus gives me opportunities unavailable to me if I’m driving. Try reading or watching a video podcast while driving. Oh wait, this is South Florida. I wouldn’t be surprised if people did just that.
• Riding the bus insulates me from the bad drivers. Everyone thinks the drivers in their city are the worst. South Florida drivers really are among the worst in the nation.
• Riding my bike is a much more intimate interaction with the aforementioned bad drivers. I choose my bike routes accordingly. I’ve discovered some great scenery because I’ve had to find alternates to major thoroughfares.
• I eliminated $600 of monthly expenditures.

My current work situation allows me to carpool with a friend of mine. Beer is cheaper than gas now, so I buy him a 12-pack once a week, and I even get to drink 2 or 3 of them.

Sarah Palin is keeping all you fact checkers very busy, so I’m going to save you some time. A 12-pack of Heineken works out to be about $9.70/gallon. Okay, so in Europe, I’d be right. However, the amount of gas I’d burn in one week commuting costs significantly more than the beer used to fuel our friendship.

The point is, (I find myself saying this a LOT to the resident teenager) there are alternatives to the automobile. My bitter and contested divorce from conventional wisdom has allowed me to explore the options I am currently using.

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