Having never been to a Fourth of July parade and not having much experience with any sort of parade, I decided to gather a few tips for the parade goer.

Get There Early
The main attraction of the parade is the parade itself. Most parades include decorated floats, marching bands and groups, antique cars, clowns, etc. so it makes sense to get there early and grab a good spot with a view. Parade routes are sometimes posted online which can be a valuable resource for planning on where you want to set up.

Bring Water and Snacks
I’m sure many parades offer food and drink vendors near by but if you’re like me, you have a problem spending five dollars on a soda. That’s why I plan on bringing bottled water and some snacks like pretzels, dried fruit or jerky to the parade. This will be especially important as the kids may need something to eat if their attention span begins to weaken. I don’t want to haul a cooler everywhere I go or be a nuisance, so I’ll likely carry these snacks in a backpack.

Bring Chairs or Blankets
If you happen to get a spot that allows you to cop a squat, then you’ll want to be comfortable by bringing a lawn chair or blanket. I imagine the blanket will only work out if you’re on a hill. Also, if you have a baby or toddler, you might consider bringing one of those baby packs that lets you put your kid on your back. You’ll need one less chair and your kid will get a view.

Bring Your Camera
The older I get (I’m not that old) the more I wish I’d taken more pictures over the years, especially as my family grows. If you have an underused camera, dust it off and bring it. Unless something truly spectacular passes by, I’m going to try to keep friends and family in the shots with the action behind them. I find these kinds of photos are more fun to look at later, but that’s just my taste. Also, try to divide camera duty between your group. Nobody like to see the whole event through the view finder.

Dress Right
You’re going to be outside for several hours, so dress smart. Since it is summer, I’ll wear shorts, a light colored shirt, sandals and, if I can ever find one I like, a straw hat. Be sure to bring your sunglasses along. If you will be doing some walking, then consider some good walking shoes. Sun block and bug repelant may also be appropriate.

Am I on the right track here? Is there anything I missed? If you have some killer tips on how to get the most out of a parade, please share in the comments!

Bonus: If you always find yourself wondering what to do when the US flag passes by in a parade, Art of Manliness has the article for you. Don’t look like a schmuck this Friday. Show some respect!

I like to blog about entrepreneurship, parenting (from the perspective of a newcomer), marriage and anything that will help me get “Geek Strong” which is how I think of my holistic approach to general health which includes mental, physical, financial, relational and spiritual health.

GetGeekStrong.com is one of many projects that I work on in my spare time and I must admit that contributing to the Manival pushed me, in a good way. Perhaps with events like these and the gentle encouragement of my wife to write more (an old passion of mine) articles will come more regularly.

My thanks to Brett at Art of Manliness for the opportunity. His blog is like a much needed drink of water in an internet wasteland.

Johnny’s ability to take a technology that is already very cool and make it do things that the original developers may not have thought about is inspirational to say the least. While looking at his site I discovered that Johnny and I had ‘met’ before. His $14 Steadycam project is something I looked at years ago while studying video production.

Over the years I found myself more and more immersed in the life of a fat kid. This post is not a sob story about how I was teased at school or even about how I ate because I was unhappy and I was unhappy because I ate. No, this post takes an honest look at the mistakes that I made with my health when I was younger and now as an adult. Over the years I formed many bad habits and lifestyle patterns. Here they are.

Childhood

• My crutch – When I was six I was diagnosed with Asthma that, among other things was triggered by physical activity. This became my crutch in PE later on and therefore spared me from the humiliation that comes with being a fat kid who sucks at sports. In retrospect, it would have been better for me to suck it up and get in the game every once and a while, but the longer I sat against the wall, the worse it got…I’m talking here about the next habit that I developed out of this crutch.
• Laziness – Sure, I liked video games like most kids. I also enjoyed taking apart electronics and watching sci-fi So what came first? The geek or the fat? That’s a good question for another post. The quick and dirty of it is, if I could get away with not having to move a muscle, I did. All of that inactivity seems to have added up.
• Eating habits – I never made healthy choices when given the chance. They served salad at the school cafeteria all the time, but I always went for the burger or pizza. I paid no attention to portions or nutrient value. I ate what I wanted because it was my right. This self serving and self deserving attitude made its way into other areas of my life as well.

Adulthood

• My crutch – It’s in my genes. I’m fat, who gives a rip? I’ll deal with it later. Maybe when I become a father. These are all things that I leaned upon and defended myself with when faced with an upgrade in pant size. The truth is, there’s no better time than now to start a new pattern of health in my life.
• Laziness – For much of my teenage and early adult life I took a very apathetic stance when it came to my health. What comes will come, there’s nothing I can do about it. Unfortunately I wasted years with this mind set. If only I had a little more confidence in myself, maybe I’d have done something about it. I never exercised and I slept as much as I could get away with.
• Eating habits -One of my first jobs was working at McDonalds where I got a free lunch every shift. That was bad, as you can imagine. But even as I changed jobs and got out of food service, I still ended up at these fast food joints eating crap every day. Because of my apathy, I didn’t even care. That junk tastes good, honestly, and if it tasted good, then what else did I need to consider? Eating out all the time, eating late into the night. I did it all. I even…
• Smoked – I’m not talking about a cigar every now and then, no. At one point in my youth I smoked a pack a day. Even typing that now makes me cringe. There are few things that I can think of that were as stupid as that. It goes back to that “who gives a rip” attitude that I had.

The above patterns and habits are just a slice of what I need to change. As my journey through this process of self improvement continues, I’ll be sure to let you know what habits I come to recognize and how I break them.