In Case you missed it...

Every year, we sit down and talk about possible topics for our holiday letter. This year, we struggled to come up with a theme. Instantly discarded were ideas like, „what we did throughout the year‟ (not interesting), „our plans for the future‟ (unclear), or „our personal accomplishments‟ (does survival count?).
We realized, through this discussion, that we had a number of reasons to feel we weren‟t exactly “measuring up”. And then it hit us... This year, we want to add to your holiday cheer by giving you permission to take some items off of your “things-I-should-feel-guilty-about” list. So here are some things we promise not to judge in your life, as long as you promise to return the favor.

A few things we think are overrated…

1. Wrinkle-Free Laundry. Shoot for clean, people. Clean is good. If you‟re wrinkly, just tell people it was flat when you left, but you took the bus to work. Or better yet, you biked. You are now an environmentalist and an athlete, and you will get kudos for your wrinkled attire.

2. Staying up late. There is no point in staying up past 8:00 when you are too old to brag about it.
It‟s winter. It‟s dark. You‟re tired. Just go to bed.

3. Developmental Milestones. Just because 90% of kids walk by 16 months, doesn‟t mean your kid has to. Walking on two legs might not be his “thing”. Sitting might be his thing. How many kids sit super awesomely when they are 16 months old?!

4. “Regular” cleaning. It‟s just going to get dirty again tomorrow. As long as you have not been the star of a recent episode of “Hoarders”, you‟re good in our book.

5. Nutrition – Yes, vitamins are important. But sometimes, when sleep is low and survival is a priority #1, you just need a chicken nugget. You can‟t have a vegetable with every meal…

6. Parenting taboos. A parent‟s mouth is a good way to clean a pacifier. Even after it has been on the floor (gasp!). In a public place (horrified gasp!!). Or a bathroom (WHAT?!). OK, we haven‟t done that, but we won‟t judge you if you have.

7. Home Maintenance. Mowing the lawn, paying the bills, raking the leaves, changing light bulbs, deicing the driveway, shoveling the sidewalk, replacing furnace filters, picking up dog poop, programming the thermostat, trimming the hedges, pulling the weeds, cleaning the windows... You catch our drift. These all sound like good ideas, and seem like important grown-up responsibilities, but feel like a colossal waste of time. Can we get an AMEN?!

8. Percentiles. We can‟t all be in the 50th percentile. So what if your head circumference is larger than 80% of people your age? So what if you are overweight or under tall? The world needs outliers too.

9. Being “In Shape” – So you get a little winded going up the stairs… So what? There were probably a lot of stairs, and you climbed them fast. Besides, have you seen most stairs? They are at, like, a 45 degree angle. Mount Everest averages only a 30 degree angle. So essentially, when you climb stairs, you are climbing a more aggressive version of Mount Everest. Well done.

10. High expectations. Sure, some people believe in “shooting for the stars”. Not us. We believe in shooting for the top of the stairs (see #9). Trust us, by lowering your expectations, you will find you are happier, more successful, and totally rich.

We hope you enjoy a guilt-free Christmas and that you are as kind to yourselves as you are to others.
All our love,

Jessica, Jason, Tyler, Shane & Sami

Two videos which make me happy and excited, in that order, to be a dad.

I don't know what I will do if they don't like Lego's. What if they never graduate from Duplo?

Jason

People Having Fun

One of my favorite things in the world is seeing people who really enjoy what they are doing. I love the infectious feeling of people having fun and think l should share it whenever I get the chance.

Last week I was rocking out, yes rocking out, to this song at work. My friend heard it and sent me this video of that song, Talk on Indolence by the Avett Brothers. It is one of the few songs which makes me want to see a band in concert. Plus they use a banjo, so that is super awesome. I hope this gets your day going, keeps it going, or finishes it off well.

Jason

People Having Fun

Lind Christmas Letter

If you are impressed by the fact that we have not only written our annual holiday letter, but have also managed to get it to you on time, you are not alone. We, too, are impressed with ourselves. Having twins does wonders for your self-esteem. Getting dressed in the morning has become something we enthusiastically gloat about…

So… If you didn’t hear it through the grapevine already, we became parents this year. After successfully enduring 4 months of bed rest, Tyler Reinhart Lind and Shane Reinhart Lind joined us on August 7^th and 8^th respectively – just one minute apart. Being “new parents” is an adventure to be sure. Once again, we will bless you with some of the lessons we’ve learned.

• Accidents happen. Unintentionally allowing your 3-week old to pee in his own eye does NOT make you a bad parent.
• Adjust your expectations. If you go to bed hoping for two straight hours of sleep, you’ll be thrilled to get three.
• Exercise forgiveness. It is normal to forget your baby’s name when introducing him/her to friends. Oh lord let it be normal.
• Think ahead. Don’t dress for work before feeding the babies. As much as you might want spit-up to be a fashion statement, it’s just not.
• Speed up. Let go of any desire for a leisurely meal, shower, bathroom break, or activity of any kind. Just embrace the fact that everything that needs to be done, needs to be done NOW and needs to be done QUICKLY. Babies wait for no one.
• Be prepared. Screw emergency exits and fire extinguishers – you better know where the nearest pacifiers, spit cloths, and diapers are located.
• Take cover. The male desire to mark his territory starts young. Everything around and/or near the changing table should be covered in plastic.
• Surrender. No matter how much you fight it, conversations about poop are suddenly riveting.
• Be humble. Don’t let their size or lack of language fool you. They are, and probably always will be, smarter than you. Just figure out what they want, give it to them immediately, and pray that they’ll have mercy on you.

*Disclaimer: this last one was included with MUCH protest from Jessica. She knows that, while true (and even a little funny), this is disgusting and inappropriate for a holiday letter. Send complaints (or kudos) to Jason.

• Change your diet. Be aware that dealing with diapers may make certain foods inedible. Ex. Wendy’s frosties and every flavor of mustard (including, of course, grey “poup”on).

Funny stories aside, we could not be happier or more in love with these two little miracles.

We hope you have a few of your own wishes granted this year.

 

All our love,

Jessica, Jason, Tyler, Shane & Sami

Brothers Don’t Shake Hands, Brothers Gotta Hug!

Rube Goldberg Lives!

Ok, so it’s been awhile. I hope everyone is doing swell. Below is a You Tube video worth a watch. It is a video from a band called OK GO entitled, “This too Shall Pass.”

As a little shaver, I played mouse trap the board game.  Parents probably remember the inordinately long setup time involved, while kids undoubtedly think about the 20 seconds of fun when all the contraptions did their thing. I have always been fascinated with Rube Goldberg machines.  Enjoy the show.

Have a great day!

Falling Down Streak Broken, A look Back.

I have gone from decent athlete to someone who keeps track of time between falls on ice.  I don’t know exactly how this happened, but I do know exactly when it happened.  On January 11th, 2008 I fell on a patch of ice in back of where I work.  It hurt.  In fact it hurt so much that I decided to make sure I didn’t fall anymore.  For over two years I was particularly careful about walking on ice.  I would take the long way around if it meant I could step on a dry patch of ground instead of ice.  I made a point of shoveling off my stairs right away after a snowfall.  I even started to use railings.  RAILINGS!

Despite my best efforts, I recently ruined my two year streak of not falling on ice.  It was a spectacular fall, complete with exploding cans of Diet Coke, a compact disc being thrown from its case and 220 lbs. of idiot sprawled on the ground in snow angel formation.  

So what happened?  How did I go from high-flyer to snow angel?  I believe Ray A. Kroc, founder of McDonald’s, knows part of the answer.  I don’t want to abdicate personal responsibility for what I eat, but it is Ray’s fault.  There is a time in every person’s life where they have to realize that a McDonald’s number 4, supersized with an additional 20 piece chicken nugget meal is not ok.  Everyone out there has had that realization, right?  Maybe that is just me. 

I have accomplished everything possible in the realm of eating.  Sure, there have been some nights where I was off my game, like the time I couldn’t finish the 48 ounce prime rib meal at Grand View Lodge.  But there have been the other nights, like at Manny’s, where I dominated the dojo while sacrificing my body.  Anyway, I am not here to relive my glory day.  I am here because there is accountability in friends and family.  I would like to weigh 180lbs. in 5 months, for beach season, you know. 

Why do I tell you folks?  Great question, and here’s the fun part for you, the reader.  Anytime you see me challenging a restaurant record for eating, polishing off my fourth package of pop-tarts (cinnamon, of course), or generally eating more than I should - I want you to tell me to put the Red Robin cheeseburger down and take two giant steps back.  Avoiding any slippery spots, of course.     

Headline Special

Apparently, I have a problem with follow through.  I have a lot of good ideas for blog posts, which kind of fizzle out and remain only ideas.  Rather than waste them, I am sharing them with you, the consumer.  Consider it a choose-your-own-adventure of sorts.  Feel free to make up your own story with each headline.


Headline #1
If I was half as funny as I thought I was, there would be a 22% chance you would laugh at this post.
This post had a complicated equation associated with it, complete with fractions and even imaginary numbers.  I could never balance the equation, however, so I gave up.  The other issue was that math has never been funny.  See to the right for further proof.

Headline #2
Blanket statements are never true.
This one was doomed from the start because it came to me as I was watching Oprah.  I was watching Oprah as part of a marital compromise.  I watch Oprah, she listens to my blog post ideas. 

Headline #3
Right Click Rules!  Find out how to become a loyal subject.
While a right mouse click is useful, I just liked the royalty angle.  It sounded ‘magazine-ish.’

Headline #4
When did we stop using two spaces after a period?  And why didn’t anyone tell me?
My grammar and punctuation are atrocious, and I know it.  This blog was supposed to give me the motivation to fix all of that improper writing business.  Instead, however, I just use more commas.  I also seem to be a fan of the word however.

Google’s Photo Management Software, Picasa

Do you have photos scattered everywhere throughout your computer?  Would you like to be able to share your photos easily?  You are not alone.  Most people have a tough time keeping photos organized on their computer.  Also, a lot of people fail to backup their photos and lose them when their computer fails.  While there are a lot of sites which allow you to backup photos online, there are few that do a good job of organizing them on your computer and sharing them with friends and family.  In my opinion, the best one is Picasa, by Google. 

Google does search better than anyone else.  As a result, they have continued to find ways to apply that knowledge throughout most of their programs.  One of the best implementations of search is in Picasa.  Picasa is a program which, once installed, searches for all of the pictures stored on your computer.  It records where they are and puts shortcuts to them on the left hand side of the program.

When you first open up the program it will search your computer for all the photos located on it.  In the upper right hand corner, there is a link which says ‘Sign in to Web Albums.’  This is where Picasa really puts itself above the rest.  If you click on this and sign up or sign in with an existing Google account, you will be able to upload photos to a storage location on the internet.  If you do sign up for a Google account, you are given 1 gigabyte of storage for free to upload pictures. 

Because the photos you upload to the internet are stored “in the cloud”, you don’t have to worry about your computer or your house breaking or burning down.  Well, you still have to worry about those things, but at least your pictures will be safe.  It could also be fun at parties to throw out the “in the cloud” phrase.  It is all the rage.  If they press you on what that means, quickly change the subject.

 

While my vast editorial staff, me,  could most likely come up with a better You-Tube video to describe Picasa, we don’t want to show them up.  Below is the video introducing the latest major release of Picasa 3.

While Picasa has a ton of functionality not discussed here, I recommend giving it a try and seeing if it fits your photo management needs.  Like many things from Google, it is free.  Another nice thing about Google products is that they are constantly improving their software.  There have been several instances where I have wished for an improvement and had it appear in the next release of the software.  Unless my wishing powers are better developed than the average person, it is obvious they listen to user feedback.

To download the software, click on this link.  The download button is in the upper right hand corner of the page that the link sends you to.
Mac people, click here

If you want to know more before downloading, this link is Google’s Getting Started Guide.

Thanks for reading.  If you have any tech questions, feel free to contact me.  No question is too small or silly.

Windows 7 Tip, Aero-Snap

For those of you who have made the leap to Windows 7, here is a handy tip on how to get more out of it.  I use this tip every day.  It may seem like a small detail, and it may confirm my rapidly developing obsessive side for tidy, but I find it useful.  Check out the video below.  I have also greatly reduced the uhmmm’s and ahhh’s for this video, free of charge!

Tax Fraud?!

Not me, I do not cheat on taxes.  I have a sneaking suspicion, however, that taxes are cheating on me.  Year over year home values plummeted 20.4% in Minneapolis according to a Standard and Poors report.  That report must be mistaken, because I received notice from the county that says my house is still worth the same amount that is has been for the last two years.

Let me be the first to say, thank goodness.  All I would have to do is show a prospective buyer this piece of paper and I should get a good price for my house. 

But what if this piece of paper is wrong?  What if I shouldn’t be paying as much in taxes because my house isn’t really worth as much as the county says it is?

On the property tax statement I received there are ways to appeal the determined residence value.  However, the default position seems to be not to adjust the value down unless an appeal is made.  During the current economic downturn, that practice would result in tens-of-thousands of wrongly-collected tax dollars.

A system where inaccuracy is the norm doesn’t work for either side of this equation.  Over the years, the county has been shortchanged far greater than I am because of inaccurate property values.

I propose more accurate property valuation, starting now, because it would benefit me.  We don’t have to be as serious about it in the future, when property values return.

Incidentally, here is a link to where you can appeal your property valuation if you are in Ramsey County.

Freakonomics, a unique and interesting economics book. No really!

Awhile ago I read, well listened to, the audiobook Freakonomics, by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt.  The first Steve is a reporter for the New York Times and the second is an economist.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates critical thinking and unique points of view.  I can safely say it is the only economics-themed book which I have enjoyed.

There were several controversial but well explained conclusions in the book.  One of them was the idea of legalized abortion being responsible for a precipitous drop in violent crime during the 90’s.  Another puts forth the question, If drug dealers make so much money, why do they still live with their mothers?

It is this type of seemingly odd question and subsequent explanation which makes the book so fun.  Yes, I said it, a fun economics read.  I found myself  sitting in my car after I had arrived places to finish off a chapter or hear the next topic.  I believe that is the digital equivalent to an old fashioned page-turner.

Change your screen resolution on Windows 7 and Vista

The number one question I get is, “what is wrong with you?”  While I don’t have an answer to that one, I can answer the following one.  “How do I change my screen resolution on my Windows 7 or Windows Vista computer?”  Well, wonder no longer.  Click below to be dazzled with my stunning knowledge of computer screen resolution!

I should mention that I haven’t actually tried this on a Windows Vista computer.  I think the process is the same, though.  If it isn’t, I am offering a full refund of your purchase price, if sought within two weeks of purchase.

A Great Place for Custom Picture Framing

Full disclosure - the place I am about to recommend is owned by my father.  However, I believe that may lend legitimacy to this recommendation.  My father was sometimes angry at me when I was younger.  I have no idea why, I have no memory of any misdeeds during my formative years. 

So, if I can forgive him for being cross for no apparent reason, you can certainly give his frame shop a try.  If you are in need of custom framing, he and his staff do a great job.  They have done so for over 35 years.

Check out the video I did for him below.  His website is www.framingplaceandgallery.com

End shameless plug here.

P.E.T.A., Good for Animals, Bad for Small Business Owners

Ever since P.E.T.A. had my Dip-A-Pet franchise revoked by the city, I have kind of been down in the dumps.

I am legally required, as a former franchisee of Dip-A-Pet incorporated, a subsidiary of the World Wide Dipping Conglomerate, to include the following text:
Dip-A-Pet does not, has not, and will not, condone animal cruelty in any manner.  Furthermore, the use of  NON-toxic paints in all Dip-A-Pet locations has been strongly recommended by Dip-A-Pet incorporated to all franchise owners.  Close to a third have complied as of the writing of this post.

First Post!

I have often felt people with blogs are foolish, narcissistic and irritating. By starting a blog, I believe I have confirmed those notions.

I intend to cover a narrow range of topics, mostly tech related, I assume. I hope that this will be amusing and informative. Secretly though, I am going for spelling accuracie.

If you have read this far, give yourself two points, redeemable in our lower level shop.