Tom Squared

David Pogue writes a technology column for the NY Times.  While I don't read his blog every day, I do get the weekly e-mail with updates of new technologies (ok, toys) coming out with a brief review.  While some of the content may seem boring (why Camera X is better than Camera Y, he has a way of keeping it all fresh and interesting.  I was laughing out loud (er, LOL) at this weeks post The Next Generation of Online Shorthand .  He suggests some new online shorthand items.  Some incredibly silly and useless like this: 12OF — twelve-o’clock flasher (refers to someone less than competent with technology, to the extent that every appliance in the house flashes “12:00″) Then there are some really useful ones like: WDO? - What are you Doing Online? GI — Google it WLF — with the lady friend SML — send me the link CYE — check your email You definitely need to check out the whole list.  I could see myself using a bunch of these in casual conv...

I mentioned in a previous post that I surprised Erin with pictures from Portrait Innovations of Rachel, Colin and (a few) of myself.  This generated more comments than 99% of my posts receive (read that as I received one comment).  Because both Erin and I have gone separately and had great experiences with the company, I figured I would spend a post explaining how it works, what's different from Sears and a professional photographer, and why I like them. Great Shots Erin and I went to Sears a LOT when Rachel was born.  We went every month to track her growth.  So far Colin's on an every 3 months cycle (second kid, life sucks, get over it and quit whining to me about being "fair").  One of the things with Sears that kind of bugged me was the set positions.  You know, laying on the floor with head propped on arms, sitting on stool cross legged.  While I think having some set poses are a good idea, at both Sears we've used, it's too extreme....

Rachel, Winnie and her daddy decided to go for a walk. "Where do you want to go?" Asked her daddy? "Back to the forest where the animals talk." Rachel replied. "That sounds like fun, let's go!" daddy said. So they headed off from the house.  They walked a long way.  Over hills and through valleys. They walked for a very long time, but soon they came to the edge of the forest.  The trees were thick in front of them, and they could barely see in. As soon as they stepped into the forest Winnie began to talk.  She said "Oh Rachel, I'm so glad I can talk to you again.  I love you so much, you're wonderful.  Thank you for coming back here." Rachel smiled and gave Winnie a big hug. They walked on through the forest, looking at all of the different animals. A snake said "sssshhheeeloooo" as is slithered past on the ground. A deer ran up and stopped in front of them.  It turned it's head and asked, "how are you doi...

Well, it sounds as though some of you don't think that being married to me is enough of a gift for my wife.  So I decided maybe I'd give her a gift beyond a blog post which pretty much just talked about how great I am. So, based on a side conversation we had this morning, I decided to have a "meeting" and take the afternoon off.  I headed out and grabbed the kids from daycare and got their pictures taken at Portrait Innovations.  All wives need pictures of their perfect husbands...  and kids too I guess. Seems like Erin loves the ones I got developed, as well as a few I decided we didn't have to pay for.  If you're looking for them though, you can check them all out here .  Portrait Innovations does an amazing job of taking tons of pictures (we got 135) and walking you through comparing them in groups of 3 to find the perfect ones. Sometimes God just puts a great big arrow in the sky and all you have to do is follow it. Happy Birthday Erin. Peace, +...

Ok, here's how messed up my head is.  I came across this news article title Two-year-old punished in dryer .  My first thought was: Punished?  My two year old would have thought that was fun! I created this thought thread almost immediately and thought it was pretty funny.  It's entirely inappropriate, and would anger some people.  Heck, I could never use it in casual conversation. I am convinced I have the brain of a comedian but seriously lack the timing or ability to take inappropriate thoughts and make them funny. Or course, you are talking to the person who made a ghetto water slide in his back yard by running water down the 10 foot slide on her swing set (thankfully my intelligent wife at least convinced me to put the kiddie pool at the bottom). I have to wonder though.  What other things would my kid think is fun until she actually followed through with them? She absolutely loves to bonk her head on things.  She also likes knives a...

Today is Erin's birthday, so everyone should wish her a happy birthday. Personally, I'm left with the same question I have every August and December.  What to get the woman who has everything. Erin herself says she doesn't really want anything for her birthday.  Of course I recognize this as a clear statement that she has the best husband in the world, and could want for nothing more in this, or any, lifetime. Being the best husband this universe has ever seen may seem pretty cool, there's a lot to live up to.  What sort of romantic gift does the best husband in this, and every, future get to outdo himself?  What could she possibly receive which will further help her recognize the sheer awesomeness of her beloved's gift to her? So far I think I'll simply dedicate this blog post to her.  Finally a post specifically and entirely about her and her life. Oh yeah, I may also mention her two great kids (though she'd say she has three, I have no idea where t...

Rachel took her dog Winnie on a walk.  They walked for a very, very, very long way away.  They walked past any area Rachel had ever been before, deep into a dense forest. The trees surrounded them, reaching far up into the sky.  There were all kinds of animals all around her.  She saw squirrels and mice, cats and all kinds of birds.  She saw tigers and lions, leopards and cheetahs.  All kinds of animals were around them. Rachel took one look at the lion and shook a bit, scared of what it might do to her.  The lion slowly walked over to her and gave her a big, slobbery lick on her cheek.  Then the lion grumbled and growled, grrred and garuffed.  Rachel jumped back, scared. Then, in a low, whispery voice, the lion spoke.  It said to Rachel "Grrruh'm sorry if I scared you.  I was shhhlimply trying to say hello." "You can talk!" Rachel screamed at the lion. Then her dog Winnie barked and called out "We can all talk here.  Than...

Is there anything more impossible than getting out of bed in the morning to the soft, soothing patter of rain overhead? Peace, +Tom

I came across this Managing Collegiate Paperwork article and thought I'd pass it along with some of my own thoughts. I love the idea of the CollegeCase .  Heck, I wish they had something like this for projects I lead in the "real world".  They do have one for taxes, but then I have a wife for that.  I do think $25 is kind of a lot of money, but you are getting a bunch of good checklists and overviews of what needs to be done.  They also have one for college applications which I may get for some of our seniors in HS, it looked great. As for myself, when I was in school I had a big 1 1/2 or 2 inch ring binder which held lined paper with my notes and all handouts in the pockets.  This worked great for me, though now everything is filed on my computer or in my GTD list. Which brings me to the last point.  I read Getting Things Done a bit over a month ago.  So far I'm still using it, but struggle when time gets busy.  My list is s...

I'm sure everyone wants to know what happened with my "example" from Four Ways to Ask.  Turns out there was a fifth way I hadn't considered. There's the option where your wife never even reads your blog post and you take care of the problem yourself. In my example, we ended up at school and I picked up Rachel's blankets and brought them home.  It wasn't until after we got home that Erin read the blog post. The problems with this solution abound.  Not the least of which is that I had to do something to solve the problem.  What do people take me for, a helpful husband and father? There's also the problem that I wasn't able to "educate" my wife in the ways she made a mistake.  I couldn't even make it a subtle chastisement. In the long run though, I suppose this is really the best solution. There was nothing we could do to have the blankets washed before school.  It was just fine to wait and solve the problem without causing any gr...

I was recently thinking about how we interact with each-other, especially our spouses.  I got to thinking about how the simple way we phrase a question changes the outcome. Let's take, for example, a question I wanted to ask Erin this morning.   First, a little background.  We forgot to pick up Rachel's blanket from daycare last Friday to wash over the weekend.  So we planned to get it yesterday afternoon and wash it that night.  Erin was picking up Rachel, while I brought Colin over to the doctor's for his 4 month check-up.  This morning I was wondering if Erin remembered to get the blanket and wanted to ask her. You didn't remember to get Rachel's blanket yesterday, did you? Spoken by myself, this could sound endearing.  When I cock my head just-so, it may even be cute.  I quickly threw away this way of asking the question though, since it conveys the message that I already know she messed up and forgot to get the blanket....

I was thinking about my friend Jodie just a minute ago and realized that some people just consistently amaze me.  If you need something done incredibly well and you don't want to have to follow-up at all, Jodie is your person.  She's about the most detail and process oriented person I know. This isn't what amazes me.  I mean, simply being able to do something extraordinarily well that I suck at isn't that impressive.  If I went by that criteria the entire world would be full of amazing people and I'd never get any sleep from dwelling on how these amazing people make me look useless. No, what amazes me about Jodie is her ability creatively take everything into consideration. Specifically, I was opening up one of my two gift bags for volunteering at Vacation Bible School, which she organized.  In it is an Old Dominion Root Beer bottle.  This goes right along with the theme of VBS, Avalanche Ranch. I consider myself to be moderately creative.  But wh...

It's a light day because I'm insanely busy and exhausted from Vacation Bible School (check out the pictures from Flickr ).  So I'm going to mention Monkeysoft Office.  I doubt I'd every buy this, but it's pretty darned funny.  I'll let David Pogue of the New York Times explain. Monkeysoft Office Upgrade ($20, monkeysoftoffice.com ). OK, I don't even know where to begin.   This kit includes software for a Windows PC, a foam caveman-style hatchet and a U.S.B. motion sensor.   You affix the U.S.B. sensor to the back of your monitor. Then, the next time your PC starts driving you crazy, you grab the mallet and start pounding your screen. SMASH! CRASH! SHATTER! With each pound, realistic sounds and animations make it look like you're breaking the glass of the screen.   And then, on the fourth smash, the glass shards fall away to reveal what's really causing your computer problems: a roomful of juvenile, out-of-control monkeys.   O.K., how does ...

I came across a blog by Dave who is taking on a 100 Thing Challenge .  This is pretty impressive.  This guy, who has a wife and two daughters that I don't think are taking part, is going to throw out every personal item except for 100 things. He's tracking his progress, and you can bet I will be too.  I wonder if I could do that.  Just looking at my desk there must be more than 100 things there. anyone want to try the 100 Thing Challenge with me?  Seems like it could be interesting. Peace, +Tom

We were talking to our three year old Rachel and asked her how picnic day was at school.  Her answer? We didn't have a picnic today because it was too orange outside. It must have been a code orange day for the heat and humidity.  But what images must have been flowing through her mind? I love thing heard around my house. Peace, +Tom

This is just downright amazing. Someone took a picture, well a TON of pictures, of a dog and have it move around, watching your mouse pointer.  You've definitely got to check it out.  Too bad they didn't use a golden retriever, they have far more expressions to convey. Looking more at MotionPortrait , the group who did the dog, it turns out they got all of that from one single picture.  Amazing. Peace, +Tom

I was reading over a comment from my great friend Cindy (how I missed her form the hero list, I have no idea) and had this horrible thought. Why is it that the only people who comment on my blog are my friends? Somehow I relegated my friends to some place where they weren't important.  I mean, if my blog was good then cool and important people (whom I've never met) would comment. The truth is that my friends are incredibly important in their own right, and I could only wish to be as collected as they are. I wonder how often we do this in life.  How often do we put our friends and people we care for on the back burner so that we can get acceptance from people we barely know.  When have you chosen to work late to impress the boss instead of heading out to happy hour to be with friends? How often have you gone to a meeting you don't want to attend at church so that people know you're committed to their activity and blown off time with your family?  Heck, h...

Yesterday I received a bit of criticism because I was near someone who was talking.  It's amazing just how much one small statement can change your outlook on the day.  I was doing ok during the day until I heard the criticism.  All of a sudden my energy level plummeted and didn't really come back all day. I was reading Isaiah 40.27-31 today which says this: Those who wait upon God get fresh strength.  They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind. That was definitely an example of how I felt.  I felt far from God and felt exhausted from this distance. I could go into the happy discussion about mission trips and how much working you butt off for 12 hours or more for God really does give you energy.  I could talk about how I can spend 20 hours a day awake in the hot sun leading people at CreationFest and still wake up full of energy.  But that's for another day.  just know that in ...

 In talking about heroes with Taylor she asked another question. Do you think that heroes will be remembered forever or are all heroes going to be forgotten? Definitely an interesting question. My answer was this. I think that the person may be forgotten, but the change they made in your life will be remembered forever, both by you and by the lives you impact because of that change.  Generally though I think that the hero is remembered. I still hold with that answer.  What do you think though? Peace, +Tom

As a youth minister, or previous youth leader anyway, you get some requests they never tell you are part of the job.  The one I tend to get the most is "help me with my homework".  Sometimes it's simple like review for the science part of the standard tests (thankfully I was correct more than I was wrong, I guess I'm smarter than an 8th grader).  The more interesting times for me though are when I'm asked my opinions for a paper.  These times tend to spur on some really interesting conversation. One of the questions was for a paper and it was answering the question, who is your hero.  Oddly I found this to be a really hard question to answer. God, of course, and Superman (I'm pretty sure Superman isn't Jesus, but they may be close relatives).  But when I really thought about it my heroes were authors, like Orson Scott Card in high school (a meeting that went sour for me changed my view of him and I can't get off of it), Rob, our rector for his spiri...