Family
- While I’m sure physical signs of getting older have been appearing for a while, but I seem to be noticing them more. Hair is thinning. A few grey ones. But in general I still think I have my boy like look. 🙂
- I’m totally smarter now that I’m 40. Or so I think…
- It’s really rare that I sleep past 7 am. I think that has more to do with kids than being 40.
-
Since we were sealing off the basement we took the opportunity to put a doorbell in. The original, wired, doorbell had been removed some years ago and I really dislike the wireless ones. We now have a proper chime and lit doorbell buttons on the front and back doors.
-
We replaced the railings and surround on our front door and it looks really great. The old surround was rotting out, it was a bad choice of wood. It now matches the railing in the back.
-
This would have been a great time for me to do some better lighting above my espresso area in the kitchen. The electrician could have easily put another can in and it would have been really helpful. Once I realized I wanted it, it was way too late.
-
Also in lighting, we don’t think we did enough lighting in the stairwell to the family room. We have really nice stair lighting that is discreet and looks very classy. But some nice lighting in the ceiling above would have made that space more interesting.
At Firefighters Hall & Museum with Tyler. This place is pretty awesome, for both little and big boys.
Mazie’s sleepover with two friends just ended. They went to sleep after 1am and were up at 7am. Let meltdowns begin! 😊
Parachute fort remnant from sleepover.
Dads and Donuts at Berry Patch
Today I got to take Tyler to Berry Patch for pre-school to attend Dads and Donuts day! Tyler was super excited for Dad to come to school with him. We played with Play-Doh while everyone arrived. We then went in and talked to Fireman Tom from the Edina Fire Department. Tyler was sitting up front and volunteered to come up front and try on a fire fighter suit! He was so excited!
He got to stand in fireman boots:
Put on a fireman jacket!
And a real fireman helmet!
After our talk with Fireman Tom we went out front and got to see a ladder truck up close! Tyler posed with Ms. Anita for a picture in front of the truck.
He even got to drive it!
We finished with a delicious donut with another fire truck on the table!
Visiting National Eagle Center
While in Wabasha for the weekend we spent the morning at the National Eagle Center.
Mazie and I also attended one of their workshops and learned a lot about the Bald Eagles and got to see one of them have lunch.
Definitely a fun place to stop in Wabasha on your next trip!
Yum! was out of the “mini” chocolate chip cookies so Tyler had to get a full size one. He didn’t seem to mind! I’m pretty sure it was bigger than his head.
And to answer the obvious question? He ate it all, minus a couple of bites he shared with Dad!
Tyler and I watching the race cars at 24 Hours of Le Mans. Happy that I can watch it live on the web, even without english commentary.
The camera shots from inside the Audi R18 are amazing.
Great performance from Audi.
Tyler at the Keys
This weekend we were at Tammy’s folks and Tyler disappeared upstairs on his own. I went up to find him and this is what he was up to. Like Father like Son? 😊
Tyler can now climb out of his Pack-n-Play. This is not a welcome development.
Tyler having a 2nd minor brush with croup. Stuff sounds terrible and makes me nervous. Feel bad for the little guy.
Tyler Turns Two
Tyler turned two today! We had a festive birthday party with family over last weekend so that Hector and Michelle could join in the fun from New York. Today was his actual birthday and we had a nice day together to celebrate the big day!
Tyler got a fun mobile from Mazie for his room, and a cool race car toy from Tammy and I. Tyler and I made a trip to A Baker’s Wife’s donuts in the morning, Tyler is a big fan of their sprinkled donuts. They gave him an extra one for free for his birthday! We had a fun morning playing, jumping, sliding and wrestling on the floor.
For lunch Tyler got one of his favorites, the Mac and Cheese at Yum! Mazie had a friend birthday party today that worked perfectly with Tyler’s nap and afterwards we went to Edinborough Park in Edina for more playing.
Tyler at two is constantly moving, playful, funny, opinionated, kinetic. Not much of a talker, but I think the words are coming very soon. He’s a complete monkey and will climb anything you put in front of him. Tyler gives me an awesome gift every day when I come home from work. He runs to the door screaming “DAD!” and hugs my legs to pick him up.
Tyler's Domain
Tyler’s domain name came up for renewal, tylerthing.com. I didn’t even realize this the registration date is the same day as his birthday.
Domain Name : tylerthing.com Registered on : 2/12/2010
Nice. 😊
Super Fort
This morning Mazie, Tyler and I built a super fort in the living room! Here is the view from inside!
It was awesome!
We anchored it on the couch and then built support structures with OGOBILD Kit Pod sets. For Christmas Mazie got one of these sets from Grandma and Grandpa Olson. These things were as much a toy for me as them it seemed. The only problem with the kit? There was only 30 poles and 10 connectors. We couldn’t build big enough.
So, on my 40th birthday I decided the kids each needed a present from me. Two OGOBILD Kit Pods later (Amazon) and we were ready to build! We made some pretty big structures but always wanted to turn them into forts. Sheets weren’t big enough, and they weighed too much. What to do?
Parachute!
Not just any parachute. A 20 foot parachute! I thought about getting the 12 foot one but it seemed like it could be too small. A few days later and we got to build some huge stuff and wrap it in an awesome parachute. More fun than you can shake a stick at!
Honestly the parachute is too big for inside use, but it has plenty of room to make forts out of. Plus it is pretty light so it hangs way better than a sheet. It’s still plenty durable for the kids and even Chase the dog. We had a great morning hanging out in the Super Fort.
Now we just need even more OGOBILD’s to make bigger stuff! Just kidding!
SOPA Scrapbook
I participated in the SOPA blackout on January 18th. All of my personal websites went dark at 8:00am CT and returned at 8:00pm CT. I served 6,235 STOP SOPA notices. My handful of sites were just a drop in the big ocean of over 115,000 sites that went dark. It really felt historic. I took notice of the first time that so much of the Internet banded together to make something happen, and did it happen. Just two days after the blackout the bills have lost major supporters and are going back to committee.
It felt like something momentous. A punctuation mark in the big timeline of the Internet. I decided to grab some screenshots and make a little scrapbook of the day.
My Sites
Here is what thingelstad.com looked like on SOPA blackout day.
Tammy also participated, blacking out Smaller Than A Redwood.
And so did Mazie. I explained to her that we were blacking out our websites in protest of a proposed law. She asked what protest meant and I explained it to her. She didn’t have a strong opinion about SOPA, but felt it was right to go along with her Mom and Dad.
Same Template
The awesome template I used to black my sites out was developed by Zach Johnson. He had an amazing SOPA blackout story with so many websites using his template. Here is what his website looked like. He increased the font size slightly on his site.
His template got picked up by a lot of sites, including Greenpeace.
Net.Freedom
I was happy to see sites and services that I care about, and in some cases donate to, supporting the blackout. Wikipedia was the largest site on the Internet to go completely dark. I thought it was a great touch that you could still get to the Wikipedia page for the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) though.
I’m a big fan of Semantic MediaWiki, which is a suite of extensions for MediaWiki, the software behind Wikipedia. The team behind that project followed the lead of Wikipedia and also went dark. I liked their message and display.
WordPress is a strong supporter of an open and free Internet and they made WordPress.org completely dark.
It was cool that Automattic also took action with WordPress.com and did a very creative blackout of just content.
I’m a supporter of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and they censored their logo and used their site to share information on their opposition to SOPA.
I’m also a supporter of Creative Commons and they put a black banner on top of their site.
Publishers
A variety of publishers took part on the blackout. Ars Technica had a good banner with content regarding SOPA. Although I thought the banner ad on top was tacky and a bit tone deaf to the point of the protest.
O’Reilly did a very nice job with it’s blackout and a strong message an simple design.
Wired did a very cool blackout using the censoring of words and then changing it as you moved around on the page.
One of the best web comics did an awesome blackout. This is what xkcd did.
And The Oatmeal also did an amazing blackout. This one had an animated GIF that went on for a while about why he took issue with SOPA and involved Oprah on a jet ski in only the way the Oatmeal could.
I Can Has Cheezburger had a nicely done call to action.
Disappointing but predictably, my former colleagues at the Wall Street Journal came out in favor of SOPA.
Big Sites
I was curious what Google would do. The censored logo was striking, and to many folks that weren’t plugged into what was going on I think it was a strong message.
Flickr did a very creative blackout allowing people on Flickr to blackout any photos on Flickr they wanted to. I blacked out one of my photos.
Mozilla, the organization behind the open source Firefox web browser, participated in the blackout.
Reddit was one of the first big websites to say they would participate in the blackout. They had a great mix of content and call to action.
Criagslist participated in the most boring HTML display possible, totally fitting Craigslist.
BoingBoing did a nice blackout and I thought it was cool that they actually showed the HTTP status code.
Minecraft, a game played by 4.7 million people, went dark for the day.
Facebook didn’t do anything that impressive, which was a bit disappointing. They could have blacked out their logo like Google. However, Mark Zuckerberg did at least post a comment on Facebook regarding SOPA.
More Protests
I’m a customer of Pinboard, a paid bookmarking utility. He didn’t blackout, and I was happy they didn’t since I pay for the service and use it daily. There was a call to action on the top of the site.
I was happy to see my congressman Keith Ellison participating in the blackout.
Dave Winer blogs at Scripting.com and had really debated if he was going to black out. He did, and in fact just totally blacked out with nothing on his site.
Archive.org went dark as well.
Going White
TheDailyWTF decided to be different and go white.
FARK also went white. I don’t know much about FARK other than they “fark’d"Road Sign Math once.
ZanHabits also went white, in a very zen way.
Tin Ear
Sadly, not all Internet leaders participated. Even though Bing has this big image format on their website that would have easily led to something interesting, even just a black image. But instead it just looked as it always does.
Yahoo was even worse, sporting football news and advertisements. Completely ignoring such a historic event.
Forty
Two weeks ago I turned 40. I’ve been wanting to write a “Forty” blog post but each time I think to do it I find myself with little to say. I figure it is time for me to just start writing and see what happens.
I had an absolutely awesome birthday, thanks to my most awesome wife Tammy. She planned a simply great day of fun! We had a great breakfast at Original Pancake House. We had a nice time at the Como Park Conservatory where Mazie took lots of pictures and Tyler was in constant surprise of everything. We came home and Mazie baked a birthday cake for me, with help from Tammy. I had suggested that I would like a vanilla cake with strawberries and whipped cream frosting but she could do what she thought would be good instead. She decided I would like a super chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. 🙂
I picked dinner and we had Indian food ordered in from India Palace which was delicious. Tammy had planned that we would have a family fire that night with S’mores because I like fires but complain we don’t do them enough. After about an hour a bunch of friends showed up and the S’mores fire turned into a birthday celebration with music, fires and beer. It was awesome and I was completely surprised!
It was pretty much the best birthday, ever!
I’ve been asked many, many times “How does it feel?” and I don’t think I have any good answers. Feels the same as yesterday. So, let me see what comes to mind:
See, not much interesting. Tammy had much more to say about being 40. Ask a question in the comments and I’ll see if I have anything more interesting to share about being 40!
Yama Cold Brew Drip Tower
A few weeks ago I was discussing various ways of making coffee with Ry4an at the office. He had seen this crazy looking coffee system and sent me a link for it. My instant response was… Gorgeously Finicky!
Tammy thought the one I sent her a link to was about the ugliest thing she had ever seen, but she found an acceptable looking Yama and got it for me for my birthday from Mazie and Tyler.
It takes three hours to brew 8 cups of coffee. The resulting coffee is similar to cold press coffee, but with significantly more theater to the production. My first run didn’t come out right. I tried to grind the beans myself and didn’t get the right grind consistency and the water went through far too fast.
There is much written about ice brewed coffee. CoffeeGeek has a good writeup.
Morgan Remodel Final Pictures
For 18 weeks I wrote a weekly update on the progress of our remodel project. At the end the work was really small items, just working through a punch list and we were starting to live in the space. Now that everything is in place and we have been fully using the space for a few weeks I wanted to post a final photo walk through. The whole family is delighted with the addition and the new spaces have dramatically changed how we use our space. It’s been great.
As a comparison before looking at all these pictures, you may want to look at the pictures from the start of the project first. Or visit week 4 when it all looked like a disaster zone.
The back door of the house from the garage hasn’t changed much from the final photos at the end of the project. All the exterior work was done well before winter was (supposed to) arrive.
The new location for the grills is great. Before they were under the windows in the left hand side of the photo and were a little in the way as you approached the house. Also, having the lights there helps when you do some evening grilling in the winter.
Take note of the window on the left next to the smaller window. In the future that will likely get taken out and a door put in. The wood on top of the mudroom roof is cedar decking and it is ready for use as a walk-out deck. The railing is 36" and there is a set of outdoor speakers up there. I think a couple of chairs would work well out there and the access would be from the hallway upstairs so it could be used by the whole family.
One of the nicest changes is the spacious built-in as you enter the mudroom.
We have plenty of room for everyone’s coats, shoes and all the other items we want ready access to. I even have a compartment just for my camera so it can be safe but still easily accessed. At the end of the mudroom we put a desk and shelving and that is where I spent more focused computer time, and where I’m writing this blog post from.
I wasn’t sure about this space at first, but I’ve grown to really like it. The floor is heated in the mudroom which is nice, and I love having all the windows on the right.
The entry to the office is open, except for when Tyler closes the pocket doors.
Tammy found a small couch that works perfect in this room and is also a fold-out bed for a visitor, in a pinch.
We also have a very small corner desk in this room which is where Tammy tends to spend computer time, although she also uses the desk in the mudroom as well.
The couch was the last item to arrive but it’s already proven to be a hit. Mazie likes to read books there and it’s got a nice feel to just relax in a spot that is away from the main traffic areas of the house. The view through the doorway out to the deck is really nice and insures we are “connected” to the outdoor spaces.
In the summer I look forward to having all the windows open and being able to hear the kids as they run around and play as well as keeping a close eye on the Big Green Egg.
The stairs down to the family room work out really well and even though it is a high traffic area we rarely get jammed up there.
The cutouts into the kitchen really help it to feel bigger than it really is. It’s also nice that you can see from the kitchen all the way into the family room.
The family room was the main focus of the basement work and we love how it came out. This is as you come down the stairs.
The carpet is super soft and everything came together really nice. The couch is massive.
We figure as the kids get older you could easily have a ton of kids hanging out watching a movie, having a sleep over. We went for maximal comfort and I can say with significant experience now that this is a great spot to watch a movie. The built-in for the TV came out great as well.
The drawers on the bottom hold fun stuff for the kids and the cabinets on the left are plenty big for any gear. The three speakers above are very discrete, as are the rear channels on the window.
See the subwoofer? There is actually a pretty awesome sub hidden in the wall underneath the window there. It fires directly into the couch which insures maximum impact for loud explosions. :-)
This is where we spend most of our time in this room and we are very pleased with it all. The other side of the family room has a small table with chairs that works well for a laptop or a relatively small project.
Hidden behind that door is the electric room which houses the digital nerves for the house. One of the project objectives I wanted to achieve was to have an older house but have modern infrastructure. I now have wiring infrastructure that will serve the entire house for the foreseeable future.
That entire cabinet swings out for easy maintenance. Check out the detail on the wiring.
All coaxial and network jacks home run into that one panel. It is a delight to maintain.
Here is the view going back toward the stairs. You can see here the distinct level of the new basement floor. This side was lowered 7" in the remodel and we are really happy that we did it. Half of the family room has a lower ceiling to accommodate ventilation and lowering the floor made a huge difference. The landing to the utility and fitness rooms is the shortest height in the room at about 6’ 3".
Turning left on the landing you head into the fitness room.
On this side we left the basement windows as they were with the glass block and the floor was not lowered. The exercise room ceiling was on the side of the basement that had no ventilation ducts so the room is still plenty tall, just short of 7’. We put a little extra lighting in this room because I like it to be bright when working out. The floor is cork and looks really nice.
Tammy did a great job (as always) getting the art right. We had a minor snafu with paint and ended up reverting back to a very neutral look which was my preference.
The view from the treadmill. The TV is mounted on the wall and there are in-wall speakers in here as well. An AppleTV provides the content and the amplifier is in the cabinet for the family room on the other side of the wall. It is all automatic, so you just turn on the TV and start playing something. That is important at 6:00 am when you are very much wishing you were in bed.
Our new fitness room has actually inspired me to get back on this spin bike and sweat a bit. It’s been really fun and there is a good vibe to the whole layout.
The basement extended out over our entryway upstairs so that little alcove was turned into very useful storage space.
It even has a fancy switch to turn the light on and off when you open the door.
I didn’t take any photos of the utility room because, well, it’s a utility room. Imagine a cramped room with a furnace, water heater, freezer, utility sink and more stuff than it should have in it. You get the idea.
Some things I didn’t cover above:
We all really love the new space. I’m a little surprised how much the kids love going down there and tumbling around on the carpet. Since the rest of the house is hardwood it’s a nice option for them to goof around and tumble.
We also have nothing but good things to say about Quartersawn, the contractor we used. Jeff put together a great plan and design, exploring a lot of options with us. He worked with Tammy directly on the cabinetry and came up with things that we all loved. Mike was on the job nearly every day and stayed on top of everything with amazing detail. Weekly meetings kept things running smoothly and any changes in plans we knew about right away. I’ve heard horror stories of remodels but have none to share myself.
Looking back on the project we’ve wondered what we would change, if anything. There are a couple of things.
This got pretty long but I thought it would be fun to give a virtual tour of our new space. Tammy also wrote about the new space on Smaller Than a Redwood with her take on the new space.
All these photos were taken with my Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L ultra wide so there is a little skewing in the corners, even after Lightroom applying lens corrections. I wanted to capture as much of the space as I could.
Tyler's First Stitches
Tyler had his first visit to urgent care tonight. He was running around the house like he normally does and he fell into the kitchen door frame. He got a pretty bad laceration on his forehead. It was about an inch long. It bled a lot for about a minute and then slowed down but kept bleeding. I immediately sent some photos to my good friend and ER doc Mike (thank you Mike!) and decided to head into the urgent care at Fairview Southdale. When the blood slowed down I could see that the skin was completely open.
We got into the urgent care and the Dr. confirmed stitches were needed. Putting stitches in a very active 22 month old is a bit of an adventure. I held him down while he was wrapped up and the nurse held his head. The lidocaine shot surprised him and that started the crying. The Dr. put in two stitches and I was surprised by the amount of blood from the stitches. Tyler let us all know what he thought of it with plenty of screaming. After he got cleaned up he settled down.
We go back in 5-7 days to get the stitches out. I’m hoping Tyler leaves the bandage alone and gets a good nights sleep. The Dr. didn’t think there would be any scaring.
