finite speck

It's quiet. It's 5:15 AM and all the kids are sleeping, even the baby Mac who is only a week old today. I love my early mornings when I get up and have time to read and blog and not feel rushed. This is one of those mornings. It's relaxing. Still, I need to treasure the times when just as a sit down a kid wakes up and wants to snuggle or is ready for breakfast or in Mac's case, just cries. The days of these things will be over before I know it and then it will be quiet a lot more.

When someone else does something to you that you don't like, how do you react? Do you raise your voice? Does your inflection change? Does your face change? Do you yell? Yesterday with my kids there were multiple times when they were not getting along or not listening to me and I find myself yelling at them. Maybe not yelling in the sense of full out screaming at them... I don't think I've ever done that, but my voice gets louder, my face changes, etc. Do you think that it makes a difference with my kids in wanting to obey and listen when I do this? No... so why do I keep on doing it? Similar with anyone else. Why do we think that by yelling at another person that they will be more likely to listen and change the behavior that we don't like? It's actually the opposite. It probably makes my kids less likely to want to hear me. Kind of related. Why do we repeat ourselves with our kids when we know they heard us the first time. We're just teaching them that it...

My son is two right now and loves holding little things. He typically is holding 3 small things around with him at all times. Not the same 3 things, but almost always 3 things. Yesterday it was a little octopus, a tape measure and a ball. Last night it was a giraffe and a ball. Whatever it is they go with him almost everywhere he goes. They sit at the table while he eats. They go with him to his pooping corner. They go outside, downstairs, upstairs,... And when he loses him which he does it's a big deal until we find them. But, they change out fairly frequently so tomorrow who knows what it will be or even by the end of the day. He just likes his 3 little things.

I'll never forget those dreaded words as an Art Director at Draft, an ad agency, in Chicago. "Move over, I'm driving.", followed by a chuckle. This was how my boss at the time handled giving direction. He didn't give it. He did it. He would basically ask me to get up with his statement and then proceed to do my job for me until he liked it. It was completely demoralizing. I'm sure I learned a little by watching him do my job for a bit, but I couldn't understand why he wouldn't just give me direction so I could do it. 15 years later I think I understand a little bit of what he was going through as I'm in that place some now. It's tough to not over direct someone when you have a vision for what something should look like. But, it's the worst thing you can do for a creative. The best thing you can do is give them pointers or talk through things, teach them tricks on how to do their job, but don't do it for them. You might know what w...

This is day number 4 being outnumbered by our kids. It's not easy and we have no routine yet. We wouldn't trade it for anything else even though it's tough. My older son got up at 5:45 AM when he normally gets up around 7. Right now he's playing with an alphabet game that sings the alphabet. I think I've heard it ten times so far, but at least he's content. And now it's almost 10 PM I'm on baby duty until 11:30 PM or so. Been a long day. Filled with lots of help from my in-laws all day. Taking the older two kids to the park for a while. And just doing a lot of normal things. Also, ended up taking a nap when the older two kids took a nap today so that I'd be ready for whatever ensues tonight.

Their fingers and toes are so small and perfect. All their little features. Their coos. The way they can snuggle. Babies look so cute... And then there's the fact that they don't know when to sleep and not sleep. The fact that they can't talk yet, so the only way they can communicate is crying. And then nursing! And then there's the whole aspect of how a baby's born. It's all hard. None of it is easy. It's painful. I'm writing this as a man that doesn't experience physically any of the painful aspects of the last couple things here (nursing and delivery). I would describe the whole new child experience as beautifully hard. There are pieces of a new child that are absolutely beautiful even parts of delivery, but at the same time, there are parts of even that part that are really hard. My wife and I are thankful to have a good relationship with both of our parents and have them both living within a few blocks so we can get lots of help right now wi...

Every time we have a baby I come away thinking I'm thankful we have nurses. Especially when they are a little outgoing and willing to answer questions. It makes the time in the hospital so much more enjoyable. This may be a bad example, because nurses do more, but they're kind of like the front desk at a hotel. Anything you need done they're on it, plus they know exactly what you need that you don't know you need. The nurse staff at OSF is really good. Most nurses know the things that are tough and they try to make them as pleasant as possible. Like starting an IV or warning my wife of the type of pain she'll experience with a certain procedure. If you're thinking about becoming a nurse... do it. It may not always feel like a rewarding occupation, but I'm thankful for those that choose it. I'm thankful for those that have served me and my wife over the last three days at OSF. Thank you.

It's 6:30 AM and we've been in the hospital for about 12 hours so far. We came in to be induced and we're progressing along, but we're still waiting. And we're getting ready to have an epidural. It's tough as the husband because you feel like there's not much you can really do except sit and watch your wife be in pain and in our case in the past at least, slowly dilate. Well, we didn't have to wait over 30 hours this time. Baby Mac Benjamin Neukomm was born at 11 AM today. He weighed 8 lbs 14 oz. One of the pediatricians that checked him out this afternoon said, "He's perfect." I couldn't agree more. It is amazing how many things could go wrong in the development of a baby and in the delivery. We're thankful that as far as we can tell he is healthy and mom is too! This was our first experience where our baby got to stay with us after the delivery and it's awesome.

Well, no baby. Our scheduled inducement got pushed back because there were no beds available last night. So I'm heading into work today and we'll see when we end up going into the hospital. Giving birth got me thinking about my grandma telling me about how she gave birth back in the early 1950s and I really never gave it a lot of thought before. I remember her telling me that she was totally passed out every time she gave birth. She didn't remember any of the labor and when she woke up she had a baby. I just read up on this today and it was called Twilight Sleep. It started back in the early 1900s and gained popularity until it fell out of practice in the late 1950s. The drugs morphine and scopolamine were combined to produce Twilight Sleep. Once women started labor they were given this drug and you can only imagine what ensued afterward as their bodies continued to go through the process of labor without the control that they would normally have. In some cases, women wer...

At 8PM tonight my wife is scheduled to be induced. So sometime most likely tomorrow morning our third kid will be born! It's a different feeling knowing when you're going in to have your baby versus our last two kids when you're just waiting for contractions to start. We just pray that it goes well. For a short delivery. Our last two kids both were about 30 hours from start to finish. However long it takes, baby Mac Benjamin Neukomm is coming very soon and we're looking forward to him entering the world.

Perfect. Perfect (or as close as humanly possible to perfect) is slow. It is attention to the finest details. It is a standard that most fail to meet. Perfect separates the best from the rest. And in order for there to be a perfect, there has to be a standard. I'm not talking about perfect people (there are none of those). I'm talking about "perfect" as far as talent, skill, a trade... The guy that did our tile job this past weekend got me thinking about it. He was extremely talented. And in my eyes, I would say he did the job "perfect". But, because of his attention to detail and perfectionistic nature he was also slow. And his quote was the lowest of anyone that quoted the job. So, how does that work out then? ...The pay isn't great. If he would have been quicker the pay would have been better, but would his work be as perfect? I don't know. I've written briefly about perfectionism in a past blog post here: Perfection  The point here is a...

WebMD says your kids should get between 10-12 hours of sleep (I generalized a little)... up to 14 hours if they are between 1 and 3. But, it doesn't say when they should go to bed or get up. So, what if you would put them to bed at 10PM and they get up at 9AM? They're still getting the 11 hours of sleep they need right? This is the schedule that one of my siblings has. She also homeschools, so that helps with the getting up late thing. But, I would say the "normal" bedtime for kids is probably somewhere between 7 and 8PM. My kids go to bed around 7:30PM and are up around 7AM. I guess my point is as long as they get their sleep it doesn't matter. I just haven't met too many other parents that go much off the "normal" bedtimes. Probably because I don't know too many other parents that are crazy enough to stay up later than 10PM every night. My sister and her husband are probably up until midnight most nights! I, on the other hand, am ready to g...

After doing 2 different home remodels. I can definitely say that it'll take longer than you think, especially if you have little kids. The only way I'd say it could be different is if you decide to just work with a builder and contractor and don't schedule or do any of it yourself. But, you'll pay a lot more if you go that direction. I'm not complaining about the way that we've done our remodels. I'm just saying that any project we start getting into, big or small, it always takes longer than I think. And I still haven't figured out the formula for figuring it out. I tend to always tell my wife I'll be done with a project within the day and that rarely if ever happens. So, here's something to remember with home projects. It'll take longer than you think.

There's always a "next-level" available that hasn't been achieved yet. Sometimes this is hard to believe... in cases where modern technology makes the playing field more even. Where it seems as though there's less skill involved because cameras can do so much automatically. But, there will always be the opportunity to take video or photography to the next level for example. What is the "next-level"? I have no idea. That's the beauty of it. It's not been figured out yet. Maybe it's CGI right now. Maybe it's a certain style of photography that's challenging to create without a lot of extra effort. But, the "next-level" is out there for those that want to push for it. I do believe that "good" even "great" photography and video is achievable today with "good/great" equipment and a little know how, but "next-level"... that takes more than someone else's tutorial or an awesome came...

I never really paid much attention to the rain in spring until I started working in agriculture. Now it's something I hear about almost daily during the springtime. And this year in the midwest our farmers can't seem to catch a break. In Illinois, 11% of corn acres have been planted as of May 12th. The average by this time over the last 5 years was 82% in Illinois! I've seen very few planters running and it's May 17th. Yesterday was the first day I saw any planters running around where I live. It's going to be a tough season. And there's more rain on the way this weekend... so I'm not sure how many guys are going to be able to get much in if they can before these rains hit. This year more than ever do I see the value in being able to go as fast as possible as soon as the conditions are right. The planting window of time is extremely small and we've got a long ways to go.

Starbucks will give you a free drink on your birthday every year. Anything you want. Any size you want. You just have to be signed up through their app. So, on my birthday a couple days ago I went into Starbucks to get my free drink. I opened the app. Clicked on the get your free birthday drink and presented the barcode for the barista to scan. Then the barista presented me with with a receipt that showed how much I paid. I paid for my "free" birthday drink! I then went and read the fine print on the app that said, "Tell the barista you're using this before you scan." I asked the barista about it and he said he was sorry, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. I needed to tell him prior to scanning the bar code. I couldn't believe it. Later that day I went on Twitter and direct messaged @starbuckshelp and they made it right. Here was their response. "Happy belated Birthday Alex, Thank you for reaching out to us. I'm sorry to h...

That's how many days I've been alive. 14,611 days. And today is my 200th day of blog posting. According to World Bank the average life expectancy of a male in the U.S. is 79. So, I could have 14,235 days left. I quite possibly could be "over-the-hill". Hitting these milestones makes you think about things from a little different angle. A lot has happened in the last 40 years and I think some of the sweetest has been in the last 5 though between getting married and having kids. I look forward to however many more days I have left. Seeing the numbers on this blog post this morning makes me want to make the most of them and not waste them. It makes me think of sharing the gospel too as we've been challenged in church lately. How many of my last 14,611 days have I actually talked about or shared the gospel? Probably very few... even though I know the gospel. If it's truly the most important message why should we keep it from people?

For about 10 years roughly 20 years ago I exercised almost every day. I went to swim practice and put in anywhere from an hour to 2 hours in the pool. I also lifted weights 2 to 3 times per week. What happened? I graduated from high school and didn't swim on a team anymore. Went to college, started working, got married, had kids... Exercising never became a consistent priority again. I did get into different activities like snowboarding and running for a while... volleyball for a little bit, but never stuck with anything long enough. As I'm getting older I know it's important to make this somehow happen. I've written about it before, but haven't taken any steps yet. And as I look at 20 years ago (half of my life now) it's time to start exercising again.

When I think of my mom I remember brown paper bags with peanut butter, butter, and honey sandwiches, and cookies, chips, and a drink almost every day for school. I think of loads and loads of laundry with as much swimming as my sister and I did on the swim team. As well all of the driving and waiting for us at swim practice. I think of her helping us with school projects. When I think of my mom and remember seeing her praying beside her bed in the mornings and evenings. I think of always having a meal ready when it was time to eat. I think of her working in the yard planting flowers, weeding. I think of someone who was always ready to provide for me and my sisters... taking us shopping for clothes that were "cool" for school. When I think of my mom I think of a spotless house. Everything was always picked up and cleaned often. Everything had its place. I think of freezing strawberries and making applesauce. When I think way back I remember my mom playing guitar and letting ...

It was Friday night. Long day at the office. We made it through the evening with our kids and had just tucked them in bed... And I mentioned that I would do some painting after they were in bed. By the time the day is at this point a lot of times, I'm ready to call it quits too. This night was no exception. But, my wife gave me the extra nudge a few times to in so many words say, "Hey, let's try and get some painting done. We're not gonna be able to do this as easily when the kids are up." It took me a bit to convince myself that continuing to work was a good idea, but I'm thankful for her. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten any of what I said I would do done that night. We didn't finish, but we're further along than we would have been if I would have gone to bed. She got me to keep working for another 2 hours. Do you need to encourage someone to keep going? Do you need to listen to someone's encouragement to keep going? Both are important...

It's a question I've been wrestling with lately. The company I work for has a logo mark that is not unique. I like it, but any ag company could really create it. And it's possible that another designer could potentially create something really close to ours without knowing ours existed. Ours is an L3 (3 leaves) corn plant. We've actually seen some issues internationally with this mark being used by another company potentially due to the fact that it is so generic. The other issue with a mark not being unique is that it's less obvious who it belongs to when it's used on its own without the company name. Nike is a great example of an emblem that can be used on its own and it's recognizable or the Apple mark because it has the bite taken out of it and originally it had a rainbow of colors within it. Or the Pepsi mark. My point is that if you're designing logo marks, make sure they are not too generic that they won't stand on their own and be recog...

Yesterday I spent at least an hour looking for my plastic organizer that holds all my screws. I needed two screws that were longer than the ones that came with the light I was hanging. I finally found them after probably looking in the room they were in at least three times. The move from one house to another has made this scenario play many times. What I find interesting is how easily I forget where I put things when they're put in a new place and I'm putting lots of things in new places. It's like my brain only has the ability to remember so many things within a given period of time. The other thing that's amazing when you think about it is the sheer amount of things your brain can remember where they are. A lot of things are very educated guesses, but at least you know where to look. A good example is our new kitchen. I know the glasses are in a certain cupboard. I know plates are in another cupboard or silverware is in a certain drawer. It doesn't take too m...

Do you remember the "Choose your own adventure" books? You would start the book and then as the story progresses the characters face forks in the road and you get to choose which way they go... which results in going to a specific page and continuing to read. I've been spending a considerable amount of time on marketing automation in the last month and these books from my childhood remind me of how marketing automation works. The big difference though is the customer doesn't realize he's choosing his own adventure as he navigates the communications we set out before him. He's simply making choices based on the marketing that we're putting out there and then based off of what he chooses we choose for him the next communication he receives. As I'm building this out I'm starting out with a pretty blank slate. There's a lot we don't know, but as we get more information from prospects and customers it will become clear who they are and what ...

My cousin, Casey, is a couple years younger than me. He pastors a church in Wisconsin. He's married with four kids. And he has had a spinal leak that has caused him a lot of pain and dizziness. I'm not even going to do his condition justice in my post today, because I don't really know all of the details. Basically, he can only be upright for an hour or two max and then he has to lay back down again because he gets dizzy, headaches, throbbing, and sensitivity to light and sound. It has really limited what he is able to do. Yet at the same time, he has trouble sleeping as well, waking up about every hour. He is at Mayo clinic this week and next as they try to understand better how to help him. They don't know for sure how this began a few years back but believe there was a tear that somehow happened that began leaking spinal fluid that has caused these symptoms. It makes me think of how fragile we really are. I like to think I am invincible, but yet I don't kno...

My wife and I went to see an Andrew Peterson concert last night and I loved it. I hope it's not the last time I get to experience his music in concert. A couple of things I really enjoyed were seeing his kids play with him. His son happened to be filling in because his drummer had a death in the family. His son learned the set in a day! It's just neat seeing the talent of his family. The whole music set built up throughout the night from very sad songs at the beginning expressing the sheer hopelessness of our sin to the exuberant praise toward a God who made a way to defeat sin and death through the death and resurrection of Christ! I'm also looking forward to spending some time exploring The Rabbit Room community. It's something I'd forgotten existed and I think it will be a good thing for me as a "creative" type.

As of last night, my in-laws now live in the same town as us... within walking distance instead of 10 hours away. And our family is excited. It's going to be a fun summer having our kids live close to their grandparents.

Yesterday my oldest turned 4. And she was super excited! Bouncing off the walls ecstatic most of the day. At that age, it still doesn't take a lot to create happiness either. My wife and I gave her some hand me down Legos, a few art supplies and a little trip to the Dollar Store and she was thrilled. It may sound like we're cheap or that we don't love our kids. But we believe our kids don't need us to buy a bunch of stuff that they'll play with for a little while and then not ever play with again. We'd rather spend money on things that are practical or will help them grow. The other things we're giving her for her birthday are signing her up for tee-ball/soccer as well as swim lessons. We topped off her birthday with her requested dinner, crepes and watching Frozen as a family last night with a snack.

My son has been sleeping with a pacifier his whole life (two and a half years). Last night was the first night he slept without it and it was rough getting him to bed. I have a feeling the next 30 days or so are going to be tough at night until we get through the change. He did sleep all night which is huge though! Think of anything you want to do differently than you've been doing. It takes some days typically to start getting into the swing of the change and not going back to what has been "normal" for a long time. I think of blogging for me or exercising. Those first 30 days are tough, but if it becomes part of your everyday routine eventually it becomes something that's enjoyable and it feels weird when you don't do it. I have to remind myself that if I'm going to start doing something new I'm just going to have to stick with it for a while or I'll get frustrated and quit if I'm not consistent.

Talking to my boss the other day and he made this statement to me after sharing on a conference call what he did. "I don't really "do" anything, but talk to people." His statement kind of bothered me, because I know it isn't true. So later I told him he actually contributes a lot. He may not be actually creating something that's physical, but his fingerprints are all over everything that I produce. He mentioned he enjoys things like being in the tractor cab and seeing the field planted behind him or mowing the yard and seeing the final product that he did. It's harder for him to see the final product of something that he helped brainstorm as something he produced. I get it. But I'm also thankful that he sees where his strengths are in coming up with a lot of the larger concepts and helping shape those down to tactics. And that he doesn't feel he needs to try and actually create the final marketing products... because he doesn't have...

I find it easy myself to put off things until a deadline is staring me in the face. Once I understand there is no more time to "be tired", "do some other task", "whatever else"... it's really easy to lock focus and go. But, until I feel the pressure of a deadline made by myself or someone else there's not near the adrenaline to get it done.