finite speck

We were talking to some friends of ours that are staying with us for a couple days about their Airbnb above their home. They converted the upstairs space of their home into an Airbnb. Since they opened it up they've only had 6 days that it hasn't been rented out. It sounds like it's been a really good investment for them. And then they mentioned that their place in West Peoria is also now an Airbnb, being taken care of by an old co-worker of theirs. That property was a rental and it was a huge headache for them. The interesting thing is with Airbnb or something similar you have shorter stays and cleanings every time someone leaves. So people tend to not be near as hard on your property as someone who is renting. I don't know a lot more about them than that since I haven't ever stayed at one yet. But, the idea of buying a property to turn into an Airbnb is really intriguing to me all of a sudden. Check out their Kentucky Derby Loft here. Also, follow their pl

10 years ago I don't think I would have valued time with family near as much. Or even with people. But after getting married God has been showing me more and more that people are more important than tasks and things. I think a lot of it has come through spending time with my wife's family over holidays. When they're together... they're together. At first, it was a little much, but I've come to appreciate it. There's not always a plan. But, there's always food and there's always conversation and it's not perfect and they're not trying to make things perfect. I appreciate that.

Over the time-off, one thing that has felt really good is just getting some areas of our house cleaned up and organized. I spent some time yesterday cleaning our downstairs kitchen area and my daughter helped me clean off our pool table. I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish and it felt so good to mark a couple things off that list yesterday afternoon. I have 4 more days until I go back to work, so hopefully, I can keep this up and tackle a few more areas of the house in the coming days.

It's a couple days after Christmas and yesterday we took all of the decorations down. It's not near as fun taking everything down as it is putting all of them up. Even though it takes about the same amount of time. Kind of like the travel to a destination is way more exciting, typically than the trip home. Which then makes me think of our last destination or what everything is building up to someday. Our eternal home. Which is similar, but way different. Similar in the sense that there should be a similar longing in our hearts a yearning for that day, like looking forward to a specific date or vacation location. But, different in the sense that once we get there I don't think there's going to be any sense of a drop in excitement once we're there and the waiting is over. There won't be the trip back. There won't be a taking down of decorations. I'm not sure what there will be, but I don't believe the celebration will be over... I believe it will h

My wife and I are still deciding whether we take our kids to the Dells or not. We have a 4-year-old, 3-year-old, and a baby. It's fairly expensive and we don't know how it will go. We're talking about having some friends with young kids go with us as well. It's about $300 for two days for overnight accommodations and passes to the park. The other thing we've been talking about doing is going to Chicago and going to the Shedd Aquarium and Children's Museum. We'd stay at my friend from college's Airbnb. I'm not sure if either of these will be "better" than the other. They could both go really well, or it could be really rough. There's a lot of unknowns. Like will our kids like a water park? Will they sleep well? How will they do on a long car ride? Will somebody get sick? I love taking vacations... it's something we did growing up every year once I was in school I believe. Our kids are still a little small and I'm probably

Here are some thoughts I have for the new year of things I'd like to do... now to come up with a plan. Finalize a family mission statement. Regularly workout.  Bible study with my wife. Write a kids' book. Read 6 books. Organize our basement. Focus on relationships over things. This is the first year in a while where I would say I'm interested in having some goals and working towards them in the new year. I think these are doable and all good things to work towards in the new year.

This year we decided to up the amount for our Christmas grab to $50 per person and it was a lot of fun. We had been at $35 since I've been part of my wife's family and it was challenging to get a fun gift at that price. But at $50 we had a snow cone maker,  sous-vide cooker, video projector, zero gravity chairs, weighted blanket, Stitch Fix gift card, some nice home decor, and a big bag of coffee and coffee grinder. All pretty fun gifts. And you know it's a good Christmas grab when one of your kids loses it when your snow cone maker gets stolen by an uncle! We ended up having to promise to make snow cones last night to calm Josie down.

I don't think we're going to have a white Christmas this year. Christmas day we're supposed to have a high of 59. So yesterday it was nice enough that I took the kids out for a bike ride and I may do the same again today. It's a little chilly, but when you know it's going to get colder and you're going to be holed up for a couple months there's some motivation to get outside while you can!

Our daughter asked, "Did you spend all your money on this gift?" after she opened up her American Girl doll. This along with a lot of other questions like... "Who bought this gift for me?" and "How much did it cost?" She knew she was going to get an American Girl doll, but my wife had also made it clear that they are expensive. Our daughter also has known for a while that my wife had a few American Girl dolls from her childhood. We ended up giving her one of my wife's for Christmas. It was really cute to see my daughter's concern about the cost of the doll, and I don't think it's a bad thing. But, it also makes me think that it's important that we think about what we say to our kids or anyone for that matter. For example, if we would have never said anything about the cost of an American Girl doll, she would have never said anything when she opened the present about the cost of the present. What you say matters... always.

What are the things that get you to move? As I'm thinking about what to write, my youngest is already up and in a baby swing. I've probably gotten up 5 times from the couch because he was starting to cry and I don't want him to wake up anyone else. So, yes, that baby cry is definitely something that most times I'll drop whatever else is going on and try to console him if I can. But what are other areas where you might drop what you're doing? When someone says they need help? When someone looks like they need help? When your spouse says she needs you? Maybe it's when your kid says, "Watch this." Are your ears tuned to the cries of others? The baby cry is easy because it's loud and it won't stop until it's satisfied, but as we get older we're not as good at letting others know we need something. Today listen for "the baby cry."

I like my work. If you can't tell from my blog a lot of what I write about is related to working and the rest is probably related to my family. As I sit here this morning I have 2 more days of working before I'm out for about a week and a half. And I'm going to really make an effort to shut down things that are work-related and spend time with my family and working on personal projects and ideas. I may do a little bit of cleaning up my computer and/or email for work sanity, but I'm not going to try truly work over the break. Personally, I'd like to focus some on how I build better relationships with others this year, how I make time for physical exercise, and how I get some time in for personal projects (like ideas for a kids' book). Oh and finalizing our families' mission statement! We'll see how that goes in the coming week. In the meantime 2 more days of work at work.

I tend to think pretty highly of myself. I tend to think that I know best. I know that's not true, but yet I struggle to include others sometimes. I'm thankful for others. Just yesterday I asked a few of my colleagues for feedback on a particular piece I was working on and overwhelmingly the feedback was opposite of what I originally thought. And they all had good reasoning as to why and I was convinced to go with the other piece. Then last night I wanted to show my wife what I'd been working on at the office to get her feedback. I felt stuck on the design I was working on. Lovingly, she gave me a few suggestions, and hesitantly I started trying them. She even did a Google search to show me that the way I was designing some type was harder to read. She convinced me and I believe the design is going to be better because of it. When you're stuck. Get others' input. They don't have to be an expert. They just need an opinion. You never know where a request for h

A couple days ago I first saw Chick-fil-a's new animated commercial featuring a family of four where the mom, dad, and brother are too busy doing other things to spend time building a snowman with the daughter. The little girl then enters a magical world through a grandfather clock where she learns about different kinds of time and she's given a special card by the clockmaker for "together time" the best kind. The spot ends with her mother calling her name, the daughter giving the card to her family and the whole family spending time together outside. The only mention of Chick-fil-a is at the very end of the 2-minute spot encouraging people to go to Chick-fil-A.com/timeshop to give the gift of time. No selling of food. No mention of the restaurant. So what are they trying to do? I believe the point is, Chick-fil-a is all about trying to create memories that last with your family. Whether that is at their restaurants or just in life in general. They want to brin

I'm working on coming up with a name right now for something work-related and it's hard. I've come up with some that I feel like are good, but then I go back and look at them and think does the name really help a customer or potential understand what we're offering? Secondly, I guess would be, does the name need to? A name should be memorable and if possible should help you understand what you're getting.

Are you a generous company? Are you a generous person? Do you give things away for free or are you always expecting something in return? Something I've been learning in the past year is generosity goes a long way. To be seen as a generous company is huge. To recognize when you have customers that have gone the extra mile on your behalf and thank them. To just provide materials to your customers for free instead of making them pay. So, next time you're thinking of doing something for your customers, ask, "Can we give it away for free?" Be generous.

I did it. Post by post. I've hit 365 days of blog posts today. When I started this blog back in October of last year I really wanted to hit the mark of blogging every single day for a year (which I fell a little short of), but I've seen writing every day become a habit for me. A main goal of mine was and still is to become a better writer by practicing daily. And I believe this blog has helped in that. The other thing that I've seen in the practice of doing this is that a continual drip, that is daily, can accomplish a lot. Do you have a goal of something you want to accomplish? I would encourage you to take really small chunks and make them happen daily. Over time you end up accomplishing a lot. The opposite would be to muscle your way through a large task in a short amount of time, but many times in those instances you get burned out and the desire is short-lived. Want to read a book? Start reading a couple pages a day. Want to write a book? Write a couple pages a

This morning my daughter said she wants a cell phone for her next birthday. I asked her why she needed a cell phone and she said to send smiley faces to Papa Tim and because her doll has a cell phone. It really took me off guard when she asked. I didn't think that request was going to come until maybe jr. high. But, it makes me think is why does she really want a cell phone? And it makes me think about marketing. My kids are being marketed to by their family, me, my wife, their grandparents, and probably just about every other adult that they're around. They're being told that looking at a cell phone is normal. Scrolling social media is something you do as an adult when other people are in the room. Taking lots of photos from your phone, sending emojis, etc. are things that everybody does. So, we had a little talk about cell phones this morning. How she probably won't get a cell phone until high school or college. That cell phones are dangerous and we talked a lit

Andrew Peterson's Christmas album "Behold the Lamb of God" is my favorite Christmas album of all time and I don't think there will be another one in my lifetime that knocks it off the top of my list. My wife and I watched a live performance of the album last night from Nashville. And it just made me love God's plan of salvation that much more as we trekked through the old and new testament in search of a messiah by way of song. Another thing I love about the album and the performance is that it's not about one person. Andrew has a way of allowing every artist, amazing artists, by the way, to share their gifts within the album he wrote as well as before as they all play a song or two of their own for the first half of the concert. I love that this Christmas album makes much of Christ. It points to what we all need, a savior who will take away our sins. There's plenty of joy in the album, yet there's no feel-good Christmas classics. So, if you'

Over the last 5 years, I've averaged listening to the Spotify app for what would add up to 29 days straight 24/7 each year. That's a lot of listening to music. I just received the end of the year email from Spotify and to me, it's great marketing. It's all about the customer and what Spotify has been able to deliver to me in a way that's interesting... not creepy. The email is called, 'Here's your year in music, all wrapped up" and that's exactly what it is. It's a link to check out a summary of everything you listened to. You see the total amount of time you spent listening to music, a playlist of your favorites from the year, your favorite artist of the year, even music for the decade since we're wrapping up a decade this year. There's even a way to share your stats on social or favorite artist(s) on social. I'd say they put some serious thought into how they could present their analytics in a way that's fun and interesting

In the last 10 years, I've kind of looked down on New Year's resolutions. And I think I'm still kind of there, but it is a time when a lot of people start habits and goals. I think of this blog and writing being a goal I started last year and I'm just a few days away from a full year of writing, but I started this habit in October last year. One area I want to focus on this next year is relationships. I'm not good at them and I want to be better. Not just having friends, but having friends that are believers that I meet up regularly with to share life with. Our family goes to church and we are somewhat involved in church, but I myself don't have close relationships. My wife, on the other hand, is way better at this than me. She has girlfriends that she meets up with regularly. So, I'd like for 2020 to be the year of some solid relationships with guys. I'm still thinking about other things I'd like to focus on in 2020.

My wife made a comment to me yesterday saying, "Isn't it crazy to think that in the U.S. almost every home this time of year has a Christmas tree up in it?" And I think she's right... at least it seems like it. It's similar to having a TV in your home. According to Nielsen's National Television Universe Estimates, "96.1% of all U.S. homes receive television via traditional over-the-air TV, cable, direct broadcast satellite, telco or broadband internet connection to a TV set". That's a lot of homes with TVs, 120.6 million. To do a comparison now. I looked up how many homes have Christmas trees in the U.S. According to the American Christmas Tree Association (who knew right?) "77% of U.S. households celebrated the 2018 holiday season with a Christmas tree". That's more than 95 million. So not quite as many homes as those with TVs, but that's still a lot of Christmas trees! And I think it's still a good way to think about h

It seems like all or at least most of my t-shirts get stretched out at the bottom and I really haven't figured out why they do. I finally did a Google search and it appears to be a thing that people experience, but I'm not sure as to why it happens to my shirts other than it sounds like it happens a lot of times to cotton shirts. The fix is to place them in really hot water for around 5 to 10 minutes and cause the cotton to shrink back to more it's the original state. I have no idea if this will actually work and not sure if I'll try it, but it makes sense. Eventually with wear cotton stretches out and perhaps it stretches out in different places depending on the person. I'm a fairly thin person though, so I can't really understand why my shirts tend to stretch out around the waist. The only other thing I think of is maybe how I put them on. It's a mystery.

Who writes notes any more? Do you ever tell anyone how much you appreciate them in more than an email or text? Something I'm trying to do more often is to write notes of encouragement. I've done this for a few co-workers in the past month and I'd like to make it a practice every week. Even if it doesn't mean much to the other person it's good for me. It's good for me in the sense of remembering how much others do within our company. It takes all of us to make it happen and we don't always do a good job of expressing that. A few weeks ago we also had an in-office week where we tried to establish more connections between our employees and one of the things towards the end of the week was notes of encouragement. I got a few from other employees and they meant a lot. So, today write a note to someone. I know I mention work here, but family is another great one... even more important. Write your spouse a note or your kids. It means a lot.

I only have 8 more days of work this year and that doesn't feel like enough time to accomplish all that needs to happen with our big conference coming up. Each day has now come down to how much can I do in a day? How should I approach the days that I have of work to maximize them? I've been trying to get into the office even a little earlier than I usually do. And I'm also trying to not bring my work home with me in the evenings. And then on top of a few days left for the year, we are also bringing on two new hires. But, this is probably the best time to bring on a new hire in order to get them on board and give them time to get adjusted to the new company. It's a lot. I'm reminded of how needy I am. I need help. I need God's help. I can't do it all on my own as much as I think I can manage. I need to ask for help and accept help when it's given and recognize it as from God.

My wife was backing out of the garage and just barely clipped the bottom of our garage as it was going up. Somehow she pulled the weatherstripping piece and the metal it is attached to off just a little bit. It was enough to mess up the garage door and enough that she ended up texting me about it. And it was enough that I came home from work to take a look at it with her dad to decide what to do. But, I didn't get mad at her about it. She already felt bad enough. She didn't do it on purpose. And she was already feeling really overwhelmed as well. One thing that being married and having kids has taught me is that when something unexpected happens and it's an accident don't get mad at the person. Maybe they should have paid more attention and the milk wouldn't have spilled, but I shouldn't get mad at them because it wasn't on purpose. There's a difference between purposefully doing something and it being unplanned. And typically when I get mad about an

Sitting here this morning I thought of this song by Ben Rector called "Note to Self". There's just a lot of simple lines in this song to get you thinking about others instead of yourself which is a good thing. Being married and having kids has helped me in having to think of others more. But, it makes me think about my parents as well. The line, "call your mother back, talk for too long it's probably half of what she'd like, she's the only mother that you have." is what made me think of this song this morning. I can get so focused on what I need to be done instead of just having a nice conversation. Or maybe just grabbing breakfast with my dad. They're only going to be around for so long and I don't want to regret not spending time with them especially when they're only 6 blocks away from us. Note to Self note to self clean the living room do the things you don't wanna do maybe fold that week-old pile of clothes note to self

Back in high school and college, I used to write down in a little memo pad what I wore each day. Monday - New River shirt and Abercrombie khakis Tuesday - ... I have no idea what it actually said anymore. And I don't know where the concern about wearing something twice in the same week really came from. I think I heard about someone else doing something like this and I thought it was a good idea. This habit lasted far too long, but it was a habit. It lasted until a roommate told me it was ridiculous and that he couldn't believe I would do that every day. That ended the writing down what I wear every day. Now, I may wear the same pair of jeans for a good week straight. I feel like the get wore out quickly if you wash them all the time. Plus, I've come to the realization that very few if anyone pays attention to what you wear on a daily basis. If they do they probably need more to do than keep track of what you wear.