finite speck

Covid-19 has made a mess of things this year for sure. I've already talked about it some starting back in March and April. I just found out yesterday that the biggest farm show in the United States has been canceled this year. I'm not sure if there will be any summer farm shows that happen this year. With large events like this getting canceled people are getting lots of time back to do something else. Not just the people that might go getting a day back, but what about the people that run events like this? Events this big take months of many people's time. I know there is work that I won't be doing because there is no Farm Progress Show this year. Will the time just get wasted? Will people find other work to do? What about the electricians, caterers, landscapers, and other groundskeepers? There's a lot of lost revenue due to these events being canceled. Then there's the big question of whether companies will see a negative impact in sales because they aren'

We're almost halfway through 2020! What a year it's been. This was the first year in a while where I set some goals for myself. Unfortunately many of them I still haven't hit yet. Then there are other things that weren't even on my radar that happened. The big one was purchasing a rental property in Gulf Shores with my siblings' families and wife's brother's family. Along with that came learning all kinds of things and we're still learning. Then there's been being quarantined for about 2 months because of COVID-19. With that came working from my in-laws' basement. And this past month there's been a lot of unrest in our nation around the treatment of blacks in our country. And by the end of the year, we will have another presidential election.  Did you have some resolutions for the new year? What were they? How has all that's happened impacted them? Has it made it harder or easier? I know some of the things that were on my list were writin

As a parent, I'm starting to get better at telling if one of my kids is sick. Yesterday morning Mac woke up and just seemed a little warm. Most of the day he seemed a little off... more fussy than normal. He also had a little goop in his eyes after his naps. So by the time, it was time for bed last night I was already thinking we were going to be up a few times and... I was right. Hopefully, he'll be feeling better this morning.

Yesterday, after we had dinner with my in-laws I got asked to help move a couch and a few other things from my grandmother-in-law's home to my in-law's home. I wasn't planning on doing it yesterday, but we decided we would help and got it done. We could have said no. But we would have missed out on the opportunity to help someone out. Plus, afterward, we went to The Icecream Shack in Peoria which made it all worth it!

I'm learning that a website can be a never-ending work as I build my own and start to see the different areas it can be improved. Thankfully it's fairly simple right now... only 5 pages. Even with only 5 pages, there are things like load time to consider, there's security, there's the way the code is written, there's the size of the images. And I don't have someone that I can just run my website by to examine what I've created from a backend perspective. So, I continue to utilize Google and YouTube as great resources to find other content on how to improve our website.

Our daughter just turned 5 on May 3rd and she could go to kindergarten this year, but we could also hold her back and let her go next year. We were planning to send her, but now with the changes with COVID-19 this year we're thinking we might as well hold off and see how this year goes for others and then have her start next year. I don't think anyone really regrets holding their kid back a year... it's usually the opposite. So, we'll see what we end up doing, but that's our thinking as or late June.

SEO (search engine optimization) is a deep hole with a lot of different facets to it. To summarize it though it's making changes to your website in order to rank higher in search mainly on Google. So you could change your headline words to score higher. You could write more content to create more opportunities to be found. You could link within your website from one article to another article. You could link from your social media accounts to your website. There are also tools out there that can help with SEO as well. Some are expensive and some are fairly cheap or free. Companies like MOZ or SEMrush are just a couple that are fairly inexpensive. This whole exploration of SEO started with some calls from Brightedge another SEO company that's probably one of the more expensive and automatic type options starting at around $70k a year. They seem to have a really good platform and depending on your needs it might be a good option because it doesn't take a lot of time and it

Does everyone like to be recognized? I think on some level we do. Probably not all in the same way. Some would love for tons of people to applaud them others may just appreciate a note. But I think there's a little bit in all of us that appreciates some words of encouragement. I know I do.  I just received a certificate in the mail yesterday from the parent company I work for. I'm not sure exactly what it means though. It said on it "Above and Beyond Champion". It was sent by one of the VPs of AGCO. I'll have to ask what it's for today at work. It felt pretty good to get that in the mail, but not knowing what it's for or who it's from means a little less. But, I also received 2 texts from my brother-in-laws last night and this morning saying that the website I just built for our vacation rental property "looks fantastic" and "looks so good". Those probably mean just as much as the certificate knowing it came from them. When you have

What do you show a customer first? What do you show them second? What is the first thing you say? It matters. Have you thought about it like this? I believe there is an order to things and if you can figure out the best things to place in that order first you'll drive more sales from your customers.  For example, if you're creating a website don't put the main driver of sales or conversation with a customer way at the bottom of your homepage or for that matter on a secondary page. Put what you want you offer right upfront. Don't make them work hard. Make it easy.

If it wasn't for my dad... I would not have invested in stocks in high school. I would not have started working at Precision Planting. I would not have taken some really fun vacations as a kid. I would not have learned how to work hard and make money. I would not have learned how to open up a bank account. I would not have bought my first house when I did. I would not have bought my first car when I did. I would not have done the sports I did. I would not have gotten to experience our dog having puppies. I would not have gone to England. I would not be living in Morton, IL. I would not be the hard worker that I am. I would not be the detailed person that I am. I would not have the education that I have. I would not be in the financial situation that I am. I would not value the church as I do. I would not value our country and politics as I do. I'm thankful for my dad and the many things I am, have and do because he's my dad.

What is it with most homes? It seems like every house has a little stack of bricks somewhere inside or outside. It's usually not very many. Maybe 6 to 12. My father-in-law made the comment about it yesterday pointing to a small stack in my neighbor's yard and I had to think he's right. I have no idea why we hold on to them after a home is built. What are we going to do with them? Why can't we throw them away? What can you really do with a few bricks? I don't know that we'll ever know. I'm not going to even bother asking Google because I doubt there's a good answer. It's just an interesting observation.

My nephew broke his Nintendo Switch the other day and I got to fix it. Somehow it fell at his grandparents and the one side broke off and was dangling by some wires. After fiddling around with it for a while I was able to figure out how to get it apart and get the wires connected again. It actually wasn't that hard, but my nephew was so happy that I was able to get it fixed for him. It would have probably been a long next week without it. It was cute to see my nephew who is probably 10 get really thankful all of a sudden because I was able to get his Nintendo Switch fixed. I'd say it felt pretty good to help him out as well and get it to work.

Our youngest kid just turned one last month and he's not walking yet. He's taking more attempts though over the last week trying to walk back and forth between people. He's probably taken about 3 or 4 steps and then he's down. It's so fun to watch him because he gets so excited. Once he gets to the other person we all cheer and he starts clapping, falls, and has the biggest smile on his face while his feet are going crazy. I'd say I'll be writing another post really soon saying Mac is walking.

What kind of things get you excited? I really enjoy learning new skills. I like seeing something that I've never done before and mastering it. For example, I've realized that it's now very possible to create a good website by myself. Not a huge corporate website, but a basic website. There are enough tools out there that take some mastery and skill and use the design capabilities I already have that I can do it. So I'm working on making it happen for our vacation rental property. I also enjoy creating things. Starting from a blank sheet and ending with a finished product. Seeing print ads in a magazine. Seeing social media posts posted by one of our dealers. Seeing signage out as I'm driving. I enjoy seeing something I created or helped create make it out into the world and others believe it's good enough to use to promote their business. These are just a couple things that get me excited.

How many things do you rely on every day? That the faucet has water coming out of it. That the coffee maker works. That the computer turns on. That the light switch turns on the light. That the car starts. That the watch tells times. That the shower works. That the refrigerator stays cold. That the microwave heats things up. That the dishwasher cleans the dishes. That the door lock locks or unlocks. That the phone works. That all the batteries that power things are charged. That the toaster works. That all the kitchen appliances work. That the TV turns on. That the speakers work. That the people that you work with, for, or rely on show up. That the... There are a ton of things and people that we rely on every day. This is just what popped in my head over a few minutes. What happens if they don't work? Are you thankful that they do? There's a ton of things that work every day that we just take for granted. Let's choose to be thankful when things just work. We rely on a lot.

I spent a lot of time outside this weekend with my kids. Yesterday we were outside almost the entire day. We rode bikes, played in a kiddie pool, swung on swings, read books outside, ate snacks outside, talked to neighbors outside... I did very little as far as projects and just spent time with the kids.  My wife on the other hand organized tubs and tubs of kids' clothes a lot of the weekend. We've got a lot of hand-me-downs from friends and family. It was time to go through what fits and doesn't fit. It may not sound like much but it's a lot of work. Plus, you've got clothes that say one size, but it's obvious they're bigger or smaller than the size they say. She went through all of the tubs, so we can get rid of clothes that are too small and use the clothes that are the right size for our kids now! So thankful for my wife this morning as I think about this past weekend and all she did while I was with the kids.

The #coffeedadshuffle made famous by Ben Rector, gave us some entertainment over about a week last month. I thought it was an ingenious way to drive excitement around a new song. Ben Rector, a music artist, challenged people to create a music video showcasing their coffee dad shuffle and submit via social media. There weren't really any rules other than try to use sunglasses, a coffee mug, a robe, slippers, headphones, and a microphone and do your dance.  He had over 100 videos submitted and some of them were amazing. Plus, he then had all these people like us watching them with his new song as part of them. Nice work Ben. Way to come up with a great way to share your work and get others to be part of it even during COVID-19!

I heard a good analogy about what burning a bridge looks like when it happens. When you burn a bridge with someone you ruin the relationship where there's no communication or trust and therefore that bridge, or person, is out. You can't use the bridge anymore. It's not just the person, but all the resources and other people that are on the other side of that bridge that you no longer have access to. It's like there's an island that there's no way to access anymore. There's resources, people, information that's on that island, and the bridge it out. So don't burn bridges. If you have burned a bridge with someone try to repair it. Open that communication back up. Ask yourself how it happened. Can it be repaired?

I'm working on building a website and I chose to use WordPress as the platform to build with because so many people use it and it's free. But, I didn't do my homework to realize there are 2 ways to go about doing this. There's WordPress.com and there's WordPress.org. .com is paying for different tiers of the product and was actually kind of hard to use, compared to .org which is totally free. You just have to pay for the hosting and domain name with .org. I've been a little frustrated with the whole process because I probably would have already had a website built if I had gone about it the right way from the beginning. So how did I even realize this? YouTube. I started searching YouTube for how to build a website and ran across Tyler who basically walks you through how to build a website from scratch using WordPress. But it still wasn't obvious that there was a .org and .com until I did some more online searching and realized there are two different WordPre

There's a gigantic storehouse of stuff to fill your mind with today, but your brain can only process so much. You also most likely have a job to do and maybe a family to take care of so that also limits the amount of time you have. When you think about it though there is so much out there, some really good and some really bad. You have the endless scroll of Facebook, there are more videos than I'll ever watch in my lifetime on YouTube, not to mention other services like Netflix or Amazon. There's the search bar of Google or whatever your flavor of internet search. You could read a book or find anything to read that you don't have at home or at the library through a Kindle. There are magazines, newspapers, oh and then there's the news on TV or online. Plus, the endless array of apps to do just about anything with on your device. There's a lot of choices out there for learning and being entertained. Are you entertaining your life away? Or are you using these thing

I did some Googling and YouTubing yesterday around building a WordPress website and they really make it look easy and the websites look awesome. But, I can't figure out some of the steps. Maybe it's because the videos are older and WordPress has changed some. Maybe it's because I didn't purchase my domain name in the same way they did. But it feels like there are extra costs for add-ons that they are using. One of the big buzz words that I kept running across is Elementor, the #1 Free WordPress Builder. But it seems like there's still a cost to using it. As I dig more into website building though it feels like it has become a designers game with these tools. Gone are the days that you have to now to code. As long as you have good design sense, can write, and now how to use design tools you can design a killer website. There are a few things that you have to get right from the beginning on WordPress and that might be part of where I started out wrong, but once those

Why borrow when you can buy right? But wait doesn't it depend on what it is? How many times are you going to use that tool after you buy it for that project? Twice? A lot of it comes down to convenience and not having to ask someone else for help. Not everyone is like me, but I'd rather not have to ask for help. But there's nothing wrong with asking for help and borrowing from someone or letting someone borrow from you as long as you give it back obviously. The biggest challenge is knowing who might have what you need. I'm not sure how to know other than to ask. Even asking is a good part of this whole process because it encourages conversation with others and builds relationship. Hey, the person might not have what you need but you've started a conversation and maybe they'll feel comfortable asking you for something as well. My point in this ramble here is that we buy a lot of stuff that we don't use that much for one-off projects and we could save that mon

God is gracious. There are so many little things that happen that I just take for granted. We went to church outside yesterday at Grace in Morton and wondered how it would go with social distancing, wearing masks, and staying apart. When we sat down in our spot the family that ended up coming in right after us and sitting next to us was a family that had been at our old church. It was just nice for my wife and me to see a familiar face there since we don't know a lot of people at Grace. I thought afterward about it and mentioned it to Brittany that God is so gracious. I know it's little and it doesn't mean we're better than anyone else, but God didn't have to sit us right next to someone we knew. Why did he do that? I believe God does things because he loves to see us rejoice in Him. He doesn't do it so we can say look at me... how great I am. Not that God needs our praise, but he rejoices when we see His sovereignty and we choose to acknowledge His goodness. Th

Today will be the first day we're able to go back to church and it will be an outside service. We're bringing our own chairs and blankets. It starts at 9 AM this morning and we're going to Grace Church in Morton instead of Bethany in Edwards. We weren't planning on making a switch of churches necessarily right now, but with our little kids and it being outside and Bethany being a lot further away, this seemed like a good time to go to Grace. I'm sure there's part of this that will be hard with not being able to get close to people or maybe meet people, but just gathering together as a larger group instead of our family at home watching a sermon on TV will be good.

I am so thankful that where we moved to last year there are young families that have kids close in age to our kids. We have neighbors right across from us with 2 girls and our daughter is really starting to love playing with them. Whenever they're outside she wants to go out and play with them and we heard last night that they're girls are the same way. Whenever they see our kids outside they want to go outside too. It's just been fun to have neighbors that get outside and want to talk. I'm thankful for the neighborhood we live in.

This just popped in my head last night as I was brushing my teeth and I think the story is relevant for what is going on right now. Using a kids book is not an attempt to make light of the situation, but to simplify it. There is no "machine" that is going to fix the mess we're in... the mess is because of sin and the only answer is Jesus. "The Sneetches" by Dr. Seuss Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches Had bellies with stars. The Plain-Belly Sneetches Had none upon thars. Those stars weren't so big.  They were really so small You might think such a thing wouldn't matter at all. But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches Would brag, "We're the best kind of Sneetch on the Beaches." With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they'd snort "We'll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!" And whenever they met some, when they were out walking, They'd hike right on past them without even talking. When th

I've written about this a few times I know. Some mornings I sit and stare at a blank screen for a while. It would be really easy to check my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, email, or something else to distract me from the blinking cursor. But I typically don't. I sit and think and wait for something to write about for the morning. I have my own deadline each morning to have written something on my blog and I've been doing it for a year and a half now. It started as a way to get better at writing for myself and I hope that I'm making progress, but it's become a habit that I do enjoy. I don't remember really liking English or Language Arts classes in school. I wish I took more interest in them. I enjoyed writing some, but I didn't really like the rules part of grammar.

I just needed to put that question out there for myself this morning to get myself started writing. "Is there anything too big for God?" God said to Abraham, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" in Genesis 18. God also said to Jeremiah, "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?" These were in reference to very different things. But in both instances there was sin involved too. Sarah didn't believe God that she would have a son when she was old, but she did end up having Isaac. In Jeremiah there's was rampant sin in Israel and God handed them over to Babylon to be captured. Those are two specific examples that use that same text, but I think the Bible is full of examples where God shows that nothing is too hard for Him. He floods the entire earth because of sin, yet saves a remnant that is faithful. God sends plagues on Egypt and frees Israel and there remains a remnant of people again. God keeps people from being bu

My daughter has gotten really excited about running with her mom over the last two days. It's kind of fun to hear it from my wife's perspective. She said Josie just loves it and talks the entire run around the block. Josie only stopped once the first time they did it to tie her shoes. I think Josie wants to run every day with Brittany now... she's motivated. It's been fun already this spring to see some of the little things our kids get excited about. You just never know what they'll be. Riding bikes has been a big one for both Baer and Josie. Also, helping out in the yard is something they enjoy along with playing a little ball in the yard. I need to keep thinking of things to do with the kids over the summer that they can look forward too.

I'm back in the office this morning. It's 7:44 AM. It's fairly quiet, but there's a lot of things that are different. There's hand sanitizer stations, cleaning areas, plexiglass, signs for handwashing, and no tables in the lunch area. There's toe pulls for the doors and many doors are left open. I know we'll get back to more normal, but I haven't been in the office for about 2 months and it's gonna take some getting used to. I just thought I'd write a few things down this morning about it to remember it. I'm not saying of the changes are bad... just different. I'm actually thankful for those that work here that have put effort and time into figuring out how to best take care of our employees. It's also going to be different not seeing my father-in-law every day or going home for lunch and seeing my kids then. I'll miss those things. I'll miss biking and walking to work. Here goes day one back in the office.