Brian Stucki

Well, I missed last month so I thought I better get right on it this month. Here are random things to post but that don’t deserve their own post.

1) A while back I posted about Martin Luther and how much I have enjoyed his writings and his history. I was happy to see a new article posted by FAIR titled, “Will The REal Martin Luther Please Stand Up.” It talks about some of the principles that Luther believed, and how the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is actually more in line with his beliefs than the current day Lutheran church or it’s offshoots. Interesting.

2) I’m on a mission to find a top notch pair of fingernail clippers. The best I’ve been able to find so far are the Seki Edge clippers. I want something that cuts thru nails like a hot knife thru butter. And preferably something that doesn’t have that unmistakable “click” that all clippers make. Let me know if you have any suggestions. As long as it’s under $100, then I’m interested.

3) My company, Macminicolo.net, released a new service a few days ago. So far, the reception and interest has been pretty good.

One of the best things about my company is that the clients are all over the world. Right now, we are in about 30 different countries. It’s great to have good friends in different cultures around the world. It’s especially interesting to see what clients in different countries expect from a service company.

4) I’ve had a couple family members ask for music that I’ve records so I’ve uploaded some songs to my server. They are mostly songs that I wrote, and all songs that I recorded. Some I like more than I did when I recorded, but others I don’t enjoy so much. Some are corny because I wrote them for a class, others are quite accurate of how I was feeling at the time. Regardless, if anyone is interested, they can be downloaded here.

5) Here is a picture of Cole that just makes me smile:

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I’ve always wished that the cable companies would allow you to pick and choose which channels you wanted to have on your account. Not only would this allow for a much lower bill, but it’d also allow for much more digital bandwidth to be available so all of our internet connections could be much, much faster.

But if they did allow this…I’d really only want three channels.

ESPN consistently does a good job at producing sports and sport related programs. Any guy I know can turn on ESPN at any time of day and enjoy what they are seeing. (Plus, they show a lot of Red Sox games so I’ll need those of course.)

The History channel does inspiring work. I love to watch shows about wars and findings on the Ancient Americans. They also produce incredible series like The States, which I enjoyed immensely. They went thru all 50 states and gave a short history on each one. I watched with a pen and paper in hand so I could mark down all the places to visit when I travel.

They also do shows on different religions. It’s always interesting to see what truth is in each religion…as well as the things that are a little off.

Easily my favorite channel, Discovery just makes you happy to be alive. It reminds you of how great and how big the world is that we live in. I’ve watched the Planet Earth series too many times to count. Plus the channel brings classics like American Chopper and Dirty Jobs.

A friend of mine recently found this commercial on Youtube. If it doesn’t make you want to go and see the world then I don’t know what will.

The world is awesome indeed.

I’ve had a few requests on a Cole update so let’s get at it.

Here he is his first time swimming in Aunt Rachel’s pool.

Helping Mom with the laundry.

His first black eye.

First visit to San Francisco. (I’ve been dreaming of taking my son to SF forever!!)

And the most fun news is that at just over 9 months, my little boy is walking. Click the image below to watch a short video of Cole (with his walking at the end.)

Random things to post but that don’t deserve their own post.

1) I think that Amazon Prime Shipping is simply the best deal on the web. Nearly anything you need to buy can be found on Amazon.com but the big drawback for a lot of people is the shipping charges and time. But with Amazon Prime, you pay a yearly fee and then everything you buy from Amazon is 2 day shipping for free, or overnight shipping for $3.99 no matter how big the object it.

Keep this in mind when it comes time to go Christmas shopping.

2) Is there anything that goes from really funny to really awkward faster then someone breathing helium. For the first few seconds, the voice is great. But after 10 seconds, the helium-ed person has slid into fake high voice without knowing it, but everyone else in the room can tell.

3) I’m not a big fan on forwarded emails. By “not a big fan” I mean I usually just delete them. Here are my three rules for forwards that I’ll actually read.

• The person doing the forwarding must send more personal emails to you then they do forwards. If you don’t hear from someone for 6 months and then you get forwards, naughty.
• Please don’t send me an email warning me of something. There is a good chance that it is fake, and if it isn’t fake I’m sure I’m aware of it already. Snopes, it does a body good.
• If it really is a funny joke, or a good true story, the forward should have a personal message at the top and should have all other clutter removed from the email. (e.g., other emails, advertisements, etc.)

What’s so hard about that?

4) A few days ago Cole said “Da da” for the first time. It was awesome. When Candace and I realized what he just said, we were quite excited. All the attention embarrassed cole and he ducked behind a pillow with a smile.

He’s my buddy.

A long time ago, my dad went on a business trip back East and he came back with the best headache medicine ever. They are called “Goody’s” and they are wonderful. They come in powder form so when you take one, it moves so quickly into your system. Headaches go away within 60 seconds every time. Ever since he brought them back, we’ve been addicted thankful.

Up until now, I’ve found only two complaints about Goody’s. First, they taste really bad. Imagine taking an aspirin and chewing before you swallow. The second complaint is for some people they can really get you wired. For me this doesn’t happen, but if Candace takes a Goody’s in the evening then she is up all night.

Luckily, I just found that Goody’s took care of both of these problems. They now make a Cool Orange flavor that works just as quickly but tastes so much better. Second, they released a Goody’s PM that is perfect for taking in the evening. (In a related note, they also released one specifically for body pain.)

It may seem strange that I am posting about a headache powder, but these medicines are really quite amazing and I’m so glad to finally have a good tasting version. Next time you’re in the pharmacy, pick up a box and you’ll be thanking me the next time you have a headache.

Random things to post but that don’t deserve their own post.

1) Before our last trip I picked up a Macbook Air from Apple and it is just superb. It’s amazing that a fully working computer can be so thin and work so well.

2) When you purchase a new car from a dealer, they’ll give you one of those temporary permits that gives you one month to register your car. The deadline for registration is printed in big numbers for all to read. I’m surprised at how often the date on the permit is only a few days away. I don’t think I could allow myself to do that. It may as well read, “Hi, I procrastinate.”

3) It seems more and more people are starting blogs. I think that is great. Often, when someone starts a blog, I’ll get an email or a chat asking for any advice. Here are the five things I tell them.

• Don’t write anything that you wouldn’t say over a dinner table with friends and acquaintances. Blogs are public. They are crawled by Google. Once it’s on the internet, it’s always there. To remove it would be like trying to take a drop of dye out of a swimming pool.
• One of the basic rules of good website design is the site shouldn’t force anything on the viewer. Music, movies, flash cartoons, etc shouldn’t start on their own but rather let the reader push “play” or “go.” You never know if they have their speakers turned up loud, or they are at work, or they are on a slow connection and don’t want the movie to take up the speed.
• It’s always fun to get a comment on your blog. Now that you know this, be more giving of your own comments on other blogs. What goes around comes around.
• Don’t feel obligated to post. Just do it when you have something to say. Take breaks when you lose a little interest. Jump back in whenever you’re ready.
• Learn to hyperlink. A hyperlink is when a word or a phrase is clickable and links to another site.

  Why do this? Put plainly, the more a website is linked to, the higher it will be in Google searches. We can be pro-active in making sure good sites reach the top. For instance, anytime you write about Gordon B Hinckley or mormon doctrine be sure to link to sites that teach truth and are positive. (That way, the sites that are negative or deceitful will be dropped lower in the Google rankings.)

4) Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone from Cole.

A few days ago I received a nice email from my aunt. Part of it read:

Funny…I am in my room and Madison just came running in. “Hurry, turn on 110.3 FM. Cousin Brian’s song is on!!!” I turn it on and start laughing, because of course it is James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain”. She would not believe me that it wasn’t you. She said it sounded EXACTLY like you.
There you go!

First, you can probably imagine that Cousin Madison just made my list of favorite people.

But more importantly, I love the role that my aunt took here. I call it the “Compliment Middleman.” They take note of when a friend or family member is complimented and then go out of their way to let that person know about it. It’s a talent that some people have and that more people should find. Some of my favorite people do this well and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. I try to do it as often as opportunity allows.

For me personally, I’ve never been able to take a compliment real well directly from the giver. However, I think that everyone enjoys knowing that they were spoken well of when not around.

So next time you hear a friend or family member be complimented, send that person an email or a phone call and let them know. I think you’ll enjoy it as much as they do.

Cole is quite a fun boy to be around. Since I run my business mostly from home, I get to take Cole breaks during the day to play with my son. I consider it one of the best perks of my job.

Cole has four things that fill up most of his day:

1. Jumping Around: A few weeks ago we bought a jumper for Cole and he loves it. Prior to it arriving, Cole would sleep about 9 hours at night. But immediately since the first day of jumping, he’s now pushing about 11 hours. He definitely wears himself out in this chair.
2. Shoulder Crawling: Cole is just on the verge of crawling. He’s at the stage of getting on hands and knees and just bouncing back and forth. But, when he needs to get somewhere he finds a way. Right now, it mostly consists of balancing on his left shoulder and pushing with his right big toe. It’s strange, but it works for him.
3. Assisted Walking: His absolute favorite activity is to grab two fingers of whomever is around and just start walking. He is so proud of himself when he does it. When I’m sitting at my desk, he’ll come walking around the corner with a huge smile on his face so excited to show off for me. It’s great.
4. Beat Box: Ever since I can remember, I’ve always loved teaching little boys how to beat box. Maybe it’s my way of bonding. I’ve had a lot of good students thru the years, and Cole jumps right up there on the list. He’ll drop a beat anytime and anywhere and it makes me laugh.

Since all of these activities give me such joy, I thought I’d share them with everyone else. I’ve put together a ninety second video of Cole doing his thing. You can see it here.

A short list of thoughts:

• I think that the whole world eats toast the wrong way. Try eating it with the butter side down. If you’re going to get the calories anyway, let your taste buds have that butter bath.
• What is it about the Beach Boys music that can make you feel so care free and young again? I rarely turn them on, but when they come up in an iTunes shuffle it’s like instant childhood.
• Among my gifts for Christmas were slippers, ties, and a bottle of aftershave. Am I officially a dad now?
• This time of year, a common questions seems to be, “What is your New Year’s Resolution?” Personally, I resolved to increase my knowledge thru reading more books. But, I think you’re setting yourself up for failure when a goal is made so generally so I had to plan it out.

  I have divided the year into 26 two-week periods. I’ve assigned a book to each period. I have reminder emails coming as to when each book should be started, and another email coming half way thru the period so I know that I should be half way done at that point. I do most of my reading in the morning before Cole and Candace get out of bed and surely you’ll be seeing some book reviews here as I finish the better ones.

• This past week while I was in San Francsico, I watched the movie “The Great Debaters.” It was an excellent movie. If you can’t get out to see it, add it to your Netflix Queue so you’re sure to see it later.

A popular gift for Christmas is always a gift card. I received a few this year and I look forward to using them. Stores love selling gift cards because so many of them go unused. So, your friend or family member gave the store $40 for the gift card, and if you never use it then it’s 100% profit.

When I receive gift cards, I always look for the expiration date right away and I note it on my calendar. Write something like, “Amazon.com card expires today.” I also like to write how much the gift card is worth and note the confirmation number if there is one. If there is no expiration date, I set a time like three months.

Then, if you are using an electronic calendar like iCal, Outlook or your iPhone, have a reminder to be sent to yourself about 2 weeks before the date so you have time to spend it.

If you are using an old fashion paper calendar (mom), then write a note about 2 weeks ahead so you know the expiration date is coming.

If you get to that point and you aren’t able to use it, then get on ebay and see if you can sell it off. Most cards will go for about ninety cents on the dollar. The short time before expiration doesn’t really matter because the buyers are usually looking to use the certificate right away anyway.

So plow thru those gift cards and make those reminders.