Category: General

Over the years, I’ve mentioned journal writing a number of times. Whether it’s keeping a memory journal, improving your spirituality, or just remembering your every day views, keeping a journal can provide many benefits. The never-finished product becomes more and more cherished over the years.

Recently I passed an interesting mark in my own journal keeping. With 7300 journal entries, I have officially documented twenty years worth of days.

My journal entries actually go back 34 years, beginning in 1988. However, I wasn’t a daily writer the whole time. (I haven’t missed a day in over 8 years so I’m doing better lately.)

Having tried many different ways to journal over the years, I’m still big fan of Day One. I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’ve compiled all other journal formats into Day One. Writing from the pre-digital writing have been scanned, added to a backdated entry, and then also transcribed so it’s easy to search. It’s so nice to have everything in the same place.

As I’ve mentioned before, writing in your journal is a great way to reflect and motivate yourself:

There are only so many days in a row that you can write “woke up, went to school/work, watched netflix, leveled up on doodads of destruction (or whatever game), went to sleep.” When you have a daily reflection on your day, and how you’ve spent your time,  you find a desire to do better and to be more. 

Who have I served?

Have I spent my day on things most important?

How has my love grown?

Am I any better now than I was last year. Am I a better dad? A better disciple?

Brian Stucki Ward Conference Talk, 2017

And if you ever find yourself ungrateful, reading your past journal entries can be a great reminder of how blessed you’ve been in your life.

Here is to many more years to come.

1. We have lived in this house for nearly 8 years and this is our first porch pirate. Exciting morning!
2. Recently we upgraded all of our house lights to 4000k bulbs. It’s a nice way to brighten up a home. This package contained all of the remaining lights that needed to be upgraded. Bulbs of all random sizes and shapes. This will not be as exciting as he hopes. Maybe he can use the string lights as a belt?
3. He left his car running the whole time. At current rates, he may lose more on this caper than he gains.
4. Ironically, this happened at the exact moment that our family was inside having our morning family prayer. A friend suggested that perhaps we stop praying for “someone to see more light in the world.”
5. I look forward to drone deliveries someday that will drop the package in the backyard.

Joking aside, it’s too bad that people do this sort of thing. The money is one thing, but it also sets back our home projects.

Watching the double drive-by and turn around, it seems to have simply been a crime of circumstance. Perhaps some day he’ll mature and fall into better decisions. In the mean time, I hope that this doesn’t happen to anyone else, especially those already in difficult life circumstances.

Now that the kids are traveling on their own more, I’ve put together some travel charger packs for them to grab. It’s a lot easier than unwrapping the cables from the charging stations. (Note: our charging station is in a public part of the house. Remember, kids shouldn’t have their phones in their room overnight. When it comes to good sleep, help them help themselves.)

We made these packs because they are easy to grab and put into a travel bag. We also have a rule in the house: “No borrowing from the travel charger packs.” You need to know that they are always ready to use and not missing any parts.

We all have iPhones and an Apple Watch so here is what we did for our packs.

Zipper mesh bags: We purchased the 4x5in pack of five. It’s only $9 for a five pack of them. The zippers are high quality and the small bag fits everything. I also liked that you can see the contents through the bag. It’s an easy way to check everything is in there.

Anker 40W Dual Fast Charger: This charger is way faster than the charger that came from your phone. It has two ports so you can charger your phone and your watch from just one outlet.

(Note: If you’re still using your original phone charger at home, at least upgrade to the single fast charger from Anker. It will charge your phone so much faster.)

Anker 6ft USB C to Lightning cable: This is a solid cable. It will charge your phone, but will also charge your AirPods. When you’re staying in a hotel, it’s nice to have the 6ft cable because you never know how far the outlets will be from the bed.

Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable: This is the cable from Apple. Be sure to purchase the USB-C one so it’ll work with the charger listed above. It’s long enough to sit on the nightstand even if the outlet is higher or lower in the wall.

This is what the pack looks like when all zipped up.

We made enough for all of us. Everyone is in charge of bringing and returning their own pack.

It’s been a nice system.

Here are random things to post that don’t deserve their own post:

Up to Jerusalem

Candace and I went to Israel a couple months ago. It was an incredible experience for the mind and the spirit. I especially enjoyed the Galilee area.

This one actually does deserve it’s own post. Many more thoughts and photos from this trip soon.

A new protein bar

Last Summer, I wrote about a selection of protein bars that we enjoy in our house. Since then, they added a new holiday flavor during the winter. It was so good that they have now brought it back as Creamy Crisp and it’s available all year long. It’s way too delicious to be a protein bar.

Watch your finances

I have now been using CoPilot for over a year. Still highly recommended, especially as everything seems to be increasing in cost and budgets need to be a little tighter. My full review is here.

On hesitating in life

“They lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night in fear of the dawn.”

– Seneca

A simple service suggestion

Do you have an office at church or work? Purchase a box of these wipes from Amazon and hand them out freely. Put some in your travel bag too. Gift a wipe to anyone working on a messy iPad or squinting through dirty glasses. Even better, offer to do the wipedown for them.

A quick clean will make a phone feel new and the person will appreciate it. It’s a simple service that’s easy to do.

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At the beginning of the year, Candace bought a book called “52 Modern Manners For Today’s Teens.” It’s a spiral bound book that sits up well on a table or sideboard.

This book is really well done.

Each week over Sunday dinner, we’ll grab the book and read about a new tip. We’ll hold a fun conversation about why it’s important, reference people who are a good example of this trait, and talk about how we’ll try to focus on it in the coming week.

The next week we’ll look back on how we’ve done and then do it all again.

We have always tried to be parents who teach about important things like safely using tech and organizing finances, but this book has helped us introduce little phrases into our family. For instance, this one was early on:

Now we just say “pitch in” and everyone knows what that means.

Another example that was really helpful as school and sports picked up and friends helped us get kids to different activities:

Although there are 52 different “modern manners” in the book, there are no dates or specific schedules to keep. You can start the book anytime.

I would recommend it for any family.

I recently returned from a trip to Israel. It is a beautiful country with wonderful people. The time spent there was enlightening and confirming for me and I’ll have plenty more to say about it in the future.

For now, a quick photography tip.

A couple years ago, Apple added the ability to add quick captions to photos. It’s incredibly useful. Sometimes during travel, you take so many photos that they start to blend together. The further you get from your return, the more you forget.

iPhone already adds metadata like time and location, but even then, some more info can be useful. I use “Captions” for this info and I think it would be helpful if more people knew about it.

A quick tutorial:

This tower looks like a hundred other towers in the Old City. As I clean up travel photos, I could easily toss it out. However, if you look closer, you can see the four architectural styles of the ancient builders. Quickly adding that to the Caption space is the perfect place to note that.

• Choose any photo from your Camera Roll. Once selected, you can swipe up or hit the little blue information icon.
• Just below the photo, you’ll see an empty space that reads “Add a Caption”
• Type in your caption and then swipe back down. All done.

As far as I can tell, there are no character limits. These captions are searchable and will sync to all your devices.

Happy travels. Shalom.

Here are random things to post that don’t deserve their own post:

A Certain Number Revisited

A year ago today, I mentioned that “I plan to increase the public writing” on this blog during 2021. I ended up with 24 posts or about two per month. That’s an improvement over 2020 and I plan to keep a somewhat steady pace.

I wish more people would write and post their words on a site they control. (Not just on social media which ends up being temporary and then fades away.)

Remember, you can keep up with new posts by RSS or email.

The other half of the equation

In addition to posting more often, I also read more this year. (That’s another way to improve writing.) The list included:

• a revisit to the classic “To Kill a Mockingbird“
• my yearly reading of “As a Man Thinketh“
• resetting the difference of value and values in “This Could Be Our Future“

In fact, everyone in our family has dramatically increased in their reading. We decided to get an individual kindle for each person in the family and that has helped so much. It takes some financial investment, but the reward can be dramatic. It is much easier to stay focused and read on a Kindle. An iPad or iPhone has constant interruptions.

I recently upgraded to the all-new Kindle Paperwhite that was just recently released. It has been wonderful. The kids have the previous Paperwhite (in four different colors to easily differentiate) which is also very nice to read on.

Your Local Epidemiologist

Speaking of reading, I’ve learned a lot from these regular pandemic overviews from Katelyn Jetelina. She takes the recent pandemic info and explains it well, shares how she applies it in her work and home, and makes suggestions for your own decisions.

Just say no to Cake Pops

Speaking of global nightmares, Cake Pops are the worst. I understand that they can look pretty in a picture or a dessert spread, but I just can’t eat them. All I can think of are hands squishing the cake after it has been baked. (As opposed to cookies that are sanely touched before baking.)

It’s taking the best part of cake (the airy texture) and removing it. It doesn’t make any sense.

A goal for next year

Speaking of too much desserts and sugar, I did a lot of walking this year. However, as we came into the last few days of the year, I was just short of reaching five million steps for the year. Sooooo close.

As I look past over the year, I realized that Sundays were the numbers killer. Every week looks like the screenshot above. It truly is a day of rest. It’s a good thing the Sabbath can also be a delight.

Next year, I’m definitely hitting five million steps.

I hope you had a great year. Be kind.

Here are random things to post that don’t deserve their own post:

One-Mile Slipper

If you’re looking for something to buy an old man (or a young man who is old at heart), I highly recommend these One Mile Slippers. They are super comfortable and warm, but most importantly they are easy to slide on. The heel backstop is just low enough to slide past without hands, but just big enough to keep the shoes from coming off.

I recommend you buy slightly small because the slippers will get worn in and mold to your foot. I’m usually a 10.5 or 11 and I purchased a Medium size.

(For an extra $12 off, you can use code “THETALKSHOW” when you check out. A podcast I listen to was sponsored by this company a while back and the coupon code still works.)

A Couple More Apps I Like

A while back, I did a thorough review of CoPilot. I still use it and highly recommend it.

Flighty: I use this app to track all my flights, past and future. The free plan offers really accurate information about gates, delays, and arrivals. There is also a subscription if you want even more info.

Deliveries: This is a package tracker app that I have used for many years. It’s really smart to automate any tracking URLs or numbers that you send to it.

Saving Bananas

I only sort of like bananas. The taste is good, the texture is not. When I use a banana in cereal on toast, I only ever eat half of it.

Luckily there is an easy way to keep the other half fresh:

Life hack to keep half a banana fresh. It’s almost like it was made for this… pic.twitter.com/v54YSF4d9J

— Brian Stucki (@brianstucki) November 9, 2021

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In our house, the remote in the main room is always misplaced. Somehow it is in cushions, below couches, and in the wrong room constantly. We get tired of looking for it.

Today we purchased an AirTag and just used gorilla tape to attach it to the top of the Harmony Remote. That was easy.

Then my youngest said, “That doesn’t seem like a dad way to do things.”

Challenge accepted.

First we took apart the remote to see what was inside. It’s real easy to remove the battery, extract two screws, and separate the top from the bottom. Once inside, we saw that there was a weight in the bottom half. It’s only purpose it to add heft to the remote.

It looked like a perfect cavity to use for the AirTag.

While the width was almost perfect, the depth did not allow for the remote to go back together.

We decided to bore out a hole large enough to let the AirTag have the space it needs.

We started small and used bigger tools until we landed on a sanding wheel. The plastic on the remote was actually quite soft.

We widened it enough for the metal part to poke through. It was a perfect fit.

It also shows a cool Apple logo.

Unfortunately, the sound of a ping was so muffled. Apparently the beeping speaker comes from the white side of the AirTag.

We widened the hole just enough so the white part could have space, but not big enough that it could slip out. Be very careful because the room for error is small.

Once we had the space, we placed the AirTag, put the remote back together, and it all works great.

Now when we replace the remote we just ask Siri to find it for us.

Now that’s a much more “dad way” to do it.

Here are random things to post that don’t deserve their own post:

Sharpie Makes a Pen

Even though signing a receipt at a store is mostly useless, I still do it when asked. Recently it paid off.

Candace and I were at a bakery and I signed the receipt with what turned out to be a Sharpie pen. That’s right, the maker of everyone’s favorite permanent marker, now makes gel pens as well. I ordered some on the way home. They’re wonderful.

I went with the 0.7mm (obviously) but they also have 0.5mm and 0.38mm.

Learn to tie your shoes…again

It’s strange how some small articles you read online can really change the way you do something meaningful in life.

For instance, I’ve been negotiating like a kindly brontosaurus for nearly a decade because of this one article.

I had another one lately about how to tie your shoes the right way. No more granny knots that fall out during the day. No more double knots that are impossible to loose on dress shoes.

Learn to tie your shoes the right way. (And be surprised how often you see others with crooked bows.)

Social Media is a Casino

I recently heard a speaker liken social media to a casino. The infinite scroll of posts is likened to no clocks in casino.

Each like or comment is a small dopamine hit that is enough to bring you back but rarely lasts.

You talk yourself into staying just a little longer because the next post is going to be the one that pays off big enough to make up for all the lost time and attention.

There are a number of parallels in the comparison. As a Las Vegas kid, it made sense pretty quickly.

The Friendship Oak

In Southern Mississippi, there is a 500+ year old oak tree called the Friendship Oak. It has a massive but worn canopy and this sign posted nearby:

It is said that “those who enter (it’s) shadow will remain friends through all their lifetime.” That’s pretty neat.

We were excited to visit recently. And we are happy to report that we all fit under the tree just fine and there is plenty of room for all of you.