Brian Stucki

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.

Today is the release date for iOS 15, the latest operating system for your iPhone. You can see all the new features here or read an in-depth review here. Overall, it’s a nice upgrade.

I just want to make thre quick observations on Apple’s Screen Time. It is a tool to limit and monitor the screen time for you and your family. It was released a few years ago and is definitely worth the time to understand and organize your tech.

With iOS 15, there is one great new feature and two pain points that still exist for the way we use Screen Time in our family.

Improving but more needed

Ignore Downtime Until Schedule: In our family, we have set it up so the majority of the time, the phones are useful tools for our kids to use. Productive apps like Calendar, Day One, and iMessage are always available to be used. We do this using “Downtime” which is set for most of the time.

On Fridays after school and on Saturday, the games and other fun apps get unlocked and the kids have a fun time playing.

From time to time though, we’ll be on a trip or want to play a game together with the family. In the past, this meant turning off the downtime manually and hopefully remembering to turn it back on later. That didn’t always happen.

With this new feature, you can ignore the current state of Downtime temporarily. The next time it’s supposed to turn off or on, it will automatically fall back into the schedule. Very useful.

Alway Allowed apps list struggles: Three years into screen time, there are still some rough edges.

With the “Always Allowed” section, you can list out apps that are available all the time no matter the Downtime settings. This is how we provide the productive apps at anytime.

The two issues that are still outstanding, even in iOS 15, are iMessage apps and Mac apps. (Allowing Watch apps used to be a struggle, but that has improved.)

My kids like to keep in touch with their grandparents and cousins by playing little GamePigeon games in iMessage. GamePigeon is an iMessage only app and there is no way to enable that to be always allowed.

The other issues is Mac Apps. Since your Screen Time settings can sync between Mac and iOS devices, you’ll see Mac apps listed on the phone. Most of them have no icon and don’t have equivalent apps. (see Font Book and Harmony Desktop in the above screenshot.)

Do Not Share Access Devices: There is a setting to not share your usage data across devices. That’s useful for people like me who work on a Mac all day and regularly have apps open while doing other things. Turning the sharing off will more accurately show my iPhone/iPad usage.

However, what I’d really love is the ability to turn off Screen Time completely on my Mac but leave it turned on with my iPad and iPhone. There is no way to do that.

This is also needed for our kids. We’re pretty intent and protective about how iPhones are used because they’re private and mobile. However, our Mac is in a public place of our home and is often used for other things like homework and projects.

Currently, since Safari is limited on the iPhones, it’s also limited on the Mac. There is no way to disable Screen Time on the Mac without also turning it off for the phone. I suppose you could just log out of iCloud completely, but that removes all sorts of useful parts of using a Mac.

Screen Time, Still Worth It

Even with these limitations, taking the time to configure screen time for your family is definitely still worth it. (Even if it means you have to manually merge two Apple IDs to one so your Family Sharing is set up right.)

Screen Time is free, it is built into the operating system, and it’s improving each year.

Update: One more thing I’d love to see in Screen Time management is a read-only Safari. Maybe this should just be a 3rd party app but I’d love it in any form.

Why? For safety reasons, my kids don’t have a browser on their phone. I’d still like them to be able to receive links in iMessage and load an article to read. It would also allow them to use QR codes without a full browser. (QR is common in school now.)

— Brian Stucki (@brianstucki) August 30, 2021

Our kids are good savers. They stash most of their money away to plan for big purchases. 

The most difficult part of this habit was trying to keep track of it all. There were random bills and coins placed here and there. We’d take trips to the store and they didn’t recall how much they had to spend on something. It was difficult to remember what they had paid tithing on and what was yet to be tithed. 

I know the importance of a personal budget and keeping track of money for adults.We decided to get organized and help our kids take a more intentional approach to their money as well. It is good training for the future and it’s much easier on Candace and me.

We created the Youth Personal Finance Record for use in our family. It is a Numbers spreadsheet that can be used on any iPhone, iPad, or Mac. (Download available at the end of this post.)

Talk with your kids about money

We sat with the kids to see how they would like to organize their money. It was decided that they would like to save ten percent for tithing and ten percent for savings. The rest they would spend however they’d like to do so. 

We talked to them about the role of a bank. Since they are young, we decided to open an account with Mello Bank (us) and keep a ledger for each of them.

Whenever they receive money, they make a “deposit” with us and we update the ledger. It is fun to watch as they realize that digital money is the same as cash in hand without the stress of losing it. 

They all felt comfortable with the plan. 

An Example Youth PFR

The spreadsheet consists of three automated main categories for and five columns for recording:

Spending – This is the total amount that each child has to spend at anytime. Eighty percent of each deposit goes here.

Tithing – This is the amount of tithing that needs to be paid. It is a running total. Ten percent of each deposit is shown here.

Savings – This is the amount that goes to savings. Ten percent of each deposit is shown here. Spending from this category requires permission from parents. The kids anticipate that this will go toward a large purchase in the future like a car, a church mission, or an international trip. 

Date – We record the date when any transaction happens

Income – All deposits are entered here whether it is a gift or earned money. They give us the cash and we record it while sitting with them. When a deposit is made, it is automatically divided between the top three categories.

Expense – All purchases are recorded here. This column subtracts from the “Spending” category

Tithing – When tithing is paid, it’s added here. It only subtracts from the “Tithing” category. 

Note – We all decided that it would be a good idea to require a note for every transaction. This way they can go back and see the things they spent money on and decide if it was worth it in the long run.

In the images above, you’ll see the changes that are made when a deposit, tithing, and expense is recorded. Note that the top categories change as items are recorded. (tap to enlarge)

The Benefits of Organization

We created a spreadsheet for each kid and then shared it with only them through iCloud. This allows them privacy and direct access anytime from their phone or the family Mac.

My wife and I can edit the document (like a bank would) and our children can view it. They are encouraged to talk with us about their purchases, but they make the choice on their own and then we all record it together. 

This new way of organizing their money has encouraged more conversations about financial matters. This is a sorely lacking subject in school. There is some real benefit to talking about finances at home. It’s fun to watch them learn, understand, and then connect the dots on just how powerful money management can be in their life. 

And I no longer have to organize random piles of small bills and coins.

If you’d like to download a blank copy of the Youth Personal Finance Record to use in your family, you can do so with the link below. I’d love to hear how it goes.