Monthly Archives: February 2007

Children

Formula vs. Milk

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We’re in the midst of transitioning my one-year-old daughter from formula to milk. I think she’s finally accepting it and I couldn’t be happier. You do the math:

  • Formula=12.4 cents per ounce
  • Milk=1.9 cents per ounce

We only had to do formula for about six months when breastfeeding was no longer practical and when Lexi gave up on it. Breastfeeding may not always be practical, but you’ve got to love the price. I don’t understand how some people are able to pay for formula. I’m just happy to swtich to cow’s milk (even if it is whole milk and I’m having to buy two different kinds) and leave formula behind.

Now if I could just get Lexi to stop shaking the bottle upside down and dripping milk all over the place we’ll be in good shape.

Update: I dropped the price of milk from 2.3 cents per ounce to 1.9. I over-estimated the cost of a gallon of milk (I guessed $3, it’s actually $2.39 right now). So even more savings. Go Lexi! Now if we could just potty-train you… OK, I’m pushing it.

Business & Marketing

I’m Too Minnesota Nice

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photo by moojosI’m not a very confrontational person. Even before making Minnesota my home I lived the concept of ‘Minnesota Nice.’ I’m just not comfortable in confrontational situations.

When those situations involve salespeople, it just gets ugly.

Two examples to make it a little more concrete:

1) Realtors.
This weekend we went to a few open houses and interacted with some realtors. The second guy was typical but he asked the standard question as we left and suddenly it bcame confrontational: “So, what’d you think of the house?” Frankly, the house sucked. Not what we wanted, terribly boring, shoddy craftsmanship. But I can’t say that to the guy. I mumbled something about not having what we needed, and then thankfully my cell phone rang (never thought I’d enjoy that interuption).

But it was the first realtor who was the worst. Awkward. Annoying. Painful. Rather than being a typical pushy salesman, he had the awkwardness of a poor public speaker. He followed us around the entire house, pointing out the obvious features like a kid trying to show off his toys: “How do you like these high ceilings?” He never gave us a moment’s peace to privately tell each other what we thought. I just wanted to scream, “Back off!” I managed to honestly tell him what we didn’t like about the house (bad location) but what I really wanted to tell him was that his demeanor was enough to send buyers screaming for the hills. I imagined his only business came from friends and relatives who felt obligated.

Continue reading I’m Too Minnesota Nice →

Music

Shaun Groves Is Still Cool

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For those keeping score at home, indie musician Shaun Groves did not topple Amy Grant as the FreeMusicFriday.com queen. Apparently Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith still proudly hold that title, though Shaun Groves, Sara Groves (no relation) and Jake Smith managed to bring in the third most visits to FreeMusicFriday.com. There’s just no beating Amy Grant and Smitty. They’re unstoppable.

But Shaun is still cool.

His blog offers a lovely little peek behind the curtain of the contemporary Christian music world (which is something you may not want to see). His series of entries “The Jesus You Never Heard” is a great example. Basically a controversial lyric in one of his songs was causing problems for a Christian bookstore buyer and was going to be yanked from the CD. But then he does an interview for an article about it and only the inflamatory comments make it into the story, stripped of their context. And now Shaun is turning it into a separate exploration of Christian radio. Good stuff. (Be sure to catch part 4, it’s not linked from the first three parts)

Music

Amazing Grace by Justin McRoberts

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Justin McRoberts' Amazing GraceSpeaking of new music, you might want to check out Justin McRoberts’ version of “Amazing Grace”–you can listen to it at MySpace or buy it from iTunes.

There are a only a few songs I’m willing to listen to multiple versions of–U2’s “One” is one of them and “Amazing Grace” is another one (my dad has a CD with nothing but different versions of “Amazing Grace”–that’s a little overboard for my taste).

Justin’s version is backed with the Lily of the Valley Gospel Choir (read more about how the song came together). I got to hear it a few months back when Justin played a rare Green Bay show and we happened to be in Green Bay. He played it off his laptop for me and my first reaction was “It reminds me of ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ from Rattle & Hum.” Justin smiled.

The song is also helping to abolish modern-day slavery in a partnership with The Amazing Change. In conjunction with the new movie Amazing Grace there’s a call to become an abolitionist. Sounds like a familiar idea.

Music

Shaun Groves Wants to Kick Amy Grant’s Ass

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OK, so those are my words not his, but indie artist Shaun Groves (who was recently dropped from Rocketown records, basically thanks to music piracy–it’s a longer story than that, but it would take me too long to find the link–scour around at Shaun’s blog if you like, he’s got lots of insightful stuff) wants to get more downloads at MyFreeMusicFriday.com than legend Amy Grant. The song is a free mp3 download–no sign ups, no giving them your e-mail address, no nothing. Just scroll down to Shaun Groves (he’s the third artist, there at the bottom) and click on “Click here to download ‘Miss Texas'”.

And it’s only available today. So get moving.

Continue reading Shaun Groves Wants to Kick Amy Grant’s Ass →

Children

Lexi’s First Birthday

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Happy Birthday to Lexi!We celebrated Lexi’s first birthday last night. We had lots of fun opening presents, hanging out with some friends we hadn’t seen in a while, and watching babies eat cake (before you get too excited, Lexi didn’t make much of a mess).

It’s hard to believe I have a one-year-old now. She’s hardly a baby anymore. This whole fatherhood thing seems like a time acceleration device.