Chauvin Trial Concludes
Just under a year ago George Floyd was murdered in police custody under the knee of Derek Chauvin. Today our whole family gathered around as news of a verdict announcement in the murder trial was made just a day after jury deliberation started. We all watched history as a guilty verdict was announced on each of the three charges.
This isn’t the end, but is an important step as our community reckons with racism. I found myself on the verge of tears at the announcement, relieved of some anxiety and hopeful about our ability to learn, get better, and move forward.
I’ve went back to my thoughts on Floyd’s killing and I am so appreciative of the conversations and learning that has occurred. With that said, I’ve also gained a better appreciation for how much work there is to be done.
I think it is time that the city memorialize George Floyd Square, as a tribute to what will be an inflection point toward a better community for all Minnesotans.


I got my second shot of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine this morning! ๐๐โณ
Many people I know have not felt well after the second dose so Iโm feeling hypochondria a bit. Hoping for the best! ๐ค
Crypto Allocation (April 2021)
I’ve been building out my approach to crypto. I shared my allocation in March and updated it this weekend.
Notes:
- I’ve been increasing Ethereum to get closer to Bitcoin.
- Bitcoin and Ethereum together are 80%.
- Increased the amount of Cardano as an additional Ethereum-like blockchain.
- Doubled Filecoin, which builds a permanence layer on IPFS.
- Added Curve DAO because of the focus on cost-efficient swapping between stablecoins.
- Added Enjin because of the focus on NFTs.
I’m sharing this as my own notes for any value they may have to others.
The information provided on this website does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other sort of advice and you should not treat any of the content as such. This website does not recommend that any cryptocurrency should be bought, sold, or held by you. Conduct your own due diligence and consult your financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
We hung The Frame by Samsung today and I am impressed with it. It is discrete. The picture quality is good. It is fun to have different art on it and with the press of a button you can watch a show.


Stopped by Five Watt Coffee for the first time since the pandemic and got an Iced Kingfield, my favorite fancy coffee drink. So good. Thank you Paul for the coffee!
We checked out Vivir for brunch this morning and were blown away. We got the Torta and the Chilaquiles Verde. Delicious. Will be back! ๐คค


Had a great ride this morning on Matt Wilpers 75-minute Power Zone Endurance Ride. My first 75 minute ride so a PR by default. 815 kJ. Definitely started to gas out after 60 minutes. ๐ด๐ป #FitByFifty
Emoji Vaccine Status
I like the idea of using Emoji to indicate status. Fun!
Okay, looks like we're doing this. If you also want to participate, change your Twitter profile name like:
— Brad Fitzpatrick ๐ป (@bradfitz) April 16, 2021
Name ๐โณ
Name ๐๐โณ
Name ๐๐๐
Name ๐๐
(Where ๐ means your post-final shot waiting period is over and โณ means you're waiting for either 2nd shot or freedom) https://t.co/5gEebRhUMp
Related: Cocktail Emoji Triples.
From todayโs Economist Espresso:
Pfizerโs chief executive said that people everywhere are likely to need a third dose of covid-19 vaccine within 12 months, with annual boosters for the foreseeable future to keep abreast of viral variants. His remarks, made on April 1st, were disclosed yesterday. The White House said that America is already preparing for the need to administer booster shots.
Covid-19 isnโt going to โgo awayโ. I fully expect weโll be getting annual vaccinations for several years. With science and knowledge we will be able to manage it.
2021 Minnesota Aspirations in Computing Award Ceremony
Great night joining the Minnesota Aspirations in Computing Award Ceremony tonight and recognizing so many young women that are making their mark in STEM. I also want to welcome our four #TeamSPS summer interns Ezigbo, Caroline, Claire, and Cecelia to SPS Commerce. I canโt wait to see what you create! Lastly, a huge thanks to Jade Denson of MnTech for emceeing and bringing so much fun and energy to the event!
See Aspirations Awards events from 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, or 2024.
Reading List: Think Again
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant arrived today. This book hit my radar via Three Star Leadership and Tools & Toys. “Itโs about the learning culture between your ears.โ That put this in on my list right away! ๐
Got my Elgato Key Light added to my setup. Having it attach to the desk is key for the standing position. It is also nice to be able to control color and brightness from the Stream Deck. It can get very bright too. ๐
Mazie finished her LEGO Grand Piano build today. It is one of the most intricate LEGO I have ever seen.
You can connect it to your phone and it will respond to, or move, the piano keys.
I started building the LEGOยฎ NASA Apollo Saturn V this morning. Iโve wanted to build this for a long time. ๐


Managing Global Tech Teams During a Pandemic
Presented by: Jamie Thingelstad, Shivani Stumpf, Amy Patton, Teddy Bekele, and Jadee Hanson on September 15, 2020.
Todayโs technology teams thrive on collaboration and agile processes to deliver innovative solutions. Managing a mix of on-site and remote professionals was easy, but what happened when everyone suddenly was remote. How did management change? What was easier? And harder? Hear from local technology executives about their highs, lows and learnings during this time and what changes they predict are here to stay. Theyโll address how they hired, onboarded, trained, and promoted individuals, as well as how their solutions stayed on course and how they spurred innovation.
Todayโs project: Pork butt time on the Big Green Egg! Stack of wood chunks to pump up the smoke. ๐คค๐๐ฅ
Smoking along at 2pm. Will be time to wrap soon. 145-150 temperature.

Registered thingelstad.eth on ENS
In my continuing exploration and learning about Ethereum I decided to setup what would be my usual entry on the Ethereum Name Service (ENS). The same way the Domain Name Service (DNS) converts names like thingelstad.com into something computers can use, ENS can convert thingelstad.eth into the wallet address I prefer for Ethereum, and other crypto as well.
ENS is a companion to DNS. Mostly it holds addresses for crypto destinations. It also can hold additional metadata like pointers to your Twitter and Github profiles, as well as your website, email address, and profile image. ENS is completely decentralized like all things on Ethereum. It is operated and governed via a series of smart contracts.
The process is super easy, as one might expect. You simply connect to your wallet. I use Rainbow for all my Ethereum dapps connections. To buy the domain name you execute a series of two transactions on the blockchain. In fact, all changes to your ENS entries are changes on the blockchain. Some of them have fees, and all of them cost Ethereum gas. After registering the domain, you have to set your resolver. The resolver is saying which contract should requesters ask for information from. Think of this as your DNS host records. You can then add any number of crypto addresses to your entry. I setup Ethereum (of course), Bitcoin, Litecoin, Cardano, and Filecoin. It is unclear to me that there is any benefit in setting up all of them, but that was the list I thought may get used.
The last step is to create a reverse entry for your wallet. That is just like your Reverse DNS entry. Doing that allows dapps to show your friendly thingelstad.eth entry instead of the address. This is another transaction.
You can see the records for thingelstad.eth, it is all setup. I also have the reverse record set. To test, Etherscan Name Lookup for thingelstad.eth works as does the reverse lookup. Nice! ๐
It was fun to do this and another opportunity to get familiar with dapps and Ethereum. Unfortunately this type of experimentation is extremely expensive right now due to gas prices being so high. The actual costs of doing all of the above are very low, but the gas prices to execute the transactions were more than 10x the cost of the thing itself. Right now this is like buying a $10 item on eBay and spending $100 to have it shipped to you.
Lastly, the ENS service operates as a token. My address, thingelstad.eth, is a token that only I own. It is kind of neat that it now shows up in my wallet as well!
Lucky looking so very peaceful as she takes an afternoon nap. ๐ค
Ready to put the steaks on the Big Green Egg! ๐ฅ๐ฅฉ