POAP just published the Year in POAP 2023 with highlights of the year. POAP is one of my favorite crypto projects! I’ve issued a bunch of them! It was great to see the POAP I made for 20 Years of Olson Family Vacations highlighted in the Year in POAP!

Sam’s Christmas Village and Light Show

We made our first trip to Sam’s Christmas Village and Light Show to see the 12 million lights that they have on display. It was our favorite holiday light display we have been to. They have music playing, concessions, hot cocoa, Santa visits, and holiday music playing while you walk around the area.

Giant illuminated Santa Claus light sculpture forming an archway entrance with a glowing yellow tunnel beyond, visitors walking through at night Four people in winter coats and hats standing together inside a large tunnel of green and white holiday lights at night. Illuminated Christmas tree sculptures in red, blue, and green fill an outdoor display at night, with glowing snowmen and a unicorn in the background Illuminated nutcracker soldier figure and colorful light-wrapped trees beside a large lighted entrance sign at night Giant illuminated Santa Claus light sculpture holding a green gift box, surrounded by metal barriers and colorful light-wrapped trees at night. Silhouettes of people standing before a large illuminated globe sculpture made of blue and gold LED lights showing Earth's continents at night Two people in winter coats and hats pose inside the O of a large illuminated LOVE sign at an outdoor holiday light display. Three large light-covered snowman sculptures with top hats and red scarves glow white at night outdoors, beside a blue ornament display. Large American flag made of red white and blue LED lights at night flanked by trees wrapped in blue holiday lights Large green LED light sculpture of a military tank with yellow wheel details, a lit Santa figure visible behind it at night

Strava 2023 Year in Sport

Took in Tinsel Town at O’Donavon’s today with Tammy’s sisters and Olson bro-in-laws.

Two people smiling together in front of a lit Christmas wreath with a red bow on a red curtain backdrop. Four men smiling together inside a bar decorated floor to ceiling with Christmas ornaments, tinsel, and holiday lights. Couple holding Irish coffee glasses at a holiday-decorated bar, woman wearing a Merry Christmas sweater, man in plaid shirt and blazer

We had friends over and played SHEEPLE: The Best Game in the Ewe-niverse for the first time. It was a fun game to play in a group with a lot of laughs. Recommended.

Colorful board game called Sheeple in progress on a table with several sheep-shaped player pieces on the winding path.

People & Blogs: Me!

When I first heard of Manuel Moreale’s People and Blogs project, I knew it was something I wanted to subscribe to and support. Keeping the web personal is vital to me. I love personal websites and blogs. A newsletter that shines a light on both sounded fabulous and would tell the stories of how we keep the web personal.

I was even more excited when Manuel invited me to participate! Issue 16 was released today: P&B: Jamie Thingelstad! 🤩

Here is a complete list of the previous people:

  1. Manton Reece
  2. Rachel J. Kwon
  3. Kev Quirk
  4. Brian Koberlein
  5. Toby Shorin
  6. Andrea Contino
  7. Ana Rodrigues
  8. Jim Nielsen
  9. Ray Thomas
  10. Jamie Crisman
  11. Piper Haywood
  12. Chris Coyier
  13. Robin Rendle
  14. Nicolas Magand
  15. Eli Mellen

Sign up to get new issues or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Tammy and I went to The Holdovers tonight at the Mann Theatres in Edina. We both enjoyed the movie and particularly liked the retro feel and pace of it. Plus great acting and a good story.

Movie poster for The Holdovers showing three people standing over a shattered ornament, releasing October 27

It was fun to be able to speak at the Mntech Tech Outlook 2024 event today. Dan Abdul, Sarah Engstrom, Eric Hanson, and I introduced our companies and covered a lot of ground with Jeff Tollefson moderating. Topics ranged from GenAI, talent development, technology strategy, and more.

Four panelists posing together on a small stage after a tech conference presentation, flanked by two white high-top tables.

Upgraded to OmniFocus 4

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of OmniFocus 4.0 and today is the day! I haven’t used any of the betas so it is all new to me. It was an easy decision to upgrade because OmniFocus is one of my most frequently used apps and the cornerstone of my GTD system.

I upgraded three Macs, my iPhone, iPad, and was excited to see a proper Apple Watch version that now runs completely independently.

My initial impressions:

  1. The user experience is a big change. It will take me a bit to get used to it, but I can already see how it is more streamlined.
  2. The logical role of perspectives in the user experience is way better.
  3. Love that the Apple Watch version is useful. I never used the previous version and it hadn’t been updated in years. This one I will use.
OmniFocus 4 promotional graphic showing a checkmark logo over a glowing green moon above a dark forest with purple aurora lighting

I was excited to be the first to claim tonight’s MN Blockchain Holiday Party POAP! Also see related POAPs.

Circular badge for MNblockchain 2023 Happy Holidays featuring a Minneapolis winter skyline under northern lights with snow-covered pine trees.