New money, the kind you can only use in compliance with their terms of service.
PayPal: capriciously freezing the assets of all kinds of people.
— John Siracusa (@siracusa) February 7, 2016
Still chuckling about Liam Confrey line “I got a new barber, and he has opinions.”
Espresso rocket!
The Big Short
We saw The Big Short last night and I was simply blown away. Parts of it hilarious, suspenseful, gripping. It had me hooked all the way through. As a story on what really happened it’s also terrifying. See it for some amazing acting, or great cinematography or just for a night at the movies. But take some time as well to just think about what you saw and how much of it is real.
Great Italian food at Italian Eatery.
Mazie and I went to a Daddy Daughter dance tonight. Her favorite thing of the night? “Everything.” That is winning! #DadOps
Caricature from the night.
First Time Curling
This year Tammy surprised me with a first-time curling session from the kids’ school fundraiser. She and I decided to do it together, and we went to the St. Paul Curling Club today. The club is right next to the Happy Gnome on Selby just down from Dale. I had no idea it was there, but it is the oldest Curling Club in America founded in 1912.
The place is cool. There are eight sheets for curling and wonderfully manicured ice. There is also a nicely laid out place to eat and have a drink. The tables are setup for eight so that the two teams of 4 can go upstairs and have a pint with their opponents after the match.
The event started with instruction on scoring, the terms of curling, throwing technique and other technical details. The club members that ran the class did a great job and were a lot of fun.
We went down to the ice after getting instruction along with an on-ice demonstration and started to try some throws. We wore regular tennis shoes, so it wasn’t too hard to stay upright on the ice. People who know what they are doing wear one special show that slides on the ice super easy. Here I am throwing a championship stone down to the house.
Tammy had a lot of fun too.
My initial reactions after first time curling:
- The stone goes very far without that much of a push. It’s amazingly easy to have the stone go through the house and out of bounds.
- Sweeping will get you tired out and a bit sweaty.
- The strategy of curling is very similar to lawn bowling, or at least seemed to me.
- The stone makes a cool rumble like sound when it glides down the ice. I thought that was a cool sound.
Here is my best shot for the day, nearly touching the button.
I definitely would love to give curling another go, and hopefully at the St. Paul Curling Club. I thought that was a perfect place. Also, I’m going to look at doing a team event here for work. It seems like a stellar option for a work event.
Already upgraded! Nice!
We’ve released Day One 2.0!
— Day One Journal (@dayone) February 4, 2016
iOS: https://t.co/RCgS3Fqfdd
Mac: https://t.co/Em45iLZBiX
Good morning! ☕️
Meeting my Brother for the First Time
A year ago I got an email late at night from someone named Isaiah introducing himself to me and sharing that his father’s name was Michael Ringwall. My father’s name is Michael Ringwall. My name was Jamie Ringwall and became Thingelstad when my step-father adopted me. Hence why I have my website at thingelstad.com and not ringwall.com. 😀 My parents got divorced when I was young, and I haven’t seen that side of my family since I was in elementary school.
With that email started dozens of emails back and forth with my brother that I had never met. We exchanged information about our families, interests, and hobbies, our jobs. We sent some pictures back and forth, got to know each other more and discussed getting together at some point. He lives a few hours west of Minneapolis.
We set time to get together in January. We picked the Schell’s Brewery in New Ulm to meet. It was half-way between both of us, and neither of us had been there. We both like beer, so that made a lot of sense. I also figured a brewery tour would be a good way for a couple of guys to get to know each other before we just dove into a conversation. 😀
It’s not every day that you meet your brother for the first time. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say when I got out of the car. It turns out I didn’t need to think much about that. Isaiah came over and right away gave me a big hug and introduced himself.
We had a great afternoon in New Ulm and spent a few hours getting to know each other. There were many times where it was odd that we have similar interests or ways of doing things. That’s DNA for you.
It was great to meet Isaiah and add a brother along with my sister Alona for siblings. I’m looking forward to continuing to get to know him and his wife and son. The experience has me thinking about family, connections, and relationships. I’ve never considered an entire half of my extended family. It’s been enjoyable and healthy to open some of those thoughts back up while getting to know Isaiah.
Barista
Watched Barista last night. For coffee lovers, this is a fun movie that will intrigue you with creative drinks and coffee culture. How about some distilled coffee?
It will also make you cringe when you see someone going on and on about coffee, and realize you do that too.
Remembering how much fun Letterpress is! 🙂
Listening to Lennon Legend this morning. “Imagine” if we all had 36 more years of music from John Lennon.
Love that Bloom County is back. 😊
— Bloom County (@bloomcounty) January 31, 2016
I hope Hans Pinckaers will continue developing En Passant. One of few clean, non-adware chess app for iOS.
Pro RC Racing
Some friends sent me this video from a European Pro RC Race. It’s the most amazing thing ever! Worth a watch. Check out the speed, the passes and the jumps!
So much more they could be doing!
- Where is the real-time telemetry for each car? I want to see scaled MPH for each car.
- I’d love to see the G’s that they are taking on the turns. It seems like a guarantee that these cars are taking turns in a way that no human could actually do.
- Where is the POV video from each car?! Must have streaming video from each car, imagine the POV shot when the aerial pass happens?
This would be even more fun, and those are just the immediate ideas that come to mind!
Fun, I didn’t realize the Mac version of Carcassonne for iOS was out. Playing a game in a background window sounds fun. Would be cool if when you comment/chat in Carcassonne you could specify a tile that the comment is about.
Tammy and I are sending in Ancestry DNA kits. Curious to see what it says.
SPS CFO Kim Nelson honored with TCB Women’s Leadership Award ← Awesome! Congrats to our CFO!