Cole Conrad

Rory Daniel Conrad was born at 3:25a today weighing in at 9lb 3oz and 21" long. Both he and Courtney are doing great. He’s got such a great demeanor much like Riley did when he was born. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers!

When Courney and I were first engaged we both agreed that we wouldn’t start a family until we turned 30. Two and a half years ago I turned 27 less than a month after our son Riley was born. Over these two and half years we’ve grown as a family in so many ways. We’ve sold our home, moved to a completely new city, sold our cars and donated most of our possessions to live a simpler life without a robust support system of friends and family like we had in Memphis. Courtney is able to stay at home with Riley and we make it work on half our previous income in a city that’s twice as expensive to live in. Every parent out there knows this but parenthood isn’t something you come into knowing how to do. You make choices and adjust as you go, constantly monitoring and considering everything. We’re really happy with the big choices we’ve made since Riley was born and not so happy with some smaller ones (but that’s for another day). At the end of 2015 we were ready to grow our family and in February we got the great news that we’re having a second child. Usually people share this on social media much sooner than I am but we chose not to. It’s been fun to tell people individually over the last few months. We’re having another boy and we can’t wait to meet him in November. The holidays are going to have a new blessing and a new chapter for us as a family. I can confidently say that we’re ready for it.

When Tweetbot introduced the new Topics feature a few weeks back I didn’t see a use case for myself. Last week, that changed. I once wrote I’d be recommending music here and then went on to write a couple of reviews only to find that it takes a better understanding of music theory to properly convey what’s good about an album. I spent a lot of time waffling over getting the descriptions of the albums I was recommending just right. I wanted the words to convey the physical and emotional feel I would get from an album but I couldn’t articulate it to the degree I wanted in longer form.

Let me lay my “political” views out here for the first time by linking to this intimate piece by Albert McMurry. It presents a fear I can’t understand but can damn well prevent from growing. As a father, voter and community member I can do something. As a white male I have no excuse for apathy on the subject of racism. The simple fact that Donald Trump’s statements, demeanor and actions towards any race other than caucasian is fueled by hatred is exactly why he won’t get my vote.

If you’re just getting started listening to podcasts or looking for more content from your favorite creators you need to check this out. Issue #1 just dropped and it’s just fantastic.

Courtney and I use our Zojirushi stainless steel mugs every day. I have the 16oz model with SlickSteel interior and use mine for coffee while she has the 20oz model with non-stick interior which she uses for water since we have a professional liquid spiller on duty 24/7. We LOVE these vessels as they keep our drinks hot for hours or cold for days and keep spilling to a minimum. The only complaint I have about the Zojirushi mugs can’t really be registered as a formal complaint as it all has to do with how I care for my mug (or the lack of care in this case). I tend to leave my empty or nearly empty mug in my bag or on the counter overnight during the week more often that I’d like to admit. Recently I noticed that my (artis-anal) coffee was sour and the inside of my mug was coffee stained and was no longer that beautiful polished chrome steel that I originally unpacked. I turned to the internet and found I wasn’t alone. While the image below is 10 stages beyond what the inside of my mug looked like, I was seeing similar staining as the bottom of the mug in this picture.

One of the first things I do after moving [1] is find a church. This typically leads to strife when it comes to worship. Before I join a church I want to be able to fall into the worship as that’s where I often am closest and most connected with God. More than that I want my church to take the craft of worship seriously and understand it’s importance in the culture of the world outside the church doors. I’ve been lucky to attend two different churches that do just that and have created two really great albums in doing so.

Are you a fan of technology? Do you like art? Would you like to find others with similar interests? Using the latest technology and today’s most important minds, Sandwich Video in partnership with The McGarblin Group and Ludlow Ventures bring you these answers and more on Computer Show. Be sure to stay tuned for more episodes soon[0].

When Apple Music launched nearly three months ago there was only one option to move libraries and playlists from Spotify or rdio and it was cumbersome and time constrained at best. Now that we’re nearing the end of the three month trial I’ve needed to embark on migrating my wife’s music from Spotify over to Apple Music so we can cancel Spotify. Her Spotify music library is pretty small at about 1,000 songs spread across 5 playlists but manually migrating them was not what I was looking to spend my weekend doing. Last night I checked to see if there were any new solutions to automate this and was pleasantly surprised to find an app simply called Move to Apple Music.

Courtney and I switched to Simple for our primary banking needs almost two years ago. Today’s announcement is another reason we haven’t looked back since. Simple is a bank that treats it’s customers like grown ups (and I’m a fan of these types of companies). They work to build lifelong relationships that enhance their customer’s ability to manage their money in a more responsible way using technology with a human touch. Removing the few (and minimal fees) that they previously had is just another action that proves those intentions.