Can We Skip to the Cookies?

Hey kids, it’s dad. And for today’s Tommylog I want to talk to you about getting to the head of the class. Last week for Drews Cub Scout pack meeting, he saw all the cookies sitting on the table waiting for him. He told mom “Can we skip to 7:15 for the cookies?“ Drew wanted to skip all the hard work and get right to the fun in the spoils of the evening. Sadly it doesn’t work that way.

Who doesn’t want the perks of being the president or CEO of a big company? We’d all like to make millions. We want to be rich. But to do that it requires hard work. We all want what grandma and grandpa have. We see their nice car. We see they own a nice house. But we forget how hard they had to work to get there.

We need to put in the hard work to get the rewards. This is key. There’s no easy way to do that, well unless we win the Powerball :-).

14 Years of Awesome!

Hey, kids, it’s Dad. For today’s TommyLog I want to talk to you about a major milestone in my life. Today is my 14th wedding anniversary with my sweetheart Becky. 14 years together. What an amazing accomplishment!

Over the last 14 years, I’ve learned a lot about marriage. Here are some of the things I’ve learned

Number 1 is communication. If you don’t communicate, the relationship is dead. Number 2, always say I love you. Number 3 find middle ground and try to work together. Number 4, always say I’m sorry.

These for keys to success have helped make it 14 years. I love you, Becky, more and more every day.

The Power of Encouragement

Hey, kids, it’s Dad. For today’s TommyLog I want to talk to you about a situation that happened last week. I was working on a project for work. being new, things are not 100% clicking yet and probably won’t for some time. That perfectly ok in my book, that’s what learning is all about.

Ok, so I’m struggling with an assignment. I was getting down on myself and I was pretty dejected actually. I reached out to my buddy Scott who is mentoring me on the project. I explained to him what was happening. I said I was spinning my wheels here, I was pretty down and BAM…in 5 seconds he said something that totally changed my perspective. he said, “Hey, I’ve been there and you are much closer to the solution that you think.”

Those few words of encouragement were all I needed. My day 100% changed from dark and gloomy to bright and smiling. it’s amazing what some encouragement can do. Kids we need to reach out to someone today, give them some encouragement with hopes it will turn a frown, upside down.

Have a Good Backup Plan

Hey, kids, it’s Dad. For today’s TommyLog I want to talk to you about data. computer data and having a good, solid backup plan. Since I’m running Mac OS X, I use Time Machine to a hands-free, automatic backup, but I also make multiple backups. I use cloud services like google drive, Dropbox and Backblaze. I have external hard drives that I use for backups. I have backups of backups.

Ok, let’s move to everyday life for a moment. Do you have a solid backup plan if things so south? Maybe it’s your evening activities or a vacation.

What’s your backup plan? Always be thinking about plan b!

I love you kids!

Be More Like Kris – RIP

Hey kids, It’s Dad and for today’s Tommylog I want to talk to you about my great friend Kris and her daughter Danielle. Kris was one of the strongest people I knew. Kris lost her 3+ year battle with ALS this weekend.

My heart goes out to the entire family at their time of loss. I’m so sorry! Kris meant so much to so many people. This world was blessed to have Kris in it and I am a better person for knowing Kris. We can all learn to be strong like Kris.

Kris, till we meet again!