Go Aristocrat Yourself

We watched The Aristocrats last night. While I was more entertained than I expected…I was just as uncomfortable as I expected.

Four Highlights:

  • Andy Richter telling the joke to his santa-hat wearing infant. If there’s anyone that completely doesn’t get it…it’s someone that totally lacks language comprehension.
  • Cartman telling the joke on South Park. Making that not funny would be like The Onion telling it and not being funny…wait, The Onion bit wasn’t. Cartman not getting it himself – beautiful.
  • The joke being flipped around, with the tame bit in the middle and the offensive bit at the end. I think the shock/surprise value works better in that order, while still containing the joke’s history and intent.
  • Sarah Silverman taking the joke too personally. “I don’t list The Aristocrats on my resumé anymore….” Ha.

Made me think the joke would make a great podcast…and I smell a satire of Web 2.0 startups in there as well.

When Is Now?

“‘No, no, don’t answer it!’ I yelled. ‘It’s your parents! They’re calling from the future!'” – Jason Kottke

Everytime we catch up to “live” tv with the TiVo, I’m reminded of this exchange from Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs:

Dark Helmet: “What the hell am I looking at? When does this happen in the movie?”

Colonel Sandurz: “Now. You’re looking at now sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now.”

DRM: Doesn’t Really Matter

It’s no secret that folks looking to pick up some new tunes would like to avoid DRM at all costs, but instead of seeing CD sales skyrocket, there’s simply been a general decrease across the board in the whole “music buying scene.” – Darren Murph, Engadget

If I buy CDs these days, it’s directly from the artist. It’s far more likely that I’ll just give my favorite artist a few bucks. Oh, and then there’s this whole DRM-free podcasting-thing.

Minimum Purchases Violate Credit Card Merchant Agreements

“Always honor valid Visa cards, in your acceptance category, regardless of the dollar amount of the purchase. Imposing minimum or maximum purchase amounts is a violation.”

As always, thanks go to Consumerist.com.

The excuse I hear for this behavior is the credit card’s transaction costs (~3-5% of the transaction + a few pennies per transaction + a monthly clearing charge). As Jen reminded me the other day, cash has it’s own transaction costs (employees closing out drawers + transporting cash to bank + making change + slower check outs).

Should I Be Relieved or Concerned?

While undigging from the vacation backlog, I peaked into a BaseCamp account I’m using for a handful of projects and received this message:

Uh. Um. Well. Guess I’ll just toss that To Do list into the trash and head for the beach.

On a related note – while going for my daily walk last Thursday (just happened to be around residential Brussels) I listened to Tim Coyne’s UNKEMPT #12 – Plans.

In it, he digs into a fear I’ve faced head-on more than a couple of times: being responsible for another person’s well-being. Doesn’t matter if this is a partner or a child. The stakes get higher when there’s someone else “riding on your scooter” as Tim puts it.

From my perspective – the good stuff happens on the other side of the fear. There’s something motivating about that obligation.

Hey Tim, metaphorically speaking – maybe it’s time to ditch the scooter. 😉

As always, Tim talks about this fear honestly and openly, if you haven’t given these a listen yet – you should.

5 Tips on International Travel with Toddlers

Here are a few things I thought I’d share with you on traveling internationally with toddlers.

  • Backpacks are better than strollers.
    It’s far easier to get through airports, old European cities, and tour castles with Little C strapped to my back than in a terrain-sensitive stroller. As ill-fitting as our current Kelty is, I couldn’t imagine making the same trip with a stroller. That said, I was skeptical of the backpack when we left. Plus, he loves the view – you can see it in the eyes of the people we pass on the street.
  • Regular schedules aren’t.
    It shouldn’t go without saying that after traveling across 7 time zones our regular like-clockwork schedule wasn’t. Little C required quite a bit more cuddling and personal contact during the 3-4 days he took to adjust. We picked up a couple new board books for him and a few old toys he could rediscover. He slept on our shoulders and spent a lot more time in our arms. I’m good with that.
  • They have babies there to.
    Diapers, baby food, clothes, and all the stuff a toddler needs exists elsewhere – even in foreign countries. Only pack what you need for the travel itself. Our hosts’ car even had the LATCH system for Little C’s car seat. Just cause a place isn’t home don’t mean it isn’t civilized.
  • Walk whenever you can.
    Jen and I would take turns walking Little C around the gates at the airport and Jen walked him up and down the aisle on the trans-Atlantic flights. Sure kept him happier.
  • Have them try the new foods.
    Little C likes spicy interesting foods. On this trip, we discovered he loves pesto, taai-taai, calamari, and still doesn’t like cheese.

Smells Like Home

We’re back in Minneapolis. Probably the least eventful trans-Atlantic journey I’ve ever taken. A couple minor hiccups leaving BRU, but nothing that slowed us down. In fact, despite sitting on the tarmac in the rain for 45 minutes on departure and 20 minutes on arrival while the jet-way wouldn’t connect, then going through customs and security in ORD, we nearly made our original flight to MSP. But, we decided not to stress it and take the next one. Half our luggage went on the first flight and half on the second.

Little C held up like a champ. After 15 hours of travel, he still had a ‘vrooom, vroom’ left in him for each and every truck at the airport.

This time, it wasn’t the car seat with the TSA sticker, it was our mid-sized checked bag, with a sticker saying only: ‘Suspicious’Suspect on slapped to the outside – and a TSA pamphlet on the inside.

Stepping outside of MSP, I got my first whiff of the winter. Cold. Pure, clean, unapologetic cold – like an ice cube to the lungs. Refreshing.