Campfire Reflections

I recently had the opportunity to stay on the bluffs of Duluth, Minnesota. Throughout my stay, I appreciated the finer details of the beauty of nature, and it spurred me to write this: The views overlooking the city and the gleaming water is incredible, but- this is not all that there is The clean smells of spring, the renewing of life with the melting of snow is captivating, but- this is not all that there is The crisp air coming off the lake, rustling through the tall grass with a near cloud-less sky is breathtaking, but- this is not all that there is The soul-warming heat of a campfire on a cool night with nothing but sounds of crackling wood and life down below in the city is sobering, but- this is not all that there is The strong rocks upon which I stood overlooking all this beauty was humbling, but- this is not all that there is I struggle, on a daily basis to even begin to fathom the awe-inspiring, soul-consuming, heart-stirring glory in heaven which is before us wh...

|| Why the Twin Cities is the Best Place to Live in 2018 ||  2/17/18 You Betcha. Uff Daa. Minnesnowta. While all funny attributes of the 32nd state to join the Union, Minnesota is a diamond in the rough of the Midwest. Surrounded by Tim-Horton-loving Canucks to our North, heads of our former presidents carved in a mountain to our West, vast and flat corn fields to our South, and cheeseheads to our East, 'sota' is the place I call home and have fallen in love with. At first glance, Minnesota might not seem like the best place to plant roots, but nothing could be further from the truth- and yes, contrary to popular belief, Minnesota DOES actually have 4 seasons- not just winter.  As a preface, I don't want this article to be a " Twin Cities vs. the US" piece , but rather a candid conversation sh aring my experiences and observations as someone that has lived in the state a little less than 3 years. I come from the neighbor to the east, Wisconsin. I lived ther...

|| Feb. 13th, 2015 Velvet, leather, dice, switch buttons, they're all things that tech designers have used to imitate in their software. Most notably, Apple. If you can think back to pre-iOS 7 versions and their incorporation of the above mentioned elements, you can remember how Game Center used the velvet to imitate a poker table, which signified "gaming." Leather? Apple had a place for that too.  Other than it being a really long word, (yes, I had to add it to my clipboard so I can just paste it while writing this) skeuomorphism is on the decline- and that’s a good thing. For those of you who don’t know, skeuomorphism, according to a simple Google search states this: “Skeuomorphism is the design concept of making items represented resemble their real-life counterparts.” Simple, right? The most prominent of examples of skeuomorphism, was used in Apple’s iOS. Former iOS genius, Scott Forstall created the earlier iOS’s with heavy skeuomorphism. This included...

This past week I ran into a problem many people make. Forgetting their wallet (or purse) at home and needing to purchase food, gas or anything while out and about. Fortunately for me, the merchant accepted contactless payments (CPs), and I went about my day. Often times (call me lazy) I don’t feel like pulling out my wallet, pulling out the card I want, swiping, then putting the card back and putting the wallet back in my pocket- especially when I have to do it multiple times a day. Ever since I upgraded to the Nexus 6, I find myself holding my phone instead of it being in my pocket, mostly due to its larger size. Because of this, a store or restaurant having a contactless terminal makes it that much easier for me to hover my phone and be on my way. With the use of cash transactions on the decline and credit/debit forecasted to overtake cash transactions within the next 5 years , the usefulness of CPs is ever growing. So, to get back to the title. Why do I use it...