Stollen Article

So while sitting here on my lunch break I read this article on things babies born in 2011 will never know... Some I agree with and good riddance, some make me sad. My Comments are in Blue... for some items. Thanks yahoo!


1. Video tape: Starting this year, the news stories we produce here at Money Talks have all been shot, edited, and distributed to TV stations without ever being on any kind of tape. Not only that, the tape-less broadcast camera we use today offers much higher quality than anything that could have been imagined 10 years ago -- and cost less than the lens on the camera we were using previously. That's fine, we don't have a way to play them anyway.

2. Travel agents: While not dead today, this profession is one of many that's been decimated by the Internet. When it's time for their honeymoon, will those born in 2011 be able to find one?

3. The separation of work and home: When you're carrying an email-equipped computer in your pocket, it's not just your friends who can find you -- so can your boss. For kids born this year, the wall between office and home will be blurry indeed. Some people brought work home even before technology made it easy, this isn't new in my opinion it's a matter of what you chose to bring home.

4. Books, magazines, and newspapers: Like video tape, words written on dead trees are on their way out. Sure, there may be books -- but for those born today, stores that exist solely to sell them will be as numerous as record stores are now. With who this child's grandparents are I have no doubt she'll know what books are!

5. Movie rental stores: You actually got in your car and drove someplace just to rent a movie?

6. Watches: Maybe as quaint jewelry, but the correct time is on your smartphone, which is pretty much always in your hand. I can't imagine not wearing a watch, and yes I use it!

7. Paper maps: At one time these were available free at every gas station. They're practically obsolete today, and the next generation will probably have to visit a museum to find one.

8. Wired phones: Why would you pay $35 every month to have a phone that plugs into a wall? For those born today, this will be a silly concept. We still have a home phone

9. Long distance: Thanks to the Internet, the days of paying more to talk to somebody in the next city, state, or even country are limited.

10. Newspaper classifieds: The days are gone when you have to buy a bunch of newsprint just to see what's for sale.

11. Dial-up Internet: While not everyone is on broadband, it won't be long before dial-up Internet goes the way of the plug-in phone. Do people even still have dial up?

12. Encyclopedias: Imagine a time when you had to buy expensive books that were outdated before the ink was dry. This will be a nonsense term for babies born today.

13. Forgotten friends: Remember when an old friend would bring up someone you went to high school with, and you'd say, "Oh yeah, I forgot about them!" The next generation will automatically be in touch with everyone they've ever known even slightly via Facebook.

14. Forgotten anything else: Kids born this year will never know what it was like to stand in a bar and incessantly argue the unknowable. Today the world's collective knowledge is on the computer in your pocket or purse. And since you have it with you at all times, why bother remembering anything? It's fun to watch those arguments though, that's sad.

15. The evening news: The news is on 24/7. And if you're not home to watch it, that's OK -- it's on the smartphone in your pocket.

16. CDs: First records, then 8-track, then cassette, then CDs -- replacing your music collection used to be an expensive pastime. Now it's cheap(er) and as close as the nearest Internet connection.

17. Film cameras: For the purist, perhaps, but for kids born today, the word "film" will mean nothing. In fact, even digital cameras -- both video and still -- are in danger of extinction as our pocket computers take over that function too. I would still love to have a dark room in my house... even though I use my digital camera these days, it would be fun to do again.

18. Yellow and White Pages: Why in the world would you need a 10-pound book just to find someone? Someone needs to tell them to stop delivering to our house then!

19. Catalogs: There's no need to send me a book in the mail when I can see everything you have for sale anywhere, anytime. If you want to remind me to look at it, send me an email.
20. Fax machines: Can you say "scan," ".pdf" and "email?" These can go away now! I hate our fax machine at work.

21. One picture to a frame: Such a waste of wall/counter/desk space to have a separate frame around each picture. Eight gigabytes of pictures and/or video in a digital frame encompassing every person you've ever met and everything you've ever done -- now, that's efficient. Especially compared to what we used to do: put our friends and relatives together in a room and force them to watch what we called a "slide show" or "home movies."

22. Wires: Wires connecting phones to walls? Wires connecting computers, TVs, stereos, and other electronics to each other? Wires connecting computers to the Internet? To kids born in 2011, that will make as much sense as an electric car trailing an extension cord.

23. Hand-written letters: For that matter, hand-written anything. When was the last time you wrote cursive? In fact, do you even know what the word "cursive" means? Kids born in 2011 won't -- but they'll put you to shame on a tiny keyboard. I remember thinking cursive was stupid to learn when I had to learn it, everything needed to be typed back then!

24. Talking to one person at a time: Remember when it was rude to be with one person while talking to another on the phone? Kids born today will just assume that you're supposed to use texting to maintain contact with five or six other people while pretending to pay attention to the person you happen to be physically next to. Again, something that you chose to instill in your children... being rude cannot be what is socially accepted!

25. Retirement plans: Yes, Johnny, there was a time when all you had to do was work at the same place for 20 years and they'd send you a check every month for as long as you lived. In fact, some companies would even pay your medical bills, too! Hell, I hope I still know what this is!

26. Mail: What's left when you take the mail you receive today, then subtract the bills you could be paying online, the checks you could be having direct-deposited, and the junk mail you could be receiving as junk email? Answer: A bloated bureaucracy that loses billions of taxpayer dollars annually.

27. Commercials on TV: They're terrifically expensive, easily avoided with DVRs, and inefficiently target mass audiences. Unless somebody comes up with a way to force you to watch them -- as with video on the Internet -- who's going to pay for them?

28. Commercial music radio: Smartphones with music-streaming programs like Pandora are a better solution that doesn't include ads screaming between every song.

29. Hiding: Not long ago, if you didn't answer your home phone, that was that -- nobody knew if you were alive or dead, much less where you might be. Now your phone is not only in your pocket, it can potentially tell everyone -- including advertisers -- exactly where you are.

Baby Shower #2 (Friends)

Last Sunday was my second baby shower, this one with the women from Josh's core group of guy friends (wives and mothers) and some of my lifelong friends/family. Thanks to Julie Manson for throwing a great shower! Everything was so wonderful, the decorations, food, and atmosphere. Thanks to everyone who came.

2 showers down, 2 more to go before our little one makes her grand entrance!

Baby Shower #1 (Rommels)

So I don't actually have any photos from Christmas of the holiday with family, but Christmas eve was the first of many baby showers, this one with my mom's side of the family before the Christmas festivities began. The men all hid in the basement while the women gathered around the Christmas tree while my cousin Holly and I opened baby presents. She's pregnant with her second child, due 12 days after me. Every now and then you'd see a guy sneak upstairs... I think it took them a while to realize we had all the food, while they had none. Anyway, I got some good stuff, including the pack and play we registered for. Josh and I put it together last night to see how it works, and we're glad we did since it wasn't as fast as we thought, we needed the practice setting all this baby stuff up!

Here are some pictures from the shower.

Baby.... Stuff for lack of a better word

So everything seems to be going well still in baby land. Almost 34 weeks, we're finally feeling like we're closing in on everything. We have the big stuff, but not a lot of little things yet, although we've only had one baby shower out of the 5 that are planned... I'm sure the next few weeks will prove to be way more overwhelming than I could imagine, but great at the same time.

We have a crib and mattress thanks to my mom and step dad, they're still in the box however. Since they are staying at our house for a couple weeks the full size bed is still set up in the nursery... we'll wait until after they leave to take it down and build the crib. We also have a dresser/changing table that we found a while ago on such a good deal we had to buy it. We have a glider and some shelving. Also our friend Kevin was great enough to refinish a family hope chest that we plan on using for more toys etc in her room. We already received our pack and play, which I know will be a life saver with all our stairs in our house, thanks Holly & Sue! My aunt Kathleen also made us a great quilt. It was fun picking out all the fabric and then seeing how she pieced it all together.

Today we met with our pediatrician, we took Jason and Julie's recommendation and met Ella's doctor, who of course is great, and randomly my aunt happens to work the front desk at the clinic. We were sold. We have a child birth class coming up soon, and a tour of the hospital... everything is coming up. For the next week or so while my parents are here we will just enjoy time with family, enjoy another baby shower, and try to relax while things are slow at work.

Here are some pictures of what we've pieced together, even though it's not actually put together or maybe even in the room yet.

Our dresser/changer

The glider

The crib we will build next week after my parents leave

and the quilt from my aunt, love it!

back side of the quilt

You can kind of see the purple walls too



Preparing for Christmas

Over the last few weeks we've been preparing for Christmas... finally done as of this last weekend. The last gift was wrapped and placed under the tree... all the baking was done, and we're ready for my mom and Tim to get here. The decorations of course came out the day after Thanksgiving, after sock shopping at Fred Meyer of course at 5:30 am. I'm sure I'll update more later... but for now I'm exhausted. I'm hoping that tomorrow after work I can come home and relax. I am trying to remember the last time I came home and did nothing... no wrapping presents, no prepping for the baby, no errands on the way home, nowhere to go... might as well do that as much as I can for now! I'll try to do a baby update later this week... maybe even tomorrow if I'm doing nothing. haha.

Waiting by our tree until Josh and John could get to me to cut it down and haul it to the truck. Hard to tell, but it was raining pretty hard all morning.

Putting the tree on top of Wayne's truck.

After letting it dry off for a day... finally up and decorated

You can easily find out house from the big scarey Santa Head on the front door!

We did a bit of baking this last weekend

Anything Like Me

So Brad Paisley has a new song out right now called "Anything Like Me" which of course when I hear I immediately apply to my own life... so I decided to change some of the lyrics to my own life... Enjoy! :o)


I remember sayin' I don't care either way
Just as long as he or she is healthy, I'm okay
And then the doctor pointed to the corner of the screen
And said, "You see that right there? Well, you know what that means"

I started wondering who she was going to be
And I thought heaven help us if she's anything like me
She'll probably climb monkey bars too tall and ride her bike too fast
End up one summer wearin' something in a cast

She's gonna throw a ball and learn to eat outfield grass
On a softball field down the street
She's gonna get in trouble, oh, she's gonna get in fights
I'm gonna lose my temper and some sleep

It's safe to say that I'm gonna get my payback
If she's anything like me

I can see her right now, knees all skinned up
With a magnifying glass tryin' to melt a Barbie face
Won't she be a sight with her volleyball knee pads on?
That'll be her first love 'til her first love comes along

She'll get her heart broke by the time she's in her teens
And heaven help her if she's anything like me

She'll probably stay out too late and drive my car too fast
Keep me staying up all night, waiting for her at last
She's gonna get caught skippin' class
And be grounded for a week

She's gonna get into trouble, we're gonna get in fights
I'm gonna lose my temper and some sleep
It's safe to say that I'm gonna get my payback
If she's anything like me

She's gonna love me, And hate me along the way
The years are gonna fly by, And I already dread the day
She's gonna hug her daddy, she's gonna squeeze me tight
She's gonna act like she can't wait to leave

But as she drives out she'll cry her eyes out
If she's anything like me
There's worst folks to be like, oh, she'll be alright
If she's anything like me

Thanksgiving

This year we spent what we plan on being the last year splitting Thanksgiving into two stops. Starting next year we will pick a family and go there, and only there! We started the day in our traditional Thanksgiving fashion, drinks from Starbucks while looking through the Black Friday ads... yes, it's one of the two newspapers we buy... the other being the day after Christmas. After watching a bit of the parade the Lions game was on, so of course that was on at our house... good thing we could only watch the first half... it went downhill from there. We baked brownies and headed off to our first stop at my step aunt and uncles house in Gresham. After a few hours and a lot of yummy food we headed out to Hillsboro to Josh's parent's house for more food... we got plenty for sure.

Not much else to the day, but here's a family portrait we took when we got home from all our festivities.