Besides, who doesn’t love a dancing zebra?

(If the end of the video doesn’t make sense, check out the bizarre Ojai Valley Taxidermy commercial featuring Chuck Testa.)

(via The Best of YouTube)

I don’t have the cable to our camera, so a couple of cell phone pictures are all I can post right now.

For those who are into details, he was born at 8:25 PM and was 8 pounds, 7 ounces, and 20.5 inches long.

Jamie was amazing! I know that’s kind of the husband thing to say, but really. Contractions started at 1:00 and she let me know at 2:00 that she thought it might be the real deal. She dropped the kids off with friends and drove in for her previously-scheduled 4:20 midwife appointment. After getting confirmation at the appointment that she needed to go to the hospital (she was at 6 cm), we made a pit stop at Jamba Juice (a natural move when you’re experiencing painful contractions, right?) and got to the hospital at 5:30. 3 hours later we had Cameron in our arms.

We were able to get the same hospital room that we were in when we had Kaylee last March, which really means a lot to us. Really, we have nothing but superb things to say about the entire staff here at St. Joseph’s. Seriously, if you’re in the market for a place to have a kid, you won’t get a better recommendation than what I give this place. We walked in and the nurse who was with us when we had Kaylee saw us and gave us a big hug. Just about everyone here is like that. Our only regret is that we weren’t able to come here when we had the twins.

Jamie even got the midwife she wanted, which was pretty awesome since they work on a rotation.

So there you have it. The guys probably quit reading at the stats and the girls are upset I didn’t write more details.

We’re ecstatic, thrilled, excited, happy, humbled, and everything else that comes with having a kid. I wasn’t sure what to expect this time around. I thought I might take less pictures than I did with the twins; I think I’ve taken more. His birth was more emotional than I thought it would be, probably due in large part to what we went through with Kaylee last year.

Anyway, I’m a very lucky guy.

LA Fitness ant hill

Text: “Please do not use the lockers close to the ant hill. This is being addressed. Thank you”

Also, the guy on the right is awesome. I love the effect he adds with the strings above the fretboard. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen anyone do that before.

(via The Daily What)

On a historic front, we’d still have segregation (or even slavery). Women wouldn’t be able to vote.

Today’s issue advocates would have no hope of swaying sitting politicians to their own way of thinking, whether it’s on a heated issue such as abortion or a relatively mundane issue such as transportation funding. Once a politician lets their view be known, there would be no going back.

But this is ridiculous. This doesn’t reflect real life. Most of us change our minds about various things every day. We make the mundane decision to let our kids have the popsicle we initially said they couldn’t have. We make rather significant changes in our views of God, whether it’s who he is or whether he even exists.

But when we find a case of a politician who’s been in the limelight for 20 or 40 years changing position at some point in his career, we decide he has no spine and can’t be trusted. I don’t understand this.

Don’t get me wrong, if a politician has changed his position on an issue that’s critical to you and you now disagree with him where you once agreed, then don’t support him. But don’t resort to character assassination simply because of his change in position.

We all go through experiences that affect us, mold us, and ultimately change us. I hope nobody ever reaches a point where they’re incapable of being molded. That’s a pretty scary place to be.

If a politician supported a tax increase in 1990 during a severe budget deficit and a tax decrease in 1998 during a budget surplus and is now campaigning on a platform of holding the line on taxes, it would be insincere to label him a “tax and spend liberal” because of his 1990 decision.

Similarly, if a politician once opposed [insert controversial social issue here] but now supports it, that simply tells me he’s had some experience that has convinced him that he was wrong and needed to change his stance.

There are certainly politicians whose opinions change with public opinion polls. I’m not suggesting that we should never hold politicians accountable for their shifting positions. Frankly, politicians often dig their own graves by failing to acknowledge that they ever changed their minds in the first place. Instead, they spend 10 minutes taking their listeners down a convoluted path in an attempt to show that they really never did change their position. This wordplay is ridiculous and deserves to be called out.

But in general, I’m okay with “flip-flopping.” In many cases, I’m relying on politicians to change their positions for legislation I support to have any chance of passing. If a politician can give me a good reason he changed his position, I’m willing to accept it and move on.

What about you?

To illustrate the power of timing and photographic quality, check out this summer photo of the same Flatirons:

Not quite the same “wow” factor the second time around.

(via Reddit, Big Daddy Maps)

Carson with a tractor on 10/14/11 at Pine Tree Apple Orchard in White Bear Lake, MN

My son is obsessed with tractors. I’ve never operated a tractor in my life, but all it took was a ride on his great-grandpa’s tractor and he was hooked. The photo above was taken at an apple orchard. After our tractor wagon ride was over, he wouldn’t even eat his pizza – one of his favorite meals – without asking for the tractor and finally getting down after just a few bites to run after the parked tractors. He could have stood in their presence all night.

Jamie got “My First Tractor Board Book” from the library a few weeks later. After renewing it twice, we figured it was time to break down and just buy the book. He often would come asking for the “da-der book” and wouldn’t settle down until it was found. He went to sleep with it every night for weeks.

The book was $6 through Amazon new, or a penny used. Of course, $3.99 shipping was added to that, but I’m just cheap enough to spend $2 less for a used book that I expect to take a beating anyway. The item was described as in good condition, which was good enough for me.

The book arrived pretty much as described with one exception: numerous pages stuck together. This is a board book. Pages don’t just stick together unless it really hasn’t been cleaned. We took a washcloth to it and it was fine, but it was still annoying enough that I left the seller a 3-star rating (out of 5), noting,  “I expected wear, as noted in the seller’s comments, but didn’t expect pages to be stuck together. A simple washcloth fixed it but that should have been taken care of before shipping. Product was shipped quickly though and the item was otherwise in good condition.”

It was a simple problem, easily solved. It was slightly unprofessional but hey, the seller made a whole penny (okay, so we all know that the “handling” in “shipping and handling” is really just “pocket change”). It wasn’t a big deal.

I got a 6-paragraph email from the seller shortly after leaving the feedback. It detailed my complaint, explained that they’d recently moved warehouses and were working out kinks with staff who were going through a “learning process,” apologized, noted that they forwarded my feedback to management, and issued a full refund of all $4 I’d spent.

The refund confirmation I received via email was almost laughable given the amount being refunded:

Here’s the breakdown of your refund for this item:

Shipping Refund: $3.99
Item Refund: $0.01

Now, the seller also asked if I’d remove my comment, though they made it clear I didn’t need to and the refund came with no strings attached. It was sort of an exchange of good will, and I was happy to take part. Apparently Amazon considers any rating other than a 4 or 5 to be negative and it reflects badly on the seller.

I have to commend the seller, your_online_bookstore. They did a top-notch job of taking the time to respond to a problem that they wanted resolved. But I also have to give due credit to Amazon. I love using the site and this just reconfirmed my support. Instilling this kind of accountability with their sellers is part of what helps ensure the customer gets the best experience possible.

Amazon is doing what the big box retailers are really struggling with. They’re focusing their business on meeting their customers’ needs, not meeting their own organizational preferences. Amazon takes the phrase, “The customer is always right,” and applies it very literally. The seller could have easily argued that, sticky pages or not, the book was still in good condition and my “neutral” rating wasn’t warranted. But they didn’t. I said, “Meh,” and they took that as, “Hey, that’s not good enough!”

Consider me a very happy Amazon customer who won’t hesitate to keep coming back.

Albert Pujols hits one against the Cubs at Chicago's Wrigley Field on 9/19/08

Boom! Another question in the inbox! This one comes from Toby via Twitter:

Am a new fan of your blog… Without sharing my opinion, I’d like to hear your thoughts about Pujols and steroids. #ingeneral

Thanks for being a new fan Toby! New fans are awesome. They tell you you’re still relevant, hip, and happening. They give me warm fuzzies. They’re like new socks. Sure, the old socks are familiar, faithful, and loyal, but the new ones are so soft and cuddly. Eventually the new shine wears off and they become just as familiar and faithful as the others. Or you lose them somewhere between the laundry and the dresser.

Ahem. So, now that Toby is an ex-fan, let me take a gander at his question. (That’s right, we bust out words like “gander” around here. I’ll try to find a way to slip in “yonder” in a future post.)

Albert Pujols is a stud. Even most non-baseball fans know that he’s spent the last 11 years as the star of the St. Louis Cardinals, my favorite team since I can remember. And many of you also know that he recently made the jump to Anaheim to play for the Angels. I’m not a jilted fan. I actually think it’s ridiculous to pay someone his age (he turns 32 next week) $25 million for 10 years. It’s a crazy gamble and I’m pretty positive the Angels will feel the way the Yankees do now for shelling out loads of cash on Alex Rodriguez for a contract that takes him well past his prime.

But Toby doesn’t care what I think about Albert’s move to the Angels. I just added that for free. You’re welcome.

I think it’s totally possible Albert Pujols took steroids. The guy’s stats are monstrous and with so many huge hitters like Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and others having done steroids, it seems plausible that Pujols has too. He’s a pretty beefy guy, which could arguably be steroid-induced. You don’t make it to 9 All-Star games and win 3 MVP’s without raising the question, “How did he do that!?!”

But I don’t think Pujols has done steroids. There’s not even a little part of me that thinks he did. It’s not because he’s religious and is an all-around good guy. That certainly helps his case, but other good guys did steroids. I don’t think he did steroids because Wikipedia doesn’t say he did. (What, you don’t use Wikipedia as your source? What college did you go to?) But seriously, there’s not a shred of evidence that says he did it. With most of the guys who’ve been busted, there was at least legitimate suspicion that they did steroids before they were found out. Besides, Pujols has spent a good chunk of his career playing in the anti-steroids era. The early part of his career was during the last days of the era, so he could have been sucked in then, but it seems highly unlikely that he would have been using them over the last 5 years or so. Besides, he’s maintained his health throughout his career, something a lot of steroids users have struggled to do.

So no, I don’t think Pujols has done steroids. But if a news report came out tomorrow saying he did, I wouldn’t be completely shocked either.

And by the way, I’ll put in a plug for Toby’s blog. He writes about running. And sports. He writes for jerks, so I read his stuff. He’s funny.

Have a question? Ask me anything!

Could you go 30 days without any political content in your life? No blogs. No radio. No TV. No newspapers. No discussions. Nothing. And if so, how do you think your life would be different?

In short, yes, I could easily go 30 days without political content.

I started in the blog world by reading exclusively political blogs. When I started writing, it was all about politics. I was working in politics. I had volunteered for and staffed political campaigns. I was the definition of a political junkie. I went to political seminars and training classes in the Twin Cities and Washington, DC. I traveled to state conventions and candidate events.

Then I quit.

My introduction to politics was gradual. My dad was always bringing articles home and subscribed to a Christian news magazine that I read voraciously. When I was 15 I stayed up until 5 AM watching the results of the 2000 election between Bush and Gore. By the time I got to college I was all in, taking as many political science classes as I could in my history major. I never was quite comfortable with the Republican Party, but my views lined up with them more than anyone else. When a guy I didn’t care for too much asked me in class why I wasn’t in the College Republicans, rather than retort that it was because I didn’t want to be associated with him (he was one of their leaders), I joined, hoping to effect change in the group. Within a few months I was the Congressional District Coordinator for the Wisconsin State College Republicans. A year later I was elected president of my campus chapter and a few months later was offered a job as a campaign manager of a congressional campaign. I started blogging here at Wide White shortly after I took the campaign job and quickly attracted a modest following in Wisconsin, including breaking a pretty big story at the time.

I had the resume to storm Washington, St. Paul, or Madison. But of course, so do a few hundred other people. Political engagement wasn’t unique to me anymore than it is to the thousands of others who are in tune. The campaign experience made me realize that the cutthroat world of backstabbing, partisanship, and ideologues hellbent on finding candidates who fill all 99 check-boxes on their personal policy surveys just wasn’t for me. I got sick of seeing good people lambasted by grassroots supporters and the party establishment because they ran afoul of a few people on one issue. I also felt a sense of relative helplessness to actually effect any change.

I met my wife during the campaign and she slowly helped me find life outside of politics. I’m forever indebted to James, a campaign volunteer who got me my first job in technology that really provided the break from that world that I needed.

I still follow politics. I still generally write about politics once or twice a month. But I read very few blogs about politics. I follow very few Twitter streams that are related to politics. I’ve tried to force a few back into my world because I think it’s necessary to be an informed citizen, but I normally end up unsubscribing after a few weeks of frustration.

So, to recap my response to the question, the net difference cutting politics out of my life would make is the elimination of a couple of blogs and a few Twitter accounts. I’d have no radio or TV or newspapers to cut out (listening to political analysis is almost as insufferable as sports analysis and is usually just as meaningless). Yeah, I could do without that for 30 days (or a lifetime). I’d probably be much less angry, frustrated, and wouldn’t feel as helpless. I imagine there would also be a lot more blue skies, rainbows, butterflies and puppy dogs.

Have a question? Ask me anything!