Being Fully Present. November 2024. In February of 2022 my son Nathan (16 at the time) and I found ourselves in the Portland area for some hiking and biking. The weekend forecast called for unusually warm and dry weather. Nathan was about a year into getting really serious with photography, and eager for fresh opportunities. Read more.

The Great Flood. February 2018. I opened the bedroom door to step out and I'm greeted by a hallway filled with every available towel from the linen closet, and they're all soaked. A long moment passes while I'm trying to process what it is that I'm seeing. The scene makes no sense. Read more.

Parenting and Voice Search. December 2014. One stroke of good luck in my life is that my youngest son is a terrible liar. So when he approached me with this question, "Dad, is it okay if I join a public Minecraft server?" I knew from his body language that I already wasn't getting the full story. Read more.

Retail Is Dead Long Live Retail. December 2012. More than ever this Christmas season, the news is full of stories about the death of "brick and mortar" retail and the triumph of online retail. Best Buy and JC Penny's have been singled out as examples of companies fighting for survival, and Amazon is everyone's clear winner. While I agree with the assessment of winners and losers, I disagree about the cause. It isn't brick and mortar versus online. Its an information battle between consumer and retailer, and the consumer is winning. At least that's my personal experience. Read more.

Kid Memes. October 2012. The Internet meme - those viral photos, videos, or sly bits of humor that spread through social networks. We think of the Internet meme as strictly the province of adults and teenagers online. But what happens now that we have children who were born into the social networking world? What happens when kids are online even before they can read? Is the meme even possible for this demographic? If you think the answer is "no" then either you don't have kids, or you aren't paying much attention to their online activity. Read more.