Archives for September 2015

- - - | written by Jason on 9/27/2015 | - - -

Laura Ingalls Wilder and My Broken Remote

I’ve recently been lamenting the fact that our TV's remote control is on the fritz. It’s not a battery issue, it’s just the power button that seems to be on strike. I’ve pegged my youngest daughter (the two-year-old) as the prime suspect for its early demise. Although I have no hard evidence, she is often seen secretly holding the remote, and the power button just so happens to be the only red button in a sea of black ones. I'm just saying. Regardless of the culprit, my frustration joins the chorus of a gazillion other parents who have crooned, “This is why we can’t have nice …

- - - | written by Jason on 9/26/2015 | - - -

Saturday Morning Sprinkles: Fun Socks Edition

• I am an advocate for Adultitis-free socks. This fun selection from ChattyFeet is right up my alley! • Here's Bernie DeKoven with an important reminder of how easy (and important) it is to incorporate a little fun in the workplace. • A Critic’s Guide to New York City’s Best Climbing Trees by Hallie Bateman. Super cool. Should be one for every city! • Same for this: Traffic Light That Lets You Play Pong with Person on the Other Side Officially Installed in Germany Finally, some posts from around here you may have missed: • Time for a Knock Knock Party • The Shocking Truth …

- - - | written by Jason on 9/24/2015 | - - -

One Chance Only Sale: Weeds or Wishes T-Shirt!

My Weeds or Wishes print has been one of the most popular pieces I've done in some time, so I thought it might make a cool t-shirt design. We're offering it on green, indigo, and banana colored shirts. But not for long. We like making stuff way more than we like managing inventory, so every once in a while, we create something we think is cool, take orders for a week or so, and then buy the exact number of goodies we need to fill those orders. So whether it’s two or two thousand, we get to make cool things, you get a chance to own them, and we don’t waste any money on stuff that takes …

- - - | written by Kim on 9/24/2015 | - - -

#Notarule Tour Visits the Great Plains Zoo in South Dakota

The final zoo on the epic #Notarule Tour was in Sioux Falls South Dakota. We got to plug into a literacy program at the Great Plains Zoo in which Jason was the guest author. He got to share some stories from Penguins Can't Fly, then read the crowd an owl book, introducing screech owls as "rule breakers!" Then we got to unveil the rule-breaking animal guest, Aries the screech owl. You'd assume it's a baby because it's little... nope! You'd assume it is loud because of it's name... nope! Or that it even screeches... nope! This owl is breaking rules left and right, as his head turns …

- - - | written by Jason on 9/24/2015 | - - -

Como Zoo in St. Paul Hosts #Notarule Tour

We were excited to spend a beautiful Sunday at Como Zoo in St. Paul Minnesota to help promote Penguins Can't Fly and encourage people to break rules that don't exist. Especially popular at this stop was the opportunity for parents to draw on their children: It's fun being permission granters! And the results were pretty spectacular: …

- - - | written by Jason on 9/20/2015 | - - -

Beware the Flow

Here's an interesting tidbit: "The advent of the computer age promised shorter working hours and more time to play. As early as 1965, a US Senate subcommittee predicted that by the year 2000 employees would be working only 20 hours per week while enjoying up to seven weeks of vacation annually." –Marion Elizabeth Witte, The No-Regrets Bucket List Oops. We probably do get twice as much done in 20 hours today than we did in 40 hours in 1965. And it's possible that 50 years from now, we will have figured out how to get just as much done as we do today in half the time. The question …

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- - - | written by Jason on 9/13/2015 | - - -

You Are More Creative Than You Think

In one of his popular TED talks, Sir Ken Robinson reminds us that creativity is one of the primary qualities that distinguishes humans from animals. This is an important point to consider. There are many animals who are extremely intelligent, but creativity is different. That’s why we don’t see any beavers building skyscrapers, chimpanzees baking banana bread, or foxes making recordings of themselves saying whatever it is they say. If you are human, you are creative, whether or not you can paint pretty pictures or sing a show tune. The choices we make every single day are creating the …

- - - | written by Jason on 9/12/2015 | - - -

Saturday Morning Sprinkles: Original Pac Man Design Edition

• Toru Iwatani shows his original designs for Pac-Man • I wish there was a superhero cafe like this in my neighborhood. • This post from juice-maker extraordinaire Innocent that lists all of Jay-Z's 99 problems cracked me up. • I love that even Sesame Street has been telling kids that we don't have to do the same thing everyone else is doing. I think more adults need to watch this video: (Hat tip to Chris Guillebeau) Finally, some posts from around here you may have missed: • Lessons from Lucy’s Pancake Stand • Wanna Help Us Hide Marty? …

- - - | written by Jason on 9/11/2015 | - - -

That Time I Slimed Adultitis

Yesterday morning, despite the fact that I had a full to-do list after having been out of the office for the first three days of the week, I decided to make slime with the kids. Yep, slime. They had been watching episodes of DIY Dad on YouTube, and the one on slime seemed especially fun, and not particularly hard. Out of the blue, I alerted my pajama-clad son that we were going on a secret mission: to get the supplies we needed to make slime! He jumped off the couch and scurried into his car seat — still in his pajamas — and off we went to the grocery store. We picked up two bottles …

- - - | written by Jason on 9/6/2015 | - - -

The Shocking Truth About Your So-Called Priorities

Do you ever struggle with balancing all of the priorities competing for your attention? Yeah, me too. I’ve often felt like my life is the love child of the movies Mission Impossible and Groundhog Day. Then I discovered this: The word “priority" first entered the English language in the 14th century. Notice the singular tense. It comes from the Medieval Latin word “prioritas," which literally means "the condition of being first." It was not until the 20th century that we went ahead and pluralized it, creating the word "priorities." Magic! Except for the fact that it’s impossible for …