Christian Ross

A conversation with my 3-year old…

This seems like as good of a place as any to archive the conversation my youngest and I had last night as we finished up his bath:

[As I’m helping him get out of the tub]
Me: “Please don’t spit, that’s pretty gross.”

K: “I had some water in my mouth from the shower. I wanted to spit it out in the tub so it could drown… and go to the fishes.”
[Puzzled and slightly teasing him]
Me: “Do fishes like spit?”
[Quite swiftly and matter-of-factly]
K: “I don’t know, dad… fishes don’t talk.”

Touché

Statistics

Without projecting in absolutes, I’d venture to say that we’re all going to be a statistic some day. Some are good stats while others are ones we’d all like to avoid, knowing this…

What statistic will you choose to be?

Happy 2013

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.

– Benjamin Franklin

I don’t often post (or put much credence into) single line quotes but this seems like a fitting resolve for all of us.

What Should a 4-Year Old Know?

I’m not sure where I stumbled across this article – What Should a 4-Year Old Know? – but it’s been in my Instapaper account for a short while now. Coincidentally, through the magic of Twitter, I was able to eavesdrop a conversation a week or two ago between a couple of buddies chatting about learning levels of children. The timing of it was spot on for things I was processing in my mind and it was interesting to see it all from the outside looking in.

Like any decent parent, I desire better things for my kids; I want them to excel in their studies, take ownership of their faith, and yes, it’d even be nice to see both of them with a tad more athleticism than I can boast of. The problem is, I regularly slide into a rut of thinking that there is a benchmark they should be exceeding when seeing other kids do certain things. (more…)

50 most annoying things about the Internet

As told by the Telegraph.

Pretty comprehensive list but this one stuck out at me for several reasons over the last few weeks.

39) Try-hard websites
People do not come to websites for an experience, they come for information. Anything that gets in their way, like slow-loading Flash graphics or counter-intuitive navigation tools, just makes them angry.

I could add any number of other things to the short list on number 39. But to keep it simple, content is king. Deliver quality content in a neatly wrapped package and your users will come back for more.

50 most annoying things about the Internet