A quote that has often been attributed to Confucius rings true:

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

I’ve experienced that first hand. It happens when I think about my job constantly because I’m excited to solve the next problem. Its when I look forward to Monday because another week of possibility and discovery lie ahead and its being totally satisfied to roll out another project and start on the next.

So why would I change what I do?

In short because a better opportunity has presented itself.

Starting today I become a full time employee of Copyblogger Media specifically working with StudioPress. To say this is an incredible opportunity is an understatement. StudioPress in my opinion is the leading company when it comes to WordPress themes. Other companies may put out more themes or boast of a bigger community but nobody combines a rock solid framework, the quality of themes, and incredible support like StudioPress does.

Through a series of circumstances I had the opportunity to form a relationship with Brian Gardner the founder of StudioPress a couple years ago which led to us collaborating on WordCamp Chicago and several WordPress theme development projects.

I respect Brian immensely as does the WordPress community at large. If you know Brian at all you know what a genuine and good guy he is. To have the opportunity to work with him on a day to day basis is awesome. I owe a lot of my success as a freelance developer and designer to him these past couple of years and I can’t wait to see what we are going to be build in the future.

The team that Copyblogger and StudioPress has put together is incredible as well. To be able to work with talented folks like Nathan Rice and Rafal Tomal and a number of others will not only be a ton of fun but a great learning experience as well.

Thanks to Brian Clark and the other partners at Copyblogger for giving me this opportunity!

What is changing?
I’ll no longer be freelancing and taking on personal projects through my company Red Letters Studio. The blog and portfolio will stay online but for posterity only at this point.

I’ll no longer be selling themes individually but rather making them for StudioPress.

As I posted about yesterday – I’ll be writing more on this blog and looking to share my story and thoughts on a consistent basis.

I’m super excited to finally be able to announce this and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store!

As I’ll write about Monday I’m starting a new season of work in which I leave behind what I’ve done for the past ten plus years and start down a familiar, but new path.

I’ve also entered a new season in which I’ve decided to make a concentrated effort to write more. For the past few years I’ve written very sporadically on this blog and mostly about family. While that will continue I’ll be purposefully writing more about the books I read, the ministry I participate in, WordPress development, design and about other items which catch my fancy.

I’ll be shutting down my blog at redlettersstudio.com to any new entries and while the content I’ve written in the past will stay there, any new content I write about WordPress or design will live here.

I’m commemorating the occasion with a new design and as I looked back at the previous iterations of this particular blog the design changes have always been met with some sort of major life change.

Lastly, I am a follower of Jesus and my entire life and worldview revolve around that and are seen through the lens of Christianity. I make no apology for that.

I will hold nothing back. What you’ll find here you may not like or agree with but it will always be honest.

I hope you’ll enjoy the new content and join on the conversation as I write.

Its probably just part of being a boy but I’ve always loved to build tunnels whether it was the in the sandbox, the dirt by a pine tree or in the snow. So I was excited (kinda) when we got absolutely dumped on last week here in the MidWest. Supposedly it was the worst single snowstorm in a couple decades. We got almost 2 feet of snow at our house, school was closed for two straight days and the company I work for even closed up shop for a day (which never ever happens…).

After the wind had subsided a bit I took Mia outside and we promptly began work on a giant tunnel that would stretch the length of our driveway, have several chambers, and…well, ended up being about 5 feet long because digging snow is hard work – and it was cold out.

At first Mia didn’t quite comprehend what was going on – she was just excited to be not in school and outside playing with her dad. But when I finally broke through and connected the two ends at which I had been digging her face stretched into a wide look of disbelief – you would have thought we had dug through to China she was so excited she could see me on the other side. So that was pretty cool.

The first tunnel ended up getting somewhat filled in from clearing the massive driveway but a couple days later we dug the tunnel out again and that night received some freezing rain ensuring that it will be there until June. At least we’ll have time to build those other chambers…

About a year ago we tried to read Charlotte’s Web one chapter a night and while she loved to read it every night she didn’t always remember what had happened the previous night or seemed interested in seeing the story progress. More often than not she wanted to go back and re-read bits that we had already read.

So, while perusing the library a little over a week ago I found myself in the older children’s section and noticed that the library had several books sitting on top of the shelf that were being featured for the week. One of the books was The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. I don’t remember the first time I read this book but I loved it. I always had a fantasy about going out and living on my own, making cool and useful things out of common objects and who wouldn’t want to build their own swimming pool?

I checked the book out and told Mia I had a special story to read her that night. We got home, Mia got ready for bed and we settled into our big comfy recliner and started the book. And from the first page she was enthralled. She was so interested to know where the children had come from, what was going to happen at the bakery, and why they didn’t buy any donuts…

As we neared the end of the first chapter I was very curious to see her reaction when I stopped reading and it was exactly what I had hoped for. She was very disappointed that we had to be done for the night but she was excited that we would get to continue the story the next night. This also served for her as a very good motivator to get ready for bed quickly because we wouldn’t read until everything was done.

Well, Mia loved the book and we ended up finishing it in about a week (Mickie read a couple chapters during the day when Mia couldn’t wait to see what would happen next). So now I am really excited to be able to share some of my favorite stories with her – the only question is what story will be next? I’m thinking of Matilda by Roald Dahl but we’ll have to see.

I also wanted to note that the brand name of this pool is “Easy Set” because it is very “easy to set up.” Interestingly enough they felt a need to include a dvd of instructions. Somehow I don’t think it would be “easy” to run back and forth from my living room to the pool… The booklet of instructions that came with it worked just fine.

Update: Not only did we get it resolved but we came out even further ahead then we already were! I took the pool box back to WalMart not expecting much since Mick bought the pool over 8 months ago (note: it was on clearance but not because it was missing parts – it was out of season). But the people in Customer Service were very helpful. When they determined that they did not carry the same model of pool anymore they had me pick up a separate pump that they sold. I was thinking they would give me a discount on it or something because it was a $70 pump but they gave it to me outright! That was very cool and a great customer experience.

Before the commercial was over Mia turned to me and said with disdain in her voice, “Dad, would you watch that movie?”
I said, “Sure.”
“Well, I wouldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because its for boys.” And she emphasized the word boys like the evil disgusting creatures we are.

Kudos to the Disney marketing group.

First, why do I dislike it?  I really can’t stand the fact that we (guys – and to some extent girls) are pressured into expressing some sort of mega-love and affection on one particular day.  I always feel that if we don’t do something spectacular or if I don’t come up with the world’s most creative date then somehow I have failed.  I guess I also feel a little guilty because I know I should be expressing the mega kind of love on a regular basis.

But I also love it because it does lend itself to more creative outlets.  Its also a blast if you have a daughter.  As Mia grows older I want her daddy to always be her valentine.  There is not a lot of things cooler than being able to buy your daughter a flower.

This year I got Mia a couple of small presents and a flower of course but the last couple years have been all about the Valentine card that I give her.  This year I made her a card with some of her favorite people: Diego and Boots.  I happened to have a picture of her in an explorer hat so she got to be Dora.

Mickie and I had a great time as well.  We started the afternoon out by going to see the movie “He’s Just Not That Into You” which was cute and fun and a pretty good date movie.  Though I was thinking during the movie how awkward some of the scenes would be if you really were just dating and watching that movie.  There are so many awkward stages in dating and while fun at the time I really wouldn’t want to go back and re-enact them…

After the movie we hopped in the car and drove back to Polk City to Lakeside’s building on the Polk City square.  All the guys from our small group decided to put on a dinner for our wives (we had originally just tried to get reservations at a nice restaurant but couldn’t get them – this ended up being waaaay better.)  Each couple had their own table draped in a vintage table cloth, a set of candles and some pre-meal entertainment in the form of a Valentine word search.  All of the girls had special heart filled name cards at their place as well.

The romantic atmosphere was enhanced by quiet music in the background with songs including Valentine Girl by the New Kids on the Block and Elvis’ Love Me Tender among others.  We also had a looping fireplace video, with crackling and popping sound effects, on the wall.

For dinner we paid one of the guys in my small group to serve us.  He went all out and wore black pants, white shirt and tie and was really awesome – he even provided us with some Andes after dinner mints.  (Ethan, you rock!!)  We catered in Chicken Spiedini from Latin King and a cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory.  Despite the pasta being a bit cool the meal was really very good.

After the meal we played the Newlywed game which Mick and I came back to tie for the win.

It was a great night and a lot of fun.  Now I need to start working on what we will be doing next year.

I love my kids but I am not wired to stay at home and do all the mom stuff on a day-to-day basis.

Mickie worked a 12 hour shift today so Mia, Jace, and I hung out.  We started off great.  Jace slept till about 8:30 and took his bottle like a champ when he woke up.   I got everyone dressed and packed in the car and we headed into town to do some grocery shopping.  We needed to hit both Wal-Mart and Target for some essentials.  Both kids were awesome.  Jace slept most of the time and Mia helped me find everything I couldn’t see on the bottom shelf.  She even tried to sneak some snacks into the cart…

Because of the coupons Mick had sent along we saved almost $30 off our bill.  That rocks.

Speaking of rock… After the groceries were bought we made a detour to Best Buy.  I have some gift cards still from last Christmas and was finally going to purchase the new Guitar Hero.  Unfortunately they were completely sold out – but only for the Wii.  There were plenty for every other game system.  We still had a good time though.  Mia had a blast playing the drums on the demo set.

We got home, I fed Jace again and Mia and I played Mario Kart for awhile.  I was very impressed at how much she has improved.  She can actually complete a lap and there were several times that she didn’t come in last against the computer.  I would say that she’ll probably be beating me soon but I wouldn’t let that happen…

While Jace took his afternoon nap I put up Christmas lights…in 5 degree windchill.  That was fun…  I’ll put up some pictures when they are all done.

After we had some supper, Mia and I cleaned the house and were all ready for mom to get home.

Fun day – but not one I would want to do daily.  I love my wife.

Its so important that you continue to date your wife after you’re married but with kids and responsibilities it becomes almost impossible.  So we committed to work it out.  We got together with one more friend and formed a co-op of sorts to help each other out.

Mick and I on a date at a Hawks game.

The way it works is that we schedule date nights for every other Friday and each couple rotates to watch the others kids.  Since we have 3 couples in our rotation we get 2 dates in a row and then watch kids for one week.  We each have 2 kids so the number of kids isn’t a huge burden for one couple.  In the future I could see adding more couples to the rotation but we would have to double up on the babysitters which could be fun as well.

Last night was the first one and was a lot of fun.  We dropped the kids off around 6 and headed to Okoboji Grill in Ankeny.  We had a $25 gift certificate from Restaurant.com that we had bought for $2.  The only stipulations were that you had to spend at least $35 and %18 gratuity was included.

The gift certificate was a bit of a fiasco because they were very slow with the service so they offered to pay for part of our meal – unfortunately we couldn’t have them do that because then we wouldn’t meet the $35 requirement.  They ended up giving us a coupon for a free appetizer for next time.  Our total bill we paid was around $18 which included 2 entrees 2 drinks and 2 desserts.  The food was worth a little over $40 so we got a pretty good deal.

After that we just walked around Wal-Mart.  Doesn’t sound too exciting but it was fun just being together by ourselves.  We tried to play the guitar hero demo they had set up but it didn’t work right.

I’m really looking forward to these nights and hopefully it will work out.  Get together with a couple friends and do it yourself!