He's probably right...

Me: "Zack, we have to close the car door and lock it, so nobody takes our car."

Zack: "But daddy, nobody would want our car, because it's too messy."

Random thoughts...

1. Zack: "Other kids keep their houses neat. But we're comfortable being messy, right dad?"

2. Bought Zack his first real hockey stick today (lefty). Also got him his first Erector set. Now he knows what an Allen wrench is. And, since "Single Ladies" is his favorite song (thanks, day care dance parties), we watched the video together on YouTube. Twice.  

3. It's not that we ignore Ben. It's just that we've already had a 3-year-old in the house, so when there's someone running around in circles singing "We just got a letter, we just got a letter" from Blue's Clues, it's not worth videotaping anymore. 

4. And now I totally understand why my parents have 6 photo albums of me, and 1 of my younger brothers.   

Over / under

Things that are overrated, but not by much: 

1. Slumdog Millionaire. Watched the first half. Very interesting, but it just didn't live up to the hype. Kind of like Milk. Good. But not great.  

2. Chipotle. Ate there for the first time ever today. It was really, really good. But certainly not the best (Edritos) burrito (Edritos) I ever (Edritos) had.  

Things that are underrated:

1. Redbox, which is how we rent most our movies these days. Yeah, we end up paying six bucks each time. But in theory we could only be paying a dollar. A dollar!  

2. My iPod Touch. I read once that the key to a clutter-free mind is to write everything down. The calendar and to-do list (I like the Things app) free my brain, making room for things like the lyrics to old Duran Duran songs.  

And that makes it better because...

Marla: "Ben, please don't lick soap off your finger."

Ben: "It's not soap, it's a booger." 

The Piano Man

Here's why I love learning how to play piano:  

I can't multitask while I'm doing it. 

Every other minute of the day, I'm usually doing at least two things at once. Writing a brochure while checking email. Driving to work while thinking about my next meeting. Playing with the kids while watching TV. 

But when I'm playing piano, It's so new (and I'm so bad) that it takes 100% of my concentration just to get 30% of the notes right. My left hand hates my right hand. I'll probably never learn to play loudly, because I usually practice when Marla is putting the kids to sleep. And my stubby little fingers barely stretch an octave.  

But that's OK. Because it's really nice, once a day, to focus my full attention on just. one. thing.  

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

I've realized that at 10 a.m. on a Monday, everyone at Panera's falls into one of the following categories:

* Sleepers - the retirees who come here to get their senior coffee and literally fall asleep in front of the fake fireplace

* Freelancers - people like me, who work from home but don't actually like working from home. So we come for the breakfast and free Wi-Fi

* Meeters - pharmaceutical reps, insurance agents, etc., reviewing spreadsheets with their clients 

* New moms - Awwwww. 

* College kids - I can call them kids now that I'm 15 years out of school. Yikes. 

So, here's what Panera's should do:

1. Set up sections. If I know where the other freelancers are sitting, I might choose to sit with them, and at least have some company / networking opportunities. 

2. Name breakfast items after these groups, or at least put together combo meals. 

3. Cross-sell. Panera limits the free Wi-Fi at lunch, so I usually clear out around 11:30. But if they offered me $1 off a sandwich to go....  

These are a few of my favorite things

1. Where will the "5 things" Facebook app end? "5 favorite shades of red!" "5 favorite Baldwin brothers!" "5 favorite things I found between my toes!" Once you get past beer and music, I. Really. Don't. Care. 

2. Found a good piano tuner. He quoted me a price, spent twice the amount of time he thought it would take, fixed a few stuck keys, and didn't charge a penny more. That's the way to get a customer for life.  

3. My younger brother is taller than I am, lives in Hawaii, once ran a 17-flat 5K, and graduated from Harvard Law School. You'd think I could at least beat him at Facebook Scrabble. You'd be wrong. 

4. Johnny Rockets is not on Twitter. If they were, they would have seen my Tweet about my last post and responded.

5. Need a great freelance proofreader? I know two of them - email me for details. 

6. Need a great freelance art director / production artist? Let me know.  

All for now.