Cheers. ✌️️

I'm still asking you to believe - not in my ability to bring about change, but in yours. I believe in change because I believe in you.

— President Obama (@POTUS44) January 20, 2017

Let me preface this post by saying that I’m huge fan of Amazon. I’ve been a Prime member since (almost) the very beginning. I’ll have to do the math, but I think it accounts for the vast majority of my non-food related purchases. And we all know that Amazon is already trying to take over the food space with Amazon Prime Now Restaurants and Amazon Go, both of which I’m avidly rooting for. So, yeah, I’m a fanboy.

But lately I’ve been a little confused about Amazon Prime’s shipping options. We all know that Prime offers free two-day shipping. But there are some new options that can be a little confusing. So I thought I’d organize my thoughts here in hopes it could all of us understand. Keep in mind, if you don’t have Prime, most of this won’t apply to you.

Free Same-Day Home Delivery

I’m guessing some of us have already experienced this glorious perk of Prime. You order something from the office, when you get home it’s there on your doorstep. But there are a couple things to keep in mind:

• It’s not offered on every Prime item. It’s a subset of Prime items you’ll have to look for.
• For Same Day, order before noon. After noon, it becomes One Day delivery.
• You have to spend at least $35 on qualifying items (yep, even if you have Prime).
• If you don’t spend the $35 limit, you can still get it same day, but it’ll cost extra (~$5.99).

Keep an eye out for the ‘FREE Same Day’ option when shopping and checking out.

Free Same-Day Pickup: Amazon@Cincinnati

Amazon opened a brick and mortar place right near UC. It’s called: Amazon@Cincinati. No you can’t go shopping there, its main purpose is to pick things up. Here’s the gist:

• Again, it’s not offered on every Prime item.
• Again, for Same Day, order before noon. After noon, it becomes One Day delivery.
• You don’t need to spend a certain amount. Major Key.
• No worrying about missed deliveries or stolen packages.
• You can return stuff here.

I experienced this for the first time last night. I ordered the Wii Component Cable pictured above. I could see it was eligible for Same Day delivery, but I had to spend $35 to get it. Or I could have waited the standard two days prime shipping to get it home delivered. I went with Option #3: Pick it up that night. It was a neat, efficient experience. Here’s how it worked:

• I ordered in the morning.
• I received an email around 5:30 PM that my item was ready for pickup.
• I went to Amazon@Cincinnati.
• Clicked a button in the email letting Amazon know I had arrived. A barcode appeared.
• Scanned the barcode at the locker bank (there are 5 banks, each containing several lockers).
• A locker popped open specifically containing my package.
• I left.

The amount of time I was actually in the store was ~1 minute. There were two employees inside to assist if needed, but you really don’t have to talk to anyone. I loved it.

Free 2-Hour Delivery: Prime Now

OK, this is probably the most confusing, lesser known one of the bunch. To use Prime Now, you have to go to different website to do the shopping. Offerings are based on your location, and product choice is extremely limited. Some areas offer things like perishable groceries (milk, eggs, cheese) and restaurant foods. It’s specific, but interesting. Let’s say you spilled coffee on your shirt at the office. You could order a new shirt and some lunch before your next meeting.

• Minimum order amount is $20.
• You have multiple 2-hour window options for delivery time.
• There is a ‘Within One Hour’ for an additional $7.99.
• Tipping defaulted to $5 and is recommended, but not required.
• You can modify your tip up to 24 hours after delivery.

Delivery Options

Tipping Options

So… yeah there are a lot of things to consider when you’re ordering from Amazon. Hope this helps.

Our dog Oliver is a huge part of our lives. We got him as a little puppy soon after Lauren and I moved in together. He learned to swim chasing ducks on the Ohio River. He went to puppy training classes and passed with flying colors. He scares the evil mailman away on a daily basis. He’s super loyal and loved as much as any dog has ever been loved. You can tell we’re serious dog people, right?

But with a baby on the way, an expectant parent has serious questions. Will Oliver get along with the baby? How will he transition to being the #2 adorable creature in the household? Can he handle less activity/attention?

But really, the only question is: What can we do to ensure Ollie loves our future child?

So we’ve come up with a 5 point plan.

As an avid Casey Neistat fan, I distinctly remember watching his daily Vlog and finding out that they had to give up their family dog due to of aggression related to their newborn. I’m not judging them, and I totally understand why, but I really dont want to be in that situation. It’s just sad.

So, I’ve done a decent amount of research so far on the topic. Naturally, my first stop was the library. Good Dog Happy Baby (GDHB) was my introduction into what’s commonly called Dominance Training. If you’re not familiar with this term, consider yourself lucky. It’s like obedience training, but no fun for anyone. At first GDHB felt like ‘Treat your Dog like Garbage’ 101. I had to remind myself that getting rid of your dog is still worse than putting him through training. So we struggled forward, uncomfortably.

It wasn’t going well. Lauren didn’t really buy the whole dominance thing. Ollie and I recently took a routine trip to his vet, where I asked Dr. Neltner his thoughts on how to train your dog for a new baby. He doubled down on some of the dominance training tactics I had learned from GDHB and gave me some more specific advice. For some reason, it just felt better coming from him than it did from a book. After discussing with Lauren, we’ve come up with our grand master plan!

The Grand Master Plan: Dominance Edition

Command

Ollie needs reminders that we are in control AKA dominant. This means more consistent obedience commands for him. Some of this we already do (waiting for ‘OK’ before eating). What we’re adding are things that probably should be in place for any dog: Making him wait to follow us through doorways, stairs, hallways. Making him sit before petting. Long down stays. He’s a good dog, this stuff really hasn’t been bad.

Ignore

This one is the hardest. We have to pay less attention to the big guy. He needs to get used to being ignored because that is exactly what is going to happen to him when the baby comes. But Dr. Neltner also advised us to give him 15-30 minutes of daily intense attention, and continue this after the baby comes. This fits perfectly with my goal to walk him every day, so there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

Smells

We’ve heard this one before, but we need to let Ollie get used to new smells. I’ve heard people say to bring home the baby blanket first and let the dog smell it. Dr. Nelter advised starting earlier. Open up diapers for him. Put baby powder on tissue and leave them around the house. Keeping smells somewhat consistent will lower stress levels for the boy when the baby comes.

Response to Aggression

When/if Ollie elicits aggressive behavior that we dont like, he needs to be put in his place. At the very minimum he should be made to respond to a down stay command immediately and sternly. But if behavior continues, we’ll have to experiment with water/bitter sprays. I want to avoid physical punishment unless all other options are exhausted.

Child Interaction

This is purely from Dr. Neltner, but Lauren and I both love the idea. Once the baby starts eating solid foods, sitting in a high chair, Oliver will have a new best friend. All the food scraps and licks he’s going to get he’ll love. Let him do it! I don’t think it’s standard advice, but Dr. Neltner encourages letting Oliver eat scraps from the child. For the first time, an interactive bond starts to form.

It’s going to be a lot of work/stress, but at the end of the day, I know that it’ll pay off in the end. Oliver is gonna do just fine.

2016 was the most important and best year of my life. I finished my MBA, got a promotion, got married, traveled further from home then I ever have, and found out my lovely wife is pregnant!

Following a huge year, I’ve got my sights set on a few ambitious (but totally reasonable) goals. Here we go.

Minimalize (now)

You know what a baby on the way means? I’m getting a new roommate! Maybe we’ll move into a bigger house one day. For now, I’ll be experimenting with the minimalist mindset to make some space. As you probably guessed it involves a lot of purging stuff/junk. But I think the hardest thing will be massively downsizing my wardrobe. I’m going to form a capsule wardrobe focused on my casual office attire, and hopefully the rest will follow. Chris Reining has an awesome writeup/pictures to help me get started.

Start a Business (soon)

No doubt, an MBA changed my life for the better. Why not put that knowledge to a true test? There are plenty of options out there, and it doesn’t have to be complex. Since I already get plenty of development at the office, I’m leaning towards a non-software related idea. Rental property, franchise, or a drop shipping venture are all candidates.

Routine Reading (once a month)

Read (at least) one book a month. I love reading, but it is always so sporadic. This way I hope for it to become part of my regular routine. Goodreads is kind enough to track all of this for me.

Take Better Photos (once a week)

I’m a person who enjoys the moments of life as they come and pass. But when I try to capture those moments on my phone, I feel distracted and disingenuous. And I think it shows in the few photos I do take. I’d like to develop a better relationship with photography, so I can capture all the important memories on the horizon.

To achieve this goal, I’m going to take the Dogwood52 Challenge. Dogwood has posted 52 weekly photography categories. I’ll be posting them here periodically to hold myself accountable. Be gentle.

Walk Oliver (once a day)

Oliver turned 6 this year. He’s got some mild arthritis in his hips. He’s also got a human sibling on the way. Once young Sullivan arrives, Ollie will have to take a back seat. So he needs something consistent that he loves, and I’m going to give it to him.