Thank you for taking time this evening to visit Don’t Blink. You picked a great day to do it because my latest Thursday Rundown is ready to go. Here we go…

Not a Baby Anymore – Sid has spent this week coping with the fact that Sloan has reached a new age bracket. In the pediatric world, she is no longer considered a baby but a (shut your eyes and cover your ears, Sid) toddler. Some big developments have transpired. The doctor advised us to not give her bottles anymore, a blow to Sidney because she used bottle time to bond with Sloan. Additionally, our daughter will move up in daycare starting next week, leaving the babies and joining the 1-year-old classroom. Seeing her transition from the easy life of cribs and toothless friends to the “real world” of mats and walking toddlers has Sidney a bit stressed. But as the pediatrician told us, all these changes impact the parents more than they actually impact the baby (I mean toddler). We will be just fine!

Sloan turned 1 and is now a big girl.

Facetime in the Classroom – I was in the middle of something at work this morning when I looked down at my phone to see that Sidney was Facetiming me. Surprised and a little worried, I immediately picked it up. When I did, I found myself in the middle of a 2nd grade classroom. Mrs. Reser was teaching her students about different cultures and wanted to use me as an example. She was explaining that different regions in the country have their own distinct cultures. Telling the students that I am from the west, she asked me several questions about how life in South Carolina is different from life in Washington and Montana. She had hooked up her phone so that I was projected onto the large classroom screen. The kids were so excited and it was a nice way to help Sidney with her lesson. It made my day!

Sid Facetimed me today so I could talk to her class about culture.

St. Patrick – For her birthday, Sloan received many thoughtful and fun gifts ranging from clothes to toys to books. After her presents were opened, Sid and I gave Sloan a special memento we purchased from the gift shop at our church. It is a mini St. Patrick statue that also comes with a St. Patrick holy card. We feel it is important for Sloan to be proud that she was born on the feast day of one of history’s most beloved saints. Although clothes will become too small, toys will break, and books will be handed down, hopefully Sloan will keep track of her St. Patrick’s statue as the years go by.

We gave Sloan a St. Pat figurine and a St. Pat holy card as a birthday gift.

The Facebook Scandal – I feel a lot of people are confused about the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal so let me try to explain it in layman’s terms. A company used a personality test (I have discussed these before) on 270,000 consenting Facebook users. However, those users not only gave the company (Cambridge Analytica) access to their own profile information, they granted access to their friends’ profile information as well, giving the company info on over 50 million Americans. Cambridge Analytica was then able to sell this data to clients (such as the Donald Trump campaign) for social media advertising use. Facebook is on the hook for allowing companies the ability to harvest data from non-consenting users. To top it all off, Facebook had a delayed and disorganized public relations response.

Congrats, Coastal – Our baseball team defeated Clemson this past Tuesday in “grand” fashion as Lee Sponseller smashed a bases loaded home run to defeat the Tigers. However, it wasn’t the first time this athletic season that CCU got the best of our in-state rival. The men’s soccer team eliminated Clemson from the NCAA tournament in November. It isn’t just that our university is competing with an institution that is double our size and 70 years older than us, it is that we are actually beating them. Coastal Carolina University continues to rise and I am very proud to be a part of #TealNation. Go Chants!

It was great to see Coastal beat Clemson again.

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I hope everyone has a nice weekend. Enjoy the NCAA Tournament and always make sure to count your blessings. Don’t Blink.