Alright everyone, it is Thursday and you know what that means…the Rundown! No long introduction from me tonight, let’s get right to the five topics.

Porcupine – Since moving to our new house, we have had an abundance of wildlife in our backyard. Deer, rabbits, marmots, and coyotes have all been spotted. But yesterday morning I saw something for the first time. As I was entering our neighborhood after my morning workout, I saw a creature that was doing clumsy circles in the middle of the street. As I drove closer, I identified it as a porcupine. I didn’t know those things were so big! I was able to pull pretty close to it and watch as it slowly retreated from the street. Honestly, it was like it was drunk.

I encountered a porcupine in the middle of the street yesterday.

A Game About Life – If you really want to teach your toddler about winning, losing, and how to follow the rules, play Candy Land with them. No, I am not being sarcastic. The game is as basic as they come but it conveys simple lessons that will be relevant throughout a lifetime. Sloan has been playing the game with both Sid and I a lot. Our daughter is by no means perfect––she will fail to stay on task and be tempted to cheat, all while testing our patience––but the positives still outweigh the negatives.

Sloan and I recently played Candy Land outside.

Homemade Plates – One of my most beloved posts was the one I wrote back in 2014 about a tradition my parents introduced during our childhood. Every year we would draw a picture and they would send it off to be made into a plate. We literally ate off those personalized plates every night growing up. On this date three years ago, I wrote a follow up post about the plates. My mom had shipped all the plates I made as a kid to my address in South Carolina, the fulfilment of the plan she always had to give us our “china” once we left the house. We immediately put the plates into our circulation during dinners. These childhood mementos are now back where they were created as we carefully shipped them to our new house during the move. As a matter of fact, we ate off a few of them tonight.

Big Brother All-Stars – Those who have read my blog for the past five years have had to put up with my Big Brother fandom. If you are a new reader, I wasn’t always this way. My wife converted me from an anti-reality TV diehard to a fan. Due to the coronavirus, we had to wait nearly two months longer than the average summer for the debut but the latest season of Big Brother finally kicked off last night and it is an all-star season! I love it. Many of the houseguests are from the seasons I have watched and the others are memorable characters from the long lost past who my wife has told me about. I have my favorites and all I can say is it is about to go down!

I am excited for this season of Big Brother!

Instagram Reels – Yesterday, Instagram debuted Reels, its short form video product designed to compete directly with TikTok. For those who are familiar with Instagram’s history, the platform has an uncanny ability to knockdown the trendy social media darling by offering something similar. I have seen it with Vine and I have seen it with Snapchat. But will Reels dethrone TikTok? I wouldn’t bet against it. But unless TikTok meets its demise at the hands of federal government, I don’t think Reels has the ability to do it on its own; at least how the product is currently designed. TikTok offers better editing tools, the option to produce videos up to a minute, and a very loyal army of creators. Let’s see where everything stands in a month.

I made a Reel yesterday to commemorate Beau turning six months old.

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That will wrap up tonight’s Thursday Rundown. Continue to pray for an end to the pandemic and be safe this weekend. Don’t Blink.