So I’m doing the dishes in the kitchen a few nights ago and for some reason Maps by The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s pops into my head. Why is this song all of the sudden in my head??

Then I hear humming coming from the living room - why are my kids humming this song?

So I go, “Hey Google, play ‘They don’t love you like I love you by the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s” because I can’t remember the name of the damn song LOL. Google plays it and my kids pause what they’re doing and look at me like, “How do YOU know this song?”

How do YOU know this song??

It’S a tIkToK tReNd!!

Do you even know the name of the song?

No.

Do you know who sings it?

No.

🤦🏻‍♂️

**proceeds to show me the dance to the song**

I had no clue this song had risen to the top of the Billboard-TikTok top 50 chart - one of the most popular rock songs from the early 2000’s. Bro…what?

I’m already past the notion that TikTok and social media have a negative effect on the 12-20 yr old crowd - unless my kids are affected, it is what it is. I also think it’s’ kinda cool that online dance trends can easily bring back a song - Bye Bye Bye anybody?

BUT I fear in a superficial world that functions in 15 second clips at time, we’re losing something here. And no Fred, ironically it’s not dancing. When kids care more about making sure the dance looks on point versus even knowing who sings the song, the appreciation for music feels like it’s being thrown into moving boxes, put away in an attic.

Maybe I’m just being a get-off-my-lawn old man.

A few weeks back I was driving my 13 year old and her friend to Wonderland playing a playlist that came up for me in the car. A Tyler, The Creator song came on and my kid’s friend freaked out. HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT TYLER, THE CREATOR? Which then lead her to asking me if I knew A$AP Rocky, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Kendrick Lamar, blah blah blah - yes I knew all the artists she mentioned. I became a cool(er) dad.

So no, I’m not being a get-off-my-lawn old man.

If you’re going to film a dance to the song at least know the name and artist.

This week's issue is a 4 minute read:

🏀 Goodbye Air Canada

📔 Notes Upgrades

📺️ Emoji-sized TV’s

Air Canada is Officially Retired

No offense to any of the Raptors who played in that era but the early years of watching the Raptors was trash.

Going to a game back then was fun just because you were at an NBA game. Full stop. The court and rims looked much smaller than on TV. You weren’t forced to watch what the camera showed you. And they gave out a ton of free stuff in the stands - had to find interest in the game when we kept losing.

Enter: Vince Carter.

When we drafted Vince from UNC all we knew was that he was this young kid who could JUMP. He could kinda shoot the ball but really, he could JUMP (see above).

However, no one could predict the impact he would have on:

1. The Raptors

2. The NBA

3. Toronto

4. Canadian Basketball

Half-man, Half-amazing was born in Toronto and the city finally had something they could call their own in the NBA aside from a losing franchise…and I guess that one time we beat MJ at the buzzer. RAPTORS WIN…RAPTORS WIN…RAPTORS WIN…while the Bulls 3peat that year 🙃 

IYKYK: If you were lucky enough to see VC play for the Raptors live, you know exactly what I’m talking when I say, the Raptor pre-game warm-ups were a VIBE.

I know you’ve probably already heard the Vince Carter jersey retirement news but I needed to enshrine VC in my own words, in my own publication. Also, after all the baggage lost over the past 4 years, AC gets a massive W for doing this:

Vince Carter put Toronto on his back. Yes, he talked about wanting to leave but it wasn’t Toronto he wanted to break up with, it was the Raptors’ management. Which is why he both teared up when we finally played tribute to him during the 20 year anniversary season and torched us, repeatedly, for years.

Vince Carter is to Toronto, what Drake is to Toronto - someone who lifted the city up, brought new life to a city, and let the world know about it. (see Threads if you want to argue with me)

It’s no question the current breed of Canadian NBA players have a little bit of VC in them (pause) and it’s no question Canada basketball has a lot do with Vince Carter becoming Air Canada.

Of course at 47 he’s still doing this with ease…

Upgrades to the Most Useful App EVER

I understand but at the same time I don’t understand why you wouldn’t use the Notes App to organize your life? I get that some people need a prettier, more organized interface to plug and play their notes. But like, a blank canvas for jotting down your thoughts/ideas/to-do’s works just as well, I promise.

Apple’s Notes App recently got some upgrades that make this app even more helpful in organizing your grocery list or in my case, my newsletter topics. If you saw the Notes entry I have for this newsletter you’d be scrolling for a few minutes.

Collapsable sections 

I don’t often categorize my notes but now I think I should. Collapsing sections is so helpful when you’ve got a massive note…like the note for this newsletter.

Highlight colours for text

I thought this was already a thing but I believe that was actually just changing colour of fonts. Now you can put highlighted overlays on text in purple, pink, orange, mint, and blue.

Live audio transcripts

This is cool - I usually have my notes app out already in meetings anyway so this would make life so much easier. I’m assuming because Apple Intelligence (OpenAI) is running behind the scenes that the voice to text transcription would be pretty decent but I need to test this out still.

There’s two more features that are catered to the notes app for iPad:

Smart Script, which enhances your handwriting, essentially turning chicken scratch into clean words.

Math Notes, which calculates math equations for you like a calculator when you write it out - which comes in handy when you’re calculating millions of dollars in your notes app…don’t ask.

The Perfect Stocking Stuffer…Already!

Check out the TinyTV 2 from Tiny Circuits. This 1.14 inch screen TV packs more punch than your old TV from the 90’s. It boasts 65,000 colours, has knobs that actually turn…to handle volume and channel changing and comes with a remote so you can sit back from afar and control all the action.

Actually, you’ll probably want to sit exceptionally close to it.

Things this lil guy does includes:

1. Connects to your devices via USB-C to use as a second screen (haha)

2. Comes with a built in video converter where you can upload your on movies/shows/videos to it to play

3. Set up your own channels with your content to surf between videos

At a price tag of $85 CAD, this isn’t actually a stocking stuffer - unless you want someone to have the coolest stocking ever.

The manufacturer also does a bunch of other tiny devices like mini hand-held gaming systems, instruments, and a ton of hardware and chips to build your own mini whatevers. These are still fun little gift ideas - you’re welcome.