The surprise of the list is Minneapolis, which improved its standing from No. 11 to No. 7, beating New York and Portland, Ore., among others. Minneapolis' secret? A particularly broad range of service providers, including a number of neighborhoods with 20 different access options for high-speed Internet.

Twenty options! In my neighborhood, I have two: the local cable company and an unreliable rural wireless provider. Most people in the Oklahoma City metro area probably have 2-3 options. I can't imagine what it must be like to be able to choose amongst providers and actually have recourse should their service not meet expectations. Here's hoping the new administration will bring back the focus on providing broadband internet access to all.

I like to think about the ratio of windshield to rear-view mirror and use that idea to focus my energy on what's next.

Jeffrey Kalmikoff, skinnyCorp

Nice perspective from one of the guys behind Threadless. His recent post, 7 sins of success is good read for anyone who needs a little perspective on learning from their mistakes and focusing on the things they can change.

Merry Christmas! I hope this letter finds you well. It has been an amazing year for the Zimdars family here in windy Oklahoma.

Grace is now in third grade. She plays on a local soccer team and continues to enjoy practicing gymnastics year-round. She's a great student and really loves to read any time she can. When she's not doing that you can be sure she is in her room making some kind of art.

Brett is half-way through his first year of middle school in the sixth grade. It's been a great transition and he's enjoyed the increased freedom of middle school-- especially attending after-school activities like football games and dances. Brett also plays soccer and practices gymnastics. When he's not playing video games or driving his go-cart you can usually find him in the back yard building some kind of track for his cars for fort to hide in.

Holly is the motor that keeps us all going-- sometimes literally-- as she spends a lot of time getting everyone where they need to be and making sure they have everything they need. Holly loves her puppies, including Tootsie, the new addition she "found" over the summer. Tootsie is a big dog -- we like to joke that her breed is toy moose. When Holly isn't doing something for someone else (which is almost never) she loves making photographs and playing with her puppies.

Jason continues to remake the internet one website at a time while working as creative director of a local website design company. Sometimes he works too much, which seriously cuts into his fun time. Being a serial hobbyist Jason always has a project to work on in between his interests in art, aquariums, critters, video games, robotics, photography, etc-- whew! Jason never met a cookie he didn't like.

We've had a great year and are looking forward to a wonderful 2009. We hope that you and yours can enjoy the company of family and friends this Christmas and have a safe and blessed New Year.

Love,

The Zimdars
Jason, Holly, Brett, & Grace

Please enjoy these pictures from the past year (click each one to see it larger).

Click each picture to see it close-up.

Front of card

Card inside detail 1

Card inside detail 2

Inside of card

Card back detail