I hate planned obsolescence. I hate cheap shit. I hate the “everything disposable” mindset. I hate WalMart and the Dollar Store. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to pay tons of money for everything, necessarily, but we need to find a way back to well-made things that can be kept for a long time, … Read more
A few years ago, I was driving, The Kid accompanying in the back seat. The weather was nice, the windows were down, and he was singing. It didn’t matter that the windows were down. It didn’t matter we were stopped at a light and the people next to us could hear him. He was just … Read more
Dried mango and macadamia nuts. These are my two current favorite snacks. I can eat them together or separately, and I can eat them in significant quantity. Costco sells both. For a while, I stopped buying the mango altogether—it’s easier when it’s just not in the house—and I was just reintroduced to macadamia nuts a … Read more
I’m in a few photo groups online. In one of them, people are up in arms about Dr. Seuss Enterprises suing photographers for doing Grinch photo shoots. Except they own the Grinch. It’s not your creative work. You wouldn’t want someone to steal your photos and use them to make money for themselves. Don’t do … Read more
Schools in this area have an evacuation site. If, for whatever reason the whole school needed to be evacuated, where would we all go? At my first job in Arizona, the steak house was mentioned. New to the local area and vegetarian, I couldn’t think of any steak houses nearby … and also thought that … Read more
It’s so much harder to be kind to yourself when you’re exhausted. Get enough sleep. Make it a priority to keep your emotional load manageable. (Easier said than done—I understand this well.) Be kind to yourself.
Today’s post is full of broad sweeping statements. Of course they are not true for every individual in every category. But I’m not going to make a disclaimer in every paragraph because it’s unwieldy to read. Many companies are introducing (or have already introduced) wellness incentive plans regarding various biomarkers of their employees (with questionable … Read more
Apologies. We tend not to be good at them. We tend to force children to mutter them insincerely. We get in the habit of muttering them insincerely, if we mutter them at all. The first place I heard an excellent, clear explanation of what an apology should be was in Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture at … Read more
Freedom of speech is a right protected by the First Amendment. I’ve seen many people reply (in appropriate contexts) that freedom of speech is protected but freedom from consequences of said speech is not. It’s a good point. But the other day, I heard this reply, which I found equally compelling. The context was in … Read more
The Climbing Daddy, The Kid, and I went to a Phoenix Mercury game over the weekend. It so happened that it was “Rock the Pink” night. I was not excited. They honored breast cancer survivors, which was nice, and every seat had a pink Rock the Pink rally towel on it. Pre-recorded interviews with some … Read more