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
In this corner, we have Be Yourself! Supported by “everyone else is already taken,” “an original is worth more than a copy,” and “people don’t have to like you,” Be Yourself is solid advice in a culture where following the crowd and keeping up with the Joneses are shouted at us any time we are … 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
Have you seen Alex Honnold’s TED Talk? Alex was the protagonist in Free Solo, a movie about one of his climbing pursuits. He’s famous for free soloing, as the movie title says, which is rock climbing without gear. Normally in rock climbing, one wears a harness that is tied into a rope that is secured to … Read more
The Kid is learning to read. I mean, he’s in the years-long process of learning to read. He loves to read. Part of that is that he reads things that are interesting to him. It doesn’t have to be books. It doesn’t have to be at his reading level. Whatever is interesting. Sometimes, he likes … Read more
I was in the ER last night (I’m OK—no worries). The two nurses who most often attended me were very personable and seemed to know what they were doing. Except they sucked at putting in IVs. Now, I know my veins are small. Through my cancer journey, I had ample opportunities for nurses and techs … 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
I have some drafts that are nearly done that I could have finished up and shared today, but they all have something about them that doesn’t feel right for sharing right now. I don’t know what it is, but in cases like this, I defer to the gut feeling. (As a person who has some … Read more
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