2021 was the ninth year for the blog. As I’ve done every year, here’s where I share some stats and the things I’ve learned over that time.
Continue reading2021 – Year in review for the blog
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Category Archives: Life Journal
Mindfulness and Humility
Mindfulness has been a popular buzzword around personal development circles lately. There’s been books written on the topic. Classes have been developed around it. Everyone seems to have a desire to be more “mindful,” but what exactly does that mean?
Continue readingMy 2022 reading list
The reading list has been one of my annual rituals since I started blogging back in 2013. There were 60 books on my “want to read” list at that time. Twenty made the cut. This year, according to Goodreads, I have 218 books queued up. Needless to say, prioritizing the list takes a little longer than it used to.
Continue readingIt’s That Time of the Year
I was on the fence this year. Really, I was.
This was the year, I swear.
And then, it happened again. The beard made it’s annual appearance.
Continue readingCollege Football Playoff: 8 Is Enough
There’s been a lot of talk of expanding the college playoff field to 12 teams this past season. I don’t like this number. It’s too many.
Don’t get me wrong. Just like 12 is too much, the current 4 is too little. 8 is the Goldilocks number – it’s just right.
I first wrote about the merits of an 8-team playoff back in 2014, and then again in 2016. I’m doubling down on those posts here in 2021.
All the reasons I listed in both of those posts are still valid today, so I’m not going to rehash all of them here. Instead, let’s take a look at which teams would be in my 8-team playoff bracket this year.
Continue readingMy first (and hopefully not last) 5K
When the local gym closed down for good over the pandemic, I had to look for another way to stay in shape. I decided to take up running (again). While I hate running, it was the best available option, particularly since Courtney would run occasionally while she was living with us last year.
I’ve been running consistently for about a year and a half. When I got an email about this year’s YMCA 5K/10K holiday run for fun, I figured it was time to put my training to the test. I ran in the very same event 6 years ago. At that time, I ran the 10K. I wasn’t up for the long distance this time around. I decided to sign up for the 5K, and Amanda and Courtney agreed to join me.
Continue readingRule #1 – Show up
If you want to get better at something, anything, the first rule is to show up.
Sure, there is a certain amount of basic ability that’s required to perform a skill, but getting to that basic level is generally the easy part. The hard part is showing up day after day, persevering, grinding, making progress slowly but surely.
Continue readingWhere it all began – The Caramel Brulée Latte
Earlier this month, Starbucks sent me a notification for my free birthday drink. It had been a while since I was there. So long, that I couldn’t remember the last time I went. Well, I’m sure I could find out by looking at the purchase history in their app, but you get my point. I don’t spend a lot of time at Starbucks. But since they were offering, who am I to pass up a free drink?
For nostalgic purposes, I treated myself to a Caramel Brulée Latte. Why a Caramel Brulée Latte you ask? Good question, and one that doesn’t have a simple answer.
What follows is the story of my relationship with the Starbucks Caramel Brulée Latte, and how it led me into drinking and making my own coffee.
Continue readingFour Ingredients, Infinite Possibilities
I started baking bread about a year ago. At that time, I had pretty much cut bread out of my diet. I was convinced carbs were the enemy. But if that was indeed the case, carbs being the enemy, how come humans have been eating bread for thousands of years without adverse affects?
Then it hit me, maybe it had to do with the “modernization” of the process. If I could control the ingredients and the process, then maybe I could return to eating bread.
It’s amazing how simple the bread baking process is, yet how complex the outcomes are. A video I watched recently had a great quote about bread making that sums up the concept. A baker explained what captivated him about the process in four words:
“Four ingredients, infinite possibilities.“
Yes, that’s right, four simple ingredients – flour, water, salt, and yeast – can produce an endless number of results.
Continue readingSocial media: Bringing us together or pulling us apart?
One of the great promises of social media is that it connects us with our friends and those closest to us. Using it, we can broadcast important events that take place in our lives, we can tell others what we’re doing at any and all times of the day, we can share pictures, we can re-establish friendships with those we’ve lost touch with, and we can stay in touch with those where distance separates us.
On the surface, it sounds great. By doing these things, social media should be bringing us together. It should be making us closer with our good friends, keeping us in touch with those far away, and reconnecting us with those we’ve lost touch with.
I would contend that the promise is not translating into reality. I would argue that social media isn’t having the effect of bringing us together but instead is pulling us apart.
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