Star Spangled Stupidity
Today in “Why NextDoor Is the Worst,” this is someone’s “without comment” post from Veteran’s Day, which was commemorated here on the compound with coffee...
The robots are here
This is Atlas autonomously moving engine covers. They’re not coming for our jobs, they’re here for them. Because rather than adapting work areas that are...
Closing arguments
Trump and Harris are wrapping up their campaigns this week. A lot of people will vote on a single issue. I can’t think of a more pertinent single issue than...
That time email cost me a job
I once had seven interview rounds over four months for an integrator job. For those of you not familiar with startup speak, an integrator is an admin on HGH,...
What John Cena taught me about my novel
It was Wrestlemania XL (40 to you non-Roman fanboy types) this year, and as a latecomer to most things, including the appeal of what is clearly scripted but...
High beams
I’ve started walking after dinner, for a couple of reasons, mainly because walking after a day of sitting helps me move on from what I’m doing for a primary...
Knowing it all
I miss knowing everything. Having all the answers. Being smarter than everyone else. Because I, like my fellow Christians knew that The Secret wasn’t some...
Like a prayer
Scrolling through images of the devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene, I nearly did what I had done for years when faced with immeasurable catastrophe,...
Sirens
One of the perks of living near a nuclear power plant is that the first Monday of the month at noon they test the area’s warning sirens. They’re not just for...
Catching Up
Kabul, 2021, the Crossfit gym another expat had set up in the secure hotel we lived/worked/drank in at the time. I was attempting to end another period of...
Get your wings
You could live a life where you never learned that Red Bull is energy drink. But you’d still know the name. Because they’ve positioned themselves as the ones...
Head down in the dark
Most mornings I’m walking before dawn. In the dark, headlamp on, worried more about a deer colliding with me out of panic than anything. When it’s daylight,...
Nothing To Say
That’s never true. We know we have something to say. What we don’t know is whether anyone’s listening. If there’s someone to hear it. Acknowledge us. Witness...
More Is More
More isn’t better. It’s just more. And it makes it less fun. Whatever it is. A slice of pizza. A favorite song. A hug. But none is worse. No pizzas, no...
Deload
It’s a word used in weight training. Refers to a time of active recovery. Where you dial back the intensity, the volume, or both. It’s a step back so that...
Big Wins
“It’s the little victories.” Little to who? Some days laundry is my moon landing. Getting out of bed? Everest. We’ve been taught to rate ourselves by our...
Thermostat? Or Thermometer?
Watching Jon Bernthal interview his brother. Bernthal’s always been an interesting guy to me. Beyond the roles he’s played in TV, movies, he’s just one of...
Ideal Conditions
We can look at conditions one of two ways: They weren’t ideal for what we had in mindThey were ideal for what resulted It’s not about controlling parameters,...
Who Would Jesus Bomb?
Maybe Jesus would bomb the SyriansCause they're not Jews like himMaybe Jesus would bomb the AfghansOn some kind of vengeful whimMaybe Jesus would drive an M1...
Helping Hands
If you read one story about the war in Gaza, make this one from the Atavist about Layan Albaz, a teenager who lost her friends, her family, and her legs to...
Never Forget
There’s a picture of me, my sister, and my mom on top of one of the World Trade Center towers. I think I’m maybe 8. I keep thinking I should digitize that,...
Kicking Ants
Ants. They’re amazing until they’re not. The not usually happening when they’ve breached the perimeter and discovered that you’re less than careful with how...
It's Closer
Something about the Indigo Girls always spoke to me. Raised as I was in a cult-adjacent church (adjacent because we never went full robes and compound, but...
Safe Space
They want to destroy safe spaces. Replace them with fortresses, ruled by fear. Fear of violence. Of the outside. Fearful of the other. In their world, safety...
Deer Sign
When whitetail deer get spooked, they run. Because when you’re a deer, options are zero. No fight or flight. Just. Flight. And their tails go up to let other...
The Mulch Pile
I take a walk most days. Same route, about the same time. Helps me get out of my own head, out of my own way. It’s in the neighborhood, so not much changes....
We Are Family
When you’re here, you’re family. That was Olive Garden’s slogan until 2012, when they decided that was too catchy and paid someone a lot of money to come up...
Hates
“I am everything liberals hate.” The distillation of the political divide continues, this time via a bumper sticker in the rear window of a pickup truck that...
Delayed
If today were a baseball game, there’d be a rain delay. A pause in the action until the weather clears up. But life isn’t baseball. We play, rain or shine,...
Trimming
There are bushes in the backyard. They were planted for two reasons: They can survive Texas heat.Deer don’t eat them. And they’ve grown, remarkably well....
Falling
Summer’s leaving, doing so, as it does every year, with the first hint that cooler weather is coming, a break in the unremitting heat to tell us that winter...
Presence
We’re always going somewhere. We miss being anywhere. And end up nowhere. This is part of The 100, 100 posts in 100 days.
Possum Kingdom
Learned today that if you see a baby possum by itself, best to take it to a rescue organization, because it’s mom is gone. Not dead, although that’s a...
Hunched
Trust the hips. Shakira wasn’t wrong: they don’t lie. I don’t trust mine. Means I hunch my shoulders when I’m doing kettlebell cleans. Trying to chase the...
Informed
Informed. I’d like to think that I am. But why? Is it to make better decisions? Learn something about myself or the world? Or is it so I can be part of The...
Pivots
There’s a process for anything worth doing well. Steps to take, points of performance, the occasional “hack” as you progress and learn ways around those...
Excused
Boundaries. Good fences, good neighbors. Build a wall. Because we need limits. Perspective. Scope. And protection. From the world. From our tribe. From...
Simple
Kettlebell. Cannonball with a handle. I have the pandemic to thank for the growing collection in the garage. More than I need, and the epitome of “Simple,...
Emotional
At the 2024 Democratic National Convention, and a party working hard to make “not going back” the message, after the Obamas left the stage, it felt a lot...
Greatness
Tim Walz spoke at the Democratic National Convention last night. The New York Times called it the “biggest speech” of his career. Except come November? It’s...
Framing
Here’s something I’d never hear myself say: I’ve been watching the Democratic National Convention. Or at least clips from it on social media. I don’t have...
Meddling with honor
"But I really, I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That's the highest award you can...
Day 1
Today’s the first day of the rest of your life. Depending on the day, that feels hopeful. Or fills me with existential dread. Opting for the first this...
Lassoed
Working my way through Season 3 of Ted Lasso. Somehow lost touch with it after Season 2. No fault of the show’s, just it happens. Special interests and the...
Psychopathy and hope
Spent the day finishing Killing Eve. I am nothing if not current on my pop culture. Not to give too much away, but it’s about an assassin working for an...
Decision or default
I know what kind of day this is. It’s an amazing day. Because I’ve decided that. Chosen that. Opted out of guessing. Not settling for the default setting....
It all floats
Helium has one job. Just be lighter than air. And in that there is joy. In a floating bit of inflated rubber. Or Mylar, if you’re fancy. Bobbing along at the...
Now that's weird
Weird. Hard to define, but like Justice Stewart and pornography, we know it when we see it. It’s a line the Democrats have latched on to with Vance and...
It's just temporary
Pain is temporary, pride is forever. Not sure where I first read that. Probably on the wall of a locker room in a an after school special about that one kid...
Perspective
Perception is reality: Helen Keller would describe her driving test very differently from her instructor. This is part of The 100, 100 posts in 100 days.