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TL;DR My three rethinking posts (part 1, part 2, and this one) were written at the end of December 2021, but I delayed posting until plans for my retirement had been settled. I think anyone reading this would realize I was transitioning and didn’t want to send that signal before my boss and company were…
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In part I shared several of the changes that had a high impact on my mid-life reset in 2011 after my wife passed. Ten years later I am even more confident that those were were worthwhile. In this post I am going to reflect on several decisions I made ten years ago. This is a…
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I am troubled by the increasingly polarized “discussions” I hear on many podcasts, in social media, and in person. I am not just talking about politics. I see the same sort of thing when people are discussing diets, system architectures, training programs, or child raising. Often I see people making bold, absolute claims. They will…
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I recently talked with a student I mentored years ago about some mid-life course corrections he was considering. This prompted me to think about my mid-life transition in 2011-2012 as I grappled with losing Libby to cancer. The follow is a remembrance of what changed then, and how I think about these issues ten years…
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TL;DR Treating others as valuable by taking the time to really listen and to be present in the moment is one of the most impactful practices anyone can engage in. Not thinking about what’s next. Not thinking about how to respond, but giving people our whole attention. This is one of the most powerful ways we show others unconditional…
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I use feedly to subscribe to around 100 RSS feeds which generates around 400 messages a day. I scan the subject lines, open those that look interesting, and save in Evernote Bear those that I might want to reference at a later time. In the past I also use Flipboard which allowed me to combine…
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These days most western churches record their sermons and put them online. I expect that if a person dedicated all their waking time to listen to all the sermons preached on just one Sunday, they would died long before they listened to even half the recordings. The quality of these sermons is highly variable. Life…
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Top The following are set to automatically get downloaded and put at the beginning of my listening queue: Recommended The following are podcasts that I am current enjoying. I automatically download them my phone to the end of my queue. Past Recommendations The following are podcast that I used to listen to every episode, but…
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Updated in November 2025 with lessons for an additional three years living a nomadic life. TL;DR I became intrigued by the “digital” nomad lifestyle in the 1980s when laptops were heavy and connectivity were acoustical modems running on analog phone lines. I got to know a number of the early digital nomads, and followed many…
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Several items on my personal gear list were used by the whole family, and thus, this page was born. I have excluded our furniture. We keep only those items that are useful and/or are enjoyed which allows our family to focus on doing things that we find rewarding rather than devoting ourselves to managing stuff.…
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I have an updated list which captures what I am using now. Minimalism led me to simplify my possessions. Each year I review what I used the previous year to determine what changes I want to make. I strive to use items that enable me to have an a healthy, impactful life, while minimizing friction.…
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If you listen to popular culture and the ads which “inform” us about acceptable conduction you would be inclined to believe that there are numerous specialized products and activities that we must engaged in for the sake of properness. I ran a series of experiments in the last fifteen years to see if these were…
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TL;DR Effective Response, Not Identity Politics The best COVID response I have see is in Taiwan, an island nation of 21 million people (about the same as the state of Florida). Early in the pandemic Taiwan required people entering the country quarantine for 14 days and then everyone was free to continue on with life.…
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TL;DR Contempt is extremely corrosive and will destroy relationships and society if not countered. Rather than encouraging people to repair a breach, contempt encourage people to separate, widening the gap. The solution is to truly listen to people you disagree with, looking for how you share values “the why” even when you disagree about what’s…
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Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Aphorism attributed to Albert Einstein In the face of an ever accelerated and complex world, I have found seeking simplicity to be a shelter. Rather than getting caught up in, and reacting to our fast moving and complex world, embracing simplicity has enabled me to take…
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I recently came across a wonderful interview which featured Eugene Peterson and Bono talking about the Psalms. I was touched by both mens’ humility, their genuine friendship, and their love for the Psalms. There is also a nice follow-up series of mini interviews between David Taylor and Bono called Beyond the Psalms which are inline…
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Last month I heard a story on NPR’s marketplace show about how policies concerning bourbon illustrate the long standing urban-rural divide in our country. It was an interesting piece, but not one I expected would have any impact on my life. A month later some good friends were cleaning out their liquor cabinet and offered…
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In have an updated list which captures what I am using now. Minimalism led me to simplify my possessions.This post is the complete list of everything I personally own. At the end of each year I review what I have used in the previous year and decide what to use, retire and add in the…
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Several items on my personal gear list were used by the whole family, and thus, this page was born. I have excluded our furniture. We keep only those items that are useful and/or are enjoyed which allows our family to focus on doing things that we find rewarding rather than devoting ourselves to managing stuff.…
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A friend recently asked “If you could watch only one movie, what would it be?” This is an incredibly hard question. In the end, my answer was the documentary Weapons of the Spirit, a story of the town Le Chambon that sheltered around 5,000 jews during the Nazi occupation. The cinematography isn’t amazing but the…