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TL;DR I am so grateful that I live in an era that can correct many issues related to poor vision!! It’s easy to take glasses for granted, but for thousands of years, people born with poor eyesight had to find ways to muddle through life, never seeing things clearly. I have worn eyeglasses since I…
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For a year I tried using the service blinkist which provides summary’s of popular non fiction books, with a focus on business and self improvement literature. I thought it would be an effective way to screen books to decide what books I would want to read in full. After a year I decided it wasn’t…
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You can get commercial information from NapaValley.COM. For years, I found The Best of the Wine Country to be a useful guidebook to the area, but it’s out of date now. Wine Wine is the first order of business. There are more than 400 wineries in the Napa valley, and more than 600 if you include Sonoma county.…
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Yosemite is arguably one of the most beautiful places on earth. I have been then tens of times, and never tire of visiting the park. While the Valley floor can be crowded, it’s still worth visiting. For a first time visitor to Yosemite I would recommend staying in the valley if possible. Lodging options range…
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San Francisco is a beautiful, world class city. There are numerous museums, places of nature beautiful, great food, and well known tourist spots. You could easily spend several weeks exploring San Francisco and only scratch the surface. The SF City Pass can be a good deal. The greater SF bay area has more Michelin stars…
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Part of my visiting northern California series. I would recommend taking two days to explore the area around Monterey. If you had a lot of time you could make it a four day leg and continue down Route 1 to Hearst Castle / San Simeon, Morro Bay, San Louis Obispo, and then come back via…
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Monta Loma (MLN) is a great neighborhood which has a real community. Long before nextdoor, the community had a website, mailing list and later a wiki. We have block parties, a gardening group, CERT team, etc. There was (and maybe still is) a babysitting coop. MLN is located near many high tech employers like Google,…
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Items that I removed from my personal gear list because we have them for the general family. This list is incomplete. See this year’s family gear. Electronics Google WiFi Mesh network access points easily install and just work when you have an area than a single WiFi router isn’t sufficient. There may be faster / more…
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In have an updated list which captures what I am using now. In 2019 am using pretty much the same gear in 2018. This shouldn’t be a surprised. Several years ago Minimalism led me to simplify my stuff, keeping just the items that are regularly used and give me joy. This year I moved a number of items from “my”…
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From 1989 until 2018 this page was a transcript of C.S. Lewis’ sermon Weight of Glory. Lewis’ sermon had a profound impact on my faith and life. I wanted to share it. After 30 years I received a polite “Take Down” notice from the copyright holder. I learned that while the copyright had expired in…
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Jackie says “Weee….”, Mark says “Whatever”. We are different Not a week goes by when Jackie and I don’t have a serious argument…. and I am so thankful for this because our arguments grow our understanding and character. The root of our arguments is often that we see the world from different perspectives. As we argue,…
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Every Saturday Jackie and I take at least a couple hours to walk in one of the parks in our area or we might be further afield at some state or national park. Within a few minutes of beginning our walk I can feel myself relaxing. I periodically go on solo backpacking trips, my version…
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I tend to prefer mildly spicy food with complex combinations of tastes. Southwest, Mexican, Indian, Thai, Fusion, Californian, and especially Pacific Rim. I can enjoy classic French and Vietnamese, but the subtlety is sometimes lost on me. Great meals involve more than food. It also is about being with people I love and an atmosphere…
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Today I was deeply sadden by the news that Doug Goins had succumbed to his three year struggle with cancer. Like many people, and especially Candy, I will miss him, and look forward to seeing him in the next life. As I pedaled my way into work today I couldn’t stop crying and thinking about…
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We live an an era which encourage us to consume ever more products, always looking for what would be better than what we have. I strive to be content with adequate shelter, clothing, and food and grateful for the material possessions which grace my life. One of the ways I fight against the drum beat of…
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Over the last several years I have tried to answer the question “What is a Healthy Lifestyle?”. The following is a summary of what I have learned (with some minor updates in 2024). My conclusions seem to overlap a fair bit with what is advocated by Stanford Lifestyle Medicine, Dr Peter Attia and the insights…
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I have an updated list which captures what I am using now. Minimalism led me to simplify my stuff, keeping just the items that are regularly used and give me joy. I considered taking the 100 Items Challenge, but decided I would be too focused on curating stuff rather living a meaningful life. I am following an organic…
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Francis Schaeffer observed that we live in a world that worships “personal peace and affluence”. Our culture tells us that we should put comfort above all else which leads to a self centered life. Advertisers buy our attention to convince us more stuff will make our lives better. They tell us we should “keep up…
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I am not a sound engineer or music producer. I do consider myself am an audiophile because I really care about the sound qualty of the music I listen to. Unlike some audiophiles, the audio equipment is only a means to an end and not part of my audio hobby. As a result, I tend…
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Minor Update: 2022 I define sports watches and wrist worn instruments which collect and display information that grants insight about health, fitness, and/or physical activities. My experience is that in most cases Garmin make the category leading watches. There are also “smart watches” which can be used as sport watches, but they focused on integration…