Category: miscellaneous

  • 10 things you can do to declare your own independence

    Tomorrow is one of the few bank holidays that we get in these United States.  We may have gained our independence (note, I said may…) from King George, but we definitely lost a lot of holidays in the process.  The holiday is know by various names: Independence day by the patriotic Fourth of July by the…

  • A stateless society would be chaos (for good)

    A stateless society would be chaos (for good)

    It’s no secret that I am a huge podcast fan.  I subscribe to more than 30 and listen to about 10-15 episodes a week (lots of driving and mowing time).  One of my two favorite are put out by Dan Carlin – Hardcore History and Common Sense.  At various times in each of them, Dan…

  • Porcfest reflections from a first time attendee

    I have started and then deleted this post at least 8 times today.  There are so many ideas, so many stories, so many next actions that I think its too big for one post.  Plus all of it probably needs some time to digest before it will make any sense.  So instead of trying to capture…

  • Stop by and see me sometime

    Two weeks from today I’ll be packing up the Jetta to head to New Hampshire for my first porcfest.  First heard about this festival last year and through the course of the year convinced myself I should go.  As a bonus, when my kids heard about it, they both wanted to tag along.  If you…

  • Schooling vs education and the quest for happiness

    I’ve spent a lot of time over the last year trying to figure out the best advice I can give my kids to help them figure out what it is that they want to do with the rest of their life.  A lot of the advice lately is use the time you have now wisely.…

  • Walk in the woods

    I spent last weekend in what will undoubtedly be our next national park, Red River Gorge.   The weather was perfect, the scenery was beautiful (as always) and there was even a meteor shower on the first night.  But the real wonder was the group I went there with: 15 young adults and 3 other…

  • The divine right of kings, voting and other fictions

    This will probably be an unpopular post with most of the people that read my blog, but it’s something I need to get out. I think I have discovered a few previously unknown (to me) truths. I am sure that what I’ve discovered is true, but perhaps my current understanding doesn’t yet represent the whole…

  • Moving day

    I’ve spent part of today packing up my office.  No, I’m not leaving Siemens.  I’m not changing jobs.  I’m simply changing where I work from: I’m going to start working from home a majority of the time.  It’s just a trial for now, but I’m hopeful its going to work out long term.  I do…

  • Summer "break"

    Despite the nasty winter and all of the associated snow days, both of our kids are scheduled to finish school as originally scheduled, which means they only have a few weeks left before the are on summer break. It should be a pretty fun, albeit busy, summer.  The pool is open and almost ready to…