The Column

Motto: Let's Get It Started In Here

Our baby is going to be induced two days from now. Tomorrow we go in for pre-induction medical magic. That means basically everything I do right now I'm doing for the last time as an individual without any children. This is the last Column I will write as a non-father. This is the last time I'll write the word "ambidextrous". This is the last time I'll go on a nice little Sunday outing. It makes everything seem arbitrarily important. Every thought is good enough to write about. Every little thing is worthy of savor. That's probably why I'm on a hot streak of Column writing.

Next time I write something in here, I'll have to start each of my opinions with "As a father..." 

Melissa says I should proof read these Columns before I actually post them. She's noticed a number of times where I start somet

It's amazing how much the weather affects everything and everybody. If it's a nice day I am almost…

Motto: Optimism Meets Realism Meets Writing

Fifteen million seven hundred sixty-eight thousand minutes! Fifteen million seven hundred sixty-eight thousand moments so dear! Fifteen million seven hundred sixty-eight thousand minutes! How do you measure, measure 30 years?
I measured 5 years using the Life Tracker. I know that doesn't account for the other 5/6ths of the data you asked about. Sorry I don't know what to tell you.

That's right. I started a retrospective of the past 30 years of my life with a R.E.N.T. joke. Clearly I'm going deep with this Column.

Five Years ago I wrote a Column talking about how awesome turning 25 is and how awesome the next 25 years were going to be. I wrote how I was excited to relive every day I had already been alive, but with "at least my current level of understanding and faculty, my current level of independence and capability". Looking back I see what I was getting at... but I might take a slightly less "everything is great&qu…

Motto: Do the Thing the Person You Want to be Would Do - and Eventually that will be Who You Are.

Does Anyone Remember When I Used to Write Everything in My Blog in Book-Title-Capitalization-Case?  That was annoying.

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History Podcast is an incredible thing. The dude puts out audiobook-length episodes for free. Better yet, they're actually good & entertaining. I didn't care about history at all going in - and now it's slightly interesting! If you've not checked them out, you should.

I bring up the Hardcore History Podcast because I was listening to his most recent episode and he sort of nonchalantly throws out a reference to the Vision from the Avengers. Shortly after that, he made a reference to Captain America. In another podcast I listen to, This Week in Tech, they were talking about Thanos the other week. It's really neat to be a fan of comic book stuff right now. These characters that I'd only ever slightly heard of back in 2012 …

Motto: HELLO RANDOM PERSON GOOGLING FOR REVIEWS! I wrote this for you!
Backstory: I obsessed about backpacks for a few months. I was in a loop where I researched, made lists, Googled, read reviews, watched reviews, went to stores, then started the process all over again in search of the "perfect" bag to buy. I spent a lot of time on Reddit's /r/onebag, /r/backpacks, and /r/EDC. I found the website Carryology and YouTubers Chase Reeves and Bo Ismono. It started (over a year ago, actually) with the GORUCK GR1 - but a few months back expanded to other GORUCKs, the Evergoods CPL24, the Tom Bihn Synapse 25, REI's Rucksacks, and various other bags that you can only pre-order from Kickstarter. About two months ago I stumbled across the Timbuk2 "Never Check Expandable Backpack". Being a long-time Timbuk2 owner and proud writer of the top, most helpful review on Amazon's page for the Timbuk2 Command Messenger bag, finding this bag felt like a sign. The Never Check…

Motto: Everybody Needs a Hobby

I have put a lot of the three major resources into crafting a home gym. I'm proud of it and it's one my favorite things about my house... but it doesn't have any way to do cardio. Your standard fix to this is "buy a treadmill off Craigslist". My issue is, I've got crap joints and treadmills historically cause me problems after a couple of minutes. Also treadmills are large and generally not something I've ever been excited about. In my experience, rowing for a couple minutes is a better warm up than jogging, and a rowing machine tends to hold its value. Because rowing machines hold their value, any one that's used and worth buying is incredibly expensive. That link isn't to a specific example, it's just a search of Rowing Machines in the KC area. I assume at any given point in the future you'll be able to click it and see I'm right.

So, they're expensive, but they're also simple. A rowing machine is…

Motto: It Makes a Fool of Us All

Life seems to me like a series of choices about what to do with your resources. Mostly those resources fall into energy, time, and money.

It used to be that I'd sit down to write most Columns not knowing what I wanted to write about. The net result would be whatever came to my mind between the time I sat down and the time I stood up. Nowadays I know essentially exactly what I want to say before I ever approach my computer. I write more Columns in my head than I ever get to put online - I just "don't have the time" to do it.

I have been saying for years that the "having no time" excuse is mostly bologna that old people say to make up for not using their time wisely. While I still think that's true to some extent, my tune has changed.

Actually. After doing an exercise to fill out this paragraph with, it looks a lot like this is still the case and I've just been woefully misusing my time. Maybe I should do another time stud…