The Column

Motto: Make Happy

I write the first half of this Column from a position of privilege. Actually I write every Column from that position, now that I think about it. Regardless, this is all very personal and I can say up front that I know it's not this simple, this is all very easy for me to say, and what good does it do? Part of me thought about just deleting this, but heck I wrote it so here it is.

I don't really understand smart people who aren't happy.

If you're smart, you should be able to identify cause and effect relationships. You should be good at noticing patterns and trends. You should have a good idea about what toolsets are available to you and how to use them to create effective change. 

Happiness, to me, seems like a key metric that most people are trying to maximize in their lives... and smart people are supposed to be good at tweaking dials to solve problems. Combining those two strongly-held beliefs, it doesn't seem like smart, unhappy people should be …

As a Father: THE THERMOSTAT IS NOT TO BE TOUCHED  

On 8/8/18, Griffin was born. 
I was born on 8/1/88, which is his birthday backwards. I think that's pretty neat.

It feels weird to say "I became a dad", because it feels weird to be a dad. The whole thing feels weird. Weird and good. Griffin is the first baby I've spent more than 5 minutes around. The first baby that I've held while he cried. The first baby I've soothed. The first baby whose diaper I've changed. The only baby I've ever wanted to hold.

I always wanted a kid because I have some romantic feelings about life and love and purpose and our biological imperatives and existence and stuff... but it turns out that having a kid also comes with some other neat things. The prospect of getting to shape an entire person as he grows up is really exciting. I really look forward to each of his individual stages of development. I can't wait for it to have "all gone too fast", as they say. I wan…

Motto: Life, One Second a Time

I had a kid. I'll write about that next time. It's tough to try to get everything I want to say about that together and typed and whatnot - so I'm going to postpone that one and throw out this one. I've got several Columns already in mind right now. Actually that gives me the Top 5 topic. 



Here's the playlist of all of six videos.

I'm not writing any more on this topic. That video marked the end of the longest-running creative project I've ever done. This is a cathartic Column.

Top 5: Titles of Columns that I've been Trying to Write for the Past Few Days
5. "Sixth Second-A-Day"
4. "Feature: Analysis of Human Attractiveness"
3. "Make Stuff"
2. "Self Help (Yourself)"
1. "Griffin"

Quote:
"You said you were moving onto something better - and I thought 'I bet I know what that means'."
- Ed -

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 …