The Column

Motto: The words need to fit together. The paragraphs do not.
Writing.
Every time I start a Column it starts with the single word "Writing". I go in and change it to say other stuff usually, but today I felt like leaving it. No further words need to be said about that.
If I stuck were in a room with nothing but a window. I wonder how much time would have to pass before I noticed time wasn't passing.
Whoever said variety is the spice of life was a smart dude. He probably also just got out of a rut of some sort. 
My Roomba plays a little fanfare when it's done cleaning and successfully returns back to its base station to rejuice. You can hear it in the first 8 seconds of this YouTube video. I haven't thought much about tune before - but today when it was finished I instinctively said "chaaarge!". Only after I said that out loud, did I realize some product designer has a sense of humor. iRobot must hire dads. Pretty good.
Spiderman: Homecoming was great. I don&#…

Motto: After Writing All of This I Realized Most of it is Embarrassing

Hello internet. I'm writing this in my basement on the couch, waiting for Shadow of the Colossus to download on my PlayStation. I've heard it's a classic, so I'm going to give it a shot.

While it was downloading, I watched Caddyshack. I'd heard it's a classic, so I gave it a shot.

It's extremely nice out right now. So I should go outside and take advantage. It would probably be good for my mental health. Instead I watched a movie, then lifted weights, and now intended on playing a game (once it downloads and I'm done with this) until my wife gets home from her summer gig. We might grill out then. Who knows. Lately all I've really wanted to do outdoors is play golf, but golf is expensive. Playing it by yourself doesn't seem like it would be as fun, and playing it with other people requires coordination & forethought. I am fundamentally lazy. So those things don't happen. …

Motto: Hello! My Name is... Mr. Complainer
I'm in a good mood. I've switched NSAIDs and my back feels great. I've had some great times over the past week and everything is going really well.

Now prepare for me to dump on stuff for the rest of the Column. First up, healthcare. Then, Google. Afterward I'll slide into a more fun Top 5 and leave you with several quotes.

As I've written about fairly recently - I have a disease. Not the kind of disease you can avoid by washing your hands or eating healthy. I have the kind that you just... get. At least that's the best science really has to say about the issue. It's nobody's fault. There's nothing I could have done to prevent it. But it's here and it's permanent. I will be on some form of medication for the rest of my life.

I was going to write a ton here about our current healthcare system and insurance and how everything is woefully hamstrung, but this is the last part of the Column I'm writing …

Motto: Opinions! They're like facts, but so messy!

I write these posts in random order. Sometimes I start on the body. Sometimes not. Today this is the last paragraph I'm writing. I didn't mean to write this whole thing tonight, but I did. Whoops.

Apple's developer's conference was today. They announced some new stuff as per usual. Some of it is pretty neat. Some of it is not that exciting. All of it is overpriced. It got me thinking, though. They updated their notetaking application to work in new ways with the "Apple Pencil", which made me wonder to myself how many people are going to change their notetaking workflows to accommodate this new feature? Beyond just this feature, how many people are going to change the whole way they've been doing stuff just to accommodate these various new devices?

Then I got to thinking about the concept of "systems" as a general topic. It seems like it's not a good idea to rely on your "system"…

A motto: Tomato

It has been a while.

Have you ever been too busy living life to live life? I have been seizing the crap out of the day, every day. Since I last wrote, I've gone golfing, different golfing, bowling, bike riding, watching baseball, building a brick walkway, playing volleyball, playing different volleyball, practicing basketball, playing bocce ball, playing lawn games, playing group videogames, playing pool, playing different pool, going shooting, shooting yourself in the face, and watching both movies and show finales with friends. My patented Aaron projects have all fallen by the wayside. They require time and boredom. I've been blessed enough not to have much of either to spare.

About that "shooting yourself in the face" bit. I had a bad ricochet while shooting some steel. It turned out alright:


And now I get to say for the rest of my life I survived getting shot in the face.

More than all of that - I got to eat delicious delicious Chuy's. They are…

Motto: Balance in the Force

This post will serve as the "yong" to the previous post's "ying". 

First I'll start by saying I'm back on prescription anti-inflammatories and honestly and truly back to feeling normal. Do you have any idea how good it feels to feel "normal"? It feels damn amazing. I think I'll take the stairs. I think I'll clean the house. I think I'll tackle that project. I think I'm going to go lift weights.

#BACKtoHealth was a last-minute success. My 30 Day Challenge for May will be for me to watch 10 movies from my "Movie Bucket List".
Wednesday was the three year anniversary of the day on which I married Melissa. It was the three year anniversary of the best day of my life. It was the 1096th day in my streak of good days (on the whole). It was the 36th straight month in which I was able to fill out "married" on hospital forms, rather than having to choose the single option and tell the hospital …