Category: Uncategorized

  • COVID-19: March 29

    More notes and thoughts… We walked into the cul-de-sac today, joining our neighbors singing happy birthday to a neighbor boy turning 18. Later, we took some family portraits as a photographer drove past people’s houses taking “porch portraits” for donations. This weekend (Saturday) was Max’s birthday. He got a decent haul of gifts that he…

  • COVID-19: March 22

    I started writing this post over a week ago, but never finished. I’m going to post it as-is to keep track of what was going on at the time. The world feels very surreal right now. In less than a week we went from being excited about our spring break trip to Disney World to…

  • A Sabbatical, Some Learnings, and a Mantra

    I work at Automattic, and one of the incredible perks we get is a three-month, paid sabbatical after five years (we’re hiring). This is as awesome as it sounds. And it was a personal turning point for me. Here’s the interesting thing though. It wasn’t the sabbatical itself, it was the leadup to the sabbatical.…

  • Mindfulness and Self-Reflection

    The other day I wrote about stoicism and control. While I was reading about stoicism I was also learning about mindfulness, and I found some really interesting overlapping ideas. In that post I had written; We control our reaction to others. We control how we feel about the world around us. We control whether we…

  • Stoicism and Control

    In one sense, we are powerless. We cannot control anything external to us. Oh sure, we can take our little brother’s hand and smack him in the face, saying “stop hitting yourself.” This is nothing. We cannot control who our brother is. We cannot make a person evolve. We cannot make them love us. We…

  • Perfect Keto Pizza Crust

    After much experimentation I think I’ve gotten the perfect low-carb pizza recipe down. The dough isn’t too sticky to handle. It’s thin, but still holds its shape and have a little crispness. It’s super-easy, and it’s really tasty. Other “fathead dough” recipes have the same basic ingredients. I think the key is the proportions… these…

  • Decisions I’ve Made

    I just started reading Ray Dalio’s Principles. I’m really just at the beginning, but so far the way he’s talking about principles is different from what I was expecting. It’s less about moral ideals (like “honesty” or “humility”), and more about creating shortcuts in decision-making frameworks. It’s about creating a set of guidelines to any…

  • What I Learned in 2018

    There is a ton of overlap in philosophy, religion, meditation, and general self-help. Drink lots of water (all the time, every day) to keep the kidney stone fairy away. Marcus Aurelius was surprisingly relatable. A proper old fashioned is far superior to the stuff they drink in Wisconsin. 43 is not too old to start…

  • Merry Christmas from the Ralians

    Maybe for Christmas somebody could get me a decent mic, because this sounds pretty weak. Props to Jonathan Coulton for writing one of my favorite Christmas songs.

  • Personal Mission Statement

    One of the better pieces of advice I’ve read is to write a personal mission statement. This came from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. I know it sounds hokey, and that’s because it is. But it’s important to be purposeful about your plans and choices in life or else…