2019

Before this most recent trip to Munich and Paris, I hadn’t travelled internationally in a few years. After having been to places like Budapest and Bangkok, Sydney and Santiago, I was out of practice. To get back in gear, I

In fiction, there is the concept of the unreliable narrator—the person telling the story cannot be trusted. Gone Girl is an outstanding example of an unreliable narrator. Completely untrustworthy. Our own memories are the same. We think we remember what

This is a list of random advice I made for myself: Chew the stick of gum before it goes stale and hard. Or throw it away. But don’t keep it hanging around, getting old. Don’t lick anything metal when you’re

In college, when I was working on my master’s, I worked during the day and went to school at night. I still remember my annual salary because I had to watch over it so carefully: $10,500. In today’s dollars, that’s

I am getting ready to teach a college course in the fall and that is causing me to think back on my own experiences in college. I remember so little of the coursework. My most significant learning came from one

I have erred on the side of safe. In my life, when I made certain choices. In my posture, when I turned in and down to shelter myself. In my approach to money, when I sought to construct a thick

I went to a seminar on healthcare options for people who formerly had healthcare coverage through their employer but lost it when their job went away. It was fascinating—not the healthcare part, but how all of us around the table

My new theory is that everyone who lives long enough will at some point go through a period of The Hard. I believe The Hard is necessary. It makes us stronger. It strips away dross. My theory is based on

I am in Johnstown, Pennsylvania because this is where the tow truck brought me, from the Midas shop just off the Pennsylvania turnpike to a Honda dealership thirty miles away. These are all the things that went right: When the