I recently finished Dan Carlin’s book, “The End Is Always Near”, in which he writes about civilizations and societies from the Bronze Ages through present day and how they ended. He presents known facts, theories and disputed historical arguments. Having read several books about the fall of the Roman Empire, my understanding is that the…
Author: Steve Ainslie
Just A Little Paint-ience
I spent the past week painting. It started out simple enough. All I planned to do was repainting the ceiling in my upstairs bathroom which had been stained during a roof leak. First, the roof was repaired and then I repainted the ceiling. I was surpassed by how nice the bathroom looked after the second…
Removing Labels
Labels used to be very important to me. They were how I defined who and what I was. Labels were a (the?) core part of my identity. After my wife died, I struggled with Labels. Without her, what was I? Suddenly, I had lost a core part of my being. If I wasn’t a Husband,…
Don’t Call 911
My 86 year old girlfriend baked a batch of homemade cookies and texted me to stop by to pick up some for Valentine’s Day. When I did, she invited me to sit and visit with her for a while, as usual. We talked about about a bunch of stuff – families, raising kids, money and…
End Zone Dances
This year, I watched a couple of hours of NFL football. My viewing has dwindled to almost none, due to lack of interest and lack of access. Still, the Super Bowl was this past weekend and I was looking forward to watching the first half and hopefully, some clever commercials. I made it through about…
Make Bad Art
I listened to an interview of the author and art critic Jerry Saltz on the Pivot Podcast last week. I don’t follow the “fine art” world. I have no interest in critics’ opinions or participating in what I assume would be a pretentious domain of wealthy people. So, it came a pleasant surprise that Jerry…
Poor Little Rich Man
The other day I was thinking about my predilection for frugality. At times, I feel like I am outlier in a world of spendy people. I don’t mind being an oddball. I love being frugal. I like having just the right amount of stuff. It’s a relief to only have to maintain things I use…
The Bright Side
I am outside for several hours every day walking my dog. Most of the time, our walks are pretty fantastic. We walk in the early morning hours before anyone else is up except for the paper delivery guy and my 4:30AM girlfriend. We walk after lunch in the late morning through the woods – checking…
Flash In The Pan
Lately, the antics of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Robert and Andrew Tate have dominated the news and many podcasts. I pay no attention to any of these discussions. I don’t look at their pictures. I don’t read their Tweets. I won’t listen to commentary about them. Zip. Zilch. Nada. They don’t interest me in the…
Return On Investment
Sometimes a dream deserves to die. My “If I ever strike it rich…” fantasy of building my own personal lap pool is one of those dreams. My occasional aggravations with finding an empty lane, finding an alternate pool during holiday closures and getting kicked out anytime it thunders, had me longing for my own personal…