A few days ago, a man shot and killed the CEO of United Healthcare in what the news calls a “targeted assassination based on dissatisfaction with the US healthcare industry”. Since then, the online world has been filled with comments from people pointing out that this CEO and United Health’s policies have injured, bankrupted and…
Say No To Everything Else
On the Solo forum a user posted a meme that said “The best advice I ever received was…Decide what kind of life you want and then say no to everything that isn’t that.” Like many memes, it sounded wise. I did this to some extent throughout my life. In school, I wanted to be a…
Spendshift
After my wife died, I intentionally chose to live frugally and simply. My initial motivation was to conserve money since I was unemployed and living off of savings at the time. I grew to appreciate and fully embrace this minimalistic, anti-consumerist way of life. I’ve grown accustomed to questioning every purchase. I watch every dollar…
Puzzle Solving
I was talking to the installer about unexpected issues he ran into when he was installing my doors and windows. I asked what he would do. He replied, “I’ll figure it out. It’s like working on a puzzle. There’s more than one way to solve every problem.” As I watched him and his assistant work…
Father YouTube
Most of my life I envied men who could service their cars, do carpentry, repair their appliances and maintain their homes with skills they were taught by heir fathers. My friends worked with their fathers to build sheds and treehouses, change the oil and brakes in the family car, do repairs around the house and…
Playing The World’s Tiniest Violin For Myself
Last week, one of the window installers was coughing up a lung and going hoarse from some illness. I’m certain I caught whatever he had, because two days after he left, I was struck with the same sore throat, hoarse voice and nonproductive cough. I though it might be a mild cold so I took…
My 86 Year Old Girlfriend Is Gone
My 86 year old girlfriend passed away this week. She was my neighbor who introduced herself to me the day I moved in and insisted I come up to her house to see “how the furniture was arranged so you can get ideas for your house.” When she learned I was widowed, she was sympathetic…
The Sun On Her Face
This morning Wiggles and Sparkles were lying on the back of the sofa soaking up the sun coming in through the side window. They take great pleasure in sun bathing – in all seasons. As I looked at them and thought “how cute!”, I was reminded of the last time my wife joined me to…
Human Pincushion
I just received my 5th vaccination this year. I’m not a vaccination fanatic by any stretch of the imagination. I received the standard array of childhood vaccines. I got a tetanus shot in my early teens when I stepped on a rusty nail. When I was 18, I was required to have several more. After…
“This is Bullshit”
Every home improvement project* I’ve ever done begins with a moment of frustration. Suddenly, after saying to myself “This is bullshit!”, it occurs to me that there’s gotta be a better way. There almost always is. Sometimes I can think about the problem for a while and come up with a better solution. Other times,…