On a recent episode of his podcast, Morgan Housel was discussing his new book, The Art Of Spending Money. He said that regardless of how rational we think we can be regarding money, that our behaviors regarding money will be influenced by our upbringing, environment, experiences and emotions. He then used himself as an example….
Surrounded By A$$holes
I have never liked being around people who are cruel, vindictive, dishonest, negative, bitter or manipulative. Still, like most of us, there have been many times in my life, where this was unavoidable: Still, in all cases, even as a young child, I exercised whatever power I had to minimize my time around unsavory characters….
Deeper Roots
When I bought my house in Raleigh in 2019, I didn’t expect to live here forever. Based on my track record, I figured I’d be moving again within a few years. It’s just what I do. I’ve been here now for 6 ½ years. That’s the longest I have ever lived in one place. What…
Tapping Out For Good?
In 2021, I wrote about not having it in me to be someone’s caretaker. At the time, it was two years after my wife had died. Two years later in 2023, I wrote that my heart had hardened against caring deeply for people I don’t love. Now, in 2025, I find myself thinking about how…
There’s Only So Many Things That Could Be Wrong
My newly installed faucet in my master bathroom developed a leak from under the handle. The leak was so slow that for almost a week, I thought it wasn’t a leak. I thought it was because I tend to splash a lot of water all over this sink since this is my main bathroom where…
Antisocial Weirdo
A neighbor, who I see several times a week while walking the dogs, invited me to his annual chili cook-off party last week. He invited me last year too. At the time, I said maybe I’d come if I could make it. (I didn’t go last year). This time, I was more upfront. I thanked…
Say Goodbye To Hollywood
Hollywood, as we once knew it, is over. I started to witness the slow decline of Hollywood in the early ’90s when movie & television production moved from LA to cheaper locales in Canada, Pittsburgh and Vancouver. Then in the 2000s, it moved to the deep South, the UK, Australia and New Zealand where government…
Is This The End?
This might be my final post. After writing more than 1500 posts when I launched this blog in 2017, I’m thinking about ending it. I still plan to write – probably even more – because it helps me sort through my thoughts, opinions and beliefs. But, I’ll keep this writing offline and unpublished. The impetus…
It’s All My Fault
I listened to Anthony Scaramucci on two different podcasts recently (1, 2). Every time I hear this guy speak, I respect him more. His honesty and values are admirable. More importantly, he demonstrates them through his actions. During these two particular episodes, he talked about some of the mistakes he made throughout the course of…
The Real World
I am intentionally directing my attention (and life) offline which is in direct opposition to many people who are spending more of their time online. As someone who embraced and loved technology since the early 1990s and built my career around it, I recognize the irony of my choice today. It was the smartphone and…