Category: On the Side
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Perfectly Smoked Salmon
As a kid, Salmon was a meal my brothers and I loathed. It started with my parents buying a smelly whole fish from questionable supermarket sources. After getting it home and immediately stinking up the kitchen, the fish was hacked into large fillets with bones still attached. We’d throw it on the BBQ, wrapped in…
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Creators Worth Watching: Clickspring
Makers are some of the most interesting people to watch work. The few that make the cut on YouTube tend to go the extra mile with the production of their videos. One of the things that creators discover fast is that there’s an opportunity to tell a story with their videos, which is what makes…
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Creators Worth Watching: This Old Tony
This Old Tony – Metalworking can be Entertaining Metalworking is fascinating to me. Perhaps it’s because it’s something that I used to know so little about as a youth. Now that I’m older and YouTube is a thing, I find metalworking absolutely fascinating – thanks in part to the videos from This Old Tony. In most of his…
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Creators Worth Watching: Matthias Wandel
There’s a vast empire of creators and makers today that share what they do via online streaming video. The format of short videos sharing builds, how-to’s, and tool reviews is entertaining while also informative. Over the next few weeks, I’ll share my favorites in hopes that you too can find a few you like. Matthias…
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In my dreams, I was never impatient
I have dreams on occasion, and often they feature a recurring theme: my first car. It was nothing sexy or memorable – a little station wagon with no radio, airbags, AC or anything at all, frankly. A stripped down little import wagon that my Grandfather had picked up new in the early 80’s. It had…
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2015
Every year at this time, I dig up, replay and over-analyze the many things that have transpired over the past year. My foray into the caverns of memories brings forth a dizzying array of pleasant memories. Top of the list are: Time spent with my daughter and my wife. Many a successful event where friends…
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Clutter and Order
Look around your workspace. What do you see? Clutter? Order? “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” Einstein said that. In today’s world where the vast majority of human knowledge is available to us a few keystrokes and a click away, what…
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Choices
We are faced with choices daily. There are often pressures that are put on us to make certain decisions a certain way. It’s not until we have learned the art of assessing the best course of action that we can make really good decisions more often than not. The trouble is, with any artform, is…
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Disruptive
We hear ‘disruptive’ in the tech world all the time – companies that bring to market drastic innovations and creations that make obsolete a competitor. Humans hate disruption. Disruption is inherently chaotic and unsettling, particularly for those benefiting from competing efforts – customers and vendors alike. Successful disrupters can create social and financial stress for…
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Confidence
When you order a coffee, you have confidence that the barista is going to deliver what you are asking for. You pay for it before it’s made, trusting you will get your beverage as ordered. There’s a social contract you enter into. You trust the barista to deliver your request. They in turn deliver to…
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Teamwork
You can do most things on your own. Humans are like that. We learn and adapt to our environment constantly, picking up skills as we go along. But what happens when something needs to be accomplished is simply too much for you to take on alone? Perhaps you don’t have a skill or the project…
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Favors
Favors are perhaps one of the most raw and human of our traits. We help friends and strangers all the time, giving some of our time and resources to better them. In modern times, we’ve come to expect reciprocation of favors – you do something for me, I’ll do something for you. We’re disappointed when…
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Routines
New routines are difficult to make happen. If they were easy, I suspect fewer folks would be stressed out and searching for purpose. The fact is, people who sleep, get exercise and stay active are simply happier people. It’s no wonder then that finding a balance between these things is one of the most popular…
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Selective Appreciation
Occasionally, I find myself listening to Christian Music. It’s not because I’m a devout follower or agree with American Christianity. I have my issues with the religion. What I love about Christian music is that it universally has a positive message and upbeat candor. I find few other music sources have as much good energy…
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Noise
Look up for a moment. Have you found yourself in the middle of the woods with only your thoughts and the sounds of nature and thought, ‘wow – this is wonderful’? No mobile devices, laptops, televisions, tablets or billboards – just you and nature. A calm sets in. A calm that perhaps you haven’t felt…