I met an old friend for lunch in Malibu. He had a decent exit from his marketplace startup and had become a leadership coach. When we compared notes, we discovered that we both felt an undercurrent of inadequacy. I've written about this before. We each had friends become far richer and more famous and influential than… Continue reading The lives people live
Ode to the wheelbarrow
The wheelbarrow cleverly combines two ancient technologies, the wheel and the lever, into a very useful device. Elegant and efficient, it's a beauty to behold. I mean really, look at this thing. The leverage you get comes from the long handles. Keeping the load near the fulcrum allows you to lift the load off the… Continue reading Ode to the wheelbarrow
How I wrote my children’s book
"Children's book author" is not something I aspired to put on my resume. It never crossed my mind. Not once. But then, one night, I wrote a poem. It was November 29, 2021. A Monday. We had just wrapped up a long holiday week. My wife's family visited us for several days, culminating in a… Continue reading How I wrote my children’s book
My first month of real teaching
I leave Diablo Valley College each Tuesday and Thursday exhausted but on the equivalent of a mental high. Teaching two Introduction to Business sections back-to-back is a full body+mind workout that I've never experienced before. My classroom I'm three weeks in with thirteen more to go until the end of the semester. I've learned a… Continue reading My first month of real teaching
My foray into web3
I'm writing this in web2. I own this domain (rbucks.com, although someday that might change) but I don't own the server hosting it. I don't have absolute control over the data that I'm saving to it. I can delete it (more accurately, I can request that the host delete it) but it's possible the host… Continue reading My foray into web3
Why I run
I run because I need to. When I don't run, I don't feel great. I need the exercise, I need the exhaustion, but most importantly, I need the time alone. I've found that I don't love running with other people. I'll do it because it makes me better at running and introduces me to new… Continue reading Why I run
How we did our home addition and remodel
This was the last and final remodel. There were many projects before this one. Between March and September 2021 we more than doubled the size of our house here in Contra Costa County, going from 1,500 square feet to just over 3,900. It took more than a year to go from our first drawings to… Continue reading How we did our home addition and remodel
Above-average mediocrity
I started writing this a while ago and am publishing it now even though I don't feel this anymore. Nonetheless, I edited and finished it because I think the vibe is interesting and might be helpful to another fellow "bottom of the top 1%"-er. So here we go. I'm going to chip off a piece… Continue reading Above-average mediocrity
The importance of electrification
This is a long post. And to make my long post even longer, I begin with a preamble. I visited my mom recently and spent a lot of time in her house. She entertained my kids and my wife talked for a while with my stepdad. I stumbled upon a pamphlet I recognized while rummaging… Continue reading The importance of electrification
My unannounced and inconsequential break from social media
I took about four months off of regularly reading and somewhat regularly posting to social media. I took Facebook off my phone entirely and removed all Facebook email notifications a while ago. LinkedIn followed. Then Twitter. With each step away from the incessant drone of snippets and soundbites my overall well-being improved. It felt like… Continue reading My unannounced and inconsequential break from social media