Friday Inspiration 536 MY BOOK ULTRA-SOMETHING turned two years old on Thursday, so to celebrate that, I’m making the ebook $2 for two days (actually, two and a half days). You can buy it at Gumroad for $2 through 5 p.m. MST Sunday, May 17 at this link. — I don’t know how the algorithm decided to deliver this to me, but I deeply appreciate whatever equations guessed that I would like to listen to Tracy Morgan delivering a very unhinged breakdown of what goes on in The Empire Strikes Back,...
7 days ago • 2 min read
The 35 Types Of Runs I Have Gone On In The Past Year Or So I pushed the start button on my running watch with my right hand, two thick envelopes in my left hand, and jogged across the busy street when I saw an opening in traffic. I wasn’t sure where my run would take me, aside from a stop at the blue USPS box outside the grocery store seven-tenths of a mile away, where I’d pause to drop the envelopes and then run off. As I dropped the envelopes in the box, I thought: I wonder if any of those...
8 days ago • 5 min read
Friday Inspiration 535 Martin sent this to me last weekend with the subject line "Indonesian, Muslim, female, Hijab wearing, metal band" and I was pretty sure I was going to like it. I was correct. Wait for the bass solo at about 4:40. (video) You’ve probably heard some version of the oft-quoted saying, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now." Well, if you want to up your game a little bit, maybe the second-best time to plant a Miyawaki forest (or a...
14 days ago • 1 min read
A Five-Year Project Nearing Near-Completion In October 2021, we found out we were going to have a baby. Naturally, I was terrified. I did what many terrified parents-to-be do, and I started reading parenting books, almost all of which were quite helpful. But I kind of wanted something besides books written by experts, or journalists who had interviewed a bunch of experts. So over the course of the next few months, I decided I would interview some people who already had the job I was going to...
16 days ago • 4 min read
Friday Inspiration 534 This is just a really pleasant way to spend 3 minutes: Watching backcountry ice skaters in Alaska, brought to you by adventure legend Luc Mehl. (video) (thanks, Alice) Hilary has been taking classes to get her Montana Master Naturalist certification, so I have been getting to hear a lot about plants and birds over the past several months. (Like, more than I normally do.) AND, I got to read this amazing little piece about this insane thing that the earth does at...
21 days ago • 2 min read
What A Day Dad Had -- If you enjoyed this piece, please consider supporting my work.
22 days ago • 1 min read
Friday Inspiration 533 A FINAL NOTICE: As of me typing these words on Thursday afternoon, we still had three (3) spots remaining in this session of the How To Tell One Story online writing course. It is a do-it-at-your-own-pace e-mail course, with 12 lessons delivered over the span of 6 weeks. Each email is a 3- to 5-minute read, with an illustration, a quick video, and a short writing exercise at the end. More than 225 people have now completed the course, and registration for this session...
28 days ago • 2 min read
Friday Inspiration 532 AS YOU MIGHT BE AWARE: I created an online writing course called How To Tell One Story, and every few months, I open up 25 spots. It is a do-it-at-your-own-pace, e-mail course, with 12 lessons delivered over the span of 6 weeks. Each email is a 3- to 5-minute read, with an illustration, a quick video, and a short writing exercise at the end. More than 225 people have now completed the course, and the next registration window is open as of this morning, so if you're...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Is It Just Music? As I clicked the “Buy It Now” button to spend $1500 on a semi-functional boom box, I heard my dad’s voice, saying two different things during my childhood: “A fool and his money are soon parted,” and “This is The Beatles.” I had literally just told Hilary in the kitchen maybe two minutes before that I was NOT going to buy this boom box that was 16.5 inches tall, 31 inches wide, was manufactured in 1988, and if not plugged into an electrical outlet, needed 20 D batteries to...
about 1 month ago • 20 min read
