I have it on good authority that the phrase “it dawned on me” may no longer be uttered by your gentle blogger. 🙂
The Meditations of Jason Gillikin
One of the venerable classics of Western Civilization, the Mediations of Marcus Aurelius, begins with a series of short discourses on the life lessons he had learned from various people over the years. It seems like there are a handful of aphorisms that I’ve come to learn either the hard way, or through the careful […]
The Privilege of Existential Ennui
A few weeks ago, I heard via Rush Limbaugh’s radio program that happiness among males peaks in the late teen years, tumbles sharply in the 20s and 30s, and doesn’t really recover until after age 65. Women are similarly situated, it seems. I cannot admit to being much surprised by this. For myself, I find […]
Update
A few items of interest: My cousin Callista has now made her way to Madison to work on her M.A. in French. I had a farewell lunch with her at Bistro Bella Vita on the day before she left. She managed to talk me into taking yoga at the studio she had studied at for […]
Update, Take 12
During an IM conversation with my new friend Will, it dawned on me that a lot of what I’ve put on this blog has been … safe. A few years ago, the previous incarnation of this thing was much less restrained in terms of the subject-matter of my postings, and I ended up getting mildly […]
Officer Kozminski, RIP
In the early morning hours of July 8, Robert Kozminski, a 28-year-old police officer for the City of Grand Rapids, was killed from a shotgun blast to the head. (Story, Grand Rapids Press). I knew the man, vaguely. His older brother, Andy, was in my class through the 8th grade, and his father was the […]
Goals
I had to write a short list of personal life goals, as part of the “Lessons in Mindfulness” portion of martial-arts training. The Zen side, I guess. Here’s what I submitted: 1. Resume formal lessons in organ and vocal performance 2. Earn a black belt in early 2010, and continue study through the dan ranks […]
The more things change …
It takes a bit of time without home Internet service to appreciate just how essential network connectivity is to living a happy and productive life. Checking e-mail and USGS from the office just doesn’t cut it. Now that I’ve switched from Comcast cable service to AT&T DSL (which, believe it or not, netted me an […]
Swirling vortex of financial unreality
Picture it: I’m sitting in Astranaar, having a text chat with Duane, when as a tangent the question of credit reports came up. Let’s consider a hypothetical. If Joe Blow Consumer wants to purchase a cell phone, he can go to a telecom store, select a phone and a service plan, and walk out the […]
Sweet, sweet errands …
I’ve been a bit busy the last two days running some random errands. A few of them have prompted some thought. 1. The only thing better than Altoids are Altoids covered in dark chocolate. Mmmm. 2. As I sit in the coffee shop organizing my notes, I’ve been observing a quartet of 16-year-olds, giddy from […]