I went fishing with my 4-year-old son and while everyone else was fishing off the pier, he wanted to fish from the shore, where he could see through the shallow water, so that he could see the fish before we caught it, if we caught one. I didn’t want to discourage him, so we went, …
Continue reading “The market’s not perfect, but it’s not imperfect either”
My 4-year-old son understands what I say, and if I say that he can have ice cream for dessert, you can bet that he will remember. If I try to go back on this, for example, by saying that since he ate ice cream at grandma’s house in the afternoon, then he can’t have ice …
We’ve been going kayaking in the creek near my house and I bought a swim vest for my daughter and then realized it was symmetric and wouldn’t float her in a way that would tilt her nose and mouth toward the air (as opposed to the back of her head) if she fell into the …
Continue reading “The best kid life vest is the one the kid will wear”
I was playing soccer once and I made a long pass to a teammate who then scored a goal. Right before I made the long pass, two of my teammates were calling for the ball asking me to make shorter passes to them. Right when I made the long pass, they thought I had made …
Where I live in America, the grocery stores offer plastic bags to place your produce in, including mushrooms. In Europe, they offer plastic bags for most things, but paper bags for mushrooms, because mushrooms will go slimy if they’re kept in plastic bags for an extended period of time. Mushrooms keep better in paper bags. …
Some things are always worth it for me—a run, a swim, a surf, playing soccer. Outdoors and exercise in general, even if I’m not feeling very motivated to do those things before I do them. Afterwards, I never have any regrets. It’s always worth it. If you know that something is always worth it for …
Two of my very good friends were short on cash when I was getting married and couldn’t afford the flight to my wedding, so I paid for their flights. When they arrived and I said, “Thanks for coming!”, one of them said, “Of course! Thanks for making it possible.” That phrase, ‘making it possible’, stuck …
Today, I was grateful that my dad could come over to watch my kids for a few hours so that I could do some work. I was working in the next room while my dad was reading a story to my 2-year-old daughter. Having them be that close by makes it obvious what else I …
My mother once lamented that someone needed to be hit by a car or die at a traffic intersection before they would put up a stop light, but that it was dangerous before someone died. It can be difficult to measure the risk of doing something before the worst happens, but it’s worth doing your …
I won Australia’s first national poetry slam contest, which caused the organizers of the Poetry International Festival to invite me to the Netherlands to participate in a global poetry slampionship with eight other national poetry slam champions. I then had two line items on my poetry resumé, which I’m sure contributed to the success of …
