Ever go into a restaurant, and everything is just perfect? Food is great, service is not too overbearing or too slow, prices are reasonable, decorations are on point, and the menu has just the right amount of appetizers, entrees, sides, and desserts? Some people look at that and say, “I could open a restaurant like […]
Even tougher than crossing the equator and international date line at the same time, submerged… I hated going to the unemployment office and telling them how I had been out looking for jobs. Just one month earlier I was the man in charge of an important and dangerous exercise. Now I felt like a loser. […]
There’s a lot of phrases that bubble into my head at odd times. This is one I learned early on at the Academy. I didn’t really understand it’s significance until I was fully engaged in my first job on the submarine. Some midshipmen make a big deal about how difficult life is at Annapolis. They’re […]
A few years ago I changed the way I taught my kids rules. I started teaching them how to break rules. It’s wonderful, refreshing, and feels a bit subversive. From an early age, I had been taught to follow the rules. We live in a world full of rules. And that’s probably good for when […]
I learned a productivity trick for my e-mail inbox the other day that is so amazing I just have to share it. When I implemented the change it immediately reduce the amount of actionable e-mail in my inbox by 50%. I’ve had my e-mail address for many years and even though I have been diligently […]
In many role playing games there is the ability to have your character level up. After a certain amount of experience, study, or achievement, the character advances a level. This level advancement confers new abilities such as improved strength, increased dexterity, more wisdom, or a higher level of intelligence. As these games are supposed to […]
The metric system, on the face of it, seems sensible. When you want to go to the next bigger unit of measurement, just increase things by a factor of 10. It is apparently so sensible, students always ask the question, why does America not convert to metric? The teachers and professors shake their heads at […]
I’ve got an activity and interest curve for learning something new. I go through it all the time. First I find out something that is really neat. I voraciously learn about it, experiment, find out through trial and error what works and what doesn’t. Then I evaluate to see whether this is something that I […]
Graduation is right around the corner for a whole new crop of college students about to enter the real world. The world does not owe you a living, and does not care about what you think or feel, just what you do and can get done. If you have not already made plans for what […]