Monday, August 30, 2021

Life tips

As far as I know, there is only one person that reads this blog besides me. So this post is for him.

I’m not sure why you’re reading this - whether you’re just bored and wondering if I’d written anything else or if you’re missing home (or me), or if you’ve had a bad day. Whatever the reason, know that I’m proud of you and love you more than you’ll ever know. 

Since I preached last week about the Ten Commandments I thought it would be fun to give you my top 10 tips…(in no particular order):


1) If someone offers you a breath mint or gum, always say yes. 

2) Be the guy everyone wants on the team. Generally that means skate hard and pass the puck. 

3) When others around you are in a pissing contest, the only way to win is not to piss at all. 

4) it’s never too late to fold a losing hand. 

5) confidence is attractive to others. True confidence has nothing to do with being the best at something but it comes from being comfortable in your own skin. 

6) character is who you are. Reputation is who others say you are. Both are important but most people spend 10x more energy worrying about reputation. It should be the other way around. If you spend 10x more energy on character, your reputation will follow. 

7) you’re always going to disappoint someone. Choose carefully. 

8) don’t worry about what you can’t change. 

9) choose optimism. It’s your greatest indicator of success. 

10) Always start with the end in mind and work backwards. 

Thursday, August 19, 2021

Covid 19 reflections

 I suppose that it was inevitable that I would live through a pandemic. Spanish Flu was around 1920 so assuming I live 80 years, it would have been 130 years. The best way that I can describe how it feels to me is that it feels like one big long 17 month (so far) Wednesday. Just one long hump day. I’m not rested from last weekend and not looking forward to the next weekend yet. It’s just blah. I’ve had my fair share of grumpy moments for sure. But overall quite thankful I’m in 2021 and not 1921. 


Some good things:

We’re the luckiest parents in the world to have had as much time with our teenaged kids as we’ve had!

Many things got simpler. Celebrations were smaller and more intentional. More intimate. Less crazy. 


Some not good things:

The cracks in the world started showing. Racism, intolerance, conspiracy theory fear mongering, over politicizing, judgmentalness. I hate it. 

One of the physical side effects of Covid is a loss of taste and smell. I think it’s one of the emotional ones also. Things just FEEL bland and blah. Every day feels the same. 


While I’m writing, I’m realizing how much has changed for me this year! But that’s for another post another time. For now, I’ve got more season 8 of 24 to watch….again.