I’ve been saying this phrase lately. As far as I remember, I made it up. It comes in several versions. For home cooking: Even when it doesn’t taste as good, it tastes better when you cook it yourself. For gardening Even when it doesn’t taste as good, it tastes better when you grew it yourself. I don’t own a pet today, but grew up with dogs, cats, fish, birds, lizards,[…] Keep reading →

I’ve often suggested that if an ancient sage like Jesus, Buddha, Laozi, Confucius, Aristotle, or other renowned enduring figure, lived today, I doubt he or she would say, “I thought I attained happiness/enlightenment/etc, but now I realize I can do better with an iPhone.” I suspect they’d say how what they figured out then worked as well today. They’d look at iPhones, social media, flying, and all that and think,[…] Keep reading →

If I talk about not flying, someone is bound to tell me how their spouse lives overseas so they have to fly to visit family or their mother lives on the other coast so they have to fly to see her on holidays and if she’s sick. People walking with disposable containers claim the store cashier gave them the bags and packaging. What could they do? We claim we’re helpless[…] Keep reading →

I don’t like doof. I don’t like how its manufacturers try to make it resemble food, especially for kids, like in the first example. Look at the ingredients for what they call “banana” yogurt. Banana is the third ingredient. Sugar is the second. Shouldn’t it be called “sugar” yogurt then? Most would-be fruit yogurts contain more sugar than fruit. I suggest we call them all sugar yogurt. Here are other[…] Keep reading →

We became biologically human about 300,000 years ago. For all that time until about 10,000 years ago, our ancestors drank milk as infants, then only water for the rest of their lives. Historians and anthropologists speculate that honey wine became the first non-water beverage our ancestors drank, possibly predating cultivating plants. By my childhood, the market provided plenty of beverages—including milk varieties, wines, beers, other alcohols, fruit juices, and sodas.[…] Keep reading →

The physical and mental experience Physically, I loved the experience of yesterday’s ride, grueling as I found it, because I wanted to give up so many times. I lifted weights two days before and did some Turkish Get-ups (an all-over lifting exercise that includes lunges) the day before, which resulted in being unable to get out of the bike’s lowest gear for many hills toward the end. I probably spent[…] Keep reading →

I’ve meant for years to post to solicit questions from readers. You know you have questions about something I cover—burpees, leadership, entrepreneurship, education, stewardship, swimming across the Hudson River, posting daily, etc. Contact me here. When I meet people in person or email one-on-one, people say they’ve wanted to know something about me or what I write. I’ll keep names discrete if requested.