It’s great to improve your life. It’s that much better to get others to improve it for you. How do you do it? Here’s one way. Share things you love. It’s enough to tell people about those things. Here’s an example. At my mom’s house over the weekend, I asked my mom about the Vitamixer she has. She bought this super-powered blender from a late-night infomercial maybe twenty years ago.[…] Keep reading →

Today is another pause in my series on exercises on communications skills, based on some posts I read on orange juice and how agribusiness processes it. Do you love orange juice? How could it not be just squeezed fruit juice? I love fresh squeezed juice. Fresh squeezed orange juice is one of my favorite things on earth. Growing up we got it from concentrate, I guess because we couldn’t afford[…] Keep reading →

When you run in Central Park a lot, you see a lot of fun runs, races for cures, and light sporting events — typically five kilometer runs raising money for charity. Typically also many of the people involved don’t run; they walk most of the distance. They still wear workout clothes — often higher quality gear than I wear. I don’t think walking exercises you as much as running, but[…] Keep reading →

Have you forgotten you’re alive? Do you want to escape the world — the heat of everyday life? New York City is supposed to hit 103 F (39 C) today. Yesterday was that hot. People say it’s horrible. If you think the world is that horrible, go for a run in Central Park. You’ll feel alive. the heat won’t bother you so much afterward. You’ll remember we were born to[…] Keep reading →

People misunderstand culture shock. They talk about it happening when they go to a new place, but that’s not when you really get culture shock. When you go to a new place you expect things to be different so differences don’t shock you that much. You get culture shock when you return after having been away and having adoped foreign standards without realizing it. Then what used to be normal[…] Keep reading →

I’ve been loving the rowing machine I bought last fall, but I’ve been waiting to use it six months before posting about it to make sure its value endured a reasonable time. I’m going to write about my experience with it, but if anyone has other experiences, please let me know because I’m still new to it and would love to learn more. This is the one I bought (used,[…] Keep reading →

The summer after high school, my friend Tuan and I rode our bikes from Philadelphia to Bar Harbor, Maine and back, about 1,500 miles. We were both sixteen at the time. The trip was amazing — not that I remember many details anymore… quite an independent experience for kids that age. Everything went great. An amazing growth experience. We mostly found random places to camp, but also stayed in back[…] Keep reading →