Recent Articles

I originally wrote this in June of 2019 after writing an article for another site, but it’s lived as a draft ever since. Then it felt in poor taste to post this during 2020 while the world was so chaotic. Now, I realize how unrealistic it is that burnout could cease to be an issue while we were collectively confronted by all sorts of insane circumstances. If anything, talking about burnout probably would have made a lot of sense! Regardless, burnout is starting to really resonate again regardless of the pandemic, and maybe even because of it in some ways.

For you U.S. Army Vets that are reading this, it’s not about the detailed steps involved in the Air Assault procedure of dropping the load under the helicopter. Sorry. The saying, at least across the military, is synonymous with avoiding danger and/or an untenable situation. Some Veterans also use the adage, “Slip Right,” a Paratrooper term for avoiding a bad situation, or, “Break Contact,” a combat operational term that is a call to retrograde and discontinue engaging with the enemy. Please note, this is not synonymous with quitting. This is not looking at a situation, determining that it’s too hard, and giving up because it’s uncomfortable, your body hurts too much, or you are tired…

This article was almost titled: Why I HATE Credit Cards… And Why I Still Have One. Obviously a lesson against the Dark Arts makes more sense. #stillwaitingformyHogwartsletter

Credit cards freak me out. They always have. Have you ever heard anyone accuse another person of spending on a credit card, as if it was the most sinister thing they could do? Personal finances are deeply personal, and there are TONS of…

We use this phrase a lot around here: “For all things, there is a season.” In winter, we prioritize resting and hibernating, and planning for the following year. It’s a great time to reflect on the past year, and plan for adjustments or improvements for where we are on our goals. We brainstorm goals for the next year, and put pen to paper to map out options. I love doing this. I love when My Love and I sit on the couch in the back room and plan on the chalkboard, and…

2021 is off to an interesting start. I decided on the word interesting because it best captures the reality in what we live in… “may you live in interesting times” -Chinese proverb. Heather and I have had many conversations about what 2021 will bring. I believe we are pretty smart cookies, but we did not predict what happened in Washington D.C. on 6 January. However, we have…

We get it. Loads of people don’t budget. We watch our account balances, and ride somewhere in the middle, and go on to the next thing, rather than sweat tracking each transaction, categorizing it, and measuring the activities against pre-determined goals. I love data. Give me the stats, the figures, the charts, the…

I spend much of my time thinking about what is happening around me, a bad habit from my time in the U.S. Army as a Combat Medic. I remember, in planning for any operation, there were times when we would ensure that we could account for a volume of possible incidents. For the vast majority of these things, we fell back onto what were called ‘Battle Drills.’ For some things, however, we would have to decide…

Ask yourself a question. Are you an objective person? I’ll expound a bit. Do you have the ability to analyze information in an unbiased manner? If you just said yes, are you sure? Don’t be insulted, lets talk about it and see how objective you are.

Objectivity Exercise…

Let’s engage in a mental exercise. Ready? You are leaving a restaurant where you just had….

I read a quote somewhere on the internet once that read something like this: “You do not need to have an opinion on everything.” Isn’t that little reminder freeing? Sometimes, we forget that we have the ability to…

When I was growing up, my Father used to tell my brothers and I the decisions we make say more about us than the words we say. I remember hearing him say, “stealing makes you a thief and lying makes you liar.” Life, as we all learn, is very rarely black and white. It is varying shades of grey. As I got older, I remember him telling us that we…