Ruff! Ruff! →

Published November 3, 2021  ·  All posts on Nov 3  ·  

Don’t hire a dog, then bark yourself.

~ David Ogilvy

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Lunacy? →

Published November 3, 2021  ·  All posts on Nov 3

But there’s a message all of our readers should appreciate: Blog posts are not enough to generate the deep fluency you need to truly understand or get better at something. We offer a starting point, not an end point.

~ Shane Parrish from, Blog Posts, Book Reviews, and Abstracts: On Shallowness

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First off, I totally read that as, “to generate the deep lunacy …” which is probably closer to the truth than I’d like to admit for my own blog if one tries to just read it. Second, this is so meta. I’m writing a blog post about a blog post that is referring to the other posts on that same blog.

I’ve said this sort of thing before, but it bears repeating: On this blog, I’m showing my process of reflection. I would get the exact same benefit if I did all this writing, and pressed delete instead of publish. (With the notable exception that I do also use my blog as an archive to re-find things.) But I make no claim that simply reading this blog will do anything for you. “Look! Here are my footprints, stumbles, side tracks and snow angels in the woods.” Maybe you can see some art, or some fun, or whatever. But the whole point of having it out there for you to read is to encourage you to do your own reflection.

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New ideas →

Published November 2, 2021  ·  All posts on Nov 2  ·  ,

Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.

~ Howard H. Aiken

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Maybe I should walk back? →

Published November 2, 2021  ·  All posts on Nov 2

As autumn settles in where I am, I’ve been looking ahead to winter with longer nights, brisk days, etc.. I also looked back at the shape I’ve been in in years past. I’m not lamenting, “if only I had my youth back.” Rather, just thinking about health, movement, and what would be the minimum effective dosage of some exercise to move me in the direction I want. (That DuckDuckGo link should make you wonder why a medical-sounding phrase is used most relating to exercise not medicine, and strength training in particular.)

Sometimes—by which I mean any time running comes up—I say that running is both the best thing for me, and the form of activity I hate most. Both of which are untrue. What’s actually best for me is zone-2 aerobic exercise and that’s sometimes what I get when I run. It’s best for me, because that is the main driver of base fitness until you get well up into being a competent athlete. But usually, being quite over-weight at the moment, any running drives my heart-rate above the surprisingly low/slow zone-2. The second part about hating it is also untrue. It turns out that one time—the one single day apparently—that I was ever in shape, I enjoyed running. I was walking, the weather was beautiful, and I had an irresistible urge to run, (and so I did.) But, literally, that happened once.

Anyway. It’ll suffice to say: I spent a few weeks recently thinking about going full-on nerd with zone-2 training. To do it right requires planning, scheduling, and—sources vary—between 150 to 180 minutes exercising each week. And warm-up and cool-down time are not included in those weekly times. Honestly, the deal-breaker was I’m seriously pissed at FitBit, (and their watches are useless without a FitBit account,) and I refuse to spend many-hundreds on an Apple watch. Also, my $30 Timex is nicer, for my definition of “nicer.”

My thinking continued, and eventually I thought: I should just walk back from Mordor.

…except this time I’m not going to bother trying to track the actual mileage. Just walk as many days as I can. Listen to some podcasts some of the time. And basically just stroll along thinking, “If this isn’t nice…“

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The flowers that blossom →

Published November 1, 2021  ·  All posts on Nov 1  ·  

In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.

~ Albert Schweitzer

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Knowing →

Published November 1, 2021  ·  All posts on Nov 1  ·  

Knowledge is the beginning of practice; Doing is the completion of knowing.

~ Wang Yangming

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Some S’s →

Published November 1, 2021  ·  All posts on Nov 1  ·  

Sometimes, simple summaries suffice.

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Taken for granted →

Published October 31, 2021  ·  All posts on Oct 31  ·  

In all affairs, it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.

~ Bertrand Russell

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Freedom in every moment →

Published October 31, 2021  ·  All posts on Oct 31  ·  

One of the great discoveries of my life is that this freedom is always available to us. In any moment.

~ Leo Babauta from, Find Freedom in Any Moment – Zen Habits Website

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I’ve said many times that all of my problems come from me. The flip-side to that of course is that my freedom is available to me at any moment.

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Sight →

Published October 30, 2021  ·  All posts on Oct 30  ·  

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.

~ Henry David Thoreau

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