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  • Finished reading The Future by Alderman

    It was a well written book. Easy to get through. Interesting cast of charachters who were easy to follow. The flow and adjacent stories fit well together. After reading so many articles on the risks of AI, I was not overly thrilled at the early, somewhat dystopian tech views. However, there were some great twists and I thoroughly enjoyed the end. The antagonists are recognizable characters in the real world, so it was fun putting real world faces on fictional characters.

    I scratch my head sometimes at stories regarding the prepper community, religous cults, and overall dystopian perspectives of the future. The storyline did a good job weaving in and out of these topics in an engaging way. At the point I did not know how the story was going wrap up being aware of how many pages were left, I enjoyed how it came together in the end.

    The book is featured as the December book at Books & Bars. I have attended in the past, but not for awhile. There can always be an excuse, but a goal to get back attending more. It does bring together two things I enjoy.

    → 8:03 PM, Oct 14
  • Value of a 4 year degree too general a question

    I am now lecturing at the University level and it has been an interesting experience thus far. I am 4 weeks in to an 8 week course. As the last week is simply the final I am over half way through. I definitely have some observations, but I will save them for subsequent posts.

    Last week the Wall Street Journal had a cover article on more high school graduates forgoing college to join a trade. It highlighted several high school graduates who went into welding, an electrician and a construction site supervisor. It shared what they were making and how they were in a great place without student debt.

    Over the past several years this topic has come up several times in conversations and I find it a little too simplistic. I clearly believe college is not for everyone, but I believe there is great value in a four year degree. A couple months ago I attended MN Tech Association’s Tech Talk where Ron Huesman from the University of MN shared his research on the value of a four year degree. The overall message was confirming to my viewpoint that in the long run a graduate with a bachelor is going to have much greater earnings potential than those who do not go to college - see picture attached.

    Not revolutionary I know. If I had to think of a 4 box analysis on this topic I imagine on the vertical axis you have the benefits derived from a four year degree and the horizontal axis is split with those not attending and those attending a college institution (left / right respectively). The top right quadrant contains those who are in college, have the ability to graduate with a degree and will get the expected benefit. They are correctly aligned. Also correctly aligned are those in the bottom left quadrant who not in college and potentially would not get benefit from being there and are hopefully pursuing a trade.

    This topic seems more relevant when thinking of the other 2 quadrants. The bottom right quadrant are those who are in college, but will not get the benefit of a degree. Right or wrong, I picture in my mind the greek life, partying, class skipping brat from an affluent family. More troubling I find is the top left quadrant. The young person who would derive the benefit of a four year degree but has been denied the opportunity. I picture less affluent members of society who cannot make college happen for not only economic reasons, but I imagine a whole host of other societal reasons. I do get the sense this situation is improving over time, but I could be wrong.

    → 1:45 PM, Apr 8
  • Back to Blogging

    After starting to blog I felt I needed to reassess how my entries would be presented. For some past posts I felt I was going on far too long and then I felt I corrected and was writing too little. This led to just not blogging, which was unfortunate.

    I have made no progress on a style, but I do get the sense I simply need to be spending more time blogging so at some point I figure it out through experience. Probably a lesson in life there somewhere.

    → 2:30 PM, Apr 7
  • New Mexico Wedding

    We had a great trip to Albuquerque last week for a wedding. The couple did an amazing job planning events throughout the entire weekend for the out of town guests. We spent most of the weekend in Old Town having some good southwest cuisine and then on Sunday got out of town to Santa Fe. There were also ample galleries and craft shops, which get old to me quickly. In general, I do not like going into a business where I have no intention to buy anything. The weekend weather was great so it was good to be out and about.

    It was a nice getaway to a part of the country I have not been to. It was my 48th state. Many of the popular states I have been to for fun, but the less popular states I have visited were through work. So now I am down to less popular states which do not have many large companies. I have South Carolina and West Virginia remaining. Asking the couple’s family what were some of the main industries were, they listed out oil, tourism and a large Air Force base where they train astronauts. Then someone joked, methamphetamines - a nice nod to Breaking Bad.

    Overall, it was great to be with family, especially having dedicated time with my wife and 2 daughters.

    → 11:44 AM, Feb 26
  • Snowboarding Purgatory

    Had a great trip to Durango, CO to snowboard at Purgatory. Four days down the hill saw an easy day where like most CO resorts there was not a lot of snow, to days 2 & 3 where 10" and 3" of snow came and then a 4th day of just blue skies. I have a love hate relationship with powder. I am not out west enough to master the snowboard in powder so it is a lot of effort and at some point is just draining. However, the feeling of riding a snowboard atop 10" of fluffy show is magical.

    Good group of 4 guys organized by my friend Toby. My past job would have never allowed me to do a trip like this at this time of year. This is the 4th guys trips I have been on where it was a larger group in the past, but due to job or family commitments, or an inability for some to participate in the physical nature of the trip, less of the original group can go so there is a need to invite others. Good for me and it was a nice way to get to know 2 new people who were great to spend 5 days with.

    → 3:19 PM, Feb 23
  • Experience = Reality - Expectations

    I recently was reminded of a formula defining one’s experience as the reality you are faced with less the expectations you have formed about the perceived reality. So many people seem to be down on their life experience. With most market indices hitting record highs, unemployment down, and inflation having a soft landing it would seem reality for many people would be pretty good. Especially if you think historically where things like child mortality and those killed from disease and war are dramatically lower. Reality for most people gets better every year. Actual reality and perceived reality are likely two different things. Reality it seems is defined by those who are incentivized to articulate gloomier versions of reality. If attention is the currency in our digital world, it seems the best way to get it is to scare the crap out of you.

    As for expectations, social and mainstream media don’t help. Too many posts focus on people digitally portraying a version of a perfect life. Mainstream media also pushes commercials and news stories about any number of products, medications, or experiences portraying a scenario where if only you had it in your life your life would be complete.

    Best to look at reality more objectively and less defined by those fighting for your attention so as to not form unrealistic expectations. If the reality is great, appreciate it and try to fuel more of it. If reality can be improved, do whatever you can to make it better.

    Leelau seems to be having a great experience. Her reality is solid and I am assuming dogs cannot form expectations.

    → 3:42 PM, Jan 12
  • 2024 Goal List

    Over the years I have been somewhat obsessive with goals. After a couple years of trying to dial in a goal list, I believe I dialed in the right list. I have tied them to a focus on living a balanced life in the context of mind, body, soul, and social. When I started to make a goal list I became somewhat dogmatic. Anything on the list had to be met. But after a couple years of not completing each goal, but looking back with a sense of pride regarding what I accomplished, I became less focused on what had to be met and what had the potential to be pursued for a sense of accomplishment. Since I shed the need to hold myself accountable for every goal I set and was just going to look back and be proud of what I was accomplishing I just kept adding goals. One year I had grown my goal list to 20 various goals.

    Having 7 goals seems like a better number. My job seemed to challenge me mentally, so I did not feel I needed much in this area, but to read a book a month sounded like a worthy goal. As my job was fairly sedentary, the body needed the most focus. No goal list should be without a weight goal, so I made a goal to be in the normal range for Body Mass Index. At my height this meant I needed to be 178 pounds or less to be in the range. I will likely never need to know what the lower end of the range is unless I get very sick. When I turned 48 I had heard about a goal of running a 10K in minutes equal to your age. I thought this sounded pretty bad-ass and felt it would be a good goal to keep my running pace in check as I aged.

    The fourth goal was discussed in a previous post, which was initiated to push myself to workout 6 days a week and have some cross training designed into a point system.

    With the mind and body being covered, there appeared to be a need to cover the social and spiritual aspect of my life. Though there did not seem to be a need for a social or spiritual goal, there did seem to be a need to check in on how I am doing socially and spiritually. Once a week, typically on a Sunday morning, which would be a good nod to the spiritual, I would make myself journal a page in a 5” x 7” journal. The journalling would need to have some reflection of how the week went and what could be an intention for the upcoming week. If I was not being a good person and felt my spirit was not where it should be I could reflect on why and what I could do better in the upcoming week. It also addressed the social, so if I felt I was not getting out in the world and connecting with others I could make it a priority which would bring the social pillar in balance.

    Any coach on goal setting would have to agree these are well articulated, specific goals with good timeframes. With 5 goals being SMART, I felt there was room now for goals to be more open ended and provide space for more creativity, spontaneity and ability to take advantage of changes in life events. I still had a nagging notion I was not addressing the spiritual aspect of my life for attaining balance even though I did not have any reflections I was out of balance. The sixth goal became a general goal which stated daily I should do something good for the soul or makes me feel uncomfortable. This is broadly defined as meditating, relationship building, sauna / cold water therapy or something new which would take me out of my comfort zone and would lead to the final goal.

    The last goal also was structured to allow unstructured activities in. Simply titled, “Discover” the intent was to try new things and bring some spice to life. If the journaling was on track there would be some level of monitoring if I was regularly bringing new and interesting activities into my life.

    → 6:16 PM, Jan 8
  • Finished reading: Same as Ever by Morgan Housel 📚

    A quick read and certainly to the point. A refreshing message to focus on: what stays the same when everyone is trying to busy themselves with the anxiety of what will happen next. He articulates some great examples in each chapter. He does go overboard with quotes and at times there are so many it is hard to keep track of the topic. However, I really enjoyed all the Buffett and Munger quotes.

    In a world full of doomscrolling where media wants to scare the crap out of you, drawing on historical norms was refreshing.

    → 5:13 PM, Jan 5
  • Triple 2500

    I have a mild obsession with tracking my workouts and overall movement. I am sure there are more obsessed people out there than me, but my wife would argue I am in a top tier. Back in November I realized 3 fitness goals I was tracking were all trending towards 2500.

    For 2023 I ended up biking 2,518 miles. After retiring this summer I had much more time to be active, especially with biking. I was able to get out on 4 touring trips, which allowed me to log many more miles than prior years. Buying a new gravel bike also helped.

    A couple years ago I heard a good goal would be to have Walking + Running Distance in the Health app on your iPhone to exceed the year number, so 2,023 miles for this year. I was able to log 2,567.

    The hardest one for me to achieve was a complex point system I had developed over the years. Though easy for me to comprehend, I find it complicated to explain to others as I developed it over a couple decades. In general, this annual goal forces me to work out regularly, cross train, and brings some gamification to the workout routine. In the past I had an annual to run 1,000 miles, bike 1,000 miles and workout 100 times. The workout could be a 30 minute core routine, yoga or anything I deemed a solid physical activity which was preventing, or at least reducing, my running or biking. When Leelau came along I wanted to push myself to get out walking with her, especially after a work day spent inside an office. The goal became a point system based on running. So, running a mile was a point, biking 3 miles was a point, and working out or doing yoga for 30 minutes felt like an equivalent to running a mile, so a point. Adding the walking dimension took more thought. In the end, I felt one should move at least 3 miles a day, or 6,000+ steps. Therefore, I determined I would only get a point for miles moved exceeding a base of 3 miles, obviously excluding the run miles already accounted for.

    The goal each year is 2,000, which I meet most years, but not all. For 2023 I was able to rack up 2,501 points. Barely made it, but it felt great to wake up new year’s eve morning with 2,494 points and head out on a 6 mile run and hit the 2500 mark.

    → 12:07 PM, Jan 4
  • Finished reading: Factfulness by Hans Rosling 📚

    I am typically not a fan of non-fiction with a significant use of numbers and charts, but I enjoyed Factfulness as it was such an uplifting message. Each stat and graph brought a smile to my face, especially as so many people I know are simply down on everything going on in the world. The daily news puts everyone in a funk, which is unnecessary when you think about how well things are going for most of the world.

    For someone who has been labelled a toxic optimist it has been hard to keep the positivity up. Factfulness was a great reminder how much progress the world is making and how good life is when you take a step back.

    The questions he posed at the beginning of the book were great and I did as poorly as most people he has presented the questions to. After reading the book I think I will dial back my time I spend each day consuming news. More does not seem better. I will add that the end of the book was super sad and worth it to make it to the last chapter.

    → 10:42 AM, Jan 3
  • Blog Kickoff

    My new year’s resolution was to start a blog, which I created yesterday. I named it Leelau Lessons to embrace those things I take away from my dog, Leelau. The blog will be more about capturing what I think about when I am out walking Leelau, but overall her main lesson is for me to try to be the person she thinks I am.

    My motivation to start a blog is to hopefully experience a new medium and learn something new. Years ago I soured on social media, but felt there was an underlying positive aspect if it was done right, which I think blogging could be. I am also hoping to evolve to a newsletter, which might be a good forum to keep in touch with my network and share some hopefully useful thinking.

    I plan to blog about my current life activities and Leelau’s adventures. I will want to share the random thoughts I am having while out on my walks. I will also try to share what I am currently reading. But I also hope to evolve the blog to share what observations I took away from a 32 year career in professional services and what I am sharing with my students as I start to lecture this spring.

    Leelau wandering if this reindeer can fly.

    → 3:05 PM, Jan 2
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