Life
Adult Merit Badges
It would be cool if we collected weird merit badges as adults. Imagine, finding the right Tupperware top for the container on the first try. That would earn you the Tupperware Matchmaker badge. Or, you successfully remember to cancel the trial subscription the day before they start charging you? You win a Free Trial Sniper badge. Other badges might include the Ikea Master badge for putting a piece of IKEA furniture together alone and without error (I’m still working on that one) or Social Battery Preserver badge for dipping from a party early wihout being rude.
That brings me to my recent travel experience. Travel, of course, has it’s perks–but also it’s dangers. I’m usually willing to take the risk. However, traveling to the east coast over the winter holidays is always quite risky. Recently we caught a connecting flight out of Dallas on our way to Connecticut. About 80% of the way there the pilot came on the intercom and announced we were being diverted to North Carolina, ETA 11:30 pm. The TL;DR is that we ended up sleeping in the B gate at the Charlotte airport and made it up north early the next morning. This was the third airport I’ve managed to be spend the night at and the first with the whole family. We survived…and I earned myself another Slept in Airport badge.
Starting Over Again
I am a believer in habits and streaks. I agree with the Ryan Holiday quote below that they say something important about what we value. However, the fact is that if you try to maintain a lot of habits every day and you keep track of them, you’re bound to break a few. Yesterday, my streak of days with a blog post ended. I was up around 120 days straight, but with travel and visiting family taking priority, my streak went kaput yesterday.
I know some people get easily bent out of shape when an important streak is broken. I get it. The impact reminds me of what some say about tracking things like sleep; that the stress of the numbers ends up making one’s sleep even worse. And again, I can see how that would work for a lot people.
Luckily, that isn’t how my mind works. I strive to continue my streaks, but once they’re over I try to get back on the horse and start a new one without feeling bad about it. Despite my blogging streak ending, I have so far managed to keep two other important streaks alive so far–my daily journal entry and my daily meditation.
So, here I am: On the road, with my days a bit topsy turvy, trying to start a new streak (and keep other ones going). I’ll do my best to beat my last blogging streak but won’t be discouraged if I can’t on this new round. We shall see.
Winter Has Begun
The winter solstice is a big day on my calendar. So much of what Christmas has become is really a celebration of the fact that the darkest day of the year has been reached, and that more light is coming, despite the days continuing to grow colder. The evergreens in our homes, the lights on the trees, and the candles and their atmospheric wonder help us cope with the mugging by the dark and the cold. I love it and I love that the days slowly get longer. Indeed, it is an element of the winter and spring that I most appreciate.
Here are some beautiful poems about winter.
Wendell Berry’s To Know The Dark
And some music…
My Most Recently Added Tunes and Top 25 Most Played Tunes (in Apple Music)
As we get closer to the end of the year, the QS nerd in me kicks into gear. Apple Music makes it easy to capture a few stats, including what has recently been added and All Time Most Played. Screenshots below shine a light on my musical tastes. I’ve been using Apple Music for about 20 years, so the All Time list goes pretty far back. Another detail to note is that the pop music in the recently added pic are songs downloaded by my daughter, who uses an iPad that is signed in to my Apple ID. Oh well. I’m glad she is developing her own taste in music, though. She definitely knows what she likes and what she doesn’t.
He Does Not Forget
We dropped our cat off at the kennel today and that got me thinking about cats. That led me to J.R.R. Tolkien’s poem ‘Cat’ which beautifully juxtaposes a domesticated cat with it’s wild ancestors. The poem appeared not in one of Tolkien’s most famous novels, but in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.
but fat cat on the mat
kept as a pet
he does not forget.
Life is Aperiodic
I just came across a concept that was new to me, the concept of being aperiodic. Technically, ‘aperiodic’ describes something that does not repeat at regular intervals. More precisely, it describes a system, pattern, or process is aperiodic if it lacks a fixed cycle—there is no consistent period after which it repeats exactly. A common example that we all learn about in school is the number pi. Another example is the tiling pattern known as the Penrose tiling pattern. Mathamatically, what is cool about this is that an aperiodic thing can still have structure, order, or rules, just not repetition.
Upon reflection, it is clear that life is aperiodic. I think we crave cycles because they feel safe: routines, habits, three-year plans. But our lived experience rarely cycles neatly. Even when days look similar on the surface, our interior weather keeps changing and the details are always a bit different. The same evening stroll hits differently depending on worry, hope, hunger, or sleep. Hearing the same song lands with a new weight. There is pattern, yes; but not repetition.
This makes me realize that it is okay if an open loop doesn’t always close when or how I expected. I want to pay more attention to the variations in the pattern of my day to day. Is that not where some of the wisdom hides, in the differences?
Iranian glazed ceramic tile work, from the ceiling of the Tomb of Hafez in Shiraz, Iran. Province of Fars.
Mortality
I had never heard of the poet William Knox until I came across his name in Jon Meacham’s excellent book And There Was Light, which is about Abraham Lincoln and his spiritual beliefs. Apparently, the poem was one of Lincoln’s all time favorites. The poem is called Mortality. I looked it up and consider it a wonderful nod to memento mori; an always welcome reminder.
Ten Books I Hope My Daughter Reads Someday
I hope my daughter reads tons and tons of books. She is a pretty big reader as a middle schooler, so I think she is well on her way. There are some books of course, that I hope that she one day reads. I decided to come up with a list of 10 that I especially hope she gets to. My guess is this is the type of list that will always be changing, based on where I am at in my life. However, for the record, here are the ten I thought of today. Please note, The Lord of the Rings is not on the list because I had the distinct pleasure of reading the whole thing to her when she was younger.
- Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius
2 to 5. Ryan Holiday’s Cardinal Virtues series
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Eknath Easwaren’s translation of The Dhamapadda
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The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
This Time of Year
This time of year is always challenging. I was born and raised in California and grew used to a certain amount of sun in my life. Ever since moving north to Oregon, I have been challenged by the increasingly darker days in November and December. It is also a challenging time as a high school teacher because kids and their families are also going through it, often with the added stress of finances and holidays thrown in. In my case, the vibes are sometimes made worse because certain habits fall by the wayside as my personal discipline ebbs with the shorter days.
One positive that stems from this reality is my appreciation of the winter solstice. I love hitting the 21st of December (the usual date of the solstice) knowing that from then on, for the rest of the winter, the days will slowly get longer. It is worth celebrating. Indeed, I can see why the Christians co-opted the celebration.
Some Coming Challenges
I like to run experiments. Indeed, I’ve written about this before. I had some time on my hands last week due to the Thanksgiving holiday and I decided to run some personal experiments of varying lengths during the next four months. The first month-long experiment is going to be writing in my journal every day in December. I usually write 40% to 50% of the days during a typical month.
During the middle of December, for ten days, I’m going to try and reach out daily to a friend of family member. This will be hard, because after a full day of interfacing with teenagers, I usually want quiet time to myself. However, as I get older I realize more and more that I need to make an effort to keep relationships going strong, or going at all. As the new year begins in January, I’m going to challenge myself to increase my daily meditation time above a certain threshold that will feel like I am stretching myself a bit.
Finally, once school is back in session after the winter break I am going to challenge myself to give a ‘Bronco Gram’ to a different one of my students for ten classes in a row, complimenting them for something very specific that they are doing well in class. That means Monday through Friday, a different student each day, two weeks in a row.
The direct impetus for challenging myself in the coming months came from author and blogger Scott Young’s ‘Foundations’ concept. Basically, Young came up with a list of what considers foundational elements of a good life and is offering classes around developing those foundations. I’m not taking his classes, but I loved the idea. I tweaked his list a bit and came up with 10 of my own that I want to keep top of mind in the coming year. My experiments around journaling and meditation stem from the foundation I am calling Spirit & Reflection. The challenge around contact with friend and family grow out my foundation of Connection. Finally, my challenge to dole out some written compliments to my students is connected to my foundation of Teaching & Work. I’ll occasionally give updates on how things are going.
Hope
I came across this quote in the recent George Packer “By the Book' segment in the New York Times. I love this sort of thing because I love seeing into the unique details of other people’s lives. It’s the same reason I love the weekly ‘Sunday Routine’ segment they do.
Randomly, I actually had the pleasure to meet Mr. Packer when he came to my school to talk about reading and writing to several classes (including mine). I think it was 2019?!? I’ve enjoyed the three books of his that I’ve read, including The Assassins' Gate, The Unwinding, and his biography of ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Our Man.
What might I add to this excellent, succinct list? Other than swapping his progeny out for mine, not much: Packer nailed it.
Gratitude
For several years now, since before the pandemic, I have been in the habit of writing down three things each day that I am grateful for. I don’t remember where I got the idea from, but it is a fairly common suggestion among those influenced by the teachings of positive psychology. I keep my list in a running Google Doc. Honestly, I don’t know if I’m happier as a result of the practice, though I do enjoy doing it every day. I’m looking forward to using Google Gemini to help analyze my list, but that’s a topic for a different post.
Considering it is Thanksgiving, I wanted to share three things I am grateful for here.
- My incredible good fortune to have been born where and when I was born, with a healthy mind and body.
- My beautiful, quirky, compassionate wife and amazing daughter, who is infinitely more amazing than I thought a daughter could be.
- My senses and mental faculties through which I am able to wonder, experience awe and the full range of human emotions.
Paying the Man
Today was one of those days when you’ve just got to pay the man. The tire light came on in one of our cars so we took it in to Les Schwab, a Northwest icon of a company, to see what was up. We ended up having to buy two new tires for almost $500. I was curious about the cost and did a little poking around.
Tire mark ups are apparently about 35%. Seems like a very healthy margin. I also learned that Les Schwab is worth approximately $7 billion. It is also no longer owned by founder and namesake Les Schwab. He sold the company in 2020. The current owners are the Meritage Group. Who owns the Meritage Group? Well, they appear to be owned by a guy named ‘Nat’ Simons, who inherited his wealth. His father Jim Simons had a net worth of approximately $31.4 billion at the time of his death in May 2024. Hmmmmmm….
I love that our need for tires helps support others who live in our community. However, considering the margins for tires and especially because of who now owns Les Schwab, I feel less good about the expenditure. Furthermore, I feel like this transaction is very indicative of our current economic reality in the United States. Specifically, you’ve got a company that appears to be local, but is actually owned by a mix of private and public equity. The real owner inherited the privilege of owning the company and has so much money (none of which he earned) he can’t even comprehend what an unexpected $500 bill feels like to a middle class family.