What Is “Honest Work”?
I’ve heard the term “honest work” a lot in my life, and it’s always had an appeal for me. Now it’s something I want more than ever – but I’m not sure exactly how to define it. Here is an […]
The Essential Manliness of Dry Humor
If you hang out with the world’s most masculine men, you’ll note that the best of them all have dry senses of humor. This is especially true of blue collar workers. If you’ve worked a farm job, a landscaping job, […]
How Would Life Change in a World Without Language?
Imagine waking up on an Earth without language. How is life different? In many ways, I’d think your life would be simpler. You could only interpret people’s intent and beliefs by their actions. You would never listen to the unproductive […]
Leave a Car-Length: Responsibility, Suffering, and Traffic
Driving in Atlanta tends to make you conscious of traffic and the ways that it can go wrong. In slow or stopped traffic it’s generally a good idea to leave a car-length of space between your vehicle and the one […]
The Badassity of Migrant Workers
If the pioneer and frontiersman spirit has disappeared in most Americans, it’s alive and well in migrant workers. Imagine traveling all the way from Guatemala to Maine to pick blueberries, or from Nicaragua to Alberta to tend cattle, or from […]
Get Dirty
Between yesterday and today I plowed a couple of fields, operated a dirt excavator, mucked around in fields and marsh, played fetch with a smart little cattle dog, and rode, groomed, and fed horses. I’ve come home dirty each night. […]
Privacy Is Trust. Trust Is Freedom
Remember Google Glasses? Turns out they are still a thing. Granted, they’re for manufacturing and specialty industrial purposes now. Google discovered that people weren’t quite ready for glasses that recorded everything. I was talking with someone today about how useful […]
Skip Restaurants In Your Twenties
I’m far from a money guru, but there is one general pronouncement I’m willing to make: You probably shouldn’t go to restaurants in your twenties. Think about it. You – a relatively poor person who should be investing your limited […]
3 Good Reasons To See Your Extended Family More
Yesterday I got together with more than a hundred of my aunts, uncles, and cousins for a family reunion. We ate barbecue, shared life updates, played sports, shot skeet, and watched babies play. The weather was gorgeous, the times were […]
Playlist: Manly Men Singing Manly Songs In a Manly Manner
Music has belonged to the romantics for too damn long. It’s not healthy for a guy (or for a woman) to listen to constant singing about how a female is the center of some guy’s life, the one he “can’t […]
We Don’t Recognize the World’s Justice
“. . . the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” If you don’t think that evil is punished and good is rewarded, I get it. A fair number of corrupt people seem to enjoy […]
Dog Discipline for Softhearted People
Soft-hearted people tend to struggle with disciplining people or animals. We’re not really the kind to yell. We generally take the side of the weak. So we struggle with the idea of dominating an animal. There is a dominance struggle […]
Googling Things vs. the Spirit of Discovery
“Something something Creek Trail.” Apparently this had been sitting just a ways behind my neighborhood for ages. I stumbled across it today in the course of a slow morning walk. And I immediately wanted to know how long it was. […]
Reviewing Life Through the Camera Roll
I hope you take lots of pictures. The payoff is sort of like compound interest – it grows with time, and it comes years later. Taking pictures gets a bad rap these days, and it’s probably earned. People are obsessed […]
Why Hunters Should Take Up Nature Photography, Too
For someone who wants to hunt animals, there are few things more frustrating than the end of the hunting season. The winter and spring months are largely off-limits for the hunting of most kinds of animals here in the southeastern […]
Don’t Break the Spell
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5 Yesterday I hit the Appalachian Trail between Woody Gap and Jarrard Gap with a good friend. Over […]
The Companionship That Outlasts Coworking
If companies could have veteran’s organizations, my last company’s would be a thriving one. Tonight I gathered together with some current employees and past employees (I’m now one of those salty old-timers) as we bowled, played games, drank, ate, and […]
Tips for Feeling at Home In the Gym
Gyms can be intimidating for the newly-christened strength trainer. So many machines, so many types of weight exercises, and lots of buff dudes walking around who seem to know exactly what they’re doing. I’ve spent most of my life avoiding […]
The Treachery of Niceness
Some of my most important life lessons have come through either 1) the suffering of hard experiences or 2) the suffering of hard truths. The suffering of hard experience is not too hard to find. You can get it fairly […]
Give Your Customers Some of Their Freedom Back
Joy. Enthusiasm. Freedom. These aren’t what you expect to feel after a long day at work. You probably don’t expect them from most businesses. And you definitely don’t expect to feel them when you book an Uber ride home. But […]
In Praise of Internet Rabbit-Holing
Rabbit hole, n. In Internet parlance, a trail of content discovery that, once started, continues to grow in complexity and weirdness. You know that feeling you get when you realize it’s 2 AM and you’ve spent hours reading posts from […]
Working with the Sun
Photography for me has been a lesson in working with nature’s constraints. Want to take a photo of someone standing on that hillside? It doesn’t matter if you have a great subject, a great angle, and a great camera – […]
I Don’t Want To
“I don’t want to.” When was the last time you heard this from an adult? Children have no problem speaking their minds about their preferences. You’ll hear this several times a day at least from a 3 year old – […]
Uber Driving and My Nightlife Education
Few things will make a man feel more like a square country rube than driving for Uber in Atlanta on a weekend night. Last night I picked up a genuine “nightlife influencer”, who explained his business and how he does […]
No Job Means No Excuses
You might think of being job-free as a great way to evade responsibility. Maybe for some people. For the rest of us, I think it brings us face to face with the things we really need to do (assuming they […]
It’s a Different World When You Go for a Walk
There’s a concrete jungle of parking spots and new or half-finished shops right across the street from me. I’ve been driving past them near every day for three months. But I didn’t really see them – at least, not well, […]
Are You Properly Enjoying Your Wealth?
I know what you’re thinking. “I’m not wealthy. This blog post isn’t for me.” Actually, it is. Historically speaking, you are one of the wealthiest individuals who has ever lived. It takes relatively little effort to provide for your own […]
7 Things I Won’t Be Doing While Unemployed
I am experiencing for the first time in my adult life the wonderful sensation of being unemployed – ahem, job-free (by choice). I feel a tremendous sense of freedom, feelings of withdrawal and a gnawing feeling that I should check […]
Level Up Your Idea of Adventure
Sorry, but going out to a new restaurant or even a new part of town with your friends isn’t quite an adventure. Neither is going on a hike on the trail near town. This is (sadly) what many young people […]
Your “Work” Is More Than Your Job
I left my job on Friday. It feels good. I’m at the beginning of a mini-retirement in which I have much more freedom to pursue my interests on my schedule. But part of me is waiting for the other shoe […]