Lessons learned from my mom getting scammed — I am learning so many lessons about finance and fraud that I never wanted to know. My mom has been attacked and scammed out of most of her money. She didn’t have much to begin with but it is still a tangled web to unweave. Just three weeks ago I…

Don’t mess with Tony — Kids can be cruel. Socialization tames most of us eventually, but at my elementary school playground of the early nineteen fifties, only the presence of teachers prevented us from devolving into savagery, and the teachers couldn’t watch everyone at once. I am and was a wise ass. To be more…

New floor, new carpet — We are having new carpet put into two rooms this week. …

Or whatever thing it is that you want to get better at — I was broken for a few months last year. It wasn’t COVID, though some of the symptoms made me very suspicious of that. One of the more annoying things was that I lost strength. I struggled to do three pull-ups and six or seven push-ups were all I could squeeze…

Dennis and I against the rest — We didn’t have a proper baseball field. Nor were we playing baseball; it was softball, with its larger and softer ball, heavier as well, hard for anyone to hit very far, never mind scrawny sixth graders in 1958. No, our field was just a grass field, sunk lower behind the…

I came across DoneIt when it was very new and very rough — I live by a to-do chore list. It’s not that I wouldn't remember to do these things. I would certainly remember all the daily tasks and even most of the weekly ones, but I might not remember them until later in the day. So I list them and check them…

And good riddance regardless of the cost — Our home in our new retirement community came with a whirlpool tub. …

Don’t go quietly into that good night — Shower between 9 and 10 am; the water pressure is better. But if you aren’t going out, why shower at all? Or get dressed? It saves on laundry. Shop mid-week when the stores are less crowded. Advanced shopping tip: you don’t need to shower for Walmart, and you barely need…

Your beast of burden awaits your command — My poor wife has fallen so many times in the past six years that we have lost count. I think it’s somewhere between 14 and 18 times, some accompanied by broken bones, but every one adding to her pain and disability. It started at a garden place. I had stayed…

100% — I know it’s corny, but that’s what my Grandma said before she left us and moved to Australia with her lover. We lived in Hungary and didn’t have much money, so it felt like a last farewell. It was. She died two years later, killed in a car accident with…

The darling emperor of the productivity pundits has no clothes — Which 20 percent of sources are causing 80 percent of my problems and unhappiness? Which 20 percent of sources are resulting in 80 percent of my desired outcomes and happiness? — Tim Ferriss, The 4-Hour Work Week Wouldn’t it be nice if we could answer these questions easily? The 80/20…

The truth about stars and the power of one 15-year-old girl — Chickens are unable to see in the dark. As soon as evening comes, they head up to their roosting spots to protect themselves from unseen dangers. Because of this, chickens are not very advanced in the field of astronomy. …

Clueless Homeowner tries to install a light switch and buy coffee yogurt. And, I have some questions! — I mentioned recently that I wanted to replace a light switch with a model that has a pilot light so that I can see at a glance that I left the garage light on again. This simple change could help me avoid deep sighs of frustration from my long-suffering wife. …

The United States likes to talk about problems. Well, ones we have solutions for, anyway. Others we tend to willfully ignore. This latter strategy is typically accomplished by either a.) pretending the problem isn’t happening at all or b.) dismissing it as one of little importance. It’s the “American Way”…

There‘s an important business lesson in their viral exchange — David again whipped Goliath’s ass. In this case, David is Jack Sweeney, a college student at the University of Central Florida, and Goliath is Elon Musk, a multi-billionaire. Sweeney created a Twitter account called ElonJet, which tracks where Elon’s private jet is at any given time. He developed a bot…

With links for more reading — This is a collection of some of the coolest, most interesting, and weirdest concepts I discovered in 2021. I spent a long time curating and crafting this, I hope you enjoy it. *Note: Almost all of the headlines are clickable links. Be Happy, You’re Smiling According to a study published in Experimental Psychology, researchers…

5 words, That’s it — I am a collector of hidden treasures in plain sight. Words — simple, ordinary words — used slightly differently can uplift our conversations. 1. Something vs. Anything: What I learned from Doctor’s language. Prof. John Heritage of University of California, Los Angles studied how patients responded to a simple follow-up question, “is there anything else we need to take care…

Empty your head by filling it with ecstatic pleasure — I promised to deliver you the secret. I gave you a little time to get prepared. Hopefully, you have taken that time and used it wisely. Because we are about to leave the ordinary realm and begin an extraordinary life. Are you ready? In my previous two articles, it has…

But Hollywood’s Mr Nice Guy has the best advice of all — Tom Hanks’ first movie made more than a ripple. Splash was the surprise hit of 1984, grossing more than $69 million and kicking off the stellar film career of Tom Hanks. Tom has since become the most bankable Hollywood star — the man with the Midas touch. …