Since I started working about 7 years ago, I have eaten oatmeal for breakfast before work about 4 out of every 5 weekdays. Just recently, Julie and I decided that she would take over oatmeal-making duties to better align our morning schedules, and I had to show her how to do it. Continue reading “Way Too Much Detail About My Oatmeal Ritual”
Rewatching the MCU Phase 1
In anticipation of Avengers: Infinity War, Julie and I have been rewatching all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Since we started late, we started by needing to watch a movie roughly every two or three days, which is way faster than my typical screen viewing, which is probably a movie every two or three weeks and a TV episode maybe once or twice a week. Although we love Agents of Shield as well, there’s no way we are going to watch all MCU TV shows in time. Continue reading “Rewatching the MCU Phase 1”
Kevin’s Cooking Tips
I started cooking during the summer after my freshmen year at college. Growing up, I had watched my mom cook steak, stir-fry, salmon, and countless other home cooked meals. However, my own experience was primarily expert microwave timings and occasionally baking desserts. Needless to say, the first summer was rough. Continue reading “Kevin’s Cooking Tips”
Tasting the “Impossible Burger”
A few years ago towards the end of college, I went mostly vegetarian. Like most diets, my rules were byzantine, and I made plenty of exceptions, but it was largely effective. My meat consumption went way down with one simple trick: I didn’t buy meat. Since I was no longer on a meal plan, I was only tempted to eat food as far as my fridge, and I was similarly disciplined in my grocery shopping because the primary reason I went mostly vegetarian was because I was cheap and didn’t want to pay for meat. Continue reading “Tasting the “Impossible Burger””
Rooting for the Patriots Without Being a Fan
Let’s start with something we can all agree on: Super Bowl LII was a great game. It was close but high-scoring game with disputed calls, trick plays, missed kicks, a brewing comeback, and a dramatic turn that all came down to the last play of the game. Despite catching up on chores like laundry and cooking during the game, I really did enjoy it without having any allegiance to either team. However, it’s hard to watch any sports impartially, and although I don’t particularly like them, in my heart, I was rooting for the Patriots.
Continue reading “Rooting for the Patriots Without Being a Fan”
Discarding Anything That Didn’t “Spark Joy”: 8 Months Later
I’m in a book club called “Big Yak Mountain,” and we don’t read anything in particular. We’re 43 books in, and have read books from Ready Player One, which is going to be a Spielberg movie soon, to Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem, which is definitely not coming to theaters near you. Some are thought-provoking. Others are mindless. Many books would never appear on my bucket list but ended up being fantastic reads. One of those books was Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Despite the long-winded title, the book itself was surprisingly short, and it did in fact help us tidy up.
Continue reading “Discarding Anything That Didn’t “Spark Joy”: 8 Months Later”
Why I’m Not Sentimental About Books
I discovered over the past month that many bloggers write an annual “Books I Read Last Year” post. Anecdotally, this might in fact be the only post that many bloggers write for the entire year. Although I will tease them for not writing more often, I can’t make fun of them for their reading habit because they read a lot of books. Having struggled to find time to read myself, I’m quite impressed by it. Continue reading “Why I’m Not Sentimental About Books”
My Favorite Things (with Evidence)
People love to share their favorite things. They write gift guides. They sing songs about them. They form committees to publish lists. They will bore you endlessly at parties. However, most of that is just talk. To really know what someone’s favorite things are, they need to put their money where their mouth is: what things did they actually spend money on? Continue reading “My Favorite Things (with Evidence)”
New Year’s Goals 2018 Edition
Welcome to 2018. Surprisingly, I had a backlog of blog posts ready, so my New Year’s Goals are the second (not the first) of the year. Like many others, I put together a list of goals for the new year. However, I differentiate my system from Resolutions (with their high failure rate) by calling them Goals. It might seem like that wouldn’t count for much, and frankly, you would be right. Continue reading “New Year’s Goals 2018 Edition”
Routines, Running, and Getting Things Done
I love organization and task management tools. Whether it’s a one-off task like returning library books or a recurring task like calling my parents, I know I can’t remember everything that I need to do. I need systems to remember for me, and I’m always improving those systems (with blog posts to prove it). Continue reading “Routines, Running, and Getting Things Done”