When Winning Can Wait.
Right now we are in the third and final week of the NFL preseason. And we have no idea where each team stands. Like NO idea. I asked my friend the internet why no one seems to care who’s winning and who’s losing, and this is what I discovered. Preseason success in the National Football […]
Math Class and the Flat Tire Guy.
School is in session again – or soon will be. And that means students everywhere are sitting in new math classes, trying to figure out what they remember, and hoping beyond hope that it’s going to make sense. For a lot of students, one of the hardest parts of math comes when it doesn’t. Every […]
False Advertising.
A week ago, one of my best friends sent me a photo with a link to a paper embroidery class that looked super fun. It was something I had wanted to try, something she and I could have fun doing together, and the company was offering what seemed like a really, really good deal: Instruction. […]
Rich, Fizzy, and Chocolatey.
One of the most iconic beverages in New York City is called an Egg Cream. Yes, you heard that right. It’s made of raw eggs and cream mixed together. Just Kidding. But I did tell Darren that before he tried one on our last trip. An Egg Cream, which contains neither eggs, nor cream is […]
Loss Leaders – and the first thing in the cart.
My friend Wikipedia recently explained to me that a “loss leader” is a pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost to draw customers into a store where they are likely to buy other goods. The vendor expects that the typical customer will purchase other items at the same […]
Lucky Number Seven.
For thousands of years, people have repeatedly organized important things into groups of seven. Seven days in a week. Seven wonders of the ancient world. Seven seas. Seven colors in a rainbow. Seven notes in a musical scale. Seven deadly sins. The number seven shows up in religion, music, science, mythology, geography, and storytelling. And […]
Todd’s Nine Tips.
A few months ago, my brilliant cousin Todd sat in on a call at my request to offer some insight to a struggling friend who was starting out in a similar line of work to his. He had so many good tips for them and I quickly jotted them all down. I revisited his suggestions […]
An Olympic Torch – and ruined carpet.
24 years ago, the 2002 Winter Olympics were hosted in Salt Lake City. At the time I was living just one block from the torch route. It was a big deal and so exciting and many people in my life – myself included – were so caught up in the grandeur of such a fascinating […]
Waiting for Late Season Snow.
A special report issued just this last Monday by the National Resources Conservation Service noted that snowpack levels measured this winter across the state of Utah are among the lowest recorded since the SNOTEL measuring equipment was installed in 1980. Utah’s water system is built around mountain snowpack as delayed storage. Typically, snow falls in […]
Ernest Shackleton – and unfavorable conditions.
On March 9, 2022, the New York Times published this incredible news: “The wreck of Endurance has been found in the Antarctic, 106 years after the historic ship was crushed in pack ice and sank during an expedition by the explorer Ernest Shackleton. A team of adventurers, marine archaeologists and technicians located the wreck at […]
