Help me shape this blog
October 29, 2011 | Filed Under Micah | Leave a Comment
I have quite a few regular readers and I need your help. Particularly, I want to know what you like best about this blog and what you’d like me to focus on going forward. You can use the Contact page to send me an email.
Going forward, I would like to make an effort at least 2-3x a week to write content that my readers are genuinely interested in. To be blunt, this blog was started as a way to motivate myself to document my ever changing thoughts on life. So it has always been solipsistic in nature. But I understand that a great deal of what I’ve written has gained a readership.
I consider myself an amateur philosopher (I am ABD from a Ph.D. program in philosophy and have taught over 20 university level philosophy courses, but alas, I am not a professional). The topics that I feel competent to at least voice an opinion on are: health, education, fatherhood, human existence / good living, male-female relations, psychology and well, I’ve also got this taste for a certain quality of music that I won’t attempt to label but is best represented by the band Typhoon. A style that builds up from sparse/melancholy to full, orchestral joy.
So here’s where you come in. Let me know what you enjoy most about my blog by sending me an email. If I get enough feedback and a consensus develops, that will help shape my focus. Otherwise you’ll continue to get the infrequent, chaotic kaleidoscope of content that currently makes up this blog… as that’s how I roll. I’m a big ball of organized chaos.
The 10,000 Hour Rule
October 24, 2011 | Filed Under Micah | 1 Comment
Discovered this quote from Ira Glass here.
It’s so true. Long term vision and hard, persistent work are the keys to accomplishing anything worthwhile in life. Obviously you have to use the time wisely as well, learn from your mistakes, adapt, etc. Making the same mistake over and over isn’t going to get you anywhere, whether it’s 10,000 hours or 1,000,000. But going through the natural process of trying, failing, adapting, etc. will get you there… and I would suggest that things speed up a bit if you have a good mentor who can show you good form and give you insight into how to best use those 10,000 hours.
Here’s the 10,000 Hour Rule according to the referenced website:
“To master any non-trivial field requires 10000 hours of dedicated practice and study.”
Notice “non-trivial” – if you want to be great at anything worthwhile and rare, you’ve got to keep pushing through those plateaus, keep practicing. Be consistent. Especially in the middle. Everyone’s excited to start something new at the beginning. The people who actually become experts are the ones who push through the thousands of hours of plateaus.
There are no shortcuts.
What does this law mean? It means that fantasy you have, about picking up a guitar and finding that you have a deep, innate talent for playing and that you’re the next Hendrix? It’s just a fantasy. Better get practicing, pal. You got 10 long years of work ahead of you. Free lunch? No such thing.
Does your friend roast the coffee you drink each morning?
October 23, 2011 | Filed Under Micah | Leave a Comment
I love where I live. Because of things like this.
It’s hard to put into words until you’ve experienced it, but there is something wonderful about buying things from people you know.
I have a group of friends that I eat dinner with every Wednesday (we do a rotating potluck). And one of my friends buys unroasted coffee beans sourced directly from Guatemala and Ethiopia, and then roasts the beans less than 24 hours before I pick up my coffee for the week.
The freshest, best tasting coffee you could hope for.
Live your life. Live your life. Live your life.
October 12, 2011 | Filed Under Micah | Leave a Comment
We live in a wild, wonderful world.
Play
September 15, 2011 | Filed Under Micah | Leave a Comment
Are you an adult? How often do you play?
We’re mammals. Play is in the fabric of our DNA. But as modern adults, we suppress it. Or we let others do our playing for us (professional athletes).
I’ve been trying to make play a more integrated part of my life (several times a week) and today I overdid it. I played 1.5 hours worth of indoor soccer and 1.5 hours worth of basketball. Now I’m dog tired.
But you know, I’m better for it. I had a blast. I feel great. And now I’m going to rest up for the Warrior Dash on Saturday!
Becoming
August 29, 2011 | Filed Under Micah | Leave a Comment
Out of the mouth of babes comes such simple wisdom.
On Facebook, a friend of mine posted his four-year old’s interpretation of the parable of the leaven:
“Like the world cannot grow without God, bread cannot grow without yeast.”
Call me insane but…
July 22, 2011 | Filed Under Micah | Leave a Comment
I love being physical.
September 17, 2011 – Manchester TN – Warrior Dash
April 22, 2012 – Pennsylvania (with my little brother) – Tough Mudder
Breathless
July 14, 2011 | Filed Under Micah | Leave a Comment
When I consider the incredible things going on inside my body at a microscopic level, the things that give me life, I am left breathless. It is like another world. A different planet. Marvelous and wonderful.
Great Vacation
July 11, 2011 | Filed Under Micah | Leave a Comment
I take my life for granted sometimes, especially with all the freedom I’ve been blessed with (largely a result of owning my own company and working for myself). When you have something so abundantly, it tends to blend together and become mundane. But sometimes I wake up from my slumber and am truly appreciative.
This past week, I got to:
1. go to a Phillies game with my dad and brothers
2. go camping (damn mosquitoes;)
3. go out on a motorboat and go tubing
4. go out on a kayak
5. swim in a lake
6. visit with old friends
7. visit with my parents
8. eat steak, scallops, pork chops, shrimp, flounder, salmon, omelets, tiramisu, cannoli and all kinds of other goodness
9. read an enjoyable novel on the beach
10. drink beer around a campfire
11. take a long walk along the shore
That’s just for starters. Life is full.
Government Insanity
July 11, 2011 | Filed Under Micah | Leave a Comment
Part of the reason I moved out into the country was to escape this kind of government nonsense.
There is a freedom that you feel in your soul when your government (including local police) is not hovering over your every innocent move.
