Cleanse

Every year or two, I get rid of a bunch of stuff. I always feel like writing about it because it’s such a reflective topic and there’s so much that goes into the things we own and why we own them. I discover something new every year. In times past, I’ve noted that getting rid […]

Unused Stuff

It is June. In two weeks, half of the year will be over. I’m painfully reminded that seasons can change very quickly, so I need to be doing the things I really want to do with my life. Around March and April I took some liberties with my money, treating myself to this thing and […]

Adventures in Tax Law! – International Part 1

If I were any good at cartooning, I would draw the following scene, stick-figure style: an agent stands guard. Out of nowhere he’s attacked by a mysterious enemy. He fights back. The struggle intensifies. It takes the two up flights of stairs and near harrowing ledges. Finally they are on the rooftop. With a split-second […]

Green Elephant Dude

Several years ago, one of my friends returned from Thailand and brought me a keychain. I call this keychain “Green Elephant Dude”. Green Elephant Dude used to sit under one of my monitors at my last job. On especially crappy days, I’d look down and see the bright colors and patterns in the sunlight. I’d […]

Reflections from the Garage Floor

Like on most holidays, I spent today with my parents at their townhouse. It is usually a mix of talk, television, lunch, dinner, and dessert. And sometimes car work. Today, one of the goals was to check the A/C system on my dad’s old Subaru. After measuring A/C pressure using an A/C manifold gauge, the […]

Thoughts on Giving

It’s important to note that just within the past two hours, I’ve learned that my church’s sermon this past Sunday was actually on tithing and giving. My Sunday attendance is less than consistent, but I rarely make a note to listen to the sermons online. Except today. The thought of giving has been heavy on […]

Thoughts on Tithing

I’ve been writing in this blog for over a year and a half now, and I have yet to say anything about tithing. At first this seemed odd, but on second thought it’s really not. The tithe is honestly not very interesting, in my opinion. I have no doubt hundreds of pages could be written […]

Life v Money

Well, my 20s are over. I knew it would happen eventually. There were the early years full of anger and judgement, the middle years when I started to figure this out and finally reached the escape velocity needed to start doing the things I really enjoy, and the later years full of impossible job situations, […]

Reflections on MeToo

In my mid-twenties, I briefly dated a girl I had become friends with. They were fun dates, but felt more like hang-outs with a good friend than anything that might actually lead to a relationship. This may be why the dating didn’t last long, but we were still good friends after. On our third or […]

Community

The past few years have been full of odd seasons. It all started with a mass exodus of friends from Colorado, coinciding with the disintegration of the young adult group at my old old church. This lead to a wandering in the desert, a desperation for community at my old church, and finally seemed to […]