The basement of this house has a little bit of a spider problem right now. It’s strange, because most of the pipe spaces going outside appear to have been sealed, but this house was built in the 70s, so it’s tough to know how those seals are holding up. There really isn’t very much stuff […]
Risk Surface
Risk Surface is a way of thinking about all the things that could go wrong. It’s a strategy for reducing present and future expenses, both perceived and theoretical. You can kind of put a dollar amount on it, but it’s also more involved than that. Risk Surface, in so far as it can be calculated, […]
Brief Thoughts on Escape Velocity
For most of the working years of my life, I believe I have made reasonably good decisions with money. But this was all put to the test four years ago when I found myself out of a job for 3 months. I thought my emergency fund was fairly large, but it was scary just how […]
Strategic Underachievement
I have to admit, this title is sort of click-bait because it’s unexpected and is likely to trigger my achiever friends. But there is some merit to it in this short post. These thoughts came to me as I was thinking this morning about career selection and the economics of career growth. Standard weekend morning […]
The Tyranny of Outdoor Gear: Part 2
Gear hell is real. I really enjoyed my first backpacking trip several weeks ago, but my setup was all wrong. I was using a 36L backpack because that’s the largest I owned and I had heard it was just large enough that some people use it for backpacking. In retrospect, I’m convinced that only serious […]
The Lost Roads
Between the 1950s and the 1990s, the United States Geological Survey undertook the massive task of surveying the entire United States, producing over 55,000 topographic maps. These maps attempted to provide a comprehensive record of United States land, and as a small part of this effort, they attempted to reproduce the locations of mines, mine […]
Does Every Dollar Count?
We’ve probably all heard it before: “Every dollar counts”. And so every dollar does count. But does every cent count, too? How far does this way of thinking really go? If you are one of the ultra-rich, earning a million dollars a year, does every dollar still count to you? In a way, dollars only […]
The Tyranny of Outdoor Gear
Back in college, I had a friend who asked for some help moving heavier objects at his parents’ house, so I volunteered. It was a very spacious house, very nice, and I believe I made a comment about it and how well everything seemed to fit into place. My friend’s parents were a little sheepish […]
Are Performance Air Filters Worth It?
For both my previous car and my current car, I’ve purchased K&N reusable performance air filters. What makes them “performance” is that they apparently let more air in, which gives more power to the engine, in theory. In general, I have found my cars more responsive using these air filters, but I can’t say with […]
Thoughts on Higher Education
A lot of people are beginning to question the value of higher education. Much of this questioning is important, in my opinion, but it’s easy to read about these issues and crushing student loan debt elsewhere. Here, I really wanted to reflect on some of the more personal elements. Last night, out of sheer curiosity, […]