They say you can't observe something without changing it, and I wonder how much writing down what I'm cooking is changing what I choose to make. For instance, I'm nearly two months into the year and I've repeated exactly one recipe so far, and that for a party. Do I normally repeat that rarely, or is some part of my brain subconsciously choosing ( Read more... )

Starting in 2014, my company has had a "bike to work" contest in one summer month of each year. The first year they had prizes for "Most total bike commutes" and "most miles covered in one bike commute". Since 2015, they've also had "most miles via bike commute over the month." I won that category in the first time around when I set my July record ( Read more... )

Friday was the day I chose for our annual Employee Appreciation Day, which has morphed from being "Cedar Point Day" to "Do Whatever You Want Day" to "Thinly Veiled Excuse to Give Everybody at least a Four Day Weekend for Memorial Day". No complaints here. I basically got all my Saturday errands done on Friday, and added in such activities as " ( Read more... )

Last month, I gave myself a raise.

That sounds a little weird, so I guess I should back up. For the second year in a row, I got an enormous raise at work. Actually, I've gotten some kind or raise at least yearly for the last decade, but this year and last year were particularly large. Throw in the recent tax changes, which are at least in the ( Read more... )

Earlier this year I noted in a not quite timely fashion the 15th anniversary of me starting at my job and the tenth anniversary of me buying my house. I then proceeded to miss another major anniversary in August: namely, the tenth anniversary of the last time I wore a tie ( Read more... )

I was at work during the eclipse today, but my job basically declared the 15 minutes on each side of totality to be a culture event so many of us went outside. I skipped the moon pies and sun chips they handed out, but I did enjoy the view. I was able to view the eclipse in three ways ( Read more... )

I thought this month had two anniversaries. I was half right.

First, May 20 marked my 15th anniversary at my current employer. For fifteen years there's no plaque or anything like there is after the first decade, but they did announce it at the all hands last Monday and I got some nice emails. When I started I was the 150th employee, spread over ( Read more... )

In my weight loss summary a few weeks back, I left out one factor that might be significant: I have been getting to work much earlier than in years past.

Back in 2015 I successfully adjusted my schedule to arrive consistently prior to 9:30. I kept this up in 2016. This year, I had no such objective, but in spite of that I have gotten to work ( Read more... )

Last Friday at work, I swiped off the clock for the last time ( Read more... )

Earlier this year, I saw the Believeland premiere. The documentary covered the failure of Cleveland's sports teams to win a championship for 52 years, and ended on the hopeful note that LeBron James was back in Cleveland for the Cavaliers. That movie got the ball rolling. Only three hours after Believeland debuted on TV, Clevelander Stipe Miocic ( Read more... )