• Vermeer Quest Complete!

    Vermeer Quest Complete!

    In either 2013 or 2014 I decided to see every Vermeer painting in the world. I’ve always been drawn to his paintings, and when I found out that there were only about 36 (two are disputed, one is stolen and most likely destroyed), it seemed like a reasnable goal to go see them all. Many…

  • Beethoven’s 10th Symphony

    Beethoven’s 10th Symphony

    Apparently this blog is now about me reading random articles on the internet and then going to Germany because of them. Luckily it’s not always about getting Covid while I’m there. This time around I read an incredible article about how AI researchers and music experts were using AI to complete Beethoven’s unfinished 10th symphony.…

  • My Experience Getting Covid

    My Experience Getting Covid

    I tested negative in Germany, and boarded my flight. I felt great. When I woke up on the plane I noticed that I had a slight runny nose and just felt a bit “off”. I figured that the runny nose was probably just caused from the humidity of wearing a mask for so long and…

  • A Day or Two in Dresden

    A Day or Two in Dresden

    I woke up to an email from my mom with a link to a story about the restoration of the Vermeer painting, “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window”. You may remember that I’m trying to see every Vermeer painting in the world, and this one was one of the final four that I…

  • Moving Away from Weekly Posting

    Moving Away from Weekly Posting

    I can’t remember or easily find when I started writing weekly posts, but I think it’s been something like 5-7 years. Since committing to doing so I haven’t once missed a week, although my post time did gradually shift from Thursday morning to Sunday evening. At this point I realize that I’m posting weekly only…

  • Negative Cash

    Negative Cash

    Up until about a year ago I was against debt. Most debt I had encountered was opportunities to buy things one couldn’t afford, which didn’t appeal to me, or situations I couldn’t make use of, like borrowing to finance business activities that would return a profit. Recently, though, interest rates have dropped so low that…

  • How I Evaluated Risk During Covid

    How I Evaluated Risk During Covid

    I like to talk about EV and risk management a lot, but most of my examples are finance based, as the math is the clearest in those cases. Covid, however, presented a unique situation for risk management. Because the way I manage risk is unique to my own situation and I don’t want to offer…

  • Back in Europe After Covid

    Back in Europe After Covid

    As I got off the plane yesterday, I kept saying “wow…” underneath my mask. Going to Europe was more or less part of my monthly routine two years ago, but thenCovid kept me out for a year and a half. Even though I had double-checked the requirements and filled out preclearance forms, I was still…

  • My First Time Playing Poker in 5 Years

    My First Time Playing Poker in 5 Years

    My friend Todd was visiting Vegas from Japan for the past few weeks. When I asked if there was any Vegas stuff he wanted to do while he was here, I was surprised to hear him say that he wanted to play poker. I hadn’t played in about five years and hadn’t really even thought…

  • Home Automation

    Home Automation

    One of the projects I’ve been tinkering with constantly for the past nine months or so that we’ve lived at our new house is home automation. I’ve been into home automation since about 1996 and have had a fully automated house ever since 2003 or so. Even my RV was so automated that it unlocked…