• How to Get Insane Deals on Cruises

    How to Get Insane Deals on Cruises

    I love San Francisco so much that every time I return here from a trip, I resolve to stay for a while and enjoy the city. That never happens. Next week I’m going to Tahoe, then Vegas the following weekend, and then to Austin for SXSW the week after that. Cabo or Hawaii follows in…

  • How My Computer is Set Up for Productivity and Security

    How My Computer is Set Up for Productivity and Security

    I got an email from a reader this week asking if I’d post about how my computer is set up for productivity. As I was going through my answer in my head, I realized that I’m also very geared towards security, which is frequently overlooked. So, behold: a post about how my computer is set…

  • How You Can Become a Professional Gambler

    How You Can Become a Professional Gambler

    I get an annoying amount of email from people asking me how to gamble like I used to. The truth is that what I used to do isn’t profitable anymore. It was a right time, right place sort of scenario. Although I’m not a professional gambler anymore, I have been spending time studying and improving…

  • Tynan’s Quick and Dirty Guide to Las Vegas

    Tynan’s Quick and Dirty Guide to Las Vegas

    At four thirty a.m. last night I finished wolfing down my table-side omelet, racked up my chips, cashed in, left Bellagio’s poker room, and headed to the airport for a red-eye back to San Francisco. I’ve been to Las Vegas more times than I can possibly count, and absolutely love it. When people tell me…

  • What’s the Point of Being a Minimalist?

    What’s the Point of Being a Minimalist?

    Minimalism has been on my mind for a few reasons recently. First, I bought a motorcycle. If minimalism were a religion, I’d probably be excommunicated for having more motorized vehicles than I have pairs of socks (RV, motorcycle, folding scooter, and electric skateboard vs. two pairs of socks). Second, I had a long conversation with…

  • Why I Sold My Berkshire Hathaway Stock

    Why I Sold My Berkshire Hathaway Stock

    I logged into my stock account the other day and realized that contrary to my previous claim/strategy of investing solely in Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, I had no Berkshire shares left. Time for an update, I reckon. So what happened? Nothing against Berkshire, for sure. I sold almost all of my shares at a profit,…

  • The Risks I Take

    A couple people recently have asked about the risks I take. On one hand, as they point out, I play it extremely safe by eating healthy foods and abstaining from alcohol and drugs. On the other hand, I climb construction cranes and go skydiving. Isn’t this a contradiction? It isn’t – at least in my…

  • Three First Lessons and What You Need to Know About Them

    Last week I went skydiving. It was actually my fourth time going, but since I hadn’t been in a couple years, they made me take the training again. After skydiving, my friends and I went to an arcade. I don’t really like arcade games (besides H2Overdrive), so I wandered around until I found one called…

  • 19 Foreign Currencies Worth Less than Monopoly Money

    Today I was walking home from a rousing game of Rummikub with some friends. I mentioned that my phone was at critbatts, a strange shortened version of slang that Todd and I use, which means “critical batteries”. To give credit where it’s due, our good friend Elliot actually invented that particular phrase. Until that, we’d…

  • Tynan Meeting Tynan

    Tynan Meeting Tynan

    “Like a stalker thing?” “No,” I replied, “You don’t get it. Her name is Tynan, too! That’s crazy!” “I guess.” Then I realized that my friend, Phil Jr. was sitting next to his father, Phil Sr.. Meeting someone with the same name wasn’t a big deal to him. But it was for me. Until yesterday…