• Gear Post 2024

    Gear Post 2024

    Remember the days when I would actually get the gear post done in time for Black Friday so that you could get better prices? Well, those days are back, at least this year. I’m really excited about this year’s post because I have a few new things that I bet you aren’t aware of… If…

  • How I Choose What to Work On

    How I Choose What to Work On

    A reader, “Moo”, asked me to write about my process for entrepreneurship and how I choose what to write on. Despite being a lifelong entrepreneur and being relatively successful at it, I don’t write a lot about it because I routinely make decisions that trade money for other things (freedom, autonomy, quality of life, stubborn…

  • Getting into Pinball

    Getting into Pinball

    Almost exactly a year ago, I began playing pinball at my friend Noah’s house. I didn’t understand how he could be so interested in Pinball that he bought two machines, but since I was staying there I figured I should play. Playing pinball in a private home is a very different experience than playing it…

  • Pool Fillers and Persistence

    Pool Fillers and Persistence

    When I sit in my tea room, I have a decent view out the sliding glass doors to the backyard. I can see the pool, the patio, the cacti that my wife and I planted, and… a really ugly pool filler. Something I didn’t know before having a pool, but which would have been obvious…

  • Home Automation in 2023

    Home Automation in 2023

    I’ve written about home automation a few times in the past, but so much has changed since last time I wrote about it that I feel like I have much more practical advice to give than in times past. I’ve been automating my houses (and formerly rooms and apartments) for over 25 years now, and…

  • A Neighborhood With Friends

    A Neighborhood With Friends

    When I first moved to Vegas, it was mostly an accident. I bought a condo because I couldn’t pass up the deal, and during the process of renovating it I fell in love with the city and eventually came to the point where I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. I shared my enthusiasm with friends…

  • The Three Best Tea Houses in the World

    The Three Best Tea Houses in the World

    As any regular reader knows, I love tea. I drink it almost every single day, and when I’m with my friends it is the activity I look forward to the most. In some ways that sounds dumb, but to me tea isn’t just about some hot leaf water, but it’s about creating the space and…

  • Choosing the Rewards You Respond To

    Choosing the Rewards You Respond To

    Someone in the cruise business told me recently that I should start charging cancellation fees. I have to pay the cruise lines a small amount every time someone cancels a cruise. He is far more experienced in the business than I am, and he is right. I should charge cancellation fees. They cost me hundreds…

  • Gear Post 2023

    Gear Post 2023

    It’s that time of the year again! I think a lot more changed this year versus the previous year, probably because I went fairly travel-crazy this year. As always I think “There’s barely any point in doing a gear post since nothing has changed…” and then I realize that actually a lot has changed. Interestingly,…

  • Sayonara 2022

    Sayonara 2022

    I can’t believe 2022 is over already. Like 2021 I didn’t feel as though as much changed in my life as has changed in many prior years, but this year I feel much less directionless than last year. CruiseSheet Prior to the pandemic my main productive outlet was CruiseSheet. No cruises sailed during covid, so…