Category: Navel Gazing
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In Defense of A Private Life
From his days as an artillery captain, Hamilton had kept a paybook with blank pages in the back, while on Washington’s staff, he filled up 112 pages with note from his extra-curricular reading. Hamilton fit the type of the self-improving autodidact, employing all his spare time to better himself […] thanks to his paybooks, we…
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Implementing Lessons from the Blue Zones, Inconveniencing Myself, and Other Things I’m Focusing On In 2017
So-called “Blue Zones” are areas of the world in which people have significantly longer, healthier lives than the world-wide average. Blue Zones have been researched and written about pretty extensively and in a popular book about them, Dan Buettner extrapolated these basic themes: Moderate, regular physical activity. Life purpose. Stress reduction. Moderate calories intake. Plant-based…
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I have No Taste: Thoughts on My Less Than Authoritative Book Reviews
There’s something ridiculous about these books reviews. They’re short, for one, and rarely contain any original insights. Indeed, for many of them (especially those dealing with classic works), they tell you next to nothing. My goals in writing them are, first, to force myself to articulate at least some thoughts about the books, even if…
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Tales from the Hound: Some Memories of Encounters I’ve Had Riding Greyhound Buses
I am twenty years old and moving to California by bus. There are four of us going all the way to California — three African American dudes from the city and me. We chat a bit here and there, I share a shot with them on occasion, but generally I stay to myself. Most…
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Running Is Practice for Life: Quick Thoughts on How Running Prepared Me for One of My Life’s Most Important Challenges
When E was admitted to the hospital my life went into a complex and stressful period of logistics management, worry, and long, long days. I’d get up, make Levi and myself breakfast, get ready for work, go to the hospital for an hour, go to work, try to focus, leave a bit early, spend another…
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Back to Basics (Again)
When was the last time you were fast? Check the log. Winter 2010 to Summer, 2011. What were you doing? Running. A lot. Up to fifty miles a week, all of it easy. Why did it end? Too much too soon. Got greedy, started speed work, pulled you groin. Then the job got crazy, then…
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Hard Reset
So with E and Anna home from the hospital, I am finally finding a bit of time for exercise. Not much, but some. I haven’t exercised in six weeks. In that time, I lost a whole lot of fitness and gained a fair amount of weight. It isn’t a pretty picture. It is time to…
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Hey, So, I’m Back
Hey, so, I’m back. If you read my posts about the recent birth of my daughter, you’ll know that shits been a bit crazy around casa de Milo. But things are starting to settle back down now into something of a routine. Anna and momma are doing well, and I have not been to a…
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Our Preterm Baby Part Three: NICU and Beyond
The NICU at NYU is staffed by incredible doctors and nurses doing everything they can for an array of preterm and ill babies. It’s an incredible place, filled with incredible people. It is also cramped and loud. Monitors are going off incessantly and just about everyone has a worried look on their face. There is…
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Our Preterm Baby Part Two: Labor
Its funny how things work out. With all the bumps we’ve hit bringing the baby home, labor and delivery were the smoothest parts of the road. E went into active labor at around 3 am on May 3rd. By 11:30 am she was pushing. By 12:33, our daughter was in the world. We were of…
Milo and the Calf 