Lessons from Mom
With Mother’s Day upon us I was thinking about some of the lessons my mom taught me. She’s been gone a few years now, but the reminders of her presence are never far. Some are physical, like the plates we use daily,…
Aged Wisdom
I maintain a list of thoughts I have found valuable, which include a couple from my dad: “To the extent possible, make decisions that leave the most options open.” There will of course be times that your decisions close off other options,…
Secret Club: Sourdough
I’ve written before about what I call Secret Clubs, including stovetop coffee roasting, PDX Carpet, and Luv Ya Bye. As we become interested in a particular topic or skill, we naturally learn more about it and/or get better at it through practice and experimentation. We…
![Life [can be] Short](https://www.glenvanpeski.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/PlaneCrash_350.jpg)
Life [can be] Short
There have been a couple of plane crashes in the news recently, which has gotten me thinking. I think one of the reasons that plane crashes are horrifying is that they don’t happen very often, so they are news, which means…
Stay Plenty Enough Already
An alert reader shelli stein (apparently I’m not the only one who loves the simplicity and lower ink weight of all lower case) forwarded me a picture she snapped of a sign in Honolulu, Hawaii, which had a speed limit…
Survival of the Friendliest
In their book The Genius of Dogs, Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods explore the cognitive abilities of dogs, arguing that they have unique intelligence, based on their social skills. I haven’t finished the book yet, as we are listening to it on…
Traditions
The winding down of the holidays doesn’t involve the same excitement as the run up to them. The ornaments are packed away, the tree will soon be on the curb for the Boy Scouts to cart away. But it’s a great time…
Saying No
When I pack for a backpacking trip, I’m pretty darned good at saying ‘No’. To head out with a sub-5 lb. base weight, a lot of ‘No’ is required. And the light weight gained by saying ‘No’ so many times means I…
Pain and Growth
My habit in the mornings is to spend time reading my bible and some additional devotionals, meditating and praying. And usually practicing Italian and French, although I’m currently in a slacker season on that particular item. One of the additional texts I…
Signs of the Times
I tried to get my buddy Brendan Leonard to write about this, but now that he’s being routinely quoted in the New York Times, he’s too busy. It’s not easy being an engineer (or being married to one, as Francie will attest). You…