I was a teenage Madrigal. That was the name of the highly competitive coed singing group I belonged to in high school. (I was also a member of another, less selective group, the Royal Knights. The entry requirements for that group were a pulse and a Y chromosome). The competition to join singing groups at our high school was cutthroat …
The Accumulation of Marginal Choices
A couple of mornings ago, as I took a final sip of my daily espresso, I noticed the dishwasher was full of clean dishes. I was thrust into the position of making a small but telling decision. Why does my reaction to a dishwasher full of clean dishes translate into a referendum on my character? For much the same reason …
Stuff
We have always been a family of collectors. When we were young, and traveled to Mexico frequently to visit family, my dad took great pleasure in bargaining with street vendors for “ironwood” carvings. My parents’ home has approximately twenty such carvings – display shelves full of multiple copies of graceful sea turtles, sleek dolphins, curved seals and numerous other creatures …
I Gave Up Half My Income For These Five Minutes
This weekend my teen daughter was honored with an invitation to sing at a morning service at our place of worship. It was an honor few kids are offered, and she enthusiastically accepted this call to serve. A weekend service typically runs 2.5 hours. I identify and affiliate with my community and find it a source of comfort and connectedness, …
The Long Goodbye
The biggest investment I made over of the last couple of years was in being present for the end of my father’s life and helping my parents plan for his death. Dad survived a diagnosis of lymphoma in his late 20s, fortunate that the era heralded some of the first truly effective treatments for that disease. One major treatment component …
New Ages and Stages
Plenty has changed in my household while I was away from blogging. The kids are now young adults, and the focus of their development has shifted accordingly. One of the lenses that has been most helpful in viewing the kids’ development is that provided by the psychologist Erik Erikson. I was first exposed to his theories as an undergraduate Human …
I’m Getting Too Old For This Shift (Part 2 of 2)
One of these things is not like the other ones…In part 1, I laid out my perceived options for getting out of night shifts. Here, in part 2, I’ll let you know what actually happened at that time. Dear reader, let’s travel back in time several years. Even accounting for the reversal of aging we’ve just agreed to entertain, I’m …
I’m Getting Too Old For This Shift (Part 1 of 2)
I wrote the following post a year and a half ago while brainstorming my next steps. Part 1 is what I thought would happen. Part 2, the companion post, will describe what actually occurred. It’s been a mere 15 years since graduating residency, and by all accounts I should be in the prime of my career. An auspicious new gray …
A Candid Review of WCI’s New Course: “No Hype Real Estate Investing”
I’m in the midst of a blogging sabbatical – so why am I coming off the bench to write this article? WCI is a savvy entrepreneur, and real estate is a sexy topic. I had increased my asset allocation to real estate and invested in several syndicates shortly before the pandemic, and continue to enjoy reading up on the topic. …
Let’s Take A Break
It has been one of life’s great pleasures blogging for you, dear reader, over the past five plus years. It feels like we’ve grown up together. When I started out, I was a zealous convert waxing poetic about the virtues of managing your own portfolio and enthusiastically sharing financial literacy lessons I’d never learned in residency. I wanted so deeply …