Receipts

When You Know You’re Doing It Right

It doesn’t matter what went right or wrong in my day; when I get home, and my 9 year old is already looking out the window waiting for me, and throws open the front door and runs out to hug me saying ‘Daddyyyy!’, I am immediately at peace.

Cat Tails

When I was a little boy, I loved snapping off those weird plants called ‘cat tails’ at the stem, and carrying them around until I couldn’t resist the urge to rub them until they erupted in a cloud of glorious white fluff. I passed that excitement onto my kids. The last time we acquired some of these things, My 9 year old decided not to explode his, and left it in a drawer for several months. He just showed it to me, and I suddenly realize why the things got called ‘cat tails’ in the first place. This is science.

Abominations

I walked into my office today to find this tiny rubber fetus laying on a desk. It is utterly horrifying, and should not exist. To quote Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.”

Problem Solving

I’ve noticed this phenomenon: I frequently experience this thing with problems in life/work where I get to the point of metaphorically banging my head against the wall trying to find a solution, but a solution doesn’t come, so I reach out to someone for help/advice, and almost instantly the solution comes to me, often before I receive the help or advice I asked for. I’m wondering if the mere act of surrendering/humbling myself before the problem allows my mind to loosen up and reconsider the issue from a different angle or something. 

I need to look more into this.

Job Prospects

My 9 year old: ‘Hey Daddy, what if you got paid 1 million dollars a day to pour milk on people’s heads?’

Me: ‘hmm. What kind of milk?’

Humans Driving

A funny thing just happened: I got into the highway, and the guy driving in front of me was going very slowly. It wasn’t super convenient to switch lanes and get in front of him, so I just followed him for a minute assuming he’d pick up the pace. After a few minutes he had not picked up the pace, and the right lane cleared up,  so I moved over. As I passed him, I just happened to look over, and he was already flipping me off. I wasn’t angry, or driving aggressively, or planning to flip him off. I interpret the fact that he already had one in the chamber to mean he knew he was driving like an asshole, and was expecting to get the normal treatment from a fellow driver when you are driving like an asshole. Hopefully my surprised facial expression caused him to reflect upon the way he navigates his life.