I'm finally working my way through the volumes of old Short Talk Bulletins published by the Masonic Service Association of North America. One of the earliest, from March 1923 presents some interesting lessons for today's masons navigating a politically tumultuous world. It's a brief bulletin titled "Roll Call" by E.…
The book I read in 2021 that is sticking with me the most is Rodney Clapp's Naming Neoliberalism: Exposing the Spirit of Our Age. Clapp reviews neoliberalism as it exists today before applying scripture and theological scholarship to explain a better way. A couple key highlights I noted: "By contrast,…
The new year is a good opportunity to pause and reflect. Review last year, assess where you are, and plan where to go next. Part of that exercise this year for me reminded me that I don't blog nearly as much as I would like. Hope to make this a…
I started blogging in early 2005. I'm not even sure what platform I used back then. At some point, I transitioned that original blog to Wordpress. I shuttered that effort sometime in 2007 after starting a federal government position. I just found all those old blog posts in a SQL…
I'm a frequent reader of Robert Wringham's New Escapologist blog. I generally agree with what he has to say about finding your way in the world. However, I think he missed an opportunity to redefine how you find a dream job in his recent post "So Much for the Dream…
This being a year largely devoid of church for us due to a pandemic, we are going back to a family "tradition" (we only did it a year to two) from my childhood. We are planning a dining room table advent wreath the kids can light before dinner during this…
This has been a year filled with much more reading than normal. I finally took the annual Goodreads challenge to read 52 books somewhat seriously. I'm at 44 books right now. Only eight to go and I have some shorties in the queue that should help. Some recent highlights are:…
I changed careers about 20 months ago (and took way too long to write about it here). After 12 years in IT project management, I entered an electrical apprenticeship with the Akron IBEW. This feels like an odd, although not unprecedented, move for someone in their thirties with a mildly…