Today is the one year anniversary of my first post here. It’s been good for my brain, to type out what’s on my mind and also for record-keeping of our adventures. There’s been times that big pressing philosophical or social questions have been swirling around, and when I come here and post it helps sort things out and let me move on to other issues. Just the act of typing on the keyboard is therapeutic in that sense.

We modified our Disney trip this summer to just the cruise. We are unsure if we’re really going to like the cruise, so we didn’t want to add any extra excitement. I think there’s just malaise from our Melbourne trip being too long (7 days), the last thing we want is another 7 day vacation. First world problems, for sure lol.

Also we’re not making the mistake we made last year and book too many summer vacations before knowing what the kids’ schedules will look like. I don’t want Elsa to miss a lot of musical rehearsals, and I don’t want Jack to miss baseball games. The wife suggested trips to San Diego and Pittsburgh, both cities I’ve never seen baseball games in. I’ve been to Pittsburgh for work and really it’s either the most or second-most beautiful city I’ve been too (Vancouver being the other). Just seeing all the rivers and bridges surrounded by the tall cliffs, it’s very pretty. I’d like to sneak in a trip to Quebec City too, since it’s 25 years since I went to school there. The wife wants to do a big road trip to the Northeast though, and I doubt we can fit that in this year. 

We’re going to see Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks (again), this time in Chicago on June 21. This time we’re taking Jack and Elsa with us. My first concert was seeing Billy Joel in St Louis back in 1987 when I was 11 years old. It was a life changing event for me, when I wanted to become a musician. There’s something special about liking someone and their music at this young age. It was before I got older and more sophisticated/critical/discriminatory about the music I listened to. Billy Joel’s music is embedded in my psyche and I don’t judge any of it. The music is what it is, his songs are joyous, his concerts are uplifting, and that’s all I need to know.

We also have Cardinal’s Opening Day in April plus a total solar eclipse a few days later. I made the correct choice in taking the kids out of school about 5 years ago to see that total solar eclipse, which was a magical event. Everyone needs to experience at least once. 

My 30th High School reunion is this year. I probably won’t go, as I never do, but man….30 years. I think that I’ve been productive with my time out of school. I went to community college, then university, then had three cool jobs (and one awful one), got married, had great kids, got my MBA, and traveled a lot. I can’t complain.

I’m getting ready to go to Wal-Mart to buy Trivial Pursuit. It turns out Jack is a trivia master just like his old man. We all played some trivia earlier today, and I could see the Trivia Hulk coming out in him. 

The kids are watching Bob’s Burgers on Hulu at the moment. It’s a great show. I’m surprised at how, in this day and age, it’s has such anglo-centric dialogue. It’s full of puns and double entendres and slang that you really need to know English and American culture to understand. It’s different from watching new movies, which are stripped of any sort of edge or culture in the name of being accessible to audiences worldwide. Plus Bob’s Burgers features a Dad who is NOT a bumbling fool and a Mom who is NOT a unfallable rock that holds the family together. It’s pretty old school in this respect.

I’m still working out, got my weight down to the 172-174 lbs range which is fine. I’m not starving myself but I don’t eat like crazy. All in moderation.

I just finished the first of the books the wife got me for Christmas. It was The Psychology of Money. I thought that I knew all there was to know about money and investing but the book showed me otherwise. It basically shows that the best investments are the ones that maximize the amount of sleep you get at night. It’s okay to not be a cold hard rational person with money, because we are human. We should be reasonable with money, but not strictly rational. Now I’m reading Ikigai, about the Japanese philosophy of completeness. In a way all of the books I’ve read over the past two years are all converging to a single point. Whether it’s about psychology, sociology, finances, economics, philosophy, etc…they all point the same type of personality that we should all strive to attain. The serenity prayer sums it up in my opinion. 

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

There are just things that are outside our control, that we shouldn’t fret about. And there are things we can control. We are all on a journey to discover and refine the wisdom to know the difference between the two. 

The wife wanted to know if I was blogging about the brownies she made. Yes, I’m blogging about them. They were delicious.