personal – The Writing Life of a Tadpole

2020 – Almost dreading the year ahead…

December 29 2019

Christmas was a bit rough for me this year, and I’d like to tell you it was something meaningful like grief, being separated from family, or something that would seem to justify the discombobulation I have been feeling. But it is more like ennui, not really depression.

Normally, as I approach January, I’m excited. It starts in late December, and it carries me through to the New Year. I’m USUALLY looking forward to a new year, setting goals, making plans. Renewed commitment or a fresh page, whatever you want to call it. But I’m not feeling it.

It’s not that I haven’t been thinking about my goals, I have. Whether I would set some even though I promised myself I wouldn’t set any new ones until I achieved my last one — the weightloss one that has been kicking my ass the last 16 months. And trying to wrap my head around what I want to do in 2020. » Read the rest

Concern about a policy parlour trick by men to support #MeToo

October 29 2018

I wouldn’t normally write about the #MeToo movement, and not just because I’m a man. The main reason I wouldn’t is that, in some respects, it is close to the third rail of politics, akin to talking about education or religion. It is pretty hard to have a cerebral conversation about it without emotional resonance upping the conversation to higher stakes. It is almost impossible to unpack something that has a strong normative statement at its core, a statement of how things ought to be but which are not currently that way.

Last week, somebody was handing out samples from the Moose Hide Campaign. If you’re not familiar with it, it is a grassroots campaign against violence against women and girls, with a strong Indigenous start, for men and boys to “do their part” so to speak in ending violence against women and girls. It’s a huge campaign, and people who have gone to the sessions have found it highly compelling to hear men committing to the same goals. » Read the rest

Articles I Like: Six Simple Questions That Yield Better Decisions

May 14 2018

Over at the Heath Brothers’ site, they have lots of little posts about making better decisions. I signed up for the newsletter at some point and they sent me one entitled “Six Simple Questions That Yield Better Decisions”.

I quite like the list, partly as it is about thinking your way out of a box that you might have put yourself in earlier without realizing it. We all have shortcuts in our thinking processes, and the six questions they suggest are designed to help you avoid “lazy thinking”:

1. Imagine that the option you’re currently leaning toward simply vanished as a feasible alternative. What else could you do?

2. Imagine that the alternative you are currently considering will actually turn out to be a terrible decision. Where could you go looking for the proof of that right now?

3. How can you dip a toe in the decision without diving in headfirst?

» Read the rest

Eight-layer nachos (PWR00008)

November 26 2017

Description

I wanted to come up with a definitive “personal” nachos recipe. After canvassing multiple people and various recipes, we considered multiple variations, but this was the winning combo for our family. Surprisingly, the hardest choice may well have been which brand and style of tortilla chips to use.

Type of Meal: Dinner / Snack
Genre: Quick and easy
Difficulty: Easy
Yields: 4 servings
Time:
- Preparation time: 10-30 minutes
- Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
Rating: 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

Ingredients

2 cups boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/4 cup green onions
2 bell peppers, red
1 cup mild salsa
2 tbsp taco or pico salsa seasoning
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese.
1 bag Tostitos Restaurant-Style Tortilla Chips
Possible additional sides: guacamole, salsa, sour cream

Sous-Chef Preparations

Dice the boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2 cups).
Dice the green onions (1/4 cup).
Slice and then dice the red bell peppers (2).

» Read the rest

Being Jacob’s Dad, Part 14: 3 to 4 years

November 20 2017

When I started writing these, I didn’t know exactly where I was going to stop. After his birth? When he got settled? When I started not to worry? And then I realized it wasn’t about “becoming Jacob’s Dad” only, but a gradual change to “being Jacob’s Dad”. And once I got past the trauma of the last weeks of pregnancy and the first few weeks of life, the story was almost fun to write. And although they take time to pull together from old notes, photos, Facebook updates, etc., I could trundle along. But when I wrote the last segment back in February 2017, Jacob had just turned three, and I hit a wall.

Because I realized that the coming year, as Jacob went from age 3 to 4, was one of the most difficult years of my life, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to write about any of it. » Read the rest

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