Category: Success (Page 8 of 12)

As a child we developed a warp vision of success, and mine was up there. growing up in the 70s and early 80s I viewed successful people as those who were famous nationally, and then around my area those who had the nicest car. My parents drove a 1973 Ford LTD station wagon (yellow) affectionately called the ambulance (another story) but I saw one neighbor with a blue Corvette, and another with Cadillacs. In car magazines you would see the Ferraris of the world, but no one in my town had one. 

I had previously written about the notion asking a child what they want to be when they grow up is a dumb question, and the answers are what kids see as successful and or exciting jobs. I wonder if you asked a kindergarten student what determines success at that age what their answer might be. The downside of information being at our fingertips could result and the current generation saying success is having one million followers on the current social media app. That is no worse than my childhood idea of success. 

Why this idea of success was in a conversation with some people there was a discussion of someone who made a fortune and retired a lot younger than I am right now and how successful.  He was bright, hard to quantify if he brighter than me, but that was not the question that came up, the question came up is why aren’t you rich like he is?   Note this is a group of adults and we resorted to our childhood definition of success, money.  

I shook off the conversation with some comments, but I realized that still is the definition. The notion of having good friends, being able to give back and trying to be a better person is not the definition of success. None of those are as measurable is how much money do you have in the bank, what kind of car you drive, did you raise your children right or how many Armani suits you have in the closet. Being the nutcase I am, I had to think about it for a few days. I stared at my ceiling and thought what I should do now to become successful. 

The definition of success in the dictionary is “accomplishment of an aim or purpose.” It does not say anything about money or fame. The Atlantic has a good article on the history of this. Looking at the change it was not till the mid 19th century that the US started to value money and move towards a capitalistic society. Thus, one hundred and seventy years it continued to evolve, including the 1970s shareholder value, and the consumer generation of the 80s. So, the definition of success continued to be linked to money. 

An updated definition might include for human’s desire to accumulate wealth. Linked In has an article on 9 reasons why money does not equal success, but at falls apart starting with number 2 and 3. Money cannot buy family is number 2. But Family is a lottery, you are born into a family, and it is possible that your parents could have died young, or not be the greatest. You as a person may not want a family. Number 3 states Health is your most important asset. What if you are born ill or get some chronic disease, and if you like health to success those people can’t be successful? And often can money afford you to be healthier? The article does make other good points, but again put stipulations on the definition. 

Is successful being happy? A Princeton study states that making $75,000 (usd) as the amount of money that allows you to provide for your family and making more does not add to your happiness. A study at Harvard I mentioned before that started in 1938 found that happiness is not about money either. Success at work does not make you happy, it is the connections you make. If you read my series on team building, you would understand that building a team is what I believe makes me a success at work. 

But wait that breaks the definition also by adding happiness to the definition. If it is simply reaching a set forth goal, then success is seen just by you (unless you tweet or create a TikTok video) by the goal you set. It is also not something that ever ends, as your goals in life may change, or add more as you reach one. I do know that just getting this written won’t change opinion, just like the Princeton Study and the Harvard Study, as the shift started in the 1850’s towards a capitalistic society is still running its course. For me, I find watching Bruce Lee’s Game of Death and realizing that the lessons I learn guide me yet towards another lesson and thus another goal. 

This opinion is mine, and mine only, my current or former employers have nothing to do with it. I do not write for any financial gain, I do not take advertising and any product company listed was not done for payment. But if you do like what I write you can donate to the charity I support (with my wife who passed away in 2017) Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital or donate to your favorite charity. I pay to host my site out of my own pocket, my intention is to keep it free.  I do read all feedback, I mostly wont post any of them

This Blog is a labor of love, and was originally going to be a book.  With the advent of being able to publish yourself on the web I chose this path.  I will write many of these and not worry too much about grammar or spelling (I will try to come back later and fix it) but focus on content.  I apologize in advance for my ADD as often topics may flip.  I hope one day to turn this into a book and or a podcast, but for now it will remain a blog.  AI is not used in this writing other than using the web to find information. Images without notes are created using and AI tool that allows me to reuse them. 

Incentives are a wonderful thing. As a parent I did a few things I thought were smart. When they were young, I would give them one dollar if they drank water versus soda at a restaurant. For grades, would bribe them to get A’s. When you are young, you are not thinking about getting into the “best” school, and not really sure what grades mean. A parent knows that going to the right school has lots of advantages so in lower grades a bribe like that works.  

But why do parents and later students know that getting good grades is important? Colleges say they use grades to decide whether someone gets accepted. So, in turn the goals of schools, parents etc. become getting the ‘grades’ or scores needed. In fact, businesses have been built based on the fact of getting SAT/ACT scores as well as tutoring for students.  

Nothing withstanding the fact that in top schools 43% are alumni, athletes, parents or teachers or kids of ‘donators’ the race for now 57% of those open slots (AADT) . The current supreme court ruling also opened other cans of worms, but I am not going to head in that direction. The direction I am thinking is more, the fact that the goal is grades and scores, so we educate based those goals.  

Grades are a recent creation, and around 1830s they more resemble a bell curve. The average grade was a 50. The distribution was set to be more of a ranking. At some point they skewed the grades higher, cause well no one wants to be ‘average.’ Now the history of grades is not the cause of the problem, but with the the reliance on them. 

Elementary and High schools then have the current grade model resulting in parents wanting kids to have a 4.0, schools wanting kids with high grades (money, bragging rights, wall of ‘acceptances’ etc.) and kids stressing out trying to reach the grades. In this model the question I want to ask, are the kids learning anything? 

Classes that require regurgitation information (date of a war, formulas, the plot / symbolism of a book etc.) is much different than problem solving, thinking, creating, Ignoring who ‘wrote the book’ and knowing the root cause of a war to pick the right choice on a test does not teach someone how not to prevent it if they are someday president. Learning how to solve differential equations does not teach you how to question math to come up with the next theory. Removing Arts from schools ends creativity for choreographers, composers, painters and writers. So, what are we teaching our kids and why? 

The Three R’s go back to around 400 AD, and are still the core of schooling, though they got named that in the 1800s. But is this the right things students need to excel at? Are interpersonal relationships, strong core values, working with others more important? Of course, you need to learn language to communicate, math to know what you are buying but what percentage of people have ever used calculus or geometry in their day to day jobs? There are others that argue that things like financial wellness, basic nutrition and other topics should be included in the core. My question is why don’t parents or students have the option? If the answer is that colleges want some way to differentiate non AADT students maybe, we should take a stance against it. 

Harvard who uses grades (sort of) to decide who gets into its school, but questions if grades are the right way to determine intelligence. So why are we doing all this to get in? Are the incentives of grades making better people? No, I do not have the answer, but the conversation must be started, or we just continue the status quo which just seems crazy. 

This opinion is mine, and mine only, my current or former employers have nothing to do with it. I do not write for any financial gain, I do not take advertising and any product company listed was not done for payment. But if you do like what I write you can donate to the charity I support (with my wife who passed away in 2017) Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital or donate to your favorite charity. I pay to host my site out of my own pocket, my intention is to keep it free.  I do read all feedback, I mostly wont post any of them

This Blog is a labor of love, and was originally going to be a book.  With the advent of being able to publish yourself on the web I chose this path.  I will write many of these and not worry too much about grammar or spelling (I will try to come back later and fix it) but focus on content.  I apologize in advance for my ADD as often topics may flip.  I hope one day to turn this into a book and or a podcast, but for now it will remain a blog.   Images without notes are created using and AI tool that allows me to reuse them. 

Growing up, I struggled with it and often felt like I didn’t fit in with my peers. Despite my best efforts to hide my differences, I was often labeled as “weird” or “hyper”. These labels made me feel ashamed of who I was and left me feeling isolated at times. I don’t deny that it comes with drawbacks and does have issues. It is only recently that I have been open about it, as it has been accepted. But how did it go from a stigma to acceptance (and yes, it’s not fully accepted yet) 

Well, the author Geoffrey Moore has models that works for products (well the diffusion of innovation.). Could the same be said for ‘stigmas’ and is this is what happened to things like mental health? Does that bell curve explain how a stigma goes from shaming / attacking / to being semi-accept and then accepted follows the same type of pattern. Notwithstanding the occasional setbacks we can look back and see how our culture evolves. 

To understand why something is stigmatized what I could could come up with the following list: 

• Lack of understanding or education about a particular group or condition 
• Stereotypes perpetuated by media 
• Cultural beliefs 
• Fear of the unknown 

I remember seeing a therapist at a young age (ADHD was not something defined and well known) and playing chess against the therapist. I don’t remember much more, nor do I know if it helped. But I do remember that I would not tell anyone that I was in therapy, as the other kids would make fun of you. And being a kid is a 24 hour by 365 day job trying not to be embarrassed. And looking at the why’s above explains it. 

That weakness came from a stance of ignorance, and my childhood (like most) was filled of it. The jokes we told on stereotypes are seen as insensitive and fears we had often found had no basis. The parallel I can find is that as I grew up, it appears some of the ignorance went from being stigmas to acceptance and understanding. Mental health being one of the biggest, and ADHD as part of mental health is growing acceptance. Funny the word ‘ignorance’ when I was younger was an insult, and now the even that word has gained some acceptance in its use. 

The question is how we erase this lack of knowledge, how do we move things that are stigmas to the norm. The wish is for something to be instantly accepted, but here we head back to Geoffrey Moore: 

There are going to be the Early Adopters, those who are willing to accept the stigma as norm. For those struggling with it, the focus should be on only those. The majority will jump in when the early adopters have accepted it and prove they got it right. The notion of FOMO (fear of missing out) brings the rest of the crowd. The laggards, the bottom 10/15% may never get it. As much as this curve looks linear, there are going to be 2 steps forward and one step back occasionally (ok multiple steps back.) 

So, what do we do now if we find ourselves in a situation where we fit a stigma? Look for other likeminded (early adopters) and don’t worry about the the early/late majority. Sad to say nothing will instantly make something mainstream.  

And why am I talking about this? I see a few things going mainstream that were not before, and a few things going a little backwards. So, it is a reminder to me to try to be at the early adopter and accepting change vs. being the laggard. This means educating yourself, gaining understanding and do not letting ignorance be your guide. The hardest thing to do is unlearn something that you learned. Simple example is what comes up must go down. It is not true, if something is thrown with enough velocity to escape earth’s gravity it will never come down.  

The great people I admire understand that change is going to happen, and you must adapt. It is not the universes job to adjust to you. I did struggle with this topic, but wanted to write it as a reminder that what I know not always is correct. Being right is not a silver bullet.

This opinion is mine, and mine only, my current or former employers have nothing to do with it. I do not write for any financial gain, I do not take advertising and any product company listed was not done for payment. But if you do like what I write you can donate to the charity I support (with my wife who passed away in 2017) Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital or donate to your favorite charity. I pay to host my site out of my own pocket, my intention is to keep it free.  I do read all feedback, I mostly wont post any of them

This Blog is a labor of love, and was originally going to be a book.  With the advent of being able to publish yourself on the web I chose this path.  I will write many of these and not worry too much about grammar or spelling (I will try to come back later and fix it) but focus on content.  I apologize in advance for my ADD as often topics may flip.  I hope one day to turn this into a book and or a podcast, but for now it will remain a blog.   Images without notes are created using and AI tool that allows me to reuse them. 

For those who listen to Dave Ramsey or other financial podcasts the term Snowball is well understood. For those of you who never heard about it before, if you are in debt what you should do is pay off the smallest balance first (pay minimum in others) until that is paid off, and then go to the new ‘smallest balance.’ The downside is that you may pay more ‘interest’ but it gives you the quickest victory.  

In the world of agile there is a similarity called ‘Minimal Viable Product.’ Basically a MVP is what developers can build as fast as possible to give the users something they can use. The goal of course is a dopamine hit for the victory. 

As I was in meetings, and I looked at my personal life I started thinking. This notion of small victories can be applied more broadly. I look at my garage which somehow no matter how many times I clean it, turns out like a cyclone hits it. I dread cleaning it each time as it is a good 4-5 hours (my ADHD kicks in) project. So, I avoid it. What if I “snowballed it?” What if i just cleaned one shelf? Or just one area of a shelf. Would I get the dopamine hit to drive me to do more? Emptying out the whole garage is time consuming, do I need to do that?  

Are there other parts of my life that I struggle to tackle as they are bigger things? Looking at them not in the order that people would do them, but the order if easiest to hardest. Would I get things done?  

I understand that ADHD has certain traits including the fact we struggle with things that have no due date, that take a considerable amount of time and thus put things off. I once wrote about the Mark Twain theory of Eat a Frog, which is an alternative to the snowball method, and I did this a bunch. I have fallen into doing tasks that have less friction if I am honest with myself.  

I do not know the exact moment when the lightbulb went off that I connected the Snowball to Agile to day to day, and it doesn’t matter. Now the question is where to apply it first and see if it works. I guess I will let you know, but as the reader is there something that you are putting off that maybe the snowball would help solve? 

his opinion is mine, and mine only, my current or former employers have nothing to do with it. I do not write for any financial gain, I do not take advertising and any product company listed was not done for payment. But if you do like what I write you can donate to the charity I support (with my wife who passed away in 2017) Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital or donate to your favorite charity. I pay to host my site out of my own pocket, my intention is to keep it free.  I do read all feedback, I mostly wont post any of them

This Blog is a labor of love, and was originally going to be a book.  With the advent of being able to publish yourself on the web I chose this path.  I will write many of these and not worry too much about grammar or spelling (I will try to come back later and fix it) but focus on content.  I apologize in advance for my ADD as often topics may flip.  I hope one day to turn this into a book and or a podcast, but for now it will remain a blog.   Images without notes are created using and AI tool that allows me to reuse them. 

When I was in high school I tried out for plays and musicals. I had dreams of being on stage and becoming rich and famous (don’t most kids?). Those dreams were shattered as the Drama teacher (Mr. Vogel one of many teachers who helped shape me — and gets credit) needed me to do sound and lights. I was relegated to do geek stuff and I resembled that remark.

During the rehearsals of musicals there were dance scenes and getting some 9th-12th graders with no dance training to dance was entertaining. Mr. Vogel knew a secret, that in a dance number with multiple people doing a synchronous choreographed routine that if you were out of step, missed a step if you kept smiling that people would think you were doing it right. The people who looked confused, looked at their feet or looked like they were concentrating too much were the ones that could be doing it wrong. If was the thought of confidence on stage that showed competence.

What does this have to do with AI? Using Chat-GPT or other tools they answer is such a confident manner that we believe what its generating is correct. In a previous post I spoke about this same idea of trusting blindly like a GPS and driving into a lake, I also have written about we trust Google also too much taking the first result as truth.

A confident response does not mean it is factually correct, just like the dancer that is smiling, he may be out of step. Unless you know what the right dance move is supposed to be or the right fact you are being fooled by confidence. As a human we need to dig into our science background and question the result we are getting back to confirm the facts (as opposed to falsehood and confirmation bias.). Just ask the lawyer who used it to research a case and his only check was to ask GPT if it was lying.

There is a fear of AI taking over but the real fear is humans failing to think.

This opinion is mine, and mine only, my current or former employers have nothing to do with it. I do not write for any financial gain, I do not take advertising and any product company listed was not done for payment. But if you do like what I write you can donate to the charity I support (with my wife who passed away in 2017) Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital or donate to your favorite charity. I pay to host my site out of my own pocket, my intention is to keep it free.  I do read all feedback, I mostly wont post any of them

This Blog is a labor of love, and was originally going to be a book.  With the advent of being able to publish yourself on the web I chose this path.  I will write many of these and not worry too much about grammar or spelling (I will try to come back later and fix it) but focus on content.  I apologize in advance for my ADD as often topics may flip.  I hope one day to turn this into a book and or a podcast, but for now it will remain a blog.   Images without notes are created using and AI tool that allows me to reuse them.

When I was young, I learned how to take photographs with a 35mm SLR camera, take the film out of camera, process it and create prints. I was fortunate my dad was interested in photography and built a lab in our basement. The cost of a picture was not cheap, the film, the processing, the time it took to do it all. Even for those who didn’t process their own pictures you needed to take them to a lab to get them turned into prints. Now there are polaroid cameras which were instant, but the costs were high. Of course, it got cheaper over time, and some fast processing but the costs of each picture and doing it was a challenge. 

In 1975 Kodak created the first camera and what followed was a slow reduction of costs in pictures. In 1989, the first commercially available digital camera to be released (Fuji) The cameras were expensive, the resolution started out very poor, but technology would advance. 

In 1997 a cell phone was released with a camera, and about the same time online photo sharing sites started going online. Ofoto, Shutterfly and DotPhoto allowed people to upload photos and share with others. Instead of printing pictures out and putting them in albums users could upload and share them. Camera companies had these smaller (pocket size) digital cameras trying to make it easier to get digital pictures, as well as they had ways to upload them. This was still time consuming and took some technical skill. 

In 2006 Facebook was available to all users (over 13), Twitter came out and in 2010 Instagram was released. Even though social networks were around before this, it wasn’t till these three figured out how to get mobile photos that were about to change.  

Well thanks for the history lesson, Larry, but I could have gotten that all from Wikipedia, in fact it might be more correct. Absolutely and you should check my work, but believing everything you see on the internet is another post. Let us connect the dots, people have phone which now has a good enough camera, (yeah, I didn’t put the iPhone in there, but you know when that came out) companies have made it easier to get those photos online (social media etc.) so the result was people started taking more pictures with very little friction (cost, knowledge etc.)  

The cost of taking pictures from the old days of film cameras you had to buy, get film, get it developed etc. had diminished to zero. Photography had crossed the chasm from just a few to mass adoption. Before you only took pictures at moments (how many birthday pictures do you have from the 60-70s) now you take pictures at almost every meal. If fact, my camera roll has so many pictures there is no way I can ever look at them all. The days of sitting on a couch and going thru a photo album pretty much is over.  

What does his have to do with AI? Over the last few months as you play with Chat GPT and other tools and some people look at it for what jobs it will take away, others look at the damage it can possibly do and lastly those who want to figure out how to get the best out of them. The one point I think about is what is this going to make so cheap its worthless. To me over time many things have hit this. 

• Photography (as mentioned) 
• SPAM (well mail) when you can email something at no cost, vs price of a stamp 
• Travel, Food etc, Guides. Remember buying books on places to travel 
• Navigation, remember going to AAA and getting a trip-tick? 
• Chilton’s Car repair guides. A simple YouTube search has made this really free 
• Wikipedia killed Encyclopedias  
• No one knows what cliff / monarch notes are 
• Why don’t you add your own… 

What is General AI going to make worth less. First, it is not 100% correct. Pre-Chat-GPT a google search required you to read some links and decide what a good answer (or confirmation bias) to your question is. I wrote about AI being the next GPS and proof is this article about a lawyer who not only used ChatGPT for his case, but he only check the sources by asking ChatGPT if it was lying.  

Though not sure anyone saw the photo becoming worthless now we don’t need to think if it is worth taking a picture as the cost is zero. With AI, we can only wait to see what makes it so friction free (writing stories, creating images etc.) that there is little value. I see the productivity gains leveraging it (images for this blog, coding etc.) and be watching to see.  

I love and hate what happened to photography. But looking at the list of things that are free/frictionless and most of this made my life better so now I will continue to experiment and find the next thing that will be friction free. 

This opinion is mine, and mine only, my current or former employers have nothing to do with it. I do not write for any financial gain, I do not take advertising and any product company listed was not done for payment. But if you do like what I write you can donate to the charity I support (with my wife who passed away in 2017) Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital or donate to your favorite charity. I pay to host my site out of my own pocket, my intention is to keep it free.  I do read all feedback, I mostly wont post any of them

This Blog is a labor of love, and was originally going to be a book.  With the advent of being able to publish yourself on the web I chose this path.  I will write many of these and not worry too much about grammar or spelling (I will try to come back later and fix it) but focus on content.  I apologize in advance for my ADD as often topics may flip.  I hope one day to turn this into a book and or a podcast, but for now it will remain a blog.  

One of my favorite books’ pre-dates the wonderful Dot-Com explosion and bubble, and one of my favorite authors has a book that I find places to apply the ideas in that one book. I wrote previously about Cult is the root of culture, but I really missed a single point.  

Changing culture is done in large corporations by having a marketing campaign and creating presentations about change. Maybe finding one or two senior managers who can act as ‘change agents.’ Does this work? (Maybe you should answer that question not me.) 

What Geoffrey Moore talks about in his book has to do with innovation, but I believe anytime there is a needed change the model works well. His book describes the diffusion of innovations which goes back to 1962 by Everett Rogers.  

Yep it’s a bell curve… And as much as people gripe and moan it works. Everyone thinks they are good drivers, but realistically most of us are somewhere in the average. But this curve has two far ends, one with innovators (Steve Jobs, Elon Musk etc.) as the top say 2-3% and the next 10-15% as early adopters (those standing in line to get some new tech.). The rest (the 68% of the people in the above average/below average) and the people trailing are going to wait till whatever change has crossed the chasm.  

That first 12-18% who are willing to change are the people that you need to focus on. If you are trying to change culture, change a process, change anything, these are the people who are willing to take the risk. You need to find those people, and work only with only those people. Treat it like new tech that is ‘invite only’ an exclusive club. If you get that first generation to change the notion of that exclusivity adds to the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out.). The middle 68% will see the success of that top group and will want in.  

Finding those people depends on what you are trying to change, but obviously anyone who pushes back is not one of those people. And as said make it invite only, and even better make it a challenge to get into the group (so they want to be there) will help drive the desire to make the change. This is not easy, and others will say change is not easy period. But using the diffusion of innovation will give you a chance to succeed, more than any marketing campaign for people who say ‘I will wait to see if anyone else gets it to work’. 

So if you want change, culture, style of work or other find the visionaries have them help build the change, find the early adopters get them on board and the rest will eventually follow.

This opinion is mine, and mine only, my current or former employers have nothing to do with it. I do not write for any financial gain, I do not take advertising and any product company listed was not done for payment. But if you do like what I write you can donate to the charity I support (with my wife who passed away in 2017) Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital or donate to your favorite charity. I pay to host my site out of my own pocket, my intention is to keep it free.  I do read all feedback, I mostly wont post any of them

This Blog is a labor of love, and was originally going to be a book.  With the advent of being able to publish yourself on the web I chose this path.  I will write many of these and not worry too much about grammar or spelling (I will try to come back later and fix it) but focus on content.  I apologize in advance for my ADD as often topics may flip.  I hope one day to turn this into a book and or a podcast, but for now it will remain a blog.   New Images are created using AI with license to use.

When I was in college, I did take a sideways direction as I realized I was not talented enough to be a professional musician but had the brains to manage bands. I took a course given in NYC about it, and there was so much information it blew my mind. The presenter (I apologize this was 87 I do not remember his name) had some interesting advice, sometimes it was contradictory. 

In the section about working with a band and the band needing to ‘self-fund themselves’ he told the story about one band that took one of the members grandmother’s fudge recipes and started selling it to fund the band. The idea was to give the band enough time to practice full time do chase their dreams. The band did not make it but ended up opening a fudge store as a full-time gig (I had to chase that down later.) Thank God I did not quit my day job…. Well, like George. 

In recent days conversations with my daughters touched on do they have a backup plan if they do not get into Med or PA school. In this case I was the pragmatic father and wanting to make sure they had a plan b. This also could be related to my up brining where my parents wanted to make sure I had a stable job etc. I could chase dreams, but my mom always said have a plan b, c, d….  

Reading what I had written previously, I noticed I wrote about Failing at something you don’t like as a reason to chase your dreams. In a research project the notion of having a fallback plan has some drawbacks. So, the downsides? 

• Not going ‘All In’ on your dream reduces the effort you can put in 
• Wasting resources on backup plan that could be used on your primary plan 
• Apparently just thinking about a backup plan reduces your chance for success 
• Falling into your backup plan due to the sunk cost fallacy 

Now the studies talk about how people just think about goals, or in some cases have small ‘monetary’ incentives. Looking back at my desire to be in the music business, I did focus a lot on a Plan B (like my mom told me.) Would I have made it with Plan A? I really do not know, but my focus on Plan B took me far. 

Now back to what I told my kids. The first make your mistakes in your 20s (well now) It is much easier to find an alternate path if you make the mistake now. Trust that you have the resources (parents/friends) to help you out, and your own abilities to find your Plan B. So, you will not hit FIRE at 40, finding happiness and your place in this world may be more important than retiring early.  

And now to think about how to do this at work. Many times, I have been asked if there is a Plan B, and now my response should be if we focus on it, it may turn into Plan A. 

This opinion is mine, and mine only, my current or former employers have nothing to do with it. I do not write for any financial gain, I do not take advertising and any product company listed was not done for payment. But if you do like what I write you can donate to the charity I support (with my wife who passed away in 2017) Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital or donate to your favorite charity. I pay to host my site out of my own pocket, my intention is to keep it free. I do read all feedback, I mostly wont post any of them

This Blog is a labor of love, and was originally going to be a book.  With the advent of being able to publish yourself on the web I chose this path.  I will write many of these and not worry too much about grammar or spelling (I will try to come back later and fix it) but focus on content.  I apologize in advance for my ADD as often topics may flip.  I hope one day to turn this into a book and or a podcast, but for now it will remain a blog.