John Booze

Gratitude Invites Joy Into Our Lives Brené Brown, the author of The Gifts of Imperfection, says: The relationship between joy and gratitude was one of the important things I found in my research. I wasn’t expecting it. In my 12 years of research on 11,000 pieces of data, I did not interview one person who had described themselves as joyful, who also did not actively practice gratitude. A key part of this statement is that gratitude is an active practice. [Read More]

I’ve sometimes struggled with some pretty basic tasks. For instance, maybe I’ve run the dishwasher but didn’t put the dishes away until days later. This can lead to a vicious cycle of guilt. I intended to finish the task sooner, but feel bad because that didn’t happen 😔. Furthermore, I beat myself up for being unable to accomplish something so simple. And that can lead to demotivation which makes it more difficult to start other simple tasks. [Read More]

Bringing a Bike on a Trip One of my joys in life is riding a bicycle. Another joy is travel - especially road trips. Having a bike available when exploring a new place is fantastic. The two really go together like peanut butter and jelly. Drive the car to reach an exciting new place. Ride the bike to experience the details. I bought a bike rack for my car to enable this combination. [Read More]

VELCRO One-Wrap cable ties have been life changing! Great for traveling! When I travel, I like to bring my messenger bag with various electronics which means a bunch of cords. Those cords can easily get tangled making it a huge hassle to remove anything. For instance, I like to bring an extension cord. It can look like this mess. Imagine trying to get that out of a messenger bag. Enter the VELCRO One-Wrap cable tie. [Read More]

The Bicycle Rite of Passage Learning to ride a bicycle is a rite of passage as a kid. At first, the focus is solely on honing the skill. Start with training wheels. Learn the motions of pedaling and steering. Figure out your balance. Finally, you overcome your fears of falling and the training wheels come off. Oh, that wonderful moment! A small demonstration of independence. Later on, I recognized the pragmatic benefits of the bike. [Read More]

In my earlier post discussing the paradox of choice, I confessed I am a self proclaimed chronic maximzer. For instance, years ago I was frustrated with my can opener. It was difficult to use and often took several trys to fully open a can. When I held it, my hands were uncomfortable. I, of course, went to Amazon to find a replacement. Searching for “can opener” on Amazon yields: 1-48 of over 1,000 results for “can opener” [Read More]

As a child, school provided a well defined schedule. Arrive at 7:30 AM. English class at 8 AM. History class at 9 AM. Math class at 10 AM, and so forth. The schedule provided structure but everything was mandated. You were told when and where to be and what you were studying. Sometimes the subject of the class was uninteresting. But you had to be there. It was an obligation. For subjects I did enjoy, there were times I would lose engagement because the pacing was too slow. [Read More]

Where can you can read books for free? Answer: The Public Library! We all know you can check out books for free at your local public library. But did you know that they also have Kindle books and audio books? There is an artificial number of virtual copies which is a little annoying. Fortunately the “Hold” functionality works so you can get notified when a copy becomes available. On the plus side you don’t need to physically go to the library to get your book. [Read More]

Pre-pandemic, I commuted via a bus. There was daily walking to and from the bus stop. A minimum of 1.5 miles a day. However, with work from home my “commute” is no more than 30 steps. And that difference holds true for all the little activities throughout the day. No longer the couple minutes to the cafeteria which included a flight of stairs. Getting to a meeting room? Now just a click of a button. [Read More]

The Summer Olympics officialy start in Tokyo tomorrow, which NBC is broadcasting. One option to watch for free is the over the air broadcast using an antenna. In Seattle NBC is on channel 5-1. I’ve done this in the past and it works reasonably well but often requires fiddling with the antenna to get the most consistent signal. Unfortunately, depending on where you live and your geography you may not even be able to get the channels you’re interested in. [Read More]