+++ title = “11” date = 2019 +++ “You’re beautifully flawed,” someone once said to me. But is there any type of flaw that isn’t beautiful? Is there such thing as an ugly flaw? I suppose what people mean when they say “beautifully flawed” is that they find my more challenging qualities endearing. They’re trying to communicate, in a compassionate way, that they accept me for who I am. But they do this because they know me, because we are friends.

I think a lot about being a father. I mean, what it means to be a father, how one should conduct themselves as a father, how one should teach their children or at least provide the conditions necessary for their children to learn. A few years ago, when my wife and I started talking about the possibility of having kids one day, I found myself more motivated than ever before to go to the gym and work out more.

+++ title = “11” date = 2019 +++ At the dentist’s office. In the shopping mall. In my parent’s car. At the grocery store. All of these places played the radio station Wash FM when I was a kid. Wash FM marketed itself as the “best music of the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s.” They eventually updated their slogan to “and today” when the 2000’s hit. On this station, you’d often hear artists like Jon Secada, Toni Braxton, Michael Bolton, Kenny G and other soft rock super stars.

I’ve been fascinated by people’s laughs since I was young. Almost like an audio fingerprint, a person’s laugh is perfectly customized to who they are. Even when they have a laugh you weren’t expecting (say, a very large man with a high pitched giggle), the laugh still seems to “capture” a person’s spirit in a simple sound. I’ve also noticed how my own laugh changes. When I was a kid, it was a full loud belly laugh.

+++ title = “11” date = 2019 +++ A blog post that really influenced my thinking was Derek Sivers post titled “Hell Yeah.” In the post, Derek advises his readers to say no to anything that they don’t want to say “hell yes” to. And knowing that this isn’t always possible, at least it can be a default framework with which to make decisions. As a consultant, my instinct is to say yes to everything that seems like it could eventually be important.