Amber and I have this habit of never calling anything by it’s real name. She suggested I share some examples:
That last one barely makes any sense but it really has stuck.
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During my anniversary dinner on Monday night, I had an Old Fashioned that was truly exceptional. Normally if I have a cocktail I quickly follow up my thoughts with “but the bourbon is the best part. So I’ll just keep bourbon at home.” This time I started thinking about what it would be like to be have an old fashioned just as good in the comfort of my own home. Such a delicacy might even make cooking alone bareable.
Methinks the kitchen bar will soon hold some bitters.
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One year of marriage! What have I learned?
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I usually wear headphones while I’m working, even if I’m home alone. At this point it just feels like part of staying in the flow. Noises out, quiet music on.
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Some people have favorite presidents. I’ve never been much for politics, but this book has helped me start picking some favorites. Truman, FDR, and Obama being the first that come to mind. Not because of their political actions, but because their feelings on drinking seem to match my own.
This was a fun a little book because it doesn’t try to be anything other than what you’d expect from the title:
Each president is a chapter and the author picks out the best alcohol-related stories to be found on each. From those stories you tend to see a pretty picture of what drinking with any one president might be like. FDR might mix you a weak sippin’ cocktail, but Truman would assuredly have water with just a bit of bourbon flavoring. Obama would buy you a beer if you wanted, but if you’re in his company for dinner and late night cocktails there would likely be martinis close at hand.
As enjoyable as I found it, it’s still fair to warn you that it mostly falls into what I call “bathroom reading.” It’s packaged in a way that its best read in short spurts. If you do happen to read it straight through you’ll find some of the stories overlap because of that. The advantage is it can be a really pleasant experience for the short-term reader who mostly wants to read the few chapters of their favorite presidents.
I liked it a lot, just don’t expect a life-changing reading experience. You might find a new favorite cocktail recipe though!
Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt: The Complete History of Presidential Drinking by Mark Will-Weber
Thanks to Julie and Michael for getting me this book as a Christmas present.
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Mr. Money Mustache’s latest article is one I plan to read over and over for a while. No really, I just setup some automated reminders to read it again several times in the near future. MMM was the first blogger I really got into following (back in October 2011 when I found the post The True Cost of Commuting) and I’m a little sad that he doesn’t post as frequently anymore. But this one really rings true.
Some select awesomeness…
The difference is how you come out of those 20s. At best, the advice above will get you some good memories, a strong career, a slightly larger waistline and weaker liver, and a negligible net worth. Better than the average fate, but a huge waste of an opportunity if you ask me.
…
Because here’s the thing about your 20s. They are the time to work. The very, very best time in your life to work your ass off and create an exponential snowball of money, skills, and friendships.
…
In real life (even New York City real life), you get paid for getting really difficult shit done, better than anybody else can do it.
I’m trying harder and harder everyday to get really good at doing really difficult shit. On my birthday, I reminded myself that my work is a good thing.
Before I grew fond of MMM, I first learned a lot from Dave Ramsey. And this ethos is one of few things these guys fully agree. Ramsey’s saying is “live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else.” So true. Work your ass off in your 20s so you can actually bother to live your life afterwards. A retirement fund isn’t a noose around your 20-year-old neck, it’s a lifeline.
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Happy to count Kirsten and Cory among my friends. This is great!
Something amazing has just happened and it involves my bestest friend Kirst
Congratulations to the both of them. These two amazing people are going to be even more amazing together. I know they’ll make it an adventure.
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In a few weeks, Automattic will be having its 2015 Grand Meetup, my first. Part of the Grand Meetup everyday are tracks of “Flash Talks.” Everyone in the company gives a four-minute (maximum) talk on any topic they want. It could be WordPress- or Automattic-related, a funny story, something you love, something you hate… anything you want to share with your now-and-future colleagues.
It took me a while to get started but this weekend I finally settled on my flash talk topic and outlining the story. To neatly confine my material to four minutes without speed-talking, I’ve started practicing the flash talk once a day and focusing on cutting things out. When I started, my talk had almost a minute of introduction. It’s pretty much all gone now and I think the talk is better for it.
This approach is different for me. I’ve never been scared of public speaking but I usually take the method of writing an essay first, then translating from ‘writing Alex’ to ‘speaking Alex.’ With only four minutes, I don’t trust myself to do this well. I got inspired to practice this much after watching this video of Scott Berkun (a former automattician) regarding Ignite talks.
Scott points out with a five minute talk you can practice 10 times in an hour, so do it! With a four minute talk you can practice even more, but I’m just going to do it once a day instead of cramming all that into an hour. It’s different for me, but totally a fitting approach that I’m enjoying.
This week I’ll need to start on slides!
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Relevant to yesterday’s note on kicking, here’s a comic from lunarbaboon that made Ber and I both laugh.
I actually spent a solid hour of my Sunday reading the comics at lunarbaboon.com. Laughing never really stopped and I kept needing to hand over the computer to Ber. “But you’ll love this one!” I’d say. “Ooookay,” she’d say reluctantly taking the computer. Then a moment later she’d laugh out loud too. This happened over and over. Eventually I had to promise to stop disrupting her reading with these moments of awesomeness.
So yes, I’d recommend you go read the comics too.
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Alex "Gus" Gustafson 