Exile Lifestyle

I’ve been speaking professionally (in the sense of standing up in front of groups of people and talking for a while, for money) since 2009 (though it didn’t become a real-deal part of my career until a few years after…

Recent data almost universally suggest we’re in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. Folks are spending less time with friends and acquaintances, more time wishing they were hanging out with other people, and are benefitting from fewer of the warm feelings we tend…

I’m in the process of figuring out “formats” for some experimentation I’m doing in the video world. In publishing or production, your format is a bit like a template you use for whatever it is you’re making. So the format…

A few months ago, I decided I should learn to do crossword puzzles. My dad’s done them as far back as I can remember, always opting for the hardest ones—which for the New York Times means those at the end of the…

I turn 38 this weekend, and as tends to be the case every year I’ve been wrangling over whether to instill the day with additional meaning (beyond the accolade of having survived another orbit around the sun). My inclination is…

In the world of energy transmission and utility, a “microgrid” is an electrical grid that operates like a typical grid, but smaller and more modular. When we talk about electrical grids, we’re talking about all the energy generation elements (power…

One of my grand ambitions when I was younger was to build a lifestyle that would allow me to just sit around and read all day, if I wanted to do so. I still experience a small thrill when I…

As a general rule, if there’s something vital you need to get done, it helps to shift it forward to the morning. Everyone’s circadian rhythm is different and our rhythms change over the course of our lives (on average nudging…

My car—a beige 2007 Prius I bought several years ago, and which I intend to keep driving until it’s dead (over 150,000 miles and still ticking along)—doesn’t cause me trouble most of the time. The other day, though, the little…

Working the way I work is sub-optimal by many standards. Over the years, I’ve figured out all sorts of ways to do my work more efficiently, but sometimes pull back from those approaches because the “enhanced” methods diminish my experience…