I had a professor who suggested plotting our individual level of happiness and income once per year. The result, for most people illustrated that as income rose over time, happiness didn’t. Much more recently, research has been published showing a U curve to happiness. Very high as a kid and young adult, then slowly dropping…
August 10th: Creating happiness
Researchers say 50% of your happiness is genetically based. Seems outrageously large at first. But, we all know people who are forever pessimistic, sad, complainers. “How are you doing today?” is always greeted with a list of complaints, ailments, or on their best of days an “ok”. And then there are those who always exude…
August 9th: Happiness… What is it? How can it be created? How I lost mine. How I got it back.
(this will be a multipart post, as I like to keep them short, quick reads) Happiness… you know it, when you feel it. Is it hard to define, a multifaceted jewel that changes from every angle? Or can you put it in just two boxes? Happiness in the moment: Your team just won the World…
August 6th: Joy and Sorrow
The climax and emotional end of the Coast Guard Festival is normally the Saturday night fireworks, watched by over a quarter of a million visitors. We stayed home that night, with traffic snarls into the early morning guaranteed. Sunday morning we woke to beach warnings for rip currents. With the wind out of the south…
August 3rd: Mysteries briefly contemplated
After enjoying a fine meal and some great live music at our favorite brewhouse last evening, we made our way over to a nearby beach to catch the sunset. Our conversation drifted to… “where in the world would we rather be?” We’ve lived or vacationed all over the continental US and some of Canada. The…
August 2nd: Magnetic Beach
Today I remembered to bring a few magnets in a plastic bag with me to the beach, and lightly ran them across the sand. While Lake Michigan sand is mostly whitish silica (quartz), there are definite black specks that are magnetite… the most magnetic of all naturally occurring minerals on earth. Bigger pieces of magnetite…
August 1st: Fire TV Cube Versus Apple TV
On June 30th I announced that I now had a Fire Tv Cube. I have been negligent in providing an update. The bottom line is… Apple TV is vastly superior. I have been an Apple fan since I bought my first MacBook over a decade ago. And a MacBook Pro, and a couple of iMacs,…
July 31st: Lunch on the beach
We wanted to slips away from the tourist traffic that builds every day in Grand Haven with the Coast Guard Festival, so we headed a bit north. Enjoyed a late lunch at a place in Muskegon that my daughter recommended. Reminded me of a beach shack from years ago at Cocoa Beach, Florida. The crowd…
July 30th: The Coast Guard Festival begins
Grand Haven is the one and only Coast Guard City USA. With the ships coming to dock today, the festival begins in earnest. Our little town of 10,000 will see over 300,000 visitors this week. The Coast Guard is the only part of the military constantly on active duty… and since 1790. Their scope is…
July 26th: Apartment Living Revisited
Almost three months ago, I drove to Michigan, alone, racing ahead of the movers. Our house finally empty. Going from 3,800 square feet plus a 3 car garage to 1100 square feet and a one car garage… with neighbors soon to be only a wall and ceiling away. I stood outside in the cold breeze,…