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Escalating unemployment is one of the top news stories right now amid the coronavirus shutdown. Many industries are completely shuttered, others are operating but dramatically scaled back, and this has resulted in a vast number of people becoming unemployed.  I was curious to know, at what point will the United States hit levels higher than those we’ve ever seen in recent history? Well, based on the numbers, that figure is about 10%, or 33 million based on the current U.S. population. But that doesn’t quite tell the whole story. To get that number, we have to look back pretty far in history. The Balance hasRead More →

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Last year, I decided to quit my job and take a sabbatical. I’ve talked about it before in a previous post, but a couple of my goals were to spend more time with my family and do some travel. I maintained my dental and vision coverage through COBRA since it was reasonably priced ($66/month), but healthcare would have added another $600 a month to that figure, and I couldn’t justify that. I maxed out my HSA contribution first, to provide me with a small safety net, and decided to go without coverage for a while.  As I write this in April 2020, COVID-19 has beenRead More →

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But wait, there’s more! If you order today, we’ll throw in a versatile six-in-one kitchen tool! No, not really. Still, this simple life hack is pretty exciting for book nerds like me. I recently learned that Google Docs contains its own OCR capability. OCR stands for optical character recognition, which is a form of computer vision that can translate images of text into actual text documents that are editable. This saves a tremendous amount of data entry time, since you don’t have to retype a document if you have an image of it.  This means there’s a very simple way to digitize your own books,Read More →

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I’ve been sheltering in place for a while now, spending more time at home than I usually do, and I’m running out of things to watch! It also occurred to me that unlike TV shows or movies, which I often discuss with friends, I rarely talk about what I’m watching on YouTube. Even among my closest friends, I really have no idea what they watch there. So I thought it’d be fun to take some time and address that in a video. Check it out and let me know what you think. Links to all the shows I mention are in the description of theRead More →

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Coronavirus has taken over the news, wreaking absolute havoc on every industry and our lives. I wanted to address it to discuss what’s been happening, much of it truly historic, along with the best information I’ve found to date and some actionable steps. An event of historic proportions March 12, 2020: Worst stock day since 1987. Sports and leisure: The NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, NCAA, XFL, ATP/WTA, and PGA all suspended or canceled their seasons. Some local sporting events and late night shows are playing on without audiences present. Disneyland, California Adventure, and Disney World are closing for at least two weeks. (Previously, only hurricanesRead More →

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2019 brought some radical changes for me. I quit my job in May with the intention of taking a sabbatical, spending more time with family, and thinking about what I might want to do next and where I’d want to be. That entailed saying goodbye to a lot of friends in California and a work/social life I was pretty comfortable with, putting my things in storage, and driving cross-country back to NY. (I talk about it in my video blog update.) I’ve had some amazing family time in the last six months and great visits to friends I hadn’t seen in ages, so that partRead More →

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If a carport is good enough for Frank Lloyd Wright, it’s good enough for me.  Actually, I started looking into car storage solutions when I knew I’d be spending at least part of the winter here in NY. I thought it’d be interesting to walk through the options and give an overview with costs of the structure I built with my dad over the course of a couple months. Initially I was looking for storage for just my car, but that left one of my Dad’s vehicles out in the snow, so we shifted our thinking. I’ll provide examples below for both single bay andRead More →

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Hi all! I recently got back from a three week trip to California, it was great to be out there again seeing friends and catching up. I wasn’t able to see everyone though, and even for those I did talk to, answering the “so what’s up?” question was pretty difficult to do, the answer was either too short or too long. So, I’m experimenting by doing a long video update here. I’m sure it’s not for everyone, but if you are interested in hearing more about what I’ve been up to, and seeing a few photos, please check it out. I put some time codesRead More →

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I’m behind on posts and have some updates to publish soon – a drive from the Bay Area to San Diego along the coast, as well as my 3500 mile cross-country trip from California to New York. Since I’ve arrived here I’ve been kept busy helping my parents with some home renovations, but I did want to make a quick post since I convinced my family to cancel cable and switch over to streaming services. I’ll give a quick update and feedback from their perspective. Cable TV is expensive! My parents are retired on a fixed income, and every time my Dad paid the cableRead More →

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Forensic Files: Real Reality TV I’m a big fan of Forensic Files, one of the most successful true crime shows ever. It pioneered the use of dramatic re-enacted crimes interspersed with interviews with the detectives, families, and witnesses from the cases, along with scientific explanations of forensic tools. Some of the episodes have to be seen to be believed, like the Canadian doctor that fooled three different “unbeatable” DNA tests, or the mad scientist neighbor who manufactured poisoned soda (in sealed bottles) because the teenagers were too loud. The series ended in 2011 after fourteen seasons, yet in 2016 it was still on its homeRead More →