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Musings on personal finance and more...

How disruptive innovation enables effective protest

  Last time, I talked about how protesting a single oil company wasn’t an effective way to effect change. Instead, I argued for reducing car-dependency through land use changes. This undermining of a business model is known as disruptive innovation, … Read More … Read More

Greedy Lying Bastards, or how not to make a difference

  I had the pleasure of seeing Greedy Lying Bastards recently, the new documentary from local filmmaker Craig Rosebraugh about the climate change denial industry. I knew with a name like “Greedy Lying Bastards” that it wasn’t likely to be … Read More … Read More

How irony is the enemy of a risk-filled life

  Much has been written about the hipster in popular culture. Most of it has been done to death, so I won’t go on about it much, but I’ve been inadvertently on the front lines of hipsterdom for many years … Read More … Read More

Do you have any room to complain?

  I once knew someone who was, by most standards, rather well-off. Maybe not wealthy in the traditional sense, but definitely doing okay for herself. And yet, there were areas of her life that she wanted to improve. She talked … Read More … Read More

How to book an award ticket in 785 easy steps

  In my last post I talked about how adventure shouldn’t be postponed. To this end, I decided to redeem some of my frequent flyer miles for the first time ever. … Read More

Don’t let your adventures expire

  I’ve been collecting frequent flyer miles for over a decade, when I bought one of my first plane tickets on US Airways and absentmindedly signed up for their Dividend Miles program. At the time, it didn’t seem possible that … Read More … Read More

Lift only one leg at a time, or how to move forward successfully

  One <blank> at a time. You can fill in the blank with many possible answers. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you recover from alcoholism or other diseases? One day at a … Read More … Read More

Do you need to wear a suit to be seen as successful?

  I attended a “speed networking” event recently. This was a fundamentally new experience for me (both the “speed” and the “networking” aspect) but it was hosted by a guy I knew from the Art of Non-Conformity community, so it … Read More … Read More

How credit cards are like alcohol

  Alcohol is dangerous; would anyone disagree? For me, while it’s something I’ve used from time to time, it’s never been something that I’ve felt like I had a problem with. I don’t have to keep going when I start. … Read More … Read More

Who are you doing it for?

  After I impetuously signed up for the Seattle to Portland ride last week, I found myself out on my bike, experimentally riding a dozen or so miles along the Willamette River, and getting used to the idea that I … Read More … Read More

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