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After getting a tip I'm now reading The Roman Revolution , by Ronald Syme, a book about Rome's transition from Republic to Empire and features such figures as Pompey the Great , Julius Caesar , Mark Antony , Cicero and Augustus . This is also the subject matter from HBO's Rome , tremendously good TV which, in all honesty, is helping me read this book. This is not a beginners book on Rome, so I do need the help. It's very dense and blunt and I would not have been able to ge

I don't often say movies change my life, but it's possible that can actually be true. Before we get far down that line of thinking, however, right now I'm referring specifically to the music I seek out. Music has never been an obsession, like movies or books might be, but obviously I do like it. My tastes just don't shift all that much. The last example of this, I think, was Walk the Line (2005) . I remember when Johnny Cash died a couple years prior, and knew it was a big d

There's this meme I've see online, seems like it's fairly new, about people demonstrating competence and bemoaning that they...

My wife a few years ago introduced me to the idea of 1000 hours outside . The concept in basic terms is making it an annual goal to spend...

At the end of August tragedy struck the family on my father's side. My dad, 'Papa' to the kids, is in his mid 60s now. One of his younger...

At this stage of life I didn't think I was a big fan of fairy tales. That's something you grow out of, right? Well this spring I was...

When my wife and I visited the Scottish island of Islay, before kids, there were eight distilleries there. Most of these are quite old:...

I've written twice this year already about our daughter. One of these detailed how she's becoming a handful, thinking she's a princess ...

As a kid, in middle school probably, I read the first two parts of C.S. Lewis ' Space Trilogy. Then, for some reason, I could not get...

We travel to Alaska about a week each summer, as I've written about before, to see my wife's sister's family. They're homesteading up...

A couple years ago, when I picked a favorite movie per year , a great experiment btw, there was one recent choice that, at the time,...

Since moving back to MN we get to see our east coast friends about once a year, maybe. Here I'm talking two other families, all with kids...

Let's explore a fancy Bourbon, shall we? I've been a fan of the output of Michter's since I was given a bottle of their Single Barrel Rye...

We moved back to Minnesota in November 2021 and I was very conflicted at the time (see: Leaving home , Leaving home part II , and The...

Kindergarten, and 'real school,' is when most kids truly start learning to read. It's a crazy process to watch, and one that's certainly...

Comparisons between America and ancient Rome are inevitable, they're the most culturally and militarily dominant empires the world has...

'She's SO cute!' Everywhere we go, our daughter, our youngest and kid #3, gets this response. The comments used to focus almost...

Marvel's Daredevil , as a super hero, is less popular than the characters of the cinematic Avengers like Spider-Man, Iron Man or Hulk....

My wife recently planned a bridal shower (my brother is getting married!) and really did an excellent job. I was not that involved...

In the past year I've started to feel old. Not elderly, or frail, to be clear, but I think there's a difference from not that long ago....