The last time that I conducted a formal interview was in 2004. I was in a communications class during my undergraduate degree, and I interviewed a British professor at Boston University for an assignment. He was a scientist, which lended a commonality, and also had been knighted, which led a high degree of intrigue. I …
Tag: Blogging
#18: Adventure List
Shorter post today as we are packing and getting ready for tomorrow, but at the same time I would like to blatantly crowd-source some advice. Most people are familiar with the idea of a Bucket List, where you create a list of things that you want to do before you die or 'kick the bucket'. …
#17: Fast and Slow
Like many people, I wanted to lose a few pounds in January. I'm actually in probably the top 10% physical shape that I've been as an adult, but Gwenn and I leave for Costa Rica on Sunday, and I wanted to be a little slimmer for the beach. So this month we've been experimenting with intermittent …
#16: On Gratitude Revisited
A year ago I posted for the first time in a long time from a hospital waiting room about how I decided to take on a personal gratitude project for the year. I had recently purchased a little gratitude set that came with 52 letters along with stickers to seal them. The idea was each week to write a …
#15: Morning Routines
I come across morning routines a lot in my internet wanderings. Some are small, like starting the day making your bed. Some start before 5 am with an intense workout. Almost all talk about using morning routines for getting in the right mindset fueled by 'wins' to start the day. There can be a certain …
#14: Adventure
On January 14th, I always think of India. In 2012, me and the five other members of Lonestar Rickshaw crossed the finish line in Kochi at the end of the Rickshaw Run. For those that may not know, The Rickshaw Run is an 'unrace' adventure event put on by The Adventurists where you drive a …
#13: Blablabla
When we use "blah blah blah" in English, it tends to deride someone who seems to drone on and always seems to come with a particular cadence and intonation. But it seems to be much more common in French. The most popular ride-sharing app in France is called BlaBlaCar and French Blabla is a podcast that I …
#12: Learning to Swim
I learned to swim when I was very young. Not only that, but when I was in middle school, I was not given a choice of whether or not I would be on a swim team, as my parents wanted to make sure that I was a good swimmer when I grew up. Outside of …
#11: Highlights and Shadow
A few weeks ago I came across a video for the book Make Time, by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, on the Productivity Game YouTube channel run by Nathan Lozeron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVJgzVqXvf4&feature=emb_title In the channel, he animates ~10 minute recaps of non-fiction, predominately self-help and productivity, books in which he breaks down some of the key take …
#10: DBTL
Synthetic biology, the field in which I work, focuses on trying to systematically make biology easier to engineer in order to try to tackle some of humanity's biggest problems. Early efforts focused on trying to develop BioBricks, drawing analogies to electrically engineering methodologies of having a set of connectable, interchangeable, and well-characterized parts to construct genetic …
Chortles and Harrumphs 