2024: Gimme S'more

Shutting the door on 2024

Congratulations: We’re now 50 years past 1975 and are just as close to 2050 as we are to the year 2000. I blinked and here we are. This year marks 10 years since I finished undergrad which makes my stomach a little queasy. A senior in high school addressed me as ‘Sir’ on a chairlift and I almost pushed him off. For reference, I was wearing the Burton ski jacket I’ve had since I was his age. Enough about 2025, though.

2024 was not an actively bad year. I have no major complaints: those I love & care for are in good health and I’ve suffered no undue hardships other than bearing witness to the gradual degradation of democratic institutions. I was more active than in prior years. I drank less. I traveled more. I read less (boo). I dyed my hair blonde again (woo). The normal antics of a 31 year old.

Arguably the best and worst month of the year was February. In order to not let my dear friend Steven suffer his birthday wish (challenge?) alone, I elected to join his quest—an entire month of sobriety. No alcohol. No weed. No nicotine. No nothin. I’d done dry January in years past and honestly at this point, abstaining from alcohol isn’t all that bad. No weed exacerbated the sleepless nights that were often self-inflicted by drinking caffeine in the afternoon. No nicotine made the long-day work grinds very irritable. With all the vices off the table, I turned to exercise and sweets. My god. I turned into a pastry slut. It’s nice to come back to a baseline and understand what my body feels like when it’s just plain old me. No spices to liven things up or crash them down.

The spice of life that keeps me living year after year is all of you. I don’t know where, or who, I’d be without my friends and family. You’re the ones that make me laugh, challenge me, teach me, and inspire me every day. Thank you again for getting me through another year.

By The Numbers

Random Statistics/Facts

• America has fewer miles of electrified railway than Iran.

• The population of Texas has tripled since the 1960s.

• According to the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of U.S. adults 16-74 years old - about 130 million people - lack proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.

• US economy has grown at nearly 3% for nine consecutive quarters.

• The top 10 companies on the S&P 500 are a larger percentage of the US stock market than at any time other than 1929, comprising 37% of the index at the end of 2024.

• 42% of Americans are obese, including 20% of children.

• Car insurance is up 20.3% YoY.

• The average monthly payment on new cars is over $700 and nearly one in five exceed $1,000.

• There are 49.5M immigrants living in this country (both legal and undocumented). This represents 15% of the population. Foreign-born workers made up 18.6% of the civilian workforce in 2023.

• The US spends $4T annually on healthcare (17% of GDP). On a per capita basis, it is almost double the average of peer nations.

• A middle-income family earning from $73k to $133k will spend an estimated $311k to raise a child born in 2015 through the age of 17 ($18k/year).

• Parents reported spending 24% of their household income on child-care in 2023, up from 7% of income in the 1980s.

• Our incarceration rate is 541 per 100,000 with a total of 1.8M people in prison. The US is fifth in the world behind El Salvador, Cuba, Rwanda, and Turkmenistan. The US rate is 4x higher than China’s.

Reading List

Recommendations: James, There There, Train Dreams

Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame Chain-Gang All-Stars

Ashton, Edward Antimatter Blues

Atwood, Margaret The Handmaid's Tale

Burrough, Bryan The Big Rich

Burrough, Bryan Barbarians at the Gate

Copeland, Rob The Fund

Crichton, Michael Eruption

Everett, Percival James

Galbraith, Robert The Silkworm

Galbraith, Robert Career of Evil

Galbraith, Robert Lethal White

Galbraith, Robert Troubled Blood

Galbraith, Robert The Running Grave

Ishiguro, Kazuo The Buried Giant

Johnson, Denis Train Dreams

King, Stephen Billy Summers

Martin, George R.R. Fire & Blood

Martin, George R.R. The Hedge Knight

Mayer, Jane Dark Money

McCurdy, Jennette I'm Glad My Mom Died

McLean, Bethany The Smartest Guys in the Room

Orange, Tommy There There

Sides, Hampton In the Kingdom of Ice

Thompson, Don The Twelve Million Dollar Stuffed Shark

Vandermeer, Jeff Authority

Movies

Recommendations: Society of Snow, Zone of Interest, The Birdcage

Quotes

“They were just people, and people were all the same. Everybody just wants to be happy…everybody was looking for the same thing in a lot of different ways.” – Chain Gang All Stars

“When the going gets tough, the tough turn up the volume.” – Mark Twight

Adages

Don’t discount good advice just because it came from an unexpected source.

Only fake flowers are flawless.

Do not set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.

A ringing phone is an invitation, not a command.

You cannot reason someone out of a belief they did not reason themselves into.

If you smell shit all day, check your own shoes.

Holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Life is suffering. Make your life worthy of that suffering.

If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.

The purpose of building a reservoir is not to store water but to irrigate.

2023 and Me

30th year around the sun

As 2023 comes to a close, it has now been five years since my foray on this annual summation began. The first year was solely a book list consisting of mainly Stephen King novels. Why? I’d been unemployed the first three months of the year and flew to Washington DC to regroup at my parents’ home for a while (bless them). Perusing the hallowed halls of Barnes & Noble, I found The Stand—a 1,200 page tome doubling as both a novel and dumbbell. With the sunroom floor as my dais, I immersed myself in the book and consumed it within a week. Lo and behold, five years and 37 Stephen King books later, I’m still hooked.

2019 also began with a period of unemployment after being laid off on my birthday (#blessed). My personal method of combatting any despair and unease during these moments is to establish a routine. I set up shop in the front window of my favorite coffee shop—shout out to Once Over—and applied for jobs, pleaded for introductions, and read as many Michael Crichton books as I could get my hands on.

To start 2020, I was happily employed, maintaining a fitness regimen, and all set to take on the new decade. Boy howdy how that came to a screeching halt. Keeping up with my daily statistics and ensuring my clock radio alarm still chimed at 5:37am, that I still went for morning walks, and still had a semblance of normalcy were paramount to staying sane.

Over the course of 2021 and 2022 I introduced new items to track. These ranged from movies, tacos, poops, biked miles, beers, etc. It has become a daily ritual to quickly tally up everything, jot down notes, and continue until the notebook is full. Summarizing everything at the end of the year is far from a burden. I get to question why I ate eight tacos one day in May, wonder what could have caused me to shit six times the last day of March, and how my diet consisted of nuts, jerky, and power bars when I was swamped with work.

If you’re still here, thanks for reading all these years. I always enjoy the messages, comments, and questions sent my way—even though I’m still full of shit (albeit 18% less than 2023). Happy new year.

“Sonnet 29” by William Shakespeare

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

By The Numbers

Honestly, how did I eat more sandwiches than tacos? There’s not even a good deli in Austin.

My movie of the year goes to Poor Things.

Reading List

Recommendations: Where Men Win Glory (non-fiction), Mickey7 (fiction)

Bird, Kai American Prometheus

Bogdanich, Walt When McKinsey Comes to Town

Brown, Pierce The Lightbringer

Caro, Robert Working

Carreyou, John Bad Blood: Secrets & Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Chomsky, Noam Requiem for the American Dream

Cixin, Liu Three Body Problem

Cixin, Liu Dark Forest

Corey, James S.A. Leviathan Falls

deWitt, Patrick The Sisters Brothers

Edward, Ashton Mickey7

Enrich, David The Spider Network

Frumes, Max; Indap, Sujeet The Caesar's Palace Coup

Gwynne, S.C. The Perfect Pass

Hope, Bradley Blood & Oil

King, Stephen Carrie

King, Stephen Needful Things

King, Stephen The Eyes of the Dragon

King, Stephen Gerald's Game

King, Stephen Later

King, Stephen Joyland

King, Stephen The Colorado Kid

King, Stephen Insomnia

Krakauer, Jon Three Cups of Deceit

Krakauer, Jon Where Men Win Glory

Larsen, Erik Lethal Passage

Lewis, Michael Going Infinite

Michaelides, Alex The Silent Patient

Schwager, Jack Hedge Fund Market Wizards

VanderMeer, Jeff Annihilation

Movies

Recommendations: Poor Things, Beau is Afraid, Decision to Leave

Quotes & Notes

“Editing is an intelligent and sympathetic reaction to the text and to what the author is trying to accomplish. Basically, it is expressing your reaction.”

“Stop using old words for new situations.”

“When different political camps exist in separate information universes, they tend to demonize each other.”

“The simple understanding that one thing can be another thing is at the root of all things of our doing. From using colored pebbles for the trading of goats to art and language and on to using symbolic marks to represent pieces of the world too small to see.”

2022 Wasn't Poo

The year that was until it wasn’t

I’m a day late in writing this as my body and mind have finally been nursed back to stability following the marathon day of new year’s eve. The horned frogs are in the national championship—what a time to be alive.

The last year of my 20’s was arguably the best of the decade. Approaching this arbitrary milestone of 30 isn’t a frightful notion, though it’s strange to consider that my sophomore year in high school was half my life ago. As I write this, I’m sitting in a Sublime t-shirt I bought that year: at this point, it could almost be an heirloom. I tell myself that age has made me an effective (not necessarily better) decision-maker. This is rooted in looking out for myself, focusing on what keeps me healthy and makes me happy, and not getting caught up in the superficial—like worrying about what the cashier at the grocery store thinks of my ratty Sublime shirt, sweat pants, and bedhead.

I am fortunate to surround myself with people who embrace me for being me. What this says about their decision-making is a separate discussion. This year has served as a wonderful reminder that friends and the memories I forge with them are immensely precious. As I reflect on my brief stint struttin’ on this earth, I think what I want most in life is to be known by the quality of my friends. All of you people shape who I am and for that I am grateful.

Below you’ll find the usual menagerie of musings from the year: a favorite poem, by the numbers, a reading list, a movie list, and some quotes and notes.

“My plans for the past” by Sam Willetts

I often regret the time i’ve devoted

to regret: thereby sustainably rewasting wasted

time time and again. A psychiatrist

with glinting specs once said I had Tourette’s–

just because I told him I can’t help but curse

aloud over old shames, hurts, failures

and the rest. Tourette my feckin arse

(i said); I swear like that because it hurts;

because, although I try and try my best,

I’ve yet to find a way to change the past–

you know, to saw sawdust.

to get

the smoke back

in the cigarettes.

By The Numbers

• 48,278 minutes of music listened to

• 81 movies watched

• 28 books read

• 174.8 hours spent walking

• 600.2 miles biked

• 432 total beers consumed

  • Assuming an average of 14oz per beer (splitting the difference between a standard can/bottle and a pint), this means I consumed 6,048oz of beer. A standard half-barrel keg is 1,984oz. This means I drank 3.05 kegs of beer. Woof.

• 674 poops pooped

  • This was the top request to track when I took an audience poll after last year’s summary. I’m just giving the people what they want so don’t fault me for serving the masses. Google tells me the weight of human feces ranges from 0.25 to 1.0 lbs. Assuming an average of 0.6 lbs, my annual output was 404.4 lbs—or proof that I’m full of shit.

Reading List

Recommendations: The Power Broker (non-fiction), A Coney Island of the Mind (poetry), The Hail Mary Project (fiction)

Ariely, Dan Predictably Irrational

Caldini, Robert Influence: Science and Practice

*Caro, Robert The Power Broker

Cunningham, Jennifer Two Months

Eichar, Donnie Dead Mountain

*Ferlinghetti, Lawrence A Coney Island of the Mind

Hayek, Friedrich The Road to Serfdom

King, Stephen Duma Key

King, Stephen Bag of Bones

Kolhatkar, Sheelah Black Edge

Krakauer, Jon Eiger Dreams

Larsen, Erik Dead Wake

Larsen, Erik Devil in the White City

Lewis, Michael The Undoing Project

McCarthy, Cormac No Country for Old Men

McCarthy, Cormac The Passenger

McCarthy, Cormac Stella Maris

Mclean, Bethany All the Devils are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis

Murakami, Haruki The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Murakami, Haruki Kafka on the Shore

Schwab, V.E. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Uris, Leon Exodus

Voltaire Candide

Vonnegut, Kurt Galapagos

*Weir, Andy The Hail Mary Project

Weir, Andy The Martian

White, Andrew Dickson Fiat Money and Inflation in France

Wright, Lawrence The Looming Tower

Movies

Recommendations: Altered States, Zardoz, Triangle of Sadness, Fire of Love

Quotes & Notes

“Have We Forgotten How to Read Critically?” by Kate Harding

Today, the author is not dead until the author is actually dead. In the meantime, every published piece of writing is treated as the beginning of a conversation–or worse, a workshop piece–by some readers, each of whom feels entitled to a bespoke response.

Reading better, thinking better, is quite literally a matter of survival in the time of Covid and climate change, in these days when we’re reflecting on the first anniversary of disinformation-powered insurrectionists breaching the US Capitol. It’s no longer enough to see a headline, feel a feeling, go off. We have to ask more questions, of ourselves and our sources, starting with that fundamental one: does this make any fucking sense at all?

“The Case Against the Trauma Plot” by Parul Sehgal

The claim that trauma’s imprint is a timeless feature of our species, that it etches itself on the human brain in a distinct way, ignores how trauma has been evolving since the days of railway spine; traumatic flashbacks were reported only after the invention of film. Are the words that come to our lips when we speak of our suffering ever purely our own?

The trauma plot flattens, distorts, reduces character to symptom, and, in turn, instructs and insists upon its moral authority. The solace of its simplicity comes at no little cost. It disregards what we know and asks that we forget it, too–forget about the pleasures of not knowing, about the unscripted dimensions of suffering, about the odd angularities of personality, and, above all, about the allure of necessity of a well-placed sea urchin.

The Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri

Pre digital era–a single mass audience, all-consuming the same content, as if looking into a giant mirror reflecting their own society. The digital revolution has shattered that mirror, and now the public inhabits those broken pieces of glass. The public isn’t one thing; it’s highly fragmented and basically mutual hostile.

2021 In Summation

And to that I say…yee haw

Another year has somehow passed by, for those of you that don’t believe time is a flat circle. Life has felt like a series of little moments splattered onto an ever-evolving canvas, which has been fun because I can’t paint. It’s like I’ve stepped in gum and am tugging at the fabric of space & time with each step. For now, I’ve scraped the gum off and sat down to recap the happenings of my 2021. All and all, it was a good year that I’m happy to hang my hat on. My family is healthy, I’ve managed to maintain friendships, I’ve traveled as much as the pandemic has permitted, and I didn’t seriously injure myself along the way.

Some highlights: I survived the winter storm, got vaccinated, surprised my dad for his birthday, finished a D&D campaign, had some great dinner parties, visited both my grandmas for the first time in 18 months, camped in the wilds of Arizona, suffered through a spring in Rochester, went to the first Austin FC game with my brother, escaped the heat in Colorado with family and friends, bought a real-life matchbox car, ticked off Mt. Stuart, endured a busy Fall with work, celebrated Festivus with the largest crowd yet, officiated two weddings for dear friends, and spent the holidays with my family.

Grandma & Gram

This year’s recap is structured as follows:

• By the numbers

• Reading list & some book reviews

• Quotes & notes

• Random stuff I found interesting

• Economic stuff I found interesting

• Recommendations & requests

Mr. Medium (left) and lil’ Pocket (right)

By The Numbers

I was asked last year how I manage to keep running tabs on the various metrics I present herein. I started doing this a little over two years ago and haven’t kicked the habit yet. I keep two notebooks that are my daily drivers—lil’ Pocket and Mr. Medium (see above). They don’t really have names but calling them small and medium felt flat.

Lil' Pocket has my to-do lists for the days, both personal and work. Anything I find interesting I’ll typically jot in the back, along with ideas/things I need to remember. Mr. Medium has three parts: exercise, food, and notes. I’m not one to count calories or mull over patterns in my diet. I started keeping the medium notebook in 2020 with the goal of it becoming a habit. Now it has turned into a daily journal of sorts. All of this will hopefully accumulate into an archive that I can look back on in the years to come.

2021 by the numbers

• 66,153 minutes of music listened to

• 3,289 pictures taken

• 25 books read

• 77 movies watched

• 95 new beers

• 150 weekday workouts completed

• 210 morning walks for a total of 11,180 minutes (186 hours)

  • I averaged ~18 walks and 932 minutes per month

• 205 tacos consumed

  • At an average price of $3.50, I spent $717.50 on tacos. Assuming an average tortilla diameter of 5”, I consumed over 85 feet of tacos or 6 building storeys

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Reading List

Chiang, Ted Story of Your Life Collection

Corey, James S.A. Leviathan Wakes

Corey, James S.A. Caliban’s War

Corey, James S.A. Abaddon’s Gate

Corey, James S.A. Cibola Burn

Corey, James S.A. Nemesis Games

Corey, James S.A. Babylon’s Ashes

Corey, James S.A. Persepolis Rising

Corey, James S.A. Tiamat’s Wrath

Didion, Joan The Year of Magical Thinking

Frears, Ella Shine, Darling

Fuller, Alexandra Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight

Grisham, John The Firm

Grisham, John Camino Island

Kapil, Bhanu How to Wash a Heart

Kingsolver, Barbara Prodigal Summer

Knight, Phil Shoe Dog

Lansing, Alfred Endurance

Lewis, Michael Panic

Martin, Steve Born Standing Up

Murakami, Haruki The Hard Boiled Egg and the End of the World

Owens, Delia Where the Crawdads Sing

Rooney, Sally Conversations with Friends

Ware, Ruth The Death of Mrs. Westaway

Ware, Ruth The Girl in Cabin 10

Book Reviews

The Death of Mrs. Westaway - Ruth Ware

I listened to the book—the narrator was alright but her voices were lackluster. The main character, Hal, was a meek, down on her luck, mid-20s girl in Brighton. Suddenly she inherits a family fortune she didn’t know about. Overall the plot was blasé—the “twists” basically had road signs miles in advance. There was plenty of room to make the story much darker and/or thrilling. I would have loved if the author made the house itself more menacing than it was. Some of the other characters could have been developed better and been more integral to the story.

The pacing was fair—super slow start where she clearly tried to build something with the loan shark, but that storyline died off. Hal didn’t really grow throughout the story. She was largely the same at the end, even though “her life had changed.”

Overall, a lot left to be desired.

The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion

Brutal, beautiful, and raw. Didion’s ability to convey her thoughts and feelings in a transparent and honest manner is remarkable. The structure of the story dovetails how she wrote it over the course of a year. She recedes into memories in the midst of current events, which is exactly how I imagine true grief is—not a linear life event, but rather one that comes in waves.

Didion does not answer anything or try and end it at a certain point. It is a heartbreaking read in which you are along for the ride. That said, there was never a “woe is me, the newly minted widow” moment to be found. The reader does not feel pity, nor does Didion ask for it.

The book is a window into a human soul that experienced an unfathomable loss that we all know will eventually come—the death of a person you love more than yourself; the loss of a partnership.

I would never start a Didion journey here, but for those familiar with her it is a must read.

The Girl in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware

Once again, a non-winner from Ware. I think I am done with her for a bit. Wared out, if you will.

The narrator was rough this go around, chiefly because her accents were terrible (which dispels the suspension of disbelief). Her New York accent was especially bad.

Lo, the main character, was somehow meeker than Hal in Death of Mrs. Westaway. She was never a real protagonist: everything just seemed to happen to her. The internal monologues were her simply being anxious. The author leaned heavily on these monologues which made for a bore.

Rarely, if ever, did I reach the end of a chapter and feel the need to continue, to ask what happens next. This was rooted in Lo: I never felt, well, anything for her (including distaste). She was simply there.

After the second try, I don’t dare follow the adage “third time’s a charm.”

Shoe Dog - Phil Knight

Davis had gotten the book for Christmas and Tyler had recommended it to me as well. I finally gave it a read and it is one of the better memoirs I have read. Not too long, not too short. Not self-righteous, not self-deprecating. It strikes a wonderful balance of staying personal while being objective.

The story itself is fascinating, involving a true revolution of the running shoe. Not only that, but Nike was involved in the first wave of outsourcing to China, endorsing big-name athletes, having an early IPO, and changing running forever.

Knight paints an honest picture of his career and the time it took to build the company. Structuring it by year, you get to see both Nike and Knight grow together, as well as the concurrent world events. Additionally, Knight never gets political or pushes a business philosophy—a welcomed change from many others who quickly revert to a self-help-esque format. A very enjoyable read.

Born Standing Up - Steve Martin

Written and read by Steve Martin, he covers his early life that focuses specifically on his career in stand-up comedy. He kept it short and sweet, which each stage of his career being punctuated with personal moments. Overall it very much felt like an hour comedy special turned into a book.

At times he could get a little engrossed in various carnal conquests, but for the most part, he stuck to the trials and tribulations of his career. His style was very physical/nonsensical/absurdist—a first that was picked up on by some of my favorites.

He does not paint himself as an all-time great nor extoll his influence on the comedy scene. I enjoyed the bent toward stand-up rather than TV and film, as it is a whole different beast. I have a renewed appreciation for Martin’s humor (and banjo playing).

Prodigal Summer - Barbara Kingsolver

A fun book to read in the middle of winter. It was recommended to me as a personal favorite.

The story loosely follows three characters living in proximity to each other with some form of a connection between one another. All have their own unique love of nature: Deanna is a part of it, living in the woods as a researcher/steward with the Forestry Service. Lusa has an academic background in entomology but is thrown into a world of farming. Garnett has a traditionalist view and yearns to bring the American chestnut back from extinction.

Deanna is the most well-written and her relationship with the land was fun to explore. Lusa and the family entanglement was predictable at times but sweet as a whole. Garnett was the most vanilla—I was left wanting more. Overall a fun read from a new author for me.

Camino Island - John Grisham

First John Grisham book for me. I decided to give it a read on Madison’s recommendation. The plot line was fun—a book heist paralleled with young writer/old book store owner espionage. It is one of Grishom’s most recent books and is not his usual legal thriller.

The plot was easy to follow and he develops the characters well (excluding the heist guys). I’m not crazy about the way he writes women. She was the down on her luck southern gal who ultimately sleeps with the bookstore owner but in the end has not displayed any sense of true agency. She more is less is back where she started.

I did like the ending—the “good” guys did not necessarily win. Always a nice change from how these formulaic books turn out. Overall, I enjoyed it. I certainly want to read what Grisham is known for to get a true sense of his writing style.

The Firm - John Grisham

The second Grisham book for me and arguably his most well-known. I’d first head about it on a podcast episode discussing the movie. So, I figured I would give it a shot. His writing style is fairly boilerplate: less description (unless it is a woman) and more focused on plot/actions. The characters themselves were fair—Mitch was about what I expected. He never did anything that surprised me, other than fuck a prostitute on a beach and blatantly lie to his wife about it.

There were times where it felt very slow, especially when setting the scene in the first third of the book. He could have cut a lot of the fluff there. The female characters were either rough, good looking private eye secretaries, or a meek wife trying to be a badass. I had hoped for more depth with all of them.

Overall an entertaining audiobook, but I feel as if I could have put the paperback down. While it was a thriller, there was never a compulsion to keep going. I never connected with the characters on a level to feel concern or curiosity with what would become of them.

Don’t Lets Go To the Dogs Tonight - Alexandra Fuller

A wonderful autobiography/memoir of the author’s life growing up in Africa. Each chapter is a vignette, a brief snippet of her life that gradually build on each other until it reaches present day. She focuses more on her family than herself, but does step into the limelight when it suits her.

The writing is spectacular—she truly makes you feel like you are there with her. She balances the fine line of description: incredibly vivid imagery but not grandiose, drawn out paragraphs explaining every sensory detail. The images are formed in the reader’s mind based on the context she sets out for us. You can easily picture the characters and the world they are a part of. You feel for each of them in their own way—tragic, hope, sorrow, resilience, etc.

Overall it was truly an enjoyable read. I liked that it was not a linear narrative of her life. Each chapter was a specific memory, a moment in time that did not need further explanation. Her descriptions are brilliant as she portrays a totally foreign world in such an identifiable way. You feel like you’ve experienced a small portion of it with her.

Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens

I had held off on reading this one for a while but finally got around to it. The backstory of the author did not cloud my reading, nor did my friends’ opinions of the book. It was a quick read, which had it been longer, it would have started to go downhill quickly.

I enjoyed the structure a lot, splitting between both timelines and characters while remaining centered on the story of the Marsh Girl. She creates a beautiful world that is both a part of and inhabited by Kya, a girl more creature than citizen. You truly got a sense that she sees the world as her world, free of outside influence even though she longs for connections. There are fantastically vivid moments with her exploring her own little kingdom.

The black characters were shallow and lacked, well, everything. She was unfortunately cliché and cringy with the way she wrote both Jumpin’ and Mabel which was disheartening. Additionally, Kya’s reactions to people were unoriginal for such a unique character. The poetry piece at the end got a major eyeroll as well.

Quotes & Notes

“The truth is that we live out our lives putting off all that can be put off; perhaps we all know deep down that we are all immortal and that sooner or later all men will do and know all things.” - Jorge Luis Borges

“When we read a story, we read with the same mind we use to read the world. So, concentrating on a story and the way we’re responding to it can tell us a lot about ourselves. I’ve found it so pleasurable and clarifying to tone everything out but that one story, those specific lines. Reading a story is, really, an exercise in believing that other people exist and are valid–the writer of the story, but also those fictive people. We get to practice caring about some people we don’t know–good practice for real life.” - George Saunders

Random Stuff I Found Interesting

Romanian Orphanages

Nicolae Ceausescu was the communist dictator of Romania from 1965-1989. During his tenure, he outlawed all forms of birth control and abortion. His hope was to build the economy by creating a massive labor force. However, and as expected, this plan failed. The country saw a spike in birth rates but could not adequately care for this generation of children. As a result, Romania had 170,000 orphans by the time Ceausescu’s reign ended. The stories are harrowing to read, but a sobering reminder of what can happen when individual families and a State at large cannot successfully rear children.

Megaphone Man

George Saunders describes a scene at a party in his 2007 essay collection, "The Braindead Megaphone”: Imagine being at a party with the normal give and take of conversation between generally informed people. And then “a guy walks in with a megaphone. He’s not the smartest at the party, or the most experienced, or the most articulate. But he’s got that megaphone.” The man begins to offer his opinions and soon creates his own conversational gravity: everyone is reacting to what he’s saying. Forms of discourse actually shape our conceptual architecture, the sophistication of our thinking is determined to a large degree by the sophistication of the language we hear used to describe our world.”

Patricia Lockwood’s Malfunctioning Sex robot

This essay is Lockwood’s attempt to read and review John Updike. It’s hilarious and even if you aren’t the least bit familiar with Updike, it is worth a read. One of my favorite quotes is below:

“They [Rabbit Series] continue to be speedily readable—the present tense works on Updike the way blood transfusions work on billionaires—and perfectly replicate the experience of eating a hotdog in quasi-wartime on a lush crew-cut lawn that has been invisibly poisoned by industry, while men argue politics in the background and a Nice Ass lurks somewhere on the horizon, like the presence of God.”

Economic Stuff I Found Interesting

My interests were a bit scattered here, but I skewed towards mergers and acquisitions in various industries with Amazon being the major focus. Specifically, I was curious as to how Amazon has continued to shrug off any anti-competitive and anti-trust suits filed against it. Rather than the company cleverly utilizing loopholes in the legal system, it exposed that the system to prosecute such cases is in fact very broken and outdated.

Toward a Positive Theory of Consumer Choice - Thaler 1979

• Bounded Rationality - The capacity of the human mind for formulating and solving complex problems is very small compared with the size of the problems whose solution is required for objectively rational behavior in the real world.

• The difference between 0 and 100 seems greater than the difference between 1,000 and 1,100 irrespective of the signs of the magnitudes. This leads to risk-seeking choices for losses and risk-averse choices for gains.

• Choices in the future are reduced because the current self doesn’t trust the future self. The act of choosing or even just the knowledge that choice exists induces costs, and those costs can be reduced or eliminated by restricting the choices set in advance.

Modern Monetary Theory

• Modern monetary theory is a framework that says countries that issue their own currency and borrow in that same currency aren’t constrained by the revenue they bring in when it comes to fiscal spending.

• Deficit Myth: No such thing as taxpayer dollars because the US government itself issues those dollars. Unlike businesses or state and local governments, the federal government does not need to collect money from households across the country to stay solvent—it can just create more.

Matt Stoller Speech - 2020

• The American political project, up until the 1970s, was based on decentralizing both public and private power

• Galbraith’s ‘Affluent Society’: Affluence politics is not the politics of being wealthy, though, but rather the politics of not paying attention to what creates wealth in the first place. We adopted the politics of ignoring our ability to make and distribute the things people need. We became consumers, not citizens

• The boom on Wall Street in the 1980s and onward was about centralizing business, because big business, they argued, was efficient and kept prices low

• Walmart’s market power does not show up in excessively high prices to consumers, but excessively low prices to producers

• One of the effects of power buyers, as well as Wall Street investments, is that they force producers to merge so they can get bargaining power. That consolidates and thins out supply chains. Then they often force them to offshore production to squeeze out a bit of margin

• Low wages are often a red flag for where we have destroyed supply by squeezing out all the margin

National Debt Statistics

• The national debt rose $7.8 trillion during the Trump administration, up 39% from when Trump took office

• Total debt is now ~130% of GDP

• Not since WWII has the country seen deficits during times of low unemployment that are as large as those projected, nor, in the past century, has it experienced large deficits for as long as projected

Industry Consolidations

Over the last two decades, 75% of US industries have experienced an increase in concentration levels. The average size of publicly traded firms has tripled, and the number of publicly traded firms has fallen 50%.

Aerospace & Defense

• 51 aerospace and electronics companies combined into just 5

• The entire nuclear triad is now dependent on a single company, Northrop Grumman, that is responsible for the new ICBMs, the B-21 bomber, and the motors that launch nuclear missiles from submarines

• The top 10 aerospace & defense companies accounted for 86% of industry revenues in 2016

• BY 2017, nearly two-thirds of Department of Defense major weapons systems contracts had only one bidder

• Defense contractors with monopoly positions, like Transdigm, achieve profit margins of 54.5%

Media & Telecommunications

• The median weekly compensation of writer-producers on television and online series declined 23% between 2014 and 2016, despite record profits in the industry and peak demand for programming

• From 2009-2017:

  • 109 mergers in broadcasting

  • 273 mergers in telecommunications

  • 48 mergers in motion pictures and sound recording

• Americans pay $50 billion per year more for smartphone plans than for comparable service in Europe, translating to $30 per month for every American household

• The US ranks 131st in the world in terms of average monthly cost of fixed line broadband

Amazon’s anti-trust paradox - Lina Khan

The current framework for anti-trust pegs competition to “consumer welfare” which is defined as short-term price effects. Due to a change in legal thinking and practice in the 1970s and 1980s, antitrust law now assesses competition largely with an eye to the short-term interests of consumers, not producers or the health of the market as a whole; antitrust doctrine views low consumer prices, alone, to be evidence of sound competition.

Animating this framework is the idea that a company’s power and the potential anticompetitive nature of that power cannot be fully understood without looking to the structure of a business and the structural role it plays in markets. Focusing on consumer welfare disregards the host of other ways that excessive concentration can harm us, enabling firms to squeeze suppliers and producers, endangering system stability, or undermining media diversity.

Economic structuralism rests on the idea that concentrated market structures promote anti-competitive forms of conduct. This view holds that a market dominated by a very small number of large companies is likely to be less competitive than a market populated with many small and medium-sized companies.

1. Monopolistic and oligopolistic market structures enable dominant actors to coordinate with greater ease and subtlety, facilitating conduct like price-fixing, market division, and tacit collusion

2. Monopolistic and oligopolistic firms can use their existing dominance to block new entrants

3. Monopolistic and oligopolistic firms have greater bargaining power against consumers, suppliers, and workers, which enables them to hike prices and degrade service and quality while maintaining profits

Foundational to this view is a faith in the efficiency of markets, propelled by profit-maximizing actors: “Rational economic actors working within the confines of the market seek to maximize profits by combining inputs in the most efficient manner. A failure to act in this fashion will be punished by the competitive forces of the market.”

Price theory shifted things in two ways. First, it led to a significant narrowing of the concept of entry barriers. Second, consumer prices became the dominant metric for assessing competition. Today, showing antitrust injury requires showing harm to consumer welfare, generally in the form of price increases and output restrictions.

The Chicago school critique of predatory pricing doctrine rests on the idea that below-cost pricing is irrational and hence rarely occurs. The court presumed that direct profit maximization is the singular goal of predatory pricing. Furthermore, by establishing that harm occurs only when predatory pricing results in higher prices, the court collapsed the rich set of concerns that had animated earlier critics of predation, including an aversion to large firms that exploit their size and a desire to preserve local control.

Focusing primarily on price and output undermines effective antitrust enforcement by delaying intervention until market power is being actively exercised, and largely ignoring whether and how it is being acquired. In other words, pegging anticompetitive harm to high prices and/or lower output--while disregarding the market structure and competitive process that give rise to this market power--restricts intervention to the moment when a company has already acquired sufficient dominance to distort competition.

The Chicago school shifted the analytical emphasis away from process--the conditions necessary for competition--and toward an outcome--namely, consumer welfare. In other words, a concern about structure (is power sufficiently distributed to keep markets competitive?) was replaced by a calculation (did prices rise?). Modern doctrine assumes that market power is not inherently harmful and instead may result from and generate efficiencies.

This strategy--pursuing market share at the expense of short-term returns--defies the Chicago school’s assumption of rational, profit-seeking market actors. More significantly, Amazon’s choice to pursue heavy losses while also integrating across sectors suggests that in order to fully understand the company and the structural power it is amassing, we must view it as an integrated entity. Seeking to gauge the firm’s market role by isolating a particular line of business and assessing prices in that segment fails to capture both the true shape of the company’s dominance and the ways in which it is able to leverage advantages gained in one sector to boost its business in another.

The fact that Amazon has been willing to forego profits for growth undercuts a central premise of contemporary predatory pricing doctrine, which assumes that predation is irrational precisely because firms prioritize profits over growth. Amazon controls key critical infrastructure for the Internet Economy--in ways that are difficult for new entrants to replicate or compete against. This gives the company a key advantage over its rivals: Amazon competitors have come to depend on it. Amazon’s willingness to sustain losses and invest aggressively at the expense of profits, coupled with its integration across sectors, has enabled it to establish a dominant structural role in the market.

Waterbed effect: differential buyer power means that some buyers gain at both the relative and absolute expense of other buyers. Amazon has discounts with the major shipping companies which then forces those companies to hike prices for other customers.

Recommendations & Requests

Books: Endurance, Story of Your Life Collection, The Hard-Boiled Egg and The End of the World

Films: Druk, Pig, The Alpinist

Podcasts: Outside/In, 99% Invisible, Freakonomics

Music: Chris Frisina, The Cinematic Orchestra, Olafur Arnalds

what should I do for 2022?

• What new thing should I keep track of next year?

• What should I watch?

• What should I read?

• Where should I visit?

• What are your favorite Trader Joe’s items?

Skydiving

FADE IN

Interior of Psychologist’s office. Doctor sits cross legged in chair. Patient on chez lounge.

PATIENT stares at the ceiling with a puzzled but focused stare. DOCTOR in a tweed jacket and horned rimmed glasses fiddles with his pen as his notepad is pressed on his leg, absently engaged in listening.

A pause is held for a few seconds, until the man on the couch launches back into his story of the dream.

PATIENT: I’ve had it a few times now. It’s the same every time. No detail, no matter how small, ever changes. It always begins in the same way, follows the same arc, then ends. Which is weird, because I always thought your dreams had something to do with your day. Like if I saw a cockroach get squished by a woman walking to work, I’d dream of getting stepped on by a woman in heels.

DOCTOR: Interrupting Well, that’s not always the ca—

PATIENT: But this one doesn’t seem to have any connection at all. No heels stomping on me. Not that I see women crush roaches often. Anyway. Here’s how it goes. I’m in this plane and its small. It’s loud. I’m vibrating with the propeller engine as it churns away through the clouds. I look down and I’m in some kind of body suit that’s purple, kind of like a racecar driver would wear. But with a lot more straps. I look up and realize there’s no seats—just benches on either side of the fuselage. And this guy is across from me. Just staring at me. He’s wearing a suit similar to mine but there’s a big difference. He doesn’t have arms. He doesn’t have legs. He’s staring at me intently and I stare back. Before I can soak it all in, his gaze shifts to my left and I follow it, turning. He’s looking at an open door. This is the part where I put it all together—I’m going to jump. Free fall. Sky diving. Terminal velocity and all that. So I look back at the guy and I think to myself, “How the hell does this guy skydive with no arms and no legs? I mean, how does the chute deploy? Is it like one of those tongue-controlled power chairs that paraplegics use?” The guy can see me staring at him and he must see the wheels spinning inside my eyes. So he’s just looking at me. And looking at me for what feels like a baker’s dozen lifetimes. Then he speaks: “Trust”

Now, in the dream, I never jump. And I never see the guy jump. It just cuts to me falling toward the earth. It’s not loud or anything—I can’t hear wind rushing by, I’m not screaming, nothing. But I look down to my left and can see the guy just floating through the air spinning around like a Vienna sausage or something. I start thinking to myself that even if this guy’s parachute opens, then what? It’s not like he can steer it. Unless he does have one of those tongue things. He just lands wherever he lands, I guess. A lake would suck—he’d be like a bobber. Or maybe an ornament in a tree.

So there I am wondering what’s going to happen to this sausage person when I see his parachute deploy and he starts drifting down. As I hurtle past him, I reflect on my own situation. I’ve never skydived before. And there’s definitely not a parachute on my back.

DOCTOR: Absent mindedly, Recurring dreams of freefall are commonplace. Go on…

PATIENT: Well. I look down just in time to see the ground right in front of me.

DOCTOR: And then?

PATIENT: And then I wake up. Every time.

2020: It was a year.

For the last few years, I have kept track of the books I’ve read, ultimately compiling into a list that I’ve shared on New Year’s Eve. As someone who enjoys quantifying various aspects of my life, keeping a ledger pushes me to read more. This year began the same way: trying to front-load my reading so I was not playing catch up once work and life were busy over the summer months. This year ended trying to play catch up in December—November was the first month I’d gone without reading a book in four years.

Once the world hit pause, my ability to focus on the page waned. Reading ground to a halt. My routines, of which I am normally unwavering, started to falter. Such was life during the great quarantine of March/April/May 2020. Here’s a picture a friend was nice enough to snap of me in April. It portrays a man lost in the depths of living alone and working from home.

I had to maintain a routine otherwise I truly would have lost my mind (more than I already have). The 5:37am alarm was set once more. Weekday workouts and walks/runs resumed. Post-work parking lot beers commenced. I started writing more and played entirely too much golf. Most importantly, I managed to keep track of it all.

2020 By The Numbers

34 rounds of golf played

37 books read

87 movies watched

101 pages written

214 new beers tried

224 weekday workouts completed

62,254 minutes of music listened to

7,659 average daily steps

2,490 pictures taken

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In photos

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Quotes and Notes

“You won’t understand what I mean now, but someday you will: the only trick of friendship, I think, is to find people who are better than you--not smarter, not cooler, but kinder, and more generous, and more forgiving--and then to appreciate them for what they can teach you, and try to listen to them when they tell you something about yourself, no matter how bad--or good--it might be, and to trust them, which is the hardest thing of all. But the best, as well.” -Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

“Chaos is a double-edged sword, and uncertainty a duality. On one hand, the anarchy of current affairs makes entropy antagonistic. But on the other hand, chaos is a possibility--both the possibility that something better will come and the possibility that events do not have as much consequence as they seem to. Contemporary chaos may be draining, but there’s a different vein of chaos that I dearly miss: uncontrollable laughter, inappropriate glee, and late-night talks that descend into a surreal madness where everything is funny. The chaos of possibility.” -Merritt Mechum, The Muppets: Sex and Violence

“We forget all too soon the things that we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were.” -Joan Didion

“Intolerance, abuse, calling of names because of differences of opinion about religion or politics or business, as well as because of differences of race, color, wealth, or degree of culture are treason to the democratic way of life. For everything which bars freedom and fullness of communication sets up barriers that divide human beings into sets and cliques, into antagonistic sects and factions, and thereby undermines the democratic way of life.” -John Dewey, Creative Democracy: The Task Before Us

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Books

Anker, Conrad; Roberts, David The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Everest

Bourdain, Anthony Kitchen Confidential

Brown, Pierce Red Rising

Brown, Pierce Golden Son

Brown, Pierce Morning Star

Brown, Pierce Iron Gold

Brown, Pierce Dark Age

Burroughs, William S.; Kerouac, Jack And The Hippos Boiled In Their Tanks

Didion, Joan Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Dubner, Stephen Freakonomics

Foucault, Michel Madness & Civilization

Gladwell, Malcolm Talking To Strangers

Kalanathi, Paul When Breath Becomes Air

King, Stephen The Institute

King, Stephen The Running Man

Krakauer, Jon Missoula

L'Amour, Louis The Sackett Brand

L'Amour, Louis The Sky-Liners

L'Amour, Louis The Lonely Men

L'Amour, Louis Mustang Man

L'Amour, Louis Galloway

L'Amour, Louis Treasure Mountain

L'Amour, Louis Ride The Dark Trail

L'Amour, Louis Lonely On The Mountain

Le Guin, Ursula The Left Hand of Darkness

Lewis, Michael Boomerang

O'Connor, Flannery A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Perrotta, Tom Bad Haircut

Phillips, Kevin Bad Money

Pollan, Michael The Botany of Desire

Rooney, Sally Normal People

Saunders, George Pastoralia

Tufte, Edward Visual Explanations

Westover, Tara Educated

Whitehead, Colson The Nickel Boys

Yanagihara, Hanya A Little Life

Yurchak, Alexei Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation

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Movies

A Hot Monday In August

It was a hot, long, busy weekend in Austin. I woke up this morning feeling slow. The 82F at 6am did not prompt me to move any faster. Given the heat and humidity, I opted for a walk in lieu of my scheduled run. Only an hour remained of Kitchen Confidential. It would provide the perfect feeling of completion to round out the month and begin the week.

The neighborhood was quiet and still, the street lights illuminating the ground but blocking out the stars above. I got to the main intersection and turned right to start my usual loop. Just as I turned I heard barking behind me over Bourdain's voice. I looked over my shoulder just in time to see a 90's Chevrolet pickup meet the source of the barking. The pickup dragged the source under the front wheel before coming to a stop. The noise was horrendous. There was no outcome that included survival. My body filled with something--not adrenaline, not dread--and I turned up the audiobook and ran up the hill as fast as I could.

I was out of earshot and far away. My legs felt empty. My mind was numb and nowhere. I could not have saved the dog. I was forced to bear witness to its untimely death. Processing it has been slow. My brain and heart skip from one emotion/feeling to another like hopscotch, never planting a foot long enough to dwell. There was nothing the driver could have done. It was dark. He came over a hill. The dog was black. It ran out from behind a bush abutting the curb. The two met.

By the time I returned, there was no evidence that anything had happened. The world was waking up, the low grey sky slowly becoming more illuminated as an unseen sun began to rise. An intimate final moment that will forever remain in the dark. A black dog making its last leap. A pickup truck undamaged. A driver unnerved. A Monday off to a bad start. A witness gone unnoticed but noticing everything. A hot humid day indifferent to its beginning, or its end. The dog's end.

2019 Reads

Essays & Short Stories

“Lost in Patagonia” Welles, Edward

“A conversation with David Foster Wallace” McCaffrey, Larry

“E Unibus Pluram: Television and US Fiction” Foster Wallace, David

“That Supposedly Funny Thing I’ll Never Do Again” Foster Wallace, David

“Consider the Lobster” Foster Wallace, David

“This is Water” Foster Wallace, David

“Democracy, English, and the Wars over Usage” Foster Wallace, David

“Roger Federer as Religious Experience” Foster Wallace, David

“Red Planet: The Sanguinary Sublime of Cormac McCarthy” Wood, James

“Books vs Cigarettes” Orwell, George

“You and the Atomic Bomb” Orwell, George

“A Hanging” Orwell, George

“Mark Twain: the Licensed Jester” Orwell, George

“Looking back on the Spanish War” Orwell, George

“Laughing with Kafka” Foster Wallace, David

“Politics and the English Language” Orwell, George

“Manipulating Consumption” DiResta, Renee

“Crowds and Technology” DiResta, Renee

“The Digital Maginot Line” DiResta, Renee

“Brief Interviews with Hideous Men” Foster Wallace, David

“The Depressed Person” Foster Wallace, David

“Digital Humanities in the Anthropocene” Nowviskie, Bethany

“Goodbye to all that” Didion, Joan

“The Unfinished” Max, DT

“Up, Simba” Foster Wallace, David

“Now we are five” Sedaris, David

“Company man” Sedaris, David

“Letting go” Sedaris, David

“Our perfect summer” Sedaris, David

“Entropy” Pynchon, Thomas

“You can’t kill the rooster” Sedaris, David

“The man upstairs” Sedaris, David

“Under the Rose” Pynchon, Thomas

Books

The Quest Yergin, Daniel

The Outsider King, Stephen

Terminal Man Crichton, Michael

Andromeda Strain Crichton, Michael

Congo Crichton, Michael

Airframe Crichton, Michael

Jurassic Park Crichton, Michael

The Broom of the System Wallace, David Foster

Shortcut Your Startup Reum, Carter

Naked Lunch Burroughs, William S.

Hillbilly Elegy Vance, J.D.

Under the Banner of Heaven Krakauer, Jon

The Gunslinger King, Stephen

Dragon Teeth Crichton, Michael

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon King, Stephen

The Drawing of the Three King, Stephen

The Waste Lands King, Stephen

The Lost World Crichton, Michael

Sackett’s Land L’Amour, Louis

Wizard and Glass King, Stephen

To The Far Blue Mountains L’Amour, Louis

Salem’s Lot King, Stephen

Brave New World Huxley, Aldous

Killers of the Flower Moon Gann, David

The Warrior’s Path L’Amour, Louis

Cujo King, Stephen

Wolves of the Calla King, Stephen

Skeleton Crew King, Stephen

Song of Susannah King, Stephen

Lincoln in the Bardo Saunders, George

Jubal Sackett L’Amour, Louis

Ride the River L’Amour, Louis

The Daybreakers L’Amour, Louis

Lisey’s Story King, Stephen

The Tenth of December Saunders, George

Civil War Land in Sharp Decline Saunders, George

Micro Crichton, Michael

Lando L’Amour, Louis

Billion Dollar Whale Wright, Tom

Rabbit, Run Updike, John

In Defense of Food Pollan, Michael

Bonfire of the Vanities Wolfe, Tom

Mr. Mercedes King, Stephen

The Dark Tower King, Stephen

Finders Keepers King, Stephen

End of Watch King, Stephen

Sackett L’Amour, Louis

Choke Palahniuk, Chuck

White Noise DeLillo, Don

Mojave Crossing L’Amour, Louis

2018 Reads

Books

Flash Boys Lewis, Michael

The Prize Yergin, Daniel

Accidental Billionaires Mezrich, Ben

American War El Akkad, Omar

Prey Crichton, Michael

The Stand King, Stephen

Next Crichton, Michael

The Design of Everyday Things Norman, Donald

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Kesey, Ken

The Road McCarthy, Cormac

11/22/63 King, Stephen

I Am Pilgrim Hayes, Terry

Blood Meridian McCarthy, Cormac

Timeline Crichton, Michael

Under the Dome King, Stephen

Style Strunk, William

On Writing King, Stephen

It King, Stephen

Outliers Gladwell, Malcolm

The Dead Zone King, Stephen

The Long Walk King, Stephen

The Right Stuff Wolfe, Tom

Misery King, Stephen

How to Change Your Mind Pollan, Michael

Pet Sematary King, Stephen

Into the Wild Krakauer, Jon

Into Thin Air Krakauer, Jon

Education of a Wandering Man L’Amour, Louis

Texas Michener, James

The Magician’s Nephew Lewis, C.S.

2017 Reads

Books

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Adams, Douglas
Before You Know It Bargh, John
Nature Unbound Brockington, Dan
World War Z Brooks, Max
A Short History of Nearly Everything Bryson, Bill
Ready Player One Cline, Ernest
The Drop Connelly, Michael
State of Fear Crichton, Michael
Uncommon Ground Cronon, William
Society of the Spectacle Debord, Guy
Addiction by Design Dow-Schüll, Natasha
A History of Occupation in the Big Bend Gomez, Arthur
Natural Capitalism Hawken, Paul
A Moveable Feast Hemingway, Ernest
The Story of Big Bend National Park Jameson, John
The Big Short Lewis, Michael
Liar’s Poker Lewis, Michael
Vodka Matus, Victorino
How Would you Like to Pay? Maurer, Bill
A The Big Bend of the Rio Grande Maxwell, Ross
The Source Michener, James
Wilderness and the American Mind Nash, Roderick Frazier
The Idea of Wilderness Oelschlaeger, Max
Second Nature Pollan, Michael
Grief is the Thing With Feathers Porter, Max
A History of the World in 6 Glasses Standage, Tom
Land of the Desert Sun Steele, Gentry
The Death of Ivan Ilych Tolstoy, Leo
A Confederacy of Dunces Toole, John
Infinite Jest Wallace, David Foster
Out of the Pits Zaloom, Caitlin

The InstaTweetBook President

Generation Y, otherwise referred to as Millennials, encompasses those persons born between 1980-2000. They range from 15-35 years of age and currently are 80 million strong--approximately a quarter of the US population. Those who entered college in 2011 were the first group of people to have been on social media from age 13 onward. This generation has long been considered lazy and apathetic, privileged, out of touch with current events. However, there will come a time when the baby boomers will no longer make up the majority of the voting populace, a time when Millennials will become the key to winning presidential elections.

In the 2008 presidential election, a measly 58% of the voting age populace turned out to vote. In contrast, the voter turnout for the Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014 saw a 85.5% voter turnout—a staggering 27.5% difference. Of the voting age populace that actually voted in the 2008 election, a quarter of the turnout was Millennials. Within their generation specifically, 47% actually voted—an impressive number in itself given the small voter turnout as a whole. Turning towards the 2012 presidential election, we saw a decline in voter turnout to only 55%. However, Millennials maintained a strong representation with 48% turning to the polls. They comprised 29.5% of the total votes in the 2012 election-- an increase of 5% from 2008. Their numbers are only increasing, as more and more of the Millennial generation become eligible to vote. They are projected to total 88.5 million in only five short years. Looking ahead to the 2020 presidential election, a conservative estimate of voter turnout would be 54% of the voting populace, or 133,667,400 people. Of this, another 48% estimate for Millennial turnout would be on the low end of the spectrum. That would clock in at 42,480,000 or 32% of the total votes in the 2020 election. The conclusion is clear enough: Millennials will become the key generation of presidential campaigns in the very-near future.

But the question remains—why is this important? What’s the big deal about Millennials becoming 1/3rd of the voters? Two words: social media. Currently the three largest platforms in the US are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For starters, Facebook boasts 180 million American users, which constitute 56% of our nation’s population. Given that two thirds of Millennials have accounts, it can be assumed that of the 180 million US citizens on Facebook, 29% would be Millennials. On Twitter there are over 288 million monthly active users with 500 million tweets sent per day—it’s like Angry Birds, but with information, and we’re the pigs. Instagram has approximately 90 million monthly users in the United States alone, with 300 million world-wide. With 70 million photos shared on average per day, 30% may safely be assumed to come from Americans. This means 21 million photos are shared every day in America on Instagram alone. That is a staggering amount of photographs, adding up to over 7.5 billion photos shared in just one year within the US.

All of this data leads to two undeniable conclusions. First, the Millennials will without a doubt become the prime voting populace in US presidential elections, whether you like it or not. Second, they are the most in tune with social media out of any generation yet to vote. It is already becoming obvious how much influence social media will have on the upcoming election. From advertising and surveying to mudslinging, social media will arguably hold all the power over future presidential elections in this country. It was already apparent in the 2012 elections that Twitter and Facebook played hugely important roles in candidates reaching out to Millennials. In addition, Obama is considered the most tech-savvy president to date, connecting with the American people across all forms of social media, from Google+ to Pinterest. It has become an expectation and a necessity that politicians utilize social media as their primary form of communication with their constituency.

Why should you be concerned about this, you ask? As a current college student who witnesses the countless Facebook photos, tweets, and Instagrams that are posted every weekend—I worry for the future. The Millennial candidates who wish to run, at least in this day and age, would have to have a completely clean slate. That one time you complained about a teacher in high school on Twitter? You clearly have no respect for authority—not to mention your moral apathy toward our nation’s educators—and are not fit for public office. But you deleted that, you say? Don’t worry, it’s archived somewhere, waiting to bite you in the ass. Given the current social acceptance within Millenials’ generation of what can and cannot be posted on the web for all to see, I cannot imagine anyone of that generation will be safe from social media-based muckraking in future elections.

This brings us to a unique point: What do we make of the clean-slated millennial who runs for president? I know I wouldn’t vote for them, and quite frankly I don’t believe many others of my generation would either. I couldn’t relate to someone who hasn’t made a mistake in a day in age in which everything little thing is documented on social media. “So hungover today” would show that you are a real person, not someone who was already grooming for public office at 22. There will without a doubt be a massive culture shift in regard to American political candidates, and even those outside of the United States. Mudslinging will increase exponentially as pictures and snippets of text begin to emerge during the campaigns of Millennials. Eventually these will die down, and it will become a matter of who is less bad, not who is completely clean. A middle ground will be reached where some but not all mistakes will be accepted. Ultimately it is clear that this generation, the social medialites, will soon hold power in US presidential elections and lead the masses to change, willingly or not, in political campaigns. Social media has the power to propel one candidate to victory while absolutely decimating another. Needless to say, it will be a wild ride and we’ll #bearwitness to it all.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

T-Shirt Slogan

We've all seen them, and my mother is a huge proponent of them: "Life's good" T shirts that usually portray the stick-figured man or woman enjoying some leisure activity. They're a classic shirt now and the company has sky-rocketed in popularity over the past decade. Kudos to you, Life's Good. I've never owned one of the shirts, but when I saw my mother wearing one recently I stepped back and realized that "hey, maybe those shirts are right." 

During the summer before my senior year at TCU, after returning from Scotland and living in Fort Worth, I realized that no matter how terrible my life may seem in a moment, as a whole it is good. Over the course of the past year I've built upon this, and I've begun to understand on a personal level that even when everything seems bleak there is still good and happiness to be found in my life. This mindset has proven revolutionary to my outlook--it certainly is not the mindset I had in high school. Being able to step back after something negative has happened to me and realize "wow, this isn't so bad and here's how I can handle it to make it better" has been invaluable to me during this transitional phase of my life, and my life as a whole.

So while I could whine about being a recent alumnus and not being in college anymore amongst all my friends, complain about my new job, or how I have no time to myself anymore...I can't. I know college was just four short years, that all my friends are now experiencing the real world's exciting opportunities and are happy in their own rights, that my job is fulfilling and will only get better as time goes on, and that I can still make time for everything I want to do. With that being said, it's safe to say that I'm lucky. That we're all actually lucky. Most of the people (all two of you) who will read this will be able to identify with much of what I've said, and I hope you realize how awesome your own rollercoaster of life is. The highest highs make for the lowest lows, but the lowest lows don't last forever and only make us stronger when we persevere through them--making the highest highs that much better!

With where I am in life right now, I can truly say I wake up happy everyday. It's an irreplaceable feeling and I hope you can have it too. Life really is what the T-shirts say: good.

-H.G.

Summertime

Ah the joys of summer, that brief period of the year that every student awaits with eager anticipation and then counts down the days until it ends, forever hoping for that "eternal summer". For everyone else, including myself, it is now just a three month period of debilitating heat, barbecue, and enjoying the sunshine. Being the recent college graduate however, I should be expected to have a job and a career plan lined up ahead of me in order to be married, have a child, and a country club membership by the time I'm 30. For those who choose to have that lifestyle, I wish you the best and know you will be happy with whatever you choose to do. For me, I can't say that is what I'd like to do with my time as a 22 year old adult who just finished arguably the most formative four years of his life and hasn't been able to sit still since he was 3 years old. 

I've come to this beautiful crossroads that most people can only dream of having. I'm fortunate enough to have a family who will support me in whatever endeavor I choose to set out on, and a friend base who will be cheering me on along the way and provide much needed reinforcement when the going gets rough. This crossroads is beautiful in that no matter the road I choose to follow (or trail, but more on that later), I know that I will be truly happy. The lost opportunities will have given way to others that have incredible potential to better who I am as an individual.

Down the road to the left, I have the potential to get hired at a company who I have dreamed of working for for a number of years now. It is a place where I know I would integrate well into the company culture and unlike working a dead-end job where I would wake up one day and realize I'm 35 years old and unhappy, at this place I would be passionate about what I do and who I work for. If I received the position, I would also have the unique ability to work remotely and thus live anywhere in the United States. Talk about a dream job right there. A great company, and getting to live where I want to? Sign me up.

Now look to the right. If the aforementioned job fails to come to fruition, this is the direction I am headed. It's not so much a road as it is a trail. A 2,100+ mile trail that spans the eastern seaboard from Maine to Georgia: the Appalachian Trail. For a young male who loves the outdoors, what could be better? However, the real reasons are below the surface, below the "go to the woods to find yourself" mentality. This path would give me a chance to impose a challenge upon myself that is both physically and emotionally demanding. It would take everything I've got in my wheelhouse to successfully complete a thru-hike. I'd experience the highest of highs on days with beautiful weather and gorgeous scenery, but at the same time I'd be met with pouring rain, strong winds, and cold weather for days, all alone and with no one to share my frustrations--the lowest of lows. All and all it would provide for the brilliant formative experience of a lifetime, and to have the good fortune to attempt such an undertaking at 22 years of age would be priceless. It would provide a solid foundation on which to base the rest of my life upon and would culminate into an unforgettable experience that will provide me with a hell of story and a valuable skill set. 

Honestly, I don't see how either of these paths could be travelled and not be enjoyed. This is where the beauty comes from. I'm lucky to be in a position where I can be deciding between two things that will make me truly happy--and I know it. I know that this is an incredibly rare and prime place to be in as a young adult, and I think that this knowledge of my situation is what has lead me to appreciate it. Without this appreciation I would just be taking it all for granted which would set me up for disappointment later on.

So here I am, at a beautiful crossroads in a limbo-state of mind and lifestyle. Any day now I should get the final world on where I'll be headed: the dream job, or the adventure of a life time. But until then, I think I'll just sit and enjoy the beauty for a while.

-H.G.