Short On Miles

The Mail

March 27, 2025 by Josh

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Thursday March 27, 2025 // Mid-Morning

The algorithm got me. I try my best to stay off social media these days, minus some mild Reddit-ing and checking in on my BJJ school on Instagram. But I had a minor relapse and was doing the doom scrolling bit.

One Last Glance

March 12, 2025 by Josh

Side rear view mirror of car with sunset in background

Tuesday March 11, 2025 // Late Morning

There’s a new game I play every weekday morning that fills and tears apart my heart at the same time. A couple weeks back, roles shifted in the household and now I’m in charge of morning drop off at kindergarten. Little did I know 20 seconds a day would give me such a jolt.

Here’s how it goes.

Preparation > Surprise

October 9, 2024 by Josh

Wednesday October 9, 2024 // Morning

I’m five years into this whole parenting thing. One of the best pieces of advice I stumbled upon was to prepare your tiny human before an activity. Give them a heads up of what they’re going to do and what’s going to happen there hours, if not days, beforehand.

Come With Me

October 2, 2024 by Josh

Wednesday October 2, 2024 // Early Morning

Last night I had a moment. It was nearing 7:45 PM – the you must be in bed by this time time. My kid had left something downstairs. It was something so trivial that 12 hours later I don’t recall what it was. But it was the most important thing in the world to him right then. He wanted me to go get it. Cue a parental decision point.

The Three Types of Productivity

May 29, 2024 by Josh

Wednesday May 29, 2024 // Mid-Afternoon

Do you ever have those moments where you know you should be productive so you get to work, but on the completely wrong thing knowing full well it’s not the task you should be doing? That’s what I’m doing right now.

Too Much

January 20, 2024 by Josh

Saturday January 20, 2024 // Early Morning

Everyone is still asleep. The dog needs to go out soon though. Out into yesterday’s snow.

I’ve been thinking about the quantity of everything recently. There’s so much everything. Everything continues to grow and always will be growing. And it’s something I don’t believe we are equipped to handle biologically or temporally. We don’t have the ability or the time for everything.

A Snow Day with My Four and a Half Year Old

January 19, 2024 by Josh

Friday January 19, 2024 // Late Morning

It snowed this morning. About 3″ of fluffy snow. My kid is now four and a half – and you better not forget the “and a half.” He helped me shovel. He absolutely loved it. We shoveled our driveway, our sidewalk, then three of our neighbors’ sidewalks. For a newbie shoveler, he did stellar.

Break the Funk Gunk

January 31, 2023 by Josh

Tuesday January 31, 2023 // Early Afternoon

This is probably cheesy but lately I’ve been in a funk and I’ve been working on a strategy to “break the funk gunk”. Yeah, it’s cheesy.

In my last post I talked about being in the thick of it – bogged down by a billion things, mostly out of my control. This has had a direct impact on my funk. My normal over-achieving self has been satisfied with achieving. I’m beaten down by life at the end of the day despite sitting at a desk in my home all day long in sweats and then playing Magna-Tiles with my three-year-old all evening. It feels like I’m Atreyu pulling Artax through the Swamps of Sadness trying to get myself to do the easiest tasks each day.

GIF from the Neverending Story scene with Atreyu pulling his horse Artax through the Swamps of Sadness

In the Thick of It

January 26, 2023 by Josh

Thursday January 26, 2023 // Post-Work + Pre-Daycare Pickup

I blinked and the calendar was flipping to February. I feel as though I’m going to blink again and it’ll be 2024. Another blink and my kid will be asking to borrow the car.

Purging Mental RAM

January 18, 2023 by Josh

Wednesday January 18, 2023 // Afternoon Post-Lunch Slump

The coffee has kicked in and worn off. Leaving only the mild anxiety and some jitters of having had slightly too much caffeine. In an effort to “be productive” I’ve found myself in front of an empty Google Doc. With any luck you, dear reader, are soaking in these words sometime in the uncertain future.