What I’ve Been Doing Lately
Updated October 26, 2025
What I’ve Been Reading
The Code of Man: Love, Courage, Pride, Family, Country, by Waller R. Newell.
I read this book after hearing a podcast featuring the author. He argues that the traditional 2,000+ year old Western classical definition of what it is to be a man was abandoned by the Boomer generation and replaced with an effort to eradicate the basic impulses of men and stop teaching positive channeling of male characteristics. As a result, men today feel they have to choose between a non-gendered whimp or an impulsive, self-centered macho jerk. He calls for a return to the traditional teachings, which are focused on love, courage, pride, family and country.
AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference, by Sayash Kapoor and Arvind Narayanan.
The main point of this book is that while Generative AI can be very useful, Predictive AI is almost worthless. Apparently, many businesses and educational institutions have bought into predictive AI and are using it to predict how prospective employees might fit into a role, etc. The authors argue that because humans are complex, AI does a horrible job of prediction and is arbitrarily affecting people’s opportunities in work and education. It was an important point to make, but having a whole book on this topic seemed overblown. I started skimming after the first couple of chapters.
How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease, by Michael Greger MD.
My wife and I have been following a diet of vegetables, legumes, beans, fruits and whole grains as recommended by Dr. Greger in his earlier book, How Not to Diet. As a result, we’ve both lost weight and maintained the loss, and my blood pressure has gone down an average of 10-20 points. Dr. Gregor’s recommendations are based on a solid scientific basis, as opposed to the claims of many others in the longevity movement.
Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein.
A classic science fiction book by the author of Starship Troopers. I first read this book about 35 years ago. It’s about a human raised by Martians who is brought back to Earth, where he finds a civilization alien to the one he was raised in. If you’ve ever heard the phrase, “I grok you,” this is the book it comes from. It’s a fascinating story that will get you questioning some of your basic assumptions about life and behavior.
Trip to Colorado
Last week my wife and I spent four nights in a cabin at the YMCA of the Rockies, a conference center near Estes Park, Colorado. We love the high mountains, the wildlife, and the great facilities and staff. Lanette went on a trail ride, we spent lots of time hiking and visiting the many facilities at the site, and spent a morning in neighboring Rocky Mountain National Park.
This is now the third time we’ve stayed here, and each time we spend a longer period. We’ll be making reservations for April of next year and looking forward to it all winter!
Updated: September 26, 2025
What I’ve Been Reading
The Couple’s Retirement Puzzle: 10 Must-Have Conversations for Creating an Amazing New Life Together, was written by two retirement coaches, Roberta Taylor and Dorian Mintzer. While there are a lot of books available about retirement in general, there is very little written about how couples deal with the major life transition of retirement.
This is a practical book with exercises for couples at the close of each chapter. If you’re getting close to retirement and you’re partnered, this is a must-read book full of practical insights and wisdom.
Since I was a child, I’ve always been interested in WWII history, particularly on the German side. One of the first names I knew was Erwin Rommel, known as the “Desert Fox” in the North African war.
This book was an excellent read–well-written and interesting throughout. The author, Daniel Allen Butler, did his research and drew his own conclusions based on the evidence.
Rommel was quite a man and general, and had the respect of both his own people and enemy generals and political leaders. Well worth the read.
Several months ago I became interested in mindfulness meditation and began practicing. I benefited from a series of videos by Gil Fronsdal.
After practicing a few months, I thought it might be helpful to read another expert’s thoughts, and Meditation; Now or Never by Steve Hagen was highly recommended.
Although the book repeated many of the same concepts I’d learned from Gil Fronsdal, I found Hagen to be much more opinionated about such things as postures, closing your eyes or keeping them open, and whether to practice alone or with other people. Fronsdal’s approach was much more flexible than Hagen’s. I resonate much more with Fronsdal.
The Age of Diagnosis: How Our Obsession with Medical Labels Is Making Us Sicker, by Dr. Suzanne O’Sullivan is an amazing and thought-provoking book.
I had a sense that more and more relatively minor issues were being given medical labels, and this book confirmed my suspicions. And also confirmed my sense that this over-labeling was harming people more than helping them: “Overdiagnosis occurs when ordinary human differences, behaviour and life stages are given medical labels, turning them into the business of doctors.”
I’m Taking a Blog Writing Course
Earlier this month, I started working through a blog writing course. I want to upgrade my skills and found a course online that looked like it might be helpful, the Enchanting Blog Writing Course. The Dutch author, Henneke Duistermaat, writes in a very conversational, down-to-earth style. She draws her own whimsical illustrations.
Her material is always practical and helpful. In addition to multiple short videos, she includes useful exercises, one-page cheat sheets summarizing each module, an Examples Book, an Answers Book, and downloads for all of the course materials.
Even though I’m only about one-third of the way through the course, I’ve already learned a great deal, and it is changing the way I write my blog posts for the better. I’m looking forward to continuing to work through the course.
Updated: August 23, 2025
Reading
I’ve known about Derek Siver’s writing for several years now. However, it wasn’t until I heard an interview with him on the Focused podcast that I was motivated to buy several of his recent books and begin reading them. This was the first.
Derek writes like he speaks: direct, unfiltered, and tell-it-like-it-is as he sees it. This book is a collection of wisdom gained from his experiences and observations in life.
Here’s a sample: “Listen to ideas, not their messenger. Focus on the contents, not the box. Avoid ideology.” I love this because I see so much political hate and ideological fortresses that prevent people from judging whether ideas are good or bad, or maybe even worth supporting. “If ___ said it, I’m against it” type of thinking is ignorant, limiting, and stupid.
This book was recommended to me by my friends Joe Moyer of 24 Letters and David Sparks. It has taught me much more about the life and Stoic philosophy of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Unlike so much of the popular material written by authors who have a superficial understanding of Stoicism, this book was written by Donald Robertson, a Scottish academic who knows his stuff. And, he writes in an engaging and interesting style.
This historical novel by R. W. Peake is part of a multi-book series that follows several generations of Roman legionaries. It includes battles, unit politics, larger Roman historical events, and Roman political intrigue.
I’ve always been a sucker for historical novels set in antiquity, and this series is excellent. This is the second time I’ve read through the series. If you’re interested in learning what lifewas like for a Roman legionary, this is a great way to learn. It’s well researched and makes for an enjoyable read. I’d suggest you start from Volume 1.
I bought this book because a podcaster highly recommended it. It’s written by popular inspirational speaker and podcaster Mel Robbins. While it did have some useful and practical points, it used way too many words to present them. The main points could have been compressed into a couple of blog posts. It’s a valuable tool for implementing Stoic teaching about recognizing what we control and what we don’t, and provides a useful tool for preventing emotional autopilot from taking control. Robbins suggests that when people do things, we respond with thinking “Let them” and short-circuit the emotional response we might have. Then, say “Let me” and decide how or if you want to respond. “Let them, let me” is Stoicism in modern language. Let them do what they will—it’s outside my control. Let me focus on how I choose to respond—that’s where my freedom lies. See my blog post, From Anger to Calm: Practicing Stoicism with ‘Let Them, Let Me’.
Writing Two Blogs A Week
Since I launched my Retirement Reinvented! blog several weeks ago, I’ve been writing two blog posts a week in two different subject areas. I thought that might be confusing or difficult, but it’s worked out well.
I publish Original Mac Guy on Tuesday mornings and Retirement Reinvented on Saturday mornings. That gives me plenty of time between posts to prepare new ones. The last few weeks, I’ve been crafting more posts than necessary, so now I have a backlog of several posts for each blog. I like having a cushion so that if I’m sick or on vacation I don’t have to worry about drafting a new blog post.
Updated: July 26, 2025
I’ve Launched my Retirement Coaching Practice
I’ve been working on my Certified Professional Retirement Coach course since I signed up in March. After completing all of my academic work and passing my final test, I did practice coaching with four clients for a total of twelve hours.
I submitted my application for certification last week and expect to receive my certification early next week. I’ll then be able to add the logo to my website.
When I started the course, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do retirement coaching. I was primarily motivated to gain a more comprehensive understanding of retirement transition. But doing the practice coaching changed my mind. The awareness, thinking, and planning of my clients convinced me this would be a great way to help people prepare for or reinvent their retirement.
I don’t plan on this being a full-time job. I’m retired and have a number of other projects and interests. But it will be an ongoing part of my retirement project.
If you’d like more information, please visit my Retirement Coaching webpage.
Jury Duty in July
A couple of months ago, I was informed that I was tagged for jury duty in July. I was required to appear on Monday, July 14th. I was never on the “hot seat” as a prospective juror.
It was interesting to be in a courtroom again and listen to the attorneys ask prospective jurors questions. I’d done a few jury trials while practicing law. Even if I’d been selected, one of the attorneys would have dismissed me. I’ve been a criminal defense attorney and served for five years in a “pseudo police” role in the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. So neither the defense nor the prosecution would want me on a jury!
My Quarterly Review
At the beginning of July, I spent a night at a local Catholic Retreat Center, Terra Sancta, to work on my quarterly review and planning session. The Center provides an excellent setting to do a quarterly review with comfortable rooms, meeting rooms, and free coffee and tea during the day.
I reviewed what I did the prior quarter, then rewrote from scratch all of my roles and Arete statements, or ideal behaviors for each role. Next, I reviewed each of my roles and Arete statements in depth, asking several questions about each role.
As a result of my review, I had a list of actions under each role that I’m working on this quarter. I also set the primary theme of this quarter to be working on developing my retirement practice.
I follow the system outlined in The Productivity Field Guide by David Sparks. If you’ve been looking for a system to help you with what you do as well as why you do it, it’s worth looking at.
Updated: June 24, 2025
I intentionally don’t do much with social media, but it’s nice to have a place where people who are interested can keep up with what I’m doing. This page is designed to do just that. I typically update it about once a month.
Team MacSparky
- Earlier this month, I started doing some part-time work for David Sparks. I’m helping with copy reading and administrative tasks.
- David is a good friend that I’ve been following for a number of years. I’ve always appreciated his helpful advice. positive attitude, and creative abilities.
- I’m happy to help with administrative tasks so he can focus on doing what he does best: create new content.
- I’m proud to be a member of ‘Team MacSparky’!
Mindfulness Meditation
- I’m continuing to practice mindfulness meditation each morning after my morning routine.
- I’m learning some things about myself. When I do my meditation I find my mind is constantly thinking about what I’m going to be doing during the day. I notice I’m thinking about something, then gently switch back to focusing on my breathing. After several of these diversions, I wonder to myself what this might mean. Perhaps I’m anxious about doing well at each task, and I’m trying to think through it and prepare? Or, maybe, I’m afraid of messing things up and looking incompetent or foolish?
Retirement Coaching Course
- For several months, I’ve been in a Certified Professional Retirement Coach course. I’ve completed all my coursework and am currently participating in ‘practice coaching’ with four individuals. We meet for three one-hour sessions. I use worksheets to find out what issues clients are concerned about, and also teach them about all of the key areas to consider in retirement: Spiritual (values), mental, physical, social, and financial.
- I should complete my practice coaching during May. I can then apply for designation as a Certified Professional Retirement Coach.
I Have More Time and Energy as a Result of Ending My National Park Service Employment
- Last October, I became a part-time employee of the National Park Service, working two days a week. Between the 3-hour round trip and the extroverted behavior I (as an introvert) must exhibit when greeting visitors to the Visitor Center and leading tours, I find I’m completely exhausted at the end of a day–and it takes me the next day to recover. I resigned my position, as of Saturday, May 31st, and have transitioned back into being a volunteer.
- As a result of leaving part-time employment, I have much more time and energy to spend on my other projects. I knew I was stressed and tired before, but until I left, I didn’t realize how much of a negative this was in my life.
- I’m transitioning back to being an NPS volunteer, which allows me to set my own schedule and work only the number of days I choose to. I’m thinking I’ll do a day in July to keep my tour guide skills current and reconnect with the staff.
Retirement Website – “Retirement Reinvented”
I’ve published a new website, Retirement Reinvented. It features blog posts about the topic of retirement. As I continue to work on the website, I’m republishing posts I wrote in the past about retirement to build up a library of material. I plan to start writing new posts in the coming weeks.
After I receive my designation as a Certified Professional Retirement Coach, I will also include information about retirement coaching and offer my serivces to those interested.
I got the idea for this page from David Sparks, aka MacSparky, who got it from Derek Sivers. I don’t like using social media for updates, so on this page I can update you as to what I’ve been doing lately