Part of the story we are told about how the world works is that we should have faith in institutions. In the short term, that story has proven to be true. In my current job, I come in at 9am, do my work, leave at 6pm, and twice a month a predetermined amount of money is deposited into my account.

In hindsight, the educational institutions that were supposed to be the solid foundation upon which my future is built have either had cracks in their foundations or have completely crumbled.

Continue reading “Looking back on a Trail of Broken Institutions” →

Continue reading “11 Pieces of Wedding Planning Advice (from my wife)” →

An aspect of modern living that my parents never had to deal with was having (real or perceived) unlimited options.

Here is a brief list of the aspects of life that they had very limited options about that I can have any variation of: Continue reading “The Grass is Always Greener: Satisfaction when you have Unlimited Options” →

I could have written my thoughts about police brutality and Black Lives Matter after Trayvon Martin. I didn’t. After reading the news, scrolling through social media, and listening to hot takes, I felt like everything that I would have said had already been said.

I could have written my thoughts after Michael Brown. I didn’t. I felt like everything had already been said. Continue reading “Completely Original Thoughts about Police Brutality and Black Lives Matter” →

When I reflect on the last six months or so of work, I can point to tasks and projects that I’ve completed and feel a sense of accomplishment. However, within that sense of accomplishment, like fruit on the bottom of a cup of yogurt, lies a sense of dissatisfaction.

In trying to understand why that dissatisfaction exists for me, I remembered Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. I superimposed this framework for understanding human motivation over my work streams for the last half year and it helped me understand why I may be feeling the way I am. Continue reading “Work Satisfaction as Understood by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” →

Three years ago, I was attempting to rent an apartment. One of the last steps was for the landlord to conduct a background check on me and my wife. He called me shortly after he completed the background check, telling me that he was, unfortunately, unable to rent us the apartment. He didn’t feel comfortable renting the apartment to someone who had been accused of domestic violence.

This was news to both of us. Continue reading “Exploring Parallel Universes: The Fates of 8 People with my Name” →

My senior year of college I lived with three of my good friends in an old house in Albany, NY. The three of them had bedrooms upstairs and mine was downstairs. One day, I walked out of my room and saw one of my roommates sitting on a burgundy loveseat we called the “murder chair” because of its crimson hue. Continue reading “Learning to be Bored” →

Like many people my age, my first experience with social media was MySpace. Technically, AOL chat rooms were before that, but that wasn’t really social media. I would only chat with individual people (chat rooms were a mess) and the anonymity of a screen name stopped me from posting anything too personal.

I posted inconsistently on MySpace. It wasn’t until I migrated to Facebook in 2005 that I started consistently putting my life online for the world to see. Back then the wall was a huge text block that anyone could edit and I didn’t worry about privacy because the only people on Facebook were my college friends.

Over time Facebook grew and I became “friends” with family members, coworkers, people I met at conferences and old classmates. Whenever I posted things to Facebook I would overthink it, trying to think about who is going to see it and what they’re going to think.

As a result, I left Facebook for a few months. In that time, I discovered Twitter and Reddit, where I could connect with people who had shared interests. I ultimately returned to Facebook, but now what I post there is very different. My life is spread out online in the following way: Continue reading “Social Media: Where I Post What and Why” →

Growing up as a Catholic, one of my favorite parts of the faith was Lent. During this period, Catholics choose something to deny themselves for 40 days in preparation for Easter, when we celebrate Christ’s resurrection.

Like a lot of Catholics, I started by giving up the obvious things like chocolate and other treats. However, the most impactful Lent I ever had was when I gave up cursing. I love to curse (did then, do now), so it was a meaningful decision. What I didn’t realize until a couple of weeks into my decision was how sensitive I would become to other people cursing. Continue reading “Using Vacations to become Resensitized” →

I’ve been working as a recruiter for the last year and a half. In that time, I’ve rejected over 1,000 people who have applied for jobs. There are a small number of people who we have given feedback to, but the grand majority of folks get rejected and never find out why.

Here’s a chance for me to speak back to you all.

Before I begin, let me say that I don’t speak for my organization. I don’t speak for all recruiters. My experience is my own so I can only speak for myself. Continue reading “An Open Letter to the 1,000 Job Applicants I’ve Rejected” →