The ultimate cause of death was surprising — The Atlantic Ocean unfolded under my wings as I made my way home from war. I think we were around halfway back to American soil when my marriage breathed its last. Iraq had beaten the hell out of me for nearly 15 months, but I knew the worst was yet…

He left Tampa mostly alone to come find me — I was told to get the hell out of Tampa Monday. I checked the latest hurricane models, decided Tampa was about to get directly hit, and made a snap decision to flee east to Orlando. Tuesday morning I woke up in my hotel, feeling good about that decision. My dog…

She is not taking displacement well — My wife left town last week to visit relatives in our home state. As she was flying out of Tampa, I got a notification on my phone that Tropical Depression 9 was forming in the Atlantic. I shrugged, shoved my phone back in my pocket, and turned the car toward…

I was just minding my own business, Medium-ing, and then… — I was >< this close to quitting. Seriously. I’d been slinging on Medium for several years, starting and stopping, quitting and rejoining the Partner Program. I was spinning my wheels and blaming my lack of success on any convenient thing I could think of. “The curators are dumb! They wouldn’t…

This makes meetings so much more intolerable — ca·ve·at (/ˈkavēˌat,ˈkävēˌät/) — noun a warning or proviso of specific stipulations, conditions, or limitations. (Oxford Dictionary) We thoughtlessly abuse words all the time. Sean Kernan has a great piece about misuse of the word “irony,” which set me to thinking about my pet peeve word. I entered a teleconference yesterday…

Buckle up for his advice. It’s high-octane. — Pithy quotes can change your life, let me tell you! I just finished re-watching season two of Undercover Billionaire recently, and I was both glad and exhausted from the experience. The glad part was because of the premise: take rich peoples’ money away, drop them in the middle of basically…

And other musings from an aging Soldier — Warning: I’m going off-script here. This one is not about divorce. I’m 47 years old. I’ve been in the military for nearly 28 of those. The dude I am now only vaguely resembles the kid who decided to go down that path in a whole different millennium. Each time I…

At least, not right away… — “So what’s after graduation?” I asked. I was a youth pastor, and that was a question I had asked over and over to high school seniors for nearly a decade. I had no idea that this particular conversation would soon cause the end of that career for me. “I’m going…

The results are all on you — “Do you know what your problem is?” he started. “You should totally (blah blah blah).” I hate when conversations take that turn. So do you, I’m sure. You’re having a bad day, someone pissed you off, life is not awesome right now. You decide to tell someone what’s going on. …