tree in the desert

More customer service fun

on Oct 11, 2017

Received this one from fitbit this morning:

Let me translate:

Hi Calvin,

Thank you very much for getting back with us and providing us with the information requested. Your help through this process…

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The struggle

on Sep 01, 2017

A draft from July 2011. Publishing now.

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There’s a struggle between our inner Self and our outer learned, adapted sense of self.

Deconstructing our personality structure is a necessary part of t…

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Our job

on Sep 01, 2017

This has been sitting as a draft since November 2010. Figured I'd post it now ...

Steven Pressfield:

Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but…
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Mark Twain—and Christianity

on Aug 13, 2017

Watched the PBS documentary on Mark Twain, and it was excellent. It's a two-part show, part of the American Lives series by Ken Burns.

Toward the end, I cried. The hardship that brilliant man suffere…

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Prohibition

on Aug 08, 2017

Watching the Ken Burns PBS documentary on prohibition on Netflix. It's super interesting.

A few things I didn't know:

  • Before prohibition, up to 70% of tax revenue came from taxes on alcohol. The inco…
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Starting vs finishing

on Jul 23, 2017

When you first start a work of art — a book, a piece of music, a painting, whatever — all the possibilities are open, it can become anything.

When you're putting the finishing touches on it, your opti…

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