Hobbies & Activities

As an academic in addition to being a writer, one of my greatest pleasures is sharing books that I’ve found interesting with others. Here, I want to share ten of those with you. I don’t follow any one theme or genre, but here are some works that have been influential in how I see the world today.

An astronaut team of 4 civilians successfully touched back down in the Atlantic ocean Saturday (9/19) evening after orbiting Earth for three days. The mission, known as Inspiration 4, consisted of a data engineer, a community college professor, a physician assistant, and a billionaire that financed the operation. None of the crew members are professional astronauts, making it the first ever mission to go to orbit without a professional astronaut on board. The Crew Dragon capsule carrying...

Throughout my life, I’ve been fortunate to get to travel a fair bit. I’ve seen a dozen countries and about half of the US, and will finally see the Pacific Ocean in a few weeks with a trip to Seattle for a work conference. In those travels, I’ve experienced a lot of things I wish that I’d have known sooner. Today, I want to share ten of those with you.

COVID restrictions have made travel to and from Mexico more difficult for the average traveler, and after a recent trip I thought it would be worth noting some of things you’ll need to make the trip easier. I had a great trip, but there were significantly more hoops to jump through than my normal international travel. I compiled a list of the 10 most important items you need to ensure your trip goes as smoothly as possible.

I know it’s unbearably hot in most of the world at the moment, but, thankfully, fall is coming. With that in mind, now is the perfect time to look for some fall essentials. Men’s fashion changes slowly, so last year’s stock, which retailers are looking to sell, is pretty likely to be on sale to make room for new fall looks in just a few weeks. So, let’s take advantage of those deals and pick up some great pieces.

If the last year and a half have taught me much of anything, it’s that sometimes, to stay sane, we need hobbies that we can do by ourselves. Work-from-home can all-too-easily become a deeply unhealthy cycle of being inside all the time, simply switching from work applications to fun ones when the clock strikes the appropriate hour. Instead, I want to suggest ten hobbies that I have used to try to balance work out with healthy living and keeping my mind engaged. While not all of these...

With the world recovering from Covid, albeit slowly, international leisure travel is coming back. I, for one, welcome this return to something like normal. Here, I want to share with you ten cities that I have been lucky enough to visit, and what I like about each of them. There are hundreds of amazing places in our world, and my travels haven’t taken me to enough of them yet, but I hope this helps spark your wanderlust all the same.

During the course of a normal life, you’re likely going to face something that needs to be fixed or upgraded in some way. More commonly, that means calling someone to fix the problem you’re currently facing. And, as someone who has spent a good bit of his life in the construction field, I think most people should have a fair sense of their skills, and when they’re out of their depth, call a professional. With that caveat said, I want to offer you ten tools that I think will make you more...

Over the last two decades, I’ve been to over a dozen countries and a good few states, traveling by car, plane, foot, and train. In those travels, I’ve noticed that there seem to be some things that are constants, especially unpredictability. No matter how well you plan or prepare, there will likely be a situation that you just couldn’t predict that can make your day a little bit harder. Here, I want to share with you ten things that I keep with me whenever I travel to help offset that...

Over my lifetime, I’ve learned to love to cook. Some of my best memories come from the kitchen: cooking breakfast with grandma before anyone else was up, making dinner with a partner on a romantic evening, or just relaxing after a long day. Here, I want to share ten things that have made me a better home cook. I’m not a chef, so my advice should be taken with a pinch of salt, but I hope you can learn something from one of my favorite tips, tricks, and tools.

I don’t know about you, but in my neck of the woods it’s starting to get seriously hot. And, now with the world going back to something like normal, weddings, parties, and casual drinks with friends are starting to become possible again. When we’re out and about, sweat stains are not the look we’re going for. One way to cut down on the sweat and up the style factor on your summer outfits, one easy way to do is to experiment with new shirts. Here, I’ll recommend three that I think are not...

For most men, there has not been a great deal of change in our dress shoes for decades. If you work in an office job, go to the occasional wedding, or even just have them stashed in a closet, the standards are black or brown lace-up oxfords. But, with the weather getting warmer and different contexts for formal events coming up, now is a good time to re-evaluate those old standbys. Here, I want to talk about expanding your repertoire of summer dress shoes to give your look a more...

For much of the past century, hats have fallen out of style in menswear: long gone are the days where men wore a hat with every outfit, taking it off when they entered a building as a matter of course. Now, they’ve become something more niche in fashion. More recently, a lot of men have shied away from hats; the idea of the less than flattering fedora with a t-shirt look from about a decade ago have turned a lot of us off from headwear. But, I don’t think it has to be this way. Here, I want...

Considering you’ve read the title and you’re still here, I imagine that you are open to change in terms of style. That’s good because the first thing I’m going to do is ask you to, for a moment, suspend your skepticism of sandals. For some time now, sandals have been really frowned upon in men’s fashion circles, and not without good reason: a lot of us have bad memories (or pictures) of white socks with black nylon sandals and jeans. Mistakes were made. We know this, and we can move on...

Tired of spending hours mowing your lawn? Honda might have the answer with their Mean Mower V2, a 200hp lawnmower that goes 0-100mph in 6.29 seconds and has a top speed of 150mph. While it may not look like a traditional lawnmower, it can still cut grass and can allegedly do so at speeds up to 50mph – just think of all the time you would save. Unfortunately, Honda is not expecting to bring it to mass market. At an estimated cost of over $120,000/mower, we can’t say we blame them. Honda UK...

It’s no secret that first round draft picks get paid serious money, and this year was no exception. The 2021 NFL Draft added 32 new players to the league in the first round, and even the 32nd pick is set to make $11.2 million. Each rookie gets a 4 year contract, and the total contract value is split out between a signing bonus and yearly salaries. The difference of a few picks can mean the difference in millions of dollars in contract value for the rookies. We compiled a list of all the...

Did you hear about the crop duster who turned out being worth $18 Billion and the 4th richest person in the United States? John T. Walton was born in Arkansas, October 8th, 1946. He was a star football player in High School, but then dropped out of College to play the flute and join the U.S. Army. During the Vietnam War John was a Green Beret who went on to win the Silver Star for bravery. John came back from the war and learned to fly, first being a corporate pilot, and then crop...

Once a year, people from all over the world gather at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucester, England for the annual cheese rolling competition. The sport involves a 200 yard hill, trained athletes, and rounds of Double Gloucester cheese rolling at speeds up to 70mph. The goal is relatively simple: catch the cheese. The event starts by sending a 7-9 pound roll of cheese down the hill. After the cheese has a one second head start, competitors chase the cheese. The first person to catch the cheese, or...

Very few NFL quarterbacks have the opportunity to compete in a Super Bowl, and even fewer actually win one. From that select group of Super Bowl winners, an even smaller group of QB’s have won multiple. We compiled a list of these QB’s and ranked them from fewest wins to most. Please navigate through using the NEXT button at the bottom of each page.

Reaching speeds of over 2400mph (Mach 3.2), the SR-71 “Blackbird” has cemented itself in history as the fastest plane in the world. It was so purpose built that the plane actually leaked fluid when it wasn’t flying, as the connections and hoses were designed to perform in high heat/high stress applications where they would expand and seal. The USAF could reportedly only fly each plane once per week since maintenance and repairs after each flight were so extensive. Even with these...