Category: Uncategorized

This weekend Lynne and I drove to Durham to visit our friend Rob for the week. In addition to being our first non-weekend trip since July, this is also the first time I have road tripped more than 10 hours since 2016. It was fun driving through WI, IL, IN, KY, WV, VA and NC… Continue reading

Coincidentally, the day after posting about systems thinking and its connection to our environment (and what we do about climate change), I found this podcast episode by 99% Invisible, which is a design podcast I have referenced before:https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/oops-our-bad/ In the episode, host Roman Mars interviews author Elizbeth Kolbert about new book, Under a White Sky: The… Continue reading

Earlier this year I read a book called Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows. It is an intro to a field called Systems Thinking, which is being used to tackle some of the biggest challenges we face today. All throughout the book, Meadows refers back to the environment and natural world which of course built… Continue reading

As we continue our Lenten journey, I would like to share some prayers of petition from the USCCB website related to care of creation. Which one strikes you today? Which can you carry with you this week? O Lord, grant us the grace to respect and care for Your creation.Lord, hear our prayer. O Lord,… Continue reading

One of my favorite ways to relax and spend time with others is enjoying a good craft beer. Just like some people enjoy the nuances of wine, whiskey or other food or drink, I find a lot of enjoyment sampling different IPAs, pale ales, amber ales, stouts and more. I was thinking this week how… Continue reading

Don’t look now but we are just two weeks away from Easter. If you’re like me, there is still room for improving the fruitfulness of this Lenten season. This includes spending time more in the next two weeks reflecting on our call to repentance and to examine where I am being called to conversion. As… Continue reading

To complete our dive into toasters, let’s look at how much energy it takes to toast your piece of bread. As we discussed yesterday, once you press down the toast lever, electrons are moving in the toaster heating wires. The wire material and the length of the wire determine how much resistance there is to… Continue reading

So you plugged in your toaster and it can draw electricity from your outlet. Now what? When you press down the lever on your toaster to start toasting, there are two metal contacts that are pushed together to touch and allow electrons to flow between them. This creates a closed circuit which does two things:… Continue reading

In my current job at Spectrum Brands, I manage new product development for toaster ovens and toasters. When I mention this to others, it usually sparks some fun, lighthearted conversation with folks who either ask random questions about these products or want to know what’s next in the world of toasters. Toasters also tend to… Continue reading

Yesterday at Mass I noticed a line in the Eucharistic prayer (the set of prayers during the Liturgy of the Eucharist) that has not stood out to me before. After the “Holy, Holy” response from the congregation, the presider then calls upon the Holy Spirit and in eucharistic prayer 3 says: “Father, you are holy… Continue reading