By Eddie Pipkin I’m not much of a gardener. I love growing things—love my yard—love green things in general. But I’m not disciplined enough to grow a formal garden. Our yard has a lightly loved, slightly overgrown-around-the-edges vibe (which is why we don’t live in a neighborhood with a homeowner’s association). Such spasmodic attentiveness can [...]
By Eddie Pipkin One of the researchers I linked you to last week touched on the topic of hedonic adaptation (also known as the hedonic treadmill), a concept that's been around in psychology for a long time--our tendency to grow accustomed to our circumstances over time and revert to an average (for us) emotional state. [...]
By Eddie Pipkin Finding yourself stuck on how to solve a thorny problem? Dipping into the well for your next imaginative endeavor and finding it bone dry? Checking the old brainbox for a new idea and finding the pantry empty? Well, science to the rescue, because there’s bona-fide new evidence out there that your best [...]
By Eddie Pipkin Well, Ian came and went, and while we have a profound sadness for our Florida brothers and sisters who took a direct hit on the southwest coast, here in Orlando the damage was relatively minor, with the exception of some truly biblical localized flooding. Even as the winds dropped into the less [...]
By Eddie Pipkin As I sit here in my Central Florida home, gazing out the window at my yard full of gorgeous live oaks, awaiting the imminent arrival of hurricane Ian, there’s nothing to do now but wait and try not to spiral into negative thinking about things we might have done differently in prepping [...]
By Eddie Pipkin I have some friends who get together to do an annual excursion to haunted-house-themed attractions. If you live in Central Florida, this is a big deal. People travel from across the country to visit Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights, Disney World’s Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, and Busch Gardens’ Howl-O-Scream. Each has a [...]
By Eddie Pipkin On the passing of Queen Elizabeth, the news was filled with special coverage which reviewed her extraordinary life and 70-year reign. What stood out was the astonishing historical and cultural change that transpired during her time on the throne. She presided over a period of great turmoil and transition – and probably [...]
By Eddie Pipkin Everybody needs friends. They are essential to our health and happiness. We’ve written about this topic on more than one occasion, because it’s one of those topics that pops back into the news cycle on a regular basis. Americans are lonelier than ever! Men have no friends! Senior citizens are despairing of [...]
By Eddie Pipkin Football season begins in earnest this weekend, and if you’ve read any of my blogs for any length of time, you’ll know that I love sports in general and football in particular, so I’m happy to renew my fall obsession with teams and contests. Last week I wrote about accountability, and one [...]
By Eddie Pipkin I wrote last week about my latest Colorado adventure and how, despite the distinct possibility of failure, my excursion team and I made it to the top of our designated peak. The key word in that last sentence is team, because none of us was likely to attempt such a feat on [...]
