Can Money Buy Happiness?
You know the old saying “Money can’t buy you happiness.”? I’ve never bought into it, and now there’s a big fancy Princeton study to prove me right. See, I’ve always felt that most people’s number one source of stress in their lives was money. I’ve always felt that if there wasn’t that stress of figuring out how to pay the bills there could generally be a heightened level of happiness. Not that it was money that was making you happy, but it was the lack of stress that was allowing you to be happy. Make sense?
Now, I guess to be fair, this study doesn’t completely prove me right, because according to Princeton, it only works if you make $75,000 a year. Any less and you’re stressed you aren’t making enough. Any more and you’re stressed about losing it all. It also states that the more you make it doesn’t show an increased level of happiness. Fair enough right?
See I’ve never been on the “other side” of the money scale and I’m guessing neither have a lot of you. But I’m curious. Any validity to this study? Have you seen an increase in happiness the more you’ve made? Or a decrease the less?
The Best Dog
Eleven years ago when I saw a fat tiny puppy being given away in front of a grocery store, I never would have thought…
I remember when I got Luther thinking how weird it was to think that he’d probably be the dog that played with my kids. Kristin and I weren’t even dating yet, and kids weren’t even close to being on the radar.
I remember teaching him to understand what I was saying instead of ‘normal’ commands. Things like ‘get in the car’ and ‘go to bed’. He didn’t listen to anyone else, but he knew what I was saying.
I remember the open bag of dog food I left in the back of my car because we were always going some place and he needed snacks.
I remember taking him on a six mile backpacking trip and to the top of a mountain (in the rotating pictures above) where his feet got all cut up and I ended up carrying him six miles out of the woods.
Once Kristin and I were married, I remember him embracing his role of protector and literally grabbing Kristin’s pant leg with his teeth and pulling her from getting too close to the ocean in Northern California.
I remember taking him to the river and teaching him to jump off the fifteen-foot rocks into the water like we would do.
I remember his attitude change when we first brought Blue home from the hospital. Then I remember him coming around and rolling on the ground, licking Blue’s face. Then I remember bringing home another little boy for him to play with and run away from. And another.
I remember being out on a walk with him and watching him get hit by a car, flung into a yard only to get up and shake it off with no effects except a black tire mark all the way down his back.
I remember loading him up and driving across the country to live in a 700 square foot apartment with (then) four people and a cat. Then I remember moving again. I remember his favorite spot in all six houses he lived in.
I remember the days I was out on the road he’d sleep at the top of the stairs making sure he was the first line of defense for the family. And days I was home, he’d sleep on the floor next to my side of the bed and take the night off.
Yesterday we said goodbye to Luther. Quite literally the World’s best dog. Sure, he occasionally crapped on the floor. Sure he had days when his attitude was lousy. But there was no better, more loyal animal alive. When I got him, I had several dog experts tell me that because of his breed (German Shepherd / Akita) he could be a little mean. They also said that it was one of the most loyal, protective dogs that I could get. And that’s exactly what he was.
Now, I know some of you aren’t dog people and this isn’t that big of a deal, but when you share this many experiences with someone there is no doubt in my mind they are part of the family. And these memories are just a few. I couldn’t have asked for a better dog to have around my wife and kids. He will be missed for sure.
SkörInc Weekend Getaway
It’s team building week this week with SkörInc. Okay. I’m totally joking, but we are getting together for a little quality time at Lake Erie. You know. Because that’s what teams do right? Go to Lake Erie?
Seriously though. Since we are spread out all over the country, we’ve decided to take this long Labor Day Weekend and join up for a little regrouping and hang time. Not to mention, since we are all over the country, our families have never met, so it’s a great time to make that happen. We’ve gotten busier and busier and it’s time to take a moment to have some fun, get to know each other a little better and hit it hard when we come back.
I thought about making some shirts, but I couldn’t think of anything awesome enough. Let’s hear it. What should this SkörInc weekend be called? Best name gets a digital high five from me.
Ready? Go.
MYNH – Dan Craig
I have a new favorite. I got an email today from a guy who stumbled on to the “Music You’ve Never Heard” section of this site and recommended this guy. Come on. This guy is the deal for sure. Not quite as sad as Damien Rice, but easily just as emotional. And just to be sure… you need to stay to the end of this video. Then everyone go check out Dan Craig and buy his stuff. Let him know you heard about him on “Music You’ve Never Heard”.
Go on.
Sadness
I’ve been thinking a little about sadness today. It’s amazing to me how many different levels of sadness there are. And it blows me away that no matter what level you are in, there are always deeper levels of sadness and, the natural opposite of that, more shallow levels. It’s not that these ’shallow’ levels aren’t as sad. They are just different.
Today is the first day Kristin and I are realistically looking at taking our dog of 11 years in to be put down. He’s at a point where he hasn’t eaten in three days, can barely walk and doesn’t even lay comfortably. I’ve talked to the vet, they recommend bringing him in when we are ‘ready’. I’m not sure we’ll ever be ‘ready’, but there’s a sadness in choosing when to end his life. Sadness.
A friend I went to High School with is burying her dad today. He had a long bout with cancer and it finally got the best of him and he passed last week. This same friend has a sister 2000 miles away, unable to travel to the funeral because she’s having a baby. Today. The very day of her own dad’s funeral. Words can’t even describe the emotional conflict going on in that house. The mom unable to be there for the daughter as she’s giving birth. The daughter unable to be there with the rest of her family as they lay her dad to rest. The joy of new life, and the ache of saying goodbye. Sadness.
Seems like this life is full of it. And there’s no way around it. I wish I had some inspirational thing to write on here, but I don’t. If you’re a praying person, offer one up for our friends in California. I’m sure they could use it.
‘When The World Ends’
So, Barry might make fun of me for this. Probably call me a dirty hippie or something, but there’s no denying how amazingly these two guys can make their guitars talk. I’m an unashamed Dave Matthews fan for sure, but I’m more of a fan of his acoustic stuff, especially when it’s just him and Tim Reynolds. Mind blowing. I’d love to be able to pull off half the stuff he does with his guitar and still have the ability to sing.
Any Dave Matthews fans out there?
Natalie Grant’s ‘Love Revolution’ Today
Alright people. You know the drill. Today is release day for a one Mrs. Natalie Grant. I’ve been pretty heavily involved in this project, so it’s time for all the SkörKeepers to step up and start spreading the word. Make sure if you Tweet it, use the hashtag #LoveRevolution. Also make sure you use the link – http://bit.ly/bNFOk2 either on Twitter or Facebook. And for the 3 of you still on Myspace, do something there too.
Now that the business is done I’d love to know what you people think about this record. I know this crowd has a pretty diverse musical style so I’m interested in your thoughts. Thanks for spreading the word and being a part of this community.
Thoughts On Books
Seth Godin announced today that he’s not publishing any more books. Not in the traditional way at least. The way I read it, he’s a little unclear as to what he’s going to do, but it’s for sure not going to be the ‘hard cover – sold in a bookstore’ type of way. Pretty interesting huh? He’s living out what he wrote in Linchpin.
Sure, I’ve got some mixed thoughts on the whole thing, but here’s what I like about it. 1: I like that he’s stepping out and doing something different. I like that he’s taking what he talks about and putting it to practice. To me he’s going against what’s easy and testing out what could quite literally change things. 2: This might be the thing that pushes me over the edge and I’ll go get that iPad I’ve been on the fence about for so long.
Seriously though. This post originally had nothing to do with Seth Godin, but it seems to fall in line perfectly with what I was going to talk about. You ready for that?
I’m not what you’d call an ‘avid reader’ but I enjoy a good book now and then. You all know about our SkörInc Reading List and I’m doing pretty well on that. So here’s my question. Once you’re done with a book, what do you do with it? Pass it on to a friend? Take it to a Used Book Store? Shelve it? Kindling for the fire place? I guess the reason I’m wondering is because I’d like to hear your opinions on how passing books around among friends. Come on. Be honest. Who does this? Is there a difference between doing this and passing on a CD? Do you think that this is attributing to Seth Godin changing his format?
Now obviously passing books around has been the same forever. It’s not like digital music and how it became easy to duplicate, but what’s the consensus here? Is passing a book to a friend for them to read the same as burning them a CD? Thoughts?
Ready? Go.
Learn Something New Every Day
I ask my boys almost every day what they learned that day. Whether it’s at school, at home, at a friends, I figure they must have learned something. Typically the answer is “nothing”, but every once in a while they answer with something they really did learn that day. It’s kind of awesome to see when that happens.
I’m no good with Excel. In fact, it’d be safe to say that not only am I no good with Excel, but I also am not a fan of Excel. I don’t like the way it works. I don’t like the columns. I don’t like that when I do something in one box it messes with other boxes. It’s just a jacked up program that I wish I knew better. I’m also no good with Wireframes. I love the idea of wireframes. I’m just not good at mapping something out like that and it takes me forever to get it right.
Recently I’ve started to realize that it seems like more days than not I go to bed having learned something that I didn’t know when I woke up that day. Not because I’m seeking out these things that I need to know, but because some circumstance that day has caused me to do something I either, (a.) hate to do and so I haven’t learned it, or (b.) something I didn’t know how to do but needed to get done. So I’ve started paying attention.
I’ve even started a little notebook where I’m writing down the things that I’ve learned. Now, let’s be clear, these aren’t Earth shattering things. In fact, I’m even a little embarrassed to admit that today I wrote down that Kristin taught me how to change Excel sheets from vertical to horizontal for printing. Seems easy enough right? Well, I didn’t know it because I hate Excel and never wanted to learn it. In fact, currently I am forcing my brain to remember how to do that so I don’t intentionally forget it because I ‘don’t want to learn it’. And yesterday I sat down with several sheets of paper and tried to learn wireframes. I ended up working it out and now it’s something I feel more comfortable with. Not perfect, but I’m getting there.
Anyway, all that to say, this is something I’m going to try to start doing. And like most posts on this site, I’m going to ask you. What’d you learn today? It could be something as lame as turning a page sideways in Excel, but we all learned something. Who’s with me in starting a little notebook and writing these things down. Imagine how cool it would be in a year to look back at all the junk you’ve learned.
If You Could Do One Thing…
If you could do one thing for a living what would it be? Let’s call this your ‘dream job’. What is it? And why aren’t you doing it?
Ready? Go.
