What I Learned at Life Today
Look Ma, I Made a Thing
![Before_After Before and after shelves](http://www.stephrouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Untitled-design-1024x578-1160x665.png)
Just when you think a little shelving project will be simple and breezy, along comes Pinterest. Want to add a simple shelf to the bathroom? Are you sure you don’t instead want to create a Rube Goldberg-inspired, steam punk-themed shelving system that makes your bathroom look like a boiler room from the Victorian Age? (Do […]
It’s a Tooth!
![arctic-2027590_1280 It’s a Tooth!](http://www.stephrouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/arctic-2027590_1280-1024x698-1160x665.png)
A friend and I met to have a brown bag lunch today at Reed College, her place of employ. While she was grabbing her lunch from the fridge, the narwhal photo (because of course there was a photo of a narwhal magneted to the staff fridge at Reed College) prompted me to wonder at the […]
The Bookshelf Test
![rmGiAfGBq6IM5LyBzcCMSE40uJTEnnnM6lvpllWRE_w "It's a match"](http://www.stephrouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/rmGiAfGBq6IM5LyBzcCMSE40uJTEnnnM6lvpllWRE_w-1160x665.jpg)
Tinder. Bumble. OK Cupid. Coffee Meets Bagel. Online dating platforms abound, and they can suck up as much time as you let it. Whether you have tried out a dating app for yourself or not, you have probably heard of the “swipe left / swipe right” decision point. Swipe left, and the person’s profile is […]
Grief and Cycling
![temp beautiful morning shot of Stanley, ID](http://www.stephrouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/temp-1160x665.png)
This is a probably-three-parter series about loss, because that’s been the kind of month/year/half-decade this has been. One of the inspirations for writing 30 blog posts in 30 days (we’re going to make it!) is my Dad’s legacy of openness, which I am trying to build more firmly into my being. At his memorial service, […]
Gabby Smashes!
![Gabby Gabby Smashes banner image](http://www.stephrouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Gabby-1160x665.png)
Today’s blog post is a shameless cross-promotional log roll of the Why Isn’t Anyone Talking About This? podcast. In this episode, “Gabby Smashes!“, Alexis Gabriel and I talk with Dawn Jones Redstone and Luann Algoso about how Gabby Antonio has been smashing the Imperialist, White Supremacist, Capitalist Patriarchy. What I learned at life today: Podcast editing […]
The Joy of Budgets
![IMG_20180521_165531285 The Joy of Budgets](http://www.stephrouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/IMG_20180521_165531285-1024x777-1160x665.jpg)
Friends help friends budget better, so before going any farther, I want to give shout outs to those who got me on the life-bettering path of budgeting: Esther Harlow, Heidi Guenin, and Lillian Karabaic of Oh My Dollar! Our collective relationship to money is a strange, complicated thing. Merit is often ascribed in direct proportion […]
Out of Office
![Tyrannosaurus-hedgehog hedgehog putting on a dinosaur mask](http://www.stephrouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Tyrannosaurus-hedgehog-1160x665.gif)
Automatic responses may have become a necessary communication technique to explain that a response may be delayed, but they can feel…boring. I learned from my former coworker, Ash, that out-of-office responses need not be relegated to yawning status. Animated hedgehog GIFs have become my favorite out-of-office visual confections. What I learned at life today: Giving […]
Minute to Win It
![IMG_20180701_131114937 Minute to Win It](http://www.stephrouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/IMG_20180701_131114937-1024x671-1160x665.jpg)
My sister-in-law, Jo, is one of the more creative people I have met. She is a choir teacher, a professional musician, and the mom of two precocious children. Her response to statements of nonplussedness? “Boredom is a choice.” As our immediate side of the family is spending the week on vacation, Jo has brought a […]
Triathlon Sprints Are Hilarious
![34258812_10155286975402175_1517424748974309376_n Triathlon Sprints Are Hilarious](http://www.stephrouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/34258812_10155286975402175_1517424748974309376_n-e1530453681739-1160x665.jpg)
This is only vaguely related, but one thing I learned this morning was to always go to the restroom before a morning run, especially in a new place. It was a rough lesson that I’m not likely to forget. When doggie bag dispensers look like the next best thing… Moving on! I had been thinking […]