PicoBlog

Happy nearly end of the year! Despite my misgivings about the “new year, new you” movement (I personally like to start my goals and resolutions before the mythical Jan 1 date), I recognise it’s still a great time to reflect on the year gone by and the year to come. I hope you’re getting a festive break from work this year, so you can have that downtime for reflection, but if not, then try and take at least an hour - maybe go for a walk - and use it to guide your thoughts as you turn towards 2024.

Early in his career, the famous actor Sir Michael Caine struggled with an errant chair disrupting a scene. It blocked the doorway he was supposed to enter through, and his teacher gave him a piece of advice that stuck with him:  “Use the difficulty,” Caine said. “If it’s a comedy, fall over (the chair). If it’s a drama, pick it up and smash it…Now I took that and I used it in my own life.

The Washington Commanders selected Kansas State tight end Ben Sinnott with the 53rd overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. The 6-foot-4, 250 pound tight end received high praise from Commanders general manager Adam Peters after the draft when Peters compared him to 49ers tight end George Kittle and 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk, both of whom Peters worked with in San Francisco. Comparing Sinnott to the best fullback in football and one of the best tight ends in football is setting a high bar for him and I think it’s unfair to expect him to hit that right away, but he is someone that has plenty of potential to develop into a well-rounded football player that offers a lot of flexibility in how he can be used.

The fabled 4% rule, is one of the first “rules” new converts to the Financial Independence Retire Early movement run into. The “rule” suggests that you can safely withdraw 4% of your investment portfolio annually in retirement, adjusting for inflation, with a high likelihood for a traditional retiree to not run out of money before they die. The “rule” suggests that you can safely withdraw 4% of your investment portfolio annually in retirement, adjusting for inflation, with a high likelihood for a traditional retiree to not run out of money before they die.

When you fly into Auckland, this beautiful place in the world, you see the landscape, the unique colours and contours of the land and sea. You are not landing at a fully developed Europe destination where all the towns seem to join up as one, or a sweaty Asian city with skyscrapers reaching to the sky. It is not a North American landscape with deserts and mighty highways criss crossing the place.

On Monday night, after a disastrously poor showing in Iowa — he got 191 totalvotes — former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. "My message of being a principled Republican with experience and telling the truth about the current front runner did not sell in Iowa” said Hutchinson. “I stand by the campaign I ran.” Enter the Democratic National Committee, who thought it made sense to dunk on Hutchinson in this moment.

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Hi Everyone! You are either reading this because you are my mom, you actually clicked the link on my instagram, or you are a TS;DW listener. No matter who you are, thank you for being here. I’m writing this newsletter to you, my dear friends, because I’m looking for somewhere to share the thoughts and ideas and tiny *cures for depression* that are always floating around in my head. Also, I have become absolutely stupid after having two children and need a way to flex my brain again.

In my quest to help my daughter learn the elusive art of falling asleep, I’ve come across this “fussing” term many times. What does it actually mean? How is it different to crying?   Precious Little Sleep (the baby sleep bible) recommends a “Fuss It Out” method of sleep coaching as a gentle alternative to “Cry It Out.” This suggests that fussing is considered less stressful (to both parents and baby) than crying.