Daniel J Isom

It's the end of the year and time for an update on how well I did on my two (actually 6) goals. Goal #1: Improve Overall Health I think I did everything I could to try and not get this one done in the second half of the year. Well, I did try and was successful with two out of the three, but the first one was really my main goal and I couldn't stay focused on making it happen. Get Below 25% Body Fat From our trip in July through Christmas, exercise was sporadic at best as were my eating habits. I got back on the wagon at the end of December and have made a very dedicated effort with calorie tracking while fitting in some exercise and I was able to get down to 26.9% for the year. Obviously I didn't get to my goal, but having pizza making as my other main goal didn't do me any favors. For next year, I'm focusing on this single year long goal. Average Sleep Score Above 85 I know what I need to do to get a consistent sleep score above 85 for a given month. The question i...

In my ongoing effort to embrace minimalism and live a more intentional life, I'm always on the lookout for ways to simplify my life. This post is about decluttering my digital life, not changing habits when it comes to technology (that'll be a future post). Speaking of technology, its explosion pushed everyone into a new space and my generation was on the forefront of that unstoppable wave. Now, we all have two lives that we're living in and while they are very much entwined, they have to be handled in very different ways. First, there is our physical life where we accumulate all sorts of belongings that fill our living and work spaces. The limitation of space to hold all of those items keeps us mostly in check. Even if you're a hoarder that pushes the extremes of your limitation, decluttering to free up space isn't hard from a logistical standpoint. There are emotional and mental barriers that make getting rid of certain possessions difficult, but the act of ...

Just before James was born, Walmart started offering grocery pickup in our area. They had displays in the store encouraging customers to try it out. On the display was a handout explaining the benefits and gave a code for $10 your first order. We figured it was free money so why not try it out; I haven't gone full on grocery shopping since. It's such a great system that I thought I would share some thoughts on it in case you're interested in taking advantage of it wherever you are. Let me say now that I like going grocery shopping. When we lived in NY and shopped at Wegmans , it was one of the highlights of my week. If you've ever been to a Wegmans you understand what I mean. But we don't have the mecca of grocery stores here in Delaware so my options are limited. Walmart has the best prices, Savings Catcher , and now a service that saves me both time and money. I no longer need to walk through a ginormous store and then stand in line because they never have...

I'm a fan of social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter . I don't use Facebook as often as I used to but I'm still posting pictures of the kids, games I've played, or foods I've made. I also use it to share political memes that sometimes lead to interesting conversation. Most of my social media time is spent on Twitter, which I joined to help spread the word of my board game publishing company when it was still a thing. I've since transitioned that account to a personal one, but most my followers and the people I follow are still very board game related. What I like about Twitter more than any other social media platform is the board game community that's been built on there and the ability to see all of the breaking news around the world. The biggest reason I gravitated towards Twitter was that there was a form of privacy from the people I deal with face to face in everyday life, like family and friends, because nobody was using it. A few of thos...

I wanted to talk about podcasts, their origin, if you've heard of them, what ones you listen to, etc. But everyone knows about podcasts, whether they listen to them or not, and the origin story isn't very interesting so all I really want to know is, what podcasts do you listen to?

I've been thinking a lot lately about topics I want to talk about here on the blog, but I often find that I don't really know enough about some of the subjects to really post anything worth reading. What's the solution? Deep dive into the internet to learn more. I was doing that recently, when I came to the realization that I spend WAY too much time staring at a screen throughout the day. I wake up and use my phone before the kids get up, then I'm in front of a computer all day at work, then I sit at home on my phone here and there before bed while also watching TV, and once everyone else is asleep, I'm up for another hour or two looking at my phone. In a given day, I look at a screen for approximately 10 to 12 hours. Is it greatly affecting my life, my health, and/or my relationships with others? Hard to tell since I'm paying so much attention to a screen of some sort. This has to stop.

I wanted to write something about playing board games online and where to do so, but a quick Google search found a great article on MakeUseOf.com  by Dann Albright that covered what I was going to write about and then some. You can read his really great article here . So instead, I'd like to talk about how digital gaming doesn't always scratch the itch for me, but it can with a little effort and the right people.