Throughout my life, I have been fasacinated by quantitative studies. It never matter what the topic was, sports, construction, engineering, happiness, if there was a study about it, I was reading it. After I learned how to program myself, I casually would perform studies on my own. This blog is a place for us to openly talk about data, and any means we can apply it to everyday life, leisure, and hobbies.
Data Applied to Life
We Love Data!!!!
Does Home Field Advantage Matter in the Modern NBA?
The Backstory As someone who has grown up playing and watching hoops, I’ve always wondered, “Does home court matter at the professional level?” Do players crack under pressure more? Do fans sway the referree? What does the data show? Due to the wide variety and popularity of different sports out there, I’m going to break…
Does Home Field Advantage Matter in Baseball?
The Backstory As someone who has been a sports fan their entire life, the question, “Does it really matter if a team is at home?” has always fascinated me. Do players crack under pressure more? Do the fans sway the referree? What does the data show? Due to the wide variety and popularity of different…
How Much Money Do Americans Spend On Lunch?
The Backstory As I chomped on my take out sandwich during work today, I thought to myself, “Did I really just spend $16 for an artisan sandwich?” “Well, atleast I support local business,” I would try to reassure myself. This got me thinking, how much is the average fast food sandwich? Subways 5 lies dollar…
Apart from data, I have a wide range of hobbies and skills that I like to write about. If theres any other interest in those, please enjoy the below!
Skills
Piano
Learning/Recording Music – The Beginning
In October of 2005, I picked up my first musical instrument. I was a nerdy, chunky little boy who brough home a clarinet. After a year I decided I didn’t like the clarinet and swapped over to saxophone. Fast forward 16 years, 8 instruments, roughly 100 different performance venues, and here we are today. My…
How to Teach Yourself Piano
I learned how to play the piano in highschool. Being in the highschool marching band, I was around many people who grew up musically and that was not me. I was the only one in my family who played an instrument for an extended duration of time. I remember distinctly coming home one day after…
Chess
My Story of Chess and How to Learn to Play!
Chess – How and Where To Learn
As I mentioned in this blog post, 2021 was spent learning the game of chess. It started with a simple google that turned into a year long YouTube binge due to Levy Rosman, or as he’s known on YouTube, GothamChess. Gotham taught me a ton about the game, and this video was where I started.…
Chess – 2021 – The Climb
March, 2021. Jon – 800 ELO. Brandon – 750 ELO. Kinda friends, kinda chess players, where do we go from here? We set a goal. By the end of 2021, we would both hit 1200. The beginning to any skill is finding out where to learn, and how do we get better? The way I…
Chess – The Beginning
One of my favorite recent games that I have gotten back into is the game of chess. Chess is an art, well, a skillful art. 64 squares, unlimited possibilities, billions of permutations, one outcome: win, loss, draw. What’s not to love? Queen’s Gambit really got the excitement back in chess. I grew up playing, not…
Travel
Summiting the Grand Teton in One Day
Around March of 2022, I recieved a phone call during the work day from my buddy Chas. I hadn’t spoken to Chas for some time, so I immediately picked up the phone wondering if everything was ok. Little did I know what he was about to say would turn out to big the biggest challenge…
North Coast 500
In September of 2022, I got the opportunity to travel to Scotland for an extended period of time to visit my parter, Phoebe. This journey over to Scotland would we different though, as we decided we wanted to venture out of the city of Edinburgh where she lives and travel within the Scottish highlands. In…
Great Smoky Mountain Trip – December 2021
What started as a spontaneous urge, turned into one of the most remarkable, quickly planned trips of my lifetime. Growing up and living most of my life in the midwest, we rarely get to see hills let alone mountains. In the gap time between Christmas and New Years, I decided it was time to make…
I think often about that final question. I’ve met many people throughout my life who have decided to drop everything and just pursue something new. I’ve had a few people I know quit their job to hike the PCT, travel the US/Europe, or even career pivot and do something completely new because they weren’t happy. That takes guts. They took a leap. Me, I love my job. I have no complaints about where and what I do for a living, its actually rather fun and I have a great team. My issue is corporate lifestyle. Will I want to spend my days working for someone else? I get to create wonderful products, but at the end of the day, is it just being sold for profit, or is it actually there to cause good? As a human, I believe everyone at their core wants to do things to help other people. I once had a manager (big boss at my company) who sat down with every employee under him and asked what they wanted out of their job, and why they did it. More often than not, he said it was because at their core, people wanted to help people. I respected this manager an insane amount, and its somthing I keep with me to this day. Thanks, Colm.
I don’t know how I’m going to help people yet. I’m 26 years old, and I think I have time to figure that out. I may as well use this space, though, to help me document my journey as I embark on new skills and conquests throughout the adventure. I’m an ENFP, Myers-Briggs jargon for a campainger jack of all trades, master of none. I like new skills, and try them frequently to a point where I am comfortable and usually move on to a new one. Im going to use this space to talk about my learnings, and hopefully create a community where we can all talk and grow together
A Day In The Life 