I am on vacation this week in the Laurel Highlands of western Pennsylvania, famous as the location of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. It’s a quiet and beautiful four-season destination*, and our rental home incredibly lacks wifi and cell phone service. It has been a nice break. I am not alone: my wife and two children are, […]
Author: Dr. Curious
The Anatomy (and Pathology) of Financial Health
I had a nasty summer cold last week. Like most upper respiratory infections, the virus likely gained access via the mucosal membranes of my mouth or nose, evaded my immune system, and started a house party in my body. My nose ran, my head ached, and I coughed uncontrollably for a few days. I had […]
You, Too, Can Be An Above-Average Cook
Cooking is a skill I did not learn growing up. I would categorize 95% of my childhood meals as “meat and potatoes.” Any spices beyond salt, pepper, and onion were considered exotic and ill-advised. By age 20, the best home-cooked meal I could muster was grilled cheese and vegetables from a can. But during college […]
Curious Thoughts (7/22/17)
The world is an interesting place—packed with information and inspiring people—and none of us has time to experience all of it. Inspired by series such as Physician on Fire’s The Sunday Best, Curious Thoughts is a window into what I have been reading and thinking about in recent days. I hope you enjoy what you find […]
Make Millions (or Lose Your Money) With Bitcoin: A How-to Guide
UPDATE 12/11/17: As of last week, I have sold all my cryptocurrency positions (Bitcoin and Ethereum). If you live on the planet Earth, you have probably seen Bitcoin in the news over the past few months. Here is a chart of the price of Bitcoin this year. I purchased it during the month of July, […]
The Ultimate Summer Barbecue Playlist for Fun Happy Times
[This week’s post is brought to you by two weeks of interrupted sleep, dirty diapers, and belching with my beautiful daughter. It’s not my best nor most cerebral post, but I hope you enjoy it.] First degree burns from your steering wheel. The smell of sun-dried ketchup. A run through the sprinkler to—as my 3-year-olds […]
I Have SCS: Smartphone Checking Syndrome
My smartphone is the best and worst part of my life. Do you remember a time when you didn’t carry your life around in your pocket? Some of you young whipper snappers may not, but old Dr. Curious didn’t get his first Motorola flip phone until sophomore year of college. We didn’t even have internet […]
To KevinMD With Love
I am thrilled that KevinMD.com was generous enough to share one of my recent posts. If you have made your way over here from there: Welcome! (If you’ve been here before, you know I love you too.) I’ve got a curious mind—as you might have guessed—and I write about a variety of topics, including personal […]
Did We Wait Too Long to Have Children?
Our first child was born when my wife and I were 35-years-old, an age at which—in some parts of the world or in past centuries—we might have reasonably been expecting our first grandchild. We were even late to the childbirth party by contemporary standards: the mean age of first-time mothers in the United States in […]
Welcome, New Human!
The Curious family—Big Brother T, Dr-Mrs-Dr. Curious, and I—were thrilled to welcome our new daughter, Baby S, to the world this past weekend. She arrived via a single gargantuan push, as second children are wont to do, while I stared unhelpfully in anticipation—my only job, to call out the baby’s sex for mommy, forgotten in […]
Would You Like Fries With That MRI?
Have you ever wondered what happens after you obtain a diagnostic medical imaging study? Me, that’s what! Each x-ray, CT, MRI, mammogram, and ultrasound is interpreted by yours truly or one of my dark room brethren—a radiologist. Crotchety old radiologists, many of whom walked uphill both ways to school, might complain that too many imaging studies […]
Enter the Void: A Sensory Deprivation Experience
You fill up my senses Like a night in a forest Like the mountains in springtime Like a walk in the rain —”Annie’s Song,” John Denver A week ago, I paid money to float buck-naked, in skin-temperature water, in the dark, in utter silence, for an hour. What is this trending new experience in wasting money holistic […]