The Top 10 Semi-Rad Posts From 2016
byNo matter what you think of 2016, from “Wow, I’m glad it’s over soon,” to “It just flew by,” you can agree on one…
No matter what you think of 2016, from “Wow, I’m glad it’s over soon,” to “It just flew by,” you can agree on one…
Here’s the thing about women: It is possible for a woman to be stronger than you. It is possible for a woman to be…
Dear Phone: I love you. I mean, not in that Joaquin Phoenix-falling-in-love-with-his-operating-system way. But maybe in the I’d-probably-hug-you-if-I-hadn’t-seen-you-in-a-few-weeks-and-we-finally-got-together-for-coffee kind of way. I mean, I…
Last Monday, my mom and I stood behind a fence at Arches National Park and took a couple photos of Landscape Arch, the longest…
The Q train clicks and groans across the Manhattan Bridge, half-full of passengers on their way to Brooklyn on a Saturday afternoon, everyone’s eyes…
That’s right, it’s fall, aka autumn, aka your favorite season, that fleeting changing of colors, temperatures, clothing layers, and footwear for northern hemisphere humanoids….
I was sitting at the counter of Higher Ground in Salt Lake City back in 2012, tapping away on my laptop, and I overheard…
Thanks for your email. I took the morning/afternoon/day off to ride my bike, or go rock climbing, or go for a jog in the…
On all the stops on my book tour this year, I show a slide that’s a list of reasons people don’t do things: bad…
I sat at the counter of a Mexican restaurant in Pinedale, Wyoming, a couple Saturdays ago, and watched two guys in their 40s approach…
My dad, Joe, retires today, after 41 years of work at one company and about two years of worrying if he’d have enough money…
I’m about halfway through my talk in the community room at the REI store when I see the two guys sitting with their eyes…
1. Go into a coffee shop. Approach the counter, greet the barista and clearly and concisely state your order. Say please and thank you….
I could never get into Shakespeare when I was in high school, or classical poetry. The reading seemed too arcane, or I wasn’t trying…
Pretty much everybody has a singular moment marking each realization that they’re not getting any younger: You find a few grey hairs one day…
Five years ago this week, I started this blog, hoping a few people might read it and get something out of it: a laugh,…
I was sitting at a coffee shop with my girlfriend last Sunday when she saw a sign hanging on the wall over my shoulder:…
Well, I’ll be damned if it isn’t almost the end of another year of what I call “my mom’s favorite website” here at Semi-Rad.com….
Sometime after dinner on December 24th, my father and I will sit down in front of a television and watch Detective John McClane get…
For no real reason in October 2014, I made a rule for myself: I would not give homeless people a dollar when they asked…
My girlfriend is generally better than I am at being in the moment and expressing gratitude for all the little things in life. Except…
During his podcast interview with filmmaker Casey Neistat last week, Tim Ferriss said: “I was talking to Po Bronson, a writer I admire, and…
My friend Nick and I meet every week, or every few weeks, at a different diner in Denver, lock our bicycles to a street…
A few months ago, a headline claiming “The New Dad-Rock Is ’90s Rap” filtered through my newsfeed. I didn’t click on it at the…
I padded down the talus in the moonlight, my headlamp switched off, in front of my girlfriend. I was just happy to be moving…
You are waiting in line to check your bag, and then you’re waiting in line to go through the TSA checkpoint. Twenty people in…
My friend Chris had a perfectly good, secure, well-paying job as a chemist up until a few weeks ago, when he quit. When he…