The Top 11 Things Every First-Time Dad Should Know

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As a wildly experienced father of three who is a master of every parenting nuance, I felt it was time for me to impart some of my wisdom to all you new daddies out there. Upon the birth of a first child, we all feel a little unprepared (slang for completely freaked out of our minds) and it helps to have access to a little friendly advice, even from a doofus.

The Curse of the Common Name

After completing some exhaustive scientific research (two minutes on my phone while in line at Starbucks), I've confirmed what I've always strongly suspected: I have a very common name. Over the past century, Mark is the 16th most common…

The Top 10 Reasons You Should Read This Post

These days, scrolling through the Internet is like sitting at a table with a dozen six-year-old boys at a Chucky Cheese pizza birthday party — it’s a cacophony of noise, it’s impossible to listen to any single conversation, and even if you could, it wouldn’t be worth your concentration. So with this in mind, I’m going to make your life easier by giving you clear, succinct, and easy to understand reasons why this post is worth your valuable time, and you can go ahead and forget about all that other stuff on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blah, blah, blah. You can thank me later.

The Top 10 movie moments that make this Tough Guy weep

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I ran across one of my favorite movies, "The Natural," the other night, and as usual, got sucked in and watched the whole thing. I've probably seen it 35 times. As I found myself wiping away tears at the end, I landed on the idea to write this post.

The Fiery Gizzard Trail: Certa Mors.

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Last weekend, upon the suggestions of trek member Luis, we brazenly decided to tackle the Fiery Gizzard Trail, known as one of the Top 25 hikes in the nation. The full trail is around 12.5 miles long and is rated "strenuous," which in Latin, means "certa mors," which then translated back into English, means "certain death." Not knowing this, I just assumed it actually meant "strenuous," which is kind of a nebulous word and not to be taken too seriously.

The Big Question: Why?

Regarding Nepal, I’ve been getting the WTH question a lot lately, so I thought I’d answer it here. Actually, to be more specific, the question is twofold: 1) Why do you want to go trekking in Nepal, and 2) Why did you want to start a business…

My Top 10 Christmas Traditions, including Rudolph’s PJ Delivery

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Christmas is my favorite time of year for a variety of reasons. I love the music, the TV shows and movies, the general feeling of good will, and all that other gooey stuff. However, it may be the family traditions surrounding Christmas that make it so ... Christmasy. If you look at them from an objective perspective, most traditions are meaningless. But the meaning WE attach to them is all that really matters, right? It's fun to do the same thing year after year as if the order of the cosmos somehow depends on it.

The Top 10 Reasons I Might Not Work Out Today

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People have all kinds of excuses for not working out. I mean, there are thousands of them, take your pick. They are usually weak, baseless, transparent, laughable, and just plain ol' lame. In fact, I wrote a blog about them a while back. (Read…

Critter Chronicles: Exposing the Seedy Underbelly of Tennessee’s Wildlife. Vol. 2 — White-tailed Deer

Quite simply, the white-tailed deer is the face of Tennessee wildlife. The poster child, the golden boy, the leading man, and all those other clichés. If you had to pick one species to represent all that is majestic, exciting, and beautiful about wildlife in our state, you would choose the white-tailed deer. And oh, how mistaken you would be. For more than 80 years, this species has pulled one of the great con games of modern times on humans, making us out to be chumps. It’s a scam of monumental proportions, making famous scandals like Watergate and, um, (hang on, quick Google search…) The One-Piece Swimsuit Affair of 1907 seem like schoolboy hijinks.

Critter Chronicles: Exposing the Seedy Underbelly of Tennessee’s Wildlife. Vol. 1— The ‘Possum

(Author’s note: This shocking new series reveals the raw, unedited, back-alley stories behind the seemingly harmonious wildlife of southern Cheatham County, Tennessee.) Ahh, the lowly ‘possum. This animal is feared, hunted, eaten,…