The best retroactive genius moments are when I invent or discover something that has been around my entire life – something “hiding” in plain sight. I like to think of it as inventing the obvious, or a “DUH-scovery.”

Things I’ve learned the hard way… Never use the palm of your hand to see which stove burner is hot. Never try to iron that crease on the front of your shirttail while wearing the shirt. Two words – STEAM iron. Two more words – interesting scar. People don’t change. Their behavior might change, their motivation might change, but the core remains...

When I was a child, my parents were terrorized by what they referred to as “New Math” which was what my generation was taught in school. They had no idea what “carry the 1” meant. In recent years, we’ve developed another baffling “new math”– age denial math. 30 is the new 20. 20 is still the old 20. 40 is the new 30. 50 is the new 40. 60 is the...

In the wild, I’d be dead. Some predator that looked to me like a friendly dog would turn out to be a hungry lion. My distance vision has been limited since I was in grade school, making life without prescription eye wear just one messy blur. But, with easy access to strong specs, I go about my business like I can actually see. At 40, I began to notice that...