-
Benefits of Camping: Lesssons learned from five farting men in a yurt
Farts. The butt of so many jokes. The joke of so many butts. Growing up, I firmly believed that flatulence was infinitely funny; that cranking one out and laughter went hand in hand. Always. But a winter camping trip with some friends proved I was wrong. Dead, stinking wrong. Emphasis on the stinking.
-
Thinking Things Through: Lessons learned from nearly swallowing a severed human toe
There are 3 items on my ultimate bucket list. Joining Captain Dick’s World Famous Sour Toe Cocktail Club is one of them. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this… unusual… drinking tradition, Sour Toe cocktails are found exclusively at the Downtown Hotel bar in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. Entry into the prestigious club…
-
Wearing Things Out: Lessons learned from my see-through swim trunks
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. My back sucks. Partly due to bad posture. Partly due to an aversion core-strengthening exercises like sit-ups. Partly due to the unhealthy ergonomics that come with using a kitchen table and wooden chair as a desk.
-
Life’s Shortcuts: Lessons learned from a Sunday stroll through stinging nettle
Cutting corners in life can have painful results. Whoever said two heads are better than one clearly weren’t thinking of me and my brother Nicholas. Individually, we could make sensible—even smart—choices. Together? Yeah, not so much. As teenagers, we’d often hatch plans that seldom went smoothly, like the time we decided to embark on a two…
-
Life’s Twists and Turns: Lessons learned from three bison
In August 2013, my girlfriend Ashley and I loaded up my Hyundai Accent and struck out from Waterloo, Ontario on our way to Vancouver, British Columbia. We drove through the US on our journey west, and indeed, it was a very American experience.
-
Failing Your Way to Success: Lessons learned from being blindfolded and left in a farmer’s field
Whenever my extended family gets together you can usually count on three things: a lot of boxed wine, a lot of Euchre and a lot of jackassery. Our Easter celebration a couple years ago delivered on all three counts and included an activity that my Van Osch cousins came up with: the Blindfold Game.
-
Getting Out of Debt: Lessons learned from my sister getting stuck in a pit of clay
A lot of words come to mind when thinking about debt. Stuck. Mired. Drowning. Buried. The images these words conjure up remind me of a story from my childhood. As a kid, my youngest sister Meghan would often join my brother Nicholas and me on our adventures to the “Death Cliffs”. Admittedly, a bit of…
-
Life’s Curveballs: Lessons learned from the ugliest pie in the land
Before we somehow managed to find ourselves girlfriends, my roommate Shane and I were typical bachelors in many ways. I had a Superman poster in my bedroom. Shane had a bunch of Star Wars toys in his. The furniture in our place was a mishmash of used pieces, chosen for utility and convenience over what’s…