Performed Well

I remember when I was in 6th grade and I told my older brother Robbie “I want to learn chess.  I don’t know how the pieces move or who can kill who.”  His response was “Anyone can kill anyone in chess!” For whatever reason, that seemed fascinating to me.  After learning the game, I was a casual [i.e. occasional] player (never particularly good of course) until the age of 21 when my younger brother bought an Onyx chess board in Mexico while we were on a short-term mission trip together, and I was reacquainted with the game. Coming back from the trip, I was interested enough to read my first chess book (cover-to-cover in one sitting at a Barnes & Noble), and that led to a dozen or more other books, coaching a chess club, and 4 years of being a private chess coach for elementary school kids. But overall, chess and I have had kind of an off-and-on relationship through the years.  I’m either never playing/thinking about chess… or I find myself thinking a...

For the last 5 years, I've directed a musical during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.  This is always a fun, rewarding, and exhausting experience for me with my company Immeasurable Productions. This year, we produced Disney's High School Musical: On Stage.  My sister Mindy (my choreographer) and I chose this musical because it would be a lot of fun and would hopefully encourage a few more light-hearted, fun-loving auditionees to come out for the show.  We're very glad we went with this choice as this was one of the most fun, up-beat, positive casts I've ever directed. Another new thing that we did this year was ask my wife Christine to be the music director.  Christine did a marvelous job.  Plus, it was pretty cool (for me) to have the core artistic team be all Moritzes.  I was excited to see such a high quality product come from a program we built from scratch. I'm now trying to think of musicals to consider for next year.  There ...

My journey into software development happened about 10 years ago and somewhat by accident.  I got my [useless] degree in Musical Theater and traveled the country with my wife directing musical productions for children.  While we were on the road, we got pregnant with our first child and determined it was time to come home and settle down in Kansas City. I got a job as a director of marketing for my father's internet company and eventually discovered that I just didn't have what it took to make such a position profitable.  In my desire to be useful, I asked the tech team if there was anything with which I could help them.  They told me I would need to learn HTML and directed me to a website where I could engage in some self-study. For me, that was the beginning of a continual journey of learning and growing in my tech skills.  From HTML, I learned CSS, then PHP, then JavaScript, MySQL, and jQuery.  I put an ad on Craigslist and started selling my service...

Over the last month, my daughter and I created for her a new YouTube channel: www.DeerAngel.org She has made 5 videos so far, and we're creating another one today.  Our plan for this channel is that Angel will deliver a series of weekly 2-minute videos answering questions on various topics of economics, history, apologetics, and politics. I found an artist on Fiverr.com who made this great logo for her: This has been a neat adventure for us.  I film Angel (using her computer), then the two of us use iMovie to edit the films together to turn 10 minutes of footage into 2 minutes.  I used to do the editing all myself, but she now does the majority of it. I think this is an empowering thing for her to be a part of.  Her friends really think of her as an expert at these subjects, and it has opened up a lot of opportunities for her and me to discuss the sort of topics that kids are not usually interested in at such a young age.  Things like minimum wage,...

I enjoy taking on new projects.  But when I do, I try hard to maintain balance in my life with my existing priorities.  Sometimes I feel I'm doing a good job, and other times, I feel out of balance.  Often when I feel most balanced, it's because I've taken a little extra care to write down most of the stuff I should be expected to remember. For instance, I've gone through periods where I'll write down everything I intend to do in a given day or I'll make notes of when I've spent time with my wife or how much I weighed each week or what my goals are for the month. Most recently, I've been writing down when I've taken each of my kids out on a private one-on-one date.  I keep a note entitled "Daddy Dates" in a useful program called Evernote that syncs my notes among all of my electronic devices.  I have 5 children (ages 11 - 3), and I can usually fit in about 2 daddy dates per week, so each of the kids can look forward to some alone time w...

Talk show host Dennis Prager coined the term SIXHIRB to describe a common American liberal argument.  To quote Dennis himself: ...[N]early all Democratic and leftist reactions to conservatives and Republicans are to avoid argument ...and smear them as SIXHIRB, my acronym for “Sexist, Intolerant, Xenophobic, Homophobic, Islamophobic, Racist, Bigoted.” It is almost impossible to come up with the name of a leading conservative whom the dominant media have not dismissed as one or more of SIXHIRB — and usually as a buffoon as well. This obviously serves the left and the Democratic Party in many ways. But the most important is to keep non-leftists in fear of anyone who opposes the left. In effect, the left says, and has been saying for a hundred years, “You may not agree with us, but our opponents are evil.” As a conservative myself, I am called these things on a regular basis when I post online.  I like having an online presence, but admittedly, it is a hostile environment for...

For many years, Dennis Prager of Prager University has encouraged parents to ask their kids (of any age) this question: "Which of these do you think we, your parents, most want for you to be: successful, smart, good, or happy?" As a parent, looking at that list, the one that immediately jumps out at me is "good".  Of course I want the other things for my kids, but far above the those things is my desire that my children grow up to be good people.  Moral people.  People who seek after God and desire to live righteously more than riches, intelligence, success, happiness, etc. So I asked my four oldest children this question.  There responses were as follows: Angel (10yo): Successful Tony (9yo): Successful Harmony (6yo): Happy, then Good Charity (5yo): Good, then Happy This was a good eye opener for me.  I realized through this that I tend to emphasize successful thinking and behavior because I know that so many people find these things elusive and I w...