When it comes to conservation of resources I am the pioneer my house. I am Mr. Eco-Friendly. I am the head-recycler the head hyper-miler, and the head of "Who left the lights on?" "Why is this hot water running?" and so on.

As recently as this past Christmas I was trying to bring the house down to one car household after my son was involved in a car accident that left my vehicle totaled and in pieces. I was mentally drooling over the amount of gas we could save and how much we would reduce pollution. My wife shot this idea down with good reason. We have separate commutes and separate lives during the day. It would've never worked, at least not peacefully. After all, we're not in New York City anymore. So I moved on and instead of replacing my SUV with another SUV I purchased a smaller, sleeker, faster and considerably more fuel-efficient vehicle. Although I am thoroughly satisfied with my new car I often wonder what would be like to carpool as I travel alone back-and-forth to work with the exception of dropping my child off to school. Alternatively, I often look at the empty seats that keep me company on my commutes and think to myself, This is such a waste. It would be so cool if I could be in a one-seat vehicle.

Well the folks at Toyota who are paid to think about these things have come up with an amazingly simple solution to my quandary. Check out the video below



Want to learn more about the Toyota i-Road? Click here.

What your thoughts on cost-efficient and environmentally conscious commuting?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Toyota. The opinions and text are all mine.

If 2013 was the Year of Restoration, 2014 is going to be the Year of Reparation. But I'll only be seeking reparations from myself. I'm seeking to repair all that the younger versions of me have done to create the current life I'm navigating daily. I'm so serious about this that I've got people helping me, everyone from a therapist to accountability partners.

A friend recently shared that he felt he was being punished for all his past mistakes. I heard him out, but I stopped him in his thinking and let him know although he may feel punished he is simply living out the consequences of his past decisions. And now is the time to fix the present to ensure the future.

Matthew McConaughey's 2014 Oscar acceptance speech has been making the rounds on the Internetz with commentary ranging from beautifully transparent to delirious, religion-soaked, self-aggrandizing rambling. Personally, I thought it was a sincere testimony to human frailty, humilty and majesty. That he could call out his thankfulness for the Grace that has been bestowed upon him, be driven to serve his children, then be in inexhaustible pursuit of the unattainable: you best future you (which means you're probably making a lot of other people's lives better along the way), is something to be thoughtfully considered and modeled in a world that, for a long time as of late seems consumed with nothing more than the self. What he could have said or should have said given the occasion is irrelevant. Whatever it was or was not as far as presentation is equally irrelevant. What he did say provided inspiration to the countless numbers of people who needed to hear that, right then and there in that moment.

I count myself as one of those many.



PS - there's nothing wrong with shouting out God, if that's what you believe.

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Is the institution of marriage designed to make you happy? Interesting question, right? One writer immediately comes to mind as an expert on this subject. If you take a moment to scroll through your mental slideshow, you will see imagery of marriage associated with happiness, no different that Coca-Cola is. Problem is, most married folks would argue down those images of happiness as anything from marketing fluff to fairy tales.

Happy marriages are populated by happy people. Framing it this way indicates that marriage is a construct within which two people operate/conduct their lives. So it is an operating platform rather than an emotion-stabilizer or edifier. In fact, I'll argue further that if you go into a marriage looking for it to make you happy, you will be sorely disappointed.

Tweet: Happy marriages are populated by happy people. A marriage by itself will never make you happy.

But enough about my thoughts on the matter. What do you think? Is marriage designed to make you happy?

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