All Posts By

Brandon Kowallis

Shift Your Perspective for a Happier Life Kicks & GigglesObservations

Shift Your Perspective for a Happier Life

I was reading through my journal and found this excerpt from 2014. was super ornery today about eating her beans and polenta. I mean really ornery, whining, pushing it away, “no, no, no, I don’t like Polenta. I don’t like beanies.” Until mentioned making the polenta into a little man, and then I said we could make a polenta dog, and then she suggested a polenta dragon. So we cut up the polenta and made it into a man and a dragon and she immediately downed her beans like they were the most delicious thing in the world, especially when…
March 11, 2026
The Incredible Power of a Good Argument ObservationsPhilosophy

The Incredible Power of a Good Argument

There are two types of arguing. The first type, which most of us—for good reason—like to avoid but often find ourselves engaging in, is the kind where we approach the argument with the attitude, I know I’m right, and I’m certain you are wrong. The second type enters the argument with the attitude, I think I’m right, but I might be wrong. Let’s take a gander and see where each of these approaches might take us. Any argument that involves a person with the I’m Right, You’re Wrong mindset is a completely pointless argument—unless, of course, the point is to…
January 23, 2026
Am I Really a Direct Person? ObservationsPhilosophy

Am I Really a Direct Person?

When I worked at Salt Lake Community College, people would tell me now and again I was a very direct person. This always surprised and puzzled me. The last thing I ever saw myself as was a direct person — which is probably exactly what a direct person would say. So what was up with that? The more I reflected on it, the more I realized the problem was in my definition of direct. When I think of a direct person, I think of someone who is very vocal about generally negative things and doesn’t seem to care about what…
January 23, 2026
The Best and Worst Ways to Solve Problems ObservationsPhilosophy

The Best and Worst Ways to Solve Problems

I used to say that there is nothing wrong with complaining as long as it is followed up with at least three helpful solutions. However, I have since learned there is a better way. Too often, people either complain about problems without doing anything about them — which is counterproductive because of the negative environment that kind of attitude creates — or they identify solutions to problems that only exist in one person’s mind and fail to fix the root problem — which generally just makes things worse. So, what is to be done? If you ask four people to…
January 23, 2026
Breaking Free from the Toxic Need to Vent ObservationsPhilosophy

Breaking Free from the Toxic Need to Vent

I've had a tendency now and again to waste a lot of time pontificating with others about things I don't like, disagree with, or about my limited-view perceptions—and their limited-view perceptions—of the world and the people around us. Most of the time we called this "venting" as a way to soften what it really was and make it sound like a necessary and healthy thing to do. But as I look back, I can tell you that very little good ever came from venting. What the practice of venting did give birth to was the following: ONE: I strengthened the…
January 23, 2026
Meeting Minutes Kicks & Giggles

Meeting Minutes

This was a fun joke I sent out to my colleagues after our staff meeting to see if anyone actually bothered to read the minutes. The idea came to me when someone in another meeting I attended made a sassy comment about senior leadership and jokingly said to the administrative assistant, "don't put that in the meeting minutes". I thought, hmm, what if I created a set of meeting minutes that only had notes that shouldn't be included in the meeting minutes. Anyway, I had a fun time writing it and I hope you have a fun time reading it.…
June 13, 2024
Working with Me Philosophy

Working with Me

I got this idea of creating a "Working with Me" document from the Tim Ferriss podcast. I wish I could remember who he was interviewing. The basic idea is that we often assume that other's around us know the best way to work with us because we know what we like. Sort of like a toddler who assumes that everyone knows where the hidden toy is because he hid it and knows where it is. But the reality is that unless you have clearly communicated your preferences for how others should work with you, they probably don't know. And that…
June 12, 2024
On Nature Photography & Relinquishing Control Canyonlands from Mesa ArchNatureObservationsPhilosophy

On Nature Photography & Relinquishing Control

Nature photography is an art of unpredictability. It is an art of acceptance and adaptability, an art of patience and awareness. I was surprised, when I visited Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park, to find amidst the morning stillness, the gradually warming light, and the echoes of little critters going about their day, a handful of cranky photographers who had travelled hundreds of miles to reach this destination and capture an image that had been photographed thousands of times, bickering with “tourists” who were “in their shot”. A shot they had seemingly waited their entire life to photograph, on which…
May 3, 2024
On Being a Dad Expert Kicks & GigglesObservationsPhilosophy

On Being a Dad Expert

As a parent of curious children you have to be pretty much an expert in everything. “Dad, when was Dr. Seuss born?” “Dad, George Washington like cake?” “Dad, do Walruses dream?” “Dad, how do you build an airplane?” And they ask with such complete and utter confidence that you will know the answer to every question that pops into their minds that somehow the answers just seem to come.
March 2, 2024
The Nutty Putty Cave Rescue & the Death of John Jones – One Rescuers Perspective CavingNews

The Nutty Putty Cave Rescue & the Death of John Jones – One Rescuers Perspective

The day before Thanksgiving in 2009 I was invited to assist with the Nutty Putty Cave rescue of John Edward Jones. I ended up being the last person to see him alive, though at the time I arrived he was mostly unconscious. Since that time I have received numerous questions from reporters and curious individuals. Recently there has been an uptick in those requests as a result of some viral videos that have been posted. This is my attempt to provide information and help answer the questions that I am qualified to answer. The day after the rescue efforts failed…
February 23, 2024