About this site
Why NerdKnowsBetter Exists
NerdKnowsBetter exists for a simple reason. For years, I have wanted to create a blog that brings together the things I have genuinely found useful in my own life. Not as an influencer, but as a curious, detail-oriented person who goes deep when something matters.
Sometimes that looks like figuring out the best ways to keep my ridiculously active and spoiled dogs entertained during the long winter months. I live in Fargo, North Dakota, so consider this field-tested. Other times, it looks like falling into a research spiral. A very real example is my 2012 quest, where I spent hours trying to identify Oprah’s favorite bath towel because I knew if she loved it, it would be the exact plush cloud of comfort I was looking for.
That is kind of the point.
I research things the way real people do. Obsessively, skeptically, and with the goal of actually using what I find. NerdKnowsBetter is where those notes finally live. Distilled, explained clearly, and shared so you do not have to start from scratch.
How I Approach Things
Whether I am writing about products, tools, systems, or everyday problem solving, the goal is always the same.
Learn something honestly.
Apply it in real life.
Share what actually worked.
If something helps me live a little better, save time, reduce friction, or just feel more settled, it belongs here.
Because when we share what we have learned, we all do better.
A Few Things I Believe
I believe we all do better when we all do better.
For me, that has never been merely a nice idea. It has been a guiding principle. My sense of purpose has always come from using my own experiences to help other people make sense of theirs. In the past, that has meant being open about difficult things I have gone through, sharing them honestly, and letting others see pieces of themselves reflected there. When that happens, insight follows, and insight is what actually helps.
I also believe in being the change you want to see in the world. Not just in a grand or performative way, but in small, practical, everyday ways that quietly make life a little easier or clearer for someone else.
That is what this site is built on.
My Background
I was born and raised in west central Minnesota and graduated from college in 2001 with a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree. In 2005, I enrolled at Saybrook Graduate School and completed a Master of Arts in Psychology in 2007.
Pro tip, mostly for my own amusement. If I ever become famous, or God forbid infamous enough to have trivia questions written about me, the answer is that I graduated with my bachelor’s degree three months before my high school graduation. No joke.
Before and during that time, I worked a wide range of jobs. My first was as a fry cook at McDonald’s when I was fourteen. After that came a call center, a nursing home, a sheltered workshop that I lasted two days at, and community mental health.
My first job after college was as a case manager at a Community Mental Health Center, where I worked with adults living with severe mental illness. At any given time, I supported between twenty-six and thirty-five people, helping them stay stable and function in their communities. I was later promoted to Team Leader while still carrying a full caseload. I am deeply grateful for that job. It taught me more than I realized at the time and had a lasting impact on how I view the world.
From there, I worked as a Qualified Intellectual Disability Professional at a fifty-four bed intermediate care facility for men and later at a nonprofit that provided guardianship services to adults with developmental disabilities.
Since 2006, I have been self-employed. I founded a social services agency providing home and community-based services to adults with developmental disabilities. When I sold the agency to an employee, it supported about twenty-five adults and employed forty-one staff members.
I also co-founded a vocational habilitation agency, the first in the county to reject sub-minimum wage and pay all employees at least minimum wage. That mattered to me.
For the past decade, I have been running Crystal Magnetics. I scour the world for the prettiest, most dazzling crystals I can find and get them to my customers in the United States and around the globe. I work directly with the people at the mines whenever possible and prioritize long-term relationships that support small operations and the communities around them.
That work shaped how I think, how I solve problems, and how seriously I take responsibility when people trust me. NerdKnowsBetter is a much lighter project by comparison, but it is built on the same core idea. Do the work carefully, learn what actually helps, and share it honestly.
