About

Here are some of the things I love, some of which I also love to write about, too.

• Solving Problems and Analyzing Data
• Self Improvement
• Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
• Traveling

Currently, I am an Investment actuary at Security Benefit in Topeka. As the ALM Actuarial Associate, I help manage the assets and liabilities by producing weekly sales reports, bi-monthly strategic and tactical asset allocation reports, and putting quarterly reports together. I’m also taking exams toward my ASA.

My self improvement may have begun after reading Minimalism by Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus before moving to Topeka, KS in May, 2015. I attribute much of my recent successes to the techniques I’ve learned in Deep Work by Cal Newport. If it wasn’t for that book, I don’t think I could have passed the MLC Exam I took in October 2016 through the Society of Actuaries.

My wife Erin and I travel quite a bit. When we do, we usually take our travel companion, Pleepleus (a stuffed monkey). Pleepleus Shaw has his own Facebook Page, but I would like to use this site to write about our travels from Pleepleus’s perspective.

Most recently, I have found a new and deep passion for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Erin knew I would love it and recommended it to me. It wasn’t until I listened to some of the podcasts she had listened to about BJJ, that I finally caved and went to my first class in December 2017. These include all of the Josh Waitzkin interviews on The Tim Ferriss Show. On November 9, 2019 I obtained my blue belt.

These are my passions, and I want to share them with you.