“But he’s learning anyway”
There’s something sitting on your to-do list right now. Not the grocery run or the oil change — I mean the other thing. The thing you’ve been meaning to learn for years. Maybe it’s cooking a real meal. Maybe it’s understanding your finances. Maybe it’s finally figuring out why your telescope just sits in the closet collecting dust.
You keep telling yourself you’ll get to it. And then you don’t. Not because you’re lazy — but because somewhere along the way you decided you probably just… can’t.
I’m here to tell you that’s not true. And I’m going to prove it — one, often, embarrassing failure at a time.
So, Who Are You Granddaddy?
My name is Scott. I’m 72 years old. I retired on December 31, 2025 — a decision I made sometime in early December, which tells you something about how well I plan things. I was a computer programmer back when that wasn’t even a degree you could get at most colleges. Over a career that took my wife and me through 12 houses in 8 states, I got pretty good at one thing: the work I was paid to do.
Everything else? That’s a longer story.
My wife and I have six grandchildren — four girls and two boys — split between Cincinnati, Ohio and Murfreesboro, Tennessee. A few years ago, we sold our house and bought two condos so we could be close to all of them. We travel back and forth constantly. We’ve watched baseball games, soccer matches, marching band performances, tennis matches, piano recitals, three high school graduations and a wedding. We’ve visited three of them at college. We’ve had a lot of dinners where we just got to sit and listen to them talk.
That’s the ‘Granddaddy’ part. Now here’s the ‘Can’t’ part.
The Telescope in the Closet
I love the night sky. Always have. There’s something about standing outside on a clear night and just staring up that I find genuinely humbling. For years I wanted a good telescope — something that could show me galaxies, nebulae, the rings of Saturn with my own eyes. I had a few cheap ones over the years. Couldn’t figure them out. Blamed the telescopes. So, my wife bought me a Celestron — a real one, a $1,000 one — and I still couldn’t figure it out. Same result, much higher price tag.
That right there is the story of this whole site. Not the telescope specifically. The pattern. The thing you want to do, the thing you try, the thing that doesn’t work, and the moment you have to decide: do I quit, or do I actually figure this out?
I’m choosing to figure it out. And I’m writing it all down as I go.
What This Site Is — and What It Isn’t
This is not a site written by an expert. I want to be very clear about that. I am not going to teach you astronomy or golf or cooking from a position of mastery. I’m going to learn those things alongside you, document what works, be honest about what doesn’t, and hopefully save you some time and frustration in the process.
Here’s what I’ve noticed: most of the information available on the internet about learning new skills is written by people who are already very good at them. They know all the vocabulary. They assume a baseline that beginners don’t have. And honestly, a lot of us don’t need to get that good — we just want to be able to enjoy the thing.
I don’t need to shoot par. I just want to hit a 7-iron.
One More Thing That Changed Everything
I’m going to be upfront about something: I’ve been using artificial intelligence tools as part of this journey, and it has genuinely surprised me what they can do.
I’m taking golf lessons right now — not from a pro at a golf club, but from an AI that watches videos of me swinging a club and tells me exactly what I’m doing wrong. It tells me what to focus on next practice. It tells me how to position my phone to get a better angle for the next video. It’s like having a coach standing right behind me, for the price of a subscription to an AI.
Most people don’t know that’s even possible. I didn’t, not long ago. Part of what I want to share here is that the tools available to regular people right now — people who aren’t tech experts, people who just want to get better at something — are remarkable. And they’re mostly being ignored by people who could benefit most from them.
You have more help available than you think. I’m going to show you what I mean.
Come Along for the Ride
Over time this site will grow into a collection of journeys. Some of them I’ve already started:
- Granddaddy Can’t Find Saturn — the telescope saga continues
- Granddaddy Can’t Hit a 7-Iron — golf, humility, and AI coaching
- Granddaddy Can’t Cook — cooking for the woman who taught me what good food tastes like and others
- Granddaddy Can’t Read the Bible — 40 years of studying and teaching Scripture, and I still discovered I wasn’t reading it the way it deserved
- Granddaddy Can’t Stop Asking Questions — Why the way most people use AI misses the whole point — and what I stumbled onto instead.
Each section will have its own posts, its own failures, its own small wins. Some of them, if they become Granddaddy CAN, will eventually become books. The first one — on reading the Bible as someone who has spent 40 years studying and teaching it, and still found there was more to discover — is already in progress.
I’m not trying to become great at any of this. I’m trying to become good enough to enjoy it. If you feel the same way about something — anything — I hope you’ll stick around.
Grace and Peace
Scott Walker