2024

• Just now Google Gemini told me that Matt Lauer, Katie Couric, and Meredith Vierra all graduated from The University of Iowa.

• Mon. Nov. 11, 2024 02:33:35 AM

• “12When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.”

  How far does this extend? is a question I’ve long had.

• Sun. Nov. 03, 2024 04:14:35 PM

• Up early-ish (but never early enough for my conscience) to ready. Nearing the final 100 pages of Plot Against America. The book is picking up steam and seems headed for a tidy resolution. Taking him to class today - Lady Raider donut party - another party. Then maybe fulfilling my dream of a pickleball late afternoon in the autumn shadows.

• Sat. Oct. 19, 2024 01:06:13 PM

• There was a school lunch worker who often came by my crossing corner and would give me a donut out her car window. I haven’t seen them recently. I am worried that they were fired for giving me those donuts.

• Fri. Oct. 18, 2024 03:13:15 PM

• The fact that apple has a global database of ear shapes is both inspiring and very odd and dystopian. I’m not trying to say they’re up to anything nefarious - they use them to determine the shapes of AirPods and other heaphones.

• Wed. Oct. 16, 2024 07:21:33 PM

• is it possible that changing my font will make me a better person? or make me more productive? i feel like i’ve been secretly asking that question for around 25 years.

• Fri. Oct. 11, 2024 10:00:17 PM

• One little thing I low key love about being a crossing guard is that I can stand at my corner and fart as much as I care to

• Fri. Oct. 11, 2024 08:55:11 PM

• now begins the regression to mean when the talented child sees it isn’t enough

• Fri. Oct. 11, 2024 07:30:39 PM

• I had a sleeping dream that i went to a very traditional style church service with the father of one of my kids’s friends from school. Then I had a waking dream that I was in the school hallway and a teacher jerked their head to the side in a signal for me to get up against the wall.

• Fri. Oct. 11, 2024 07:10:28 PM

• there are folks in iowa who pronounce the SE iowa town Ottumwa, “autumn-wah.” which is wrong, of course.

• Fri. Oct. 11, 2024 06:45:45 PM

• Songs in my head:

  • NDA, billie
  • Women of the world, Jim O’Rourke
  • Ten Second News, Son Volt
• Fri. Oct. 04, 2024 07:41:04 PM

• I’ve always been a Check the website kind of person, when I want to find out details of an event. But I should give in and be more of a Just check Facebook kind of person.

• Wed. Oct. 02, 2024 01:49:57 AM

• Songs in my head:

  • One Wing, Wilco
  • Xanny, billie
  • Rewind, Charlie
• Tue. Sep. 17, 2024 07:52:33 PM

• I am in constant awe and curiosity and filled to the brim with wonder - just by this simple notion: “How do you live? Why are you doing that thing you’re doing? Why did you do this thing when you usually do THAT thing (yes, I noticed that you usually do THAT thing, not because I’m weird, but because I am a noticer and I am curious and I care).

• Fri. Sep. 13, 2024 07:12:48 PM

• Songs in my head:

  • you should see me in a crown.
  • act of love, Neil Young
  • sex type thing, Stone Temple Pilots (this song doesn’t hold up, in my head)
• Fri. Sep. 13, 2024 03:04:32 PM

• I wish that the iOS Music app (no, it’s not the Apple Music app - it also plays my personally curated library of purchases and uploads) could sort albums by year. There are so many great 3rd party music apps that do this - but I just can’t bring myself to pay another 15 to 50 dollars JUST for this feature.

• Thu. Sep. 12, 2024 01:32:47 AM

• On my reading list for the rest of 24 and into 25:

  • more Roth
  • Ferrante
  • McCarthy
  • Melville
  • The Knausgaard orb in the sky novels
• Wed. Sep. 11, 2024 02:51:54 AM

• I figured out how to make Apple Podcasts stations work for me: don’t ever manually tend to them. Don’t swipe anything to remove episodes, don’t mark anything as played or unplayed. Let episodes enter and exit stations of their own accord.

  This is the way forward.

• Fri. Sep. 06, 2024 10:54:05 AM

• Songs in my head:

  • Proud to Be an American (why oh why??)
  • Learning to Fly, Old Tom
• Thu. Sep. 05, 2024 08:35:03 PM

• testing 123. that bad file seeems to be cleared out. now to get the practice charts done.

• Thu. Sep. 05, 2024 10:53:58 AM

• The Medvedev/Sinner match couldn’t be much more different than the matches from the last couple of nights.

• Thu. Sep. 05, 2024 03:30:21 AM

• You want to have your thoughts solely in your own spot, your own personal digital garden, if you will, but the lure of BEING SEEN, in the same old places, proves too much to overcome.

• Sat. Aug. 31, 2024 11:20:51 AM

• an iphone really does make the most wonderful paperweight. it can do anything.

• Sat. Aug. 31, 2024 11:00:56 AM

• Songs in my head:

  • Grindstone, Uncle Tupelo
  • Everything Glorious, David Crowder
  • Bad Guy, Billie
• Fri. Aug. 30, 2024 01:28:47 PM

• Songs in my head today:

  • The Ruling Class, Loose Fur
  • Answers to Your Questions, Loose Fur
  • Psychedelic Orgasm, Kim Gordon
• Thu. Aug. 29, 2024 12:07:14 PM

• From the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/26/nyregion/nyc-bus-subway-fare-evasion.html

  Fare beaters might also feel emboldened, experts say, because heavy traffic and a lack of bus lanes means that bus service can be slow and unreliable. For some riders, it is simply not worth the price of admission. The pandemic also reinforced the perception that fares were optional, after the authority made bus rides free for a few months in 2020.

  Once you give something out for free, there’s no turning back.

• Tue. Aug. 27, 2024 06:47:11 PM

• Songs in my head today:

  • The Ruling Class, Loose Fur
  • Answers to Your Questions, Loose Fur
  • Psychedelic Orgasm, Kim Gordon
• Mon. Aug. 26, 2024 05:59:35 PM

• I truly like Apple’s “Spacialize Stereo” feature - but I wish I could have it minus the added reverb.

• Mon. Aug. 26, 2024 03:10:53 AM

• What would be the problem with just staying here in my chair by the window and reading novels and po-ems for the rest of my days?

• Fri. Aug. 23, 2024 11:09:26 AM

• On Emily Dickinson: I learned this week that in 2016 an edition of her poems was published which, for the first time, took into account her own prioritization and arrangement of her po-ems. At some point Emily assembled some small batches into booklets, perhaps showing which of her poems she held most dear.

  I find it baffling that I had never known this. I have never heard that she did any arranging or other work toward publishing her work. I always assumed that later editors sorted through all the scraps, tried to pin down dates, and published everything all together in the books which exist (Final Harvest, that other newer one), not making any attempt to delineate between a fragment and a complete work.

  How can it have taken more than a century for anyone to try and put the Dickinson canon into a form that might bear Emily’s stamp of approval?

• Fri. Aug. 23, 2024 11:08:29 AM

• POV: the coffee beans have turned, but you still have another pound of them to grind through.

• Thu. Aug. 22, 2024 11:10:31 AM

• Deciding for whom to vote for pres. is about figuring out who you think is the best manager - the one with the best relationships. It’s like being able to perceive the hearts of your teenage kids’s friends by knowing who they hang out with, who they get along with.

• Thu. Aug. 22, 2024 01:50:17 AM

• As I thumb through the glossy magazine produced by a local private school, two things stick out to me: generational wealth, and the continued propagation of WASP-y aspirational status seeking. Conventionality. Is that a word? Conventionalness - the condition of fitting into the standard mold.

• Wed. Aug. 21, 2024 07:08:19 PM

• Songs in my head today:

  • Everything You Want, Vertical Horizon
  • Mean Girls, Charli
• Wed. Aug. 21, 2024 01:06:59 PM

• The poetry of Emily Dickinson still pricks my soul and haunts me. I remember Ed Folsom’s class at Iowa, wherein I was made to memorize a po-em (he always had an emphasis on the second syllable).

  Now I’ve just discovered a “new” edition of her po-ems (from 2016) called “Emily Dickinson’s Poems as She Preserved Them.” Which I must have. Does the library have it?

• Wed. Aug. 21, 2024 11:36:36 AM

• I used to get The NY Times in print for free from the stands that were placed throughout the University of Iowa campus. You swiped your student ID in the hopper, popped the lid, and grabbed a paper. I would sit at my desk, paper open, with a notebook, and write down notes on articles as I went.

  I don’t really know why I did this. But I did it for years.

• Tue. Aug. 20, 2024 02:26:36 AM

• Songs in my head this morning:

  • What Goes On (Ringo sings)
  • Marvelous Light
  • Whatshername, Green Day (is that title spelled correctly?)
• Sat. Aug. 17, 2024 11:56:29 AM

• I successfully pushed an update to my personal site that automatically sorted my “Reading” section by the most recently updated page. It uses the .md file into to sort things around. This made me pretty darn proud - because it’s exactly how I wanted it to look.

  Listen: I’m no web design genius. But an idea and or two, sparked into flame by the info and tutorials available online can get you very far down the path.

• Fri. Aug. 16, 2024 07:13:35 PM

• Today I randomly sang a quote from The National, “I’m going through an awkward phase,” in my best Matt Behringer baritone and it made my daughter laugh out loud.

• Tue. Aug. 13, 2024 02:36:20 AM

• This is an official test of the push from the Mac. Using my long sought after method of creating a file via the terminal and then using mate to edit in Textmate.

• Sun. Aug. 11, 2024 10:02:41 PM

• The French love for their little Victor reminds me of Hawkeye fans love for Caitlin Clark. Bordering on obsession. I write this while wearing an Iowa shirt bearing her number.

• Sat. Aug. 10, 2024 08:55:25 PM

• When the strings kick in on Wall of Eyes. And you know This isn’t a The Smile. It’s a Radiohead record. Post-Radiohead. Okay.

• Fri. Aug. 09, 2024 11:28:59 PM

• Decided to go out to Braum’s for end of summer after soccer ice cream. The kids were messing around with the salt shaker - one tasted some and remarked “Too salty!”

• Fri. Aug. 09, 2024 11:29:55 AM

• Iowa football enters the preseason rankings at number 25. Something to watch this year. I’m hoping to attend a slate of local high school games and soak in and report on their various cultures.

• Tue. Aug. 06, 2024 03:15:29 AM

• Those Stone Temple Pilots records - I think they hold up pretty well today. Core … is pretty MEH. But especially Purple and Tiny Music … they were sort of a tad bit reviled by the alt-rock punky purists of the time … but they sound good now.

• Mon. Aug. 05, 2024 03:16:46 PM

• “I just hope it inspires Mattison to see her papa working hard.”

  • Hudson,in #TOTK

  Spoken as the true inner monologue of workaholic parents everywhere. Suddenly realizing that all the time they thought they had went up in smoke.

• Wed. Jul. 31, 2024 09:18:52 PM

• My new parenting book says

• Fri. Jul. 26, 2024 02:50:11 PM

• Months have passed in the story. And I love how when reading a novel, you can fluidly move back and forward in time.

• Fri. Jul. 26, 2024 02:44:59 PM

• We’ve been muddling through a trying ordeal of a soccer tournament. It’s at the beach. All the parking area flooded. And the weather has been bad. On again off again. Now it’s on again.

• Mon. Jul. 22, 2024 03:35:00 AM

• The warp and the woof of it all.

• Sun. Jul. 07, 2024 12:17:45 PM

• Let’s just take for example, Namibia.

• Fri. Jul. 05, 2024 06:19:16 PM

• Saw Inside Out 2. Enjoyed it and it was worth seeing. Not as thoroughly captivating as the first. BUT - the portrayal of Anxiety was spot on, I thought. The color orange seemed exactly the correct color. And the voice (Maya Hawke) evoked a touch of sympathy but also an edginess - it was always teetering on the verge of losing control - yet continued to stay the course and believe in her good intentions. Powerful.

• Tue. Jun. 18, 2024 10:33:42 PM

• For an unknown reason I’m thinking of the Iowa State Cyclone basketball teams of the early 2000’s. Eustachy’s teams. And when he showed up at that student party. And the star player was … someone … Tinsley. And the big guy — I can’t remember his name.

• Sat. Jun. 15, 2024 01:06:36 PM

• I’m getting quicker and quicker to just declare RSS bankruptcy and mark everything for a day As Read.

• Wed. May. 15, 2024 03:08:08 AM

• The thrill of finding a new sound or a song that speaks. It still makes my heart come to life and thump.

• Mon. May. 06, 2024 04:35:31 AM

• Mowed the grass today. Used one of my N95 masks, which didn’t leave me a pile of snot for the rest of the day after.

• Wed. May. 01, 2024 11:48:16 PM

• The way some parents converse about youth sports. It sounds like life or death. Maybe it is? Work, little one, to appease the watchful eyes, full of wrath and wild expectations.

• Fri. Apr. 26, 2024 12:49:25 AM

• Nobody cares about my life story, my thoughts, what I’m feeling, my opinion on any matter, what I did today or any day.

• Thu. Apr. 25, 2024 08:36:30 PM

• In the future, I think I might need to become an occasional Apple Music subscriber. I’ll do a month or two, compile a list of stuff I’m really liking, cancel the sub, then go on to purchase those records to own outright.

• Thu. Apr. 25, 2024 03:49:28 AM

• I think that my job in the world is just to notice things - pick up on vibes - hear the undertone in a person’s voice. To try to be curious and take a closer look.

• Wed. Apr. 24, 2024 02:06:24 PM

• I thought the sound quality of the original AirPods Pro was satisfactory. Even good. But the second gen model is so much better that I feel embarrassed to have held my prior belief. They’re my favorite headphones ever.

• Wed. Apr. 17, 2024 11:53:10 PM

• Could every work of art in whatever format be about 12 minutes long? Or whatever the equivalent of 12 minutes of time is in “weight” or amount or quantity.

• Fri. Mar. 22, 2024 04:02:34 PM

• What happened to the young man who used to spend piles of quarters playing Virtual Tennis at the Old Capitol Mall arcade.

• Mon. Mar. 11, 2024 05:18:26 PM

• I eavesdropped on a job interview during our visit to In N Out for free hot chocolate The candidate kept saying how much he liked their burgers and chili fries.

  I’m fairly certain they don’t serve chili fries …

  Felt a bit sorry for the candidate.

• Fri. Mar. 01, 2024 02:29:28 AM

• Lawson is feeling a bit under the weather today. He was up last night for several hours - hoping he will snooze a bit this morning. I think he might have a fever.

  In other news: the churches here were full of sympathy for Israel after Oct 7 - which was good and right. And we prayed for them to recover - and inadvertently also prayed for the success of a murderous military mission - which is now dehumanizing millions of innocent normal people. And where is the church now - where is the sympathy.

• Tue. Feb. 20, 2024 03:05:28 PM

• I had never listened to Sun Kil Moon prior to the other day - but I remember all the acclaim in the mid teens - and after listening to Benji, I just don’t get it. Sometimes the songs are lovely, but the rambling of the singing - a vibe I would enjoy in theory - but it just felt dumb and pointless.

• Fri. Feb. 16, 2024 05:38:59 PM

• As I get older I’m increasingly convinced that, truly, nothing good happens after 10 PM. For me at least. Life would be better if I could flip my schedule and always be awake at 5.

• Thu. Feb. 15, 2024 12:49:35 PM

• I’ve decided that I’ll probably need to have Apple Music AND continue to buy music. To actually own and possess the stuff I care about. Or maybe get a record player again and buy vinyl.

• Thu. Feb. 15, 2024 01:45:13 AM

• Do you sometimes feel it would be the best use of your remaining time to sit down and just read as many books as possible? I do. Just to do nothing else at all. Ever. And expire your final breath in the chair of reading.

• Sat. Feb. 10, 2024 04:28:44 PM

• Watching The Banshees of Inishirin

• Sun. Feb. 04, 2024 04:06:25 AM

• I still feel the past and my experiences buried there as if they were the present. The big long now. Memories are bubble up and seem real in the moment and as if they are happening again and again.

• Wed. Jan. 31, 2024 01:36:59 AM

• This is a Joyce-an puzzlement: Carol Oates will write a short paragraph that uses two tenses of “penetrate.”

  Throbbing notes “penetrating.” The Jesters who “penetrated” the very air

  It’s a feat.

• Fri. Jan. 19, 2024 12:19:01 PM

• There’s a couple here, one wearing a Pantera shirt and one wearing a Mudvayne shirt. At least I assume they’re a couple.

• Sun. Jan. 07, 2024 08:40:29 PM

• I like my kids to see me with a book in hand, if at all possible. Instead of scrolling or poking or prodding at a device. So I try to be up before them and be reading on the couch.

• Thu. Jan. 04, 2024 12:22:16 PM

2023

• The Casey’s clerk I met last night was planning to travel to Colorado, with her 4 kids and spouse, through the oncoming snowstorm, and into the already established mountain snowpack, for Christmas with the in-laws.

  She seemed upbeat, but I would be cancelling.

• Sun. Dec. 24, 2023 05:58:07 PM

• I’m realizing more and more that I don’t have a clue how to relate to teenagers.

• Sat. Dec. 23, 2023 04:55:26 PM

• I’m realizing more and more that I don’t have a clue how to relate to teenagers.

• Sat. Dec. 23, 2023 04:54:30 PM

• I’ve spent so long pinning all my hopes on evenings of free time. It’s difficult to break free from that. I need to minimize my expectations for what I can do in an evening. All the potential for self actualization does not rest in a single evening. And when you just need downtime, that’s what you should be doing. Let your soul be your pilot. And your weariness is real But I also need to get a job.

• Fri. Dec. 15, 2023 02:42:44 AM

• The dilemma of “having a large, complex soul” that somehow in public manifests as a “thin, glassy trickle.” From the Joyce Carol Oates feature in the 11/27 New Yorker. Struck me.

• Mon. Dec. 11, 2023 03:45:31 AM

• Recently began to use one of the British male Siri voices, and that was a good decision. They’re better than the Americans.

• Sun. Dec. 10, 2023 04:31:29 AM

• My best friends are the librarians

• Wed. Dec. 06, 2023 05:40:50 PM

• On a side note, I tried to read Lauren Groff. Yes, Obama loved her - along with many others. It didn’t click with me. Can’t get past the name “Lotto.” Lancelot? Give me a break. Who has time for it.

• Wed. Dec. 06, 2023 04:22:41 AM

• Johnny Marr finding that Gibson L-5 at the guitar shop was my favorite moment from this past months’ New Yorkers.

• Wed. Dec. 06, 2023 04:11:06 AM

• Soccer practice in late November is maybe more tolerable than in mid August. But when it’s breezy and about 50, things could feel better. Thank goodness for my midwestern wardrobe.

• Wed. Dec. 06, 2023 01:32:23 AM

• Do you ever see a random cozy building corner or an overpass and think That’s where I would move if I didn’t have housing.

• Fri. Dec. 01, 2023 07:51:53 PM

• There is also something solipsistic about the “laptop performance” concert. Which we also all can relate to.

• Wed. Nov. 15, 2023 03:37:48 AM

• It is the feat of harnessing a runaway laptop that is the engaging element of a live “laptop music” setting.

  Will it be tamed or will it break or go its own way.

• Wed. Nov. 15, 2023 02:07:06 AM

• Morning pages: People don’t understand the quantity of what I do because it is how someone else wants it. Someone else prefers it to be such and such a way.

• Tue. Nov. 14, 2023 12:11:33 PM

• I can’t take the level of destruction happening in Gaza today. There have been 12,000 people killed. Indescribable horror and loss. Just so bad.

• Tue. Nov. 14, 2023 04:26:18 AM

• #nowplaying XO by Elliott Smith. This record is growing on me. Used to very much prefer the more stripped down acoustic records - but this one might be the sweet spot of what constitutes a True Sound - Quintessential.

• Mon. Nov. 06, 2023 05:17:36 PM

• Checking out Scavengers Reign #watching

• Mon. Nov. 06, 2023 04:23:00 AM

• Donating plasma is like practice for the medical intervention part of dying. Preparing to be stuck in a spot at the mercy of people in white coats. The build up and the fear and the release at the end when you get to arise and return home.

• Fri. Nov. 03, 2023 04:23:48 PM

• TIL that a business student in the 7os invented “calimari.” As a business opportunity, of course, but also as a response to overfishing. There were still a lot of squids out there.

• Fri. Nov. 03, 2023 02:34:29 AM

• Recent reading: Biograohy of a Poem, Matthew Hollis. Had to return, but I plan to check it out again and continue.

• Sun. Oct. 22, 2023 01:17:42 AM

• I end every day wondering Did I do enough? The answer is always No.

• Sun. Oct. 08, 2023 02:18:16 AM

• If you buy a new phone case every couple years, it feels in your brain, and is perceived by the world at large, that you actually got the entire new iPhone that you are coveting somewhere in your soul.

• Sun. Oct. 08, 2023 02:17:49 AM

• If you buy a new phone case every couple years, it feels in your brain, and is perceived by the world at large, that you actually got the entire new iPhone that you are coveting somewhere in your soul.

• Wed. Oct. 04, 2023 01:22:27 AM

• I saw the phrase “jack up prices” twice while scrolling my RSS feed headlines.

• Tue. Oct. 03, 2023 09:45:51 PM

• You pick a few musical artists to accompany you on your journey. Then you buy their records whenever they come along, and get a shirt, and get out to the show at the local club.

  This is the way.

  Stray too far from this path, and it all starts to break apart.

• Fri. Sep. 29, 2023 09:53:51 PM

• Wordle 827 2/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Sun. Sep. 24, 2023 12:21:25 PM

• Pound would pose the question ‘What is money for?’ And he would answer: That the whole people shall be able to eat (healthily), that the whole people shall be housed (decently) and that the whole people shall be clothed (adequate to be climate).

• Thu. Sep. 21, 2023 02:48:04 AM

• Wordle 810 2/6

  🟩🟨⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Fri. Sep. 08, 2023 02:14:35 AM

• Did the writers and people of the Bible have any concept of human self-determination and actualization such as exists in the modern world? What would they think of it? Does the interplay between past and present matter? More pressingly, is the average reader of the Bible able to discern these matters at all? Do they care?

• Fri. Sep. 01, 2023 08:46:55 PM

• Wordle 801 5/6

  ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩 ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Tue. Aug. 29, 2023 12:01:37 PM

• https://pitchfork.com/news/stars-of-the-lids-brian-mcbride-dies-at-53/

• Mon. Aug. 28, 2023 04:05:13 PM

• Wordle 800 2/6

  🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Mon. Aug. 28, 2023 11:54:04 AM

• Currently #reading: “A Visit From the Goon Squad”, Jennifer Egan On the up next pile, “The Books of Jacob,” Olga Tokarczuk On the deep pile, “The Waste Land: A Biography of a Poem”

  Yes, I’m rediscovering my inner English major.

• Sat. Aug. 26, 2023 01:14:14 PM

• What is “raising a child,” actually. What is “parenting.”

  What?

• Thu. Aug. 24, 2023 04:11:15 PM

• Yesterday I was parent of the year. Fully engaged in the work. Today I am eating everything in sight and trying to find a hole to live inside of.

• Wed. Aug. 23, 2023 08:49:22 PM

• What if we all picked two or three websites and read them like we used to read newspapers. How would the world change?

• Thu. Aug. 17, 2023 02:38:37 PM

• Here, it was about maximizing profits and keeping overhead down. Show me how this is true.

• Mon. Aug. 07, 2023 03:47:30 AM

• As a former worship pastor, you feel almost complicit in something when you watch the Secrets of Hillsong doc.

• Mon. Aug. 07, 2023 03:36:59 AM

• One can feel one’s heart beat fasting when one watches a visual entertainment.

• Mon. Aug. 07, 2023 03:28:22 AM

• I’ve been using the phrase “Fool of a took” a lot lately.

• Sun. Aug. 06, 2023 12:38:22 AM

• We should have stopped at landlines and email

• Sat. Aug. 05, 2023 09:03:50 PM

• Wordle 771 5/6

  ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟨🟨🟨⬜🟨 🟨🟩🟩🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Sun. Jul. 30, 2023 01:16:29 PM

• My lan, I still get a lot of joy from installing software updates and from checking for app updates. Is this like adding things to your Netflix library? Or the joy of trying to pick just the right word?

  Keeping things updated is a joy and a passion. Keeping things optimized and smooth.

• Sat. Jul. 29, 2023 03:57:56 AM

• Watching Glass Onion.

• Sat. Jul. 29, 2023 03:04:47 AM

• Wordle 769 3/6

  ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Fri. Jul. 28, 2023 08:03:41 PM

• Wordle 768 3/6

  ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Thu. Jul. 27, 2023 12:43:30 PM

• Wordle 765 3/6

  ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Mon. Jul. 24, 2023 01:15:03 PM

• Reclaiming my mental space this morning. And restarting my Wordle streak. It’s good to begin again.

• Sun. Jul. 23, 2023 12:30:50 PM

• 🤬 Wordle 763 X/6

  ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨 🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩

• Sun. Jul. 23, 2023 01:07:45 AM

• Wordle 760 3/6

  🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟨🟨🟨⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Wed. Jul. 19, 2023 12:11:06 PM

• I am genuinely impressed by Karl Ove’s linking Cain and Abel to Hitler. “And his face fell. Lift it up.”

  #books

• Wed. Jul. 19, 2023 03:31:25 AM

• The world is moms sitting in their minivans in a parking lot, furiously texting to whoever.

• Tue. Jul. 18, 2023 03:41:55 PM

• Wordle 756 4/6

  ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟨⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Sat. Jul. 15, 2023 12:21:39 PM

• Wordle 754 4/6

  ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟨🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Thu. Jul. 13, 2023 11:58:25 AM

• Wordle 752 4/6

  ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Tue. Jul. 11, 2023 11:51:21 AM

• Wordle 750 6/6

  ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  I don’t think I’ve ever had this much green.

• Sun. Jul. 09, 2023 06:31:55 PM

• Wordle 747 3/6

  ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Thu. Jul. 06, 2023 07:31:06 PM

• I just realized something. I think I impute disorganization and poor decision-making and lack of direction upon the group for which I previously worked because they hired me. Seriously: what were they thinking.

• Wed. Jul. 05, 2023 02:42:40 PM

• I’m alternately flummoxed and amazed at the ability of almost everyone to exist in their own private world and space whenever they want. To stream whatever song on their iPhone speaker and hold it up, or put in an AirPod to check out just a little.

• Wed. Jul. 05, 2023 02:10:16 AM

• The updated Minecraft soundtracks are solid and good. Worthy successors to the originals.

• Sun. Jul. 02, 2023 04:03:22 AM

• Did the advent of the internet inadvertently usher in a new monoculture, when it intended to foster a boundless flourishing of human thought and expression?

• Tue. Jun. 20, 2023 12:35:49 AM

• Without fail my favorite part of flying, when I so rarely do, is to catch a bird’s eye glimpse of how people are using their phones now. What apps are they using. Are they still killing then. What do we do in our mindless time killing moments. What do home-screens look like. Endlessly fascinating details of life.

• Tue. Jun. 20, 2023 12:31:17 AM

• The essence of humanity is a group gathered around a fire telling tales to pass the time

• Fri. Jun. 16, 2023 08:36:00 PM

• Have you ever made the mistake of thinking anyone cares about what you like and enjoy? About your preferences in music or movies? About what you want to do in a given situation - how to spend the time? I have. Many many times. And it is a mark of my pride and selfishness that I keep thinking it matters - that what I think might matter to others.

• Mon. Jun. 12, 2023 02:19:47 AM

• Jesus said Don’t put new wine into old wineskins. But I say to you Pour the fresh coffee into yesterday’s

• Fri. May. 26, 2023 11:45:38 AM

• Good call for Pres Biden to Not make comments at the Hiroshima nuclear attack memorial.

• Thu. May. 18, 2023 03:07:18 PM

• I am not allowed to be tired

• Fri. May. 12, 2023 02:44:32 AM

• I feel whole when I do laundry.

• Fri. May. 12, 2023 02:27:52 AM

• The handbell choir played today, and it was beautiful.

• Sun. May. 07, 2023 03:38:58 PM

• To the parent who is playing their Switch during your child’s violin clinic: What is wrong with you?!? Find some rhythm in your life.

• Sat. Apr. 22, 2023 03:02:13 PM

• Racism is the way your heart beats faster in certain situations and rooms.

• Sun. Apr. 16, 2023 10:11:15 PM

• M got a major hair re-do yesterday. It took two hours in the chair. And the dog barked at her when she got home. I didn’t bark, but I gasped with joy.

• Wed. Apr. 05, 2023 11:52:12 AM

• “Originality is hard to define in words, but it is possible to describe and reproduce the emotional state it evokes. I try to attain that emotional state each time I sit down to write my novels. That’s because it feels so wonderfully invigorating. It’s as if a new and dif ferent day is being born from the day that is today. If possible, I would like my readers to savor that same emotion when they read my books. I want to open a window in their souls and let the fresh air in. This is what I think of, and hope for, as I write–purely and simply.”

  • Haruki Murakami
• Wed. Feb. 08, 2023 04:45:27 AM

• “Originality is hard to define in words, but it is possible to describe and reproduce the emotional state it evokes. I try to attain that emotional state each time I sit down to write my novels. That’s because it feels so wonderfully invigorating. It’s as if a new and dif ferent day is being born from the day that is today. If possible, I would like my readers to savor that same emotion when they read my books. I want to open a window in their souls and let the fresh air in. This is what I think of, and hope for, as I write–purely and simply.”

  • Haruki Murakami
• Wed. Feb. 08, 2023 04:43:45 AM

• Is it acceptable to encourage competition between your kids? To get one to want to be better than the other at a skill or pursuit? To let them know that “You need to push a little harder to stay ahead your brother - he’s gaining on you.” Or “Are you just going to let her be better than you?”

• Wed. Feb. 08, 2023 04:26:46 AM

• Does anyone else feel as embarrassed as me when you talk to your smart speakers?

• Wed. Jan. 11, 2023 06:38:04 PM

• I’ve realized over time that the beer in the recliner during the football game constitutes a male safe space that is simultaneously sacred and profane in our culture.

• Sun. Jan. 08, 2023 10:02:30 PM

2022

• Should I start wearing a mask again

• Fri. Dec. 30, 2022 11:36:08 PM

• Am I teaching my kids how to fly under the radar? To be invisible and live contact and conflict free. To just get by.

• Thu. Dec. 29, 2022 04:23:16 AM

• I like to see what kinds of snacks other kids are eating and somehow pidgeonhole their parents based on that dumb scrap of info

• Wed. Dec. 28, 2022 11:44:36 PM

• Pizza day a day early for school lunch. Which means, a bit less work for me than normal. Santa is coming to visit on a sleigh … I mean, errrr … a helicopter. Dropping things from helicopters seems to be a Texas thing on the major Christian holy days.

• Thu. Dec. 15, 2022 12:31:10 PM

• I’m now always turning on the auto-check in the NYT crossword. It just makes life a bit nicer and simpler. Why torture myself over a letter or two?

• Tue. Dec. 13, 2022 03:17:02 PM

• Saw The Smile tonight. Their groove is undeniable. The Melodie’s are alright. The percussive guitars and the drums that can rise up and take over. The basement vibes of a jam noise band are cute. Hall of famers breaking back into the stage after a season away. I can see why they came to the U.S.

• Fri. Dec. 09, 2022 06:55:27 AM

• Why would they talk? I wondered. As another evening passed nearly speechless and thoughtless, even the most consequential details overlooked and ignored. Miscommunicated. Half of what’s said is misspoken.

• Fri. Nov. 25, 2022 04:31:59 AM

• Consider the amount of your life you’ve spent turning socks and underwear inside out. Stop doing it now, before it’s too late.

• Wed. Oct. 26, 2022 02:56:03 AM

• Human communication is fundamentally a one to one phenomenon. And the internet has fouled it all up. And we all ignore phone calls now. And are unable to focus and pay small attention to what’s right in front of our faces.

• Thu. Oct. 06, 2022 11:04:57 PM

• I think I’ve thought and posted this multiple times, but I’m now convinced that YHF and Ghost are actually Jim O’Rourke albums.

• Sat. Sep. 24, 2022 05:02:56 PM

• I’m obsessed with why my city chose to have the Y operate the new rec center. Not that I’m opposed. I’m obsessed with the actual decision making process. And what it means for me and the city.

• Sat. Sep. 24, 2022 02:44:10 PM

• The need to move past staying up late to do nothing but spin your wheels.

• Sun. Sep. 18, 2022 03:08:39 AM

• I still like flipping through channels better than flipping through the endless pile of streaming offerings.

• Sun. Sep. 18, 2022 02:35:40 AM

• Why email is still the best mode of electronic communication

  Respectful of attention and time Capable of deception or radical honesty Free and fast Also slower and more easily buried and unnoticed Expansive and containing a lore and etiquette Connection to history

• Wed. Sep. 07, 2022 03:51:23 AM

• The rampant fetishization and hobbyization of notebooks and pens and paper has prevented many valuable words from being written - killed by indecision and aesthetic illusions.

• Tue. Aug. 30, 2022 08:31:09 PM

• It’s hard to believe I used to frequently wear ties and suit costs - just because.

• Fri. Aug. 26, 2022 03:50:57 AM

• There’s an old man here carrying a moleskine notebook in his back pocket.

• Wed. Aug. 03, 2022 05:04:43 PM

• A mom was just calling her kids Nancy and Leroy to get ready to go. Don’t hear those names often these modern times.

• Wed. Aug. 03, 2022 04:35:26 PM

• What I want for our new house is that it would, within the first 6 months, function and appear and feel like we are about to list it for sale. Then I can live in peace.

• Tue. Jul. 26, 2022 03:54:10 AM

• To a 2 year old the ocean is a giant puddle. Bringing equal joy to the one found in the store parking lot.

• Wed. Jul. 13, 2022 12:46:17 AM

• The internet started to get bad when it undertook the task of showing us things. Figuring us out. Deciding what was worth our attention. These things instead of allowing us to pursue our own ends and means and interests. And organically find like minded people.

• Mon. Jun. 20, 2022 01:41:08 AM

• At a Flying J on Hwy 20 in northern Iowa, the unedited version of “She Hates Me,” the absolutely AWFUL Puddle of Mudddddd song, was playing on the public speaker system. Offensive to the ears and every other sense. Shameful.

• Sat. Jun. 18, 2022 09:49:55 PM

• Watched the first third of Fire Walk With Me last night. That film is genuinely frightening and unnerving.

• Sat. Jun. 11, 2022 06:40:13 PM

• Travel day yesterday. Made decent time in the end. Oklahoma was almost entirely rain, much very heavy. Considered stopping under a bridge. Trying to break through here and get at what’s on my mind. There is a wall in my stomach and in my brain that prevents me from acting and moving in a direction. We split the driving evenly. I’m also excited for the Taptic typing feedback in iOS 16. Also I’m excited for iCloud shared family photos. Who will share mine?

  Finished Drive My Car the other night. Great ones movie. The trajectory of the last third was inevitable yet surprising in its particularity.

  We had to bring Sherman along. His usual caretaker refused this time because he terrorized her cats last time. Then again she could have moved the litter box.

• Thu. Jun. 09, 2022 01:01:48 PM

• Kindred to being an American

  -Eddie V

• Sun. May. 29, 2022 02:02:52 AM

• The ability of a song to clarify and simplify

• Sun. May. 29, 2022 02:01:43 AM

• First reaction to Wilco cruel country: the artwork is … like my grandma’s table doily. But my grandma didn’t have a table doily.

• Sat. May. 28, 2022 02:15:25 AM

• Killing instagram from my open apps is like breathing.

• Mon. May. 23, 2022 01:26:25 AM

• Finally - finally getting around to dropping of M’s returns. Foundation inspection. Going over full inspection report again. Costco trip. Which Costco will be closest now? Analyzing all my latest tweets. Soccer lunch at the newly opened McD’s play place. Which is just … WHUFF.

• Wed. May. 18, 2022 02:16:13 PM

• Checking out DVDs from the library is much more interesting and exciting to all the kids in my family except for the 13 y/o. The little ritual of inserting the DVD. The annoying ads and menu navigation - it’s all gravy to them - interesting and novel - even if the exact same show is available on streaming whatever.

• Thu. May. 05, 2022 04:24:38 PM

• I just told F “I’m thinking about taking you and lw to Costco to get hot dogs for dinner” - and his immediate response was “I want to go there TO GET SAMPLES. I think about going there TO GET SAMPLES every day.”

• Thu. Apr. 28, 2022 07:26:21 PM

• My brain — consumed by chatter, clatter, and whatever is the matter — can’t know how to start anything but the next episode.

• Sat. Apr. 09, 2022 02:09:45 AM

• Here is a thing that just happened: my 2 y/o engaged the Echo to “play,” as he often does. It chose to play “Music by The Replacements.” Then I said, “This song hits daddy right in heart of all my feels.” Then everyone wanted to turn the song off immediately.

• Wed. Apr. 06, 2022 01:14:00 PM

• I wish that more people just ordered black coffee at every coffee shop. Save everyone lots of time.

• Tue. Apr. 05, 2022 03:28:25 PM

• Maybe most specifically the tech talk and Apple nerd sphere of shows. I appreciate that community and I’m not going to abandon it. But it’s dawning on me how vapid and repetitive most of it is. Year after year the same discussions over and over.

• Tue. Mar. 01, 2022 10:05:26 PM

• I can feel myself moving away from podcasts. Dare I say my dependence upon podcasts to get through the day. This has been an ongoing concern passed down from my window cleaning days, working outside and invisibly and alone.

• Tue. Mar. 01, 2022 10:03:07 PM

• I don’t know when I’ll be able to move past knowing that many thousands of people carry on life as if they believe “a thing” (could be any number of things … let my readers fill in the blank) - when in reality their motives are entirely cynical and selfish.

• Mon. Feb. 28, 2022 05:02:52 PM

• I finished Leviathan Wakes today. Absolutely flew through it. I never noticed or cared the leaps of logic that Miller makes along the way that don’t add up. Just a wild ride of a book.

• Mon. Feb. 28, 2022 05:02:42 AM

• I’m sure a part of the reason I dug into Station Eleven so hard was because it took place in Chicago. I had a long held dream, even through high school, to live in Chicago. We took annual trips there growing up. Also Mackenzie Davis was in one of my all time favorite shows, Halt & Catch Fire. Which I might be ready for a rewatch of.

• Thu. Feb. 24, 2022 11:12:27 PM

• I’ve been preoccupied with a section of twitter that is focused on gender, specifically issues of masculinity, and gender roles. I can’t stop looking at it and I don’t know why. I want to say that the men inhabiting these spaces are attention seeking and wrong in what they’re doing, and that the way they’re proclaiming some partial truths about Jesus and Christianity are harming the church.

  But I don’t know how to articulate this. My brain can’t coalesce around a central idea to pick at. I need to find a way to slow it down and pick it apart to tease something out. It all seems to go along with a right wing political attitude that brings with it all of the weirdness you’d expect. And it’s also very agrarian and rural and backward looking. It feels like a retreat to more a more black and white era.

• Wed. Feb. 23, 2022 10:10:03 PM

• Walking Sherman. I saw two houses next to each other both running their AC. Come on people.

• Mon. Feb. 21, 2022 07:39:22 PM

• Of course the tailor for Tarrey Town has to be from the lady village. What Gordon could possibly mend clothes, with those giant hands.

• Thu. Feb. 17, 2022 07:06:46 PM

• I want you to be amazed by me - but there’s nothing amazing to see or hear or feel. It’s a cluttered kitchen counter of a man.

• Wed. Feb. 16, 2022 09:48:01 PM

• Grocery store feels apocalyptic this morning. People remember the great blackout and freeze of 2021.

• Wed. Feb. 02, 2022 03:47:14 PM

• When all else fails, tweet about it.

• Tue. Feb. 01, 2022 06:04:50 PM

• Ringo sleeping during THE Long and winding road

• Sat. Jan. 29, 2022 06:01:11 AM

• S11: the way the past is so real to us. The way we are present in the before and the now and the future all at once. And not present also. Withholding our presence to protect our fragile selves.

• Sat. Jan. 29, 2022 04:35:56 AM

• s11: When spring comes We’re going to run out of food. Then whoever’s left is going to want to fight each other. We have to get out of here. This can’t last.

• Sat. Jan. 29, 2022 04:26:08 AM

• Cleaning the house. This is what websites are for.

• Fri. Jan. 28, 2022 05:18:41 PM

• Watching Station Eleven. Loving everything about this show, right down to the fonts in the titles. The way it depicts the world spinning right off its axis while you try to make your morning toast or something banal like that.

• Fri. Jan. 28, 2022 03:43:07 AM

• Watching Station Eleven. Loving everything about this show, right down to the fonts in the titles. The way it depicts the world spinning right off its axis while you try to make your morning toast or something banal like that.

• Fri. Jan. 28, 2022 03:38:21 AM

• Watching The Power of the Dog instead of football.

• Sun. Jan. 23, 2022 04:12:32 AM

• Domination today Wordle 214 2/6 🟨🟨🟩🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

• Wed. Jan. 19, 2022 01:34:32 PM

• How can Americans not look into their own hearts and immediately realize that racism in this country remains an ongoing concern? How can anyone claim to have clean hands?

• Tue. Jan. 18, 2022 01:22:54 PM

• As a tennis fan, I have never much liked N Djok - and his antics in recent years have only decreased his stature in my eyes. Something about his vengeful and emotional and swashbuckling style has always bugged me. But seriously, shame on him for his behavior. His legacy is permanently tarnished.

• Sun. Jan. 09, 2022 05:12:23 PM

• Feeling like I have a cold this morning. Or is it Covid? I don’t think it’s COVID-19, caused by the sars-cov2 virus. It’s the common cold, caused by the sars-cov-v0.2 virus. Makes you feel a bit run down, then you bounce back like the champion that you are.

• Sun. Jan. 09, 2022 03:16:18 PM

• I like using heavy gauge guitar strings to discourage my fingers from doing silly things like bending notes.

• Sat. Jan. 08, 2022 01:39:25 AM

• Watched Don’t Look Up for New Year’s Eve. The movie had a bitter heart at its core, which I didn’t appreciate. Even the shared meal around the table at the end felt in vain. While only the horrible ones live on at all. And humanity is doomed to repeat itself endlessly.

• Sat. Jan. 01, 2022 06:31:53 AM

2021

• Our families are engaged in their local communities in ways that I am jealous of. Supporting local artisans. Involved in community groups. Buying from local distilleries and wineries and breweries and other manufacturers and coffee shops. I want to make this a priority for the future.

• Mon. Dec. 27, 2021 04:35:17 PM

• Fox had a few tears leaving Burlington today. That makes me happy and sad - sad we live so far away - happy that he values the time spent there with them.

• Fri. Dec. 24, 2021 04:29:14 PM

• Fox had a few tears leaving Burlington today. That makes me happy and sad - sad we live so far away - happy that he values the time spent there with them.

• Fri. Dec. 24, 2021 04:25:19 PM

• It’s not that All Things Must Pass was a bad song in itself. It just wasn’t a Beatles song. And it sounded too dour and funereal.

• Tue. Dec. 14, 2021 09:18:43 PM

• How is it that some people seem to live forever, no matter how they mistreat themselves, and some healthy people get a disease in their 50’s and die off? I almost wrote “in their 40’s,” but since I’m going to be turning 40 next year, I had to promptly excise that line.

• Mon. Dec. 13, 2021 04:09:18 PM

• How is it that some people seem to live forever, no matter how they mistreat themselves, and some healthy people get a disease in their 50’s and die off? I almost wrote “in their 40’s,” but since I’m going to be turning 40 next year, I had to promptly excise that line.

• Mon. Dec. 13, 2021 04:09:01 PM

• I like putting the GET BACK doc on while I’m puttering around in the evening just to feel like I’m hanging out with The Beatles.

• Mon. Dec. 13, 2021 03:52:54 AM

• I am falling HARD again for Breath of the Wild. Like I did during those first nights in 2017. Thrilling exploration and climbing and the challenge. I am seeing it through the eyes of FX all over again.

• Wed. Dec. 08, 2021 06:10:29 PM

• I heard a stat today: 72% of TX nursing home workers have received at least one vaccine dose. HOW IS THIS NUMBER SO LOW. They’ve only had nearly two years to do their part to protect the most vulnerable population in the country.

• Tue. Dec. 07, 2021 01:10:50 PM

• Some Bible verses about worship that don’t get quoted very often: “I hate, I despise, your feasts! I can’t stand the stench of your solemn assemblies … Take away from me the noise of your song! I will not listen to the music of your harps.” Amos 5:21,23

• Sat. Dec. 04, 2021 08:40:27 PM

• I am not a big fan of musicals in general, but the recent Fresh Air triple episode tribute to Steven Sondheim was moving and it turns out I actually like his music a lot. It’s complex and dense and beautiful and abstract.

• Fri. Dec. 03, 2021 10:06:10 PM

• Why can’t Siri, the musicologist, as Phil Schiller called it, do something as simple as Play all my Sting albums in order of release? Or Add all of Beethoven to my up next?

• Mon. Nov. 29, 2021 09:22:59 PM

• I usually shower on Thursday and Sunday. But I needed to shower yesterday - so I’m off my schedule. Which means I can’t shower today, Sunday, because that would mean showering 2 days in a row.

• Mon. Nov. 29, 2021 12:32:08 AM

• Every person makes observations and draws conclusions from those observations. This is what we are, and that’s alright.

• Sat. Nov. 27, 2021 06:28:35 AM

• in other news … yes, I got my covid booster today … and why does it feel like a risky thing to discuss? I feel all twisted up about this aspect of the current state of things. There are only a few people I know with whom I would dare to bring up vaccines.

• Tue. Nov. 23, 2021 04:10:23 AM

• Could the entire Internet go back to just Wikipedia and a few friendly forums I like?

• Tue. Nov. 23, 2021 04:03:35 AM

• During my COVID booster today, I heard “Wonderful Christmas Time” for the first time this year. Among my all time least favorite songs. The timing of it all just seemed odd.

• Tue. Nov. 23, 2021 03:19:05 AM

• Last night I watched an episode of Star Trek Voyager - the main plot was that the crew found a planet where an alien species had stashed some humans that they abducted from Earth in 1937, INCLUDING, Amelia Earhart. Some abductees had escaped and in the 400 intervening years formed a new human civilization. Incredible story. This is why I watch TV.

• Wed. Nov. 17, 2021 05:06:41 PM

• Just as sounds do indeed exist in empty woods, albums can still exist even though they’re not available on the major retail streaming outlets.

• Mon. Nov. 08, 2021 02:26:39 PM

• I don’t like being seen, and I don’t understand why people like to do live videos so much. Attention grubbing and vain.

• Fri. Nov. 05, 2021 03:29:26 PM

• The “new” Radiohead song Follow Me Around is just weird. In the vein of Electioneering. Drop D. Almost bluesy, which is disorienting.

• Thu. Nov. 04, 2021 04:04:17 AM

• Started playing SUPER METROID. Unsure why it took me nearly 30 years to figure out that it’s a great game, but I’m glad I did.

• Fri. Oct. 29, 2021 06:28:53 PM

• Watching THE VELVET UNDERGROUND. Awesome.

• Fri. Oct. 22, 2021 02:15:10 AM

• you want to write about your middle school rock band - and the jimmy jam - and teaching George the bass. But you also want to eat mozza sticks and watch SUCCESSION - because the internet is talking a lot about SUCCESSION - a marketing thing. Also, you want to listen to the REM album NEW ADVENTURES IN HI FI - which is their most underrated album to debut at no.2. Goodnight.

• Fri. Oct. 15, 2021 03:01:28 AM

• Among cultural artifacts I should revisit: Plastic Ono Band is higher up the list than The Queen’s Gambit.

  No offense to The Queen’s Gambit.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• I want to trim my dog’s nails, and I got the nail clippers, but I’m doggone nervous about the entire thing. Nothing to do but take the furry plunge and remember how much I used to hate trimming my own nails.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• I can’t believe it’s Monday. I almost forgot to take the trash out. Considering the idea that I could listen closely to music more often. Instead of all the talk. The inanity of it all. Read and write more, do the crosswords, complete the crosswords, figure out how to make music again.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• In other news, last night I was reading on my Kindle in bed and my spouse had fallen asleep fairly close by. Then I lost my grip on the Kindle and it fell part on my face part on her. Not a great moment there.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• At a middle school track meet. This is tweeting the way tweets were originally meant to be tweeted by the tweet framers.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• 4/16/21

  • out of bed 6:50. boys sleeping late again. western day for Fox.
  • rainy, rainy, rainy
  • misc play. no lunch call w anyone. talked to M briefly.
  • nap; dishes; garbage; laundry
  • pick up; exchanged 2 old car seats at Target for a 20% off coupon for a new car seat - but it’s worth it just to have them gone.
  • Costco pizza
  • kids sleeping out in the livingroom; reading; generally in a mad mood; shower; typing
  • Listening: The Daily, Accidental Tech Podcast, Total Party Kill, It’s Been a Minute, Fresh Air, One More Thing, The Improvement Association, the rain, Summerteeth, Kind of Blue,
  • Drinking: coffee, white wine
• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• I wrote an email to a random Japanese ambient guitarist that I happened upon. This morning received a reply from him thanking me for the compliment on his songs. He also asked that I let him hear some of my music sometime - but I don’t have anything real to show him.

  Gotta fix this. Enough is enough.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• April 10, 2021 at 4:49:00 PM CDT

  • up at 6:20 with LW
  • cooked oatmeal with raisins and apples for breakfast
  • IKEA trip. lunch in the restaurant. returned the stools we didn’t like.
  • home. watched We Can Be Heroes, kids movie on Netflix by Robert Rodriguez. good.
  • Fox feverish. game with new stuffed snakes. spaghetti for dinner.
  • laundry and a movie, MANK.
  • bed at 11:45
• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• I was heating up some coffee earlier and set the microwave to 23 seconds. Then decided to cancel it and reset it for 26 seconds.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• TIL the dad from That 70’s Show was the Klingon Chancellor in Star Trek VI. Which is weird.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• Playing Animal Crossing - dug up all of Gulliver’s missing communicator parts on the beach - and then kept them all so we can let them rust to build a robot.

  Feel ever so slightly guilty about that.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• Trying to experiment with just using the iPad for all my kitchen counter computing. Would be so much better w/ the newer model of Magic Keyboard, although using a mouse with iPadOS is pretty righteous. Is that still a thing people say?

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• It’s funny how when you’re watching an older show in standard def, and your data cap runs out, you don’t even notice the drop in picture quality due to the slower connection.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• When you start an mp3 playing, you have a sacred obligation to finish that thing a playin.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• Up with the baby. That is all.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• In the past 58 days I’ve misplaced two different Swiss Army knives in my house. This is very disconcerting.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• If you promise not to tell anyone else, I’ll tell you a secret: … There are finely ground up mushrooms in the recently made meatballs.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• COVID-19 update #6: We have accrued an incredible amount of plastic bags left over from school lunch pickups. I’ve been watching David Lynch’s weather reports on YT. The splint on my injured hand got cut back above the wrist today. It’s not always coffee in dads coffee cup.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• COVID-19 update #2: the kids’ preschool is set to reopen 3/30 pending any orders from on high. With curbside drop off only. Parents not allowed in the building. Also, we haven’t eaten all the falafel. It is raining again and again and again.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• Me: Why do you enjoy causing me so much grief?

  Daughter: haha yes. Grief is a funny word.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• Typically, I make one pot of coffee each morning. But every other day I make an extra pot at some point - then drink on it through the evening and save the rest for the next day’s first cup.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• I don’t have time to watch TV—and that stinks an ever so slight bit.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• My wife made muffins this morning - they’re amazing - but I didn’t know it was possible to make that many dirty dishes early in the morning.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• I came up with a great new name for a small batch whiskey: Old Fantastic. Go ahead and use the name if you want.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• I would like some kind of augmented reality situation where people passing by could see a pop up display of what book I’m reading on my e-reader.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• What does it mean that the Apostle Paul, and a fair amount of his friends, believed that Jesus was about to return at any moment?

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• Do I enjoy Snapchat more than the cluttered & claustrophobic IG? Yes. Are there more folks who might enjoy and interact and see what I say/shoot on IG? Yes. Am I still mad at FB/IG for wholesale ripping off Snap stories? Yes.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• Listening to a 7 hour 80s soft rock playlist today. Winner of a playlist. Great one playlist.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• I have an idea I can’t shake - that on rainy, cold, icy, evenings, I am safer, because people who might be out to harm me will stay home b/c of the bad weather.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• COVID 19 update #7: A lot has happened since my last update. I met someone for coffee for the first time - which probably wasn’t the greatest idea, but you do it anyway sometimes. It’s wonderful Christmas time - having a concrete reason to do our own family Christmas is nice. Two new sections of back yard fence. Yesterday the soccer ball was kicked over the newest of them.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• This should appear at 7 AM if everything goes well. Good luck out there little buddy.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:29 AM

• Listening to Rich Mullins this morning - A Liturgy, A Legacy, A Ragamuffin Band. Let’s talk about how mediocre a song is Awesome God, and how great a songwriter was R Mull.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Hello from my phone

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I don’t know why but I can’t shake the feeling that I am secretly despised by many - almost everyone actually secretly despises me.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• American Idiot is a great album. Not embarrassed to say so. It’s no Invisible Man - but it’s good.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• A hot take for today: Rough and Rowdy Ways is not only a solid album for an 80 year old icon - it is the best album of Dylan’s entire career.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• “I lost the ball for about three seconds,” Johnson said postgame. “Luckily it popped back into my vision. That’s part of it. You know, you can’t make excuses. That’s part of the elements. You see different elements throughout the year. I’m grateful I came down with it. It felt good.”

  Sports in general would be better if we, as the public, would let players do their talking on the field of play.

  Unless, of course, what they have to say dovetails with a pertinent political issue the country is grappling with. Then, by all means, let’s hear their fire hot takes.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• when there’s a knife already in the butter dish that had been used, and I go to make another kind of sandwich, i just take that butter knife, wipe if off on the bread, then dip it into whatever fresh spread I’m about to use.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Haven’t had enough time to do the crossword lately. That must be remedied, somehow, someway.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Got this up and running again.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• In other news, trying to get the Homepod to play “Jesus Lord by Kanye West” instead of “Jesus is Lord by Kanye West” is a high degree of difficulty.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• When I was just now pouring the water into the water well of the coffee maker, some drops accidentally spilled into the grounds in the basket - I was mortified by those drips, because the ground aren’t supposed to get wet prior to the brew - but I was also too lazy to change them out for fresh. #life

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• It only took me 4 days, but I got the car seat put back together.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Rich Mullins. If you haven’t listened to him, he’s far more than whatever you thought. Listen.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• The 2nd half of Modern Vampires of the City is up there with Abbey Road as my favorite records ever. Such great flow of tunes and moods. I love it and it makes me happy and sad all at the same time every time I listen.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Busy rearranging deck chairs today, and most days.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Yesterday was Friday the 13th.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• COVID-19 updated #9: when the pandemic started, I was preparing multiple bottles of baby milk each morning to save time. Now I’m potty training.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• One of the oddest, and yet coolest, experiences I’ve had was getting to, in a very impromptu manner, play guitar in a band tossed together by a friend that would open for Bon Iver at the student union in Iowa City. 2008 or so? In the Black Box theater.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• What does it mean that I haven’t watched the Olympics at all this year? Or that I don’t care about them. Or that I don’t feel any emotional affinity for any sports team anymore. Or care about sports at all.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I had previously thought that Guided By Voices were a conventional classic rock band that I wouldn’t be into. Like The Shins. But I found out yesterday that that isn’t at all true. They’re weird, and from Ohio.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Karl Ove on cutting off another driver when changing lanes and almost causing an accident: “The angry blast of his horn cut straight into my soul.“

  I get this. The feeling of having troubled someone and provoked an outburst. Shameful.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• It is a rule in our house, inscribed upon tablets of stone, and the tablets of human hearts, that the morning pot of coffee be a darker roast, and the afternoon pot of coffee be a lighter roast.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• AC repair person finally here. We are on day 4 of no AC upstairs. It’s been close to 90 up there in the late afternoon, and no lower than 84 at night.

  Would it have been nice for them to come earlier? Yes. But they’ve been swamped. And we are an understanding family. That is part of our DNA.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• For an unknown reason, Fox requested that we play “bird sounds” on the car stereo. So Marielle dialed in an hour of bird sounds on YouTube and he was happy. Why?? How??

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Think about all those times you heated something in the microwave for 10 seconds. Now think about all the time you could’ve saved if you’d punched in 9 instead.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I can feel Fox beginning to quit his nap time. And it’s fine. I will handle it and move on.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I might be watching only Star Trek series for the rest of my life.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Many would count Blink 182’s song “The Rock Show” among their lame later career flare ups that fall flat - but for whatever reason, it’s their song that sticks the most in my head.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• The other day my spouse looked at our apple cider vinegar and said “I’m worried about the mother.” She had to explain this to me, but when I understood, I realized that I was also worried about the mother.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• My latest way of getting through each day unscathed: doing the NYT crossword.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Got my second vaccine dose for my birthday. Then got In and Out burger.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Sometimes you feel a bit better about everything when you take the case off of your phone for awhile.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• 4/21/22

  • LW has been a morning monster this week. he can’t contain his enthusiasm for the day.
  • he spent 22 minutes sitting on my neck in the living room this morning
  • late breakfast; MarioKart; hiking game
  • lunch
  • picking up SM w boys
  • got two NOISE notifications from my Watch this afternoon when Fox gave his loudest and highest pitch screams
  • Star Trek, Animal Crossing, dishes
  • bed at 10:50
  • Listening: The Daily, Meet My Friends the Friends, MacCast, The Improvement Association
• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Nobody is posting about Lord Yupa tonight. So here’s a tweet about LORD YUPA and his outstanding swordsmanship.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• 4/20/21

  • up early. LLLLLW was going wild at 6 AM
  • Suzuki is cancelled for today
  • First time to ROOTS coffee in over a year
  • Drove by the covid testing site. Considered getting a test just because.
  • Apple event today. AirTags. Pffffft.
  • George Floyd murder trial verdicts annc’d: Guilty on all counts.
  • Marielle at d-hall. dinner just w kids.
  • watching Nausicaaaaaaa.
  • Listening: The Daily, Road Work (great episode), The Incomparable, Live Apple event coverage, The Improvement Association
• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Fox is playing Animal Crossing a bit - and he was in the flower field doing the crying action - he said he was watering the flowers w/ his tears.

  In other news, went to a coffee shop for the 2nd time in a year.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• 4/14/21

  • SM in my room waking me at 6:40 again today.
  • prepping salsa chicken crock pot
  • woke FX at 7:30; breakfast; to school
  • toodling around the house; lunch call w mom
  • naps; putting clothes away
  • pick up; milkshake at Sonic; got gas Costco
  • home; misc play; dinner
  • dishes; working on desk & room clutter
  • reading
  • Listening: The Daily, Magnus Archives, Best Show, Fresh Air, The Rebound
• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• 4/11/21

  • up late at 7:15
  • Fox still running 100 degrees; no church for boys
  • outside play; Fox worked on letters & numbers
  • the warp and the woof
  • lunches; girls to home depot
  • installed table leaf, new light
  • brinner; outside play
  • bedtimes; shower & shave; digitized M’s skydive video from 2006
  • listened to livestream of Sufjan’s forthcoming instrumental album (meh)
• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• There’s something about wearing a short sleeved shirt after 9 PM that feels wrong, and even immoral.

  In other news, watched MANK. Four stars.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• The return line at this IKEA is OUTRAGEOUS

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• April 9, 2021

  • up 6:40. dreamed about my glasses falling apart and I met JG’s spouse for the first time and they’d had another baby during the pandemic
  • Fox up late 7:30
  • finished front room rearrangement; vacuumed upstairs
  • lunch; dishwasher; tidied under sink cabinet
  • picked up Fox; milkshake at Sonic
  • Costco pizza dinner
  • Girls doing crafts downstairs, me chasing around LW
  • sold turnips at 531
  • Listening: The Daily (Odessa), Best Show Bests, Criminal, ATP
• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• April 8, 2021

  • up 6:45
  • cheesy egg whites w/ the boys. cereal.
  • upstairs play; rearranged upstairs, moving the multi basket storage unit downstairs; dumped out several entire buckets into the trash
  • outside play
  • lunch
  • lay downs before picking up Sylvia Mae; Fox and I laid on my bed under the fan
  • home; play; dinner; play doh; Marielle at d-hall
  • in bed 10:45
  • Listening: The Daily, Connected, Clockwise, Washington Today
• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• April 7, 2021

  • up late at 7. boys slept in.
  • late breakfast - 5 min late to preschool drop off
  • played & tidied upstairs. filled 1 bag for the trash
  • dishwasher, diaper laundry, fixed chair
  • picked up. library drop off.
  • prepared chicken drummies for dinner
  • outside play
  • Listening: Numberphile Podcast, The Daily, Best Show, I Should Be Writing, The Incomparable, Slow & Low (Tetsu Inoue)
  • Watching: Rambalac
• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Collected an entire 13 gallon trash bag of randomness to throw away. I do this on occasion when nobody else is home - but don’t tell anyone. To my kids reading this some day, “I’m not sorry.”

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• April 6, 2021 DAILY

  • out of bed 6:45. LW
  • girls out the door. Fox slept in.
  • bagel, egg scramble, greens, cereal
  • outside play
  • lunch out back at picnic table
  • nap failures; loud wind and work on roof next door
  • living room play; ladder play; upstairs play; PBS kids
  • back outside. Girls home. Sonic. Suzuki practice
  • bedtimes. Magic Fireplace. ordered weed eater string. reading.
  • in bed 11
  • Listening: The Daily, Upgrade, The Incomparable, FiveThirtyEight Politics, Micro Monday
• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I love when my automatic lighting routines that I have set up run at their appointed times and there is nobody old enough that is home to disrupt their perfection and guidance.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• McDonald’s breakfast for GOOD FRIDAY. It is a Good FRIDAY indeed.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I get a small moment of joy by going through the day’s Netflix TOP 10 and giving everything a THUMBS DOWN rating.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• First vaccine dose this morning. The beginning of the end.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• https://www.npr.org/2021/03/27/981917655/asteroid-apophis-not-a-risk-to-earth-for-at-least-100-years-nasa-says

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• FORTNITE sponsoring many of the Apple nerd-o-sphere podcasts I listen to has been a weird thing this week. 1) It’s such a well known thing worldwide, compared to many sponsors of smaller podcasts. 2) It’s almost like they’re trying to troll Apple as a follow up to their App Store conflict.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• What does it mean when you’re doing the crossword puzzle on a Friday evening?

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I explained to my 3 year old son why it’s better to watch Cocomelon on Netflix instead of Youtube because we don’t have to watch ads - and that Youtube is free because people pay them to run ads.

  This might be peak dad.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I am so sick and tired of the republican claim that conservatives are being censored online. It is so so so so SO bogus. And they know it.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• You know its the truth. You know it deep in your bones.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Why does mommy shark have to be smaller than daddy shark?

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• My daughter visited someone’s Star Trek DS-9 themed Animal Crossing island today. Which is AWESOME. They had a bunch of custom designed portraits of all the major characters. And Federation uniforms in Abel Sisters.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• OUR POWER HAS RETURNED. After 35 hours of outage, you never know how much you love and rely on something until it’s gone.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I tonight started watching a South Korean movie, “Burning.” It is good; it does also feature some adult situations, so parental discretion is advised.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I felt the fleeting desire to pick up my guitar and play and sing today.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• If you can just play the right music … who knows what might happen.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• TX is just a very large collection of small villages and clans and tribes and main street no name towns. Formed into weird conglomerates and metros.

  TX is an abbreviation for the US state of TEXAS.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Getting around to watching the final season of The Good Place.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• There’s a thing here in TX called “Mother’s Day Out” that is sort of a hybrid daycare/preschool/drop-in childcare. It’s often abbreviated “MDO.” I find these things funny, for whatever reason.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Update: my contract was expiring, so I elected to switch electricity providers. The new provider is giving me 2 smart thermostats, which is cool and good. Also, Fox started at a new pre-k today.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• On occasion you decide take the luxury of an afternoon rest - but then you race against the very fabric of space and time to get done everything that the day requires.

  Wait - that isn’t a description of a special occasion - it’s just how every one regular old day proceeds.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• There’s something so serious about encouraging kids to eat vegetables for dinner, and so ridiculous about then yourself eating sugary cereal late at night.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I sifted through my contacts address book today for the first time in years. Deleted about 300 contacts.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Put away the Christmas tree today. Into a giant new bag that is Christmas colored. A relief. Made new wolfsweat juice to get through the afternoons without having to eat all the cookie dough every day.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• COVID 19 update #8 - You do the dishes. You watch the TV episode and eat the nachos. You adjust the lighting. And it is enough.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• What does it mean that all the state capitols were ready for armed protests - and, at most, a dozen people showed up? 3 showed up in Iowa.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• This morning I bought turnips for 95 bells. Hoping for one of those 445 bell price spikes this week.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• The other day I told my wife two things: 1) Netflix was shutting down service to the Wii U; 2) The actor in that show is also a well known rapper. It was like I had remarked upon the cloudy weather outside. She could not possibly have cared less. Which is reasonable.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Thought about folding laundry but decided to play Animal Crossing. Great ending to a sad story. 

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Your won’t believe what happened in the episode of Star Trek I just watched. A teleporter accident caused the main crew members to be beamed into a holosuite program as enemies of the doctor, who was a spy. He had to avoid killing the crew so that their essences could be recovered from the program.

  It was amazing.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Important update: in recent days, I’ve discovered that if I get the coffee for the next day ready in the afternoon instead of the evening, I can save time for a critical juncture in the day when I’m often pressed for time and seeking peace and not more random stuff to do.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• President Trump was booted permanently from Twitter this evening. The world feels different to me somehow after this. I feel a sense of relief, but also an odd uncertainty and displacement.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Did Grimes also move to TX? That is a much bigger deal than that other guy moving to TX.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• My 3 y/o has this concept of the “small bite.” It’s not a “small bite” in the traditional sense. His definition is like biting just a few molecules off of something.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• The experience of a 5 y/o and a 3 y/o playing Animal Crossing together is incredibly grating and frustrating. Sandpaper across my soul. Why must it be so difficult??

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Getting the baby out for a walk around the neighborhood this morning.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Arrived via warp 7 at S4 of Deep Space Nine while doing dishes tonight. Why did they change the theme song? Adding that small underlying pulse ruins the rubato feel of the original theme. For shame.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• This is just to say: I was awake when the calendar turned over to 2021. As evidenced by the time stamp on this note. Many fireworks went off in our area and I thought the kids would wake. Also, we couldn’t see the Animal Crossing NYE countdown because our Resident Center hadn’t been upgraded.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I’ve always been a “Shower in the evening” person. If you’re a “Shower in the morning person,” I get it - but you’re still wrong! Going to sleep on clean sheets is the only way to live.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Speaking of preferences, I’m mostly not a “Binge watch an entire season in a weekend” kind of person. I like when episodes are trickled out weekly-like Expanse S5 now. There’s a rhythm to it and drama in the waiting.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Spent a lot of the morning cleaning. Secretly threw away 2 garbage bags of misc toys. Don’t tell my kids. If you’re one of my children reading this in the future, No, I’m not sorry.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Coffee with a friend at Race Street Coffee. First time meeting up with someone in public since March. Hope it was alright. Good coffee. Now I have a fancy coffee shop paper cup to use for a few days.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Wonder sometimes what portion of my personality and actions boil down simply to “Coffee consumption.”

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Technology updates: I rolled back to Mojave on my old unsupported Mac, thanks to a series of nagging Catalina bugs. My neighbor gifted me an HDMI cable. TV update: I found out that Midnight Diner & Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories are separate shows in Netflix.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Graduation happening for Marielle’s school today. At TX Motor Speedway. Cool place to graduate, all things considered. She’s helping. Getting an officially branded school mask.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I’m pretty jealous of the astronauts today, because leaving the planet for a few days seems like a fine option right now. 

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Current status: sitting in the backyard, tending the fire, working on my stretching finger. Everyone else is in the tent, camping out in the yard, watching Cars.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Caught my finger in my dog’s halter a few weeks ago and haven’t been able to move the tip of my finger since. Finally went to the doc today. Heading in for tendon surgery tomorrow morning. Having even a 50% working extra finger will be awesome.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• My wife is at a senior high school celebration event. Which is great. but it also looks like a football tailgater and not a responsible event held in the context of a pandemic.

  Why??????

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• My daughter just invited me to meet her at her skeleton horse ranch. In Minecraft, of course.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Just now considered watching THE WIRE again. I watched it all back in 2008. What a ride it was then. Plus Prime Video plays it in the new 16:9 reformatted version. Then again, do I have time to watch a TV show through??

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• COVID-19 update #5: I am eating lots of bread. This is the only time in the past decade I have truly wished for a printer. I fill the house with the sounds of distant talking.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• COVID 19 update #4 - my daughter can’t find the way back to her ranch in Minecraft. The dog is having the time of his life. My middle son started calling Swiss Cake Rolls “Wonderpants.” The baby is nearly crawling.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• COVID-19 update #3 - It is Monday. It is Monday. IT IS MONDAY - not Saturday or Sunday. Monday. I discovered that the mark that indicates the toaster setting is in a difference spot that I’d previously thought - so I’ve been toasting everything wrong.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• COVID 19 update 1: we are making fallafel today. The robot vacuum ran on MAX mode and couldn’t find its way home. I am formulating an arrangement of MARVELOUS LIGHT in my head I hope to finish soon.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• There was a coffee shop in Iowa City around 2004-I think it was called Hennepin Coffee-it was downtown at Iowa Ave and Linn-they served coffee in pint beer glasses with cardboard sleeves to protect from the heat.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Odd STAR WARS moment I will most remember from SKYWALKER RISE: the chimp expertly welding together Kylo Ren’s helmet. Where did that guy come from?

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Finally saw the latest STAR WARS. It was fine. I honestly wanted to see it mostly so I could listen to the podcasts about it in my back catalog. But as an evening out, it was fun times.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Watching the STAR WARS prequels for the first time since they were in theaters. These movies are not as bad as the purists would have you believe. Come on now, people.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• My wife, in her infinite wisdom, looked at the offical calendar and discovered that the kids don’t return to school until tomorrow. Right as I was getting geared up to get them ready and out the door.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Don’t share this with anyone - but I often will purposefully smack my lips loudly when eating alone. I forget whether I’ve ever shared this before - but like I said, please keep it to yourself.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Where Alan Jackson comes from they’re trying hard to get to heaven, but that’s not how heaven works.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Now beginning to admit that I guess I like science fiction. Watching BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - and I’ll be up all night Friday watching the new season of THE EXPANSE.

  Space drama!

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Watched the Disney+ version of STAR WARS last night. Can’t get enough of M’CLUNKEY. Funniest thing I’ve seen in my entire life.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• One of my favorite #impeachmenthearings details: David Holmes being able to clearly hear President Trump’s voice without being on speaker while Sondland held it away from his face. We’ve all met people with voices like that - that just carry without effort - so perfectly fits the President’s demeanor.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Sondland has been sipping from his coffee cup A LOT - way more than any other witness. Doesn’t mean anything except that he’s going to need to take more frequent bathroom breaks.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I’ve decided to take up the nickname “America’s Mayor.”

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I love watching the #ImpeachmentHearings on C-Span because they don’t cut away from the room during breaks - just show the goings on and mannerisms and conversation and what’s generally happening among folks. Just people milling around.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Watching one of the thousand BARBIE shows on Netflix. Learned that her last name is Roberts, in the universe of this particular show at least. She also used the word “adulting” when describing to her parents why her new job would prevent her from going on the family vacation.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• More kids in DFW North Texas are named Landry than anywhere in the world. In fact, I’ve never heard the name anywhere but here.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• If you gave up on MR ROBOT during S2, you’re missing out. Missing out, I tell you!

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• AirPods PRO earned the PRO moniker by being completely earwax resistant.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• tbh, I care more about the new episodes of LITTLE BABY BUM that just made it to Netflix than any new show or movie they’re releasing.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Found my asparagus tie black rubber band wedding ring in my jeans pocket today. Excited to stop wearing my daughter’s sparkly hair ties as rings. IN OTHER NEWS, listening to R.E.M.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• also, I usually bring home the small paper coffee cup from church and use it as my bathroom water cup for that entire upcoming week.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Going to be that guy: why would I watch an NFL game when I could be watching another beautiful episode of Rick Steves’ Europe?

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I love sauce. That is all. Just sauce all the time on everything. Give me the sauce.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• First outing just me and the kids, plus the baby. To Cabela’s. Fun but nervous.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• There’s a kid named Enzo playing on the nearby field. There’s also a woman drinking Topo Chico from a plastic bottle. Not her own bottle, but the same one that the beverage came in. It’s windy.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Loving iOS 13.1 - and especially the updates to Shortcuts. Outstanding, yet little heralded.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Eagerly anticipating Ken Burns Jr’s 2067 documentary “SoundCloud Rap.”

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Discovered in a pile of papers a drawing my daughter made. Took my breath away for a second because of all the large piercing eyes in it.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• This baby is coming TODAY

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• The Battle of Who Could Care Less stick in my head today. Good tune.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Remember the cheese curds we had at that place? Yes i do - THE BUFFALO

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Yesterday I learned from Rick Steves (#YILFRS): 80 million people live in Germany, a country the size of Montana.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Lets talk about the arm wrestling scene from Twin Peaks. Tell you what: that’s something worth talking about.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• You just don’t want to go outside when it’s 100 or more. Can’t figure out much to do right now.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• 112 heat index. Power company email asks to raise your thermostat by 4 degrees. My wife says that that’s directed at “normal” people who keep it set at 70. I set ours at 82.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• How many people have converted to Catholicism because Father Brown is such an awesome detective?

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Wish I would’ve put off learning to ride the pedal bike until fall.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Unfortunately I didn’t get around to watching that TV I said I would.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• In other news: an asteroid almost smashed into earth yesterday. A city killer. Filed in the department of existential threats that aren’t going away.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• What’re you guys up to tonight? I’m giving kids baths and watching TV.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• The window cleaner who suddenly appears in S3E14 of Twin Peaks is doing the worst squeegee work I’ve ever seen.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Trip to NE Mall today. Hoooooooot our today. CCF Big Give post today. Today today today is a day.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• This morning our dog got out - chased a lady halfway up the block - then foolishly stopped to poop in the yard across the street, which is how I caught him.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Band name idea: Paw.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• The problem is that I want to have ALL of the entertainment experiences. The trap of the modern world.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Catching up with all the WWDC info - actually pretty exciting that I could now sync a PS4 controller to ATV.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Watching Harry Potter.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Watched the Titus Andronicus live stream and prestige sitcom today. Like those guys a lot.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Low end estimates are that Emily Dickinson spent a third of her life sleeping, a half writing letters, and a half writing poems.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• My old copy of the debut Vampire Weekend album (that fell off the back of a truck) had the wrong track order and included an extra song. Now I’ve got the correct album. My wrong version was better.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Another downside to listening to your music exclusively on a streaming service: loss of privacy - you tell a big company everything about how, when, and where you listen to your music - also, obviously, What you listen to - and how often and how many times.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I don’t care much that the recent glut of Marvel movies are “ending.” They’re bloated and long and tiresome. Also, they’ll never actually end. Hollywood played nerds like a fiddle.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• In about 90 minutes, will have finished listening to all 15 Shostakovich string quartets. My favorites remain #3 in F, #5 in Bb, #15 in Ebm.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Used filtered water from the fridge to make the coffee this morning. This is the great stuff of life. Hot off the presses news and content.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• “Walking in your footsteps” Walking in your hoofprints Walking in your bootstraps Walking in your tweetstorms Walking in your gene reports Walking in your flop sweat

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Joke my daughter told today: “Birdseeds.”

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• PLEASE please please please - let Nintendo be appearing again at next week’s Apple event. Get Miyamoto up there to announce MarioKart.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Watching kids Jeopardy - for one daily double the girl wagered $150 - for another, the boy wagered $10. Ten dollars.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I think each neighborhood should have at least 1 public printer, so people can successfully get the 1 thing each year they need printed.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I would like to publicly apologize to my brother in law for judging the stained-ness of his thermal coffee carafe - we’ve had one for awhile, and now ours is by faaaaar more stained than his was. I didn’t know the truth then, but now I do. I was wrong and I’m sorry.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• I would like to revise my opinion of the new Vampire Weekend tune “Harmony Hall.” My kids like it and its grown on me in weeks since release. I like it.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Band name idea: 5G Rollout

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• “Blackbird”" came on my playlist and my daughter recognized it as Tim’s song in BOSS BABY - so now we’re watching BOSS BABY.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Recently I learned that in Hawaii they have a name for when it rains while still sunny: The wolf is giving birth.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Watching today: Slow TV: Bergen to Oslo - a 7 hour train ride.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Right now debating what to do tonight - try to get a few more Bandersnatch endings, watch Buster Scruggs, watch Nausicaa, watch Batman Begins, or start a replay of Chrono Trigger.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Doing dishes. This has been my greatest success of 2019 so far. Lots of dishes done.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Is it “She’ll be riding” or “She’ll be driving” Six White Horses when she comes? Got to be driving, right? One can’t ride six horses at the same time.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• My wife keeps telling me “Use up the old coffee BEFORE you open the new.” But life is short and difficult.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Is there anything worse than the way Messenger tries so hard to keep you in the app when you tap a link? Feels desperate - the way they hide the Open in Safari button is criminal.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• One can’t respond to the PCO request too soon after it’s issued. Gotta let em stew and wonder just a bit.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Listening to Leonard Cohen today. Planning to listen to Einstein on the Beach later this evening.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Bob Dylan’s Christmas album - man it’s bad - his croaking voice is not a fit for Little Drummer Boy or carols.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Cooooooold here in FW TX today. Of course, cold is relative - but I’m surprised to what extent I’ve already adjusted to the weather norms here.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Watching THE MANDALORIAN S2

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• Henlo friends and world

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM

• This should ALSO appear at 7 AM if all went well. Good luck out there little buddy.

• Sat. Oct. 09, 2021 03:14:28 AM