I got inspired to reduce my phone use last July. Then, I proceeded to not post any updates about it. It’s July again, and even though I did not write about it, I have made some progress. Here are the things that helped keep my phone screen time around 1–2 hours a day instead of the usual 3–4 hours I was doing last year: Physical Distance: Keeping my phone away — in another room at home, and in a drawer at work — has worked. I’ve also started keeping the phone away instead of at a bedside table,…
It’s sales day, and the whole grocery store is crowded. “We have to be patient, right?” a guy said to me. I’m in the butchery section. The guy is frantically walking from one side of the aisle to the other, phone in his hand. “I have 70,” he said when I asked what turn he had. “I have 94, and I only need one chicken breast,” I told him while taking my U-shaped ticket out of my pocket. The display shows 64 in red LED lights. We both laughed. He knew I was more screwed than he was. A few minutes…
This week note covers the week of 13th–20th July. Aliens vs. The Fish Since I’m writing this week note so late, I’ll throw in an extra day for free. Last week was the week of birthdays. Both my wife and our now 4yo A had their birthdays, and the whole week was spent in celebrations. For A’s birthday, we went to the Aquarium Paradise, probably the largest aquarium in Bengaluru. A had a lot of fun looking at all the fish and other sea creatures. The photo above is from the aquarium, which had a…
I love taking notes, but one problem that I have is that that I start cherishing every notebook that I start. I can't seem to keep my notes messy. Eventually, I start structuring the notes, doing cleaner handwriting, adding a cover or some stickers ... and before I know it, the notebook is too well-organised for simply scribbling into. This, of course, raises the hurdle for taking more notes and makes me start a new notebook, where the same process repeats again. It's a vicious circle. It won't…
Today was absolutely gorgeous out, and I was able to get so much done outside! I was going to share some of the photos I took, but I need to do my garden tour videos, so I’ll just save it for that. I normally would have taken the videos yesterday, on the 20th, but that … Continue reading It’s finally done!
A worthy check-in question to ask ourselves from time to time — would the me from ten or twenty years ago have wanted to be the me today? If we find ourselves pausing on any part of that question, it’s worth leaning in to understand why.
A lovely quiet day. Car washed. Front and back grass cut. A picnic blanket in the shade for a snacky lunch. Some games with Jack. Glorious. The type of day I’ll try and etch in my memory, the softer moments of life are so welcomed and deeply held. It’s how I keep going. For Jack, for Becca, just hanging out with my besties. Such simple pleasures. Thanks for reading and keeping RSS alive. Visit my site for more.
Life Notes Wednesday morning I took Jack to his swimming lesson. We enrolled him in a week-long course, and Becca has taken him so far, so it was wonderful to watch him actually listening and learning. He loves being active, loves being in the water, and he will need to be able to swim for next year as I have grand plans to get a kayak for us (and a paddle board for Becca). A visit to the dentist to get a filling repaired went fine, I mean it’s never fun, but needs must. She updated my x-rays…
Special interests are the most easily depathologized facet of autism, but they can still make one's life more difficult than it needs to be. Recently, a friend's reputation suffered because he spent four hours nonconsensually telling his coworkers about anime. I could regale you with many similar stories from my adolescence, but that would unearth many deeply cringeworthy memories, and I can't do that on a worknight. When you're obsessed with something, you will compose monologues about it. You…
Weekly notes? Weekly reflections? Weekly notes usurp my mental space. An inability to articulate blog-posts have me ponder a way to break from hesitating behavior. My drafts grow, my confidence diminishes. Mental space overtaken by life itself. As I am unable to sit with the thoughts I wrote. Most would think of editing for a blog a waste of time — just post it! — you say; — who cares! — you think. But don’t err, it is how I analyze my thinking. First let it out, spread out scribbles on large…
I am sitting at Starbucks in the Ottawa airport, listening to cheers from the restaurant nearby as Spain looks set to win.We came to Ottawa for the weekend -- an unusual choice, but we haven't been here in years, and the winter and spring in Montague felt long. I needed to get off the Island. An expensive mental break, but a needed one.Unfortunately, Air Canada had other plans. Flights out of Charlottetown are prone to problems, and this was one of those times. Our flight to Montreal -- Air…
Over the years I’ve heard much talk about the benefits and usefulness of keeping a regular journaling practice. I’ve tried many times myself to start journaling but I’ve never gotten in to really stick as a regular habit.But for a long time I’ve been annoyed at how much thoughts about work stick around in my head long after I’ve left the building and gone home for the day. This is something I’ve been really wanting to remedy. Work-thoughts are for work, once I’m gone I want to spend my mental…
Starting tomorrow, Comic-Con International/San Diego Comic-Con will have the Preview Night. There are no big panels, but if you bought the special badge that includes it or such, you can enjoy wandering around the show floor and (generally) doing some shopping. Then, once it is Thursday, the show starts in full force with tons of attendees, panels, events, and all that good stuff. I'm sure a large amount of news will emerge from the show about upcoming comics, television shows, movies, games,…
1. Drink water when you are thirsty.You will live longer than if you don't. Beer's OK too, now and then.2. Rise a little earlier if you must be somewhere.Time does not bargain with you.3. Write things down.Memory is brave until next Tuesday.4. Leave your keys where you left them yesterday.The house is not out to get you.5. When you are cold, put on another jumper.Winter has never respected human optimism.6. Take a list to the shop.Hunger always buys foolishly.7. Charge your telephone before it…
Status: Saved my batteries up today so I could go to the allotment to top up the compost. Went across the park on my own on the scooter and did the decanting at my own pace. Had a nice short chat with a lady I hadn’t seen for a while and then came home. All managed without any help from Fi. Reading: Still Expanding Those Minds — My spiritual weird uncle Erik Davis on recovering a podcast he made a decade-plus ago, but the best bit is an account of visiting one of those insane looking Mormon…
Perfume PosseCheap & Cheerful: In the Heat Well the heat is on. It’s still not as bad as some other parts of the world, the nation, or even the Los Angeles Metroplex. But it’s hot, and for us, humid. So in addition to whining I reach for… Continue Reading → Perfume PosseCheap & Cheerful: In the Heat
Ahh those heady days of the internet, blogs were everywhere, some were about to get book deals and TV series, and there I was on the periphery (as always) quietly commenting on the sites of many of those who were making waves. It was a different time, and the UK blog scene was in a boom. As was the TV reality show Big Brother. You know the one, a mish-mash of people thrown into a ‘house’ and monitored 24/7. I can remember the first airing of this format back in 2000 when it was genuinely…
One thing I’ve noticed over the last few months is how my OmniFocus has become a bit of a black hole. Over the course of a week I’ll input a bunch of tasks, but beyond moving them out of the inbox and into their relevant projects not much happens. Either I’ll completely forget to do the thing or I’ll come across the task days or weeks later, after it’s already done and I’ll check it off then.This is clearly not a useful system.How exactly I’m going to fix this issue I’m still not sure, but it’s…
I was heading to my local coffee shop when, seemingly out of nowhere, a guy jumped into the sidewalk chasing a bouncy ball. Based on his outfit, I assumed he was homeless. He clumsily tried to grab the ball a few times as it headed toward the busy street. “Ugh, who’s this weirdo,” I thought. (We have a lot of weirdos in Portland. It’s one of our things. Some of us have grown a bit weary of it.) As the ball bounced off the sidewalk and into traffic, he stopped, stood upright, gave a military…
I'm ready to grudgingly accept that the absolute market saturation of mattress retailers in America over the past 10 years isn't tied to money laundering, even though it's one of the few internet conspiracies that kind of, sort of, might possibly be true. I bought a mattress yesterday. First time in my life. I've lived on this planet 61 years without having that experience. All I can say after nearly selling a kidney to buy a common household item is DAMN. The one we bought cost more than every…
who burnt sienna? you ask the muse for something true and well now you got an instant issue all covered in dust you got giant steps in the summertime you got hidden phrases a fold-out card in a tangle of stairs but what would you do? what would you do? you say you caught the sun i think, did you? did you now? other things said and when one wears off... Yesterday :: Tuesday, 21st July 2026
Last month I posted a review of Klimadashboard's European Heat Tracker, which visualizes how many people across Europe are exposed to extreme heat in real time. Since then, temperatures have continued to exceed seasonal norms across much of the continent, and new mapped visualizations have continued to document the unfolding heatwaves. El País' How Extreme is this Heat? uses a
Quite a few of the blogs I’m subscribed to do these weekly recap posts and I always enjoy reading them. So I thought I might as well throw another thing on to the pile of experiments I’m trying this vacation and give it a shot. I’m making no commitments with this experiment but, assuming I enjoy the process, I’ll do my best to keep this going.As of right now I have no clear ideas on the layout or what I want to include in these posts so, assuming I end up posting more than one of these, expect…
In Colorado after another set of long loops we relax. Like my home town, Fort Collins is quiet in the summer. Our first day passes in back yards and playgrounds, with low thunder and the occasional shower breaking up the hot afternoon. Unlike the east coast the evenings are still chilly, and the lack of humidity makes everything easier to bear. After the sweat of Hong Kong we are grateful for the lack of moisture, and marvel at the idea of leaving things out on the counter for days. We…
Happy World Emoji Day! 🎉 It’s celebrated on 17th July because that’s the date shown on the calendar emoji. 📅 To mark the occasion, a fun one: lots of people are certain they remember a seahorse emoji. They can describe it in detail—small, curled tail, usually facing left. But there has never been one. Not in Unicode, not in the famous SoftBank (1997) or NTT DoCoMo (1999) sets or any of the three earlier sets I previously uncovered (1988–1994). It’s become a textbook Mandela Effect, complete…
Some days it's really tough to think long term. Right now I have a trip coming up and I want to take a new knitting project on the trip with me. Except, I haven't finished the last three projects I'm working on. Two are sweaters that are bulky and not great travel projects. Though both would be super helpful in my cold cold office. One is a sock weight shawl where I've finished the colorwork, though it is lace. But I want to start a new thing. Except then I'd have four unfinished projects.…
Chasing my vitamin D with a big gulp of an Ultra Monster and thinking: that sums up my health quite well. The next time a man in a white coat asks me if I’m taking care of myself, I’ll tell him about that. I chase my vitamin D with energy drinks, doc, why don’t you tell me? He’ll ask about what’s troubling me and I’ll bring up a recent interaction I had with my mother. Okay, so Conan O’Brien was saying this interesting thing the other day. Oh, do you know who I’m talking about? The ginger…
The indispensable Michael Tsai has an interesting post up today about Apple Park and whether its design isolates the people who work there, despite its having been designed—in part, at least—to encourage collaboration. As usual, Michael has collected a group of choice quotes on the topic. I won’t link to any of them. You should just go to his blog, read the excerpts he’s assembled, and follow the links to see more. But I’ve often wondered how good Apple Park is as a working environment,…
there are many instances of sentences written to specific people – love you all – that are also just thinking out loud, so this here below is one of those I want to keep to remind myself to take such advice sometimes…. [the context was a long overdue comment on some work sent by a colleague. Finally getting some time to respond, I wrote]: ______________________ Dear A As promised – well overdue – I returned to this. I find a pdf harder to comment on – cannot add track changes etc but, a few…
Thinking back a month and a half about my first attempted pizza in an outdoor oven. Kept it sliding on a mountain of semolina for the launch, it turned out well, and now I’m ripping a few of these every week for us. These pizzas can be elite, and with care, anyone can (probably) do them.
