Puking out some feelings. Yesterday I had my first session with a pelvic floor therapist. Without getting into too much detail, my "homework" has been to buy a toilet stool and to learn how to relax. Apparently, I have a strong pelvic floor but there's so much tension that my muscles are exhausted and slow to respond. This all seems fitting, as I also wrote a post yesterday about caring less, which is like, relaxing, right? Well, in the span of 24 hours, me caring less about everything has made…

I spent most daylight hours yesterday driving in torrential rains in pretty bad visibility, and I was astonished how many cars didn’t have their lights on. It looked something like this. The cars with tail lights on were somewhat visible, but the cars without them didn’t stand a chance: I read up about it, and it turns out that the issue wasn’t as much forgetfulness or carelessness. Rather, it all might have to do with iconography. Cars have two main settings for lights: “regular driving,”…

I found it funny that the people who are lined up on the street to get into the restaurant are kind of forced to watch the people already in the restaurant enjoying their meals in the front window. That window is like a TV for those outside. This is Patati Patata, a tiny diner on Boulevard Saint-Laurent in Montreal. We were walking by after a day exploring and I liked the colourful graffiti and stickers, the people eating in the window, and the people waiting on the sidewalk. The graininess of…

Back in early June I blogged about my summer fitness challenge. The two main goals were to lose some weight—from 89.6kg to 85.3kg, the oldest measure I had on record from late 2015—and also to get back into a better shape than I was a decade ago. The weight goal was easily quantifiable; I still have the same exact scale I was using 10 years ago and so it was only a matter of jumping on it every morning and track the progress. As for losing weight, I didn’t really have much of a plan other than…

There is a scene in the movie Hurt Locker, where Jeremy Renner's character, Seargeant William James discovers an improvised explosive device in a Baghdad road. He locates a wire and begins tracing it to it's destination, brushing away dirt until he exposes the tip of a buried mortar shell. Sgt. James then retraces the wire in an effort to locate a power source. In doing so, he finds a connection with more wires. With dramatic effort he pulls up on the junction of the wires as an additional four…

After our online shop crashed and burned this afternoon, it seems to be back in action. Let me know if you try to buy something and it explodes.

When I was in my 20s, a mentor asked me to envision what I wanted my 30th birthday to look like. What would be the first thing I did? Where would I wake up? Who would I spend the day with, and what would we do? What I thought I wanted turned out very differently from my actual 30th birthday. My aspirations had changed. As you learn more, gather more information, and shape your values, the things you want to get out of life will change as well. It’s useful to constantly check in on your…

Recently, Wirecutter published an article about 118 Things to Do Instead of Doomscrolling. I’ve been trying to reduce my phone time and all things subcription-based, alogrithmically-based and “social media”-based so I was curious about their suggestions. Some suggestions are exactly what I would pick but others still have an internet component. Like the suggestion to find a new recipe it says “Research a new-to-you recipe.” with a link the NYTimes Cooking section. Instead, I think it should say…

I’ve never really swum before. I know how to swim, breaststroke only, but I’ve always used that skill exclusively to not drown, never to actually work out. Last year, I went to an outdoor pool with Anna and swam a couple of laps for the first time ever. But this was my first proper “Let’s go to the Olympic-sized pool and do this as a sport!” kind of swim. Anna does this all the time, but I chose running as my go-to workout, so this was completely new to me. And exciting! And, somewhat…

Done! What next?

Monday was Sports Day (Wikipedia). In the spirit of endurance and overcoming obstacles, I went and saw Christopher Nolan’s the Odyssey. In the process, I discovered that it’s really easy to ride the bicycle to the cinema, at least for later sessions. There’s a huge bicycle rack in front of the shopping mall that’s on the other side of the road and at that time, it’s almost completely empty. At ¥2,000 a pop, a movie ticket is still something I hesitate to buy but I can imagine seeing more films…

I rode my bike along the cycle path that parallels the Thames. I can't see it, but it's there as I ride through the mist hogging the river. The geese signal my passing in the morning and I can hear the river in various places sometimes as I ride. The river is still lower than it should be, but that's bad river authority management. Heaven help us if the state takes it over. I'm in no hurry, and stop in the early mist to listen and see; the atmosphere changes in pockets of density where the…

About 14 years ago, we moved out into the rural suburbs. I loved the quiet, the abundant wildlife, and our proximity to farms. I didn’t realize just how often doing anything at all would require a car. The Sprawl Absolutely nothing was walkable. We lived at the very top of a very high hill, so things weren’t really bikeable either. Groceries, restaurants, entertainment, friends, the library, and so on… you need to get in a car and drive at least 15 minutes for all of it. And as a result, we…

“Journaling gives you such an appreciation for the good things in your life, while also helping you improve on the not-so-good things in your life.” –Steve Cicco On a cold October day fifteen years earlier, I published my first post to this blog. The post was appropriately titled “Hello World”, and I wrote that this […]

Forgiving You For My Mistake I once noted that when someone takes away a false impression of you, and you can make them recognize their misunderstanding, they may correct their false impression, but it will feel to them like forgiveness. They're forgiving you for their misunderstanding. And you'll be on probation going forward: After all the explaining, you won't have cleared yourself. You'll have been given a reprieve. They'll frame it like forgiveness. They've forgiven your…

You turned down a role with a better title and more money. You decided that your weekends were protected, and the laptop does not come home. You were angrier than the situation deserved when somebody else took credit for your work.These are not three separate events. They are one thing showing up three times.You did not weigh any of them up from scratch. Something decided them for you, and it has been doing that for years.The pattern was running before you named itValues aren't found. They are…

There's a genre of complaining that's popular online, that talks about how everything sucks in India. There's a whole lot of you out there. I'll only punch up and say this article by Manu Joseph is the kind that I'm speaking of.I am sympathetic to these views. It's worse for those with less economic and social privileges, and definitely downright unlivable for some.However, I am only addressing the privileged Manu Joseph class of people, who have money and cushy well-paid jobs (often in tech),…

Today’s post is a bit late, I had to pick people up from an airport late last night, but fortunately for me today’s topic is already decided: tomorrow is the beginning this this year’s two-day online Roguelike Celebration! Here’s Roguelike Celebration’s Youtube channel, which has archives of past talks, including those of the preview event they had last month. And here’s this year’s schedule. And you can get a ticket here, which has a suggested cost of $30 but you can pay what you want, and…

It’s been a few years since Current (and before that, Kafka Summit) was in San Francisco, but here we are—on November 4 & 5 we’ll be there, and I’m excited to continue a tradition that started back in 2019 with a run over the Golden Gate Bridge.

AI might not yet be eating the physical world. AI is still eating the world of news, and I am finding less and less opportunity to post about other things. My backlog of items grows across most of my secondary topics and I haven’t had time for any side projects. The monthly, no matter what, is sacred. We continue. Table of Contents Home Alone. The Men Have Never Been Okay. Antisocial Media. While I Cannot Condone This. Zero Marginal Product. Good News, Everyone. 100 Good Television Shows. For…

I reread Stephen King's Carrie last night, because I last read it when I was nine, and mostly what I remembered was the false bill of goods it provided on the wonders of puberty. (Still waiting for my telekinetic powers....) This morning I am shelving books, minding my business, when suddenly I get burn-the-school-down mad over this: In the book, we're told that Carrie's mom supports their household on an entry level job at a laundromat. We're not told, or given the impression, that Carrie has…

I love this time of day. . .Quitting time.It is another day above the dirt . . . More accurately, it is sunset in my mid to moderate sized town in the suburbs. I am south of Paradise and north of damned. Or more to the point and for all else who fail to understand, I am somewhere between Purgatory and all points east of Eden. Or maybe I am west of the infernal, depending upon the view or the time of day and the flow of traffic.I am somewhere familiar and someplace that knows me well enough to…

A Friday Hodgepodge Whenever possible, I list three wins at the end of each day. Here are a few from a recent review of my planner.*** 1. Contrary to how things usually work out for me, I managed to celebrate Columbus Day this year. One of the things I enjoyed was a guided tour of the Abita Springs Brewery, who craft Andygator, one of my favorite local beers. 2. I love poached eggs and my son loves hard boiled eggs. I hate guesswork and messes, so I used to buy his eggs pre-made and enjoy…

After inktober last year, I dove into gothicized italics with watercolor and gouache. I still have a pile of construction paper to scan and share. , A light grey on black paper got pushed into a gold villain with curves and hue-saturation adjustments. , A little capricorn—the discovery of using R’s as ligatures still sparks joy each time I see it. , A sunset to go with the sunrise that started Inktober 52 in 2025. , A sharp bloody cruel. I’ve really pushed for thin hairlines wherever I can amp…

Jessie ordered this cute kitty design from her bakery's book: Her bakery ran out of the printed paper, though, and then I guess also people who know how to decorate cakes: Yowch. And I don't think that candle placement is helping any, Jessie. Do you have any large house plants instead? Maybe a piñata or two? Shannon ordered a Minecraft sheet cake, which usually looks something like this: Instead, she got what appears to be an Oscar-the-Grouch skin carpet on a dirty tile floor: Double "yowch."…

From January to September 2026 I was product lead for a small multidisciplinary create/change team at NHS England. Our mission: work out how people could see and manage all of their NHS appointments in the NHS App, not just the ones from their GP and hospital.In September the programme decided to end our part of the work. I wanted to bring some closure to what we started and shared in the design history we published in March, and take stock of where we got to.Where we left off in MarchWe'd…

Had an absolute horrible night. I woke up 3 times, and 3 three times I had coughing fit that lasted for a bazillion hours. The upside of that was I was able to fall back asleep once things calmed down. Not the best night I have had and it was awfully close to being the worse one.I rolled out of the rack late and felt blah all day long. Not sick blah or tired blah but something entirely new for me. I played with the DeWalt a few times but most of the day I spent molding my butt cheeks to my desk…

Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865) Today, October 16th, is Hamilton day! It was on this day 183 years ago, in 1843, that William Rowan Hamilton first wrote down the fundamental result of quaternions. Apparently he was walking from his residence at Dunsink Observatory into Dublin when he had a sudden flash of inspiration, and wrote the result down on the spot, now marked by a plaque: Picture Credit: Brian Dolan This event is commemorated by an annual Hamilton Walk. Broombridge railway…

I've been thinking over the summer about the nature of this blog. It's called the Beachburg Sub, named after a Canadian National subdivision that once stretched from central Ottawa into the city's distant northwest hinterland, all the way up to Fitzroy Harbour, into the Pontiac Region in Quebec and beyond. The tracks are all gone past Nepean Junction.You know the story. Canadian National, since taking over the Ottawa Central Railway's operations years ago, has gradually shrunk its footprint in…