Archive

Adventure Journal #38 hit my mailbox today. If you enjoy the outdoors at any level, good writing and great photography, then I can’t recommend it enough. A print magazine is such a joy and an escape from technology (he posts to his blog 🤪).

Finished reading: Montaigne by Stefan Zweig 📚 I was hoping for more philosophy in this, but I think it would pair well with a book of Montaigne’s essays to give insight to Montaigne’s thinking. (I heard of the book via Ryan Holiday’s newsletter and the links above are to his …

Year in books for 2024: Here are the books I finished reading in 2024. There were a handful more, but I didn’t do a great job tracking them on micro.blog.

Finished reading: Polostan by Neal Stephenson 📚

Finished reading: The Place of Tides by James Rebanks 📚 One of the best books I read this year.

Finished reading: Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson 📚 I’m glad I reread this before diving into Wind & Truth. There are a lot of details, especially in the last 200 pages or so, that I had forgotten. (📚💙)

Finished reading: At Work in the Ruins by Dougald Hine 📚 I’m going to need to let the ideas from this book marinate for a while, then revisit the book. A lot of what Hine writes resonates with me, but also challenges my long held views of science. There’s a lot to think about here …

Wind and Truth launch day! My local bookshop had signed copies. I have ~100 pages to go on my re-read of Rhythm of War, then I’ll dive in to this. 🪐📚💙

Just ordered my 2025 calendar refill from Austin Mann. The prints are always gorgeous and make a great gift.

☕️ With the holidays arriving in the US next week, I roasted my first batch of Sweet Maria’s Polar Expresso for 2024. I’ve been trending towards lighter roasts lately, but going Full City+ on this blend usually works well for both pour overs and espresso.

Finished reading: Reamde by Neal Stephenson 📚 This was my first reread of Reamde since it was published. I forgot how good it was. The terrorist story line was a little too mid-2000s, but the technology pieces hold up pretty well and the characters are great. 8/10

🖋 Happy Hobonichi Day! I’m due for a new 5 Year and am going to recommit to keeping it updated. I’ve done it sporadically over the last 5 years, but looking back on the stretches I kept it up is delightful. I haven’t used a daily Hobo in a few years, but couldn’t resist …

Finished reading: The Creative Act by Rick Rubin 📚 I know a lot of people love this book, and I was excited to read it, but I just couldn’t get into it. I read it over the course of 6 months in small sections when I thought I was in the right frame of mind, but it never grabbed me.

Finished reading: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan 📚 I’m a big fan of Robin’s newsletters, but had never read one of his books. I enjoyed this immensely. If you like books, libraries, and typography, you might enjoy this too.

I’ve been getting back into print magazines and Mountain Gazette is a great one. Their list of “Magazines We Love That Aren’t Ours” is fantastic. I didn’t know that Creem is coming back!

Finished reading: A Hacker’s Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society’s Rules, and How to Bend them Back by Bruce Schneier 📚 A book about all the various ways people (mostly rich people) hack our political, legal and societal systems for their benefit. I found it rather depressing as the “How …

Finished reading: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy 📚

Finished reading: Freedom by Sebastian Junger 📚 A short book on what it means to be free in the worldly sense rather than the spiritual. I enjoyed it.

OK, that’s it for now. Sorry for all the posts!

Finished reading: Lessons from an American Stoic by Mark Matousek 📚

Finished reading: The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Finished reading: In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides 📚

Finished reading: Babel by R. F. Kuang 📚 Wow, I really enjoyed this.

Finished reading: The Motivation Manifesto by Brendon Burchard 📚

Finished reading: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Finished reading: Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow 📚

Finished reading: The Wager by David Grann 📚

Finished reading: Excellent Advice for Living by Kevin Kelly 📚

Finished reading: The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr 📚

Finished reading: Assassin’s Quest (The Illustrated Edition) by Robin Hobb 📚

Finished reading: Every Tool’s a Hammer by Adam Savage 📚

Finished reading: Royal Assassin (The Illustrated Edition) by Robin Hobb 📚

Finished reading: Assassin’s Apprentice (The Illustrated Edition) by Robin Hobb 📚

Finished reading: Dopamine Nation by Dr. Anna Lembke 📚

Finished reading: Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay 📚

Finished reading: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells 📚

Finished reading: Govt Cheese by Steven Pressfield 📚

Finished reading: Long Road by Steven Hyden 📚

I apologize for the coming deluge of book posts. I’ve fallen way behind and have only posted a handful of my 2023 reading.

We’ve been picking 3-4 pints of blueberries from our garden every few days for a month with no end in sight. In 17 years we’ve never had a haul like this. Blueberry pie, blueberry coffee cake, blueberry crumble, handfuls each morning on my oatmeal, and we’ve still frozen half a …

This was an instant (impulse) purchase. 🖋️ Ember - Tactile Turn, Summer 2023

Filson is constantly trying to get between me and my wallet. Rugged Twill Cruiser

I find it a little harder every year to distinguish between an Apple keynote and an SNL skit.

Finished reading: Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith 📚 I forgot I had pre-ordered this. It arrived today and I devoured it in one sitting. It is a joy to read.

Finished reading: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 📚 Yes it is as good as everyone says.

Finished reading: All Systems Red by Martha Wells 📚

-11 Fahrenheit this morning in Connecticut. Wood stove before coffee.

Finished reading: Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson 📚 I enjoyed this book. It’s different than the other Sanderson books I’ve read, in the best possible way. After you’ve read it, or at least started it, check out this video on fluidization (mild spoilers).

🍿 Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) - ★★★★☆ I laughed. I cried. I was very confused. I assume it’s a great movie because I’m still thinking about it days later. But I’m not sure.

🎵 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2022 Remaster) - Wilco - ★★★★★

Watching Heart of Midlothian versus Aberdeen. ⚽️

Didn’t realize Wilco tickets were going on sale until an hour before hand and I managed to grab a pair!

Finished reading: Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt by David McCullough 📚

Ending the year with a Bravus Gravitas IV. This is one of the best beers I’ve ever had, no qualifications. If you’re on the NA beer train (or even if you aren’t), I highly recommend getting on their mailing list for next year’s release.

📝Out with the old, in with the new (notebooks). For my pocket, it’s the new Field Notes Craft Plus. For my desk, it’s a Leuchtturm RED DOTS in Army.

I’m giving myself a New Year’s gift of podcast & RSS bankruptcy. With few exceptions, I’m marking everything as played/read and unsubscribing from the shows/feeds that haven’t been resonating with me lately. Onwards to 2023 …

Has anyone tried Rewind.ai? I have an invite for the early access and am both fascinated by and terrified of the idea.

I love this place. Kings Peak Coffee, Salt Lake City

I finally bought my ski pass for the season. Hopefully this will motivate me to get in shape! ⛷️

⚽️ Hearts-Livingston. Hearts could really use this one before the World Cup break.

🏀 Watching Celtics-Grizzlies. My Celtics have had a tough schedule to start the year.

It’s 71° and humid here in Connecticut on November 6th. I had to get my shorts & sandals back out. 😰

Finished reading: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson 📚

“Feast” is apparently not a word in my day-to-day vocabulary. I can’t think of a way to use it in a post that sounds like something I’d actually say.

Does anyone have a Readwise Reader referral that you’re willing to share?

I deeply regret the time, over 6 years ago, that I gave a political candidate a $5 donation and somehow agreed to a lifetime of unblock-able text and email spam.

I figure a second espresso on a grey, rainy morning is the right call.

I’ve been wondering when the new “Orders” button in my Apple Wallet would do something. An order from Lost Art Press showed up a few minutes after I placed it.

Hearts and Chelsea on at the same time this morning. The Chelsea game is obviously on a different level of skill, but I think Hearts are more fun to watch. ⚽️

I don’t feel good about this: VAR comes to Scotland I’ve been gravitating towards Scottish soccer recently, in part due to the relative simplicity of the league. VAR seems to make everything more complicated, creating as many problems as it solves. ⚽️

A Day in the Life, 2022-10-14 at 8:13a, Nortwest Connecticut, USA. I try, both literally and figuratively, to put my boots on each morning and get to work. Some days are more successful than others.

Finished reading: Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson 📚 Wow, that was fun.

I did not know that Shantaram was being made into an AppleTV series (starting this Friday!). I loved this book and hope the show does it justice. 📚

I gave the updated Spark email client a trial run. It’s nice, but I’m not to pay for a subscription. I have a few simple filters in Fastmail to separate newsletters and “other stuff” from email written by actual humans. It isn’t as pretty as Spark (or Hey), but it …

Thor: Love and Thunder, 2022 - ★★: Watched on Sunday September 11, 2022.

Bohemian Rhapsody, 2018 - ★★★★: Watched on Sunday September 18, 2022.

My favorite local grocery store has been stocking more N/A beer lately. I picked up a 4 pack of Wellbeing’s Hellraiser this week. It’s pretty good. I give it a 7/10.

The Batman, 2022 - ★★★★★: Watched on Wednesday March 9, 2022.

No Time to Die, 2021 - ★★★★★: Watched on Saturday March 5, 2022.

The King's Man, 2021 - ★½: Watched on Friday February 25, 2022.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, 2004 - ★★★½: Watched on Saturday February 26, 2022.

Finished reading: Termination Shock: A Novel by Neal Stephenson 📚

🖋 Fountain Pen Day 2021. I celebrated by inking up a new bronze Lamy Al-Star with some KWZ Honey and buying a green ysutdio Classic Revolve. I love my ystudio Brassing portable except for the Schmidt nib it came with so I’m excited to see how ystudio’s new nib writes.

Finished reading: The Every by Dave Eggers 📚 Ouch. A blistering satire of tech and surveillance that hit pretty close to home. Buy it directly from McSweeney’s to get one of the randomized covers.

Finished reading: Attack Surface by Cory Doctorow 📚

I couldn’t figure out today’s prompt (majority), so here’s a picture from my afternoon walk instead.

Dark. 📷

A touch of color here in Connecticut. 📷

There are a few opening song riffs that can immediately transport me back to a time and place. When I hear the beginning of “Alive”, it’s 1991 and I’m in Troy, NY. “Ten” was released on this day, 30 years ago. 🎵

View from our beach hut, Eleuthera, Bahamas. My dad and I built this in 2013. It’s made it through a few big storms, been completely under water more than once, but is still standing.

I own A LOT of pocket notebooks. Perhaps more than I’ll ever get around to using, which is why I usually kick myself for buying even more. But this collaboration between Railway Station Press and Story Supply Co is a home run. 🖋📝

Last back to school drop off for our oldest as she starts her senior year at Cornell.

🖋New pen day. Tactile Turn Nautilus. I bought the short version to better fit in my pocket and cut down a Zebra Sarasa Camel Yellow refill to fit. It seems to fit just fine. The ink color goes well with the gold accents.

Finished reading: The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson 📚 About 900 pages in I was thinking “this is good, but it could be a lot shorter”, then the story took off and all the setup was worth it. 8/10⭐️

Lukaku is back at Chelsea. Now do De Bruyne and Salah.

The Olympics have ended, so Settlers has restarted in our house. I came from way back for the win.

☕️ This week’s roast: Kenya Kiambu Mandela AB from Sweet Maria’s

I’m really looking forward to Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. It’s out next week and here’s an excerpt from The Guardian 📚

Finally started my Brood X notebook from Story Supply. 📝

Finished reading: Reborn in the USA: An Englishman’s Love Letter to His Chosen Home by Roger Bennett 📚 I enjoyed reading about the 80s culture of my childhood through the eyes of someone not in the US. A fun read, especially if you’re a Men in Blazers fan.

Finished reading: The Art of the National Parks by Fifty-Nine Parks 📚 This is a gorgeous book of the Fifty-Nine Parks poster series. Each park gets a two page spread of the poster and a writeup about the park. I really enjoyed it.

Birmingham Pens just released a small batch of fountain pens. I bought one from them earlier this year and it’s fantastic (pricey, but worth it). 🖋

Deadpool, 2016 - ★★★: Watched on Saturday February 20, 2021.

Jojo Rabbit, 2019 - ★★★★★: Watched on Sunday January 17, 2021.

Fight Club, 1999 - ★★★★★: Watched on Tuesday January 5, 2021.

Wonder Woman 1984, 2020 - ★: Watched on Friday January 1, 2021.

Momentum Generation, 2018 - ★★★★★: Watched on Thursday January 14, 2021.

The Royal Tenenbaums, 2001 - ★★★½: Watched on Sunday October 4, 2020.

The Trial of the Chicago 7, 2020 - ★★★★½: Watched on Friday October 16, 2020.

Greyhound, 2020 - ★★★★: Watched on Sunday September 13, 2020.

The Old Guard, 2020 - ★★★★½: Watched on Sunday August 2, 2020.

The Godfather, 1972 - ★★★★★: Watched on Monday July 27, 2020.

Dunkirk, 2017 - ★★★★★: Watched on Friday July 24, 2020.

White Men Can't Jump, 1992 - ★★★★★: Watched on Sunday July 19, 2020.

Major League, 1989 - ★★★★★: Watched on Tuesday July 14, 2020.

There Will Be Blood, 2007 - ★★★★: Watched on Sunday July 5, 2020.

Hamilton, 2020 - ★★★★½: Watched on Friday July 3, 2020.

Forrest Gump, 1994 - ★★★★★: Watched on Saturday June 27, 2020.

Lady Bird, 2017 - ★★½: Watched on Friday June 26, 2020.

Game Night, 2018 - ★★★: Watched on Tuesday June 23, 2020.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, 2019 - ★★★: Watched on Sunday June 21, 2020.

Uncut Gems, 2019 - ★★★: Watched on Sunday May 31, 2020.

Artemis Fowl, 2020 - ½: Watched on Friday June 12, 2020.

Knives Out, 2019 - ★★★★: Watched on Sunday June 14, 2020.

Black Panther, 2018 - ★★★★★: Watched on Saturday February 24, 2018.