Noticed a typo at the skate park this afternoon. Can you spot it?
![](https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/92110/2024/9fe770e1db.jpg)
Noticed a typo at the skate park this afternoon. Can you spot it?
We are pretty much addicted to Himalayan Dumplings by Kyikyi in Beaverton, Oregon. The noodles, the dumplings, the hand pies…all so good.
The dog days of summer, hopefully coming to an end.
Ultimately, what it’s going to boil down to for me in terms of social media platform adoption, is the moderation tools. Both Threads and Bluesky have the ability to hide replies for everybody and detach quotes. It’s awesome for de-platforming trolls and mean people!
The new routine. She insists on carrying his backpack.
There’s this spot on my bathroom floor where, if I move my scale there before hopping on, I weigh like a pound less. What can I say, I love lying to myself!
S: I was born in August, I’m a Leo.
P: What’s a Leo, mom?
S: It means I’m bold.
P: You’re not bald mom, dad is!
I wish the west coast would get on with that whole high-speed rail thing. Tijuana to Vancouver, and all points in between, we want trains.
Beautiful morning in the northwest, but time to button up the house until this evening. These temp swings are pretty drastic. #pdx
Happy to have found some #detroit dad hats in 3xl made by ‘47 on a specialty site for the cranially endowed.
Some meetings just require you to put on your best Cillian Murphy.
The phrases “rock music” and “rock and roll” seem anachronistic enough now that I don’t think we need to throw “classic” in front of them anymore.
Pretty nice that you can accept tips & donations natively in ghost now.
Spun up a GoToSocial instance in Docker to see how it works. Surprisingly easy. Not as feature-rich as Mastodon, but it's supposed to be a lot lighter on resources.
Here we are on Labor Day and my kids (5 and 2) are already so excited for Halloween that they’re begging us to take them to a store to buy decorations. 🎃
I Think I Like When it Rains - Willis
https://music.apple.com/us/album/i-think-i-like-when-it-rains/1674901168?i=1674901173
Little friends at the park.
I need to make more friends on the westside of Portland. Time to get back on Meetup?
Civil War (2024) has got to be one of the most boring movies I’ve seen in years.
Saturday Market
Exciting times, lol. Some of the bumper crop of tomatoes from our garden are finally ripening. Tons of tomatoes this year, even though I got started late this year. I attribute their success to the organic fertilizer recipe I got out of the book Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades. Bring on the BLTs and fresh pasta sauce!
Trying to reduce my subscription and other misc. costs so last night I migrated several hosted software applications over to my home lab. Going to give Actual envelope budgeting a try as well.
I’ve been stuck at 49 states for a few years now, with the last state being Alaska. Starting to think about knocking it off the bucket list next year, even if only for a long weekend. But where to?
#fensterfreitag #photography
Looking for a new memory foam bed. Anyone had any luck with an affordable mattress-in-a-box? 🛌
Friday vibes.
Chuck Berry - Maybellene
After a stressful day yesterday, and with my son starting kindergarten today, I’m having a helluva time focusing on work! Pomodoro time?
The new TriMet light rail system map showing the extension of the Red Line 10 stations deeper into Washington County and improvements made at Gateway and the Airport.
#pdx #transit #portland #trimet
Took the day off to spend the day with my son. The kid starts kindergarten in 2 days and I’m trying to not let the waterworks hit me.
Things get interesting now that Oregon is in the Big Ten. Going to the MSU - Oregon game this year in Eugene. So weird.
I stopped listening to Deftones sometime shortly after the album White Pony was released. However, my Discovery station recently recommended this song off their album Saturday Night Wrist from 2006, which I didn't even know existed.
TriMet completed its Better Red project, extending the MAX Red Line all the way out to Washington County Fairgrounds. I can now take one train all the way to the airport. Hopefully they’re still working on bettering security. #pdx #transit
https://www.koin.com/news/trimet-max-a-better-red-line-expansion-beaverton-hillsboro-airport/
I know spiders are important and all, but I’ll never get used to the size of the (harmless) orb weavers crawling around my house. I don’t miss living in the south, where some spiders can actually hurt you.
It’s gonna be fun whenever I go to use these pedals again.
Spending time with the in-laws - different politics, but steering clear of our differences.
My next house will have a mud room, if I'm ever lucky enough to escape.
IKEA delivery could be bad.
Just realized Umami analytics has an iOS app, and it's pretty nice.
Sort of makes me laugh that while Ghost is struggling to implement ActivityPub, Npub Pro has already made Nostr-based websites that use Ghost themes.
[npub.pro](https://npub.pro/#themes-onboarding)
#pdx
Now that my car won’t be competing with my clothes dryer for electricity, I signed up for EVPulse through PGE, a program where they give you financial incentives if they can schedule your charging times. Hopefully this isn’t a huge mistake.
Politicians (hell, even people way INTO politics), are people I actively try to avoid. I do vote, but I typically just can’t stand these types of personalities. They’re the most self-important people in any space, red or blue.
Ever take an anti-anxiety med in preparation for a meeting, only to have it canceled? That hour is yours now. Go take a nap.
Running around downtown Portland today.
I’m wearing size 36 pants today and they’re kind of loose. A small thing, but it feels good.
I often wonder if I like so many movies and albums from the late ’90s and early ’00s because they were genuinely that good or simply because that was the last time I truly cared.
I finally got a dedicated NEMA 14-50 outlet installed in the garage. No more dryer outlet charging!
Our relationship in a nutshell.
The rain never stopped us.
Such a nice campground down here at Beverly Beach! So cool to have 32A service With a 14-50 outlet right at the site! My son is so excited, too. Hopefully his enthusiasm is still high tomorrow (rain).
Trying out the dedicated B&W switch on the Nikon Zf at a coworker’s send-off last night.
Wardrobe change. She picked her outfit out this morning (changed twice) and ended up going with the Dino slip-ons she inherited from her brother.
Woke up way too early today. Lounging on the couch with my dog, I’m alternating between reading the news and sipping coffee with my eyes closed. It’s so quiet before the kids wake up.
Down 10 lbs since starting CICO. Only about 50 more to go. 😭
Nothing like camping at the Oregon Coast in mid-August.
40mm is one of my favorite focal lengths.
What good are iOS widgets and WatchOS complications if they never update until you open them? It would be funny if it wasn’t so aggravating.
This is just me getting old, but I feel very uncomfortable/borderline offended with the Gen Z boys adopting this mustache/mullet/pit viper aesthetic. Gives me abusive alcoholic vibes. I guess that means they’ve probably accomplished their goal.
25 mph really is too fast for most neighborhood streets. 15 mph should be the rule.
My wife competed in a duathlon on her birthday today and got third place in her age group. Proud of her.
Lose It! app makes me laugh with its “positive pattern detected” notifications. Yes, I like potatoes.
My kids love these German Playmobil Scooby-DOO! sets. They’re so creative. Keeps them busy and entertained for hours.
We rode bikes, played at the park, and chatted with the neighbor about her new dog. afterword.blog
People always say you’ll miss the fingerprints around the house when the kids grow up. I’ll definitely miss their little faces and the parenting experience, but I certainly will not miss having to repaint the walls every 6 months.
536 calories. A McDonald’s double cheeseburger has 100 fewer calories.
Looking pretty sassy for a tax collector.
Digging the wrap on this MAX car.
Changing My Lifestyle
I’m about a week in with CICO (calories in, calories out), and although it hasn’t exactly been easy, I’ve stayed below my calorie limit all but 1 day.
I’m about a week in with CICO (calories in, calories out), and although it hasn’t exactly been easy, I’ve stayed below my calorie limit all but 1 day. I’m still well below my restriction limit for the week, which means I did better than my expected.
I’ve set a goal of reducing my caloric intake by 800-1000 calories per day below my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), which I calculated to be about 3200 calories depending on my physical activity. I've budgeted a little bit more calories for the weekends because I know I tend to eat breakfast or have the occasioanl beer.
I know a lot of it has to be water weight, but I'm down about 6 pounds this week. I know this will level out, and so long as I stay on track, I could lose about 2 pounds per week.
The most difficult part so far is the evening snacking. I’m noticing my biggest cravings are in the evening. I’ve been trying to eat dense, low calorie foods like carrots.
I’m also finding that I feel a lot more human if I don’t eat breakfast. Breaking up 2,200-2,400 calories over 3 meals and snacks just seems to be not that much food at a meal for my body size. I do still eat breakfast occasionally, but I’m much more mindful of how many calories I’m eating and try to keep it low with a hard boiled egg instead of cereal, which would push me way over the edge.
Even though I'm aiming for 2 pounds per week, my goal is to lose 5 lbs per month until new years, for a total of 25 lbs. From what I’ve been reading, this should be attainable, but never having dropped that much weight before, I’m not sure. I’m planning on updating this blog to log my progress. I’ll check in again next week to write an update about how things have been going.
KMHD is my savior during election years.
I dropped my son off at the kinder kickstart program at his elementary school this morning. Although kindergarten doesn’t officially begin for a few more weeks, this papa is full of all the feelings.
Just used Google Takeout to send my photos directly to iCloud. Having moved all my emails from Gmail a few weeks back, I’m mostly done with Google.
A family affair.
Thinking about trying Bridgy Fed.
1500M free final swimming: the event from hell.
I need to learn more about Webmention. I’d love to be able to link comments made on cross-posts to Mastodon, Blue Sky, Threads etc. to my self-hosted blog. That’s the best thing about Micro.blog to me IMO. Wish this stuff was more user friendly.
Read a great quote today:
“You shouldn’t criticize your partner’s choices – you’re one of them.”
What’s your favorite steps counting app for iOS with a widget?
We took a country drive out to Carlton this morning to go swimming in their public pool, which was nicer than expected. In fact, the entire town was cuter than I expected. I had forgotten that some vineyards use it for their tasting rooms.
Afterward, we went out to our friend's house in a nearby rural area. The kids spent time with her father ("Pa"), taking rides on a makeshift train the guy made out of an old electric shopping cart (Amigo?) and several trailers he constructed himself out of old water filtration tanks.
Our friend has been growing flowers and giving them away for free. I think it's a really sweet idea and a nice way to brighten people's day. The adults and most of the kids helped put together some bouquets for their roadside stand.
We ate a fresh lunch and I went out and said hello to the mules. I think we connected, but they may have thought I had treats.
I’m sort of preparing for when Ghost gains ActivityPub functionality.
Combined features from two Ghost themes, which is a miracle given my lack of experience with this sort of thing. I wanted a landing page with just photos in a masonry style, and a notes page for micro blogging as a secondary page. Still have some cleanup to do in CSS and RSS routing, but I’m getting closer to being fully self-hosted. This is fun.
I kind of want this. https://portland.craigslist.org/yam/cto/d/beaverton-toyota-pickup-hilux-1989-fuel/7768810134.html
My son’s day camp is in a former elementary school turned rec center. I love its mid-century design. I attended similar schools growing up, but it took age and a design education to fully appreciate these buildings. It pains me to see so many being torn down.
For me, it’s looking like the best way to stay under my calories and still feel like a human is to just not eat from 8 p.m. until lunch at 11:30 a.m. the next day.
When people say the PNW will be a place for climate refugees, they must not live here. This place bakes every summer, we’re almost always in a drought, and the wildfires are becoming increasingly more common.
When people say the PNW will be a place for climate refugees, they must not live here. This place bakes every summer, we’re almost always in a drought, and the wildfires are becoming increasingly more common.
I need to ween myself off my fizzy water addiction.
IMO the summer sunsets often aren’t much to look at here on account of there being so few clouds. No cotton candy skies like back east. Fall can be pretty nice, though.
There aren’t nearly enough hedgerows in this country.
“…[T]he nations with the biggest surpluses of grain have always exerted power over the ones in short supply. Throughout history governments have encouraged their farmers to grow more than enough grain, to protect against famine, to free up labor for other purposes, to improve the trade balance, and generally to augment their own power. George Naylor is not far off when he says the real beneficiary of his crop is not America's eaters but its military-industrial complex.”
// The Omnivore’s Dilemma
TIL I’m 70 lbs overweight.
I don’t like how I feel most days. Setting a goal today to change the way I eat and hopefully the energy will follow. The current path is unsustainable and I want to have more energy for my kids.
Growing up in MI, I always thought Grosse Pointe et al. was just a bougie area. My perspective has changed. They are gorgeous, rather urban former street car neighborhoods for which there is no affordable counterpart in the PNW. #detroit #pdx
Growing up in MI, I always thought Grosse Pointe et al. was just a bougie area. My perspective has changed. They are gorgeous, rather urban former street car neighborhoods for which there is no affordable counterpart in the PNW.
A neat flower I found last week.
Another of the Heidelberg
I can’t get enough of these old interiors. #detroit
That feeling when you realize you could save $170-200 per month just by switching your grocery store from Fred Meyer to Winco…but still not sure if it’s actually worth it because doing your own grocery shopping every week suuckkkks.
I put almost 1200 miles on a Subaru Outback last week and I’m so happy to be back in my own car. It reinforced my decision to go with an EV.
Just realized Pete Buttigieg is younger than me.
Back home in Portland after a week in Michigan and now I just want to move back to the Midwest. #pdx
Continually impressed that there are still so many people who act like they’ve never flown before.
“Oh wow, I forgot to take off my watch and my necklace! Oh, I have to take off my shoes and jacket? I’m so sorry, I left 32 ounces of water in my carry on!”
I know it’s 5:30 a.m. but it must feel amazing to move through the world so oblivious and unbothered.
Watching the Olympics is just me saying to myself: “Wow, they must’ve grown up rich to play this sport,” over and over again.
Passing through Lansing and stopped for a bit. I lived here for over 10 years and I do not miss it. In fact, pretty sure I’m dealing with some minor PTSD having been trapped here for so long.
Passing through Lansing and stopped for a bit. I lived here for over 10 years and I do not miss it. In fact, pretty sure I’m dealing with some minor PTSD having been trapped here for so long.
Still, I had to see how things had changed, and how they’ve stayed the same. My old house on Allen Street:
Someone sure put a lot of love into this backyard.
My buddy Dan’s once meticulously kept lawn is now an urban prairie.
Hunter Park:
And of course, one of the glimmers of decent memories, Dagwoods. I can almost taste their olive burger.
I waited in line for about an hour to tour the station today. It was worth it.
Heidelberg
Surprise, I ate pizza.
MCS looking glorious
An afternoon well spent at the Henry Ford Museum
Wanna go for a ride?
“A 1 lb box of prewashed lettuce contains 80 calories of food energy. According to Cornell ecologist David Pimentel, growing, chilling, washing, packaging, and transporting that box of organic salad to a plate on the East Coast takes more than 4,600 calories of fossil fuel energy.”
– The Omnivore’s Dilemma
A one-pound box of prewashed lettuce contains 80 calories of food energy. According to Cornell ecologist David Pimentel, growing, chilling, washing, packaging, and transporting that box of organic salad to a plate on the East Coast takes more than 4,600 calories of fossil fuel energy, or 57 calories of fossil fuel energy for every calorie of food.
– The Omnivore’s Dilemma
I missed you, Lake Michigan.
Grand Haven Fisherman’s Pier
Plant Dad
Pronto Pup, Grand Haven, Michigan. Don’t you wish your weiner was this good after 77 years?
Finished reading: Amulet 3: The Cloud Searchers by Kazu Kibuishi 📚
It’s amazing how much we don’t know about Harris this far into the first term, isn’t it? She’s been basically invisible to me.
Rethinking this microblogging stuff, again. Not sure why this takes up so much of my brainpower. I’m finding that I just prefer my bloggy stuff separate from my Micro.blog/Mastodon/Bluesky stuff, sort of formal vs informal. Playing with a draft site at afterword.blog.
When I see my own posts from Micro.blog on an alt Mastodon account, I never see replies from Micro.blog people from that side, even if they’re federating. I don’t see them on Bluesky, either. Why am I only seeing the full picture from within Micro.blog?
I distinctly remember being taught that “dilemma” was spelled “dilemNa” in the early 80s. Why, I have no idea.
I was in the area for work, so drove up to Council Crest Park to break up the routine. Hazy, but gorgeous day (70° F), with many people out enjoying it. #pdx
I wonder if the doctors who don’t like prescribing antibiotics have any idea what’s happening in the meat industry.
After some thought and many years wearing the thing, I’ve decided to drop the Apple Watch in favor of my old mechanical Seiko for daily wear. What little value the Apple Watch brought never outweighed its annoyances for me.
Switched our flat rate electric service to time-of-day pricing with PGE. So long as you can divert your energy use away from 5-9 to other times of day, your bill should go down. I charge my EV overnight ($0.08 per kWh) and saved $29 last month over the flat rate plan. #pdx
Fellow parents, how much time (if any) do you schedule for your own interests, creativity, hobbies and other pursuits in a given week? How do you negotiate that with your partner?
I just realized I had the ISO cranked way up yesterday on my camera during our family trip to Enchanted Forest and I didn’t even realize it. I thought full auto meant full auto…guess not. I still have so much to learn, and need to pay attention. Thankfully some of the photos still turned out.
Days like these make the hard days worth it.
Nikon coming up from behind with its release of Nikon Imaging Cloud. Looking forward to this being made available to the Zf so I can play around with it.
Nikon Imaging Cloud enables users to recreate their favorite film stock, preset, or experiment with a library of existing recipes from Nikon Creators, and upload it to their camera as a color profile. Up to 9 recipes can be uploaded directly from the cloud to a Nikon camera, providing endless creative freedom and experimentation.
Rest in peace Shelley Duvall, Dr. Ruth, and Richard Simmons. The world lost some authentic ones this weekend.
Oregano ruins anything it touches.
Hate to say it, but I’m ready for fall.
Zawojski said he once mistakenly received mail from the Crooks house, but never engaged with the family members directly even as he returned the mail to their porch. “I couldn’t even tell you what they look like,” he said.
Sadly, this is much of America in the age of streaming services and smart phones. I’ve got a neighbor two doors down that I’ve lived next to for 6 years and have only seen him 2 or 3 times to get his DoorDash from the porch.
Goodbye, ol’ Suby. You were a great car for the 11 years you were mine. I probably took this car to 30 states on road trips. Sold to a friend’s son as his first car, hopefully he gets another 100k out of it.
I got tired of my polycarbonate lenses always scratching, so last year I sent in my WP frames to Eyeglasses.com and had real glass lenses put in. No scratches. I love them.
I dragged a friend to the Les Savy Fav show and I don’t think they knew what they were getting into.
Downgrading your Verizon bill be like.
Decided I’m abandoning my affiliation with the Democratic Party and will become an independent (small “i”) voter. Between sidelining Bernie in 2016 and now attempting to block 3rd party access to state ballots, this system needs to be systematically demolished and rebuilt.
Ecology also teaches that all life on earth can be viewed as a competition among species for the solar energy captured by green plants and stored in the form of complex carbon molecules. A food chain is a system for passing those calories on to species that lack the plant’s unique ability to synthesize them from sunlight.
Excerpt from The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
It was only 93° today.
My sister got lucky
Married the yuppie
Took him for all he was worth
—Tom Petty
Finished reading: Guts: A Graphic Novel by Raina Telgemeier 📚
Our back patio is usually chaos. Zoey doesn’t seem to mind. She says she could do without the heat, though.
Currently reading: The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan 📚
Summers in Portland have felt more like Redding every year. We now have 3 official seasons: rain, smoke, and scorching hot.
Started reading: White Bird: A Wonder Story (A Graphic Novel) by R. J. Palacio 📚
Roughing it, obviously.
I see you, Cannon Beach.
Happy to see more EV chargers at state parks & campgrounds across Oregon.
Glamping supreme. Ask me if I brought the portable AC. 🏕️
Countdown to camp. For all the money we’re spending on this, we could’ve stayed at a pretty nice hotel with a pool. 🏕️
It’s going to be around 100° the next four days. We walked around the neighborhood on the early side and stopped to listen to the bullfrogs at the wetlands. The creeping thistle looked neat. The bees looked happy.
I worked as a cook at P.F. Chang’s in college. Whenever someone finds out about this, about half the time they say “I love their chicken lettuce wraps!”
Then I break the news to them that it’s just ground up and fried chicken fat and skin, the stuff that normally gets thrown away.
Organic fireworks.
Nice day in PDX, and surprisingly quiet due to the holiday.
Quick trip to NW Portland to pick up some Carrot Cake Granola from Papa Haydn’s for a friend’s birthday. Decided to take the kids and get dessert, followed by Pittock Mansion and the splash pad. Both kids got some bumps and scrapes, like they do!
Explained Independence Day to my inquiring 5-year-old son today, as best I could. He responded:
But dad, war is not good. People get hurt and that’s not something that we should be remembering.
Couldn’t argue with that.
I just want Apple to allow me to choose “natural” scrolling for the trackpad, and regular scrolling for the mouse wheel. Is that too much to ask?
I love that my personalized radio station played me Ja Rule - Mesmerize on my drive home today.
I’m 43 and just now feel like I have enough PTO to stay somewhat sane, yet enough responsibility to feel guilty using it.
We’ve got a camping trip with friends this weekend that we booked in January (you have to do that here), and now it’s supposed to be around 100 degrees each day. Seriously considering sleeping in the Tesla and testing out Camp Mode.
Several days later, all 20 years of emails — 117,006 messages at 11 gb — have been imported to iCloud. After setting up mail forwarding, I no longer need to keep Gmail in Mail via IMAP because it’s all searchable. Delayed retrieval is also solved by forwarding. Perhaps the most boring post ever.
Can I filter words out of the timeline with Micro.blog? I don’t like unfollowing people just because of occasional content, but I also try to throttle certain political posts.
Sometimes I’ll be on my back deck and hear some kid scream at a video game, or someone practicing the trumpet, and I think: “how dare they disrupt my peace!” Then I remember what it must be like to live next to us.
Sure seems like everyone around me is getting Covid these days…
4 minutes of a day in the life.
Casimir Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens
Took the kids out in the canoe on the Willamette this afternoon with our friend P, who brought her paddle board. Great drop-in point in Newberg. Beautiful, calm day for it. The old 18.5’ Wenonah is still a champ. 🛶
Remembered a lyric that has nothing to do with my current situation but is just so simple and clever, I wanted to write it down.
The sadest part of a broken heart isn’t the ending so much as the start. — Leslie Feist
I slept in today because of the sleeping pill I took in the middle of the night, but I was productive despite how groggy I felt when I woke up. I took 5 big bags of bottles back for the deposits, picked up groceries, and vacuumed my car. I picked up the backyard a little bit and blew the leaves off the deck.
S’s dad came for a visit today, who was in town for work. It’s been nice having him swing through more often the last year or so, but sometimes the heads-up is short, and there’s a lot to do to make the place presentable. S worked her butt off yesterday and today getting the place cleaned up. We try to keep up on it, but having to little kids makes it difficult.
After grandpa showed up, we took the kids to the nature park and went for a couple mile walk through the woods. They were wild, but I think they had fun. It was warming up, but the dense canopy kept up cool.
I had prepped some BBQ before we left and put it on the grill, but it still needed a few more hours to cook after we got back. The family watched a kids’ movie for a bit while I went upstairs and messed around with my blog. The ribs turned out pretty good! We rounded out the meal with some mashed potatoes and corn on the cob.
This evening we folded laundry while the kids took baths. It rained tonight, which is kind of strange for this time of year in the Northwest. June has been strange in general. My garden seems to be loving it, though, and thankfully for that given the issues I’ve had with the drip irrigation recently.
Tomorrow we’re taking the kids to some park on the Willamette, meeting up with some friends to go paddle boarding. I’m considering brining the canoe. It’s supposed to be cloudy but there’s no rain in the forecast yet. I’m sure the kids will enjoy it.
Considering putting my big in scouts this year and of course I ended up on an Etsy page for alternative merit badges. Link
I’m slowly getting better at this.
Uploading 20 years’ worth of email to iCloud. Hoping for a completion date sometime before 2027.
Ice cream truck audibly enters the neighborhood…
2-year-old daughter: “what’s that noise?!”
Wife: “it’s an ambulance.”
The candidates are very bad, but worse still is the media manipulation and corruption. Between the 2016 and 2024 elections, I’ve lost all faith in this system. The only reason I even vote anymore is because of SCOTUS.
I’m excited about the possibilities for music discovery with AI. Imagine being served up recommendations, not just in terms of genre or by other listerners’ tastes, but instead based on analysis of tempo, mood, time signature, key. Maybe even by characteristics of the musicians themselves.
Finished reading with my son: The Stonekeeper’s Curse: A Graphic Novel (Amulet #2) by Kazu Kibuishi 📚
Not sure why I never thought of this until now, but you can use Ghost as a sort of headless CMS for Micro.blog via RSS. There are of course limitations (e.g. editing mistakes), but it can even handle your newsletter with an embed while Micro.blog handles the static site, cross posting and comments.
Here’s some Detroit style pizza I ate at the new Ranch location. 🍕
Considering making iCloud my primary email address but don’t have any idea where to begin. I’ve been with Gmail since 2004 and we’re talking about hundreds of service updates, not even counting my contacts. Who has that kind of time?
I had some business today with a department I used to work in, the job that brought me to Oregon. It was nice to see some of my old colleagues, but most have moved on at this point. It’s hard to believe I’ve been with the same organization for almost a decade. So many life changes in that time.
This week’s episode of the Mel Robbins podcast hit a bit close to the chest. Sharing it in hopes that someone else might find it useful.
Why is adult friendship so hard? If you’ve been feeling lonely, left out, or just like your friendships are not as strong as they used to be, you’ll feel empowered and encouraged by the time you finish listening.
Currently reading with my son: The Stonekeeper’s Curse: A Graphic Novel (Amulet #2) by Kazu Kibuishi 📚
Few things have sent me back in time quicker than a whiff of Nag Champa incense that I caught wafting out the front door of a shop on Main Street as I passed.
I washed my car on Saturday, and the next day a bird pooped a huge one right in the middle of my driver’s side door. I’ve been driving with it on there for four days now simply for comedic effect.
iOS 18 Beta 2 rolls out RCS. Pretty excited about this.
Finished reading: The Stonekeeper: A Graphic Novel (Amulet #1) by Kazu Kibuishi 📚
Someone got off the hedonic treadmill a while ago and never looked back.
Although I’ve given up on growing my own peppers, I have not given up on fermenting my own hot sauce. See you in 4-6 weeks.
This past weekend’s project: the rainwater irrigation system. Despite a lot of work, I still haven’t solved the issue of the pump cycling. Suffice to say, I’ve put a lot more time into working on the automatic irrigation over the years than it would have taken to just water the vegetables by hand.
Everyone expects wrinkles as they age, but I wasn’t prepared for all the other skin stuff that can happen. Eczema, strawberry bumps, stretch marks, skin tags, sun damage, hyperpigmentation. Fun stuff.
Late breakfast or early lunch?
People with multiple Micro.blog blogs, how do you split up your content? I’ve seen separate blogs for photos, specific photo content, hobbies, podcasts. What else?
It’s mind blowing to me that the United States has more land area than Canada. It’s only when you add its water area that Canada wins. That damn Mercator projection strikes again.
Summertime.
On high alert for bullfrogs.
When recipes say stuff like “the moistest chicken,” I cringe a little. I like my chicken dry AF and I won’t apologize.
Saw an early 90s Pontiac Grand Prix in someone’s driveway today, miraculously. It made me think about how ubiquitous the brand was in the 90s and early 2000s. Bonneville, Grand Am, Grand Prix, Sunfire. The OG proletariat chariots, no doubt.
iOS 18 feels like a step backwards in terms of UI for me. The Photos app is so clumsy and incoherent now, and I really dislike what they’ve done with Control Center. Adjusting widgets is awkward and buggy. I realize we’re in beta, but so far, I’m not a fan of any of this.
Although cool to see the Require Face ID control, I would’ve much rather seen a “turn off badge notifications” on this menu.
“It’s too cold for shorts…”
“Can I take my my pants off?”
I’ve got the day off, so I’m heading to the coast with my boy. At long last, the weather looks decent. I like to keep all the beach gear in a clear tub so I can just throw it in the car and away we go.
Had one of those “moral high ground” types of days at work. Decided to stop a little early to have a beer and cook some bacon on the grill for BLTs before the kids get home. I love bacon, but hate that cooking it permeates everything in my poorly ventilated house. Cheers. 🍻
Really happy with what I’m averaging in gas savings since getting an EV. $14 spent on electricity over the past 31 days isn’t bad. And my old car was 20% worse on mpg vs their data model ($158 vs $132 in equivalent gas costs).
I’ve grown tired of my little Canon RP and its limitations, specifically its abysmal battery life, lack of in-body image stabilization, and slow shooting speed (kids!). So I decided to sell it and give a new system a try. Excited to start working with the Nikon Zf!
Not sure how many of my followers here care about Detroit redevelopment, or old train stations, but the Michigan Central Depot has recently been magnificently restored. Long empty and falling apart, its restoration gets me all sorts of emotional. 📸: Bvictor1
#detroit #trains #historicpreservation https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10225512&postcount=105
Not sure how many of my followers here care about Detroit redevelopment, or old train stations, but the Michigan Central Depot has recently been magnificently restored. Long empty and falling apart, its restoration gets me all sorts of emotional. 📸: Bvictor1
#detroit #trains #historicpreservation
El Jefe Food Cart. Picking up dinner a little early at the best taco truck on Portland’s west side.
Picking up dinner a little early at the best taco truck on Portland’s west side.
Recently switched to carrying a backpack to work instead of a messenger bag and I ain’t ever going back. Not sure what initially brainwashed me into thinking I needed a messenger bag for work, but my back is thanking me for making the switch.
Recently switched to carrying a backpack to work instead of a messenger bag and I ain’t ever going back. Not sure what initially brainwashed me into thinking I needed a messenger bag for work, but my back is thanking me for making the switch.
I’ve been working with this new architectural design and markup software called Rayon (pronounced like Ryan), a startup out of Paris. I really love it for the space planning component of my job. It’s so much simpler than Autodesk…I hope the company is successful so I can keep using it. https://www.rayon.design
I’ve been working with this new architectural design and markup software called Rayon (pronounced like Ryan), a startup out of Paris. I really love it for the space planning component of my job. It’s so much simpler than Autodesk…I hope the company is successful so I can keep using it.
I wonder what Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere is like.
I wonder what Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere is like.
Before kids, I wasn’t the type of person to carry cash on me. But since having them, I’ve realized that having cash, in smaller denominations, is an all-star level dad flex.
Fleet Week in the Rose City.
Nobody:
My Apple Music: serenading me with a mix of Taylor Swift, Converge, and Cocomelon, all within a 10-minute span at 6 a.m.
Read a comment on a post tonight that said:
“Europeans travel an hour for vacation. Americans travel an hour to get medication refilled.”
In all seriousness, not one European (or otherwise) I met on my trip knew where the hell Oregon or Washington were.
When I’m down in the dumps, I like to watch 80s and 90s movies. They always cheer me up.
Took me far too long to find the true purpose of these.
I feel like I’ve been cheating the system this week. I’ve been plugging my car into the free EV chargers at Walgreens and just going for a walk on my lunch break. My commute has been free this week.
My son, yelling from downstairs: “Dad! Can you muffled child’s voice?
Me: “What? I can’t hear you. I’m upstairs shaving!”
Son, yelling: “You can’t hear me because you’re upstairs!!!”
The cheapest tickets to Chris Stapleton are $200 for general admission, way in the back. This is so common now, not sure how they command these rates. There are so very few people I’d pay that much money to see live. I’m almost to the age where you’ve got to pay me to stay out that late!
Normally, my wife is pretty minimalistic, but she’s big on gifting souvenirs to coworkers and family upon return from traveling.
I find the whole practice very strange. Like essentially we’re saying, “hey, here’s something for you to remember this vacation I went on without you…”
I took the opportunity to watch both Barbie and Oppenheimer, back to back, on my 10 hour plane ride from Amsterdam to Portland.
Despite the leg room, wife and I both thought it was like a mini vacation just being without kids, being served food and drinks, and watching movies of our choosing.
Braving the conditions on Sauvie Island for some of spring’s sweetest treats: Hood strawberries.
I recently saw a reply form on someone’s personal Micro.blog post (at their own address), allowing readers to login from M.b, Mastodon, or Bluesky to comment. Anyone know if this is new, or where I can go to learn more about how to make this work with the Marfa theme?
When in Rome…
…Goodnight.
Roma is the filthiest large city I’ve ever visited, but the food is good. Walking a lot (20,000 steps before siesta) and eating our way across the città. Breaking a lot of social norms and embarrassing myself with my poor italiano.
Yesterday we hiked in the Alps, today we hiked the Cinque Terre. We burned a thousand calories hiking from Monterosso to Vernazza. The weather has been great. Resting for a bit before a night out in La Spezia.
In Italy, halfway through our trip, and I’m thinking about modifications to my own home based on my experience thus far. Such as real shutters. Bidets. Heated towel racks. Not giving up my American size fridge, however.
Lunch in Austria
Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Benefits to your circadian rhythm being way off given the 9 hour time difference: waking up at 4 a.m. for morning views.
Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) (Aeroporto di Venezia-Marco Polo).
In Amsterdam, getting ready day to board our flight to Venice. It’s been a long day :)
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS).
I exported all my photos from Google awhile back, but was dreading organizing them because Google Takeout had an insane file structure. Well, I figured if there was a good job for AI, this was one of them. Had ChatGPT write a python script to organize by month and year.
Someone discovered Beatles - White Album on Minidisc.
Tualatin Valley Water District soccer field.
One aspect I miss about living back east are all the ethnic bakeries. My family used to run an Italian bakery and deli in metro Detroit. Italian, Jewish, Polish, Lebanese, and Mexican bakeries are all over the place. Portland doesn’t even really have ethnic neighborhoods. It’s weird.
Mi piacerebbe entrare in contatto con alcuni urbanisti italiani riguardo al mercato del lavoro lì.
Had no idea moving posts from Micro.blog to Ghost would be such a pain. Had to spin up a Wordpress server, import the posts, then export with the Ghost plugin. Now the zip file is too big 😂. I can break up the photos in batches, but not sure how am I supposed to break up the JSON file. 🤷♂️
Admittedly, I had no idea how important agritourism had become to suburban childrearing.
Breakside Brewery Beaverton.
Whoa. Looks like Ghost will not only adopt ActivityPub, but also integrate following others right into the platform, on your own site. Looking forward to this.
After a lot of trial and error, I finally got Ghost up and running on my home server and accessible at my domain. Looks like I won’t be paying for hosting anymore, at least for my urban planning blog.
Sunny Wednesday morning in downtown Portland for the Northwest Facilities Expo. Quite a different scene than the housing and planning conferences I’m used to. Plenty of swag, including free buckets 🤣. You just have to endure the gauntlet of people trying to sell you stuff. Don’t make eye contact!
Now that we know that most of our office jobs can easily be performed at home, any required commute into an office counts toward your 8 hours that day. Go ahead, I give you permission.
After a mild success of self-hosting PhotoPrism, I thought I’d see if I could get Ghost up and running in a docker container. No dice. I must’ve tried 20 different docker compose settings and I just don’t know what the hell I’m doing 😂
Fungus among us
Getting the kids out of the house on this rainy Sunday.
Indexing…only about 100k to go.
55° this weekend, 85° next weekend. May can be so weird.
Finally took the time to set up PhotoPrism on my network. Now to figure out how to access it remotely. Another day.
Found a beautiful yet simple habit tracker in the App Store called Onrise. It’s free and comes with widgets, pomodoro timer, and a journal. I’d love to use it but apparently there’s no way to know where the data is stored or how to export data. Wish I could get Shortcuts and iCloud to work with it.
This popped up in photos as a 20-year memory today. This hit me like a ton of bricks. Coachella 2004. Me and some friends drove from Michigan to California, four-deep in a Honda Civic. This is my buddy Trevor. We’ve grown apart and have our own lives now, but I have a lot of good memories.
I’ve saved about $75 in gas in less than 2 weeks with my new car. In reality, it’s likely more because my Subaru only got about 20 miles per gallon in city driving and this calculation uses 25 mpg as a baseline for comparison. Also had to supercharge the first few days before getting my charger.
Without a doubt!
I hope we get high-speed rail in the Northwest before I die.
The State Of High-Speed Rail Projects In The U.S.
Looking for accommodations for our trip to Italy. Although grateful for tools like Google Maps and online reviews, in some ways they almost make it more difficult for me to choose a hotel. Beyond analysis paralysis, guest photos really pull back the curtain on the reality vs the hotel’s photos.
Finally got in to see an ophthalmologist last week for a small concretion I had on my eyelid. It took me a year to get in to see one. I went into primary care last April, then a few months wait to see dermatology, then to optometry (who doesn’t deal with anything but vision), back to primary care, and then another 3 month wait to get to last week’s 10 minute appointment with ophthalmology.
Tell me again how we have the best healthcare system in the world.
Who else here is from a small, out-of-the-way place with few opportunities but still managed to get out and make something of yourself despite the odds?
Sometimes I stop and think about it and feel so lucky.
My annual subscription for Ivory is coming up. I don’t think I’m going to renew. I’m mostly on Micro.blog and Bluesky these days, and Ice Cubes seems to have Mastodon covered. That year went by quick, though.
Received word yesterday that I got approval for nearly $70k in grant funds to install 12 EV charging stations at my work.
One very simple but thoughtful thing about the new car is that the center backrest folds down. As a parent of two young kids in car seats, this is very convenient! Can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had to take out a car seat just to make a run to the hardware store for some moulding or lumber.
I was cleaning out some old files and came across the software that came with my 2009 MBP. I still have the machine, too.
Well, it happened. After driving the same beat up old Subaru for 11 years, I got my very first new car at 43 years old. I bought a Tesla Model Y Long Range on Earth Day. I think my son might be more excited than I am.
Went for a drive in the countryside during my lunch break today.
As much as Microsoft Teams has done for remote work, its availability doesn’t entitle people to your immediate attention. I’ve noticed coworkers in other departments following up with me in a Teams chat after just 30 minutes of no response to an email. It’s toxic to expect that kind of immediacy.
La nostra scimmietta. 🐵
#earthday
Kids are watching Scooby-Doo and I’m over here playing the first game video game I ever owned, at age 6.
I’ve noticed a trend recently where the older posts link on blog themes points to the right. This feels very unnatural to me. Gonna have to fix that.
Aforementioned REI grand opening. It’s crazy over here.
The largest REI in Oregon just opened yesterday, about 5 minutes from my house. This is the closest thing to Christmas for outdoorsy adults in the #PNW.
If you sign up for a service or website that celebrates anniversaries, yours will forever be 4/20 if you sign up today. 🌴
I know there are strong opinions about pineapple on pizza, but has anyone ever tried fig? Today I had my first pizza with fig on it, along with ham, Gruyère, and chèvre. Subtly sweet yet sparse enough to compliment the savory without overpowering it. I’d definitely go for it again.
Sitting in a coffee shop next to this building, which was one of the last affordable housing developments I was involved in as a funder. The nonprofit let me name it.
Recently connected with a half-aunt that no one in my family knew existed until a DNA test. If there’s anything I’ve learned from these tests, it’s that many more families than I ever would’ve imagined have big, dark adultery secrets. Reddit groups are full of these stories.
Removal of street trees in all but absolutely essential circumstances should be punishable with prison time.
Could someone explain the “buy me a coffee” thing among bloggers/tech crowd? Did this grow out of FOSS developer etiquette, or maybe people “borrowing” front-end code, or?
It is stunningly gorgeous outside today in Portland, Oregon, USA @ 67° F (19° C) / sunny. I’ve been relieved of parenting duties for a couple hours and it’s time to hit a sidewalk picnic table somewhere for a beer. Wish me luck.
New York Times, shilling for the 1%.
The Global Turn Away From Free-Market Policies Worries Economists
I’m very pro walkability/bikability, and in fact got into urban planning due to my interests in walkable communities and public transit. Still, it feels a bit strange seeing the terms “urbanism” and “urbanist” completely co-opted by the cycling community. It’s overshadowed all nuance.
Saddened to learn of my cousin’s passing yesterday after a short but valiant battle with cancer. Although it’s only been in recent years that I have become close with her dad, I feel so much sorrow for their family losing her so young. Praying they find some peace during this difficult time.
Playing around with a Bluesky list of Micro.blog users I follow.
Rhine River cruises are like the pinnacle of aspirational Boomer retirement goals these days, it seems.
Awesome idea, but so help me God, if I’m your accountability partner and you wake me up more than once, we are no longer friends.
Relatable.
On a scale not seen in decades, many Americans are stuck in homes they would rather leave.
TheUpshot, NYtimes
At 43, I spend too much time now trying to guess if the characters in movies are older or younger than me.
Nice lunch on the waterfront in downtown Vancouver.
We shipped our kids off to my mother-in-law’s for the night and drove out past the gorge to Dalles Mountain Ranch in Columbia Hills Historical State Park. The wildflowers were in bloom and the cloud cover kept us cool. It was very peaceful, and it felt good to burn some calories in preparation for a well-earned beer.
The start of today’s hike.
Siblings and their budding friendship.
Not my doing, but love it nonetheless.
Getting tired of managing multiple fedi accounts. Shuffling the deck back to Micro.blog.
It makes me cringe whenever I hear people complain about funding essential services like schools at adequate levels when most don’t even remotely understand the impacts of their low-density neighborhood on the budgets of their communities and service districts.
Afternoon walks this time of year.
Is there a native or easy way to transcribe an Apple voice memo?
I couldn’t help myself, I bought the domain sadmachines.social. It makes me smile, even though I’m not sure what I’ll do with it yet.
An awesome #skyline shot from Opening Day in #Detroit from the #Tigers. 🐅
I want to know who the people are who click all the way through listicles that are spread across five pages for ad revenue purposes.
Nimbus reportedly involves Google establishing a secure instance of Google Cloud on Israeli soil, which would allow the Israeli government to perform large-scale data analysis, AI training, database hosting, and other forms of powerful computing using Google’s technology, with little oversight by the company. Google documents, first reported by the Intercept in 2022, suggest that the Google services on offer to Israel via its Cloud have capabilities such as AI-enabled facial detection, automated image categorization, and object tracking.
I hate to admit it, but I might be leaning more towards Bluesky over Mastodon now that there is such deep integration with Micro.blog. Really has me rethinking everything.
All these big legged pants are giving me major flashbacks.
Photo from our neighborhood park over the weekend. This little place has become a central part of our lives and one of the best parts about where we live. There must have been at least 25 kids and their parents there, from diverse backgrounds, just in the short time we were there on Sunday.
One of the worst parts about anxiety is the persistent mind reading. I know I’m not alone when I say I often have to drown out the imaginary voices I hear when I look at other people’s faces looking back at me. It’s gotten better as I’ve gotten older, but has never completely gone away.
This Baked Crunch Hot Chicken recipe my wife made tonight was delicious. Instantly saved to the Mela app.
I still think we should be able to delete / detach any comments on our own micro blog posts, wherever our site may exist in the Fediverse. For me, this is easily the biggest issue with ActivityPub.
From Elderly Instruments. #eclipse2024
Figures.
I realize not wanting to do self checkout makes me a grumpy old man, but what pushes me over the edge into full-on curmudgeon territory is when a line attendant tries to redirect me there from a longer, human-powered line that I’ve clearly chosen on purpose. #gtfo
Bumming around Southwest on this rainy Saturday. #pdx
Saturday morning jam.
Younger and Dumber by Indigo De Souza
At a conference today at Ilani Casino and the whole place smells like the inside of an Abercrombie and Fitch.
Of all the types of people I have trouble understanding, it’s the people who never ask questions who baffle me the most.
“Hulk and Thanos”
Went past the light rail yard yesterday on one of my walks. I’ve always been a lover of trains.
One of the downsides of having an electric range is not being able to cook tortillas directly on a gas burner. Slightly charred tortillas were a staple of my childhood growing up with my grandmother.
What is something you discovered or got into later in life (hobby, interest, activity) that brings you a lot of joy or excitement? I’ve gotten stuck in my routine and identity. I’d like to branch out and do a little self discovery, but it’s been difficult with two kids under 5.
I’m skipping Easter with the in-laws today for my physical and mental health. I have some guilt about it, but I’m putting it out of my mind to enjoy the peace of this beautiful day by doing some minor maintenance on my car out in the sun. It’s well past time I started prioritizing my own care.
I’m not feeling Apple’s poor implementation of content restrictions. Not only with explicit music sliding though even when content restrictions are turned on, but also how it’s impossible to filter movies or TV shows by rating in the Apple TV app. Wish they’d improve the experience.
Thinking about having some work done on our house, including renovating the kitchen. I like the contemporary look of no upper cabinets, but what do people do about their glassware? Dishes look fine on a shelf, but I’m not so sure all our mismatched coffee cups would look good on a display.
If anyone knows of any excellent food blogs, I’d be gratefully if you shared the love. I’ve been experimenting a lot more with new dishes and building my recipe book. TIA!
While I’m not sold on reincarnation, heaven, or hell, I often find myself hoping that karma or judgment might come into play based on how someone treats animals.
Ever ponder the reach of pros' blogs vs. TikTok, Instagram and YouTube stories on the same topics? Millions view the latter. Is the goal spreading ideas or writing for its own sake?
“California is a state that looks like a sock.”
-my kid
I guess Zoomers are calling VCRs “VHS Players”. There are entire debates going on about this on Instagram like VCR has been Inceptioned.
VHS tapes, yes. VHS player? Never.
My second story got up to 85° today in Portland and opening windows didn’t budge the temp. I’m a little ashamed to say I turned on the AC on March 18th to cool down my office. I can’t focus when I’m sweating.
The sidewalks never stood a chance.
You might have ADHD if stimulants make you sleepy. I’ve been sleeping so much better since being more consistent in taking them.
Mela is straight up the best iOS app I’ve found in years. It’s changed my meal planning and eating habits. The only thing that could possibly make it better is if its grocery lists somehow integrated directly with grocery store ordering apps. I love it.
Dealing with Tough Family Stuff
My little mischief makers started the day with a giggle takeover!
My car is 13 years old and recently turned over 150,000 miles. I got it used in 2013 with 55k miles on it, so I’ve done fewer than 10k miles per year, including several cross-country trips. It’s been a great car with very few issues, but it’s showing its age and I’m debating if I should put the $4k in repairs it needs into it or get something else. I’ve loved not having a car payment the last 5 years, but I also don’t want to keep sinking money into it. Keeping it would cost $6k over two years, including gas. An electric would cost $10k after incentives over the same period.
No one told me T/Gel was discontinued 😑
Made this homemade pot pie recipe tonight for dinner, with some modifications. Mine of course didn’t look this beautiful, but it was a hit nonetheless!
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/one-skillet-rotisserie-chicken-pot-pie
The world has changed and our children no longer smell of smoke. writings.bryan.lv
Continuing to struggle with my weight. writings.bryan.lv
I guess she likes Future Islands.
The zeitgeist of the last half century would have us believe that Elvis was a morbidly obese man near the end of his life. Some so-called sources claim he was 350 lbs. Ain’t no way. This is a photo from his last performance (1977). The dude had a bit of a double chin, but he barely even had a belly.
The barber gave me a senior discount today, and while I can appreciate that their heart was in the right place, I’ll be at happy hour after work if anybody needs me.
Arapahoe Basin, CO. 2012. #tbt
Proud of myself for getting up at 6:00 today and heading straight for the treadmill before the kids woke up. I’m not a morning person, but I’ve been sleeping better with exercise. I’ve had a good streak going in February despite lots of celebrations with food. Back on CICO, doing my best.
Four weeks after New Year’s and I nearly had the place to myself.
While I’ve been doing a decent job of meal planning and trying out new recipes, I think much of the time I’d be happier just eating a bowl of cereal or having a sandwich.
Hey @maique, happy anniversary! Beautiful couple. Apparently we got married within a few weeks of each other because this month also marks 6 years married to my best friend (Feb 10).
I had a very writing and editing-heavy day at work. I started making dinner early, which took about an hour, and then played outside with the kids and roughhoused for 45 minutes. This somewhat shockingly only got me to 2500 steps. I did 40 more minutes of walking on the treadmill (2.2 miles) and now I’m only at 7066 steps. It’s no wonder we get fat with such sedentary jobs. I need to start walking while working.
Moonrise on the Oregon Coast and a few moments of peace while walking the dog last night before settling in with the kids.
Perfection
Sticking with our yearly tradition that we started in 2016 of going to the coast the week of my birthday. Fingers crossed for some decent weather, but in all likelihood we’ll be at the pool!
I was between site visits today and lucky enough to have a few moments to spare, so I stopped at one of my favorite little pull-offs where I used to sometimes stop to eat my sack lunch. A lovely day, and grateful for where I landed in this world. #pdx #pnw
Seeing the crazy drop off and pick up line at our neighborhood elementary school makes me so grateful that we live less than a half a mile away.
When your organization requires you to take a 12 week leadership course but the only time you have to do it during the day is typically your lunch break while on the treadmill.
Out for an evening stroll.
Test drove a Model Y today (my birthday) and this was my first time seeing a Cybertruck in person. Honestly a bit smaller than I expected by the photos I’d seen.
Sometimes I look at my daughter and she looks a bit like my brother did when he was a kid. Wish he could’ve met her.
Any ideas as to what would cause iOS Safari to very regularly do this after a page has already fully loaded?
I search for a page, click it, it loads, then moments later it reloads to a screen like this. No extensions are enabled and it happens most often to news sites.
Love being a dad, but one of the most difficult things for me having little kids is not being able to talk with my wife without some sort of constant interruption. Every time I open my mouth to speak, there’s a kid yelling, needing help, getting hurt, fighting, etc. The struggle is real at this age.
I must be a masochist, I woke up at 5:45 to book a campsite at the coast on a weekend in mid-August before they evaporated.
They say success in life is 80% showing up. For a person with anxiety, that’s exhausting. It means constantly mustering emotional energy to be braver than you are naturally capable of being, every day.
This weekend I booked a beautiful rental in Venice and started looking at places in the Dolomites. It’s starting to feel more real and I’m getting excited for my first real trip abroad since 2007. Hopefully the first of many to come given how different my life circumstances are these days.
She disappeared and we found her sitting in the dining room by herself 😂
Fun in Olympia today on our 6th anniversary.
I’m at the age where my back cracks whenever I sneeze.
You’ll have bad times, but it’ll always wake you up to the good stuff you weren’t paying attention to. - Good Will Hunting
Taking a moment to recognize this time in my life as “the good stuff” and to pay attention.
I know it’s a necessary evil sometimes, but it’s really frustrating when you pay for a premium app that goes from a pay-once and done to a subscription model, and then they continue to hound you to join the subscription plan. I think devs should go the Feedly route of grandfathering early adopters.
I haven’t watched the Grammies in probably 2 decades. Even as a musician, I couldn’t possibly care less.
Taking a training today so I can evaluate buildings for safety after a Cascadia Subduction Zone quake.
I’ve had less to say lately.
We took our restless animals to a farm and soaked up the sunshine.
2 years and 3 months after ordering it, my Italian ‘social security’ card arrives. 🤣
I’ve visited a couple of times, but I just don’t get why Austin continues to explode. Good food and music would not be enough. Crazy heat and a climate set to make it worse, awful state politics, sprawled out suburban development style, poor infrastructure, high property taxes, tiny historic center.
Feeling pretty burnt out lately. writings.bryan.lv
Almost spent $1000 on 7th row Mitski tickets but fought hard against my ADHD impulse control demons. It’s the small wins.
What I’d love is to have my own personal start page on the web. I plug in the services I already use and love, and there’s little widgets giving me updates. Bands in Town, Meet Ups, Things To-Dos, meal planning, reading list, etc. Maybe AI-assisted date planning.
Anyone seen the price of Disney World lately? Honestly think our trip to Italy will be cheaper.
Pampering myself with the tanning booth and massage chairs at Planet Fitness 🤣 it’s the only reason I haven’t cancelled.
The marriage problem-solving flow chart:
Husband expresses a feeling about wife’s actions and how it could be resolved -—-> wife deflects, listing 10 things wrong with husband —-> husband apologizes —-> peace is restored
My oldest turns five tomorrow. It’s hit me hard that he’s going to be in kindergarten this year and I’m having all those normal, uncomfortable feelings wrapped up with hopes for him to have a good experience and that we’ve got him at the right school.
After last week’s weather, today’s sunshine and warmer temps were very much welcomed.
The cuter my kids get, the more people say they look like their mom 🤔🤣
Our first Amazon delivery from a Rivian electric cargo van.
How is Canon’s wireless photo transfer software so bad?
Lions! 🦁 🏈
We grew some crystals this week and unveiled one tonight. He’s pretty excited about it.
We are thawing and the sun is shining, but here’s a photo of the pup from a few days ago. She’s 7 now and is slowing down a bit, but still has some spunk. 🐕🦺
I’m a glutton for punishment. I put together a Wordpress site focused on my blog posts vs microblogging posts. I used the Shoreditch theme with font inspiration from Atilla on Ghost. Thinking about starting there for long-form posts and here on Micro.blog for short-form posts.
I don’t care what someone’s politics are, making negative comments about their body is so cringe.
Just realized that yesterday morning I clipped the fingernails on my left hand and then didn’t finish the job on the right.
One of the coolest things about learning Italian is seeing all the Latin rooted words and how they’ve influenced English words and their cognates or synonyms.
For example, the Italian word for “window” is “finestra”. From there, it’s not a big leap to “fenestration”. They’re all over the place.
Difficult to think about gardening too much given the weather lately, but we’re really only a few weeks out from seeding indoors. So, I put in my order last night through Territorial Seed Co. Picked up a few varieties I’ve never planted. I also have to start thinking about moving my beds.
That’s a wrap! Another day on the hedonic treadmill comes to a close.
“Hey Siri, how might Michael Foucault approach the term “urbanist” as a discursive object?”
“Hey Siri, how might Michael Foucault approach the term “urbanist” as a discursive object?”
Given the development patterns that emerged in the U.S. after G.I.’s returned home from WWII flush with cash, I often ask myself: did we really win?
Shout out to all your coworkers who are wrangling little kids and still working remotely during these storms. They’re barely hanging on but still keeping your shit running.
Also shout out to libraries. Today’s work is sponsored by Spider-Man books and Scooby-Doo DVDs.
A coating of ice on everything. I’ll be staying here today, if anyone needs me. #pdx
On some of these dark and cooped up winter nights, I have too much time with my thoughts and memories. Tonight I was feeling nostalgic for the places I used to live, even though I know I’m better off with where I’m at now. Still, the present can feel so suffocating at times.
Signed up for a 3-week language class at PCC and the first two classes are cancelled due to weather.
Another snow day.
I’ve been trying to figure out a way include my kids' grandparents in my POSSE adventures since I will never pry Facebook from their hands. Every time I leave the site, I invariably get complaints about them wanting updates. This is pretty much the only reason I wish Threads would federate.
Our silly girl
Did I mention we went sledding yesterday?
Word of caution: if you show up at my house unannounced on a holiday weekend, you may find me still in my underwear before 10.
I was 9 years old the last time the Lions won a playoff game. 🏈
One of my favorite accounts on Instagram is Zillow Gone Wild. It’s a great study in the American mind.
After a 25 year hiatus, I’m thinking about getting back into hacky sack.
Learning about custom routing and collections in Ghost. I’m thinking this might be the key to hosting two blogs at one address (micro and otherwise) while keeping their content separate.
Got our wish
Offloaded my new planning blog from a subdomain to its own domain. Hoping I didn’t break too much in the process.
I need to research easy-to-use (and free/affordable) data visualization tools for web publications, particularly map data. Looking like maybe Leaflet with Mapbox.
Today is my daughter’s 2nd birthday. It’s been a fun-filled year, and a joy watching her grow and explore the world! Happy birthday, little one!
Had some fast food for lunch today and the sesame seeds reminded me of this bit by Mitch Hedberg:
Tech companies who use two-factor e-mail verifications where the numbers are visible directly from mobile banner notifications are doing god’s work. Few things are as unnecessarily annoying as having to click over to open the email to copy/paste.
Couldn’t stand the guy or his cult, but I’ll concede Reagan got one thing right:
~If you’re explaining, you’re losing.
Currently experiencing the complete meltdown of the Fred Meyer curbside grocery pickup system. Been here almost 2 hours waiting on a pickup that was already an hour delayed.
My boss signed me up for this leadership development program over the next 3 months, and although I appreciate the content, it has filled my plate beyond capacity. Crazy week and I’m ready for a snow day.
I let the floor go while I was trying to keep the ship running the last few days. Cooking, laundry, dishes, homework, regular work, walking the dog, keeping the kids entertained, baths, etc. The floor is always the thing that gets so gross so fast, especially in the winter. I think I’m ready to hire a cleaner again. Even once a week would be glorious.
Lego has become fun now that he can do so much more himself.
My littlest, one year ago. She’s turning 2 this Friday and my son is turning 5 in a couple weeks. 😭
We had some wind last night and it knocked out our electricity at around 1 a.m. My son was already sleeping in our bed, but my daughter woke up screaming bloody murder and wouldn’t go back to sleep, so I had to bring her into our bed as well.
The worst part about power outages is that I can’t sleep without my CPAP machine anymore. I have a battery for it to get me by, but I must not have charged it after camping last summer. I got another hour out of it before I was awakened again not being able to breathe.
I had to get creative because I needed sleep. I had an early morning meeting today and needed to get the kids to daycare/preschool earlier than normal since my wife is still in California and couldn’t help.
I started my car, plugged in an inverter into the cigarette lighter, and ran two extension cords connected together from my car and upstairs to my CPAP machine. I got a few more hours of sleep before I had to start getting ready for the day.
I got enough sleep to get by, but I’m charging my big back-up battery in case it happens again.
Raising kids on the U.S. west coast sure has a way of making even a so-called ‘comfortable’ household’s budget feel pinched. I look around and wonder how others seem to be living so much better.
Veggie chili tonight, accompanied by Chelsea, Michigan’s finest.
#jiffy #michigan
This morning, I accidentally bumped my HomePod while cleaning off the desk and some music started. Land Locked Blues by Bright Eyes came on, from his 2005 album I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning. It’s making me nostalgic. That is about the time I stopped listening to Bright Eyes and stopped buying CDs altogether.
I was 24 that year. It was before smart phones became popular, and 2005 was about a year after I got my first iPod. I still actively managed my library for a few more years, but that slowly started to change as streaming became more popular.
My music listening habits are so much more random since streaming became a thing. I struggle to even answer when people ask “who’s your favorite band?” or “what kind of music do you listen to?” I miss the more intentional nature of it all when I’d manage an actual library, even if it wasn’t in the form of physical media.
I have tried to go back at times and explored the underground and alternative music that I didn’t have the privilege of knowing or experiencing in my younger years before the Internet, and in this way, I love the archeological digging and discovering. However, that takes a lot of work and patience because it’s really easy to find a shinier new object of my affection, however fleeting.
I don’t think breadth of content has improved anything about the experience for me. If anything, it’s too easy to push things aside without giving them a chance and I don’t listen to entire albums very often anymore.
I’ve toyed around with having my own library again on a Plex server, but adding new music is not easy, and if we’re being honest, it can get expensive in a way that feels unnecessary. Also, I have so many other things going on in my life that I don’t have a lot of down time to manage it. But these are just excuses. If it were important enough for me, I’d make it happen.
It’s entirely likely that the shift in music medium has caused a psychological shift in me in such a way that I care much less about music now than I once did. If I sit with that feeling for any amount of time, I feel a little guilty about it.
All this to say, music feels very cheap to me these days. It’s everywhere in abundance and therefore it feels much less valuable. As a musician myself, this feels strange to admit, but it’s what I feel in my gut. I don’t have a solution, but I wish it were different.
I want that feeling of freedom again, driving around on the first warm day of the year with the windows down, listing to my favorite album. I want that feeling of finding an album and it becoming the soundtrack that defines a season, a year.
Booked a spot at a State campground…for a weekend in July. Pretty wild that this is how things work.
After dropping my wife off at the airport this morning:
“Mom’s going to California, which means we can do whatever we want, sister!”
Last night we went to Hapa Pizza in downtown Beaverton. They have been included in several recent articles as a top pizza parlor in the region, so we decided to give it a try. Their Asian inspired pies are unique and tasty. We had one of the peanut sauce pizzas with tofu and it was great.
An old photo of us on NYE, when my wife and I first started dating. Time flies.
The thing that makes me nervous about Apple’s Journal app is that there’s no apparent way to get the stuff you put in there, out. I’m sure I’m missing something, but from the app itself, it’s definitely not obvious. Are the moments you record available in other apps that can ask to connect?
I realized recently that 2024 marks 20 years since I got my Gmail account. It was invite-only back then and I broke Google policy by buying an invite off eBay for something like $15. I can’t even fathom how many emails I’ve sent/received, or services I’ve signed up for with it.
Spending half my time on Micro.blog unfollowing mastodon accounts.
And won’t ever be able to get my Micro.blog followers back here that I migrated away.
Wish I would’ve known the implications of my migrations before I made those decisions. Follower management is not good.
A quote I’ve always remembered from an old coworker:
This week, we started going back to 100% analog books at bedtime for the boy and I feel good about it. He’s almost 5, and we’ve read to him nearly every night of his life since before he was able to understand what was going on.
It started out as 3-4 children’s books. We ran out of material after a while, so Libby (library app) and Amazon Kids+ filled in the gaps. But over the last 6 months or so, he’s been wanting more and more to watch books read from content creators on YouTube. We’d still read him a book or two, but then allow him to watch books being read on YouTube Kids.
The great thing is, he somewhat surprisingly didn’t complain when we cut out the iPad. It seemed pretty harmless, but we agreed it was basically too much like watching cartoons. The readers often have too much commentary, or act out the characters in the books. He also wasn’t getting as much explanation or oversight. It took away the fundamental purpose of reading.
His preschool teachers say he’s ahead of where he should be, doing work of kindergartners and a little bit of first grade work. We don’t push him too hard on the learning to read and write, but I want to make sure he stays interested and engaged. It will come.
Tonight I read him four books, two of which were longer. I spent more time asking him questions and sounding out some of the words, all the while pointing to each word as I read them. He was really interested, and asked a lot of questions about the meanings of words. It was just nice to have more one on one closeness with him.
Currently reading: The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans 📚
Working from home today and my dog keeps bugging me to go for a walk. It’s pretty cold and wet outside and I just want to stay warm and dry in my hoodie. I’ll probably relent, but I wish we had an indoor dog park nearby on days like today.
Getting back into RSS feeds after discovering NetNewsWire. Reading the developers’ blog post, Brent Simmons responds to questions about whether the app should support Mastodon. Personally, I’d be happy with just the ability to sign in and comment directly on articles that implement ActivityPub.
At brunch this morning:
“What did you get, dad?”
“Biscuits and gravy.”
“But where are the biscuits?”
“Oh, they’re in there. Somewhere.”
#holdup
Decluttered a bit this past weekend after Christmas filled our house with too many things. On the highest shelf of my bedroom closet is where I’ve kept my brother’s ashes for almost 3 years. I can’t bring myself to part with them, but my heart keeps telling me they deserve to be somewhere else.
Happy New Year to all. Wishing you inspiration in 2024.
Best thing about west coast New Year’s Eve is celebrating at 9 p.m.!
Spotted my first Amazon branded Rivian EDV while out and about running errands in the Portland area. I think they’re kind of cute.
Pretty excited about VPN now being on Apple TV. Big fan of Channels DVR for watching Italian IPTV channels for language learning, but so many are geo blocked.
Started The Creator last night and had to finish it this morning. Great movie, but it might be a sign I’m getting older when I can hardly finish a movie in one sitting 🤣 🍿
The battery died on my wife’s key fob for the van, so instead of just replacing the battery she…swapped her key fob for mine. Classic wife move!
Not sure why I’m surprised by the language being used by all sorts of young kids at the neighborhood park, but I am. I need to check my inner grumpy old man in those moments to counter the urge to scold them while they’re cursing like sailors in front of my little ones.
I never know the right way to pronounce ‘dachshund’.
I just learned our IT dept finally added Power Automate to our enterprise 365 subscription. I asked for access to this for two years in hopes of making my last job more sane considering the vast amount of form work I did. No idea how this could be useful in my new position yet. Anyone use it?
According to Portland Nursery, there are only 48 days (Feb 15) until the ideal time for seeding tomatoes and peppers indoors.
OSU says the last chance of frost is May 31, and to count backwards 8 weeks (March 31). That’s a pretty wide spread.
To make living itself an art, that is the goal.
Still one of my favorite scenes that ever chose me
My personalized stations on Apple Music have been so strange since they started including starred songs. I was diligent about starring things way back in the day but then fell off. Suddenly, songs I starred over a decade ago are making their way into my mixes. They are dredging up memories of past lives.
Smirking my way through the doldrums
My kids will eat curry, tofu, sushi, Thai, Indian, Tibetan, Vietnamese and Chinese food, but they won’t touch Chef Boyardee if their lives depended on it. I guess I’m raising some bougie kids.
Just applied to community college.
Heading into the chaos of my in-laws’ house. Just a self reminder to relax your shoulders and take regular deep breaths. A Klonopin or two might also be in order.
My new boss got me a nice gift box from Made in Oregon. I think this is the first time a supervisor has ever gotten me a gift. A small thing, but it made me feel appreciated.
Testing syndication without titles
Someone sent me a photo of myself I'd never seen before from my high school graduation.
I blinked and Sufjan Stevens came out with a new album.
My new gym keeps its outdoor pool open all year. It’s 40° outside.
A tale of two children visiting Santa
The winter solstice is nearly upon us.
Here goes nothing.
Update: this site is currently being mirrored on an 11ty site. Things seem to have transferred really well, but I haven’t had a chance to polish the starter theme. I'm not sure what the advantage is to going the headless route when Ghost seems to be fine. I'll continue testing.
As most of us are sick this week, we didn’t do much this past weekend. So I’m looking back at last weekend’s photos. This is my favorite one from our visit to Zoo Lights at the Oregon Zoo. We all rode the narrow gauge train and had a lot of fun. A few friends J, H & K even showed up.
Saturdays are the best.
Today was an interesting day. I got to tour our old jail, part of which is now empty, to hopefully repurpose it. Also made some progress on understanding the historic building in which I work, to hopefully rehab. Feeling good, but tense from the desk, so I spent some time in the hot tub and sauna:
Went to a ninja gym last night and it was a lot of fun!
For all the effort being made for alt text, how do I even read it in other people’s posts on Micro.blog?
Lately, both of my kids have been learning so much and it’s intense seeing them grow before my eyes.
No. 1 is 4 and has known his ABCs and how to count for a while now, but he’s become so articulate, annunciating every letter perfectly (no elemenopee anymore). He’s also counting into the 40s and higher when reminded of the starting digit. Even more impressive are the questions he’s beginning to ask. Existential questions, and reflecting on complex topics, even accompanied by sadness and even anguish when speaking of loss. Wow.
No. 2 is 23 months and is saying short sentences and asserting her personhood by claiming ownership of things and not shying away from telling you what’s up, especially to “stop it” when something is bothering her. It won’t be long until she’s speaking in full sentences and becoming her own person, too. In addition to playing with the magnet tiles and more traditional “boy toys”, she’s dressing up and playing with dolls, unprompted or promoted by us, which is just so different from our son’s preferred toys, even though he had access to all the same things she does when he was her age.
Parenthood is a trip and I love it. Hard, yes, but awesome in all the best ways.
That high noon sun.
Thankful for this day.
Beautiful outside.
I had a lot of things in my Amazon cart that didn’t change in price at all today, but suddenly said 18% off next to that same price due to Black Friday.
My loves.
I have my in-laws over for Thanksgiving this year, so we had a full house and it was a lot of fun! My first time cooking a turkey…turned out pretty good. Now we are just drinking old fashioneds, eating coconut cream pie, and huddled around the living room watching football and playing with the kids.
Santa almost forgot to close up the attic.
Happy Thanksgiving, friends. I’m cooking this year, pray for me.
I have a theory that eyeglass companies switched to polycarbonate lenses from glass, not because of weight or safety concerns, or because polycarbonate was better, but because polycarbonate scratches easily, so you have to replace your glasses more often.
Even with coatings, they just suck in my experience. I scratch up my polycarbonate lenses a couple months after getting them, without fail. I know I’m hard on them, but it’s still annoying.
Most local shops and labs don’t even offer glass lenses anymore. But I found out recently that eyeglasses.com still sells actual glass lenses. So I sent in my existing pair of Warby Parker frames and had them replace the lenses with real glass. Took about two weeks total to send them in and get them back, but they are awesome. $150, reasonable if you ask me.
A little more weight, but the acuity is a lot better and they’re supposed to have the highest scratch resistance of any material. We’ll see how they hold up.
Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. 10 years ago.
This PNW rainy season
I’m about a month into my new job and I’ve got to say that I’m loving it compared to my old one.
Much like being in a bad relationship, sometimes it’s hard to see just how toxic your old employment situation was until you’re out of it.
Commute.
Tillamook
Lost Lake, Oregon.
Lake Tahoe
Moved back over to my Mastodon server as my primary platform from Micro.blog. Too many issues lately, and I missed the iOS clients. Still copying over most things with RSS, but the biggest downside is that I’ll have to post images directly to Micro.blog since they’ll be linked to this server if I don’t. Not sure why I do this to myself.
When people complain about PNW winters, I send them pictures of Michigan. Grayer, colder, flat as hell, farm desert tundra, and a land use program that allows this.
Dealing with Italian bureaucracy is fun.
I need a SPID (electronic credential) to order my Italian birth certificate online from my comune where I’m registered.
I need a physical card of my Codice Fiscale (Social Security Card) to get the SPID.
I snail mailed for the card 2 years ago, sent to the Italian Consulate in San Francisco, who is supposed to request it from Italy.
Consulate lost my application for Codice Fiscale.
Do others on Micro.blog truly get RSS updates in their timelines? I’ve subscribed to one and even though there have been new posts, I’m not getting the content. Same goes with a Tumblr blog I follow. Wondering if it’s just me.
Keep getting this error.
Do others on Micro.blog truly get RSS updates in their timelines? I’ve subscribed to one and even though there have been new posts, I’m not getting the content. Same goes with a Tumblr blog I follow. Wondering if it’s just me.
At a friends’ kids’ birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese and I’m pretty sure this is how Covid started.
This last week has been kind of hellish in a sort of funny but not too funny sort of way.
We’ve all, at various overlapping times, had colds and conjunctivitis. Yep, pink eye.
Thank goodness for the extra days off. Sleeping but not well, and my wife has it in both eyes 👀. Looks awful
😖😳🤣
New air fryer owner, here. So I picked up some Starbucks Sous Vide Egg Bites from Costco to try cooking them in it. Might have a new addiction.
This is about the most American post I could conjur.
People have tried to get me to eat fish my entire life. It makes me gag. One of my favorites protests is: “you’ll like this, it doesn’t taste fishy at all!”
But why are people trying to get me to eat something that’s threshold for quality is that it doesn’t taste like the thing that it is? 🤔
Maybe a weird question, but anyone know if there are any free and open source budgeting apps for iOS with bank account sync? Or is that just way beyond what anyone should expect from FOSS?
I hadn’t logged into my Pixelfed account in a while. The Progressive Web App is a lot nicer now, IMO. Very polished.
Thinking of my brother on his heavenly birthday today. He would’ve been 41. Miss you.
When I see a “Log in with Google+” 🙈
Wrapping up week 4 in the new job and enjoying it. The first few months are all about finding your bearings. I’ve got a supportive team helping me grow into the role, but I’ve already had a lot of uncomfortable situations. Just picking up the discourse, the new language, is always a challenge.
Micro.blog down?
Impromptu bedtime snacks ... https://indw.blog/2023/11/08/impromptu-bedtime-snacks.html
Apologies to anyone following my music listening history and sees everything from Elmo and Fugazi.
Apologies to anyone following my music listening history and sees everything from Elmo and Fugazi.
After two days of public transit and traveling around downtown Portland and Seattle, I’m really saddened by the fact that that my son was just about the only child I saw, and I honestly questioned my parenting by exposing him to certain things on this trip. I left with him for the KISS concert wondering if maybe he was too young for the show, not even really thinking about the realities of our cities. I figured out quick public transit trips ... https://indw.blog/2023/11/07/after-two-days.html
After two days of public transit and traveling around downtown Portland and Seattle, I’m really saddened by the fact that my son was just about the only child I saw, and I honestly questioned my parenting by exposing him to certain things on this trip.
I left with him for the KISS concert wondering if maybe he was too young for the show, not even really thinking about the realities of our cities. I figured our quick public transit trips would be no big deal, but our homelessness and drug issues are just so bad, and I regret not driving us up there.
I am used to having regular fears. I’ve lived in seedy areas most of my life. But the fears I had these last two days were not my “normal” fears of guns or cars possibly killing us, or people breaking the window of my car for some change in the center console, or a pick pocket, but rather the potential for my kid being exposed to fentanyl, or the absolutely off-their-rocker people we saw on every bus and train we took, screaming obscenities and racial slurs.
It’s terribly sad to me that kids can’t take part in downtown life in this country, particularly on the west coast. Despite the fun times we had, the things he was exposed to fill me with sadness and make me want to leave, for a small town or another country altogether.
On a packed bus and some lady is on speaker phone buying something and repeated her credit card number, expiration, and security code, OUT LOUD. Seriously, how dumb can you be?
More Seattle fun. We rode up to the top of the Space a needle with a load of Hindu monks. They were very kind to my son and let him ride by the windows in the elevator. Nice littlle extended weekend getaway for us boys.
Me and my boy saw KISS in Seattle tonight!
Waiting for our…bus.
Figures. Haven’t taken the train in forever and now it’s going to be a bus ride due to a landslide.
Looks like Micro.blog forgot to fall back today, all the time stamps are an hour in the future.
Three years ago, I was recognized as an Italian citizen and I’m going to visit the Veneto region where me and my children are registered. I’m really excited.
Best buds.
The paint I got on my watch yesterday unlocked memories of seeing similarly speckled paint on my dad’s digital watches growing up.
“Dad, can we put the skeleton away? I don’t want Santa to be freaked out.”
Just began training the new person for my old job as a courtesy, and I got such a strong deer-in-headlights look from them that I’m wondering if they’ll still be here next week.
Being with your partner for a while is to know them. This morning’s convo with my wife went something like this:
Me: You know who I think you’d like? Sade.
Wife: How do you spell that?
Me: S-A-D-E
Wife: What the hell?
Me: Yeah.
Wife: ~Playing it on her phone~ Omg I love this!
I got really tired of scratching up all my polycarbonate lenses so I sent in my WP frames to have real glass lenses put in. It’s going to take a few weeks before I get them back, but I’m so excited!
I feel like Apple might’ve done something sneaky in the most recent update and removed my wife from the sharesheet in iOS Photos in order to force Family Sharing adoption.
So this happened. Happy Halloween! 🎃
Halloween Part 1: Preschool Batman. 🎃
Happy Halloween 🎃
Don’t wait to tell the world you love someone until after they’re dead.
What is the best concert you’ve ever been to?
The false advertising on Google’s hotel pricing is amazing. Even with actual dates plugged in, the advertised prices in downtown Seattle have sometimes been over $100/night off from reality (+). And I’m not talking about third parties like Expedia, but prices advertised from the hotels themselves.
It doesn’t happen all the time, but for the last several weeks or so, I have been ticking so many items off my to-do lists and feeling very accomplished. I attribute this primarily to better sleep. My focus and energy have improved as a result. Not sure why, by my insomnia has subsided.
Somehow missed that my lil old car surpassed 150k. Knock on faux wood, but I’ve never had it in the shop for anything other than routine replacements. I’ve had this car for over 10 years and it was a few years used when I bought it. #subaru
Invariably, when I’m watching clips of the Rich Roll podcast, I find myself not even listening to what the guy is saying. Often I’m just thinking: “dang, this guy has a good tan. I wish I had a successful podcast where I could hock underwear and plant-based protein so I could afford to live in Malibu.”
Searching for painted rocks at the park on this beautiful day.
My phone updated last night and the Journaling app showed up. And I’m sort of relieved there isn’t a share option on entries. The last thing I want showing up in the Fediverse is the minutia of every person’s day.
As a musician, perhaps the most egregious example of my own ignorance that I’m willing to admit is that, for too many years, I thought the hippie folk music of the 60s was real folk music. It’s taken a lot of unlearning. I chalk it up to being an 80s child of a teenage parent who worked nights.
Lows in the 30s this week. House is chilly and my little girl (21 months) keeps waking up, even well layered. So…she’ll be absorbing my body heat in our bed tonight.
Rembrandt, Monet, Picasso…
Time to turn up the heat and put a nice tropical scene on the TV while I work on the couch today. 🌴
Project mystery machine in progress.
The teens at one of my lunch spots were playing Postal Service in the dining room. Wild to think they weren’t even alive when that album came out.
Anyone use Smartsheet for project management? Thoughts?
One of those kinds of days.
A little old lady pulled up in a classic Porsche in front of the library. As she got out, I turned to my 4-year-old and said, “hey, check out this beautiful Porsche!” so that the lady could overhear me. She just responded with, “it’s por-SHA” and walked away all huffy. My god, my faith in humanity.
Heard a second and a half of Tainted Love on the radio this morning before I was able to change the channel and that damn thing will be stuck in my head for 3 months. Who does that to their listeners?
I think this week we’re supposed to get the season finale of Invasion S2.
I’m a sucker for these alien shows.
It’s amazing how long home improvement projects take me these days. Gone are the days the days of knocking out projects over a weekend or two.
I caught some flack from family for not responding quickly enough to texts.
Yo. I have two kids under 5. Rest assured I’ll get to your text next time I have a moment, which will likely be 1) when I’m taking a dump or 2) in those fleeting moments of consciousness before I pass out from exhaustion.
20 years ago Elliott Smith took his own life. I think what I loved most about him was that he was sort of an Everyman musician, which was inspiring. I recorded this cover of Pitseleh with a computer mic not long after his death.
It’s very odd when your Apple Watch asks you if you’d “like to start your day” after more than 30 minutes on the treadmill.
From Peninsula Park this morning.
When you ask Siri to play OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) but it plays OPP, you just let it play.
Whenever I hear somebody say that the roads in Portland are awful, the only logical response is “so, you’ve never been to the upper Midwest, eh?”
I mean, there truly isn’t a better restaurant name in the region.
This is so obviously fake, but every time the memory pops up this time of year, I have a good laugh.
I see this kind of parking job in my neighborhood all the time. Do I be that guy who calls/reports this? Mostly I’m worried about sight distance and kids getting beaned by cars. Also a safety hazard for emergency vehicles.
I have a hard time taking companies like The Atlantic seriously in articles like this. I was a long-time subscriber to their magazine, but their entire site went up behind a paywall and subscribers didn’t get digital access. Now its $90/year.
Silicon Valley Ditches News, Shaking an Unstable Industry
Just figured out that you can add custom emojis to saved Google map items. So, if anyone needs me, I’ll be updating those for the next several weeks.
Pea soup on the morning commute. #pdx
The very large box my treadmill came in is coming in handy for Project Mystery Machine.
The air is crisp this morning (46°) and the sun is burning off the fog. There is piano jazz playing in our main lobby, which, strangely enough, gets me sort of amped up for the holidays.
If you had to:
What would your choose?
It’s been a busy couple of weeks. But I guess life is just sort of busy now anyways. In no particular order:
Sono stanco…
I was on a roll cooking and baking this afternoon. Definitely not a healthy food day, but the weather has had me craving comfort food 🥘
Fun new park in the area.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, ‘Don’t do it that way. You’ll never make a dime.’
Snagged a used KitchenAid stand mixer at Goodwill.
Someone out here living my alternate reality dream 😂
Walking around outside the courthouse and there are 4 or 5 wedding parties…I guess Friday the 13th is a popular day to get married.
Leaving for work on my last day after 6 years at this job.
Rolled my ankle today on a walk during my lunch break. It’s sore but very grateful I didn’t tear anything. I did that a few years back and it took over 6 months to heal.
For some reason I have not been able to get the Tinylytics kudos buttons to show up on my Micro.blog posts. I follow the instructions and use the specific plugin for the Tiny theme, inserted the appropriate code in the footer. Alas, nothing. I’m sure it’s just user error but this seems simple.
Looking for fitness trackers for my parents. They’re reasonably tech savvy 60 something’s that use Android phones. Simple is good but we’d like to “compete” to motivate each other. I have an Apple Watch. Looking for wearable and app suggestions that work with both. Any thoughts?
People from Michigan sometimes ask me how I deal with the rainy season in Oregon. What they don’t tell you is how often the clouds break up. I had severe SAD while in the Great Lakes region because the overcast was so low and persistent. Between the evergreens and cloud breaks here, I’m good.
Pretty excited that Duolingo is coming out music and math courses.
Google Maps is always so buggy for me, especially when viewing aerial imagery. Crashes a lot, both on my work computer (Windows) and MBP at home. Sort of shockingly bad given that it’s one of their flagship products.
Last night I went down one of those rabbit holes that led me to watching the Elliott Smith documentary: Heaven Adores You.
I went through my concert tickets and found the one for his show in 1999 at St. Andrew’s hall in Detroit my senior year in high school. Oct 21 marks 20 years since his death.
One of my favorite rock albums of all time is 2003’s Deja Entendu by the band Brand New. The album’s final track is called Play Crack the Sky. As Jesse finishes the song, he puts the guitar down and sings “never to see any other way,” a nod to the ending of the Beatles’ A Day in the Life.
Setting up my new office space. A little bit darker than my old one, but it’s Fall on Oregon…it’s to be expected. Digging the greenery, though.
Europeans who complain about Americans forget that they made us.
On the list of things I didn’t care for as a child but love now are in-season pears.
We had a really fun weekend, decorating and spending time with friends at their family farm where we got to feed a mule, play putt putt, make apple cider, pet a chicken, and share good food with friends. Happy 40th to our friend Penny.
Where can I get a couple very large boxes for an art project?
I looked at Home Depot and they weren’t large enough. Maybe U-Haul?
Tutti would be an excellent name for an Italian Mastodon client.
IMO, Portland realtors should be subject to truth in advertising laws.
Here’s a home listed as being 2,246 square feet when the Multnomah County Assessor lists it as just 1620 square feet.
Far from an isolated occurrence, too. Nearly all of them are like this.
Literally nobody cares 😂
The missus is away for a friend’s 40th birthday, so me and the kids picked up some Halloween decorations and probably went over budget, but it was worth it.
If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life
Never make a pretty woman your wife
So from my personal point of view
Get an ugly girl to marry you
“If you wanna be happy” by Jimmy Soul
It’s amazing how often Mexican restaurants in the U.S. try to pass dishes off as vegetarian when their refried beans contain lard. It’s the standard, not the exception.
Lately my body feels like it’s my enemy.
If anyone can recommend a treadmill, it would be appreciated. Looking on the used market but also new ones that won’t break the bank.
There is this guy on YouTube I love whose channel is called CityNerd. He used to be a transportation planning consultant. I just watched for like an hour, completely engrossed. My wife’s guilty pleasure is reality TV, mine is nerding out with transportation planners.
Evidently I’ve reached the point in my DIY home improvement career that my wife has begun offering my services to her single friends. This must be a little taste of what it’s like to own a truck.
If you ever want some cheap entertainment, pack a lunch and head over to the parking lot of your local Habitat ReStore. Watch as people who are spatially challenged attempt to load furniture into their cars.
I just finished up re-watching Season 1 of Arrival in its entirety with my wife on Tuesday night because she hadn’t seen it and I wanted to start Season 2. I think she’s a bigger fan than I am. Two years between seasons is a long time to wait.
Another parent at my kids’ preschool drives one of those electric Porsches. Every time I pull up beside her in my beat up old car, I chuckle. While exchanging niceties, she looks at me with disdain as one of the “poors” and I watch amusedly as she struggles with the carseat.
I added a second phone line on my iPhone for work. I used a budget MVNO called Tello for $10/mo since Verizon wanted to charge me $35. Almost everywhere I go, the Tello number has had more bars. I guess they use T-Mobile’s network.
I was listening to a podcast this morning that used the phrase “toxic positivity” to describe LinkedIn. Perfection 👌
Holy crap, that national alert just scared the bejeezus out of me.
Thought the aliens had arrived.
Having been in a software developer heavy social media world for the last year (Mastodon et. al), I’ve come across the word “opinionated” often to describe certain FOSS or site templates.
I understand it doesn’t exactly have the same meaning in that context, but it got me thinking that being opinionated in my field (urban planning) is equivalent to activism and is heavily discouraged. It can ruin people’s careers.
This is probably the most difficult part of the job for me. When your livelihood and family rely on you for support, it’s very difficult to risk it all just to share opinions, particularly unpopular ones.
When I was younger, I thought conformity was stupid. As an adult, I see it as necessary for survival. And my thoughts on freedom have changed as a result. I’m now thinking that people that make their own lunch so to speak, the business owners and self-sufficient, the wealthy, are the only ones who can truly share their open and honest opinions without major repercussions.
The photos app is always showing me memories of all the fun times I had pre-kids! Halloween 2010, Lansing, Michigan. Quality Dairy parking lot, on the way to a party on the River Princess.
Some happy little Micro.blog news for me. I had been struggling to find a simple username I liked. Someone already had the @bryan handle but he hadn’t updated his blog in 5 years. I reached out to him on Mastodon and he agreed to let me take it over! Very gracious of him and I’m grateful!
Currently writing a personal bio as a professional introduction for other staff in my new department. One of my least favorite things. Striking a balance between accomplished yet humble is a struggle. Stick to the facts I guess.
In about a month I get to take my son to his first concert. Ever since watching the Scooby-Doo and KISS movie, he’s loved KISS. So, in yet another experiment in parenting, we’re taking a trip up to Seattle on Amtrak to see them for their farewell tour. Should be entertaining!
Man, the Hudson Tower in Detroit is getting massive. What a beauty by SHoP Architects. Photo by dcholmes on Instagram.
Just got a second line for work on my phone with eSIM through Tello. Surprisingly easy and affordable, so hopefully the service is OK. No more desktop-based NEC Softphone for me!
Looks like I can also run a time-based iOS Shortcuts automation to disable the secondary work number after hours.
This album dropped 28 years ago this month and it rocked my 14-year-old world.
Does the iOS share sheet to the Micro.blog app work for anybody? This is what I get no matter what I try to share.
I have the hardest time remembering how to spell the word for ‘weekly’ in Italian: settimanalmente.
That word is far too long for its meaning :)
Hopefully, as we mature, we reach a certain point in our lives when a combination of self-awareness and good judgment of others’ character keeps us out of bad relationships.
Too many times I’ve seen close friends get into bad relationships for the wrong reasons and it just pains me to see.
I heard Saddle Mountain in the Oregon Coast Range is back open. I miss that hike. It’s a few years old, but here’s a photo at the top.
Signed up for a premium Micro.blog account to host audio, so here’s a quick and dirty test. A cover of ‘Hard Times’ by Gillian Welch.
Getting into the spirit. #halloween
This Michigan-Nebraska game is a blowout.
At the in-laws’ place for my FIL’s birthday. This view will never get old. Columbia River looking across to Oregon from Washington.
I can’t name a single song of Paul McCartney’s since 1980’s “Wonderful Christmastime”.
Pretty amazing considering every beloved Beatles song was written during a span of just 10 years but somehow the man hasn’t written anything memorable in 43 years.
Reminder to always look at insurance billing in detail. Just had a crown put in and the dentist tried to charge me an additional $230 when in fact they owned me that money from overpayment. As if this stuff isn’t expensive enough 😬
Imagine being such a megalomaniac that you start a magazine and put yourself on the cover every month 😂
Dad, this is like a chicken nugget potato. It’s crispy on the outside, potato on the inside!
~My son upon eating a McDonald’s hash brown for the first time today.
This is my lunch. Taquitos and chocolate milk.
-my wife
It’s amazing how critical we can be of ourselves and our art. All these years of playing guitar and singing and I’ve never released anything official because of fear of my abilities and anxiety about what others will think. I get a lot out of playing for myself, but it would be nice to put something out into the world.
I have been considering doing something ambitious and writing a song per week for a year. Maybe starting a second Micro.blog account for it and using the podcast hosting to do quick acoustic songs with no mixing or editing. Just let them be what they are.
Played a 00017 today. It was a return at guitar Center. Nice Guitar for the money. Ultimately passed on it but it was hard. Lol.
Yesterday I got the news that after a nearly 5-month background check, I got my security clearance and can finally start the new job I first applied for way back in February and accepted in May. Now I can finally let the stress and anxiety of the unknown go and focus on more important things.
Without a beard I’m feeling very Bill Murray-esque. Of only I had the personality.
Ah yes, the $1000/mo student loan payments are back.
I don’t care if it rains or freezes
Long as I’ve got my plastic Jesus
Sitting on the dashboard of my car
Comes in colors pink and pleasant
Glows in the dark cause it’s iridescent
Take it with you … when you travel far.
Get yourself a sweet Madonna
Dressed in rhinestones sitting on a
Pedestal of abalone shell
Going ninety I ain’t scary
Cause I’ve got the Virgin Mary
Assuring me that I won’t go to hell.
~Cool Hand Luke
Finally got the garage mostly cleaned up today. Living in a small house, our family’s spillover ends up cluttering up the garage where it acts as a catch-all for everything from half finished projects to underutilized baby paraphernalia. Felt good to get it somewhat organized. Then we played.
Yesterday we went to the rhododendron garden in Sellwood for the first time. Today, me and the wife are taking turns with the kids so we can alternate in the hot tub and sauna here at the community pool before we grab something for lunch at the new cart pod in downtown Hillsboro.
Shaved my face for the first time in maybe a decade and people keep looking at me strange…including myself !
First day of seasonal depression.
I have very evidently entered the phase of adulthood where everyone I know in the Northwest is moving back to the Midwest. Another good friend announced they’re moving away from Portland so that they can finally afford a house. It’s getting pretty lonely out here. Honestly, if I could convince my wife, I’d move back to Michigan in a heartbeat.
Every once in a while, a lyric so profound hits you in the face so hard that you never forget it:
Somewhere in the asshole of my eye
There’s a muscle which relaxes when you cry
Inoculate the Innocuous by The Unicorns
Happy almost 20th anniversary of the release of Who Will Cut Your Hair When We’re Gone?
Day 22: Road. Snapped this while walking from 10 Barrel Brewing to Pioneer Square for the Built to Spill concert a few weeks ago. As a planner, this makes my heart go pitter-patter.
Eastern Oregon is as backwards as anywhere.
I see that Nikon has released a retro camera called the Zf. Looks neat. I wish Canon would do the same.
I think I was going into overload trying out all the various federated platforms and blog options. Also super burnt out on boosts and likes over on Mastodon. So I’m taking a break from all that noise and back here at my home base of Micro.blog.
Some thoughts today:
Sometimes a breakfast burrito can reorient the direction of a bad morning and turn your day into a better one.
Be more careful with knives. I almost sliced myself pretty badly being careless with my pocket knife while cutting a fishing line for my son. Thankfully I was only grazed. It is not entirely inconceivable that if I had not eaten that breakfast burrito in the morning, I might’ve spent the afternoon getting stitches.
Some jaggoff has a trombone at the neighborhood park, and you know what? I’m here for it.
Home with my daughter today.
Every time I hear Joe Biden say ‘Bidenomics” I cringe.
Having one of those types of days where you kick a whole lot of ass but now it’s 7:30 and time to get into bed. 😵💫
You don’t need to be a land use planner to figure out there are probably some untidy loose ends around the land lease, but that hasn’t stopped me from daydreaming about buying this former Trout Lake lodge.
20 ounces of coffee down, 20 more to go. ☕️
#monday
Finally got my first “but you can’t be X years old, you look so young!”
Karma really is a b, folks.
Low key last weekend of summer. 🍂
Get things done around the house or go on an adventure, that is perpetually the Sunday question.
Tore out a cabinet soffit from the ceiling and ripped out the side wall to replace some leaky plumbing. Now trying to finish the drywall sometime before the kids graduate. Note to self: hire somebody next time.
Does Micro.blog defederate with abusive or racist Fediverse instances?
You ever been so mad at a family member that you don’t think you can ever forgive them? That’s where I’m at. I am seriously so hurt and disappointed by someone’s words and actions that I honestly don’t think I can talk to them ever again. My family is exhausting.
Finished watching Foundation Season 2 tonight. I guess I’m going to have to read the books because I hate waiting.
Lunch break heaven @ Thunder Road
Considering shaving my face today for the first time in perhaps 10+ years.
Growing some pumpkins for my munchkins. 🧑🌾🌱
To be perfectly honest, I thought Sidecar for iPad was sort of gimmicky when it was first announced. But I actually use it all the time when I’m out and about. I often write long (too long!) reports where I need to reference other materials and Sidecar is perfect for this sort of thing. I love it.
Occasionally I erroneously think that I’m not that out of touch with music. Then I randomly come across some musician I’ve never heard of on Instagram with millions of followers, or their YouTube music video with a billion views, and I never feel older than in those moments.
September photo challenge: statue.
Next week marks the 20th anniversary of my father’s death. This is a weird one for me in so many ways, but what’s been coming up for me lately is that I’m about the same age he was when he killed himself in a drunk driving accident. This life has required far too much forgiveness.
The spirit begins early around here.
Today’s hike.
I started reading a book in Italian last night called Short Stories for Beginners. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I could understand. I guess I am picking up the language, however glacial the pace feels.
One of my favorite songs of all time.
Windows by Angel Olsen.
I learned something over the weekend. After a lot of research and forum browsing, I learned that my cheap Art & Lutherie Folk Cedar guitar is basically a copy of the storied Gibson LG-2. I measured out the dimensions and they are the same. That explains the woody mid-tone sound I love.
My son’s maternal great grandfather, who is almost 85, is in town from Georgia. We went fishing and kayaking yesterday in SW Washington and it was great seeing them together. I loved watching Al teach him how to cast a rod.
Taking my boy for a spin today.
A few more from the beach yesterday.
Beautiful day at Cape Lookout.
Today I played some higher end small body guitars trying to see what might sound similar to my Art & Lutherie $200 guitar, but honestly I was not impressed.
I came across a brand recently called Iris out of Vermont that I’d really like to get my hands on, but I haven’t found any locally.
It’s fun watching Zoomers misattrubute things to millennials.
Just saw a meme complaining that people over 37 can stop putting two spaces between sentences because that’s from “typewriter days.”
Dude, I’m 42 and we had a Commodore when I was like 8 and I was 12 when AOL came out.
Mood. But they’re playing “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton. And just like Phoebe Bridgers said, I hate this song, but it is sad that his son died.
Listening to: Moon Song by Phoebe Bridgers
That whole 7-year itch thing is very accurate for me. I start to get really bored with wherever I am on about that timeline.
Walking back from a coffee shop in Nob Hill this afternoon, I saw this beautiful home and decided to look it up on Zillow. The property taxes are just over $19,000 per year, which means $1600/mo in property taxes alone.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
We’re getting a little taste of fall this morning in the Portland area, with the overcast skies and mist. I’ve missed it!
When I first moved here, several of my friends and family asked me how I could stand so much rain in the winter. Well, to be honest, I’ve always had more of a problem with the summers than the winters.
Pretty much nonstop sunshine, close to zero rain, dry as a tinder box, and way hotter than I generally like it to be. I love the rainy season.
Personally, I think Google’s best product is News, by a long shot. After 20 years of harvesting my data, they’ve got my interests dialed.
Pumping my own gas for the first time ever while in Oregon. #pdx #oregon
When your old 1st Gen iPad Pro is commandeered and de facto inherited by your children.
My only criteria for friendship is an ability to use “its” or “whose” properly.
Apparently I’m judgmental and my standards are too high.
It’s a Waylon & Willie kind of morning.
One of the many things we do as planners…connect neighborhoods with bike/ped facilities for safe routes to school, walking routes to transit, etc. The neighborhood behind me was separated from the elementary school by a creek. Nice to see plans become reality.
I’ve always been left of center politically, but there’s a quote often credited to Reagan that I’ve kept above my computer screen for years:
“If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”
It’s a loaded saying, but to me it boils down to the idea that people can sometimes be more emotional than logical, so you should try to keep your arguments as simple as possible. I think this has served me well.
I’ve thought about making video content as a side gig but I don’t think I can look at my own face that much. How do YouTubers stand to see their own faces so often with all that recording and editing? I’m on TV pretty regularly but never go back and watch myself on video. Ever.
I think I need a new method to organize my favorite locations. Ugh this gives me anxiety lol.
Summertime and the livin’ is easy.
Whenever I feel like I don’t have enough, I try to meditate on the thought that my maternal grandmother grew up in a one-room shack with a dirt floor and had 2 of her 8 kids before her 18th birthday.
Japanese Breakfast at Pioneer Courthouse Square. #pdx
Built to Spill at Pioneer Courthouse Square.
#pdx
One thing the Portland region should absolutely be embarrassed about is how many of our light rail stations are just surface lot park & rides. Given our current housing crisis, there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be a thousand housing units or more at each of these. #pdx #oregon #transit
Got my cheap-o guitar back from Portland Fret Works. I had some Waverly tuners installed that I had lying around. I’m pretty sure I spent more on the tuners than the guitar. But hey, I’m thoroughly enjoying it and that’s all that matters.
Some days I absolutely feel like the subject of ‘Once in a Lifetime’ by Talking Heads. How prescient of David Byrne.
One of those Halloween stores opened up at Cedar Hills Crossing on or about August 1. What a time to be alive.
Last year we lost our neighborhood Indian restaurant, our favorite. We were pretty upset when it closed, and quite honestly, we still are.
But since then, we’ve learned of all sorts of new things moving in nearby. In the place of the Indian restaurant, we’re now getting a brewery, one that we can walk to from our house.
Also, a new Himalayan dumpling place opened and it’s excellent!
It’s still 90° out at 10 p.m.
Likely heat island effect, but ugh. It certainly feels like 110°F. #pdx
While the wife is away, the kids will play
I despise LinkedIn, but they get at least one thing right.
There’s a setting to allow or disallow political content in the home feed.
I would pay money for that feature.
Happy birthday to my lovely, compassionate, hardworking, thoughtful, fun, and caring wife. My best friend and amazing mother to our two children, you only get better as the years go on and we are so grateful and lucky to have you!
Unfortunately, I have noticed my attention span being whittled away at slowly over the last 10 years. I have ADHD, but no supprise that it’s gotten worse since about the time I picked up my first smartphone.
I consume the news, but a lot of the time I can’t even be bothered to read a full newsletter in my inbox, let alone read an entire book. I’m committing to a mid-year resolution to slow down and consume less randomness in hopes of redirecting my attention toward more meaningful things.
Follow-up visit to get the permanent crown fitted. I swear, these glasses they give you are purely for comedic relief.
We were talking to a young family at the park tonight who lives at some apartments in our neighborhood. The mom casually mentioned they’re moving because their rent is $2300/mo for a 1-bedroom. ☠️💀
For some reason, I am still experiencing disappearing text while writing posts using the official Micro.blog app, Test Flight version. Anyone else experiencing this? Basically makes the app unusable, so I’ve reverted to Gluon. Reported it in-app.
I dropped the cheap folk guitar off at Portland Fretworks last week to have them install the Waverly Ivoroid open-back tuners.
I could’ve done it myself but figured I’d be safe and have a pro do it. But now I’m wishing I had it back and they are only open 22 hours per week. I want those hours.
My favorite Paul Reubens character will always be Derek Foreal in the movie Blow. Thanks for the laughs.
Since picking up that cheap Canadian folk guitar last week, I have been seriously considering selling my Martin 000-28. It’s a beautiful guitar, but I’m really wondering now if a 00-12 fret might be more my speed. Punchier, more balanced tone. Looking at other Martins, Santa Cruz, and Waterloo. Drop me a line if you have any experience with these smaller body guitars or have suggestions.
Every time I walk by this giant redwood in these people’s front yard, I can’t help but chuckle a little bit about its scale in proximity to the house.
I have 6 invite codes to Bluesky. Not sure if anyone is actually still waiting on one, but let me know.
Just noticed you can cross-post to Pixelfed now from Micro.blog. Nice!
The neglected cuttings I took into the office right before Covid: thriving.
The plants I took them from and cared for at home during this time: long gone.
Sinopah Mountain from Two Medicine Ranger Station in Glacier National Park, July 24, 2021.
So, if I set up cross posting from Micro.blog to Mastodon and then set Micro.blog to import my Mastodon feed as posts, how long will that go on mirroring itself? Forever?
Sometimes I feel bad when I’m a little late for work on in-office days.
Then, invariably, people without two little kids roll in after me.
On our walk this afternoon. When the earth just starts taking things back.
Reminds me of the World Made by Hand series by James Howard Kunstler I read a few years back.
Lately I have been struggling deciding if I want to keep posting to my Micro.blog. There are parts of my life that I often want to write and post about, and even though I don’t necessarily want them private, I don’t want to share them on a public timeline. How do others handle this?
Big Thief and Lucinda Williams didn’t disappoint. Hard to believe yesterday was our first full day alone together since both our kids were born. Also, my first concert since Covid. Thanks to my mother-in-law for giving us a day off.
Grateful to have this Japanese bakery nearby. Treated ourselves to some donuts this morning.
A memory popped up in my photos today of the time I sumitted South Sister, Oregon’s third tallest mountain at 10,358’. This was my first time doing anything of the sort, but I’d like to do it again when the kids are a little older.
I’ve dealt with anxiety all my life. Despite this, I have a job that requires me to present to government boards and the public very regularly.
So imagine my surprise when my Board recently thanked me during a busy session for the great job I do on my presentations. Following that, someone remarked that I was “measured and confident” when speaking.
It’s strange how so often worry can consume us unnecessarily, how our perceptions of ourselves can crowd out reality and detract from the good in us.
Hear me out: curry scalloped potatoes…
I hope the person who gets my job after I leave appreciates that I took 95% of the monotony out of the role by automating the mindless, repetitive tasks, like public notices and other bureaucracy, saving time for the employee and a lot of money for the general public. Nah, they won’t.
Y’all ever had a peach so good you start reconsidering your nonbelief in god?
Dealing with hair loss is pretty emotionally uncomfortable in itself, but add scalp psoriasis to the mix and things can get socially awkward pretty fast, too.
I hear “just shave it off!” all the time. Thing is, shaving my head often makes my psoriasis much worse.
Not sure why people are always offering their unsolicited advice or why they think it’s ever appropriate to comment on other peoples’ bodies.
Very excited to see Big Thief and Lucinda Williams at Edgefield this Friday!
I haven’t been to a concert since pre-COVID, so it’s long overdue.
What bedtimes often devolves into in my household.
I never felt much like a country boy while growing up in rural Michigan, but sometimes I feel like it amongst Portlanders.
Walked to the school playground for a bit and then to the nature park. Son was really interested in the boxelder bugs and spent a lot time in the dirt with them. He’s covered from head to toe in dirt lol. We’re lucky to have so many parks around.
The whole fam aside from me has been sick for most of the week, so the house is a snotty mess from kids and holding down work. I’m sure I’ll catch it right before I need to go on TV or something.
Thinking about volunteering as a bartender trainee in order to have a social life again.
It’s taken forever, but finally getting some ripened tomatoes.
My sleep game has improved so much over the last 6 months.
After my younger brother died in 2021, I couldn’t shut off the anxiety at night, so I often distracted myself with my phone. I got maybe 3-4 hours per night for like a year.
In addition to working through my grief, a combo of putting the phone down at a reasonable time, using earplugs, and dialing in the CPAP have been key for me.
I now get a solid 7 hours and wake up without an alarm. My mental health has improved a lot as a result.
As I finished my last two staff reports today and sent them off for review, I realized the person I’ve been under has never told me “good job” or “nice work” in nearly six years.
Looking at all these 30-somethings with kids eschewing their childrens’ college savings in favor of $1,000/mo truck payments 👀
There is this weird habit of planners and other urbanists to rag on suburbs in the Portland area, especially Beaverton.
I know there are still a lot of parking lots, but that is changing fast. Western burbs are quickly urbanizing, and have some of the densest census tracts in the region.
I get real weird vibes from people expressing interest in musicians only after they’re gone.
More and more, we live in a know-it-all culture where professionals are doubted and disrespected. It’s sad.
Tonight’s dinner was mac ‘n cheese from a box and canned Hormel chili. Ain’t proud of it, but it’s been just one of those days.
Had my first crown today. Needed something soft and comforting because I think I’m a little traumatized.
Brady Bunch-like house on my walk around the neighborhood this morning.
We just found out our neighbors, who rent a townhouse behind us, are moving to Texas because they can’t afford a house here.
Their 5 year old son climbed the fence and was talking to my son about how he wishes they could stay and just have our house when we are done with it. Gave me all the feels.
That feeling when you work for the government and the network serves up Acrobat instead of it being a local install and it takes 30 minutes to convert two one-page PDFs to JPG.
There is certainly something to be said about practice and hard work in music, but sometimes it can be so difficult to find the motivation to write and perform when there is just so much talent and natural-born ability out there.
We got a little bit of rain today, which is out of character for this time of year, but always welcome.
A beautiful deer we saw on our hike this morning at Cooper Mountain Nature Park.
Had a lot of fun celebrating my wife’s cousin’s wedding last night. Longest we’ve both been away from our kids in a while. Felt a little strange, but good.
Controlled chaos
Hanging out with my kids on a slow morning while listening to this absolute classic.
🎵 Turn on the Bright Lights - Interpol - ★★★★★
Staying up far too late, watching S2 of The Bear.
A couple years back, when life was a little lighter. Lincoln City, OR.
Excuse the crude drawing, but when did it become socially acceptable for drivers turning right to pull up next to you, where there is only one lane, blocking your ability to see and safely turn left?
Am I the asshole for wanting to now hug the right curb while waiting to turn left?
It’s sort of hard to follow a Micro.blog account if you don’t have a link to your actual m.b page on your blog.
I’ve noticed this a lot more frequently lately with people using the Tiny theme.
If I come across a M.b through a Mastodon profile, for instance, there often is no link to follow you.
One of the craziest things I never expected to experience as an adult is being part of a two-earner household, both with graduate degrees, in the top 15% of earners, making almost double the median income, and still feeling pinched by finances.
Don’t get me wrong, we have a lot to be thankful for. Still, despite having the luxury of saving for retirement and having an emergency fund, we essentially live paycheck to paycheck, and feel trapped in our house due to home values and interest rates.
Still trying to exercise the negative thoughts out of my brain. Walked 3 miles this morning. Maybe I can parlay this into a couch-to-5k thing, or have a goal to get in shape enough to join a trail running group.
Some people will just never understand how much harder us folks with resting bitch face have to work to get ahead.
I’ve been waffling between getting a Leaf and a small hybrid truck as my next vehicle. The answer may have been hidden in plain sight.
Ironically, things really went downhill with my health since quitting smoking nearly 7 years ago, and then becoming a parent shortly after.
I’ve been walking a couple miles with my dog each morning this week, trying to change trajectories with my health, both mental and physical.
I don’t know if it will truly do any good, but doing nothing sure hasn’t. I figure I’ve got to start somewhere.
Apparently we also have our own See See Coffee now, too. So many changes lately.
Newest Breaskside Brewery location has officially opened. Still wish Matt’s BBQ hadn’t pulled out, but I’m looking forward to this patio.
Started watching Season 2 of Foundation not realizing they didn’t release the whole thing at once and now I actually have to wait until Friday to watch Episode 2. What is this, hell?
I did something a little strange today. I visited the place I’m considering as my final resting place. Even though both my wife and I want to be cremated, we also would like someplace our children can visit once we’re gone. Cathartic in some small way.
I dislike the phrase “emerging artist”. It seems to imply that you aren’t an artist until you’ve reached a certain level of success.
My neighbor, who has one kid, looked me dead in the eye and asked me how we afford to send two kids to daycare.
I asked him how he affords to have a landscaper come every week when he’s been unemployed for over a year.
I have only one conspiracy theory:
The makers of Q-Tips put crack cocaine in their cotton.
My main problem with cycling activists and lay urbanists is that many think it’s all about sidewalks and bike infrastructure when it’s more about land use. You can live in a community of 20,000 ppsm, with sidewalks and bike lanes, but it’s all pointless if you have no place to go.
I have my suspicions that the Apple Watch artificially lowers your VO2 Max if you’re a frequent dog walker. There’s no option to pause your walking workout like with a running workout. My dog likes to get her smells in, stopping frequently.
“In the 70s, my interest rate was 17%”
Ok, but…it was on 30k.
Average home price here is $544,000. You have to have a household income of $136,000/yr to barely qualify for the median home today, assuming no other debt. That’s 22k per year over the median household income for a family for 4.
Whoever told me about the Japanese micro seasons calendar, you’re on my shit list. I copied them over to iCal not knowing they were daily and not weekly. Have spent the last half hour deleting.
I think the reason it’s harder for me to make music is the same reason it’s hard for me to find music I like anymore: the older I get, the less I care.
Been trying for two days to explain what the word ‘Español’ means to my 4-year-old.
Is it as good as a Yeti? No idea. But I put this ice in at noon on Thursday.
Likely selling my mirrorless camera after this trip. I haven’t taken it out once, and it’s just an extra thing to lug around. It’s not adding value anymore.
Went on a nice hike today, but my kids really tested my patience. 1.5 and 4.5 year old kids, day full of tantrums and meltdowns. Plus I’m feeling sick now. And out of shape/overweight. And grumpy. Hoping another decent night’s sleep will help.
If a restaurant doesn’t have a baby changing station in their men’s room in 2023, they can be sure we won’t be back.
Camping the Southern Oregon Coast, Cape Blanco State Park.
Walked to the edge of the earth today with my dog. Well, the lower 48, anyway.
“What’s this one say dad, they must’ve been really good.”
Made it, and set up camp just before sunset.
The Firth of Forth, Scotland. More than a handful of years ago. Edinburgh definitely left an impression on me.
Vigo di Cadore, BL, Veneto: where my paternal great grandparents were from (Laggio). This is where my kids and I are registered as IT citizens.
My wife and I are planning a trip to Italy for next spring and I’m looking forward to exploring this region.
(Photo: u/Roykamso on Reddit)
New Grand Central Bakery(!), Sizzle Pie, and Backwoods Brewery locations dangerously close to my work. This can’t be good.
Beautiful sunset in Seattle.
My step dad turns 60 this weekend, which is why I’m in Michigan from Oregon. My brother just got partial custody of his kid after a weird stretched out, ass backwards Michigan court battle thing. So his kid (5) and my kid (4), first cousins, just met for the first time (in person). We’re all “camping” this weekend at my parents’ RV site. How freaking fun this is already to watch them together!
16 years ago, London.
Feel free to add me:
https://www.threads.net/@bryanrobb
Cross-country boys’ trip. This kid has probably been on more flights before he’s 5 than I did before I was 30. PDX->DTW
Something that really bothers me about my Canon RP mirrorless is that the bokeh in the digital viewfinder and display is completely non representational of your aperture setting. Pictured here is the display vs. the actual photo. Makes me just a little bit crazy.
First ever solo trip with my son tomorrow, heading cross country back to the Great Lakes State. Looking forward to seeing family and friends.
Did a good bit of cleaning up around the front garden beds this morning and fixed a sprinkler that my wife ran over with the lawnmower.
My son always likes being by my side when I’m working on stuff, especially when it involves water. It’s sunny and pretty hot out, so we decided to get a little wet testing the sprinklers :)
I may have messed up my Micro.blog? Am I still showing up in the feed? Can someone comment if you can see this?
I thought I transferred my mastodon followers to mastodon, but does that also include your Micro.blog followers? I’m confused, lol.
One of the best things about journaling is that you can start off on a path thinking you know where it ends, only to arrive at a completely different conclusion. Very cathartic at times.
Looking at the LinkedIn profiles of people I went to grad school with can be incredibly deflating. My own personal experience with career has been one of roadblocks and wrong turns.
Currently reading: Incognito by David Eagleman 📚
Connected my Micro.blog bookshelf to Libby. Can you tell I have a 4-year-old? 📚
Perhaps I’m being a little too sensitive, but yesterday a superior of mine told me to tuck in my shirt, and it offended me.
I was dressed in navy chinos and a nice button down shirt, but I’d been at my desk for almost 8 hours and wanted to be comfortable. I was preparing for a televised night meeting where I’d present in front of a government body.
I’ve led these hearings 8-10 times per year for going on six years now. I have never, not once, not tucked in my shirt for a public hearing.
So looking forward to watching Season 2 of The Bear when I get back from my Michigan trip next week. My wife has to catch up on S1 while I’m away.
Thank you, Andy!
6 years ago, I proposed to my wife on a hike at the top of Cape Perpetua. The Oregon Coast is full of great hikes with dramatic views. Another one of my faves is Cape Lookout. @Monday 🥾
Waiting for a the doctor to fit us in.
Someone is tuckered out.
We have an annual pass for the Oregon Zoo. We can hop the train from our house to avoid the parking hell.
Farmers Market. Gorgeous day out here.
One super shady practice by Oregon realtors is the almost universal inclusion of unfinished basement space in the overall square footage in home listings. I often see houses listed at double their actual livable square footage. Buyers should do their due diligence and get the actual livable area from the county tax assessor. Often this info is public and sometimes it’s online. In the Portland area, you can look up any property at Portland Maps.
My property abuts two roads that don’t connect. My yard is often the shortest path between two points, for kids coming and going to school, or adults trying to catch a train at the MAX station.
My camera catches people cutting through my garden all day. Recently, some kids trampled my acorn squash.
Instead of putting up a fence, I decided to clear away some landscaping for a path around my garden. It doesn’t take a degree in urban planning to know these two roads should’ve connected.
I’ve never been much of a pop music fan, but I can’t help but rock out when Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart by Alicia Keys comes on.
I grew up in a very poor neighborhood in Saginaw, Michigan. I lived in a 900 square foot house with 7 other people. 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom.
My mom was a teenager when she had me. My mother and I, and later my two brothers, all lived with my grandmother, also a single mother, who still had 3 kids of her own at home.
Yet, by some stroke of luck, our part of the neighborhood was included in a very good school district. Six houses separated us from a very poor inner-city school.
Sometimes, I’m amazed by what some of the neighborhood kids grew up to become given their home environments, especially compared to some of the kids who were inside the city’s school district. Several kids who grew up on my street, including myself, have graduate degrees. One of my closest friends as a kid is an attorney in Chicago.
It’s sad to think schools can have such disparate impacts on kids. The families on either side of the line weren’t any different from ours in terms of socioeconomic status.
As a humanitarian, as a city planner, I wish we could solve the problem of our schools. Good, properly funded schools would go a long way toward solving so many of our societal ills. I think a decent education, along with affordable healthcare for all, are human rights, and the bare minimum any wealthy society should provide to its citizens.
Apologies for swapping instances, yet again.
My waffling stemmed from an inability to cross-post to my own instance from Micro.blog.
I’ve ultimately decided to go with a different host, so I’m hoping this one sticks.
The final piece of the puzzle on my guitar build: a flipped Telecaster control plate with push-pull series mode.
I didn’t get to drywalling the kitchen ceiling yesterday. As I was squaring up some existing drywall in preparation for placing the patch, I noticed another small leak in the drain pipe below the master bath. My wife was just finishing up giving the kids a bath, and a small amount of water was coming out from the top of the P-trap. This appeared to be an error the plumber made when they built my house. Small annoyance, but I’m glad it showed itself before I closed things up. Homeownership, man.
Me: Stands for 6 straight hours working on drywall and plumbing in a ceiling
Apple Watch: “Time to stand!”
“Sympathy for the Devil” is kind of a mess, musically. A beautiful mess.
I was never much into serated pocket knives, but I love this Little Native. My first Spyderco.
Just got home a little bit ago from a barbecue at my in-laws’ house. They had a Costco size bag of those Ruffles chips with homemade French onion dip. The kind I can’t keep at the house or I’ll obliterate them. Oof, I always have so many food regrets coming home from their place.
I love getting to be your dad.
Exposé, Mission Control, Stage Manager….
I still use Hot Corners. Nothing can break me of it!
Here’s a photo of me (center right) and my brothers with my stepdad (~1992), rocking an undershirt in public at Niagara Falls. He was 30 when he took on 3 kids who weren’t his own. Happy Father’s Day.
I don’t know if it’s a result of my upbringing, or just a desire to do something with my hands in direct opposition to my desk job, but I love DIY home renovation. And boy, did I ever buy the right house to feed that desire. The last 7 years have been a lot of work just to get it to “passable”.
Another one of my kiddos. They were having so much fun just running around up there at Panorama Point.
Given the weather at the coast was questionable today, we decided to head out to the Columbia River Gorge instead. Got some pizza at Double Mountain and now doing more exploring.
Few things bother me more than land use planners peddling the same ideas or practices over and over again that don’t work in the real world.
Fun fact about me:
I was named after my dad, but he left my mom when I was 2 years old. Later, he changed his last name in an effort to not be found. So I have a “II” suffix after my name for someone who no longer exists.
NYTimes:
Your special introductory rate is changing from $6/mo to $25/mo
NYTimes after I start the cancellation process:
Please accept our special offer, reducing your $6/mo rate to $4/mo for the next year!
They must know I was happy paying $6/mo, right? Right?
Doing my meal planning, I decided it’s been too long since I’ve had poutine. A lot of places in Detroit had this on the menu when I lived there, but I’ve only ever seen it once here in Portland. Not something you want to eat everyday, but it’s ok to have some comfort food once in awhile.
Started the gardening year late, but I think we’re gonna be okay. My tomato plants have grown quite a bit since transplanting. Just pruned the bottoms and put the side supports up.
One thing I really wish Apple would do is force in-app browsers to follow rules you’ve setup within Safari on iOS.
For example, if I have my local news outlets set to automatically convert to Reader mode when opening an article, it should also do that when I click an article in Google News.
Rule No. 1 as a land use planner: be very careful what you tell real estate agents.
Remember that the biggest predictor of work happiness is nonwork happiness. I have witnessed this throughout my own career, in myself and in others: When things are good in the rest of your life, they seem more stable and less bothersome at the job.
The Happiest Way to Change Jobs - The Atlantic
Despite getting a lot of rain 8 months out of the year, the PNW gets virtually zero precip during the 4 hottest months.
With worsening droughts, I’ve become a big water conservationist. 5 years ago, I had a 3,100 gallon rain cistern installed. I can burn through this in 2 mos. on just 3 raised beds.
People are often surprised to learn that I have Italian citizenship because I don’t look like a stereotypical Italian.
My great grandmother was fully Italian, but she and her family were from the Veneto Region, specifically Cadore in the Dolomites. She had blue eyes and blonde hair.
I created some iOS shortcuts awhile back that check Pitchfork’s Best New Music RSS feeds, presents a menu of recent items, and opens your selection in Apple Music if available.
Here’s the Best New Albums Shortcut I made, if anyone is interested: iCloud Shortcut Link
A peaceful morning walk with my first-born.
Current home improvement project: removing a soffit in my kitchen. It only took me 7 years to get this far after removing the cabinets when I moved in. Check back in 2026 when I have this thing patched.
Any other eldest siblings of the 80s and 90s wish they would’ve had some musical guidance during that time? Like, I should’ve been listening to Sonic Youth and New Order but instead it was Bon Jovi and Boyz II Men. I mean, I do appreciate the comedy of it all.
Hard to believe I’ve had my car for 10 years, almost a quarter of my life. Just waiting for that head gasket to go. (Photo from 2013)
Can someone create a guitar tuner app that’s accessible from iOS control center?
I did a Barre3 class with my wife this morning and it really helped me understand how my personal health has taken a backseat the last couple of years. I get out a lot, but rarely do full body workouts. Hope this helps motivate me moving forward.
I’ve started selectively blocking JavaScript with a Safari extension, mostly on news sites. Just can’t take the garbage anymore, like banners and auto-playing videos. Most of the web is just unusable anymore, in my experience. Can we start over?
Went for a hike today at Chehalem Ridge Nature Park. Even though the pics don’t show it, the kids were pretty moody today and were having a hard time, so we kept it short. We decided to head over to Hoffman Farms for some fresh strawberries and milkshakes.
Is participation in the Micro.blog timeline an all or nothing affair?
I saw the update about post-specific sharing for cross-posting, but what about right here on the Mb timeline? @help
Yesterday at the park.
I experience this thing where people talk over me all the time at work and it causes me to not want to speak up very often.
I work overwhelmingly with women and I find my experience ironic given that the media has focused on men dominating work discussions in recent years.
I had some issues with incompatible pickup screw sizes, but I got most of my Telecaster build put together yesterday. So far, I’m happy with how it is turning out.
Every once in a while, that sentimental feeling creeps in, and I miss the friendships and relationships that have come and gone.
I know those relationships wouldn’t be the same today, even had we stayed in touch. I’m not the same person that I was. But I’m still in there, even if just a little.
Folks on the East Coast are getting a small taste of what the West Coast has experienced every year since I moved here in 2015. Here’s a screenshot I took in September 2020. At one point we were over 1,000 ppm here in the Tualatin Valley.
This is what I mean about men’s sizes not making sense to me anymore. This is a 2XL. I realize I’m not exactly a small man, but this is cotton and will shrink. In what universe should a 6 ft’ tall, fairly average-built man, be wondering if maybe he should be buying a 3XL?
As humans, we get so easily accostomed to things. Whether great or awful, almost anything can become normal.
One bummer about not being an early adopter of Micro.blog is that my first name is taken as a username by someone who posted 4 short updates in 2017/2018 and hasn’t posted since. Fists to the sky, @bryan.
One of my favorite lyrics:
A good woman will pick you apart
A box full of suggestions for your possible heart
But you may be offended and you may be afraid
But don't walk away, don't walk away
“Land Locked Blues" by Bright Eyes
After napping on me for 2 hours, she was all cheery this afternoon.
Having been on Bluesky for a couple weeks now, I can see that it’s turning out to be a carbon copy of Twitter. Mastodon still seems way more positive to me.
There are few things I miss more than summer weekends on a lake somewhere in northern Michigan. Seeing everyone’s pictures this time of year sure doesn’t make that any easier on me.
Oregon has a lot going for it, but that kind of lake cottage experience just isn’t one of them.
You folks who put links to longer blog posts in your timeline posts, how do you do that?
I know if I post a longer one, it will automstically put the URL, but how are you pre-emptively doing that when the post apparently hasn’t been created until it is?
What’s one band you used to listen to (or still do) that never got any traction in terms of popularity?
One rabbit hole I find myself in sometimes is looking up bands who disbanded or who had one or two hits and then faded away. Often you can still find a few of the former members on YouTube.
Neil Young is often quoted with the lyric, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” I choose neither.
In a former life, I thought I wanted to be a big-time musician, but I’m glad I wasn’t. I’d much rather have the humble life I’ve lived in relative quiet and near total anonymity.
That Bill Burr bit where he talks about his wife finding open days on the calendar and filling them up with shit? No truer words have ever been spoken.
First harvest.
Just learned there’s a Zappa documentary from a couple years back on Hulu. Guess I know what I’m watching this weekend.
https://www.hulu.com/movie/a3d996df-569c-4e33-be35-f18667a8dd1c?play=false&utm_source=shared_link
Photo I took of my son two years ago today. I honestly didn’t expect to like Lake Tahoe as much as I did, but it was gorgeous and I’d like to go back someday. It probably helped that we were arriving just as everyone else was leaving for the weekend.
Listening to: Boys of Summer by First Aid Kit
I sat in a fast food joint for an hour recently because our wifi was out and it is shocking how many delivery orders I watched get picked up. People are really out there spending $50 on fast food delivery.
In today’s algorithm headaches, three artists Apple Music just won’t stop trying to play for me as a middle aged dad:
1. Fleet Foxes
2. Iron & Wine
3. Bon Iver
People at 80% area median income spend 20% of their monthly budget on cars in the U.S. #cnu31
Spotted a pretty good dust devil at the ball fields.
It’s been too long since I’ve had one of Barb’s burgers at the Polish Hall in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
I keep getting these Uber notifications not related to me ordering a ride. Uber Eats, discounts, etc.
I think it’s a terrible business practice for an app to ask for permission to send notifications for a certain thing (e.g. car arrival) and then abuse that privilege with ads.
@monday In keeping up with the Micro.blog trend, I have just one state left to visit: Alaska
I’ve only been to 6 counties, but my wife and I are planning a trip to Europe next year without our kids. Hopefully the first of many, especially after our huge daycare bill is gone!
My week in review - An Elephant in the Delta Waves https://inthedeltawaves.blog/2023/06/01/spent-a-good.html
Tomorrow is my 8-year work anniversary. Total time warp feeling.
Ended up having so many healthy tomato starts that I gave a half dozen to my neighbors. I have too many pepper plants too, makes me wish I had more space.
Our roses are looking pretty good this year.
I’d like to thank our janky office printer for helping me hit my step count today.
I almost never see replies in my timeline. Are people really that diligent about changing replies to “unlisted”? Is that the culture? Or do I just follow a bunch of people who don’t reply to things?
Years ago, an old coworker taught me to always save those kudos you receive from coworkers, business contacts, and customers, in an email folder.
Whenever I’m having a rough day, I open a few. They’re also pretty useful for annual reviews, or when issues arise with management.
A friend started talking about the old Kmart on State Street in Saginaw. Got me thinking about all kinds of memories, like getting new clothes and those nasty submarine sandwiches at that Kmart with my mom as a kid, being dragged into Fashion Bug or Payless, getting the slightly off-color Cub Scout uniforms from Sears, and of course, stopping into the long-closed Dawn Donuts.
Today I start working on a task I asked someone else to do a year ago.
I need to put a self ban on looking at Zillow listings in the Midwest.
Beautiful day on the Oregon coast.
Remembering my brother today and every day.
And while I’m old-man ranting, have you seen the eye rolls they give you nowadays when you refuse self checkout? While paying for said $7 deodorant?
Has anyone seen the price of deodorant lately, or are we all collectively ignoring that along with everything else? $7 for Old Spice.
Perhaps the biggest difference I’ve noticed between suburbs in the Pacific Northwest versus those in the Midwest is that the PNW has much better landscaping. If you’re going to have parking lots everywhere, you might as well have trees and bushes and berms blocking your sea of parking.
Yesterday was hard to beat.
I almost always feel awkward taking videos on my phone. But I have never regretted having even just a few minutes of a recorded memory to look back on. That’s especially true on weekends such as this when I’m thinking more about my brother. #memorialday
Sick kids again.
All you folks who eat fish and seafood, were you born without tastebuds? I can barely stand the smell let alone put it in my mouth lol.
Mac ‘n cheesin’
An annual zoo membership is the best bargain in town when you have a couple little ones.
Is there no way to mute keywords on #bluesky?
I’ve been thinking about new volunteer opportunities I could do and I think Habitat for Humanity ReStore would be great except for the fact that my garage would be filled with materials for home improvement projects I’d never complete.
I should know better at this point to never wear light colored shirts. My kids are always using me as a napkin.
It’s been a couple years now and you’d think Apple would’ve fixed their weird glitch where the Apple TV remote randomly freezes at least once per day and needs to be restarted.
I had to quit certain social media sites long before a certain dude took over, simply because of hatefulness and politics.
I’ve seen a big uptick in politics on Mastodon lately, which makes me sad. I’ve been using that unfollow button pretty liberally, but maybe I just need to figure out how to block keywords.
An absolutely perfect Portland evening for some back porch lounging.
Sometimes I think it would be cool to have a Jeep or a Bronco to take to the beach. But let’s get real, there ain’t no way I’m taking a carload of kids and a dog anywhere without the van. I’m a convert.
Never thought I’d say this, but I’m ready for my son to be past the Scooby Doo phase. Watching every episode and movie dozens of times is beyond my limit. Time to expand your horizons, boy.
Took a chance on the Grammarly plugin for Outlook. Verdict: the free version is unusable.
Anyone have a decent alternative?
Nothing quite like the feeling of scrimping and making smart choices to put away over 50 grand into retirement since 2021, only to have the balance remain about the same as it was 2 years ago.
Got my tomatoes planted outside yesterday. Really wish I had more space because I only have room for 6 plants or so and I have a lot of good starts left over. I might put a couple in some 5 gallon buckets.
I did get the zucchini and acorn squash out of the raised beds and into mounds this year, which gave me room to experiment with things I don’t typically grow.
Dunno why, but growing stuff is fun.
Had kind of a weird day. Broke the news to my coworkers that I had taken a promotion in a different department, but didn’t feel supported by a few teammates I thought would be happy for me.
Trying to not let my thoughts get the better of me, but it makes me kind of sad. Maybe just another indication that it’s time to move on.
One crazy thing about taking stimulant medication as a person with ADHD is that it paradoxically helps me sleep at night. I used to have to take a sleeping pill just to shut my mind off.
I have neighbors who bought the house two doors down from us over 3 years ago now that I still have never met. This sums up American culture.
I swear, men’s shirt sizes are meaningless anymore. I can wear anything from a large to an XXL, depending on material and brand. I think we need an oversight board or something.
S is away for a few nights for some much needed girls’ time, perhaps the longest she’s ever been away from our kids. She’s probably stressing about them so much she can hardly enjoy herself. I could hear the tenseness in her diaphragm as she spoke when I dropped her off at her friend’s house this morning. Moms, man. Hoping she can unwind and come back refreshed.
PSA: Despite what the athletic and “athleisure” wear industry wants you to believe, underwear made from synthetic fibers is not good for your nether regions. This includes rayon, polyester, and so-called bamboo.
There’s a reason why doctors recommend cotton underwear, and that goes for men as well as women. Contrary to the “wicking” claims made on labels and in marketing materials, synthetic fibers are less breathable and increase risk of yeast and other infections.
I’ve been chewing a bit on the saying: “[don’t take] the path of least resistance.”
Knowing full well that much of life is work and few things are worth a damn without putting in at least some sort of energy toward them, I still have my doubts about focusing on something too much.
I find myself reassessing the dreams and goals that I’ve worked on that have taken more energy than given back. I think sometimes the universe is guiding us, and the work is a major guidepost.
The first rose of the season. The Rose City isn’t just a fancy moniker.
I know whenever my wife says we’ve got to put the kids to bed early it means she’s got some seriously psychotic movie for us to watch. Never fails.
What started off as a trip to the library…
Anyone on Micro Blog run their own Mastodon instance and run into trouble authenticating for cross posting from Micro.blog to Mastodon?
My 4 year old yesterday:
“I’ve had a really hard day mom, I just need to lay in the hammock for awhile.”
Met up with an old friend downtown yesterday. It was nice to get out of my bubble.
Watching Silo on Apple TV+.
It’s every parent and pet owner’s favorite night of the year: the air show. /s
Not really sure why I wear an Apple Watch anymore when it’s just sort of a daily reminder of how out of shape I am.
Just washed my car today. Pollen.
One of the most unfortunate things about public sector urban planning is that we tend to farm out the most creative work to the private sector and then keep the boring and monotonous work for ourselves. Personally, I think we should be doing the opposite.
Still hoping to check out Bluesky if anyone has an extra invite.
We’ve had a couple of car break-ins over the last year. I caught them on the security cameras but the outdoor lights just aren’t bright enough to show enough detail. They are just kids, I think deterrence is the best we can do. Picked up a 15,000 lumen LED floodlight. Maybe this will do the trick.
My wife asks me at least once per week if the shirt I’m wearing is new, even when I’ve owned it for years. This woman watches our checking account with a microscope and thinks I went to Target without her 😂
I wonder about those in my industry who hire people who have bounced around to a new job every 1-2 years. What is it they think will be different this time around?
“Okay daddy, I’ll go to sleep but I’m NOT tired.”
Truth be told, my favorite part of the day is chatting with my son about life through his eyes before he falls asleep.
One sad thing about getting older is that now when I wear a polo on a 90+ degree day, I just look like any frumpy middle aged wanker in a polo on a hot day. Back when I was 20 with a BMI to match, I could make anything look cool.
3 of the ‘best lake towns in the U.S.’ are within driving distance of Portland - Oregonian
Spoiler: there are no real lake towns in Oregon.
Waiting for a haircut today, I decided to grab a quick lunch. With so few choices, I figured I’d give Panda Express a try. I was surprised that they don’t have a single vegetarian option. Puzzling business decision in 2023.
Sometimes I initially feel bad when I’m a few minutes late to my job in the morning. But then when people who don’t have two young children come in after me I just have to laugh.
It’s crazy to me that the only apparent way to circumvent the product-steering happening on Amazon is by doing a Boolean search on Google.
I have a Strava account that I started pre-kids when I was a lot more active and going on lots of hikes. I follow all these really active people and ultra runners.
Now I just hit record when I’m getting the mail or walking the dog. I love flooding their feeds with these B.S. ‘workouts’ ;-).
Got all the yard work done. Got a new-to-us lawn mower from my wife’s coworker who is moving into a condo and no longer needed it. Pretty nice!
Maybe it’s my blue collar midwestern roots, but I’m one of the few in our neighborhood who doesn’t hire out the work. Lawd knows I need the exercise.
Definitely going to have some tomatoes this year.
Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers. Hope you get pampered today.
An awesome day. Got out to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge before it got too hot and hiked a couple miles with some friends and the kids. Stopped off for a beer and some food on the way home. Looking like nap time now that it’s 90°F.
Happy Mother’s Day to my incredible wife. We lucked out.
Off to do a little hike with some friends in Ridgefield, WA. There’s a nature reserve there along the Columbia River that’s flat and easy enough for our 4 year old to walk himself. Our daughter is 1. She can walk some but mostly goes with us in a pack.
I ended up accepting the promotion yesterday and I’m actually pretty excited about it. Initially I was nervous because I have a young family and change can throw life into a tailspin. But more than the money or the extra time off, it was ultimately the more interesting work that swayed me.
I recently switched over 100% of my microblogging from Mastodon to Micro.blog. I thought I would miss seeing reblogged and tagged content. Honestly, I don’t. Previously, it was a lot harder to see content from the people I actually follow. So much less clutter.
In a reflective mood tonight. Just 14 years ago I graduated during the Great Recession and landed in a kitchen making $6.50/hr. What a wild ride it’s been.
Somehow I missed that Michael Hurley is opening for Horse Feathers on Sauvie Island later in the summer. Of course it’s already sold out, because, well…Portland.
Fun fact: I applied for and received a grant a few years back for a 3,200 gallon cistern that collects rainwater from my roof all winter long. There’s a pump inside that I connected to a drip irrigation system and I use it to water my garden all summer long since our summers in the PNW are very dry.
Is it just me, or is SMS spam getting out of control?
I was offered a promotion today in a different department but I’m not sure if I should take it. Several other promotional opportunities within my department just opened up. A big part of me is saying to take the one offered and not wait for something else that may not materialize, but I’m nervous.
Planted my zucchini starts outside last week and I worried it might be too cold for them. Now we’re heading into another weekend in the 90s. Our weather here in Portland can’t figure out what it’s doing.
#pdx #gardening
We had some pictures taken over the weekend and I’m really happy with how they turned out. Jenkins Estate was in full bloom.
One perk of taking the kids to preschool/daycare every morning is that on the way home I occasionally treat myself to a breakfast burrito from one of the many excellent purveyors of Mexican food in my area. Today was one of those days and it did not disappoint!
These clearer, warmer, longer days are everything right now.
Rocking my daughter sleep, listening to some chill music. Looking forward to seeing Lucinda Williams and Big Thief at Edgefield this summer.
Lucinda Williams - Fruits of My Labor🎵
Although the view from inside a car may be perfectly clear, glare obscures us from outside. We know this as pedestrians, but forget it as we wave to them as drivers.
A simple analogy of how our perspectives can be selfish and limited by our current experience, even with knowledge of other views.
I can’t believe I’m raising my kids in a country where, in just a few years, they will be participating in active shooter drills.
I’m still trying to figure out a way to make a decent living abroad. If I could do my education over again, I’d choose a career that is in high demand.
A coworker lost her mother over the weekend. It wasn’t completely unexpected, but that still has to be one of the heaviest feelings we can feel. It’s got me thinking a lot about my own mom and how I wish I didn’t live so far away from her. Time is precious.
Went to the post office today to mail a package to my mom. I’m always struck by just how shabby our public institutions have become. Comparing the architecture of train stations and libraries and post offices today to those from 100 years ago really highlights how our priorities have changed.
We’re training her for the X Games.
We had our friend Alyssa watch our kids for a few hours today so we could have some time to ourselves, something that is so often in short supply.
Went for a nice bike ride in the rain on the Banks-Vernonia Oregon State Trail and followed it up with a beer and some Texas style BBQ brisket at Hop Cycle.
Spring is still being moody but the redbuds are in full bloom.
Four food carts just opened in an underutilized industrial spot within walking distance of my house.
Mexican with excellent birria tacos, Hawaiian-Filipino infusion, Salvadoran, Venezuelan. This is bad. Real bad.
This month marks 8 years since I moved to Oregon, and the same for my work anniversary. Time flies!
Just realized I think I put half and half instead of milk in my daughter’s sippy cup for daycare. Mornings can be chaotic sometimes!
Update: Definitely did. it was so thick that her teacher thought we gave her spoiled milk. Whoops.
I guess our house is the one all the neighborhood kids like to crash.
I have this habit of planting too many veggie starts because I think I’m going to kill them all. But as I’ve gotten better at it, I’m thinking I might need to build more beds.
One of the occupational hazards of being an urban planner is that you’re constantly being critical of the built environment around you.
While out and about, all I think about is access management plans, lack of pedestrian and bicycle facilities, crappy or non-existent transit facilities, single-use buildings in multi-use zones, disappointment in the lack of residential density, Americans’ distaste for residential density, unchecked code violations in wealthy neighborhoods, low quality building materials, huge parking lots, impervious surfaces and flood plains, crappy landscaping, HOAs and restrictive covenants, unsafe routes to school, lack of healthy food options, poor parks and other green spaces, NIMBYs, and on and on.
Sometimes I wish I would’ve gone into something a little more micro, like landscaping or plumbing.
Went down a rabbit hole tonight reading my first blog on Livejournal, the first entries of which turn 20 this year. Thinking about exporting them to my current blog in spite of my embarrassment.
Watching the Tigers on TV and it’s cool to see the Hudson’s tower begin to rise over the outfield. It will be something to see once it hits 700 feet and becomes Detroit’s second tallest building.
Some unusually nice days this week in Portland. Decided to get up early and head over to the Oregon Zoo.
What’s one thing you used to love that you just don’t anymore?
For me, I used to love staying up late and sleeping in on the weekends. But since having kids, I’m pretty exhausted early on. Anxiety still gives me trouble falling asleep sometimes, but my kids wear me out!
Have to applaud Cursive for performing their Domestica album two days in a row at one of Portland’s smallest venues instead of just getting a bigger venue.
90°F in my 2nd level office today. Ashamed to admit I broke down and turned on the air conditioning. A week ago it was ten degrees below average and now it’s like July up in here.
Had a scammer try to buy $600 in nonsense from a pharmacy 2,000 miles away this morning.
Glad I got the email from Instacart saying my address on file had changed, and that I woke up early today. I was able to chat with the shopper and have the account shut down before anything was delivered or charged.
I use complex passwords and don’t click on strange links, so not sure how this happened. Good reminder to shut down old accounts. Passkeys can’t get here soon enough.
Getting back into Duolingo lately and thought I was doing so well that I’d try watching foreign shows on Netflix with the Italian subtitles on. Boy, was that ever optimistic.
It’s a point of pride for me that I treat people with kindness and respect.
However, I get a kick out of proving people wrong who treat me poorly. As a public servant, we get served more than our fair share of angry know-it-all NIMBYs.
#nimby #psa
As a man of above average height, it will never stop being funny to walk into a restroom and see a short man at the tall urinal when the short one was available.
Whenever I’m forced to take the short urinal in this situation, I have to fight the very intense urge to look the man straight in the eye and shake my head while smiling.
Not exactly sure why, but I get some sort of strange gratification pulling up next to Teslas and Mercedes at my kids’ preschool in my paid off 12-year-old Subaru with its bumper hanging off.
Why yes, those are my frozen corn dogs in the office freezer. I am an adult, I swear.
Overheard my kid today while working from home:
“Mom, I need to see if there are any Weird Al costumes so I can use this accordion for Halloween when I’m 5.”
I’m having a difficult time learning Italian possessive adjectives (my, hers, his, theirs, etc.).
I think the hardest part for me is that they’re dependent upon the nouns that come later, so there are so many variations and my mind isn’t fast enough to work them out ahead of time.
Not only do the possessives vary depending on the gender of the noun, they also depend on what letter the noun ends with and whether that noun is plural or not. Mind bending.
Sometimes I like to watch old interviews with musicians.
Often I’m surprised by how different my perception of them is compared to the reality. I’m sure to a large degree that’s an intentional curation, making gods out of men.
I was just 13 when Kurt Cobain died in 1994, so at 27 years old he just looked like a grown ass man to me.
Watching his interviews now, he looked so young and even childish. Not a bad thing, just a reflection on how our perceptions can change as we age.
In addition to our outdoor winter garden, I planted some starts a week and a half ago with my son, who’s 4. I should’ve started earlier, but I’m sure some will work out.
Not sure why, but I’m always amazed when anything grows at all, and I like the vibes I get when they do begin to sprout.
Gardening may be a net negative in terms of financial costs, but a big positive for our physical and mental health, not to mention a great education for our little ones.
Say what you will about how technology has ruined this or that, here’s a list of places where I’ve found my keys or wallet via AirTag or Tile that I might not have otherwise:
Kitchen trash (multiple times), roadside roller trash bin, bottom of my kids’ toy box, bottom of an umbrella stroller while closed and in the back of our van, deep inside the couch, in my tool pouch, at a restaurant.
I’ve been learning Italian and I love how Italians say okay…..like “okayee”.
Got tired of replacing the batteries on my mouse, so I got this thing - not sure if anyone has seen it before - but it’s a WIRED mouse. Plugs right into the computer you are using. Go figure, wonder what they’ll come out with next.
Weeded the second garden bed yesterday, feeling like I got hit by a truck today. Love getting older.
My child (left) having a full on meltdown after watching Super Mario Bros. because the arcade only accepts dollars and dad doesn’t carry cash 😂. Kiddo learned some life lessons today, namely you can’t always get what you want.
My 4 y.o. son kept referring to “goose tape” this past week and I had no idea what he was talking about. Turns out he meant duct tape all along. Kids!
Finally getting my garden into some sort of shape. Weeded this box, added some compost, soil amendments, etc. One down, one to go.
Also put a band-aid fix on the broken corner (bottom left). Last year a moving truck backed into my driveway and smashed the corner. Caught the whole thing on camera.
Feeling behind this year but it’s been so cold and rainy.
A mural I spotted in New York last week.
#nyc #streetphotography #mural #einstein #cycling #love #photography #peace #love
Had such a wonderful time in New York. Can’t wait to go back. #nyc
What a great city. #philly
“And did you know the Liberty Bell is a replica
Silently housed in its original walls
And while its dreams played music in the night, quietly
It was told to believe”
— Mitski
Jeff Bridges is 73. Not sure why that surprises me, but it does.
I don’t think I can forgive Polar Seltzer for switching form 12 packs to 8 packs and keeping the same price. Shrinkflation at its finest.
West coast consumer price index is up 15% since January 2021, yet my place of work decided to reduce their cost of living adjustments, so we’re doing the same jobs for about 7% less pay than we were two years ago. They’re eliminating some positions that had remained unfilled due to budgetary reasons, so some folks will continue doing multiple jobs for less pay.
I wonder what the growth impact will be in the long term.
Realized today that between quitting smoking a little over 6 years ago, and not having a car payment for over 4, I’ve been able to save an additional 40 grand toward retirement.
We’re starting to think about our plans for Portugal and Italy next year with the ultimate goal of scouting out some potential places to live for something of a sabbatical. Beginning to believe it’s possible.
Today was one of those days where all of my next steps on a project are awaiting other people to finish theirs. Happens too often. So I threw on my headphones, caught up on some Italian language podcasts, and mindlessly did some spreadsheet work. I’m unfulfilled and want a new career but don’t want to put in the effort it would take to make a change at this point in my life.
It’s 2023 and I still have male coworkers whom only ever talk about sports when interacting with others on topics unrelated to work. Honestly hadn’t heard this one guy’s voice in months until March Madness began.
Two shower thoughts tonight:
1) I have an absolutely awful memory for celebrity names and I don’t watch sports. Don’t invite me to trivia.
2) Isn’t the Buddhist belief in rebirth just a desire, given that we’re all just talking viruses with consciousness, biding our time until we’re space dust again, man?
Life would be a whole lot more entertaining if we could comment on Zillow and Redfin listings.
You ever realize someone is still alive that you thought left this world a long time ago? Noam Chomsky is like 94 years old.
More often than not anymore, I find myself foregoing bringing my mirrorless camera due to the convenience of just having a phone in my pocket.
There was a long time where the cameras in iPhones were so bad that it was an obvious choice to lug along my camera. But I think I might be over it.
I wonder how much of the day-to-day grind famous and wealthy people do for themselves. Like do they even make a sandwich for themselves when they’re hungry or pick up after themselves?
Started taking a new ADHD med again, which means I have slept a total of about 2 hours the last 3 nights. Back in the day, I could take a nap on Dex. Not anymore. #Today was pretty rough being extremely focused but absolutely exhausted. Wife had a meeting after work and happy hour with coworkers so getting the kids fed and keeping them entertaining was more difficult than normal. Hoping things level out.
Just asked ChatGPT to rewrite Paradise City in iambic pentameter. I’ve never been so impressively underwhelmed in my life.
Really would love to have an activity tracker that fits completely hidden below a regular wristwatch. Why is this not a thing yet?
One hazard of taking stimulants for ADHD is that I’ll sometimes get sucked very deeply into podcasts directed at trades or occupations that I have absolutely no business listening to at all. I’m an hour and a half into an interview with a drug chemist who invented Vyvanse and I think I understand every other sentence.
Until recently, I’d always thought that the question “what is the meaning of life?” was used solely as a rhetorical device to convey the shared existential dilemma of humanity, and the challenges of finding one’s true purpose in life. It hadn’t even occurred to me that it might also be asking why life exists at all.
Witnessing a conversation unfold online about how more men need to support women’s college sports. But with 60% of college students now women, I don’t think men are the primary demographic they need to be targeting for more support.
Had an architect friend recently crap on neo-traditional home designs, calling them pastiche. This is why I don’t have many friends who are architects.
Hillsboro has nice stuff. Spent the morning and early afternoon swimming at Shute, played at the park, and picked up a big bag of books and movies at the library.
Finished modding my Jazzmaster a few weeks ago, so I was on the lookout for my next project. I have always wanted a double bound Telecaster but didn’t want to break the bank, so I picked up a Squier Classic Vibe. It’ll be fun swapping everything out and making it mine. First thing will be compensated brass saddles. #fender #telecaster #guitar
Quite a few years ago now I used to listen to the Minimalists podcast, but stopped when they started giving financial advice. The two most egregious tips they gave? 1) Pay off your student debt as quickly as possible, and 2) don’t take out a mortgage for a house unless you can put 50% down and pay it off in 7 years.
So here I am, several years later, with $107k forgiven in student debt last year, and a sub 3% mortgage, paying almost half for my house as it would cost to rent something similar.
Someone please make this winter stop.
You know the old saying, “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”? I have a new perspective on it.
There was a time when I felt stupid around certain people because I rarely knew what they were talking about. Names, events, cultural references, etc.
Turns out the people I was with were just domineering and self-centered. If you’re not allowed to speak, you can’t talk about the things you know and enjoy. Solution: find better people.
Back home in Portland after a week in San Diego. We rented an amazing mid-century modern ranch in Point Loma (Zestimate $1.9M). Now we’re back in the dreary PNW weather.
Took a peek at jobs and housing in SD, just for fun. Cannot comprehend how people can even afford a starter home there when the pay is nowhere close to commensurate. Jobs in my field pay about the same as in PDX but housing is almost 40% more. It’s got to be one of the most expensive cities relative to income in the U.S.
#Today was a good day.
A few years back, I hadn’t even heard of Dave’s Killer Bread. And now that it’s ubiquitous, I have no idea what the fuss was about. The white bread is like cardboard, the Good Seed bread is tasteless, and the bagels are just awful. Was the hype just about its name?
Picked up tickets to see Lucinda Williams and Big Thief at Edgefield this summer. Can’t wait!
I’m starting to get the hang of this planning ahead thing. Everything sells out so fast these days.
We’re flying out of PDX on Wednesday to meet my Michigander parents for a week long vacation in San Diego.
Figures that the week we chose and planned for months ago ends up being the same week Southern California gets record snow and colder weather. Detroit will actually be warmer than SD on Wednesday.
One of the more embarrassing things for me about getting older is finally “understanding” something someone tried to introduce me to long ago, only to brush it off for years. I’ve gotten into so many musicians much later in life than I should have simply because I wasn’t ready for them.
Sometimes, when I start to get sad toward the end of winter, I just pull up driving tours on YouTube of the cities where I lived while in Michigan for 34 years, and suddenly I’m cured. #pnw #pdx #puremichigan #saginaw #lansing
Just helped my neighbor, who is a Spaniard, chain up his car to go retrieve his stranded girlfriend, somewhere on 405 near PSU. Man, that is about as close to a Hail Mary as I’ve ever thrown. Guess I’ll know sometime tomorrow how it all turned out. #pdx
Thinking back to my first sociology class at University of Michigan in 1999. It was a social stratification lecture and my professor asked every single student on the first day what suburb of Detroit we lived in, and he proceeded to rank our social status based on that. Of course it played into the subject matter, but what a wild experience that stuck with each of us the remainder of the semester. Felt real bad for the girl from Melvindale. #umich #socialscience #sociology
Yesterday I thought I lost one of my favorite pocket knives. I looked all over for it, retracing my steps. Turns out it got hooked on a drawstring on a rain jacket I tried on at REI. Can’t believe I even recovered it.
My photos app reminded me I saw Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at the Loving Touch in Ferndale 9 years ago today. Man I miss that place! I saw so many shows there in the early 2010s and you could get so close to the musicians. Iâd like to start seeing shows again, just need to pin down a solid babysitter! #stephenmalkmus #thelovingtouch
I swear, anytime I’m anywhere near Scappoose, some redneck shit happens.
Watched the Unsolved Mysteries episode tonight about the UFO sitings by over 300 people in Michigan in 1994 and realized I witnessed the same thing. Wild.
Just saw a lifted Prius with mudders in Washington.
My dog will eat fossilized cat poop out of a flower bed but won’t touch a pretzel to save her own life.
Ford Motor Company not making the Ranger look more like a Bronco was a failure of epic proportions. Can’t believe the current model made it to production.
Drove up to Bonny Slope in the western suburbs of Portland today. Had a hearing on a property located in the area last night so I wanted to go see it for myself. The houses were enormous and the views from the hills were splendid. Must be nice!
As someone who went into 6 figures of student debt to get a graduate degree just to allow me to get an entry level job in my field, I believe we need to fix this system.
Not only do I believe we need widespread student debt forgiveness, we need to stop kidding ourselves about the true value of higher ed.
Most jobs besides those with the highest standards for licensure are completely trainable. Higher ed has turned into gatekeeping a middle class life, which we all should have access to.
I used to think I was either very good at washing my hands to avoid illness, or that I had an incredible immune system.
Having two kids in daycare quickly disabused me of those delusions.
I’ve had cold symptoms from RSV for going on 3 weeks now. Someone please make it stop. #parenting #children #rsv
Environmental psychology is the study of how the natural and built environments shape us as individuals.
I find it fascinating that much of the real world implementation of this field’s findings has been used to influence customer decisions within the context of retail shopping.
I see the planning field use some similar concepts when talking about “placemaking,” but I don’t feel like this is very fleshed out. I think EP needs more recognition in planning. #urbanism #urbanplanning
Today I was thinking back to some conversations I had with my grandmother before she died.
I was trying to get some info from her to finalize my Italian citizenship paperwork. She was hesitant to help me because she thought Italy was way too liberal. She made me promise that I wouldn’t move there before she gave me what I needed.
Sadly her medical care nearly bankrupted her at the end, something she wouldn’t have had to worry about had she lived in Italy. Stockholm syndrome comes to mind.
People sometimes seem like dogs in that we will gang up on a weak member of the pack. Even my normally chill Goldendoodle will join in on the hazing of a weak dog at the park if left alone.
I’ve noticed humans are equally dark, often rooting for people with the quickest wit over the biggest heart, snark contrarianism over thoughtfulness. It is very hard to see the good in humanity sometimes.
Two settings iOS Safari still needs in 2023: 1) auto deny all but necessary cookies; and 2) block the automatic playback of all embedded videos.
Although not quite on the same level as Salt & Straw’s Berry Slab Pie ice cream flavor, I just dug into some Tillamook Marionberry Pie ice cream and it’s pretty dang good. And you don’t even have to wait 12 months or in a line around the block just to try some. #pdx
Always throws me off whenever I see anyone over 30 wearing children’s mall brands like American Eagle, Hollister, A&F etc.
As much as I like Apple, I enjoy Google News’ content suggestions better than Apple News.
Still, Google Amp web pages are annoying and I really dislike all the ads everywhere. My workaround.
I ended up deleting the Google News app altogether in favor of just bookmarking it in Safari. Then I downloaded a Safari extension to redirect all Amp pages to their real pages. I then setup Reader Mode in Safari to automatically open when visiting dozens of news sources. Finally a decent experience!
Keep seeing these videos of people being recovered from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. It’s all emotional, but the videos of parents found covering their children make me weep. Looking for the helpers, the humanity.
Just realizing I can mute people I don’t even follow. What a blessing!
Dunno if I’m just a jaded planner these days, but even being in the line of work that I’m in, nothing is quite as cringe as when I see people posting self-righteously about urban living.
I noticed that Warby Parker sells readers. Are people really spending a hundred bucks on the glasses you can get for $3 in the checkout lane?
Nice and sunny PNW day. Had to hit the food cart pod near my house for a beer and some grub. #today
Tried out #ivory and #mammoth the last couple months but I’m loving the #icecubes iOS client the most.
One thing that’s huge for me is that the entire person’s @ is always visible, allowing you to see from where a post originated. Also just a clean and thoughtful implementation with plenty of customization without being overwhelming. I especially like the drop down menu at top to change feeds, and ability to follow other instances.
Maybe I’m weird, but I think Raisin Bran as a nighttime snack is underrated.
Our grocery loader had a ulilikilt this morning. First time seeing one in the wild. I don’t blame them, either.
“In an odd twist, Astoria Chief of Police Stacy Kelly tells KOIN 6 News that the man, identified as Jericho Labonte, was the same person who left a dead fish on the porch of the Goonies House. Read more in the link above.” https://www.koin.com/local/oregon-coast/massive-wave-wipes-out-boat-as-coast-guard-attempts-rescue-at-mouth-of-columbia-river/
My wife and I have read 3 to 5 books per night to our son since he was about 18 months old. Every single night for 2.5 years. So it’s pretty safe to say we’re kind of experts on children’s books at this point. By FAR the absolute lowest effort books are the Hot Wheels ones. Can’t even believe this garbage was published.
I don’t eat Taco Bell very often, but when I do, you can bet it’s because there’s one located in the Home Depot parking lot.
One of my favorite lyrics of all time:
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band. I told him, ‘Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime.'
“I’m Losing My Edge” by LCD Soundsystem
TriMet is inviting local artists (#pdx) to submit their qualifications to design a full-color digital image(s) for printing on vinyl to be applied on a bus in recognition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI+) Pride Month bus wrap design. Selected artist will be paid up to $4,000. #artist #pride #LGBTQI Link to the app: https://trimet.org/callforartists/BusMuralWrap-LGBTQI-RFQ.pdf
If it weren’t for bills and the occasional email from long lost friends, I’d probably just get rid of e-mail altogether.
Are there folks out there who actually leave their email notifications ON? Given that the vast majority of stuff that hits my inbox is garbage, I just have Gmail mark everything as read the moment it arrives. If it’s important, I’ll find it.
It’s strange that I’m in my early 40s and I still have to pretty regularly remind people that I’m in fact a Millennial. It’s like a lot of people older than me have solidified in their minds the image of a Millennial as a snot-nosed 20 something with unrealistic expectations, content on shaking up the workplace. A lot of us are jaded old curmudgeons too now who just want to be left alone. Oh, and get off my lawn.
Closing in on 8 years in this town and the only lasting friendships I’ve made are a couple of prior coworkers I see once or twice a year. Men are weird and male loneliness is an epidemic. #pdx
"You're living this very bare, stripped down life, and you're with your thoughts, and you're hearing about terrible things and it's really scary," she says,…'why do I live a thousand miles away from my parents? Why have I chosen to work so hard that actually I'm not sure I really like my job; but I know I really love my kids, and I don't really think I want to work this way anymore.'" https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2023/01/31/1152162432/how-the-pandemic-changed-the-rules-of-personal-finance
It’s sad to click on the Wikipedia page of an artist you’ve just discovered, only to have the first verb be in the past tense. Was…
Sometimes I think about all of the incredible music created in the 80s and how I managed to be born into a family of hair metal fans. A profoundly unfortunate comedy if you ask me.
Hate to see the economy suffer, but man, I hope home prices fall as a result of all these cuts. Quite frankly I’m shocked we haven’t seen a more dramatic correction yet. https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2023/02/intel-slashes-wages-bonuses-after-disastrous-quarterly-results.html
Not sure when middle age officially begins, but for me I think it started with refusing self checkout.
Sure, the comment sections are bad. But what gets me is that each of those comments represent a real human who is generally afraid to say those things out loud, but whom nevertheless still walk this earth with that junk seething inside of them. That’s the type of shit that keeps me up at night.
Not gonna name names, but imagine being the kind of celebrity who is only known to anyone because of the greatness of a relative. Just coasting through life, living off their estate, and living in the shadow of their deceased family member’s talents. What an utterly strange dimension of this world that must be.
It’s wild that I went so many years thinking Portland didn’t have any decent radio stations simply because PRP’s signal is so weak. Thankful for the internet broadcast, but if any station needs a larger coverage area, it’s that one. Discover something new almost every day. I missed radio. Maybe someday I’ll submit some of my own music. #prp #pdx #portland #musicians #pnw #radio
Why yes, those are my Totino’s pizza rolls in the office freezer.
23° in Portland this a.m. This kind of weather gets west coasters acting all sorts of weird. Even though it’s supposed to be clear all day, I bet I’ll see some tipped up windshield wipers somewhere today.
Even as we approach our 5 year anniversary, my heart still sometimes skips a beat.
Did you know you can look up where you milk comes from with the code on the carton? I was curious where our Trader Joe’s organic milk came from. Turns out it’s Alpenrose. #pdx https://whereismymilkfrom.com/
Why I’ll never move to the country again. “Opinion | Can Anything Be Done to Assuage Rural Rage?” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/opinion/rural-voters-economy.html
I guess Mr. Bungle is on tour. Everyone used to talk about the feud between Mike Patton and Anthony Kiedis, but no one talks about how Incubus ripped off some of Mike’s sound.
Looking at real estate in #Texas just for fun. As a Portlander, the housing there is cheaaaaap. This must be what Californians feel like looking at real estate literally anywhere other than CA. #pdx
Being a parent has forced me to reevaluate so much of my own upbringing, in ways I don’t think I ever could have without kids. Every single day I think: “damn, how did my parents do it?” But also: “what in the actual f$&k were they thinking?!”
Don’t really understand the explosive growth of cordless power tools the last couple of decades. Y’all don’t have outlets at your house?
People today:
“Something is just off about society after COVID. Can’t place my finger on it.”
Also people today: “I would rather die a fiery death than go back into the office and have to interact with people and support local businesses.”
Someone is blasting Coheed & Cambria on the train like it’s 2003. #pdx
Google and #umich are taking away my unlimited cloud storage for alumni. This, after 10 years of me uploading all of my photos and videos from every device I’ve owned since. Gonna be fun offloading several hundred gigs and figuring out another solution. Most likely their plan all along. #Plex mobile photos app, where are you when I need you?
Any #hamradio operators in western Oregon? Just getting into #shortwave and was hoping to pick up on some single side band but haven’t had any luck yet.
One day the world will see plank flooring like we now view linoleum over hardwood. Can’t stand it, especially in gray.
My boy turns 4 this week, so we had a birthday party for him today. So proud of this kid.
Shake Shack really be like “Hey, go ahead and put in your own to-go order. That’ll be $50, how much would you like to tip?”
Single-use plastic is awful, but we have got to figure out a middle ground between paper and metal straws.
Snowing in #pdx. Full on wtf this a.m.
Why do refried beans smell exactly like wet dog food?
Wow, guess I’m done using #ivory. That was short lived.
In 5th grade, me and my classmates in Midland, Michigan were each assigned a state and were tasked with writing letters to their tourism departments requesting information. I got California and I remember clearly that they just sent me a huge envelope of brochures for out-of-the-way places. Still thinking about checking you out someday, Pismo Beach. Someday. #california #ca
Finally made it into the Chef Store for the first time and my eyes are at long last awakened to life’s glories.
Habitat ReStore will always be my happy place.
Will never understand people who do Zoom meetings and work calls at coffee shops. That should be a punishable offense. #RemoteWork
One positive about today is that I almost never see anyone smoking anymore. Maybe it’s just an Oregon thing, but when I do see someone light up, I do a double take because it’s so out of place.
When I was about 12, my parents took me and my two brothers to Niagara Falls. The cigarettes in Canada were quite a bit more expensive than in the U.S., so we drove over to Buffalo so they could buy a carton. It took me years to realize I hadn’t gone to New York City!
I dunno if the title of this article made me feel better or worse: “A 5 p.m. sunset is just around the corner for Portland” #pdx https://www.koin.com/weather/a-5-p-m-sunset-is-just-around-the-corner-for-portland/
Booked 4 nights at one of the last remaining campsites on the southern Oregon coast for middle of July. Nothing like having to plan 6 months out to sleep on the ground. #oregon #camping #hiking #parks #pnw
Followed one conservative on the bird site this morning and within 10 seconds I saw a promoted tweet that was just the tailgate of a truck with the words “F#%^ Joe Biden and F%#^ You for Voting for Him”.
Every day while I’m standing at my standing desk.
#applewatch #apple
Sometimes I have a really hard time not thinking that the entire hiring process for men is really just panelists thinking:
“Wow, he’s tall. He must know what he’s talking about. We should hire/promote him.”
I know, I’m jaded.
“But one problem with pinning everything on Elon is that it leaves open the possibility that maybe Twitter would be fine if the company was led by a different CEO who continued the Twitter API status quo. I don’t think so. Twitter wasn’t going to last forever because massive ad-based silos will always be at odds with the open web. Twitter’s recent implosion greatly accelerated what would need to happen regardless.” https://www.manton.org/2023/01/17/more-brief-thoughts.html
Do I have to use my employer-sponsored FSA administrator? I get that it’s pre-tax deductions from my paycheck, but this just seems strange that I don’t have a choice. Honestly I don’t like my retirement savings administrators either.
Last night I found this photo from 1986 in my grandmother’s belongings. It’s of me and my brother. I’d never seen it before.
Everyone always says how much my son looks like my wife, so I was blown away by how much I look like him here. I was just a little bit older than he is now.
My dad left us when I was two. I feel so bad for him that he missed out on what it’s like to be a father to such an exceptional little human.
Now that the Big Bang Theory is drawing greater scrutiny as observations from the James Webb Space Telescope come in, what are some of the plausible alternatives? #astronomy #cosmology #bigbang #space #universe #jwst #nasa
I imagine for most people, watching video walking tours on YouTube is about as interesting as watching paint dry. But as a planner, they are pretty zen sometimes. #urbanist
I wish there was a wearable activity tracker that looked more like the old Jawbones. So tired of having digital watches on my arm. I just want to wear a classic timepiece and a bracelet with no screen.
I don’t know that I’ll ever fully adjust to the fact that you’ve gotta reserve campsites 6 months ahead in Oregon. You just gotta chance a random weekend and hope other plans don’t come up, or better luck next year.
“I just feel like there must had been a time when the world had more...you know? Like mystery or something and now you come somewhere like this and it's beautiful and you take a picture and then you realize that everybody is taking that exact same picture from that exact same spot, you just made some redundant content for stupid Instagram and you can't even get lost anymore cause you can find yourself on Google Maps.” 2/2 #thewhitelotus
Finished The White Lotus on HBO last night. Surprisingly, it sucked me in and held my attention to the end.
As much hate as I’m now seeing online about her, I loved the Portia character. One quote in particular caught me right in the feels. 1/2
52° and partly sunny. We’ll take it for January in Portland. #pdx
Really trying to reign in my gear acquisition syndrome (GAS), but heck if I don’t want a Fender Princeton Reverb Tone Master #fender #amplifiers
Power went out last night, so I woke up trying to suck air through a CPAP hose that wasn’t providing me with air. The whole house got bad sleep because of it. I would be married with kids without my sleep machine, true story.
Hanging out with my daughter on this #mlk day.
4yo getting out of the tub:
“Dad, can you unwet me?”
“You mean dry you?”
“Yeah, dry me!”
My household also pays double our mortgage on childcare every month.
No village here, can verify. “It takes a village to raise children. Millennial moms say 'there is no village.'” https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-moms-tiktok-parenting-trends-it-takes-village-raise-children-2023-1
At the guitar shop and a teenager is playing Spoon Man by Soundgarden on an SG. I was a teenager when that song came out and remember jamming to that in my bedroom and with friends. The kids are alright 😂
How are there no Dr. Z amplifier dealers in Oregon? #guitar #guitaramps #oregon
Got my locked and dead car opened up and the battery on a charger. Battery had died last weekend bc my 4 year old turned on a dome light and I hadn’t needed the car so I just left it.
Key slot was jammed up, too, because I never use it. But lots of silicon lubricant later, I’m in.
Felt like a thief in my hoodie in the pouring rain trying to break into my own car! Heh
My first disappointment with #ivory is that there’s no filter for media on profile pages. One of my favorite features of the official Mastodon app.
I’m having one of those very rare days where my wife is away with both kids but I’m having trouble getting motivated to do anything because it’s raining pretty good and I’m just soaking up the silence.
Is there anyone whose voice you heard for the first time just absolutely threw you? For me, it was Jimmy Page, guitarist for Led Zeppelin. I dunno what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that.
Waiting on that unlikely phone call after 2 interviews for a job I was actually excited about. I was supposed to know something by today. Trying not to continuously refresh my inbox for a rejection letter.
Skincare is not really a topic I’m accustomed to talking about as a dude, but I’ll be damned if my new moisturizer isn’t revealing more supple, radiant skin. Glycolic acid is the real deal. 😂
My car’s battery has been dead since Monday, likely because my son left the dome light on. On the one hand, feeling kinda lazy that I haven’t jumped it in a week. On the other hand, thankful that my current work/life situation is such that I don’t really need it very often.
I still have and occasionally use a couple of #MiniDisc recorders, strangely enough.
Mostly nostalgia, but they’re great for teaching my kid about physical media and forcing myself to listen to entire albums.
There is a small but passionate community of users, too. Someone even developed a browser app to get music onto NetMD recorders without the need for Sony software. It’s awesome.
Me opening #ivory for the first time:
“My god, why is the text so large? Oh…that’s my system setting.”
*laughs in needs reading glasses*
Short introduction for #FollowFriday. Living in #Portland the last 8 years. Originally from #Michigan, working in the #communitydevelopment space in #Detroit primarily.
#Parenting 2 children under 4.
Playing #guitar, but #anxiety never allowed me to perform comfortably. See also: #adhd.
#UrbanPlanner by day. Enjoy learning about #geography and looking at #maps.
Frequent #pnw #hiking. Trying to find a way to afford to parlay my #italian #citizenship into a sabbatical with my family.
I think I’ve reached my quota for # of software developers I follow. Now accepting for social workers, librarians, astrophysicists, and urban planners.
Well this is fun. Full list of license plates rejected by the Oregon DMV in 2022 https://www.koin.com/news/oregon/read-full-list-of-license-plates-rejected-by-the-oregon-dmv-in-2022/ #pdx #portland #oregon #dmv
Just made the mistake of putting on HBO’s Velma for my 4-year-old Scooby-Doo addict. Pretty sure he now knows the word “bitch” from the opening monologue. #today
Can any Galaxy/Android users help me understand why, when I text short videos to my parents from my iPhone, the videos are tiny and super pixelated? Seems like this didn’t happen with friends who had Android. They’re on an unlimited data plan so this isn’t a concern. I understand the current war between iMessage and RCS, green and blue bubbles, etc., but is this the reason or is this a possible setting on their phones? #android #sms #messenger #rcs
Alaska is the last of the 50 states I need to visit. Hard to fit that one in for a weekender, though. At least in any meaningful way.
I hope the Matter standard someday supports security cameras. Would be nice to not have to cobble together my own system with Scrypted, HomeBridge, Starling Home Hub, etc. It was nothing short of heroics for a non-tech guy like me to get my old Nest products to work with HomeKit Secure Video. #homekit #matter #iot #homeautomation
You know a site has problems when they still have links to Google+
I wish Redfin took better care of Walkscore.com after buying it. I remember being so excited about the idea 10 years ago. Not only does it look like the site has never been updated, I’m told the data is only updated every 6 months. It seems much staler than that in my area. #walkscore #walkability #realestate #planning #housing #urbanism #redfin
My 3100 gallon rain cistern is finally full as of this week. Last year it was full by the end of October, but we had a drier start start to the season this year. I use this water all summer long to water my 3 raises beds.
It’s been such a joy to watch you grow, witness your wobbly first steps, listen to your frequent giggling, and just take pleasure in seeing you as a happy, fun, and playful baby. Feeling all around pretty lucky to be your dad. Happy first birthday to our Annie.
The turnaround I’ve seen in Portland since moving here in 2015 is pretty dramatic. https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2023/01/portlands-101-homicides-in-2022-set-new-record-at-some-point-we-have-to-be-tired-of-burying-our-children.html
As I cooked dinner tonight, I was struck by the fact that I have almost no memories of my dad cooking dinner growing up. Unless it was fish or on the grill, it just never happened. Mom also packed his lunch every single day. My how things have changed.
Truly wondering if half my coworkers are using mouse jigglers today. #wfh
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but it’s the merging party’s responsibility to slow down or speed up when entering the freeway.
I like how we all just collectively ignore the fact that yoga studio ‘new student specials’ are predatory because it makes us feel good to have a 5-class pack we know we’re not going to use in the next 3 months.
One great thing about living in an oceanic climate: growing food year-round. Just pulled these out of my raised beds.
Dentistry feels like such a racket at times. My 70-something-year-old ex dentist said I definitely needed a crown on a tooth that had been giving me trouble. Said there was a crack that couldn’t be seen. Seemed extreme to me, so I fired the guy and had it fixed by someone else for a thousand dollars less. Havent had any problems with it since. Glad I got a second opinion.
I was never able to get Portland Radio Project to come in over the air on my car stereo or at home, so it’s nice to be able steam it in Apple Music now. Just wish there was support for displaying what song is currently playing from within the Music app. #pdx #portland #radio
There’s a guy in CA with the same name as me who keeps trying to use my Gmail account as an alias for another email address. I also keep getting receipts from his business expenses, and I’ve even received some legal documents from his attorney a couple times. I’ve emailed the guy several times now and he just doesn’t respond. Boomers!
My car is seemingly getting close to its last leg and wouldn’t start this morning. My wife and I are considering just creating a ride-hailing budget instead of getting a new second car. Was looking at EVs but to get into anything new would be at least a $500/mo payment not including electricity, insurance, and maintenance. That’s a lot of Lyft rides.
Sometimes when I’m milling about Metro #Portland I think about how shoddy some of the suburban construction is and imagine how absolutely fucked we’d be if we had some big employers evaporate like Detroit did a few decades ago (ahem, #intel *cough*). At least a lot of the building stock in #Detroit was made of super high quality materials. The amount of T-111 sided 1980s boom-time tract housing in the #pdx area is wild, and it would be absolutely eviscerated.
We’ve been looking at real estate a little bit. I don’t understand how people afford Multnomah County property taxes. It’s gotta be one of the highest property tax burdens in the country. In some cases, the monthly property tax payment would be as high as our PITI in Washington County. #pdx #realestate
Every morning is like a game of whack-a-mole trying to make the phone notifications go away. I especially hate having unread emails. Lately I’ve been thinking maybe I’ll just have them marked as read the moment they hit the inbox.
A little over a month until I’m 42, which happens to be how old Elvis was when he died. I just watched him perform Unchained Melody live in Rapid City in 1977 on YouTube, and damn, he was looking pretty rough. I guess I do too, if I’m being honest with myself.
Looking back at my science classes growing up, so much stuff was taught like religion. Recently even the Big Bang is being called into question. I think we need to be more careful about how we teach sciences. No wonder people are skeptical of things like vaccines.
If the condition in which our post offices currently exist is any indication as to the health of our nation…
Was thinking today that by the time my mom was my age (41), she already had one kid in college, another was a soldier at war in Iraq, and a third kid with their driver’s license.
At Kaiser Permanente in Beaverton bc my kid cut the webbing on his thumb with a tape measure. Already been here an hour and they say it’s going to be 2 more hours before he can see a doctor and maybe get stitches. I feel like this location, despite being newish, is way too small to serve this area. #pdx #parenthood
Was having a conversation with some coworkers and they said that their kids, who are adults, can’t read cursive because they were never taught it in school. Also learned that a younger coworker has trouble with it, too. I’m blown away that apparently this is really common.
At this point of the winter, I’m just looking forward to the middle of March when sun sets after 7 p.m.
My 4-year-old: “Zoey just said ‘uh-oh’!
“What? Dogs can’t talk dude!”
“Yes she can! I heard her say ‘uh-oh’ in dog Spanish!”
#spanish #dogs #kids
Detroit is truly one of the greatest cities in the U.S. Living in the PNW the last 8 years, I miss it. I miss the people, the architecture, the food, the music venues, the vibe. #detroit #cities
If I had a Time Machine, I’d go back to the 60s and early 70s and fill it with pre-CBS Fender Princeton Reverb amps. Absolutely obscene what these little 12W fart machines are going for these days. 🎸 #guitar #guitaramps
Speaking of movies, the first one I ever saw in theaters was The Boy Who Could Fly, in 1986 while I was in kindergarten. My mom took me to the Court Theater in Saginaw, Michigan. Hadn’t watched it since, so I’m watching it now.
As a guitarist, the most disappointing part about watching Wayne’s World is when Wayne picks up the Stratocaster and is denied playing Stairway to Heaven…despite not even coming close to actually playing Stairway to Heaven.
Took my 4-year-old to the taco truck tonight. Kid was bugging me about it all week. Definitely my child :)
New Outlook out of office reply:
Sorry I missed your message. My wife is on another Every Plate kick and currently we’re on week 3 of overly involved home cooked meals. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I’m now taking PTO starting at 3 so I can leave work early enough to make sure dinner is ready before bedtime. Thanks for your understanding and happy new year.
Wife is on an Every Plate kick again (like Hello Fresh), and currently we’re on week 3. Someone please just put me out of my misery, double tap to the back of the head. Nothing like having to leave work early just to make sure dinner is ready before the kids’ bedtimes. Think my clients will understand if I use an Outlook out of office reply?
Neat little detail in the #mammoth client.
How do some tech jobs get away with using #architect in their title? I remember some dude who was calling himself an engineer got the smack down from Oregon’s licensure board.
Anyone thinking about going to the APA conference in Philadelphia this year? I’m interested in going, mostly because I’ve never been to Philly before and I like the project related conference tours, but I’m also kinda scared to ask if we have the budget for cross-country travel. Someone give me a marketable excuse :) #urbanplanning #architects #urbanplanners #urbanism #cities #philadelphia #npc23
Got a flu shot and a Covid booster today, one in each arm. 5 hours later, still no ill effects. Hoping I don’t wake up tomorrow with chills or body aches.
I understand hashtags don’t work on M.b but what I don’t understand is why they don’t work when a post that contains them is syndicated elsewhere.
Wish they made the Nissan Leaf in an AWD format. Front end is ugly but I can live with that. Too much trauma from upper Midwest winters to not have AWD though.
Watched White Noise on Netflix last night. Sort of a strange one, but I ended up googling one of the songs being played by a couple in the movie, Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips - The Cloud is Coming - music.apple.com/us/album/…
On a forum I follow, someone posted the ranking of large metros by urban density based on recently released ACS data. Portland was #10. Top 10 are as follows:
Finished reading: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Emil Frankl 📚
Quick outing today to shake off the lethargy, and Annie’s first hike as a walker!
Not sure how I ended up following mostly programmers, maybe they’re overrepresented on the indie web?
Sometimes I look at professional musicians who have small children and just wonder “how?”
My wife made the mistake of telling me the song to which she lost her virginity. There’s no limit to the fun you can have with this info. Having her parents over for dinner? Play the song! Celebrating Mother’s Day? Pregnancy photos set to the tune of the song!
I’ve noticed that the cuter my 1-year-old daughter gets, the more people say she looks like my wife. Not sure how I should feel about this given that when she was a bald headed roly poly she was apparently my twin.
Fun fact: my dog will eat almost anything but will not eat a pretzel if her life depended on it. Makes me seriously question whether I should eat them!
I ended up leaving the Urbanists.Social Mastodon instance. Even though I’m an urban planner by professions and a vocal advocate for transit, complete streets, etc., it’s completely overrun by cyclists.
Not sure where they get their artillery, but Aloha, OR sounds like a war torn country. Happy new year.
Wondering if I’ve got kidney stones or if it’s just gas 😳
Anyone have any good podcast recommendations that talk about guitar gear, particularly about the history and specs of electric guitars and amps, old and new? Hoping for podcasts specifically to listen while doing other things, not YouTube. 🎸 #guitar #podcasts
Not that I would ever even consider buying a Tesla, but I used to at least think they looked kind of cool, like 5 years ago. But lately I’ve been thinking they just look so dated in their design. KIA’s recent offerings look a lot better to me.
My first guitar (1995). Japanese made Lotus strat. My mom’s taste in home decor was also chef’s kiss. 🎸
Wife just realized her paychecks haven’t included the raise she got back in September. And this is why I handle the finances folks.
Tried watching His Dark Materials last night with Shar and was absolutely bored out of my mind. Having a dry spell with shows capturing my interest.
Do we know how large the Micro.blog community is?
Conversation with my 3-year-old son:
“Dad, can we get a lollipop after my shot?”
“Yeah, we can stop at 7-Eleven afterwords”
“Is 7-Eleven a name because I thought that was when they were open?”
Several times now, I’ve written and posted updates with Gluon and the posts have just disappeared into the ether, never to be seen again.
People can be so small, lying for personal gain. I had a falling out with a long-time friend this year and found out our relationship was discussed on their (extremely obscure) podcast. If only their listeners knew what I know about them. Meh.
Is there no way to know who follows your Micro.blog?
Seems to be about a 20-30 minute delay before replies to Mastodon accounts from Micro.blog become visible on Mastodon itself.
When I respond to someone’s post on Mastodon with my Micro.blog account, I can only see my replies in Micro.blog itself (and Gluon), but not on Mastodon. I’ve looked for my replies with both the Mastodon web client and various apps, but no dice. What gives?
Updated the bridge and neck on my Custom Player Jazzmaster. Took the adjustomatic off in favor of a Halon, and replaced the MIM pau ferro neck with a American Professional II. Still needs a few tweaks, but so far so good. 🎸
Struggling lately with career vs. living a fulfilling life. Wishing me and my family could use our Italian passports to spend a year abroad without sacrificing the stability I have here in Portland. Government jobs don’t readily lend themselves to fully remote work.
After all the shopping for others was done, papa got a couple gifts for himself this year. Upgrading my MIM Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster with a Halon Bridge and a MIA Jazzmaster Professional II rosewood neck. 🎸
Santa had a lot of fun this year.
How do people integrate their long form blogging with their micro blogging? All on the same platform or somewhere else entirely? Still trying to figure out micro.blog.
Snuggled up on the couch watching Mickey’s Christmas Carol with my family. It’s not that often we get snow days here in the Willamette Valley. Hoping anyone that has to traveling today takes it slow and gets there safely. #pdx #snowday
TriMet offers free rides on New Years Eve: https://katu.com/news/local/trimet-offering-free-rides-on-new-years-eve-bus-max-streetcar-holiday-free-fare-intoxicated-safe-celebrate-drinking-portland-multnomah-clackamas #portland #pdx #trimet #nye #2023
Today my dad would’ve been 64 had he not killed himself drinking and driving at age 44. Don’t be like my dad this holiday season.
School lunch in 1999 was $1.25, so that’s what I used to get from my mom everyday. I used to blow that every single day on either Starbursts or a bottle of Coke from the vending machines. It’s no surprise then that I weighed 139 lbs at 6 ft tall. So my New Year’s resolution is to eat nothing but a pack of Starbursts and a Coke before 4 PM everyday to lose the 100 lbs I’ve gained since the late 90s.
Brought my #Fender Jazzmaster into Portland Music Company yesterday. It desperately needed a setup and the jack needed some soldering done. Had fun looking around at all the different guitars, amps, banjos, etc. Reminded me of my days in Lansing after college when I’d spend my lunch breaks at Elderly Instruments in Old Town. It’s amazing how many people I meet all across the U.S. who used to receive their guitar lists and catalogs. #pdx #lansing #guitars
Thought I had macular degeneration for a few weeks there until I discovered that it was just my LG TV’s backlight dimming energy saving feature that had been turned on, either by accident or firmware update. Whew.
The 90s clothes I wore in my teenage years back on full force. I tried on some Levi’s of that ilk this past weekend just to see if I could pull them off, but as a frumpy suburban dad in his early 40s, they just sort of emphasized my worst physical attributes. And anyone under 60 just looks ridiculous in a goatee. #90s #wompwomp
Having lived in the PNW for going on 8 years now, it’s pretty jarring whenever I hear someone from back home in the Midwest speak. The accents are super thicker than I remember, and I can easily pick one out in a crowd now, usually to the speaker’s surprise. Most can’t hear it themselves. #michigan #language #accents
I would like to know why you still have to go digging deep into file trees in Microsoft Windows every time you go to open a common file in various programs. You know I just created this screen capture and the location of where I saved it, why isn’t this the first option that pops up in the Explorer dialog box? Countless other examples. I swear, there is just way too much unnecessary friction in Windows. #endrant #microsoft #windows
Happy that we got down to California and back for Thanksgiving before all the precip hit in the Mtns. Beautiful as it is, I don’t miss driving in it, especially with steep grades.
My son is going on 4 years old and we’ve kept his hair at a medium length for a couple years now. We always get comments from my wife’s conservative family about how he needs a haircut, but it just makes me want to keep it growing. It bothers me, and I know they won’t be the same way with my daughter in a couple years. It’s for sure gonna come up again around Christmas and I need some good one liners to throw them off their balance. Any suggestions?
Good lord is it hard making lasting friendships as a 40-something male. Doesn’t help that almost half of my 7 years in the #pnw has been during COVID, and as a new parent of two little ones. Wife is thriving with her mom groups, but the husbands stick to themselves. #pdx
Almost conducted a poll asking where most people do their Tooting, but decided against it. #mastodon #fediverse
When someone says “get out of your comfort zone once in awhile,” but you live with chronic anxiety and EVERYDAY is outside your comfort zone... #anxiety #gad
Just baked another loaf of rustic white. I love carbs. #baking #bread #dutchoven
We get to see Santa today and he asks my son what he wants for Christmas, to which he responds: “a gun”. The mothers in line behind us audibly gasped.
Why is there no U.S. government run electronic payments system? It’s weird that we are heholden to private companies that are incompatible with one another, compromise our privacy, or take a cut of the transfer.
Here’s the recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share
I’ve never been much of a baker, but I am a bit of a rustic bread addict. So I decided to give this recipe a try from NYTimes Cooking awhile back. Always turns out great. I plan on bringing some loaves to my holiday parties this year.
Test 1 2
TIL Dr. Dre is only about 3 years younger than my mom.
I finally spent a few hours over the last several weeks going through the 400+ password security suggestions my iPhone kept yelling at me about. Dark web, data leaks, reused passwords, etc. Made some serious headway, but passkeys can’t get here soon enough. I’m over it.
I finally spent a few hours over the last several weeks going through the 400+ password security suggestions my iPhone kept yelling at me about. Dark web, data leaks, reused passwords, etc. Made some serious headway, but passkeys can’t get here soon enough. I’m over it.
The clouds and rain bother some people, but living in Portland as a former Midwesterner is pretty great. Just went Christmas shopping in sandals and a t-shirt. 50° with light drizzle is perfect for a larger guy like me. These short days, however…
The clouds and rain bother some people, but living in Portland as a former Midwesterner is pretty great. Just went Christmas shopping in sandals and a t-shirt. 50° with light drizzle is perfect for a larger guy like me. These short days, however…
Lingering place trauma : https://inthedeltawaves.social/2022/12/09/lingering-place-trauma.html
Invariably, when I'm watching clips of the Rich Roll podcast, I find myself not even listening to what the guy is saying. Often I'm just thinking: “dang, this guy has a good tan. I wish I had a successful podcast where I could hock underwear and plant-based protein so I could afford to live in Malibu.”
I’ve been keeping an eye on the housing market in metro Portland and I don’t think prices are going down much at all. Just a gut feeling, but it kind of looks like realtors are setting initial prices higher than normal and then reducing them to look like a real reduction. #pdx #housing #interestrates
Environmentally unconscionable or not, paper plates might just save my marriage.
We just booked a family trip to San Diego in March to visit my sister-in-law. Having a trip in the hopper always helps get me through the winter!
Must be solidly in the middle aged marketing category now based on how many ads for insurance I’m seeing lately.
Snapped this photo of Glacier National Park last summer as I rounded out states 46 through 49 on a road trip to clear my head. I had just lost my brother to brain cancer and the road was calling me. Glacier and the Black Hills hit me hard.
Snapped this photo of Glacier National Park last summer as I rounded out states 46 through 49 on a road trip to clear my head. I had just lost my brother to brain cancer and the road was calling me. Glacier and the Black Hills hit me hard. #nationalparks #roadtrip #montana #fuckcancer #nps #glacier
Oops, figured something like that might happen. Imported my posts AND replies through RSS and then those proliferated through cross post after cross post like a mirror. Apologies for the multiple tags and spam, should be resolved now. #indieweb #microblog
So…I know how to cross-post from Micro.blog to a Mastodon account, but what about the other way around? #indieweb #microblog
What are some of your go-to self care habits or treats to help you get through the darkest depths of winter? Lately I’ve been working on getting to sleep earlier (thank you, Trazodone). Also, being more intentional about regularly stepping away from the computer.
A friend with no kids recently added me on Apple Watch to challenge each other and he was shocked by how much activity I get. Just getting my 3 y.o. boy and 11 mo. old girl ready and to daycare everyday feels like a marathon. I’m usually done with my 45 minutes of “workout” by 9 a.m. #applewatch #parenting
One thing I’m relearning as a parent of two young children is how to take better care of myself. As someone with #ADHD, planning ahead has never been a strong suit. I’m only recently realizing how beneficial it is to do things for myself during the day…while they’re in daycare.
I’m Bryan and I live in #pdx #Oregon. I’m new to: #microblog / #mastodon / #fediverse. Never cared for Twitter because it seemed so negative and stressful. Hoping to connect with others to get me started over here. I’m an #urbanplanner and interested in #livablecommunities #walkability #urbanism.
After literally weeks of trying to get the ActivityPub and WebFinger plugins to work on Wordpress, I’ve abandoned it and come over to Micro.blog. Hoping I can get all the details ironed out in the coming days, but at least these appear to be publishing. Still new to this #indieweb stuff.
Early sunsets
Found some manzano / orange rocoto peppers at a local mercato. Figured Iâd better try fermenting them into a hot sauce.
Tech support getting philosophical on me #ziply
Mercedes T2 811D fire engine spotted in the wild.
Just a couple cue ball headed punks. #minime
Had to break out the 20 oz hammer to get these open, but Pax had fun today with these Dino fossils from auntie Gab.
The artist at work
This is where he requested to sit and eat his strawberries.
How easily lifeâs needless things pass to your periphery when purpose comes into focus. ð·:@lindsaybacaphoto
This weather.
Poor dude was sick over his birthday week, so he couldnât have a party at home or at school. Celebrated today with Grampa and Gramma Kofstad and got some cool new toys.
âWhat I think is this: You should give up looking for lost cats and start searching for the other half of your shadow.â - Kafka on the Shore ð·:@lindsaybacaphoto
A boy and his mama
Sleepyhead
Nice day on the lake.
Bonding leave status update.
Baby Annette, 1.12.22
Sweet park
Playing in the snow!
Santa swung through for a visit last night ð ð¼
Our best gift. ð¸:@stacyephoto
âIâm an ice cream super hero!â -my kid, who hates wearing clothes.
Pax and Santa
We live in a forest.
From our walk on the Columbia earlier today in Kalama, WA.
Making cobbler.
Howdy, Pilgrim!
Some kids are just extra. Here I caught him sitting down with his mouth closed for 1 second.
Big ass tree
Life north of the 45th parallel.
Helping get some things ready for his baby sister.
Happy Halloween ð
Pax went into the bathroom and closed the doorâ¦sometimes he goes in there to hide, so we didnât think anything of it. He moved the stool over to the toilet, sat on it by himself, and did his business. Opened the door and he said, âI can use the big potty now because Iâm getting big!â Too funny.
Enjoying some Detroit style pizza in PDX. Pretty sweet nod to Diego Rivera with the pizza & beer production murals.
This came up in my memories from a couple of years ago at the beach. Itâs strange to think about what my life was like before this dude. Really looking forward to our second.
Itâs baaaack. I love the rain.
#nofilter
23 weeks
Hanging with my folks at the coast. Happy to have them here!
Dad ran to Costco and said âwe could eat Taco Bell every day this week and still be good.â ðð§»
Kiddo. First day back to nursery schoolâ¦though he never really left, I couldnât resist a photo with seeing all the other cute kid photos.
Mmm, red chalk.
My kid does most things with his pants off now, and I donât blame him.
Promâ¦1999
College roommatesâ¦20 years ago.
Happy birthday to my wonderful wife! Sheâs a great mom and partner and weâre thankful to have her in our lives.
Something came in the mail today! ð¤ð¼ #alwaysbeprepared #pdx
Waking up sweaty and crabby from a nap. #momma
Ran into an old friendly face in Jackson. #porsche
Missing my boy!
An intensely amazing day.
That way.
These crows about gave me a heart attack this morning.
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Getting my steps in.
Glamping for the night. Thanks Tim and LaVonna, for letting us use your place.
Happy Birthday, Americaâ¦from IKEA.
The neighborhood allotments in full swing.
This morning at school. Heâs been getting these little dollar store toys as bribes for going on the potty. He wouldnât leave the house without the skirt part of this ladybug outfit on.
This is what you get when your burger flippers are unionized. Just sayinâ
Caught a pic of a hummingbird on my morning walk.
The office cuttings have been thriving despite my neglect over the last year and a half. The jade was a small cutting from my huge jade plant at home, which I got from a farmer several years ago, who got it from her neighbor who passed away. Iâve made a few cuttings from that plant. Some make it, some donât.
Very excited that THE FOOD has arrived. Link in BIO. P.S., Chris: I never finish anything. @loveaxeofficial #tinydeskconcert #bobboilen #tinydesk @nprmusic #bandcamp #loveaxe #thefood #vinyl @tinydesk
Drive around up here and you start questioning your life choices.
Sharayah snapped this one and sent it to me at work. Iâm sure heâs pretty pumped about the pool on this 97° day.
Wanted to help me pump up the âback tiresâ on the wheelbarrow only to find out âthere arenât any dada, we need some new ones.â
She loves it when I open up the dormer window
Quiet office vibes
Who needs a truck when youâve got
My other company
Sometimes youâre the mule. Mt Adams (12,280â) barely visible in the back.
Iâm still not done yet, but Iâm getting close to finishing this little bathroom. (Before and After)
Spent all weekend alone with this kiddo. He survived several visits to the hardware. High energy, but such a good boy.
6 years in the Rose City. What a trip.
#laketahoe
Meditation
Remembering my little brother on this Memorial Day.
POW POW power wheels
I had an Italian lesson during my lunch, and this little helper got excited when he found the animal images, and started naming them (in English). Itâs been a busy couple of weeks, but the little things make it all worth it.
Experimented with a new batch of hot sauce and I like it a lot. Fermented habanero, garlic, radish and onion, with some apple, honey and ginger.
So it begins
I feel you, man
Getting pretty good at brushing his own teeth
I have this silly dream to do a garage conversion and make my house into an imitation Kilbourne Sears kit house. Donât even care that itâd be pastiche.
Beautiful day. Lots of happy pollinators in the lavender.
What kid doesnât want to be a fireman at some point?
Picnicking
Everyone used to say how much Brad looked like our dad, so I never really thought I looked too much like him. Then I came across this photo in my Granâs things recently. First time Iâd seen it. For a moment I wondered where I got that coat.
Numero dos, amigos.
figlio
Next comes the grilling station
The dudes have put in three 10 hour days so far and should be finished with the deck tomorrow.
Hiking with friends
#fatguychristmas
Our buddy.
File under âthings I donât rememberâ
Weâre all bound for the ash heap.
My rock.
Somehow, coach thought my 139 lb frame would be great for the position of nose tackle. Suffice to say I ran cross country the next 2 years.
Me and mom, â81.
Camping and two-tracking in the Jeep, Aug 2013
Progress
Around 2003/04. I think this was right before Bradâs first deployment.
Sight for sore eyes.
Got the year pass, so…zoo day
Me and my brother Brad (left).
Adventures in home barbering!
I rented a tool but I ended up with athletic equipment. Whew.
Safety 1st
Moisturize. And donât forget the sunscreen!
My brother Brad has gone through so much since his cancer diagnosis in 2014. I hate it that he has to go through this, and I wish I could take it away.
#pdxsnowpocalypse2021 #portland #pnw #snow
One cool thing about minidisc is that it has an optical in to sync/record. Not completely lossless, but damn good.
Grateful to get to spend some time with my brother in CO, and looking forward to coming back soon.
100 degree salt water pool with a decent view of a 14,000 foot mountain out the window. Good for the muscles, good for the soul.
standing awkwardly in nature
Lol Iâm too old for this shit
While I caught the smell of flowers on our walk today, Zoey wanted blood after picking up the scent of the neighborhood rabbit :D
âIâm working!â - Pax. Happy 2nd birthday to our little guy. He knows his ABCs, can count to 14, and heâs learning to count in Spanish. He no longer likes âwheels on the busâ but âold Macdonaldâ is a timeless masterpiece. He loves going to the park and hiking in the woods. His interests include trucks, tractors, dinosaurs, animals, and space. Love ya kid!
My little slice of heaven for a few moments. #wintersunshine
Sometimes you still catch me off guard. #wyâeast
No idea why this wine truck was parked in our neighborhood, but man this kid goes bonkers over big trucks.
My coworker today due to a gap in daycare coverage. My lil dude starts at a Montessori school next week ahead of turning 2 on Jan 26th! Heâs such a smart, happy, caring and fun kid!
âYou are an amazing woman.â - the mug. âReal men drink tea.â - the phrase on the tea bag. âYou and your dad work on stuff, but you and me drink tea and get nice ân cozy.â - Shar. âPainting?â -Pax.
We were waiting for a break in the rain but there are only so many hours in the day…
Confession time. Our sofa is always in a state of complete disarray. Aside from bodies (both human and animals alike), you will find blankets to protect against said animal footprints, [5] blankets for warmth, blankets for ânice n cozyyyâ (Pax), pillows, dog toys, dog bones, remnants of Natureâs Bakery Fig Bars, one AirPod, childrenâs PJs, an unused wet wipe, 2 mismatched childrenâs socks, and probably the remote control I havenât seen since the first week of December.
Iâve found that the best way to keep my plants alive is to keep them within reach of the sinkâs sprayer ð #lifehack
2020 was like nothing I could have ever imagined. Iâve had some struggles myself, both with my head and health. But I have been so privileged during this time, and Iâm grateful for the people in my life, blessed to be a husband & dad, and thankful for the health of those around me. I also acknowledge my privilege as a white middle class household with relatively stable employment. I feel so heartbroken for those who donât, and if thereâs a way I can help, please let me know. I wish everyone a healthy and prosperous 2021, preferably at least once consuming delicious food and beverages INSIDE a really nice restaurant.
Merry Christmas to all!
A visit from Santa!
Playing in tunnels, listening to Rubber Soul.
âDada Iâm workingâ
âElkâ
Shar says this looks like a beer ad @ninkasibrewing
When dad and Pax grocery shop, cookies are involved…even if itâs 9 a.m. ð
My Christmas decoration game is weak.
An important thing for maintaining my mental health: stepping outside, even if only for a few minutes. Fall is in full effect in the backyard.
He was interested in the guitar for 5 seconds and then it was onto the cordless drill.
The holidays started early âround here.
Target just gets me
Had a bit of a break in the rain today, so I drove up to Pittock and snapped a few. #pdx #portland #oregon #skyline #nightphotography #mthood
What can I say, the kid likes trains. #likefatherlikeson #pdx #onwardrosecity
The silver lining has been getting to spend so much time with my loves.
I just started watching Long Way Up the other night, an electric motorcycle journey from the tip of South America, up to LA, with Ewan McGregor. Someone mentioned that not everyone watched Evel Knievel jumping the Grand Canyon to see him make itâsome watched it to see if he WOULDNâT. I stopped the episode and YouTubed Evel and fell into a hole. I never knew the guy was such a character. Highly recommended if youâre up sick and need something strange but interesting to watch.
Indian to open up those sinuses. Mmm
The culmination of many years of work finally paid off today with our recognition as Italian citizens. It still hasnât fully set in, but Iâm overjoyed, especially to be able to pass this onto my kids. Fingers crossed for some other good news today as well! ð®ð¹ðºð¸ . . . . . #juresanguinis #dualcitizenship #planB #italiandiaspora #italianamerican #italia #veneto
Hold the phone
Happy 4th birthday to our dog daughter, Zoey :) Pax wanted to sing happy birthday but then insisted on cake afterwords. Sorry bud, itâs 8 am and there isnât any ð lol.
Itâs not our anniversary or anything. Just feeling grateful to have met my person. * ð¸: @lindsaybacaphoto #weddingphotography
Cheap entertainment #thriftstorefinds #trainthemyoung
Love this kid so much.
That time my mom went back to college and finished her degree near the top of her class.
Canât believe how fast this last year has gone by. Struggling with wanting this pandemic to end quickly vs enjoying my time with my little family and enjoying the ride. #tbt
I touched that tiny sliver of pepper to my tongue for roughly a second, then pulled it away. I didnât feel anything at all for another 2-3 seconds. And then it literally took my breath away and my mouth is still burning 10 minutes later. The Carolina Reaper is a cross between a âreally nastily hotâ La Soufriere pepper from the Caribbean island of St. Vincent and a Naga Viper pepper from Pakistan, with an average Scoville heat rating of about 1.5 million. #carolinareaper #whathaveidone #chiles #hotpeppers #peppers #hotsauce #chilipeppers #fermentation
Pax got new homemade slippers and some PJs in the mail from gramma @hag1961 today, too cute. He wanted to put them on immediately LOL.
Itâs garlic sowing season! After this yearâs harvest, Iâm eager to try something new and keep things going year-round. Thanks to our local @territorialseedcompany. Thereâs even a shout out to my alma mater on this varietyâs packaging. #gardening #gardenersofinstagram #gardenersofig #gardenlife #pnw #pnwgardening #msuext #garlic #wintergarden #urbangarden #growingvegetables #oregongrown
Smashing Pumpkins ð #smashingpumpkins @smashingpumpkins
My attempt at art. #anarchy #pdx #portland #anarchistjurisdiction #lifeofdad #edc #seiko #benchmade #pottytraining #vote
Still looking for that perfect toy I guess
Autumn!
Feeling almost human after lunch and a beer at Mazama Brewing. Great beer and food. Please visit or order from this place to give them some business.
My second batch of fermented hot sauce turned out a lot better. I filtered the solids out of this one, which Iâve heard are good as a sandwich spread. Good heat but not unbearable. Interested to find out how the flavor develops over time.
Spelunking the laundry room
More of this, please
Making some zucchini bread.
Somehow I managed to make this gourmet meal without the assistance of a pot filler.
I guess he requested it after seeing his mom do it. Poor kid has his dadâs feet, tho. ðð¤£
I wasnât crazy about the woody taste of the last batch of hot sauce I made. So this time the only thing going into the fermentation are homegrown Red Hot Chili Peppers, a red sweet pepper, and garlic. I also removed the stems and sliced the peppers length-wise for good measure. ð¶
This stuff is rough. At KP getting an inhaler.
Itâs called swagger and it runs in the family (nephew Lincoln).
Stumbled upon a local coffee roaster. Hate when that happens.
Happy Labor Day! Donât labor today.
Out here spinning beyond comprehension. #astrophotography #feelsmallyet? #howis15mmnotwideenough?
In a few days Iâll have my first batch of fermented hot sauce. Weâll see if the carrots mellow out the heat or not. #serrano #chilis #hotsauce #jalapeno #gardening #fermentation #fermentedfoods #fetmentedhotsauce #diy
My loves #tbt
Perfect eve with the boy and @lavonnakofstad7 and Tim and pups.
Sunday vibes
Sunday funday.
âDad, you are sooo annoying.â
She loves me.
My slowest producing pepper plant, the Carolina Reaper. Or as I affectionately call it: pucker butt.
#wcw
Happy birthday to my Sharayah. Youâre always running circles around me and Iâm not sure how you do it, but Iâm so grateful. Hereâs to many more good times and happy trips around the sun. â¥ï¸ ð« ð #loveinthetimeofcovid
Much needed weekend escape.
Monument
#basic
Watermelon
Ocean
Helping
Chocolate
Itty bitty watermelon. I can eat these like grapes, right?
I grew a zucchini.
Saw a full moon during Paxâs first camping trip this week
#dadshots
I canât believe I used to wonder what she did all day. ð¤
Please just lemme in, I swear I wonât do anything!
Zoey had to get a pretty tight shave due to some mats. But now she blends in with our lazy couch blanket and I definitely sat on her this morning. Felt so bad.
This one sums up this afternoon perfectly
Watching him learn is pure joy for me.
Hair was finally long enough for his first perm
When mom works Saturdays…
Getting way too familiar with a mattock. Itâs a good way to take out frustration, though!
There are a few things I feel are worth splurging on. Good coffee is one of them. Water Ave, you complete me.
Spinning and being silly before bed
If at first you donât succeed, try, try again. treat others as youâd like to be treated, etc.
Father/children weekend. Living dangerously under our front porch (garage) on this rainy day. We also learned about New Seasonsâ apple pie.
When you get tired of filling up your spray bottle for your garden starts ð
Love these two, and Iâm feeling especially appreciative and lucky to have such a wonderful partner to help navigate this life. Paxâs face in this photo cracks me up. We got out to the Jenkins Estate and enjoyed Monday evening in the gardens and letting Pax run around like a fool in the grassy open areas. Most of the Rhodies were past their prime, but a few were still looking good. My favorite part was slowly looking around all the community garden plots and what people were doing with theirs. I took some notes. I think weâll all be happy when this virus business is over and we can feel safer going out more often (and maybe having a beer or two on a patio somewhere - Oregon isnât the same without that).
The bees love the lavender.
Stylinâ in his Nike track jacket this morn as we watered the veggies. Thanks gramma @hag1961 ð
Todayâs classes: Walkie Talkie 101
Puppy pillow
One moment you think your kidâs a genius and the next moment heâs half naked with an upside down princess sticker on his forehead and banging repeatedly on your CPAP machine.
16 mos. today. I guess itâs time to start force feeding him piano and guitar lessons. They grow up so fast.
âSo I says to the guy, I says to the guy, âthe cow goes MOO!ââ
FaceID finally just said ânope, you are not my owner and you must enter a passcodeâ.
Iâm either turning into Bukowski or Iâm joining a motorcycle gang for dads who sold their motorcycles.
Funny to think Iâm older now than my parents were when I graduated.
Keeping it classy with a tire swing.
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Always fun to see what you can accomplish during nap time. #toddlerparents
Now thatâs what grandmothers are for. Happy Motherâs Day, mom. Thanks for always being there.
To the woman who used the word âtoiletâ in her marriage vows, I love you. You are an amazing mother and Pax and I are so lucky to have you. Grateful for you everyday.
Thanks @erin__franke!
Donât hate me because Iâm beautiful
Man I feel like I just broke out of jail
Just rocking out on the electric avocado guitar
Another barn burner over here.
My work wife
As of this past weekend, weâve got a #bigboy ð. Wasnât expecting this to start at 15 months.
Iâve had these two home with me for the last week and a half and now weâre all going back to our routines. Itâs been nice and Iâm gonna miss having them around.
She sure as heck did. #tigerking #carolebaskin
When youâre bored and a friend suggests dressing up like characters from old paintings… @heatherlynn7c ð
Paxâs new favorite meal is momâs vegetarian âmeatloafâ #momthemeatloafwewantitnow
Sure beats buying 36 bags of soil from Home Depot.
Easter with grandma and grandpa
Just chillin
My crew.
Quarantine Day 21, post afternoon nap. #someonetoldmeilookhomeless
When your underutilized alcove/dormer/recording studio/spare room becomes an arm of the government.
Not exactly sure who I am anymore. #latergram
until tomorrow
The Rummikub Rainman.
A couple rainy day people having a photo shoot in our flowerbed. ð
Progress. Love these beautiful days.
#cherryblossoms #spring #quarantineoutside
The joys of a $3, disinfected, new-for-him used ride.
With all this social distancing, what better time than now to try out that natural deodorant youâve been meaning to try
People keep saying Pax looks like mini me. Sorry to have to burst that bubble. pop
Finally something Pax and I can both agree on: Judy Garland.
Clean baby â . For now, anyway.
Traded some toilet paper for a canoe. Heading to an undisclosed island in the Columbia till summer. See yâall later. #wenonah #canoe #jensen18
Had to.
Went about as well as could be expected on a Friday the 13th with a plague going around. But after 7 years of prepping, the citizenship app is in. And now I wait another 6 months to find out if Iâm a fool or not. #arrivederci #italian
Um. Good morning.
Iâm such a tourist.
#bitchdust
Almost, buddy.
Had fun celebrating, happy birthday @lavonnakofstad7 and have fun in Hawaiâi!
#beachbabes
My beautiful mom.
Desperate times call for desperate measures #latergram
Rubbing elbows with senators on date night, front and center at the Asolo, thanks to an old friend. #thelifespanofafact
Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone. Itâs been a great week! #dadboddontcare #39
This is dad bod. #youknowyouwantit
When the Rhodies are bloominâ and thereâs the scent of freshly cut grass in the air.
Two years ago I made the best decision of my life. To the most wonderful partner and my best friend, happy anniversary. I love you beyond words.
What can I say, heâs pretty advanced. #quantummechanicsforbabies
These PNW winters are awful
Fantastic Italian dinner to start our 2nd anniversary weekend. Iâm a lucky man.
When you come home for lunch to find your dog snagged the honey off the counter and ate about 1,000 calories worth…
Mom says he took his one-year vaccinations in both thighs like a champ. Officially travel ready.
I know my wife already posted this, but I canât not post it too. Love my little boy. (ð·:@lindsaybacaphoto)
Making the paneer tikka.
This place is 2 blocks from my office and it is daaangerous.
Little does he know, my plan all along. #inheritance #babyvirtuoso
Attempted jailbreak.
Still have some odds and ends to finish, but I think itâs an improvement.
#bedhead #whyareweupthisearlyagain
These dudes were born two days apart and have a similar fashion sense.
Hanging out in the studio with my boy, about to lay down some tracks.
Agate hunting
Baby, 11 months old today. Nose scab, 1 day old.
The transition has begun. Belly has arrived. Beard going white. Zoey’s night vision kicked in and she will start growing her antlers and a red nose soon.
#lunch
Santa paid a visit to the Kofstad family Christmas. ð ð»
Some early Christmas presents from cousin Garwood and Judy. Iâve been looking forward to reading this. @teacher1947
The Sunday hangover crew
Brothers from another mother (and father).
Happiness is 3 brothers eating pizza and playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Happy birthday, brotha!
Pax and Shar and LaVonna
Thanksgiving at great grandma and grandpaâs.
Hard to believe heâs 10 months old in a few days. Heâs all over the place too, and Zoey is so good with him.
When youâre 15 minutes from wine country, why not?
Man I love this kid.
Congratulations to this hard workinâ momma for landing a permanent position with benefits in her unit at the hospital! Way to create the future you want for you and your family. We are so proud of you!
4 years later. My, how our world has changed.
Gotta take advantage of these nice days.
Gotta say, this is a pretty great hotel for a conference.
Here we go!
Q: how many days per week do you not go somewhere because of traffic? A: Errry. damn. day. Iâm moving to Idaho.
Whelp, wonât be long now and heâll be climbing out.
New gutters â new outdoor lighting â next up: 3100 gallon rain tank and more raised beds
Practically had the place to ourselves for date night. Pretty surprising since we were impressed by the great beer and food!
Hi, Iâm Pax. I love my mom and dad and my hobbies include: getting into anything I can reach, wearing rainbow pants, and drooling all over everything.
7 mos. and getting too big for his car seat ð©
Future location of a 3,100 gallon rainwater collection cistern.
Fatties do fit fine, but I might need some different fenders. #700x40c #surlycrosscheck #bike
I think I only post photos of my kid anymore, but I mean, how can I help it?
Getting some grandma time :)
Since everyone else is doing it. #firstdayofschool #lastdayofschool #19goddamnyears
Our son really loves breweries. Go figure.
Nice hike today around Silver Falls.
Leaps and bounds
The loves of my life.
Celebrating Paxâs 4 months right
Jesus take the wheel #firstfamilyroadtrip
Happy first Motherâs Day to this one. Couldnât have asked for a better mother to raise our son with. Truly blessed.
Love making this kid laugh.
Later gram of lady lamb jams. Incredible show this past weekend. #mississippistudios #pdx #ladylamb @ladylambjams
Rest peacefully, Gran. You were a unique and special woman and you will be missed.
Stair skirts cut and fitted, about ready to lay some flooring.
Do I answer it?
Gotta say hi to Smokey.
Spending some time in nature while mom is at boot camp.
Whoâs a good boy
The Life
Babyâs first Easter
Grandmas gonna grandma.
Iâve got poles in different area codes.
4 a.m. wake-up for some walleye fishing on the Columbia.
Man I love being a dad.
Hanging out with dad today (and eating my hand) on momâs first day back to work! Good luck, mom!
A âWâ could make this a perfect day.
This kid
An Oregon right turn lane.
I kinda feel like a human again after this weekend!
Babies Rule Everything Around Me!
Baby overload.
Sky is ð¥ RN. #sunset #nofilter
#pdx
Orion was mighty pretty tonight.
Birthday gift from @outdoorshar âºï¸
Pax goes to the coffee shop.
He couldnât vocalize how he feels about Valentineâs Day, so he did the next best thing.
First bath, first trauma.
Two week appt., right on track.
Didnât think I could love anything this much.
Our first child. #oldersister
Our once-a-year snowfall. Off to my only day of work this month (public hearing).
My little dude
ð¼
#39weeks ð
Okay, I think weâre ready to meet you, little one. Gotta a whole lotta love in my heart to give. 38 wks 2 days.
A month off from our anniversary but #fbf to when I married my best friend and ponicorns showed up.
What a year itâs been.â â â â ð·:@lindsaybacaphoto #pdx #portland #love #wedding #marriage #unicorns #pony #firstcomeslove
Getting muddy with my girls and drinking hot cocoa on a sunny Christmas Day.
Quick trip to the nurse midwife before the holiday festivities.
Papiâs white elephant by way of necessity. Just a sip! #bulleitrye
So proud of this lady for passing her licensing exam today!!! At 7 and a half months pregnant! Youâre looking at the latest Licensed Clinical Social Worker, folks :)
#PDX #friyay
The best breakfast sandwiches.
#commute
Cracks me up that Bay City got it right but Lansing couldnât.
Selfie with my 86-year-old Gran. I setup her first smart phone for her today.
Mom threw me a baby shower. Thanks everyone for coming out! #cancersucks
Nice views of #mthood on the flight out of #PDX last night.
As to be expected, another incredible show with @aaronbacamusic.
Best of both worlds? #urbansuburban #pastiche
Full of health from milk!
#commute #sunrise
Walking home from the train.
#urbanplanning #janejacobs #brb #stfu #LOL #smh
Just about rounded out the second trimester! Still ainât no one know if itâs a boy or a girl.
The dood abides
ðâ¨
Still bloominâ
Over the moon. #23weeks
Strength comes in many different forms, not least of which are hope, bravery and love. You have these in spades, mom. Iâm very grateful for you and your strengths. Youâre taking a brave step tomorrow and I wish I could be there to hold your hand. Iâm sorry you have to go through this, but I know you will only come back stronger, as you have so many other times. I love you. #fuckcancer
When Shar drives, I crane my neck.
Touch of grey
#pdx
The original Italian parish in Portland.
Honestly, I think Iâd just like to live out here. I think thatâs why I keep coming back. Impossible with Oregonâs land use laws, but a guy can dream.
Waiting for mom to get home from work. #nationaldogday
Shitâs getting real.
I need a lot of time to myself. I sneak it in when I can.
My nephew, Lincoln.
Not too bad for a map my work was gonna throw away and a frame from a second hand store. #pdx #portland #map #maps #oregon
Spent the day with my beautiful wife in Astoria for her birthday.
Celebrated 13 weeks with a hike up Smith Rock over the weekend!
Beautiful morning.
Two years ago today I bought this house in pre-foreclosure status as a short sale. Itâs not the fanciest, nor the largest, neither is it the type of house I thought I wanted when I moved here. But Iâm happy to make it a home with @outdoorshar. Getting there. Now, if the heat would just let up long enough for me to finish this paint job. Next summer Iâm officially calling it: no maintenance, more trips!!!! #diy #rehab #rehabilitation #homeimprovement #pdx #portland #carpentry #paint #housepainting #beforeandafter #midnightblue #house #home
Straight chillin
Hey, dude.
Snagged some old maps before the office purge. #pdx #portland #maps #map
#tbt to 2007, London Eye. Mustâve been about 175 lbs in this photo. Iâd like to get back to that point. I think I still have that shirt, even though thereâs no way it still fits.
#citylab
Def not creepy.
Itâs slow going when you have a job, but itâs starting to look like a different house (to me). I decided Iâm going to take it easy on the white I think and throw in some darker accents when Iâm done.
A park all to ourselves. #wildernessculture #wildflowers #pnw #oregon #pdx
Ah, post-riots architecture. Gotta hate it.
New toy store downtown. Canât say that Iâve seen a toy store in a downtown my entire life, sad to say.
6.29.18. #moon
Turning out to be an awesome day. #mthood #pnw #pdx #oregon #exploregon
Lunchtime meanderings. #horse
Loving the sunshine.
My dad is a pretty cool guy. Still ready for adventures. Hereâs one I wonât soon forget. Happy Fatherâs Day, Vern!
Shopping for a new pair of glasses. Are these in style yet?
That one time the President spoke at graduation. Hard to believe itâs been 8 years. #potus #Michigan #umich #trumpsucks #taubmancollege
Homemade Mac n cheese. Itâs whatâs for dinner.
Federalist was a success @spencerolinek. Thanks for the rec
amapaday
Howdy.
The way she gets me to do things sometimes is by threatening to cut off her hair. And let me tell you, it works.
People have asked me how Iâve managed to make it 3 months without eating meat. Well, the Beyond Meat burger on ciabatta is pretty special. #beyondmeat #vegetarian #WTF
Another one from late last year. Just thinking tonight about how this is a life I never even imagined could have happened a few years back. Nothingâs perfect, but I never asked it to be. Just better. And it is. ⢠⢠⢠⢠#hike #hiking #oregon #exploregon #pnwonderland #pnw #saddlemountain #coastrange #cascadia #trail #view #ontopoftheworld #liveasaverb
On top of the world. ⢠⢠⢠⢠#hike #hiking #oregon #exploregon #pnwonderland #pnw #saddlemountain #coastrange #cascadia #dood #doodle #goldendoodle #dogsofinstagram #puppers #trail #view #ontopoftheworld #liveasaverb
An actual place I visited on my birthday this year. A sort of happy accident we ended up here on our last day on the island, and a spectacular farewell it was. #magestic
#bukowski
Throwback to that one time. #ourwild
Our rose bushes this year are going wild.
Nine years ago we lost you. It took me a long time to even process or talk about it. Miss you every day.
Seriously the sweetest.
Beautiful day for a wedding.
Wildflowers bloominâ on a lunchtime ride today.
When you both misunderstood one another as to who was supposed to get pizza, but both bring home exactly the same (special order) pizza without coordinating.
#Oregon
Parking deck views. #mthood
Shaping up to be a pretty nice week.
Shopping for new frames and stopped into Warby Parker yesterday. Shar says I look like an old man in these. #roundfacestruggles
Yes, please. * * * * #portland #nwportland #pdx #oregon #urban #historic #historichouse #spring #house
Night out. Heading to see @realrobbell.
Playing with the kids. (Sure feels good to fall in love all over again.)
Spotted at local Goodwill.
3 years ago, unpacking, moving alone. Trying to make something out of nothing.
Growler-getter almost complete. * * * * #surly #crosscheck #bike #bicycle #cruiserbike
Seismic retrofit by @seraarchitects. I like the corners, and that the basement will be daylighted. Hopefully the old concrete gets a power wash and the interior gets a refresh.
Definitely over planted the olâ garden this year. I need to build another one.
I like this idea. * * * * #pdx #slabtown #portland #nw #pnw #lobby #signs #parks #tile #leed #interiordesign
Take me back * * * * #hawaii #maui
#siblingday #brothers
Ongoing seismic retrofit at the office.
Nearing the finish line on the music room.
Been awhile since Iâve been down here. Almost like theyâre building a city from scratch.
My favorite new food cart. Argentinian empanadas. Yum.
Happy (postponed) opening day #tigers #revivemi #openingdaydet #baseball
And…itâs snowing
Our hemlock straight up died. Very strange.
Happy itâs no longer calling for snow this week. Might need to thin this out later, once I see how it does, but got it in early which makes me happy.
Everyoneâs moving to St. Johns!
Continuing with things put on pause for the wedding, finishing up loose ends.
Itâs Friday and Iâm done with this rodeo. #fbf
I never tire of it.
Always a good sign when the magnolias pop.
This dog is obsessed with birds and squirrels.
Making changes.
#thestubbornlovers
Adaptive reuse, phone booth edition.
Look at this beautiful lady. Beachside in LÄhainÄ. Dinner for two.
Kaanapali. Where the trees glow.
I swear to god I am never going home.
I will be dreaming of this Cubano for the rest of my life.
Facing fears, kayaking the whale-infested oceans. #vday
This will work. #honeymoon #maui
An awesome weekend with family and friends for our wedding. Iâm a lucky dude. (ð¸:Lindsay Baca).
#mrandmrs
I only have eyes for you. #valentine #vday #vd #valentinesday #balloon #heart
I know the exact moment I knew I wanted to marry her. It was our first trip to the coast together, on my birthday a couple of years ago. It was this day, not long after this photo was taken, when She was sitting next to me eating clam chowder in a rundown restaurant overlooking the Pacific and the sun was shining through the windows on her face. I didnât know then what would happen, I just hoped things would stay as good as they were. Not every day can be a sunny February birthday at the coast, but on the whole, it just gets better all the time. 1 week.
This is what $130 looks like at New Seasons. 2 paper bags of groceries. No fancy meats or specialty items (except for the 6 pack). Iâm conflicted because I love the small size of the store. I can get a little more at Winco but itâs always chaos in there. #groceryshopping #hellonearth
The parking deck has views. #sunset #portland
Bitter cup #bachelor #bachelorette
Itâs times like these…
Happy day! New de Garde location in downtown Tillamook!!
#trees #evergreen #bw
Nightmare before Christmas.
#zoolights #pdx
Love old mid-century modern schools. #architecture
The space above that building on the corner has been empty for about a year. I wish it were my office.
Sweet couch, presumably free.
The holdout.
Favorite lunch spot on a clear day.
Itâs been cold but enjoying the clear skies.
Rural planning: bike races and marijuana tourism potential.
Happy Holidays!
Wolf at the door on thxgiving.
Being engaged in the backyard, etc.
#tbt. 14 years old. My first electric guitar, Christmas 1995.
Two years of sarcasm, adventures and fart jokes. <3 her.
From the #PNW, with love @foundersbrewing
Ring game. Yellow gold, because Iâm a grumpy old man.
Melissa and Natashaâs wedding!
Made a dentil shelf for the door. Next up, paint.
Gotta get âem in while you still can. Beautiful day for it, too.
Wedding venue-ing.
Tomatoes, yellow peppers, and jalapeños all did fine this year. Poblanos, not so much.
#stjohns
Current situation.
#nimby #banana #urbanplanning
Getting married 4 months from tomorrow (we think)! Puerto Rico getting hit by Hurricane Maria has made things challenging, but Iâm thankful to have a partner who can roll with it. <3
Not too far off.
Portland, youâre doing great. Keep it up. ð
Wine tasting with friends from LA. Sometimes I forget that this is 10 minutes from my front door.
ecnepsleahcim spotted on the Fiction - New Arrivals shelf at Powellâs.
An hour and a half later, still no food. #harlowpdx
That time my mom went back to college with three boys and graduated magna cum laude. #fbf
Spiders are tangible evidence of evil.
Whoooboy, Iâm a âfarmerâ.
Sheâs in heaven…
This photo cracks me up. The king of awkward and his ferocious dog.
Freshly cut #doodle for these last weeks of #summer.
Gonna have to find a creative way to use all these.
Sadly, my friend Trevor passed away in July. One of his favorite authors was Kurt Vonnegut, and he had an Etsy store where he made and sold lapel pins, such as this (Shop Martin, named after his dachshund). I was able to purchase one that his parents fulfilled. Itâs an epitaph that is in Slaughterhouse Five. It reads âEverything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt.â
Doodle Velcro ass.
#rainier
#latergram from an awesome rooftop patio, perfect weather, and birthday shenanigans.
#eclipse #solareclipse #solareclipse2017 #pdx #oregon
A difference of opinion.
Short but tough. #gorge #pdx #oregon #columbiariver #hike #washington
Out for some fun with the birthday girl!
Model of Downtown Detroit at Bedrock. Shows Hudsonâs and Monroe Blocks. RenCen decidedly absent. Still, Hudson Block will be prominent once built. #detroit #hudsonblock #skyline #model #architecture #skyscraper
Getting close to finishing the upstairs trim. Probably my least favorite job so far and has taken me way too long to finish. Onto the next bedroom. #rehab
#deadremedy #billstock
Moved to an albatross handlebar. #surly #crosscheck #nitto
Hard to believe Iâve never read this. But thatâs about to change.
New blog post on A Sturdy Life about how to make an extra $1000 per year. And no, this isnât an ad for #Uber drivers. Link in bio. #frugal #budget #pennypincher #savemoney #intentionalliving #ting #minimalism #minimalist #iphone #iphone8 #frugal #tips
I thought the devil wore a blue dress? #angel #freshcoffee
This eve. #pdx #skyline #oregon #portland #skyscrapers #mountains #mounthood #mthood #pnw #pnwonderland #westcoast #exploregon #oregon #cityscape #citylife #city #cities #overlook #buildings #citylab
#hood
Back in the day. #triumph #scrambler #moto #motorcycle #puremichigan #motorbike
Another high quality example of some Hillsboro ingenuity.
New blog post from @asturdylife titled âHitting the Hard Reset Button on Social Mediaâ. Link in bio. . . . . . . #minimalism #minimalist #intentionalliving #blog #blogger #phone #socialmedia #reset #facebook #friends #iphone #cyberbullying #truefriends #lessismore #alifealive
Goodbye green monster that Iâve had since college. #adulting.
I like this little craftsman in my work neighborhood. They just rebuilt the porch. #craftsman #bungalow #oregon #pnw #pdx #portland
Got the garden in late, but…signs of life.
The best photo from last weekend.
#Engaged to the love of my life.
While watching whales we saw some sleepy seals.
From sea to shining sea. #america
#newport #oregon #bay #boat
New blog post on A Sturdy Life called ‘The Struggle is Real’. Link in my bio. . . . . . . #politics #socialjustice #trump #liberalism #struggle #swamp #draintheswamp
I read somewhere once that New Seasons isn’t the true sign of gentrification, Little Big Burger is. I don’t know if that is true or not, but the sweet fire burgers are delicious.
#gregandnoreenswedding
#sidecar #moto #motorcycle #motorbike
In what decade would you guess this neighborhood was built?
I love lake.
Ten years ago my professor, Morgan Sweeney, passed away while on our U.K. study abroad trip. He was a funny, kind-hearted man straight from a novel or movie. He seemed genuinely interested in his students and I had many conversations with him while sitting on benches such as the one pictured, outside of castles and other historic sites. That summer was one of the best experiences of my life (save for riding a coach across the rolling English countryside whilst hungover). Thanks, Morgan.
One of my favorite hikes. Awesome day. Now off to Double Mountain for beer and pie.
Just peachy
Don’t bother trying to get ahold of me for the next several days. . . . . . . #gibson #lespaul #doublecut #tvyellow
Z’s best George Burns impression.
A nice day in #pdx.
#skylark
Beautiful day.
#Seattle #skyline
Howdy.
When great 3rd places pop up where once none were, we rejoice.
First MLS game! #timbers
Live a meaningful life.
Checking out @theminimalists live at the Aladdin in #pdx. #minimalism #lessisnowtour
#Latergram. The nice weather has me out of hibernation mode and looking forward to more adventures.
One’s recovering from a rabies vaccine, the other from eye surgery, and I’m dying from cuteness overload.
Catching up after a busy weekend. Day 28 of the #Minsgame. Not pictured, but purged/sold: 2nd gen Apple TV, iPod Classic, and an old Yamaha receiver.
Zoey should’ve rented a rototiller.
Is this still good, @gaybrains?
New blog post on A Sturdy Life about valuing your time. Link in my bio. . . . . . . #minimalism #minimalist #asturdylife #travel #redwoods #intentionalliving #alifealive #pdx #oregon #california #bucketlist #planning #trip #vacation #summer #weekend #earthday #trees
This week I’m on an “automobile diet” and taking the train to work every day this week for #earthday. Hoping to establish a longer-term pattern. Here are two projects we partly funded (left and right foreground). They also happen to be two of the most energy efficient buildings in the country. #communitydevelopment #trimet #max #pdx #passivehouse #urbanplanning #affordablehousing
“Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.”
I have a new blog post on #asturdylife about when thrifting isn’t thrifty. Link in my bio. . . . . . . #minimalism #minimalist #springcleaning #declutter #declutteryourlife #thrifting #thrifty #thriftstorefinds #thrift #pdx
Day 13 of the #minsgame. Parting with some of my less prized records. 91 items and counting. . . . . . . #minimalism #minimalist #springcleaning #declutter #declutteryourlife #records #vinyl #thriftfinds #lessismore #scrambler #moto #motorcycle #cyclepsyhos
Day 9 of the #minsgame. Resorted to raiding the sock drawer. What a mess it was. . . . . . . . #minimalism #minimalist #springcleaning #declutter #declutteryourlife #day9 #socks
Powell Butte with my girls.
Day 7 of the #minsgame and this is officially getting harder. A portion of the ties I never wear. . . . . . #minimalism #minimalist #springcleaning #declutter #declutteryourlife #day7
Got an upcoming move planned? Are you dreading it? Check out my latest blog post. Link in my bio. . . . . . #minimalism #moving #growing #pdx #packing #uhaul #storage #clutter #declutter #minimalist
I’m looking for durable product recommendations to include in a list I’m curating called The Sturdy Thirty. It could be practically anything you’ve found a lot of value in. Shoot me a line if you have one and follow me at @asturdylife! #thesturdythirty #minimalism
I’m starting a new project called A Sturdy Life. If interested, you can find the link in my bio. Ain’t much there yet, but bookmark if you wish.. . . .
#minimalism #intentionalliving #minimalist #architecture #urbanism #placemaking #urbanplanning #life #pdx #asturdylife #growth
#guitargoals #gibson #lespaul #special #doublecut #tvyellow
This week marks 3 months without cigarettes and I ran almost 3 miles before 7 am. Quick, someone check my temperature.
I love this place. Feeling pretty special.
Daffodils and tulips coming up, and roses well on their way. Looking forward to painting this sucker because I’m having fun slowly transforming this former short sale shithole into something a bit nicer. #homeownership #oregon #pdx #sweatequity
Can’t help but smile at the Dual Hearted IPA by @fallingskybrew. I wonder if @bellsbrewery has any thoughts on this?!? #pdx #craftbrew #beer #twohearted
Pawsing for a photo. . . . .
#puppy #puppies #puppiesofinstagram #goldendoodle #goldendoodlesofinstagram #pdx #doodle #cute
#raisedbeds #garden #spring #oregon #willamettevalley #cedar #organic #homesteading
I’m home sick today, bitches.
Ready for my girls to come home after a long weekend in Cali. I feel like a rudderless ship when left to my own devices. I just go from task to task to distract myself.
Quasi
All in all, a great birthday weekend. No huge plans made, but lots of time with both my girls, working on the house, good food, and a beer or two. Here’s to a year full of growth, a heart full of love and appreciation, and a promise to invest in those who who have invested in me.
. . . . .
#saintjohnsbridge #stjohns #pdx
Epic.
Lunchtime meanderings.
I swear to god, she is just staring at herself.
My prescription for stress relief.
So good.
East Jordan, MI leaving its mark 2300 miles away.
Repurposed desktop with hairpin legs. Didn’t turn out too bad.
Zoeymonster
Woke up today knowing in my heart of hearts that it’s time for a change. When you love everything about your life except your job, it’s a scary feeling. The end of 2015 and all of 2016 was great to me. I moved to a great city, found the woman of my dreams, had countless adventures, and bought a house. 2017 will be focused on physical, mental and spiritual health.
Amazon package delayed due to natural disaster.
I get so much more work done in the comfort of my own home. It’s too bad my place of work allows this 0% of the time, except on my own time, which is obviously “unpaid”. Us lazy government workers. If the general public knew how many times me and my coworkers put in 60+ hour weeks without overtime, just because we’re understaffed and we care about the job we do, I think maybe there would be less shit talking about government workers going on. And maybe I could have a goddamn beer on my lunch once in a while.
Our little monster with the sneak attack ear licks.
Taking in the sights (and smells and tastes).
City by the bay.
Her parents got jokes
#hooverdam
Everyday she’s hustlin'. #thugkitchen
Searched for a filter to hide the hangover. Alas, it does not exist. Me and ma, wrapping what seemed like 1,000 gifts today. I need a vacation from my vacation.
Sledding!!!
Growing up too fast!!!
Had to #dib
Hanging out with my favorite for the day before I scoot off to the wintry Midwest.
Here, have a seat.
Lazy Sundays.
St Johns Winter Beer Fest
Project maple radio progressing.
Something I’ve been saving.
Reusing some maple flooring to make a Bluetooth stereo.
Black Goldendoodle going home with us in a couple weeks. Shar’s pretty excited!
Lounging and loving with full hearts and bellies on thanksgiving. Watched ‘Bad Moms’ at the request of my mom. Left my keys in her parents kitchen; came in two hours late to work today. “Floating Holidays” replaced automatic days off. Not complaining. It’s dead at the office, which, not surprisingly, makes it easy to get actual work done.
My lil Eskimo.
A year ago she walked into a bar and I’ve been her chauffeur ever since. She must be doing something (all the things) right.
What the hell is this thing
Pomeroy Place Veterans Housing groundbreaking!
Board of County Commissioners approve funding for homeless veterans' housing. Not a difficult sell, but a win nonetheless.
Date night at the ice skating rink. #luckydude
I don’t, either. #idgaf #1dgaf #alaska #licenseplate
Heartless Bastards.
Worked in the yard again last night, trying to make it into something sane. Lots of tree limbs and debris and old toys and junk left from the old renters. Drank some beer and burned some branches under the guise of a recreational fire. It was nice (and no one called the fire department).
#dadhat #jumpcreek #idaho
Another exciting training at a HUD field office.
Hey boy-see
Who’s laughing now, Google Street View?
Off to a good start.
King for a day.
Someone in the building didn’t like the gendered restroom signs.
Leaves turnin' on my quiet street. Fall in the air.
Looks like a nuke went off in Portland.
Wrapping up a pretty decent weekend. Ahh
I love that this little house has a huge redwood in its yard.
Even the strip malls…
The most physically demanding thing I’ve done (so far).
Well, I think that’s a little bit of an improvement. Exploring paint options.
Stuff happening.
Happy 30th to this goofball, the light of my life. May the love and happiness you share with others return to you tenfold.
Enter:suburbia. Closing next week ð¬
And my heart will go on
Post white water rafting. First of many, so much fun.
Stop off at Buoy.
Pretending to know what I’m doing
Pops looking pretty excited about pizza and beer after a long day in the gorge yesterday.
Shoots n ladders.
It’s just ok. #nofilter
Does not suck.
Ramona Falls
Fording the rapids.
Super proud of this amazing woman for completing her MSW today. Looking forward to many more weekends like this one (sans homework!)
O hai. #1925 #martin #acoustic #guitar
#First official #5k since high school. On an upward trend… #pdx #iwasarunner
Get busy livin'.
Another awesome day in the gorge. 8ish mile hike at Eagle Creek. #eaglecreek #oregon #waterfall #hike
Love where you live. #Oregon
Am I dreaming? ð #coyotewall #washington #oregon #columbiarivergorge #gorgeous #hike
“I’ve always loved infiltration. To me, that’s what punk rock has always been about: going where you don’t belong without anyone noticing until it’s too late. It’s not about how you dress. So, I think we chose the venues under the guise of, “Hey, this place looks pretty damn beautiful. Let’s go there.” The Fox Theatre in Detroit, for example. It’s a pleasure to wander in this historic place, set up shop and say, “the elegant scumbags are in town.” -Josh Homme #americanairlines #austintoportland #flight #detroit #punk #iggypop #joshhomme #foxtheatre
You know you’re in Texas when you almost get run over by a man on a mule on the sidewalk. ***
#austin #tx #texas #walkability #travel #mule #horseback #southernliving #eastaustin #cowboy
They tried to make me go to rehab, but I went to the Farmacy instead. Austin, I love you. ***
#austin #tx #texas #brunch #hillsidefarmacy #breakfast #restaurant #eastaustin #clever #travel #wandering #eats #reuse #historic #renovation #rehab #wouldntitbenice #farmtotable #southernliving #comfortfood
East 6th is looking a lot like North Mississippi. #pdx #atx #portland #austin
Dig it. #shadows #signs #design #chiocodesign #austin #texas
Mornin'. #Texas #Capitol #Austin
Wait…so, what exactly is “authentic Detroit style pizza,” anyway? #Detroit #313 #austin #michigannative #texas
#isthisreallife #waterfall #oregon #pnw #silverton #hike
We saw probably 10 waterfalls today and put down a good number of miles hiking. It was radical. #waterfall #silverton #Oregon #hike #pnw
Things were pretty good at brunch today. #tastynalder #portland #breakfast #travelportland
Blue Dot Double #IPA for a blue sky day. #hairofthedog #pdx
Pristine automobile. #VW #volkswagen #lovebug #vintage #cars #carsofinstagram #pdx
Picnicking with this bodacious babe. Grateful every day. #mountsainthelens #washington
Neighbors with a #luthier #pdx
#oregon
Love these guys @geographermusic #pdx #hawthornetheater
Quiet morning. #pdx #burnside #sunrise #usbancorptower #highrise #skyline #oregon #roadtrip #fuelforlife
#oldmancans #pdx
I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of the Oregon coast. #pacific #ocean #mist #Oregon #oregonexplored #alifealive
#pioneersquare #seattle #rise
#stairwaytoheaven #seattle
Only in #Portland. #pdx #keepportlandweird #goosehollow #lumina #cars
#magnolias blooming.
#spring #pdx #portland #psu #arbor
Stuff’s about to get weird. #1984 #knitting #freebooks
Birthday at the #beach. Beautiful #Oregon day.
A little sweetness in my life for my day off. #saltandstraw #presidentsday #icecream #pdx
#PDX #Bridgetown #portland
On that not-so-dusty #trail. #Oregon #sunrays #trees #green #pnw
#oxbow #deer #oregon
#downtown #portland #pdx #skyline #willamette #oregon #bridge
#downtown #pdx #Stumptown #portland #coffee
Book of Mormon
#martin #martinguitar #pdx #portland #guitar #acoustic #elderly #lansing
Still feel like I’m cheating winter by living here.
My super smart, caring and beautiful niece excited about opening a gift from gramma. She’s getting so big. #latergram
Lunchtime meandering. #mthood #oregon #pdx #hillsboro #snow #pnw
Powell’s City of Books #pdx #portland #bookstore #powells
We’re all bozos in the #bus.
“Nothing has been wasted, for it all has brought you here.” #mthood #pdx
#fuckcancer #brothers #homefortheholidays #greymatter #cancersucks
Isn’t it funny how someplace you resented and scrapped so hard to get away from can become the ultimate place of comfort as an adult?
Practically have the place to myself. #giraffe
These folks make great beer. @baerlicbrewing #pdx #brewery
#pdx #fall #love #nature #leaves #heart #portland
A man rows his boat down the Willamette River with a fresh white Mt. Hood peaking out over the Tilikum Crossing in Portland at sunset. #snow #mthood #Tilikum #pdx #Oregon #sunset #love #bridge #mountain #cityscape #nature #river
The stable. #history
There be fungus among us.
Attempted #murder. But honestly, there were thousands of crows in downtown #pdx this evening. Eerie.
Does not suck @ Lake Cushman #washington #olympicnationalpark
Smoosh?
uspostalservice iPhone camera thinks the Paul Newman stamps I ordered are ten Paul Newmans. #paulnewman #paulnewman #paulnewman #paulnewman #paulnewman #paulnewman #paulnewman #paulnewman #paulnewman #paulnewman
taylorswift pop #jiffypop #pdx
portlandcider’s take on a pastie. I wonder what a #yooper would think?
Not everyone in this town who wears flannel is a #lumbersexual. #pdx
I always get a kick out of this.
A nice night.
#Telekinesis at Mississippi Studios. #pdx
Soaking up as much sunshine as I can before it decides to go away for…a few months.
A very special #window.
Live music, local beer, homemade tamales and a good cause. #Bienestar #hillsboro
#VFW memorial plaza in Vancouver, WA
I need this shirt. #grumpy
I have found the vegan, gluten-free, GMO-free, nougat-free center of the hippy universe. #Eugene #Oregon
Top of the morning to ya. #pdx #mthood
#tillikumcrossing #pdx
#skills
Quiet morning waiting for the streetcar to make my first journey over the Tilikum Crossing. Portland completed the loop as well as the Orange line (light rail) and they opened this weekend. Nerding out. @ridetrimet #transit #portland
Wish I were catching the Orange. But Blue line it is. @ridetrimet #trimet #max #lightrail
Contrasts
Smell ya later. #vegas
#Utah #bigsky #zionnationalpark #alive
#Utah is easily one of the most spectacular states.
#Utah #Zion
#Zion #Utah
When you find a swimming hole in the desert
#Chevy #3200 #zionnationalpark #buffalo
#Vegas #caesarspalace
#lax #googie #architecture #mcm
That’s a bummer, man.
How sweet it is to have windows.
A hot spring in a lake in a volcano in a forest in Oregon. #latergram #paulinalake #Oregon #volcano #newberry #bend #deschutes
Custom.
Newberry National Volcanic Monument. #love #Oregon
#exploregon #newberry #deschutes #hotsprings
Decided to take the #Porsche out for a drive.
#Exploregon
Pretty excited about deez donuts. #bluestardonuts
Spotted in Portland @goldenharvest #pdx #lansing
#Beirut @zachcondon #mfnw #closerwithskype
#nofilter #sauvieisland #oregon #pdx
#sauvieisland
Messing around on #sauvieisland #portland #olivertractor #roboteyes
And…we’re back in business. #Beogram @bangolufsen
#pdx #skyline #pureroregon
Not a bad Wednesday after a hard day’s work. Beer collaboration with #bcorps between @newbelgium and @hopworksbeer. The party is behind me but the view up here is amazing.
landrover defender 90. #want
Nice…brush guard? #vw #bus
I LOL’d. #cheetahs #newengland #deflategate
Woke up in a dream. #Oregon
shinola notebooks at @powellsbooks #portland #detroit
Whose tag line was first: “Your adventure begins at visitbend.com” OR “Your trip begins at michigan.org”? @visitbend @puremichigan #puremichigan #visitbend
No contest. @craftworkdetroit hands down. Take me home. #Salem #Oregon #Detroit
Fallen heroes in #sellwood. Bucked. #lego
Looking for a house to rent in #sellwood. Grabbing some BBQ at Reverend’s. Beautiful day in #portland.
#Prosciutto everywhere @hamletpdx
A grainy iPhone picture of the rising #bluemoon this past weekend at #sauvieisland over the #columbiariver #vangogh, maybe? #latergram #skinnydipping #oregon #starrynight
Ever look closely at a #plum or a #pluot? They look like delicious little #galaxies. #stardust #fruit #space #time #fruittheory
#columbiarivergorge #Oregon #pdx
Hello there. #sauvieisland #bugs
On a potential site visit for a veteran’s housing and public services project and this is the neighbor. Thought it was cool until I saw the confederate flags. Too bad. #confederateflag #turkeys #chickens #pdx
Good times.
Because 4am yoga on concrete is always a good idea @modesty4president #latergram #seattle
Stumbled upon a #sweatshop.
“Not your father’s root beer.” #hardrootbeer @smalltownbrewery @clarksbistroandpub
Obligatory #beard update for my mom. @debhagerty14
#pdx #place #placemaking #planning #architecture #placestudio #landscapearchitecture
Food pod. #pdx #camper
My favorite things. @lardopdx @buoybeer #buoyatlardo #beer #pdx
Feeling like a warm fall night, neighbor. #church
This state has that whole import substitution thing down pat. Catsup?
Latergram. Crappy photo but was introduced to this great place called the Multnomah Whiskey Library last weekend. Speakeasy style place. Took awhile to get in, but the waitstaff are incredibly knowledgeable, even given their 1,500 bottles of whiskey. The library style sliding ladders were a nice touch. Great place to sip with friends on a leather couch in a great space. #pdx #whiskey #scotch #bourbon #whiskeylibrary #library #portland #bar #speakeasy
#yodude
Teddy Roosevelt. #roughrider #statue
Hey, why not? #weezer #projectpabst
Modern barbecuing.
The green room. #PDX
“The Big Legrowlski”. Abide. #PDX #growlers #lebowski
Urban planning trivia night. #portland #pdx #urbanplanning #lotuscardroom
#parking #pdx
First time seeing one of these.
Fun finds at the #portland Goodwill. #canon #tx #vintage #film
Found in our building. #diegorivera #detroit #dia #oregon
Plan B.
Those legs tho. Short hike up to #Bagby hot springs yesterday. I love this state. #Oregon
Oh, just the World Domination Summit 2015. No big deal. #wtf #PDX #wds2015
Coincidentally perfect. #badboys #pistons #reruns #detroit #laimbeer #pdx
Now I walk #alone. Chin up. #portland
#whatever
The County takes its sustainability and social responsibility kind of seriously.
On my evening walk. This made me miss my Scrambler. #triumph #motorcycle
This city. #pdx #oregon #pot
Where the Willamette meets the Columbia. #portland #oregon
To many more days like this @maggiesisco #oregon #clacksmas #forest #rapids
#hats
The struggle is real here in Oregon. #heatwave
Affordable Housing Inventory Update at Metro
The #Oregon coast. #pdx #patches #nofilter
When I’m hungry, everything looks like bacon.
Seattle
Mt. St. Helens (54 miles away @ 8,364 ft) with Mt. Rainier in the background (104 miles away @ 14,410 ft). #pdx
Not too shabby. Mt. Hood from 50 miles out. Elevation: 11,235 ft. #mthood #pdx
Up way too early.
A little late night maintenance, #welding on the tracks. #pdx #trimet #lightrail #slowshutter
The Compromise. #trees
Those things in the distance still throw me off from time to time. The county I work in is beautiful. #flatlander
Ain’t lost. #thuglife
From earlier in the week. Last resort coffee and taking notes like a second grader.
Anyone ever done this before? 2 hours? Sounds awesome. #ziptours
Meaner Wiener. #hillsboro #hotdogs #intheshadows
I love this city. #pdx #food #burgers
Hello there! #mthood #pdx
Spotted in the 5th quadrant today en route to a great BBQ with @jeffjpdx &co. #dodge #van #vintage #pdx
#multnomah #library
Still life with #rogue. #eighthop
Because it was the right thing to do. Week one down. #pdx #rogue
Buildings of #pdx.
#idk
They might be giants. #hillsboro #pnw
An excuse to get drunk on wine, but not a bad excuse. Painting vertical lines at #clarksbistroandpub #hillsboro
The #PNW. Where ferns grow in the sewer. #nature #pdx
Yep. #goodbeer #greatfood #hillsboro @clarksbistroandpub #pinedrops
Old and new stock. #TriMet #max #pdx #hillsboro
Beaverton Central. #trimet #oregon #pdx
#lardo #portland
#portland #willamette #sail
#portland
Nice try. #Honda #ev #charging #hillsboro
Things are getting pretty rowdy down here on Taylor. #starlightparade #portland
This must be one hell of a parade if people have been setting up over 7 hours early. #starlightparade #portland
#fortgeorge #Astoria #publichouse
Genius. #Astoria #Oregon #Taps
I guess this makes it official. #librarycard #multnomah #portland
My new home.
Up at the buttcrack, racing the #sunrise. #pdx bound. #Detroit - #Portland #roadtrip
Found while cleaning. #wbw #msu #40lbslighter
Right on top while cleaning out the office.
Got the route planned. That doesn’t look too bad… #pdx #Detroit
“I park where I want” #corvette
Cleaning windows on the Boji #lansing
#thisoldsaddle #belt
#halp!
Maybe we can “borrow” this truck @maggiesisco ð #canadadry
How well do #peppers travel? Ha
Time to start that diet I’ve been meaning to get on…lol
Here kitty, kitty. #tiger
Open the #windows.
#Pyrex #labflask #dirt #plants #herbs #experimenting
#bt5k2015
#Detroit #cliffbells #leonbridges
#Michigan Governor #RickSnyder at the Building Michigan Communities Conference. Politics aside, there’s something to be said about him being the first governor to attend Michigan’s largest community development and housing event for the last 17 years.
Saying my goodbyes. #Portland #Hawthorne
Hehe #chihuahua #greatdane
1: it is an unseasonably warm, amazingly awesome day. 2: it is my last day in #Portland and I’m trying to not let that bum me out. 3: I wish I had the heart and confidence of some of these not-so-great street performers. Gotta work on that self love. Thanks #Oregon for the memorable and friendly trip. #cheers
Sunset on the #Oregon coast. Couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day to drive the 101. Cheers from #Pelican.
#degarde brewery’s Petit Azacca
#contemplation #Josiah #Oregon #coast
End of the line. #holyshit
Time to hit the countryside. #haha
There is beer here. #apexbar #azaccadryhopped #bearrepublic #portland
#Portland #skyline
I’m pretty sure dogs run this town. #ohsu
Up next.
Now that’s a placemaking strategy I can get behind.
Onto #Bridgeport for the Hop Czar. #Portland
Great pour. #deschutes
Had to, and may have two. #deschutes #pinedrops
Thirsty doggy.
A couple of people having an extremely bad day?? #lovelansing
Nice little set of Homer Laughlin #coffee mugs found at #goodwill this weekend.
Nice #recordstoreday find at #voa. Wow. #vintage colonial wind-up #record player.
An easy, breezy Saturday. Forecast calls for brunch making, bike riding, thrifting, and Beer Grotto-ing.
Beautiful spring evening with a belly full of Jamaican food and a new issue of #theatlantic.
Biker babe on her new used bike! #Zoobies #oldtown #sundayfunday
I have acquired a #cowboy hat.
The new pornographers' #electricversion won me a free beer at #trivia. Love that album
Home Depot said it couldn’t be done. Shower diverter + 1/2" female pipe thread to 3/4" male garden hose thread converter + garden hose quick connect = my apartment now has laundry facilities and my clothes are clean for Easter. #smallapartment living
Good as new and glad to be out of that Malibu. #Shaheen doesn’t discriminate. #donthate #subaruofamerica
One of those days.
This place is great. #Zoobies
A good day! #cheers
Picture me rollin? #loaner #chevysontheroam
The garden has begun.
Finding some architectural #salvage pieces at #Detroit #antique mall.
#jeffersonchalmers #detroit
“Happiest #homeless person says…let #love burn your troubles away.” This guy is walking to the #cumberlandgap #Lansing #lovelansing
I went on a rant about 3rd wave coffee a few months ago. Well, this was my first nitro cold brew and it was delicious. #Lansing
Tiny #kitchen solutions.
#motorcity
#JohnVarvatos #detroit
Spring in #Detroit
I don’t know what I was thinking, but I should’ve bought this. #VOA #Lansing #Thrifting #velvetpainting
I want these machine heads. #elderly #Lansing #martin
Obviously thrilled. #cars
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. #darkhorse #doublecrookedtree #ipa
Better than a sharp stick in the eye. #Lansing
#moving along, slowly but surely.
#latergram because fur hat, that’s why. And it’s been a rough few weeks so why not laugh at yourself. Come on, Spring!!!
#Hozier #royaloak
#moving #myuglychair
Higher Grounds beans right around the corner at #GTPC
I can see this coming in handy in a few months.
#mecurybar #detroit
What a purrrfect day I’m having right meow.
Some #nextlevel #coffee making right here. #espro #frenchpress
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood at -1° #newcenter #detroit
This could be my part-time office soon. Zero complaints. #Detroit
You have outdone yourself, Dan. Keep your hands off my red #swingline! #officespace #milton #imgoingtosetthebuildingonfire
20,000 dreams #detroit
Proud owner. Thanks for the early bday gift @maggiesisco! #Pewabic #pint #cheers #madeindetroit #detroit #craftbrew #pottery
There goes my #hero
Pluck those #heartstrings all you lovely people. #valentines
#puremichigan
My brother, there’s nothing he can’t do.
#chrisbathgate #macsbar #lansing
A) Will Dan kill me if I drink his last #Founders #KBS and B) will it even matter?
#no
Snow day.
Silly kids ð¦
The renovated lobby @ the Whitney.
#michigan #pewabic #pottery #detroit
#perspective #belleisle #detroit #centralpark #manhattan #olmstead #maps
Offer accepted pending inspection and appraisal! #1923 #craftsman #bungalow
#stencil #brick
Oldest aquarium in North America. #belleisle #aquarium #detroit
Canal livin', #Detroit leanin'
Cheech
#brunch #feed #Chicago
It had to come at some point. #snow #michigan
Emily shoeing me from her stacks and stacks of #paper. We all love the #Bureaucracy!
Margaritas as big as your head.
Always nice to be #home.
#saintnick #christmas #snowglobe
Family tradition. #glenlivet
‘Use with extreme caution. Or don’t. We Arnt your mom’. #ghostpepper #bloodymary
Well this is fun.
I see that my white elephant gift of a white rhino head was well received. #work #holiday
I was recognized with a coin today from the government. It should have been cash and pizza.
No, Trulia. No.
Always a welcomed reprieve. #home
The beauty of Northern MI. #michigan
#northernnatural #traverse #tc #cider
Whiteout in the D. #detroit #riverboat #snow
Thinking back to one of my favorite days. Greeting the morning in #Paris. #sunrise #init
Leggy the lamp does NOT approve of the snow and cold. “In these heels?!” he says… #brrr #fragile #leglamp #winter #novelty
#westsidemarket
Nature hug in #Maine. What a great trip. 10 states in 5 1/2 days. #newengland #roadtrip #bucketlist #waterfall âï¸ Sorry it didn’t work out, but I’ll be back for you, NYC.
#Portland
#sunrise
Sunrise #Maine
#Maine
#newhampshire
#Vermont
Cleaning out my trunk. What the hell is this??
Maintenance weekend. #Subaru #roadtrip
#eeyore
First item on the bucket list: knock out New England and add 6 states (for a total of 41), with a pitstop in New York for good measure. #roadtrip #alifealive #doinit #subaru
#decepticon #chevy #1500 #van
No thanks. #spider
It’s only been about 10 years since I’ve seen this kid. #college #roommate
#sharonvanetten #thelovingtouch #ferndale
#grandhaven #lakemichigan #surfing #lighthouse #pier #puremichigan
#Zoobies #latergram
#Thursday #gonzo
Winter is coming. #subaru
I’ve had these middle-of-the-road #headphones for about a year. I will never go back to #earbuds. Well rounded sound quality and they drown out this chaotic office. What’s your favorite pair?
#bros
#tigers #fullmoon #puremichigan #detroit #baseball
Not bad, McGillicutty! #snackattack
Mad’s first day of 3rd grade. #latergram #growingup
She doesn’t get out much #catstagram
Um.
Few things more beautiful to me than a sycamore tree.
#Shinola clock at #EasternMarket #Detroit #Shed3
Maggie’s handiwork on an industrial desk I found at #MSU Surplus Store for $15. Steel construction with solid wood top. I like the distressed wood with the clean white paint job. Nice job! #detroit #diy #desk #furniture #apartmenttherapy
Drinks and movies. #detroit
You can have your #DollarShaveClub. #Muhle
This place is amazing. #UMich
“Flying high!”
Trimmed dat beard down to the #stubble. Feeling #naked.
Merikuh. Brad in his #flag tank #madeinchina #america #wtf #brothers
I do like this town a little bit. #detroit #peoplemover #rail #skyline
Missing this old grump something fierce. #gunther #boxers #lounging #oldman #mansbestfriend #wayback #doggie
Doesn’t make me feel old at allllll.
Plenty of great #Motown entertainment tonight at the Detroit Economic Club’s Chairman’s Dinner. #econclub
Dan breaking in my chair at the air show. #latergram
Beautiful day for a game. #tigers
#detroit #fleetwood #cadillac
Movie in bed with the munchkin.
Brad, Madisyn and Amy.
Down on the centennial farm for the family reunion. Uncle Terry’s #3100 #Chevy #Truck.
#zen
#peace
Had trouble finding my keys. #recovery #fiscalyear
A shell of his former self. #crawdad #nofilter
#eyespy #detroit #windsor #international
#canned #bells #twohearted, take me away.
The mayor of happy. #happycity #alexander
Jim and William debating the future of the city. #cnu22 #meetbflo #buffalo #jhk #jameshowardkunstler
I found the sunshine between two hulking buildings.
#cnu22 #meetbflo #buffalo #silocity #bus #sunset
#cnu22 #meetbflo #buffalo #skyline #sunset
#cnu22 #meetbflo #buffalo #silocity #duany
#cnu22 #buffalo #meetbflo
#cnu22 #buffalo
#cnu22 #buffalo
#cnu22 #buffalo
#buffalo #cnu22
#detroit is one strategically located SOB.
#motorcity #detroit #jefferson #saturday
Doing it right.
My old neighbor Marty paints on the backs of tall boy beer flats. He charges the cost of the beer +deposit for his work.
Hmm. #EL
Ok find today. #kinks
Summer cut. Free
After the storm. #spring
The second longest relationship I’ve ever had. #shedoesnttalkback
#ontheroad
Well isn’t that cute.
#Kiting, sorta.
#tbt #thebighouse #obama #commencement #potus #michigan #otherhashtagsaswell
#michigan #backroads #blue #barn
#ionia #ontheroad #thenational #riverside
#ionia
Rllly wish they’d get back to me on my offer. #realestate #bungalow
Last few days of the big hair!
#sharks
Hilton Head. It’s dark here. #longday
City bucket list 2014: onward to Savannah. #journey #roadtrippin
Oh boy.
After the winter we’ve had, this definitely does not suck. #vacation
Indeed.
Apollo 8. #nasa
#angrybird
#rockets
So…one of our engines had a fuel leak so they had to turn it off and land with one. Taxi escort by the fire department. #delta #deltaairlines #atlanta #nofoolin
Digging the 12er of Centennial cans @gaybrains.
There are 1399 people from Gaylord who don’t know the difference between you’re and your.
James doing his thang. #jhk
Outlawing Main Street - John Norquist, President of CNU, on Hoover and federal impediments to mixed use development.
Robert Gibbs at the Economics of Urbanism Symposium. #birmingham #michigan
#mes14 #ricksnyder #grandrapids #puremichigan
Michael Finney and Rick Snyder. #MES14 #puremichigan
DeGraff opening day two of the #GES14 #innovation #puremichigan
March Hop Madness with my dad! #hopcat
Whoopsie daisy. #kroger
Proud of my dad and his “First Lady”.
Not bad for a Monday.
Detroit Public Library #DPL
Nice ride! #shinola
Fisher.
Working in #detroit
Unfashionably effective.
#stephenmalkmus #jicks #ferndale #detroit
Coming together. #thrift
So this is happening…
#puremichigan
youreadirtyleg !
Waking up in the D.
#fact
Winter: it’s been real, but move along now.
A beautiful February day for a move. #puremichigan #detroit
This #PureMichigan winter sponsored by #Subaru.
I Dream’d in a Dream, or From Cook to Urban Planner. 9-year-old bookmark. #whitman
This is not ok.
Mad at the #naias2014 #detroit #smartcar
Best autocorrect #fail ever.
80s party. #pixystix
Enjoying a #homebrew pale. Happy #Friday. #beer
Brad: “Amazing!” Me: “I call bullshit.” #tbt
Vino of course.
#puremichigan
Today I pick up from layaway my first amp in over 8 years. I will be unreachable for the remainder of the evening. #fender #bluesdeluxe #bargainbasementsnatchofthe year
Ha!
#dollarstore
Santa spotting. #usps
Apparently I’ve been 1 cr. away from an associate degree at LCC for 10 years. Challenge accepted. Ha!
Stout, Pale Ale, Rye.
Tonight we siphon #beer into the secondary.
#indafloodplain
Talkin' shit about a pretty sunset.
#deckthecubes
‘Merica!
Having a little fun.
Local for the win. #madeinmichigan
Happy with it.
Searching for a heart of gold, and I’m getting old
#love
Seattle public library.
#rainier
#newcenter #detroit
#latergram
Many open grants and growing. I need a secretary.
The essentials…
Wish I had her energy :)
Sunrise through the alley.
Killed a few trees today for this. #dfc
Cracking up.
Marion.
My proletariat chariot is finally christened. But seriously, anyone in the market for a Ford?
So far it’s been a good week. Cougar-Rooter? Major awesome points for the name.
Perfect summer day. #oldtown #lansing
The best housewarming gift. #michigan #vintage #maps #nohighways
Found a grasshopper!
Mads planting a garden.
Many summers spent on this thing. #home
#themostamazingwoman
#onfire
As if it weren’t dangerously close enough, I’m moving two blocks closer to El Oasis #tacotruck
Fantastic morning for a ride to the top.
There’s that sneaky #rainbow
Hey lil buddy. #mantis
Somewhere over the rainbow….
#canada #jazz
Fun on Lake Fenton.
There’s just something about sporting a D cap that makes you feel harder than you really are. #selfie
This is not a golf club
My neighbor Marty does good work.
EL is growing up (a little). #eastlansing
Rich and his groovy ride! #vwbus
Hehe #bikecops
The new business cards have QR codes on the back. #gmafb
Happy June.
Toofless
Ah, camping.
Some much needed R&R.
Yup, I like it. A lot.
Uh, yup. #pisces
Frandor
Too good
The Triumph is happy to finally make it out of the garage for its first ride of the season.
I’m not sure what partner designed this, but dang those are some great 8-bit graphics. Old Skool.
What he heck?
CityFlats
Two affirmations in one fortune cookie. Does that mean they cancel each other out?
Niece Mad
Homework.
Took the plunge #martin
The perfect murder weapon is an icicle.
Back in the D
First stop: Short’s
N. Michigan
New tuning machines on an shitty guitar = success.
Elderly
Family
KJ
Mom
Old school GI Joe
Now we’re getting Christmas cards addressed to Andy Dillon.
Can’t even really believe I found this.
You may have a problem when
Secret Santa
Labor rally at the Michigan Capitol.
Want #DAM
My typewriter at the Denver Art Museum.
Grand Lake
Devil’s Thumb
#southwestairlines
Gets dark early
Beautiful day in DT Lansing.
#obama2012
Bane was in our green initiatives meeting today.
Crazy sunset in Lansing
Is getting cold
Really?
Fat Tire
Rainy day people
7 Monks, TC
Everything is going to work out.
Friday
Wine night.
diannaberggren
Doin ma thang
Lowell
Just call me foreman.
50 cents at FBC. I can now die happy.
Reading
Looks like Luna is having a better Monday than me.
Who knew?
On the road
Seriously kitschy lakeshore motel: day 3
Book worm
Fireworks from the boat on Lake Huron.
Summer in Michigan
I’d love to see this become something productive
The lil London planetree that will grow to 100 ft tall long after I’m gone