Life of Bryan

Getting ever so slightly more confident with web development in Ghost. Still have some visual tweaks I need to make, but the micro/photo blog I’ve been building is finally where I want it to be functionally, for the most part. No idea why I had such a hard time.

Nearly forgot about this album by fellow Michigan natives Taproot. Gift was on heavy rotation in the early 2000s.

One of my biggest irrational fears living with two young kids is that the background blur on my camera goes away during a Teams call.

USPS split my ZIP Code 10 years ago and added a new one, which my house is within. It still causes issues for deliveries. For example, in order to get deliveries from the local IKEA, I have to psych out the system by entering the old ZIP for delivery address, and my new ZIP for billing. 10 years!

Since I’ve been having some issues with my Leviton smart switches, I decided to get a few Matter enabled light bulbs. I know this was the promise of Matter, but setup was a breeze compared to the switches. Here’s to hoping they last—physically, and from a firmware perspective.

I liked the look of these clouds.

Leaves silhouetted against a sky filled with soft, fluffy clouds and a bright sunlight peeking through.

When the office mini split is right above your cube. I generally run pretty warm, but my ears feel like they’re going to fall off.

In my mind, James Earl Jones is Darth Vader reading the Bible. Growing up, my friend (and the drummer in my band) used to borrow his mom’s van for practice. In it, she had the unabridged Bible on tape, as read by JEJ. I couldn’t separate Vader from the experience of listening. What an icon. RIP.

As an urban planner, I wish Apple would start highlighting good urban design and human-scale infrastructure in their screensavers instead of flybys of automobile infrastructure (e.g. huge California freeways) or mega-scale, unsustainable building patterns (e.g. Dubai). Bigger is not better. #apple

One thing I like more about Threads over Mastodon and Bluesky is that you can post up to 10 photos, and you just swipe left on the post to see more. This is a winning design, the type that drives adoption. Too bad they don’t show up that way in the fediverse!

Might need to get this one.

It’s been a great year for tomatoes. 🍅 #pnw

How awful, and way too close for comfort in terms of both location and profession.

Melissa Jubane’s body found, neighbor charged with murder.

Not sure how I missed it before, but I watched Prey (2022) tonight, prequel to the Predator series. I needed something I didn’t have to think too much about, and it fit the bill. I’ve always liked hunters as an idea, so my bar is pretty low. For what it was, I enjoyed it.

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.

A woman wearing a blue hoodie and black leggings walks hand in hand with a child on a sidewalk.A woman wearing sunglasses is holding a young child in her arms outdoors.A cluster of tomatoes in various stages of ripening is surrounded by lush green foliage.

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.

A young child with a large backpack walks along a sidewalk, followed by a woman and another child.

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