Thoughts on thoughts
April 30, 2021Thoughts are like sparks flying up from a fire. They are bright for a moment and dazzle the eye, and then they cool and turn into ash and…
Screaming at the fire
April 27, 2021Screaming at the fire does not put it out. Talking about the fire does not put it out. Making a plan to put out the fire does not put it out…
Thoughts brew
April 21, 2021My brain is a bubbling cauldron full of thoughts. It is always bubbling, always getting information from my surroundings, constantly sending…
What is work?
April 21, 2021What is work, and is it good for me? These are great questions. I pat myself on the back for asking them, like I asked my 7th grade science…
Work sucks
April 20, 2021Work sucks. It really does. I don’t just mean the work that I do. I mean capital W “work,” the concept of selling labor to a corporation at…
Furora Fabula Absentosum
April 19, 2021furora fabula absentosum is the latin term for the feeling of being angry at someone who isn’t there and having little arguments in your…
Diary entry of a thought
April 16, 2021Dear diary, Do you ever wonder where I came from? Why am I even here? What does my existence mean? What if I smash my head into the desk…
Taking vitamin D to be happier and healthier
April 15, 2021Each day, after breakfast, my partner and I eat a vitamin D gummy. We are doing this to be happier and healthier. We do not actually know if…
Starting again, after the vaccine
April 14, 2021It takes 14 days to achieve a pretty good level of immunization after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. For my partner and I, that…
Thoughts on the eve of getting the vaccine
April 09, 2021Tomorrow. Tomorrow on April 10th, 2021, my partner and I are going to get one of the three widely available vaccinations for COVID-19. It…
What does it mean to want coffee in the evening, for the morning
April 07, 2021What does it mean, standing in the kitchen at night, thinking about the self standing in the kitchen the following morning, to want that…
Upton Sinclair Was So Right and So Wrong
April 06, 2021Have you heard of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair? Of course you have, everyone has heard of it. Have you read it? Recently? Probably not. Why…
Getting the vaccine
April 05, 2021I want to get the vaccine. It seems like all of my friends are getting it. How? Buncha different ways. One of them woke up at 3am in the…
The Fable of the Ears
April 01, 2021Once upon a time there were two ears sitting on a park bench. One ear said to the other, “Listen! Can you hear that? It’s an ice cream truck…
My physical therapist is a hippo
March 31, 2021My physical therapist is a hippo. We do our sessions by the river. I let her know that I’m there by writing my name onto a river rock with a…
Not meant to live like this
March 30, 2021We weren’t meant to live like this! Trapped in our domiciles, socializing with screens. I am a 3-D person, in a 3-D world. I need a 3-D…
Mary Berry
March 29, 2021Mary Berry, Mary Berry, the grandmother I never had. Lady grandmother. Blazer-wearing grandmother. Grandmother looking for an even…
High Knees
March 26, 2021Way up in the tower, someone is doing high knees. High knees. It is an exercise in which one raises, in turn, each knee. It is performed at…
Maybe I should write a technical blog post
March 25, 2021Maybe I should write a technical blog post. I am a software engineer, after all. I do the things that constitute software engineering. You…
Things I have learned in my old age
March 24, 2021I am old now, compared to how young I used to be. I often remark to myself, now, “wow, I’m not as young as I used to be, and I used to be so…
The benefit of repetition
March 23, 2021I used to think it a grave error to tell someone a story they already knew, or for an author to repeat themselves in different words on the…
Can't speed up time
March 22, 2021Let’s say, for fun, that you have an infection in your toenails that turns them sparkly blue. You would really prefer them to be a different…
The more you fart
March 19, 2021Perhaps you know the refrain: “Beans, beans the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot, the more you toot, the better you feel…
Test data diary
March 18, 2021Sometimes when I’m feeling more creative, I’ll try to make up more “fun” test data when I’m working on our app locally. For example, using…
Life is about getting back up
March 17, 2021I got a hip injury over a year ago when I fell off of a wall that I was climbing on. (I was at a bouldering gym). My hip still hurts from it…
Is it plugged in
March 16, 2021When something is not working as expected in your code, it is always worthwhile to double check to make sure it is plugged in. Is the code…
The point of the audience series
March 15, 2021Of course all this talk about audiences and profiles is really about me wondering if I should get back on social media. I’m still “on” it in…
Finding the audience
March 12, 2021Not every performance will resonate with every audience. Obviously. If a performance flops, it doesn’t necessarily mean the content is bad…
Career growth
March 11, 2021The crying means it's working.
The audience of today
March 10, 2021Picture a time before social media. When you see a performer on a stage, you know when they are performing. They are on the stage. That is…
Why perform?
March 09, 2021So why perform at all? Why bother to share your art and inner life with other people? Well, people who like performing find it very fun. It…
Resenting the audience
March 08, 2021Sometimes, the performer may grow to resent the audience and the control she feels the audience puts on her. The audience couldn’t truly…
Different audiences
March 05, 2021The audience does not change the performer. The audience changes the performance. The performer may choose, given different audiences, to…
The audience and the performer
March 04, 2021The performer must do what the audience wants, but she cannot do exactly what the audience wants. She must comfort the audience with the…
What an audience does
March 03, 2021The audience creates the performance. Without an audience, a performer is just having a conversation with themselves. That, of course, can…
So do all who live to see such times
March 02, 2021“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is…
What it is like to write a song
March 01, 2021First you tell yourself that you should not try to write a song. It is going to be horrible, after all. And there’s all of that everything…
The value of stating the obvious
February 23, 2021The value in stating the obvious is that sometimes you find out that it was not obvious. I think of the obvious as a sphere that is wholly…
The emotions of programming
February 19, 2021a story in pictures
Finding an old browser window full of tabs
February 18, 2021One day you find it, after swiping up on your Macbook with four fingers to see all of your open applications. It’s an old Chrome window—from…
It will never be right
February 17, 2021As you examine this thing, contemplate the idea that things are not OK, that they will never be OK, and that you will never get some of the…
Maximizers and minimizers
February 16, 2021My partner and I come from two different crops of people. He comes from a nest of maximizers, and I from one of minimizers. Maximizers…
Everyone is taking the pandemic seriously
February 15, 2021Accompanying the deadly pandemic, at least in the US, has been another pathogen with an equally powerful potential to poison the populace…
There is no clean and there is no dirty
February 12, 2021Clean and dirty, in terms of home cleanliness, do not actually exist. They are terms that refer to a very specific, and individual rubrics…
The hardest part of the workout is The Workout
February 11, 2021In every workout, there is some part of the workout that is the hardest, or most dreaded. Even in a very difficult workout, I can determine…
I would rather do anything aside from what I want to do
February 10, 2021Given 10 minutes and the chance to make progress on something I truly care about and want to do, I would rather not. I would rather sit and…
A zen poem
February 09, 2021yanking open the plastic blinds I find something inspiring about joggers This poem inspired by this one: coming along the mountain path I…
Living nowhere
February 08, 2021My partner and I are the well-off childless. We are the people that the United States’ great cities cater to, and right now, we are living…
The law of time
February 05, 2021Each day will pass in its turn. It will pass no more slowly, and no more quickly, than all the other days. On Monday, Saturday is five days…
What follows obsession
February 04, 2021What usually follows obsession is disinterest, or, rather, a lack of obsession. This is because obsession indicates a higher-than-normal…
The pigeon and the poisson
February 03, 2021Imagine this: you are in New York City, at one of its most famous French restaurants. It is a warm July evening, and you are sitting out on…
People are not interchangeable, part 2
February 02, 2021Occasionally I find myself wishing that I were “talking to more people,” or “had more friends,” or was “in a community.” All of these…
People are not interchangeable
February 01, 2021A while ago I blogged a few blogs about Jane Jacobs’ book The Death and Life of Great American Cities. One of the key points she made in the…
Does the small stuff matter?
January 29, 2021Do the little things matter? If it’s just something small, should I be concerned with it? But what if it only happens once—is that a big…
Anthropomorphizing linters
January 28, 2021I have noticed a habit that I think is interesting. When the linter shows that there is an error, or is warning me about something, it is…
Names are abstractions
January 27, 2021I like to work out. This has not always been the case, but it is the case now and has been for the past several years. In particular, I like…
How to deal with a small insomnia
January 26, 2021If you should wake up at 5:15 because building management is plowing the sidewalks after getting six inches of snow, and is doing something…
My succulents were dying
January 25, 2021In a previous post, I wondered out loud, in writing, whether my succulents were dying. I have confirmed that they are. I discovered this…
Welcome to the world
January 22, 2021Last night I became an aunt, which is to say, my sister had a baby. His name is Jonah, and he was born on January 21st, 2021. There’s a lot…
The evil of convenience
January 21, 2021I was listening to a podcast about Octavia Butler’s Parable series, and one of the hosts mentioned, I think, the phrase “evil of convenience…
An explanation of my last post
January 20, 2021A todo list is the sum of its parts.
How to get set up for a good remote meeting
January 19, 2021Prepare or die from boredom and distraction.
How to use feelings
January 18, 2021Feelings are suggestions.
Catchy thoughts
January 17, 2021Thoughts on thoughts.
I don't know if my succulents are dying
January 16, 2021They still look pretty good though.
When your head catches fire
January 15, 2021Do not ignore the flames.
The importance of keeping your head
January 14, 2021You need it.
How to make your problems worse: Lessons from traffic planning in NYC
January 12, 2021The consequences of paving for problems
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
January 11, 2021An excellent treatise on cities by Jane Jacobs
Little Amusingnesses, Vol 1
September 22, 2020Only the smallest things that make me happy
Musings, Vol 3
September 21, 2020Featuring only the latest musings
A little every day
September 16, 2020A little something I've been thinking about
Stream of musingness, vol 1
September 15, 2020Join me in the stream of muse
The most dangerous games that I play
September 10, 2020These could cause permanent damage
How to be a loser
September 09, 2020It's not hard if you don't try.
Musings, Vol 2
September 08, 2020Do not snooze on these muse(ings)
Self help alchemists and what they get wrong
September 07, 2020In which I talk about why self-help thought leadership is so annoying, and also some useful takeaways
Making plans
September 02, 2020In which I describe how we make dinner plans with a friend
Taking out the trash
August 31, 2020In which I describe how we take out the trash
A poem for The Killers
August 30, 2020Can you read my mind?
The one in which I remember as many bird sounds as I can
August 29, 2020Can you guess what they are?
Fun weekend plans for a pandemic
August 28, 2020If you're going to have a breakdown, do it earlier Saturday morning.
Welcome to the future
August 27, 2020We have lots of nice things. Even internet, sometimes.
All thinking is conspiracy thinking, vol. 1
August 26, 2020You're not better than them.
Executive summary of the official investigation into FooBar project of BazQuux Corp.
August 25, 2020It was found that a significant portion of the team's engineers were cats.
How to make yourself miserable, vol 2
August 24, 2020Demand only the best from yourself. If you don't think you'll be able to deliver, don't even try.
I will bookmark you
August 23, 2020When the day is dying and all is lost, I'll bookmark you.
How to make yourself miserable: Magnify the effort, ignore the reward
August 22, 2020It's going to be so much work to go outside. And then what? I'll enjoy the nice day? No thanks.
Musings on intellectual property, vol 1
August 21, 2020This blog post is copyrighted.
A Brief Post
August 20, 2020This will not take long.
Musings, Vol 1
August 19, 2020I am a not a lion. Read me muse.
JavaScript and coffee
August 18, 2020You cannot drink JavaScript.
Comparing apples and oranges
August 17, 2020Do not make pie with oranges.
My accountability partner made me do it
August 04, 2020He shares the blame of what I hath wrought.
Sorry about that last post
August 03, 2020I'm still not good at blogging, but I love talking about it
Where was I?
June 12, 2020My neighbor was crying and I was asleep.
Why is this all here?
June 11, 2020Up your professional bloggers. I'm here for fun.
How to talk to your cat about weight gain
June 03, 2020An approach for broaching a difficult subject
Some thoughts on turning 30
August 10, 2019I have now turned 30 and have feelings about it. Enjoy my musings.