Category: Notes

Taking my dog to the vet today for an updated rabies vaccine so she can be groomed, which means I’ll be shamed into some unnecessary tests and procedures and come home with a bill for $500. Ugh, why do vets suck so bad.

This Trunk or Treat fad…

Do Americans really hate walking so much that they Trick or Treat out of the trunks of cars in a parking lot?

Forever stamps.

Heading into my mid-40s as a frumpy, graying bureaucrat, gone are the days where I can pull off fashion. I used to be able to pull off almost anything. But now a mustache does not make me look edgy. It makes me look like Ned Flanders.

Wife: “I want to do goat yoga for my birthday. I guess they stand on your back.”

5: “Whaaaat? Goat yoga?? Can people do _cow_ yoga??”

Thinking back to my Livejournal days when everyone used to put their favorite books, movies, bands and artists right in their profiles. While usually inscrutable and sometimes arrogant, I kind of miss it. Thinking about adding a page to my blog like this, you know…for nostalgia purposes.

Ironically (?), the higher I get in my career and the more I’m paid, the less I see a defensible reason why leadership makes so much more money than others. The hardest working people in any office where I’ve been employed have almost always been the admin staff, with very few exceptions.

Looking forward to working with [Rayon](https://www.rayon.design/blog/rayon-v2) V2 today. Hopelly the team also gave us the ability to change text backgroud colors.

Who needs middle housing when you have 95% lot coverage?

Made my dentist’s BMW payment today with my second crown of the year. Hopefully I’m done cracking teeth for a while.

Currently reading: [Sapiens](https://micro.blog/books/9780062316103) by Yuval Noah Harari 📚

The fact that I still can’t add a song I recorded myself to my own Apple Music account via iPhone/iOS is perhaps the biggest lingering pain in the ass for me in the Apple ecosystem. Absurd in 2024.

No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious and charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful.

“Dad, do some people have 11 fingers?”

“Yeah, but it’s rather abnormal.”

“Oh my god, that is a bunch of fingers!”

Sunbreaks in the PNW. Sometimes it’s rainy in my backyard when it’s sunny in my front yard.

This product appeals to me. I recently got rid of my Apple Watch and I’m considering a more minimalist phone setup.

[Light Phone 3](https://youtu.be/SRnSQ7y0Obk?si=qJGzAE2PzWAS9ulC)

Is it just me or has Shazam become really spotty recently with its ability to identify a song?

As a blue voter and feminist, I find the online interviews with men about women’s bodies meant to expose ignorance ineffective. It might be more useful to address the 40% of women who voted for Trump in 2016 instead.

If there ever was a government program representative of how terribly run government programs can be, it’s Oregon’s BottleDrop program. Talk about taking something simple like returning your soda cans for deposit and turning it into to a nightmare every time I try to drop off my bags.

Do I know anyone who uses a [light phone](https://www.thelightphone.com) or something similar? How has your experience been?

Walking the boy to school this morning, I saw a middle age man a little older than myself walking with his two preteen girls. You could tell he adored them, but they made him stop before getting to the school grounds so as to not be seen with him. It made my heart ache as a dad.

Currently reading: [A Man Without a Country](https://micro.blog/books/9780525510130) by Kurt Vonnegut 📚

Finished reading: [The Omnivore’s Dilemma](https://micro.blog/books/9781101993835) by Michael Pollan 📚

On the ballot this year in Oregon (as I fill out my ballot at home):

1. Establish an impeachment process for elected officials
2. Remove lawmakers’ power to set their own pay
3. Allow ranked choice voting
4. Increase corporate taxes on the largest businesses and establish universal basic income of $1600/yr for every Oregonian
5. Allow cannabis workers to join unions