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 …

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:

With average effort comes average results. With extraordinary effort comes extraordinary results.

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 …

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!