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, …

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.