You ever realize someone is still alive that you thought left this world a long time ago? Noam Chomsky is like 94 years old.

More often than not anymore, I find myself foregoing bringing my mirrorless camera due to the convenience of just having a phone in my pocket.

There was a long time where the cameras in iPhones were so bad that it was an obvious choice to lug along my camera. But I think I might be over it.

I wonder how much of the day-to-day grind famous and wealthy people do for themselves. Like do they even make a sandwich for themselves when they’re hungry or pick up after themselves?

Really would love to have an activity tracker that fits completely hidden below a regular wristwatch. Why is this not a thing yet?

One hazard of taking stimulants for ADHD is that I’ll sometimes get sucked very deeply into podcasts directed at trades or occupations that I have absolutely no business listening to at all. I’m an hour and a half into an interview with a drug chemist who invented Vyvanse and I think I understand every other sentence.

Until recently, I’d always thought that the question “what is the meaning of life?” was used solely as a rhetorical device to convey the shared existential dilemma of humanity, and the challenges of finding one’s true purpose in life. It hadn’t even occurred to me that it might also be asking why life exists at all.

Witnessing a conversation unfold online about how more men need to support women’s college sports. But with 60% of college students now women, I don’t think men are the primary demographic they need to be targeting for more support.

Had an architect friend recently crap on neo-traditional home designs, calling them pastiche. This is why I don’t have many friends who are architects.

Hillsboro has nice stuff. Spent the morning and early afternoon swimming at Shute, played at the park, and picked up a big bag of books and movies at the library.

Quite a few years ago now I used to listen to the Minimalists podcast, but stopped when they started giving financial advice. The two most egregious tips they gave? 1) Pay off your student debt as quickly as possible, and 2) don’t take out a mortgage for a house unless you can put 50% down and pay it off in 7 years.

So here I am, several years later, with $107k forgiven in student debt last year, and a sub 3% mortgage, paying almost half for my house as it would cost to rent something similar.

Someone please make this winter stop.

You know the old saying, “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”? I have a new perspective on it.

There was a time when I felt stupid around certain people because I rarely knew what they were talking about. Names, events, cultural references, etc.

Turns out the people I was with were just domineering and self-centered. If you’re not allowed to speak, you can’t talk about the things you know and enjoy. Solution: find better people.

Back home in Portland after a week in San Diego. We rented an amazing mid-century modern ranch in Point Loma (Zestimate $1.9M). Now we’re back in the dreary PNW weather.

Took a peek at jobs and housing in SD, just for fun. Cannot comprehend how people can even afford a starter home there when the pay is nowhere close to commensurate. Jobs in my field pay about the same as in PDX but housing is almost 40% more. It’s got to be one of the most expensive cities relative to income in the U.S.

A few years back, I hadn’t even heard of Dave’s Killer Bread. And now that it’s ubiquitous, I have no idea what the fuss was about. The white bread is like cardboard, the Good Seed bread is tasteless, and the bagels are just awful. Was the hype just about its name?

Picked up tickets to see Lucinda Williams and Big Thief at Edgefield this summer. Can’t wait!

I’m starting to get the hang of this planning ahead thing. Everything sells out so fast these days.

We’re flying out of PDX on Wednesday to meet my Michigander parents for a week long vacation in San Diego.

Figures that the week we chose and planned for months ago ends up being the same week Southern California gets record snow and colder weather. Detroit will actually be warmer than SD on Wednesday.

One of the more embarrassing things for me about getting older is finally “understanding” something someone tried to introduce me to long ago, only to brush it off for years. I’ve gotten into so many musicians much later in life than I should have simply because I wasn’t ready for them.