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Afterword

Sometimes, when I start to get sad toward the end of winter, I just pull up driving tours on YouTube of the cities where I lived while in Michigan for 34 years, and suddenly I’m cured.

Just helped my neighbor, who is a Spaniard, chain up his car to go retrieve his stranded girlfriend, somewhere on 405 near PSU. Man, that is about as close to a Hail Mary as I’ve ever thrown. Guess I’ll know sometime tomorrow how it all turned out.

Thinking back to my first sociology class at University of Michigan in 1999. It was a social stratification lecture and my professor asked every single student on the first day what suburb of Detroit we lived in, and he proceeded to rank our social status based on that. Of course it played into the subject matter, but what a wild experience that stuck with each of us the remainder of the semester. Felt real bad for the girl from Melvindale.

Yesterday I thought I lost one of my favorite pocket knives. I looked all over for it, retracing my steps. Turns out it got hooked on a drawstring on a rain jacket I tried on at REI. Can’t believe I even recovered it.

My photos app reminded me I saw Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at the Loving Touch in Ferndale 9 years ago today. Man I miss that place! I saw so many shows there in the early 2010s and you could get so close to the musicians. I’d like to start seeing shows again, just need to pin down a solid babysitter! #stephenmalkmus #thelovingtouch

I swear, anytime I’m anywhere near Scappoose, some redneck shit happens.

Watched the Unsolved Mysteries episode tonight about the UFO sitings by over 300 people in Michigan in 1994 and realized I witnessed the same thing. Wild.

Just saw a lifted Prius with mudders in Washington.

My dog will eat fossilized cat poop out of a flower bed but won’t touch a pretzel to save her own life.

Ford Motor Company not making the Ranger look more like a Bronco was a failure of epic proportions. Can’t believe the current model made it to production.

Drove up to Bonny Slope in the western suburbs of Portland today. Had a hearing on a property located in the area last night so I wanted to go see it for myself. The houses were enormous and the views from the hills were splendid. Must be nice!

As someone who went into 6 figures of student debt to get a graduate degree just to allow me to get an entry level job in my field, I believe we need to fix this system.

Not only do I believe we need widespread student debt forgiveness, we need to stop kidding ourselves about the true value of higher ed.

Most jobs besides those with the highest standards for licensure are completely trainable. Higher ed has turned into gatekeeping a middle class life, which we all should have access to.

I used to think I was either very good at washing my hands to avoid illness, or that I had an incredible immune system.

Having two kids in daycare quickly disabused me of those delusions.

I’ve had cold symptoms from RSV for going on 3 weeks now. Someone please make it stop.

Environmental psychology is the study of how the natural and built environments shape us as individuals.

I find it fascinating that much of the real world implementation of this field’s findings has been used to influence customer decisions within the context of retail shopping.

I see the planning field use some similar concepts when talking about “placemaking,” but I don’t feel like this is very fleshed out. I think EP needs more recognition in planning.

Today I was thinking back to some conversations I had with my grandmother before she died.

I was trying to get some info from her to finalize my Italian citizenship paperwork. She was hesitant to help me because she thought Italy was way too liberal. She made me promise that I wouldn’t move there before she gave me what I needed.

Sadly her medical care nearly bankrupted her at the end, something she wouldn’t have had to worry about had she lived in Italy. Stockholm syndrome comes to mind.

People sometimes seem like dogs in that we will gang up on a weak member of the pack. Even my normally chill Goldendoodle will join in on the hazing of a weak dog at the park if left alone.

I’ve noticed humans are equally dark, often rooting for people with the quickest wit over the biggest heart, snark contrarianism over thoughtfulness. It is very hard to see the good in humanity sometimes.

Two settings iOS Safari still needs in 2023: 1) auto deny all but necessary cookies; and 2) block the automatic playback of all embedded videos.

Although not quite on the same level as Salt & Straw’s Berry Slab Pie ice cream flavor, I just dug into some Tillamook Marionberry Pie ice cream and it’s pretty dang good. And you don’t even have to wait 12 months or in a line around the block just to try some.