It’s been a few weeks since I posted one of these, and this certainly feels like a weird moment to try to pick up the habit, again. But while I sit with some truths perhaps it helps to mark a few other more quotidian things, from this week and the handful prior.

this month in Destiny?

• After a couple of long sessions on opening weekend and then one final run at the boss the following week, I made it through the new dungeon with some pals. Since then, the grind of an hour here and there has been a nice diversion. The episodic story progression is a little thin right now, but the gameplay loops feel pretty solid.

R stuff

• I’m doing some real-work package development for the first time, building some tools to make it easier to jump-start Quarto notebooks and presentations. Having experimented with my own utility packages, I’m happy how much I could get done in just a couple of hours, thanks to {devtools} and {use this}.
• My Posit::conf talk from this year is online! I was lucky to be part of a session with some smart and thoughtful data folks, and I’m proud of contributing something I’m feel good about. You can find my talk in the full directory over at the Posit blog

reading

• The Tainted Cup, by Robert Jackson Bennett
• Long Island Compromise, by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

other games

• Metaphor: reFantazio — I’ve never played a Persona/Persona-like, so this is a new experience for me. I’m enjoying the storytelling, combat and banger soundtrack!
• Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders — I had a great time with the downhill biker original, and this version of that game, but on skis, seems like a lot of fun. The demo is free on Steam and, so far, equally controller-breaking as the original.

misc

• Ever go to the record store in search of a particular album, but they don’t have it so you come home with four different albums instead? No? Just me?
• The weight of org-mode kind of accreted around my cognitive carapace once again, and so I’ve been trying out Obsidian. I may write up a little more later; I’m finding it to feel modern in ways that I like, flexible and effective at organizing some notes and to-dos while staying under the radar of my “constantly tinker” impulse.
• RIP Ward Christiensen, one of the founders of the BBS.
• RIP to Omnivore, too? Disappointing to see a solid read-later product go the way of AI huckster-chasing.

That’s what I have for now. it’s a rainy Seattle weekend and it’s nice to be inside and cozy — but still looking forward to a good walk, later.

Thinking this week about how both compressed and expanded time feels. Compressed because how can another four years have passed and brought us here? And expanded because somehow memories have not kept up, like 2020 happened a long time ago.

Only four years ago, we were partway through what would be a full year of Trump’s horrific governance during the first year of COVID, a year that ended with his fostering of a deadly insurrection. That he could lie ceaselessly about that year and never be truly challenged on it; that the way the year felt, and what we experienced through it – adrift, abandoned, fearful and divided by his uncaring and mean government. That such a year is not, after all, seared into more peoples’ memories, is so baffling.

I don’t know how any opposition to an endless stream of lies and anger like that could win. It’s not simply that it wasn’t challenged; it’s that it wasn’t repeatedly, assertively dismissed as a vile set of lies by everyone who witnessed it. There was no truth too much for the voters who believed him. “They’re eating the cats, they’re eating the dogs” – this was treated for the next twelve weeks as representing a policy difference, not a gross and obvious disqualification. Not as representing a profound truth of the man.

In the final weeks his campaign doubled down on anti-trans hate-mongering, and I hoped this would mark a desperate turn. I’m dismayed that it did not. Somehow, the promise to punish marginalized people, the open endorsing and encouraging of bigotry, was more persuasive than the lived experience of just four years ago. That’s a truth of America that I have to sit with for a while.

Rolling back to standard time means that my Arizona-situated 8am meetings are now at 7am until spring.

Went out with the X100VI in a break between rain storms yesterday.

Well, it’s another week without the new Mac Mini to replace my unreliable little NUC. Darn.

It’s Friday, I’ve had a really good workout, I’m making another coffee and I’m wearing my favorite sweater. Let’s go get it.

Got in a solid ride first thing this morning, plus some cool-down time and stretches. I’m sitting now with the endorphins and calm that come in after a hard workout, appreciating the quiet and still after furiously working in my body.

The view from my desk is pretty great, sometimes.

There’s a bit of thick, sudden fog rolling through the neighborhood, quite unexpectedly changing the vibe of this still-early Sunday morning. I love anything that extends the hours of quiet, dark mornings with no obligations.

I fought with a mild cold all week. It wasn’t a bad one, but just enough to knock me out of my workout routine and restful sleep, and to cause me to clock out of work a little early one day. It’s improving quickly so I hope to get back to a bike ride and some weights today.

• 📼 Looking for thrillers and spooky movies, I watched Immaculate this week, and rewatched Train to Busan.
• 🕰️ I started experimenting with a pomodoro workflow using the cute Pomo Post app on my Playdate. It’s a fun way to prompt myself to focus.
• 📖 Picked up The Tainted Cup. So far it’s a fun Sherlock Holmes-style story with ominous monsters, biohacking and hints of plague.

Oh my gosh, the “crank to buy” mechanic in the Playdate catalog is delightful.