Listening to an audio book about a childhood hero — and thoroughly enjoying it. 📚

I’d like it if macOS / Apple keyboards had a dedicated, hardware mute/unmute button.

Until they do, I’ll continue to ❤️ Shush.

Well, I’m officially the parent of a high school graduate.

Our son made it through an unusual time to have a senior year. In the fall, he’ll be off to MECA (Maine College of Art), and our daughter will take over the new high school building as a senior.

As a life-long metalhead, it is my serious opinion that one of the heaviest songs ever is In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins.

Side note: I still often think of the groundbreaking-for-its-time Miami Vice pilot episode (which famously used it) when I hear it.

Some programmers write 1,000 lines of code to avoid repeating 4 lines 4 times.

It’s a seductive trap.

In a nutshell, as part of a small team, with myself and two other mobile-side developers, following a Shape Up process, we delivered a second mobile application (authentication, search, scheduling, profile, and chat, with automated testing and CI/CD) for iOS and Android, using Flutter, from zero to TestFlight and Google Play internal testing, in six weeks. I’m happy with that.

The Pizza Sauce (Mystery) Thickens!

The two bottles I ordered were delivered yesterday…

…to a city more than two hours north. 😑

Amazon has my correct address for the order. FedEx delivered it elsewhere.

What is going on??

cc: @richtext @jean

An “on this day” photo feature reminded me of these awesome light sabers my son designed and made out of regular LEGO five years ago.

KlaSSic KISS 🎸

So… This is odd.

I sometimes use a (possibly not very popular) food product called Contadina Pizza Squeeze. I ran out. The grocery seems to have stopped carrying it. I order two bottles from Amazon to use while I ponder either a replacement or doing without going forward. They don’t arrive until next week; they haven’t shipped yet (I just checked).

Today, I find a Walmart bag on my porch with nothing in it besides six bottles of Contadina Pizza Squeeze.

Wut?!

Is this some gift from the universe? Is there another, nearby fan of the now-harder-to-get product whose order was mis-delivered? Has a nerve agent been injected into these bottles? Did a friend overhear the lament at the grocery store and think this would be kind and/or funny? What are the chances? What do I make of this?

Anyone have a recommendation for an identity theft service?

I have to deal with the junk myself alone this time, but would like to avoid some of the pain in the future.

Poking fun at things I studied in college: The State of Nature: Hobbes vs Rousseau - Existential Comics

Been trying to do this for a good while now. Finally got it this week.

Been a long work week, and next is set to be even longer. So I just took a break to play guitar for fun.

I played all 80s stuff. Some Dokken, some Tesla, a little Whitesnake, Ratt, a couple Scorpions, KISS, Ozzy, plus some Journey, Billy Squire, The Cars, Heart, and Pat Benetar.

Just a thought, evolving, not yet fully formed, that I wanted to record as I continue to consider it all in the coming days. It might be risky to put this out here cavalierly —maybe especially right now?— without further editing, but I’m doing it.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

(I reserve the right to adjust my outlook at any and all times, as I learn more and grow, dammit. Outlooks should always be open to being reconsidered (strong opinions loosely held and all that?) — and maybe that’s a key to moving forward in life?)

——

**Perhaps an early candidate for the theme of 2021:

“Misplaced Patriotism”**

I’d rather turn this phenomenon around and focus it on making the next phase of this democratic experiment a rousing success.

There is much passion and fervor out there. Some is noble in intention, some is entirely reprehensible, but some makes me think of Spinal Tap’s clever-v-stupid observation (sheesh, even writing that makes me wriggle with discomfort in trying to express myself without potentially “both-sides”-ing, but Trump-be-damned (and not just for this), I’m expressing my thoughts, as best I can, such as they are right now).

I have friends who have been influenced adversely (some for years, some more recently). That enthusiasm and resolve can be either a disaster or a blessing depending on how it is “applied”.

One of the hopes I’ve held since Trump was elected (regardless of how that might have seemed at the beginning) has been that we come out of this better. That the inequities (perceived and real) are lessened. That the division and strife (from all perspectives) becomes an inflection point that propels us to do the work to get to the next level. That we see increased action in terms of dealing with racism, economic inequality, the environment, and more, from here on.

The American experiment isn’t over (thankfully). The arc of humanity isn’t winding down. We can go much higher.

I understand caring about injustice, fraud, and the country. Those are excellent things to get riled up about. The right, left, and center care about these things.

It’s been said many times, but no one party has a monopoly on “patriotism” (and white supremacists least of all).

And I understand that the truth can be harder than ever to decipher.

Being in a bubble or echo chamber is the easiest(!) thing. Maintaining a perception and perspective that questions even those closest to us has always been difficult (and always important).

I think we all need to bristle a little less and talk more. And listen more. (And think critically and reflect more.)

Should we all have identical political views? Of course not! Of. Course. Not.

Can we still be cordial and respectful when we disagree? Yes. (And that’s when interaction and respectful discussion is most opportune.) Policies over parties (Washington’s thoughts regarding parties comes to mind)?

Have some encouraged division for their own purposes (to the detriment of us all)? Yes. (For centuries? Yes. (Is being “progressive” a moving target over time? Yes.))

Could those of the right-leaning persuasion overreach (or be manipulated) into fascism? Yes. Could the left? Yes.

Is “the center”, then, the only thing that makes sense? No.

We’re humans. Some seek power. Some seek justice. Some subvert those drives for their own gain. Some are actually altruistic. So we must be always remain vigilant (and when that gets hard to do, that usually means that things have been relatively good, and so we need to be all the more alert).

Should we all be civil in civil society? Yes.

Should we ever punch Nazis? Uh… as tempting(!) as that may be, it is probably best to do other things — except, perhaps, when they are themselves being violent?

Do I have a solid wrap-up for this mess of a brain-dump post right now. No. 😅 Its rambling length should be a clear sign that it was not edited, lol.

Anyway, I’m open to feedback and criticism, so share (nicely, please) if you think you can help me improve my perspective or understanding of any of this.

——

(BTW, writing this all on my phone was painful. Stream of thought while the scrolling was going crazy with every character was YUCK.)

1st playoff road win since 1969.

BOOM!

Thank you, Cleveland Browns! 🏈

This year, I unsubscribed from a handful of podcasts, and as a result my audio book “inbox” is shrinking nicely.

Is “2020” officially a four-letter word now?

FYI: if your nose is not behind your mask, you are doing it wrong.

🙄

Now Listening: Sad Wings of Destiny by Judas Priest (music.apple.com) 🎵🎧

James Dalton or Wade Garrett?

I’ve started trying out NotePlan this week.

I’ve long(!) kept “daily notes” for work, with some non-daily, single subject-based work notes in the mix. I’ve primarily used Notational Velocity/nvAlt for this, with Markdown files synched via Dropbox underneath (I’m a believer in plain text).

Since I’ve also been considering changing away from OmniFocus (again, ha), NotePlan’s integration with Reminders is another point of interest for me.

I’ll probably revisit aspects of Bullet Journaling (albeit digital), Zettelkasten, personal Wiki (will also probably look at Obsidian.md soon), and other topics as part of this evaluation, too.

So far, so good, although I feel some anxiety around not having new notes going into my “old and trusted system” right now. 😅

I’m also looking at how I might be able to edit the underlying files directly (outside of NotePlan) on mobile, or with automation.

Maybe I’ll take tomorrow off. 🧐

I am decidedly a “condiment person.” Love me some condiments! And sauces and spreads. And dips.

My family, less so.

(More for me!)

Getting a shingles inoculation today, and wondering how many more times in my life will I need to fill out essentially the same medical information forms?

I have been so ready for so long to have an Apple Pay-esque submission experience for that info.