I’ve been spending a bunch of time in Montréal, helping but mostly spending time with my sick step-mother. The days are short and dark and cold, but I’ve grown into liking the city. The constant snow is kind of wonderful.
Aussie-punk. Great fun. Somehow I listen to this while writing and doing homework. I claim not to understand the workings of my brain.
Watched a video of a barista competition, Gronlandic Edit was in it. I bought a CD of the album. It’s fun, and I’m enjoying it after not listening to it for a couple years.
It just fits with dark Montréal winter days. I find it hard to grok that O’Connor was 20 when she made this album. RIP.
See my notes from her concert. I love this album.
I have been buying an irresponsible amount of books in the last few months. I’ve declared a moratorium until I make a dent in the to-read pilelist. In talking to the owner of my local bookshop, I learned that local book store’s “margin” on Bookshop.org is nearly equal to their in-store (about 5% less, at worst), which was nice to learn, and definitely makes me feel better about using it sometimes.
Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone. Left a Red and Blue shaped hole in me. Tore through it in three days. A perfect story.
Benjamin Peters. Read with my book club. Prompted a lot of reflection on some large organizations I am enmeshed in.
Frank Herbert. Probably going to abandon this one. I bought it mostly because I felt like I was missing out by not having read it, which I don’t think is a good reason to read something. I’m not really enjoying it so far.
Howard Zinn. Really enjoying this. Learning a lot. Zinn has a really insightful perspective on things. I’m working my way through it slowly.
Lots of Indian food, cheap samosas in Jackson Heights, biriani in Montréal. Ate a lot of burritos while home in San Francisco. I miss them. Taqueria Cancún, I miss you. I’m continuing to intern with MTA, but at the end of the month I’m moving up to an office in Midtown, which will have much better lunch options nearby (hello, Pick A Bagel). As much Hal’s sparkling water as I can. As much Hetch-Hetchy water as I can. As much Croton-Catskill-Delaware water as I can. Turkish coffee at Qahwah House. I tried Saudi coffee in Parkchester. Iced coffee from Pret and Café Grumpy when it’s cold.
I’m doing a collaborative writing project with a friend and colleague that I’m really excited about that. Having fun and learning a lot doing it too. Having thoughts of writing a book again.
Bought a decommissioned Init PROXmobil 3 reader from a guy in Seattle who bought a bunch from CapMetro in Texas. So did a bunch of my friends. We have a group chat dedicated to hacking on them. I plan to make mine able to control my music with different fare cards coded to albums from the city they’re from. If you also have one, email me1 your Signal username and I’ll add you to the group thread.
I’ve also been installing Tailscale on everything I possibly can. I got a Kobo Clara Color for Christmas and put Tailscale on it and am glad I did. Taildropping myself books is really ergonomical!
Haven’t been doing much since when I’m not doing work or school or writing. I fight the computer enough at work. This will change soon.
Been enjoying learning about German trains and the DB rail network. A DB train driver posts videos about his job, explaining lots about the network and trains from a driver’s perspective. I’ve learned a lot, and really want to go to Berlin now. Also really enjoying Blondihacks’ Pennsy switcher live steam build series. I’m trying to do less aimless YouTube wandering and focus on a few things I’m interested when I watch online video.
I joined Liz Mulholland’s Taco Bell Labs Mastodon instance. I’m enjoying it! Slower social media is nice, though I’ve been kind of annoying about how difficult/impossible discovery by search is. Regardless, I’m trying to find my #CBTC people.
It got really cold and snowy here in NYC, and I’ve been really enjoying it. I loved the cold snap and snow storm. I went sledding and loved how empty and quiet the city got. Of course, I’ve been reveling in the sneckdowns too.
anything (at) this domain ↩︎