Good morning. Hello. How are you? All is well over here. Sorry I ran off so suddenly last time. I had big ambitions for my weekend, and I had to do this additional morning grocery run, and I am a germophobe these days (can’t imagine why) and I still only like to step foot in stores right as they open, and it was already too late for comfort. Luckily the place was pretty empty, and I got all the things I forgot to buy my mother this week because I’m still not used to buying her groceries on top of ours. But I got it done. And I was only 2 minutes late for getting Jane out of bed. She did not mind. AND! It was the first morning that she said “good morning Daddy,” without me encouraging her to first. I picked her up, gave her a kiss and said “Good morning, Jane,” and she said “Good morning Daddy” right back (there we go breaking that no-two-people-quoted-in-a-single-paragrph rule. Screw ‘em.). It was lovely and made me very happy. She is becoming insanely conversational it’s really something.
Speaking of getting to places right as they open, got up at the bright and early hour of 6:30 so I could take some chicken wire and fence posts to the dump, like a good country boy. I had a palette too but apparently they’ll only take ‘em if they’re dismantled. And in any case, of course palettes should only be burned, but it’s so rotted I can’t find the markings to ensure it’s heat treated.
Programming note: Thanks to Jocelyn for telling me how I was using the Walmart app wrong, and discovering that it does, in fact, have a map of the store in it. I’ve only had this new knowledge for, like, four days but I have already used it like three times. Not to say I’ve actually gone to Walmart (or anywhere) three times since then, but just the aforementioned once in the store and twice just to check something from home. I used it to find my mother a paper calendar. Because she still uses paper calendars. It really does make those stressful, hurried grocery runs a lot easier, and lets me check there first — definitively — before I go and order something off of the internet.
Additional programming note: Recall that last week I muted the word “normalize” on Twitter. This weekend a friend sent over this tweet, which I think perfectly encapsulates my frustration with Twitter. So sick of all of these phrases. Ban em all!
I’m always feeling like I am Not Good at Twitter because I can’t use these phrases. I don’t know how, it feels hokey. So I’ll have what I think is some interesting insight and maybe I’ll Tweet it out but it is not formatted according to the current Correct Formatting of Twitter du Jour and I feel dumb. I love consuming twitter I do actually think there is much to be learned there. But composing for it? I am just terrible at it. It gives me performance anxiety, not gonna lie.
In any case, look! The compost bins are done!
I am very excited about these bins. I should have taken those stickers off of the doors, sorry. But they are really stuck. Hopefully some water will help.
‘Twas a good weekend of gardening. Seedlings are doing well. Compost is… still not doing so well. Pretty sure it needs more water. I left the tarp off of it and it’s gonna rain this week so hopefully that’ll help? It’s a paradox. The thing is actually composting really nicely. But I can’t get it to warm up anymore. Yet it composts. Mysterious. Also I checked the leaf mould compost — I had to move each compost pile over one bin to the right as I built the compost bins — an it is doing well, it is composting, but it is slow. I don’t think that stuff will be ready to be used till fall, alas. But I think that’s okay. I’ll move it over to the finished bin and I will start a new batch in the fall. We persevere.
Anyway, here’s this week’s gardening update for the video-inclined. It’s mostly assembly of the compost bins, but there’s a good check-in with the seedlings at the beginning. Also trying to get the editing to be a bit zippier.
I will also say right now thast i really wish that iPhones’ FaceID worked in the horizontal position. Can’t think of any particularly good reason why it doesn’t. It’s really annoying to have to type in the passcode when you have a phone stuck in a tripod clamp, and the sun is super bright and you can barely see the screen.
Let’s see, other then gardening stuff… oh! We had house guests on Saturday! It was lovely. Only the second visit we’ve had in a year. Our friends Mia and Jason were passing through on a road trip from one safehouse back to their home in Baltimore. We socialized on the porch in masks by the fire. It was still very nice, just to talk to friends, have a glass of wine, throw some wood on the fire. Lovely. And then afterwards we hopped on a Zoom call that our old Zoom friends were doing. We used to do them all the time, but like most people, the Zoom calls have really died down. But we rallied and it was worth it, seeing so many of our best friends’ faces and having some real talk. And! On top of that! Our neighbor was having a bonfire and invited us over. We didn’t make it, but, Jesus H. Having three different social opportunities? It felt like New Years 2008 up in this grill. It was overwhelming. But also nice. But also overwhelming. People.
Last night we watched The Way I See It, the documentary about Pete Souza, former Official White House Photographer for Barack Obama. It was… I am glad we waited till Trump was out of office to watch it. We both cried at various times. Pete cried a lot. Malia cried. Barack cried. Lots of crying. Lots of emotional intensity. I’ve been pretty harsh in my retrospective review of the Obama Administration but a) it’s good to be reminded of the simple truth that we are all better off when an actual human occupies that office, b) they were good people, the Obamas, and c) there were some genuinely daring things that he did that I had completely forgotten about that are out of character with the zeitgeist memory of his administration. Like nationalizing the auto industry. My god. I had completely forgotten. Also I did not know that Souza was also a White House photographer for the Reagan administration. Fascinating.
When I was young I used to just sort of stare off into space, completely bored, at those scenes in movies where some parent is reunited with their kid, and they had been worried about the kid’s safety. Not the ones where the kid was actually in danger (well, those too), but more like the ones where the kid wasn’t really in any danger, just wandered off to the toy section or something, and when the parent found the kid, they put their arms around them and hugged them and cried a bit because they loved their kid so much. Yeah. Exactly the sort of scene at which I would have been bored and taken out my phone and checked Twitter or something.
But now? Man, I bawl right along with every single one of those neurotic, weird-ass parents. Every single one.
Unrelatedly (honest), I watched a few YouTube videos about what’s going on in Kenya on the plastic recycling scene, and it is lit.
They have made a boat out of recycled flip flops that sails Lake Victoria offering education on ecology and plastic recycling. The project funds several Precious Plastic recycling centers throughout the country.
Man. I want to get into plastic recycling so badly. I have a whole business worked out in my head. Seriously, it’s such a good plan. It would be fantastic. I think about it all the time. At least in the short term it guides my YouTube viewing. Especially fond of these caption-free videos of giant plastic recycling machines.
Apple is issuing warnings to (some, not all) Chinese app publishers who are using the new China Advertising Association ID (CAID) as a workaround to Apple’s new transparency rules. I reiterate: This is not going to end well. This is going to blow up in Apple’s face. I mean, okay, sure, maybe they will somehow manage to get out of this one without complete chaos, but the only way that is going to happen is if the Chinese government backs down and lets Apple go ahead and decimate the revenue of several of its Internet Crown Jewels (don’t ask me why I capitalized that but I am sticking to it). Seems pretty optimistic when the key to you not screwing up your whole company is just crossing your fingers and hoping China takes your screwing over lying down. I mean. What’s the endgame here? Let’s take the “Apple wins” endgame off of the table, cuz, see above. So… China says “no we are going to keep doing this and if you start banning these apps we are going to start banning you?” Then… Apple bans them? And gets kicked out of China? Or… Apple doesn’t ban them and suddenly Apple has awesome new Privacy Features that everyone in the world has to follow except the world’s largest, most oppressive country. That seems totally cool and fair! I recognize this is probably still not the most likely outcome, but more and more I see a very strong possibility that this episode leads to the first true threat to Tim’s leadership of Apple. I’m not really in the prediction game, but in the immortal words of The Brain, no good will come of this.
Good news for Apple though, they don’t really need to worry about the new Intel Justin Long ads. Renee Ritchie put it best: Coke never mentioned Pepsi. Coke didn’t do Pepsi Challenges because Coke was the market. But nope, not Intel. The world’s largest chip manufacturer has decided to crown Apple as their primary threat. Says Renee Ritchie: “Intel is actively volunteering to become Pepsi.”
Sorry. I don’t want this thing to become just links or anything but I just thought that was really smart.
Today my mom has her in-home PT coming in an hour, then at 1 we have to go to yet another UNC clinic for yet another test. I’ve actually been to this one before, though, it’s where my ENT is and where I get my sweet-ass allergy drops that I take every day - one of four allergy medications I take daily. It’s a nice building. Not enough parking. Probably not enough handicap spaces. Might have to drop her off at the lobby and circle round. I hate doing that. And once again I cleverly put the thing right in the middle of the day (it’s the quickest way to get an appointment: everyone is trying to book before or after work) so it’ll be hugely disruptive. But we will manage. At least the sun is out.
In sad news, the daffodils are already dying:
And the cherry tree hasn’t blossomed yet. But soon, soon.
Let’s do a mix! Club mix. Remember that part in the Gett Off club mix by Prince where that dude says “Club mix”? I love that. No Gett Off today but I did just throw that mix onto the next Club Mix mix so, you know, you can listen to it in three months or so. If I am being honest this really isn’t a club mix because no lunatic DJ would play all of these songs in a row, but they are all clubby and you could dance to them and if some DJ had the bravery or stupidity to do it, I would have a very good and exhausting night in Da Club. Also I’m just realizing it has two Pet Shop Boys songs on it so they definitely wouldn’t do that but I would and I just did. YES. And it’d be hilarious to hear Wolfsheim in some non-goth cub. Like XS or Expose or something in Vegas. That would crack me up I’d pay good money to see a bunch of people in a Vegas club dance to “Once in a Lifetime.” I used to do a pretty great country version of that song on acoustic I wish I had recorded it. Alas.
Hey look at that. We got a through a whole Monday edition without making some snide comments about Monday. I think I’ve got that temporarily on hold. My weeks are super intense right now with Momcare on top of Job and Janecare. I can’t afford to think too much about Monday. My weekend was so great. I loved it so much. I got so much awesome stuff done. If I let myself think about the onslaught of stuff going on this week, I’ll get overwhelmed. My psyche’s defense mode has been activated and I’ll just plow through it. Best way. I am deeply grateful for that component of my psyche. Not sure how it got there but, man. Thank you.
Hope your week is a good one. There is good vaccination news this morning (well, if you’re an American) go check it out!
hi friend!!! miss you. would live to have a chat again someday.
1. thanks so much for the precious plastic link. i have been feeling deeply that i want to figure out a way to help with decreasing plastic in landfills. great inspiration!
2. your lil baby starters are stressing out when they flower before putting in ground. go ahead a pinch them off so they’ll chill out.
3. love you!
John Oliver's show last night was all about plastic recycling — he said it's been known to be likely economically unfeasible since the 70s. So yes, please fix that.