Thursday, July 31, 2025
Hurry up. Wait. Repeat. Energy expended in the hope that what we’re waiting for is worth the hurry. When the best things are the slow ones. Memories made of softer stuff. The rush is tempting. But what’s on the other side but something fleeting. And when the ripples fade, we’re ready to hurry again.
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Hurry up. Wait. Repeat. Energy expended in the hope that what we’re waiting for is worth the hurry. When the best things are the slow ones. Memories made of softer stuff. The rush is tempting. But what’s on the other side but something fleeting. And when the ripples fade, we’re ready to hurry again.
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Had a workout plan for this morning. It was a good one, something I’ve done before when I’ve traveled. Then I got to the hotel gym. None of the equipment I’d planned to use was there. So I had a choice: Back to bed Figure something out That 2nd one can be a treat with a neurodivergent mind. But I came up with something. Got the session in.
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Gas station coffee. Still not a phrase that evokes wonder, joy. But thanks to a Seattle-based coffee vendor, even gas stations have elevated their coffee game from the double carafe system that produced something closer to what you’d put in your engine vs. your intestinal tract. The bar is raised, game elevated. And while I’m not personally enamored with the accessibility of over-engineered coffee drinks, I do appreciate that it’s meant that coffee everywhere has gotten better.
Monday, July 28, 2025
In the spring of 2020, I bought the last 24kg/53lb kettlebell from a Dick’s Sporting Goods in Arlington, Texas. Changed my life. Or at least changed how I trained. What started as an aborted attempt at the 10,000 swing challenge as a response to gym closings thanks to the pandemic has turned into what promises to be a lifelong journey into these cannonballs with handles. What followed that initial purchase was the usual rabbit holes when I start a new special interest: lots of internet research, YouTube videos, Reddit dives.
Sunday, July 27, 2025
Got the upgrade. Not my first time in first class, but near enough that the experience was notable. Made the miles I’ve racked up to get that status worthwhile. Short flight, but still, I get why classes exist. They’re designed to other us, to separate those in steerage from those of us fortunate enough to have glassware cups and flight attendants offering multiple rounds of snacks. Not saying I didn’t enjoy it.
Saturday, July 26, 2025
Got the upgrade. Not my first time in first class, but near enough that the experience was notable. Made the miles I’ve racked up to get that status worthwhile. Short flight, but still, I get why classes exist. They’re designed to other us, to separate those in steerage from those of us fortunate enough to have glassware cups and flight attendants offering multiple rounds of snacks. Not saying I didn’t enjoy it.
Saturday, July 26, 2025
Reality is fleeting. This construct forever moving from tomorrow to today to now to then to yesterday and beyond. We’re keyed to be in motion, to moving through time and space, to the point where we don’t (usually) take the time we could be to be present. To be in the now. In the moment, in all its glory. Glory here being subjective, and highly so. Sometimes we’re lucky enough to know that the moment is momentous.
Friday, July 25, 2025
Nostalgia can be big business. Just ask Cracker Barrel, an establishment that’s built an empire around the idea that things were better back when there was a peg puzzle on every table and a Mayberry RFD boxed set in every entertainment center. Some nostalgia is more acceptable than others. The Army veteran in a baseball hat proclaiming his service gets a free burrito at least once a year. But the former quarterback wearing his high school jersey is either a candidate for a TBI study, or that guy everyone avoids at the Chili’s bar.
Friday, July 25, 2025
Reality is fleeting. This construct forever moving from tomorrow to today to now to then to yesterday and beyond. We’re keyed to be in motion, to moving through time and space, to the point where we don’t (usually) take the time we could be to be present. To be in the now. In the moment, in all its glory. Glory here being subjective, and highly so. Sometimes we’re lucky enough to know that the moment is momentous.
Thursday, July 24, 2025
Nostalgia can be big business. Just ask Cracker Barrel, an establishment that’s built an empire around the idea that things were better back when there was a peg puzzle on every table and a Mayberry RFD boxed set in every entertainment center. Some nostalgia is more acceptable than others. The Army veteran in a baseball hat proclaiming his service gets a free burrito at least once a year. But the former quarterback wearing his high school jersey is either a candidate for a TBI study, or that guy everyone avoids at the Chili’s bar.
Thursday, July 24, 2025
The hardest thing for us to master is ourselves. Because we are full of contradictions on our best day. And the machine we move through the world in is, by design, meant to frustrate every attempt to move through it more smoothly. It’s the ultimate example of inertia, where the body at rest wishes to remain at rest, in repose. Except a body in its resting state will soon atrophy, deciding that the muscles it fights us to use in the first place should be taken out of service, decommissioned.
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
I talk to people about their next job a lot. Which means we talk about their last job a lot, too. Funny things, these jobs: in between all the days where we dream of lottery winning and beers on the beach, we get those other days. The ones far removed from mandatory fun, from the breakroom cakes and the training seminars. Days when the people around, your team, find a way to be more than just our coworkers.
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
The hardest thing for us to master is ourselves. Because we are full of contradictions on our best day. And the machine we move through the world in is, by design, meant to frustrate every attempt to move through it more smoothly. It’s the ultimate example of inertia, where the body at rest wishes to remain at rest, in repose. Except a body in its resting state will soon atrophy, deciding that the muscles it fights us to use in the first place should be taken out of service, decommissioned.
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
We are selfish creatures. Acting in our best interests, and only ours. Or at least toward our survival, which may or may not be in our best interests. We see this when we travel, airports especially. Humans are in theory normally capable of semi-civilized behavior act as though they’re ready to find Piggy at every slight, perceived and otherwise. From hovering at the lounge buffet like we’re auditioning for the Hunger Games, to the instant expert on airline operations ready to explain to the rest of us why that flight is REALLY delayed, it’s a running exercise in pre-dystopian humanity, fueled by the knowledge that once this kind of thing had a sort of magic.
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
I talk to people about their next job a lot. Which means we talk about their last job a lot, too. Funny things, these jobs: in between all the days where we dream of lottery winning and beers on the beach, we get those other days. The ones far removed from mandatory fun, from the breakroom cakes and the training seminars. Days when the people around, your team, find a way to be more than just our coworkers.
Monday, July 21, 2025
We are selfish creatures. Acting in our best interests, and only ours. Or at least toward our survival, which may or may not be in our best interests. We see this when we travel, airports especially. Humans are in theory normally capable of semi-civilized behavior act as though they’re ready to find Piggy at every slight, perceived and otherwise. From hovering at the lounge buffet like we’re auditioning for the Hunger Games, to the instant expert on airline operations ready to explain to the rest of us why that flight is REALLY delayed, it’s a running exercise in pre-dystopian humanity, fueled by the knowledge that once this kind of thing had a sort of magic.
Monday, July 21, 2025
It’s just business, not personal. Popularized by fictional Mafia characters in TV and film, that’s become a mantra for those getting laid off. They tell themselves that, because that’s the message the corporation gave them. That it wasn’t about them: not their performance, not their behavior, nothing they could have done differently. It’s a business decision, not a personal one. Except that it is personal, and deeply so. No matter how much we want to believe in work/life balance, until we go full Severance, much of who we are is tied to how we earn a living.
Sunday, July 20, 2025
It’s just business, not personal. Popularized by fictional Mafia characters in TV and film, that’s become a mantra for those getting laid off. They tell themselves that, because that’s the message the corporation gave them. That it wasn’t about them: not their performance, not their behavior, nothing they could have done differently. It’s a business decision, not a personal one. Except that it is personal, and deeply so. No matter how much we want to believe in work/life balance, until we go full Severance, much of who we are is tied to how we earn a living.
Sunday, July 20, 2025
“Come give us a hug.” We’ve heard it. Probably said it. Nothing wrong with a hug. Better than drugs, they said. Sounds like someone needs better drugs. But putting it that way isn’t asking, it’s telling. It’s not seeking consent, it’s directive. Ordering us to do something, under the assumption that everyone wants/needs/enjoys a hug. It’s a one-size approach that takes no account for the receiver, thinking that because the hugger likes to hug, the huggee (that looks weird) likes them, too.
Saturday, July 19, 2025
“Come give us a hug.” We’ve heard it. Probably said it. Nothing wrong with a hug. Better than drugs, they said. Sounds like someone needs better drugs. But putting it that way isn’t asking, it’s telling. It’s not seeking consent, it’s directive. Ordering us to do something, under the assumption that everyone wants/needs/enjoys a hug. It’s a one-size approach that takes no account for the receiver, thinking that because the hugger likes to hug, the huggee (that looks weird) likes them, too.
Saturday, July 19, 2025
Never went to any of the cool Army schools. Like Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) training. I spent most of my military career honing my Excel conditional formatting skills. Useful, right up until people figure out that AI can do that for them. Or the lights go out and we’re back to finding food somewhere without a produce aisle. Guy I worked with told me once about how they deal with mistakes during the simulated prison camp phase.
Friday, July 18, 2025
Got outside this morning. Found my way out into the big room. Touched some grass. There’s a walking trail near where I was staying, just a short loop around a small lake. Other parts of the world it would a pond, still others a puddle. Nomenclature aside, makes for a pleasant space not far from suburban sprawl. In the creek, a heron. Or egret. Or something. Crane, maybe. Standing, as they do, completely still.
Thursday, July 17, 2025
If comparison is the thief of joy, then jealousy is the underside of pride. Easier to be envious of what someone accomplished, than it is to be proud of them. And we save our pride for the big things, for the mountaintops, when what we all want to hear is pride in the small wins, the victories no one notices. That we got up this morning. Took care of ourselves today.
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Will the bag fit in the overhead? Does that suit still fit? Is this job a good fit? Do we fit in? We’re always trying to solve someone’s puzzle. Sometimes our own. Mostly theirs. And that mostly never quit fits.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Will the bag fit in the overhead? Does that suit still fit? Is this job a good fit? Do we fit in? We’re always trying to solve someone’s puzzle. Sometimes our own. Mostly theirs. And that mostly never quit fits.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
When the power’s on, the cables are intact, and the machines are running, connecting is easy. And it’s usually the middle part that’s the hardest. There’s a sender, a receiver, but no way to get the message there. It’s the connections that are easiest to make, hardest to maintain.
Monday, July 14, 2025
I finished a training program over the weekend. Nothing terribly exciting about that, except that I’m a starter, not a finisher. Or at least I have been. Still am. But yesterday, I officially joined the ranks of the finishers. Which, after years of picking up somewhat heavy things and putting them down again, both metaphorically and actually, and reinforcing those other voices that tell me I’ll never finish anything? Felt pretty good.
Sunday, July 13, 2025
I finished a training program over the weekend. Nothing terribly exciting about that, except that I’m a starter, not a finisher. Or at least I have been. Still am. But yesterday, I officially joined the ranks of the finishers. Which, after years of picking up somewhat heavy things and putting them down again, both metaphorically and actually, and reinforcing those other voices that tell me I’ll never finish anything? Felt pretty good.
Sunday, July 13, 2025
I’m at Staples a lot. Not buying anything. Returns. Amazon, mostly. Because not everything works out the first time. Or even the second. There’s an abundance of decisions, mostly. The next one doesn’t have to be the last one. So feel free to decide. Then re-decide. Or decide all over again.