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Kitchen Lighting Project

Tags: projects
The next project for my Kitchen Refresh Program is to redo the overhead lighting for the island. Previously there were two pendant lights above the smaller island and a chandelier over what was the breakfast nook. I removed the pendant lights and replaced them with a clip-in LED pot light several weeks back. The chandelier was also removed and I left the wiring capped until I sorted the final lighting configuration.

Maybe Corporations are a Mistake?

Tags: reflection
This succinctly summarizes my worry about the Corporation as an entity without the ability to have the best interest of society as a factor in its constitution. The folly at the root of this foolish economy began with the idea that a corporation should be regarded, legally, as ‘a person’. But the limitless destructiveness of this economy comes about precisely because a corporation is not a person. A corporation, essentially, is a pile of money to which a number of persons have sold their moral allegiance.

Post-Pandemic Back to School

Tags: reflection
School started this week where I live. One of my favorite things to do was to attend the High School meet the teacher night. This would usually happen within the first month of school. Since I live close enough, I’d ride my bike there and follow my kid’s schedule. Each teacher has about 7 minutes and the parents would rush from one class to the next, just as the kids must.

Running on Empty by Jonice Webb

Tags: books
This book has been hanging over me for a year and the timing felt right. I was able to mostly skim through this book and read the sections that were relevant to me. What I picked up was validation of why I operate in the world the way I do. What I am to do about it is what I am already doing about it. I guess that is good news.

Using the Doors

Tags: reflection
Raising teens means a lot of training to be competent adults. This should result in being conscientious of the world around them. What I affectionately think of as the sphere of awareness. The greater the sphere, the better you’ll be able to coexist with other humans. I have realized I have very specific and absurd rules around using the doors to get in and out of the house. I’m pretty sure they are terrible to navigate as a teen.

Welcome to the Internet

Tags: media tech
I think I watch this about three or four times per year. It’s humorous and tragic and defines exactly why the modern internet is so awful.

Why is there a big rock in the woods?

Tags: pictures

A Lesson in 220 Power

Tags: projects
My family was traveling and I was home with the dog for a few days. On one of those nights, I experienced a power issue, which I wrote up in a root cause analysis. Symptoms: I woke up early in the morning around 430a to a house that felt warmer and quieter than it should. I figured it was a power outage which is unfortunately not rare in my area. I got up to evaluate and as I walked down the hall, I heard some of the kid’s fans running.

Essentialism by Greg McKeown

I had been feeling underwater with some big projects and shifts in strategy at work. I felt it was time to give Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism another read. I find the advice in this book to be consistent with many others I have read. I benefit from the repetition of hearing the priority message. Do less, but better. It has challenged me to reduce the number of things I have going on at once and to ask the right questions at work to ensure we are using our time wisely.

Indiana Jones in Black & White

Tags: media
This video explores what makes Spielberg a good filmmaker via Raiders of the Lost Ark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItbCLh4Auoo