Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel
This was exactly what I expected from her novels. Did a lovely job tying together people, places, and events from her prior two novels, Station Eleven and Glass Hotel. The futuristic bit had me cautious, but never once felt like the main theme.
Breaking the Brain Loop
I have spent the last few weeks sorting through some work nonsense. As humans do, my mind tries to map out every possible scenario, focusing on the bad ones, and repeat until I am reduced to a useless pile of human. The best way to combat this is to just write it all out. Pen and paper. It has to be on paper. Don’t type this. Your brain needs that experience of turning thoughts into words into motor skills to get it down.
But What if We're Wrong? by Chuck Klosterman
I enjoyed Klosterman’s book on the 90’s and this was definitely more in the same style. An interesting book about what we think we know and how our predictions of the future are complete nonsense. This one took some dedication to get through. It felt like a great theme without a conclusion.
Tire Repair Project
Friday evening the teen came home from work and complained their tire seemed low. Since it was late, I said I would check it in the morning. Sure enough, the tire was completely flat. Since I was going to be out of town the next week, it made sense to get this repaired that day. An unplanned project was underway. It is far easier to take a tire in for a repair than the whole car in on a spare that has to be installed.
The Great Cellular Outage of 2024
On Thursday, February 22, I woke to my normal routine and noticed my phone had the letters ‘SOS’ where the cellular bars should have been. I quickly learned there was a nationwide cellular outage. This didn’t affect everyone in the house. The prospect of heading out to meet somebody for breakfast meant I had to prearrange where and when we were to meet just like we did when I was young.
Uncertainty
When faced with uncertainty, the human animal becomes worried about what the future will bring. These worries are a drain of energy, but they are rooted in survival. Your brain races to find all of the outcomes that are possible. You tend to focus on the negative outcomes over the positive. This is to help rehearse scenarios of survival, but often it just leaves us paralyzed and not focusing on what we should be doing.
Backpack Adventure
I was at a company offsite in early November. By chance, I had dinner with a few coworkers in another organization. In conversation it came up about the company issued backpacks and how when we were much smaller, we had been gifted a backpack with our initials on it. The person at the table had the same initials as I do and asked if I was using mine. I am not and I said I would consider giving it to her, but this was a prized sentimental artifact.
Coffee Heart
Happy Valentine’s Day, to those who celebrate.
Health Goals
As silly as it sounds, the most honest health goal I have right now is to look good in a T-shirt. What specifically do I mean by this? I mean having no gut, having broad shoulders, arms that denote more muscle than not, and a chest that looks more male than female. From this goal, I can break it down into three main areas requiring my attention and work.
Strength - Providing the frame and structure to look good in a T-shirt requires moving heavy things to build muscles from my core through my arms.
How Sicario Fools Its Audience
An analysis of one of the better films made in the past twenty years.