I like what Ed is doing over on Github with his weekly newsletter and joked that about doing fork of it (can you fork just a concept?).
I’m still pretty bullish on the personal blog as a format hence here vs. GitHub. Ed validated that going through your twitter feed is a good format for thinking through what you were thinking about during a week. So here we go!
Baseboard
I’m installing baseboard throughout the house. Most of the corners in our house are +-1 degree off from 90, some more like +-5. This is fine and I knew it going in, but it’s still alarming and makes you wonder about everything else about the house. When we moved in we ripped off the old stuff—thanks, again and again, Matt!—in order to redo the floors. I don’t regret this although it did another project to a house that is full of projects.
I have been pushing off the baseboard for as long as possible. The actual installation gone better than expected, which means I’m getting better at house project time estimates. Not my favorite project, but not terrible aside from the physical toil. Lots of precision cuts, lots of touchup work, and up and down on protesting knees. Sorry knees, you are not in your 20s anymore. All this is complicated by having a toddler and cats so the saw and nail gun need to be in safe places whenever its quitting time.
My wife has also started hanging art up on the walls and it increasingly feels like we really and truly live in the house.
Weather
waluigi, but thicc on Twitter: “the 11 seasons of midwestern states…”
Michigan Summer is why you put up with Michigan Winter. There’s a cruelty to winter in Michigan that I’m still unused to even a decade in. Hints at Spring are more brutal than it just staying winter, and I’ve yet to learn my lesson that we’re not in the clear until sometime in May. Every bone in my body wants it over by February. We got a reprieve last night and took advantage of it by walking to a friend’s place for dinner and an easter egg hunt outside.
Totoro
Scout watched My Neighbor Totoro over the course of a few days and she adored it Here’s a picture of her shouting “Totoro!” when he showed up on screen. There are elements that are scary to her (she’s not a fan of the cat bus, and the soot sprites weren’t her favorite). Thus far she’s mostly shown interest in Sesame Street (“Elmo!”), Sarah and Duck, and Octonauts. I think My Neighbor Totoro might become the first movie she watches over and over and over though. I’m fine with that.
As Eli put it in reply, “it only has 2 antagonists: 1. a goat, and B. DEATH”.
Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer
Various dads in Ann Arbor confirm that my toddler is not alone in wanting Rudolf sung even far outside the Christmas Season. As Julie said on twitter“, “Toddlers aren’t constrained by seasonality.
Opioids and Guns
People smarter than me have said about all I feel qualified to say about both opioids and guns. Mental health care for all and more regulations on both. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that our government do more than blame literally everything else other than access to the things themselves as the cause of their misuse.
Ypsi-Arbor D&D Gazette
I continue to put work into the hyperlocal Dungeons & Dragons Zine. Submissions have trickled in here and there. Thus far the only marketing has been through twitter and a mention or two in various slack channels. I’m trying to work up the gumption to post on Facebook, but Facebook is a bewildering mess such that I’d just rather complain about it instead.
Anyway, given that extremely meek outing I’m kind of astounded at the subscription rate (approaching 30!). My guess is that the actual release will bring in a trickle of additional people and I’m fascinated to see what happens with a second issue. Here’s a tantalizing look at a draft of the top of the cover:
