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The Good News About Squash

I first learned how to play squash during my freshman year of college. I was hooked pretty quickly. That year, my roommate and I both bought rackets so we wouldn’t have to keep renting from the university. I continued to play throughout college, just recreationally with friends, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

When I finished college and moved to San Diego, there was a squash-shaped hole in my life. I suddenly didn’t have any sports to play.1I had looked up a squash club in the city that only had 2 or 4 courts, for $120(!) a month. Ridiculous. I instead began walking about, going for hikes, keeping myself entertained through other means. Eventually, I found a group of guys to play flag football with on Saturdays; that was a great change.

Now that I’m in San Francisco, squash has come back to me. The benefit of being associated with a university (through Erin) is access to recreational facilities with squash courts. I brought my racket back from Minnesota, and have slowly accumulated people around me who are also interested in playing on a semi-regular basis.

I find it helpful to have a broad range of activities to participate in; that way, as circumstances change both in the short- and long-term, I have options to keep moving and stay entertained. I’m thrilled that squash has come back to be on that list.

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    I had looked up a squash club in the city that only had 2 or 4 courts, for $120(!) a month. Ridiculous.
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Kurt Vonnegut

I first started drafting this post in January of this year. As time has gone by, and it’s been yet a little bit longer since I stormed my way through many of Vonnegut’s novels, my words feel increasingly inadequate to describe how much I admire and enjoy this great American writer. So it goes.

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SEL

The tutoring organization I work with, Step Up, has focused heavily on the social and emotional learning (SEL) of the students in their program. To some extent, this is an expectation of any tutor who is also meant to be a role model. Just as with Big Brothers, Big Sisters, the goal is to improve the student’s outcomes in as many ways as we can; unsurprisingly, helping the student feel better about themselves and their place in the world can be a huge factor in their future success.

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Updated Podcast Workflow

I’ve settled into a clear podcast routine over the last six months. Near the end of 2021, I started recording on macOS. I continue to use Ferrite for editing, so I’ve fallen into an entirely Apple-based podcasting ecosystem. My process is slick, and additions like Universal Control give me even more flexibility. While there’s room for improvement, particularly through automation, I’m happy with the current setup.

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Marriage License Application

Turns out, this is pretty easy. Of course you’re dealing with a government service center, so the timing of everything is a little whacky. But, once we got to our counter, it only took a few minutes.1Several typos by the person assisting us was the only thing that slowed down the process. One interesting aspect in Minnesota is that they suggest (require?) an online pre-application, which is all the information they need beyond a government ID to cross-check your birthday. This is the stage where you choose to change your name. It turns out, that information does not stick to the pre-application, and they just ask you again at the counter. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

Now, we have a lovely manila envelope with everything we need to be legally bound in a few months. It’s another exciting, concrete step to end a lovely time at home visiting family.

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    Several typos by the person assisting us was the only thing that slowed down the process.