For Your Consideration

May 2, 2022November 23, 2022

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

I finished Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut last week. It can be modestly described as post-apocalyptic. In a scene set in a run-down Manhattan, there’s mention of making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I was curious when this modern staple became exactly that.

I left it at a quick dive into the Wikipedia article, and figured it would be good to report here. It seems the first reasonable description of something adjacent to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich comes from a 1901 issue of the Boston Cooking School Magazine. Twenty years later, when sliced bread came out and peanut butter became more of an economical staple, it became something kids could make themselves. By the second World War, both peanut butter and jelly have been on US military ration lists.

This was fascinating. It’s not as recent as I would have guessed.

April 25, 2022April 27, 2022

A Project Doomed to Fail

I’ve dabbled with various programming projects over the years. Building a tool to add MP3 chapters to podcast episodes, creating a website using Python, Advent of Code, and creating video games. The list goes on. Nearly all of them were left incomplete.¹

So, as I toy with the idea of yet another programming project, I’m faced with the reality that it is unlikely to succeed.

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I’d say the MP3 tool is the only one that could be considered complete, but even then I’m pretty unhappy with it. In no way could it be considered elegant, or even particularly usable.

April 18, 2022April 27, 2022

The Spirit of Competition

Competition is a slippery idea. In both professional and casual interactions, people often walk a fine line when showing a desire to compete. It can be fun and humorous to have a friendly intensity, but there’s always a tipping point where it becomes uncomfortable for those involved. Competition is one of the most natural things in the world, but needing to play out the act of competition in society muddies the waters.

April 11, 2022April 9, 2022

Journaling Update

I’ve been journaling consistently for a few months, and it felt like a good time to quickly reflect on how this habit has grown.

I’ve been using the app Journey to give me a daily prompt for a gratitude statement, just a single sentence, and have handwritten in a journal each evening. I made it through a Moleskin notebook by the end of February, and have since upgraded to a Rhodia WebNotebook. It’s a huge upgrade in quality, particularly since I’m using a nice rollerball pen that bled through the Moleskin pages.

Writing each night has not been the burden I thought it might, nor have I become complacent. Even on the few nights where I was unexpectedly up late, I took the time to jot down my thoughts. It offers a consistent outlet, a place to examine the day and reinforce the parts I want to remember. It is a meditative act as well, a time of solace, where I sit down alone without any other distractions.

I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon. I’m hooked on the routine, and it has kept me accountable to myself in a way that my habit trackers and other systems never quite managed. While they are good for a quick glance at the past, they don’t provide a running narrative; they lack subtlety. I’ve already bought refills for my pen, and look forward to a few months from now when the current journal is filled.

April 4, 2022April 3, 2022

Mario Kart 8 Booster Pass

I adore Mario Kart. I first played Double Dash at a friend’s house in elementary school. Soon after, my older sister was gifted a Nintendo DS and I would ask to borrow it as often as I could to play Mario Kart on it.¹ Once I moved to San Diego, I gifted myself a Nintendo Switch and have put hundreds of hours into Mario Kart 8. The first set of Booster Pass courses came out a couple of weeks ago, and I really want to talk about them.

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Also, Guitar Hero DS; we bought the fancy button attachment and “pick” stylus. As a young kid, I never got the hang of five buttons, so that version of Guitar Hero really worked for me.

March 28, 2022March 27, 2022

Trip Lengths

I just wrapped up a 5-day trip back to Minnesota, flying in Wednesday afternoon and flying out Sunday morning.¹ It’s the first trip of less than a week I’ve taken in over two years, and these shorter trips have their benefits.

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More or less. Our original flight was scheduled for 11, but ended up being delayed a little more than an hour.

March 21, 2022March 20, 2022

Thinking About Hobbies

My hobbies ebb and flow. I will rekindle a strong interest in some skill, old or new, and maintain it for a few weeks, perhaps months. It’s subsequently replaced by another pursuit.

I’ve realized that most of these interests are not separate; they tend to be manifestations of the same general themes. Any specific hobby tends to involve music, writing, sports, or technology, and during any given time period I’m most likely juggling hobbies from each of those four categories. Understanding this dynamic helps comfort me if a project fizzles out: there will be another one along shortly.

March 14, 2022April 27, 2022

Rediscovering Guitar: The Purchase

To satiate my recovered and expanding interest in guitar, I decided to use some money from my bonus this year to purchase a nice electric guitar. While I love playing acoustic—they sound beautiful, are easy to pick up, and always feel comfortable to me—electric guitar opens up a new world of effects, sounds, and styles. Plus, with a pair of headphones, you can have the full experience without much noise for everyone around you. Not wanting to waste my money, I dove into research