Perhaps the greatest boon to digital communication, other than the hyperlink, is the GIF. They provide succinct ways to show everyone what you are working on, and allows people unfamiliar with technology to repeat a process exactly as shown to them. No need to create a series of images with missing information between them. You need a tool to make GIFs, because you never know when creating one on the fly will be extraordinarily useful. A basic GIF made with Kap. ...
It’s an odd experience drafting a blog post on paper, but here we are. ...
Whenever I think about this blog, I feel slightly disappointed in myself. My internal impression is that many of the posts are written at the last minute about nothing with any lasting interest. Most frustratingly, I want this blog to be a tool to improve my writing and communication, yet I’m not convinced I’ve set up a framework that lends itself to that goal. I began to think about a change. ...
I’ve been playing disc golf for nearly a year and a half.1 It’s an incredibly fun activity that I play mostly by myself in California, and love meeting up with friends to play while back in Minnesota. It’s relatively cheap to get into, lets me explore fun bits of nature, I get to directly compete against myself, and have a clear way of seeing whether I’m improving. My set of discs has mostly stabilized (with the exception of losing a disc here or there), so I thought it would be good to talk through each disc and why I like to use them. ...
Driving south offered the perfect view of the evening sky. I first noticed the red-orange moon rising to my left, hovering just above the Wyoming plains in the distance. It looked unreal, as if someone had set it there for me to reach out and grab. Somehow the moon looked to be angled ever so slightly, as if it were a flat circle that had rotated just a little to make it clear that it had no depth. ...
Immediately after coming back from my honeymoon this weekend, I came down with a bad cold. (COVID test was negative, so just your regular funk.) I’m trying to be better at balancing pushing myself to hold to expectations I set regarding my various hobbies and side projects, and giving myself the leeway to relax and take care of myself. Last night, Grant and I recorded a shorter episode of Comical Start without any comics, and I barely did any editing. And for this week, I’m writing this post as a stopgap. ...
Just a quick note, since I’m on my honeymoon: There’s a hurricane on its way through Florida. That’s not something we expected to deal with during our time here, but I think we’re in a reasonably safe spot. It messes with a few of our plans, but we’ll certainly be together for whatever happens.
Erin and I got married on Saturday, September 17. It’s been a few days, and we haven’t yet gotten used to calling each other husband and wife. They still sound like overly adult terms. It’s a funny feeling. There’s so much building up to just a few moments in a day when you move from engaged to married. Then everything is over, you enjoy a party with friends and family, then that is over too. You’re left with a scattershot of memories from a whirlwind of an evening, and a lifelong partner. It’s a lot to take in. ...
I’m writing this over the course of several days before Erin and I get married. I’ll note when these thoughts were written down. ...
I haven’t been to the Minnesota State Fair since 2017, just prior to my senior year of college. Since then, my travels home haven’t aligned with the event, so I’ve missed out on the fun and festivities I was lucky enough to enjoy for so many years. Finally, with Erin and I being back for our wedding, we were able to return. We only spent about 4.5 hours there, but we enjoyed an abbreviated version of the fair trips we looked forward to each year of college. It was genuinely exciting to go back, to have the familiarity of the sights and sounds and smells, and spent quality time together in the unique atmosphere the fair provides. ...