Posts

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. ...

In sixth grade my mom took me to our local Hollywood Video so I could rent Fellowship of the Rings. I had started reading the trilogy, and wanted to watch each movie as I finished the corresponding book. Shockingly, my mom acquiesced — I’m guessing she wasn’t wholly familiar with its contents. More importantly, I saw a box of Buncha Crunch on the shelf. ...

My dad kept score for my baseball teams as a kid, and taught me how to do the same. I would keep score on and off during college when I went to Twins games, and just recently got back into the habit. My goal is — excepting games where it’d be a social faux pas to be nose-deep in a scorebook — to keep score when I attend games in person. ...

I woke up with the chorus of Avril Lavigne’s punk/pop hit Sk8er Boi stuck in my head. Here is the result. ...

I went to a show by the Secret Improv Society this past weekend, which performs in an odd theater building near Union Square. It’s only the second time I’ve been to a professional improv performance, and I was struck by how special the experience is. ...

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.1 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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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.1 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. ...