personal

With all the recent ups and downs on different social media platforms (like The-Platform-Formerly-Known-as-Twitter), the writing on the wall has become increasingly clear to me. Using social media as the prime way to send out updates on my blog is becoming more and more problematic. Even Facebook, which has long been my main way of getting the word out, is no longer dependable. Its algorithms choose what people see or don’t see. I’ve seen a real dip in the number of people clicking through to see what I’ve written, and I don’t think it’s because my writing’s become that much

There are a few basic ground rules to how I generally operate. First, I’m not what you’d call a manual laborer. At least, that’s not something that plays to my strengths. You need something organized? Some sort of tech problem ironed out? Someone to bounce ideas off of to come up with a solution to a tricky problem? I think I’ve got something to offer. You want someone to haul sand or mud around? I don’t think anyone would likely put me at the top of the list. (I suppose it depends who else is on the list, right? Would

Guess what?! I’m back from my long (long) vacation. The most popular question now is “How are you doing?” And the answer? Tired. Very tired. Which is silly, having just gone on a vacation, but I drove 5,000 miles and did about a billion different things, so I think it’s somewhat defensible. Also, I took the red eye back and couldn’t sleep a wink, so yesterday I was running on a three hour nap that I grabbed once I got home. The good news is that I slept better last night, so that should be solved soon. I’ve been out

Back at the beginning of the year, I started doing Duolingo in Czech, mainly because it was a small thing I could do improve myself in a small way. It’s a low commitment threshold, and I’ve stuck with it every day since. My streak is around 115 now, give or take. I’ve actually branched out into other languages. I started Chinese because I’d never had any experience with a tonal language, and I also wanted to see what a non-European writing system was like. Then I added Swedish, because if I’m going to be in Europe in the future at

The other day, I’d just about had it. There’s been more than a bit of doom and gloom to go around lately, both on a national and a local level. Nationally, I’ve become more and more discouraged with the callous way so many people seem willing to dismiss the concerns of others. The political landscape has changed from one where people had their own ideas, to one where it feels to me like more and more are just taking their ideas from someone else and letting themselves be told what to do and how to think. America’s struggled a lot