Tech in the Trenches

Wheel of Hammers at the Hammer Museum in Haines, Alaska

Slow Vacation

On May 5, 2024

As an experiment, I did a vacation recently where I went somewhere warm with bodies of water and did basically nothing but read books by those bodies of water the whole time. I know many people had figured out this kind of vacation long ago, but it was my first time, and I can report that it ruled. Try it if you haven’t. Maybe you don’t like reading and it’s an all-video-games vacation. You do you.
Laura Olin > 183: He stole forsythia.

This is my entire plan for our upcoming vacation. Renting a house on a lake, with a hot tub. Reading. Lounging. Writing. Relaxing. Slow days and even slower nights. Finding a comfortable place to curl up and slow down.

If we need some excitement, we might go wander an antique mall. For the weekend, we are going to Philadelphia to the Museum of Art. But we’re not planning to sight see or making big lists of attractions.

Whatever we stumble across, we might investigate. (Did you know there’s a Wolf Sanctuary in Pennsylvania?) If we drive by a weird sign for an attraction, we’re going to see it. I love stumbling across weird things.

When you see a Hammer Museum in Alaska, and you’ve made time to explore weirdness, you’re rewarded. I did not get to go into the Hammer Museum because we were on a cruise’s timeline. But walking by it was fun and I enjoyed the giant hammer.

20′ tall hammer at the Hammer Museum in Haines, Alaska

Take restful vacations. Play video games the entire time. Read a book you’ve been meaning to get to. Finish the three books you have going so you can start something fresh. Binge all of those movies you’ve been wanting to watch or catch up on your favorite TV show.

Finding some place that’s not your house helps to shift your perspective. There’s no dishes to worry about or cleaning to do. All of the little things you notice around your house vanish when you’re in another space. Whether it be a hotel room, house or cabin rental, or if you enjoy camping, sleep out under the stars and sit by the fire.

Slow down. Breathe. And immerse yourself in something you truly enjoy.

Have you ever pet a pig?

By Carl

On February 17, 2024

In Observations

My wife was taking to her sister today and she was recently in the Bahamas and went somewhere with pigs. That swim. Or something.

My wife said, “I am not sure if I’ve ever let a pig before.” And without missing a beat I said, “You must have pet a pig at some point in your life.”

And she said No… I don’t think I ever have.

Some days I forget she grew up in a city and not on a farm where pigs were accessible. She’s the city mouse to my country mouse and while we have shared a home for over 14 years, we have a very different childhood.

Remember friends, not everyone has pet pigs. Or participated in a pig scramble.

“Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with dry, uninspiring books on algebra, history, etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the ‘creative bug’ is just a wee voice telling you, ‘I’d like my crayons back, please.”
Hugh MacLeod

By Carl

On January 15, 2024

In Links and Quotes

Flashers Exist

By Carl

On January 8, 2024

In Observations

I left my house tonight to grab a few things from the grocery store. As I drove down the road, I saw a car blocking the end of the street at a busy intersection. I thought they had broken down as they were pulled just out of the intersection but blocking the lane as there were cars parked along either side of it. No lights were on outside nor inside the car. No lights on and no flashers going.

As I approached and debated turning around, I saw shadows passing in front of the dark vehicle. So I kept going to see if there was assistance needed, or if I needed to report an abandoned car (it’s happened before…)

But I got closer, one car inches by turning on to the road as I pulled in to an empty space for a driveway. Then I pulled up to try to pass and saw there was not enough room to get by and started to reverse.

Just then, I saw someone get out of a car parked along the road and get into the Jeep blocking the road. They got in, and immediately lights came on and they backed into the intersection and turned to leave.

I followed them out as we were heading in the same way towards the main road. And when we went through the intersection and I turned into the shopping center nearby, they turned into the apartment complex across the street.

Recently, there have been cars lining the end of the road where I live and there’s no nearly enough houses for all of these cars to have suddenly appeared. Some of the cars have been sitting there for days without moving. Some have stickers on the windshield like they had been flagged for parking illegally elsewhere. Maybe the apartment complex?

So maybe there’s something going on at the apartment complex that’s causing people to park in our neighborhood. Which would be fine, except 1) don’t stop your car in the middle of the road, blocking it and 2) don’t park all the way to the end of the intersection. It’s a good way to get your car smashed into.

For a quiet, city street, we’ve had three cars flipped over in the past few years and a dozen more hit in varying degrees of severity from needing to be towed away for repair to getting a huge dent down the entire side.

On Thanksgiving, I commend you

By Carl

On November 23, 2023

In Introspection

For all of you who have to go to Thanksgiving day, I commend you.

For all of you who have to deal with family who don’t raise you up and celebrate you for who you are and what you’ve done, I commend you.

For all of you who wake up in the morning filled with dread, whether you’re getting into a car getting on a plane or simply opening your bedroom door and traversing the stairs into the din of Thanksgiving preparation, I commend you.

For those of you that today is the day of morning and loss for the family used to have, I commend you.

For those of you who are filled with excitement and jubilation at seeing the family, you have either by birth, or by choice, I command you.

For those of you who are waking up today and it’s a Thursday, I commend you.