My new job requires me to be in the office 3x per week, so I drive 160 miles each way to and from Lincoln. It’s been nice being in an urban environment (Lincoln is no New York or Chicago but compared to Lexington, NE where I currently live it is certainly more expansive). I’ve been enjoying the food scene there, checking out music shops and other local stores (I had some great pho the other day for lunch). The Nebraska State Capitol building is visible from a lot of areas in the town, the UNL campus is pretty to take walks through and my favorite parts have been the historic buildings and architecture still being preserved and actively in use.
My wife and I have been considering whether moving makes sense in the near future. The fact is that at my current pay it would not be economically feasible to uproot the family and after my layoff experience in the summer and the shakiness of the economy, job uncertainty still runs high in my psyche, though I enjoy my new gig and company very much and have a small sliver of hope that I can turn it into something truly long lasting and meaningful in the future.
In other news, my friends sent me a rough track for a new song they are working on and they’ve asked me to record some drum parts for it. I’ve been diving in and mapping out parts during my drives (an upside to the long commute, lots of music listening and quiet thinking which I haven’t had time for really since my son was born 5 years ago).
All in all, sitting with the gratitude I feel is enough.
A couple of weekends ago I went to Kansas City for a drum event at a friend’s jazz club. The event was a clinic by WFLIII Drums, owned by Bill Ludwig III, grandson of Bill Ludwig of Ludwig drums (B3 used to manage artist relations at Ludwig). Anyways, I met the man, and he signed my snare.
I commute to work three days per week, about 160 miles each direction. I wake up at 5 am and am out the door between 5:30 am and 6 am, putting me in the office around 8:30 am. The irony of me spewing carbon all over the place while working for an organization that is also combating the effects of climate change has not gone unnoticed by me. I don’t say this with any cynicism, I work with incredibly smart people doing incredibly smart and impactful things under tight budgets, and I’m willing to try and solve this commute issue and certainly commit my time to continue being a part of this.
Economics plays a big part in this arrangement: at my current salary it is cheaper for me to continue living where I live and pay for the gas vs. relocating to Lincoln and incurring debt and significantly increased costs to reduce my commute distance. Over time as I build my relationships and more importantly, trust, I suspect I will be able to switch to a different model. In parallel I am researching hybrid options (I don’t think I can justify fully electric in Nebraska winters) to trade my current vehicle in for. Emotionally immature me doesn’t want to do that because I stupidly love my car and I know it will last 500k plus miles.
Being on the road a lot I haven’t been online very often, which is refreshing. Over the last ten days, give or take, I have come across a few interesting tidbits.
America is getting more and more burdened with rising energy costs. I know I’ve seen our utility bills rise significantly, our usage patterns certainly haven’t changed. AI and the data centers that can’t get enough energy of course is becoming a primary driver (and the increased cost gets passed down to households).
“Working families are already on the brink—with millions forced to skip meals, dip into their savings, and turn to credit cards and other risky financial products and practices just to get by.”
Staying away from a regular internet consumption habit has been good for me. When I do dabble, I see the tinted glass everything tries to put on our eyes, rose or other shades, and I’ve felt my responses be more pragmatic vs. reactive with one exception, I downloaded the 26.1 iOS update to my phone and enabled the “Tinted” setting for liquid glass and I find things to be much more useable.
I have just completed my fourth week in my new job with the Arbor Day Foundation, and I’m happy, nay, fortunate to say I’m really enjoying it there. I really had no clue where my post-layoff road would take me.
My sleep cycle has been a little all over the place since getting back to work, today it’s 3 a.m. shenanigans. I listened to Rudy Sarzo being interviewed by Billy Corgan and can’t wait for part 2 to come out.
Jack DeJohnette passed away today at 83. Such a great drummer.
I’ve posted about Koide Cymbals in Japan before, came across another video of their hand making of cymbals, with some commentary. I love the sounds of those red hot bronze plates being transferred from a super hot oven into a water bath for instant cooling.
Today marks the last week I file for my weekly unemployment benefits and start my new gig on Tuesday. This has been a wild experience and I’m grateful to be going back to work, and excited for the actual work too. More on that later, don’t want to jinx it!
D’Angelo was incredible and Black Messiah is straight up a life changing album. I spent the last few days listening to this album on repeat. His singing makes time reset to him. Here’s a snippet of a drum cover I attempted just now of “Ain’t That Easy”.
Jimmy Kimmel went off the air for a few days. People voted with their wallets. They cancelled their Disney + subscriptions, they sent a loud clear message. Jimmy Kimmel is now back on the air.
Apple pulls key apps from the App Store that anonymously and safely allows communities some semblance of agency against the cruelty of this administration. Imagine the response being billions of dollars in returned Apple merchandise, overnight, cancelled Apple related subscriptions and iPhone orders.
Apple is not your enemy. Disney is not your enemy. Tim Cook is not your enemy. Google is not your enemy. But they wield power over our culture that can be reversed and channeled appropriately. We always say, money talks, people with money have the power, etc. Collectively we could easily use that as leverage, and put them into the appropriate position to say Fuck you, make me.
But we’re not doing that. We are bitching about how Tim Cook is bending the knee, online, dopamine achieved. My wife always reminds me about pointing fingers, there are three fingers pointing back.
The Nebraska Telephone Company Building in Lincoln. A reminder that infrastructure used to be built with style. From theclio.com:
The ground story is composed of cast iron with a simple classical motif spanning the width of the front of the building. The upper stories are St. Louis pressed brick topped by a terra cotta entablature and wall cornice, under a copper free-standing anthemion motif. This motif featuring of alternating lotus and palmette is shared by the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. The second and third floor facades also feature ornate designs such as a terra cotta panel featuring a bell (a symbol of the phone company) and floral motif underneath a palladian window.
This. From Taegan Goddard’s Politcal Wire. Well worth the subscription btw.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) could simply announce that Democrats will no longer filibuster appropriations bills, and when back in the majority, they’ll formally abolish it.
That alone would render the filibuster meaningless.
Such a move would leave Republicans fully responsible for funding the government.
Democrats could vote against GOP proposals and then criticize them as bad policy without being blamed for shutting down the government.
Posted a YouTube short of my drum cover of Shout by Tears for Fears. This is from a few months ago, I wish my back was back to 100% so I could play more.
