My new Canopus (amazing drum company from Japan) snare drum arrived. 4 x 14 all maple shell with die cast hoops. It’s heavy and meaty. I hope one day to own a full Canopus set.

“Agentic” is something I want to see wiped, nay, obliterated… from all languages.

Today’s bounty.

Currently listening to the best movie soundtrack ever made.

First dust bowl like storms, now fuel shortages, it’s all fine.

Well, that was scary.

My son, when we’re putting him to bed:

Rice cookers are great, but one should still learn how to cook rice on the stove top.

Nice finish to a long ass day.

This album is too good, and so is this song.

First shower heads and lo-flo toilets, now radiation standards offend these people (bold emphasis mine):

Trump tightens control of independent agency overseeing nuclear safety

NPR has also seen a draft of an executive order “ordering the reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.” The draft calls for reducing the size of the NRC’s staff, conducting a “wholesale revision” of its regulations in coordination with the White House and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team, shortening the time to review reactor designs and possibly loosening the current, strict standards for radiation exposure.

This week I have taken the plunge to learn WMA by Pearl Jam from their wonderful Vs. album.

There isn’t much on the internet (footage or tutorials) on this song which is too bad, but also a little refreshing. I think I’m close in my pattern, I still haven’t figured out how to incorporate the hi-hat part yet with everything else going on. And I can’t sustain the pattern through the entire song (while being in time)yet so going to spend more hours on it.

A reminder.

It’s the Stupid, Stupid

Really good interview with Mike Bordin, drummer of Faith No More fame. The comradery of Bay Area musicians reminds me of my experience in Seattle in the late 90s and early 2000s.

pca.st/episode/4…

Soundgarden and Bill Withers played in the background today for most of the day…

I can’t imagine what job seeking must be like these days. This article calls out that roughly 60% of CFOs at companies have pessimistic views of the economy (they believe we will be in a recession as soon as the second half of this year).

Whether this administration forces a recession on us or through shear self-fulfilling prophecy, the likelihood of accelerated layoffs because of corporate austerity or actual economic events is becoming more real.

Since the elections I’ve amped up my rainy day fund savings and can’t shake the feeling that I need more. I had made some assumptions around ACA benefit needs but in researching the numbers tonight around coverage for me and my family here in the state of Nebraska, the outlook isn’t great: If I lost my job tomorrow I would be looking at anywhere from $1400-$2800 per month in healthcare premiums. Nebraska just doesn’t participate in ACA in the same way more progressive states do.

This is bananas. I am fortunate, and privileged, in that I work for a tech company (which also means highly volatile) and that I still have a job. I am considered a high performer in my current role. But I can only hope for the best and plan for the worst, and the ticking hands of that worst clock appear to be moving closer to that dreadful hour.

I am not economically rich, far from it. I am rich in the important ways, I have a wonderful wife and beautiful son, they help counter that clock and fill me with joy every day. All I have to do is show up for them every day and do one thing.

TV is on while I wait for my car repair. I haven’t had cable or a tv in 20+ years. Of course they set it to Fox News. The kool aid is just… wow

📷 The HTC U11 had a good camera as well (still have mine from when I worked at HTC, beautiful phone).

Cleaning up my photos and found some shots taken with the Essential PH-1 phone I briefly owned. Kind of wish I hadn’t sold it. The monochrome shots were pretty good 📷

I miss Seattle.

I’m a big fan of Becca Farsace’s YouTube channel. She’s a natural at vlogging and I miss her content when she was at the Verge. Today she posted about her two weeks with the Light Phone III and it echoes the review from Wired that I read previously. It all boils down to the gamble being: will you have a stable software experience with this (temporarily priced?) $600 phone and the answer seems to be no out of the box, in particular SMS issues (can send but not receive, quirkiness with group chats) and camera responsiveness.

I love the industrial design of the device (not sure how it feels in hand), with its Dieter Rahms-esque black box with a speaker grill. Also the photo quality (akin to mid-2015s aesthetic) drives a little bit of nostalgia while preserving perfectly serviceable shots.

The texting thing will be more difficult for the Light Phone crew to solve. Some of it could be carrier related, but in a world where your number is registered to iMessage or Google’s RCS service, things can sometimes linger even if you de-register the mobile from your previous service creating the “send but can’t receive” scenario.

I suspect I would enjoy the device, but no WhatsApp is a deal breaker (supposedly they are working on it), as this is the primary way I communicate with my parents abroad.

For the time being, I will stick with my minimized iPhone 13 mini and keep it stock/barebones with only essential apps and no social media.

Man, Clem Burke. Rest in Peace.

Turned off all notifications, minimized my home screen. Going for that Light Phone vibe.

A quiet day outside with my wife and kid.

American Brexit (members only article) from Taegen Goddard’s excellent Political Wire.

This has been my main source of political news for the past few months and my mental health is grateful for it. Highly recommend the subscription.

And Britain, according to independent estimates, is now 10% poorer than it would have been had it remained in the EU.

The public seems to agree. Recent polling shows more than two-thirds of Britons now believe Brexit has gone badly.

That’s not just buyer’s remorse—it’s the realization that an entire country willingly made itself poorer for the sake of ridiculous political slogans.

Now, apparently, it’s America’s turn.

Hoping that buyer’s remorse doesn’t last 10 years for the US.

Priorities.

I finally feel liberated from my retirement account.