Birdhouse

Twitter seems to be in trouble. I have to ask myself, “Why do you care?” I haven’t been an active user on the platform in over six years. When I made the deliberate choice to check out of Twitter, I made my account private, uninstalled the application from my phone, and abstained from posting to the site. I have considered deactivating my account over the years, but have resisted the urge. What if I want to resume using it? This is doubtful, especially in its current state.

A few podcasts have urged people to download their Twitter history. I had been resistant to this, but after the initial Twitter layoff I decided to request an archive of my history. The process was smooth and I was able to download my archive a few days after my request. I didn’t know what to expect from the archive. Why would I want a bunch of random data? I was taken aback by the formatting of the archive. The archive is presented as a local web page, where you can navigate through your history of posts much the same way you could do so on the website.

Once I launched the local webpage in the archive, I was not ready for what awaited me: my full blown anxiety of the upcoming 2016 US Presidential election. My last few months of posts on Twitter were filled with concern and anxiety. My posts reeked of desperation. I was bargaining to avoid what eventually became inevitable on election night. I had forgotten what the final days before my sabbatical were actually filled with.

It seemed fitting that a few days after being confronted with this trauma our former President would announce his 2024 campaign. I didn’t want to see this, but I knew this was coming. My unease has returned. I’m not looking forward to the next two years.

🔗 The Right-Wing Mothers Fueling the School-Board Wars

Difficult to read at times. It’s absurd, to me, that this is where we are at. Yet, here we are.

At this rate, he would run out of fuel before completing the race. His crew chief instructed him to adjust his driving style so that his fuel consumption would decrease over the next few laps. With any luck, he’d be able to make it work.

#mbnov

He searched the room, but his efforts were fruitless. His suspicion on the whereabouts of the file turned out to be incorrect. He had one more idea on where she may have hidden it.

#mbnov

As she entered the door, she was relieved by the message on display. Her flight was on time. The last time she had flown this route, there had been delays that encroached on her vacation.

#mbnov

Truly interesting times when a head of lettuce outlasts a British Prime Minister. It still amuses me greatly that this became a thing.

#mbnov

There was a pit in his stomach. He had been frantically searching for it, but now he was certain that it was lost forever.

#mbnov

The consensus between me and some of my closest friends is that our democracy is doomed. The consensus of people on the opposite end of the spectrum is that our democracy is doomed, albeit for different reasons. Anyway you slice it, I fear we all may be right.

#mbnov

The deadline is quickly approaching. Without her insight into the inner workings of the system, they are sure to fail.

#mbnov

The cave was dark and empty. “Hello,” called the man. A response of, “Hello,” was returned a second later. The voice was familiar, albeit distant. The echo was a friendly reminder of his isolation.

#mbnov

He could finally breathe easy. The letter he had been waiting for had arrived. He was exempt from the latest tax hike. This exclusion would give him a little more money to save for his dream vacation to see the Northern Lights.

#mbnov

I have a deep admiration for those who are writing more long form micro.blog November entries. The creativity is inspiring. I would like to write long form fiction one day.

#mbnov

When I was sixteen, I remember the joy of obtaining my driver’s license. I was umpiring little league baseball at the time and shared my accomplishment with the other umpire. He flashed his pilot’s license at me: “You haven’t earned shit until you earn this one.”

#mbnov

⌨️ Useful alias for Fish Shell users who need to repeat the last command as sudo. Doh!

Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday. When I was younger, the Thanksgiving feast was the main draw. The thoughtful introspection and time spent with family members in my household is now the main reason for the affection I feel towards this holiday.

#mbnov

🔗 RIP: Kathleen Booth, the inventor of assembly language

I was unaware of this very important figure in the field of Computer Science. I do not recall hearing about her in college, even in my coursework that used assembly language!

#mbnov

Our Halloween tradition includes building our Trader Joe’s Haunted Halloween cookie house. I love sharing this activity with the kids.

A sneak peak of Spaceship Earth

One of the unfortunate experiences of preferring git CLI: entering git restore . instead of git restore --staged ..

🎧 Cory Doctorow on TWiT with an eye opening view on the respect we show to others and other things.

🔗 We Spoke With the Last Person Standing in the Floppy Disk Business – Eye on Design

when you’re 95% done you’re only halfway there

Leave it to @gruber to hit us with the term “stadium” in his iPhones 14 review. This geometry term is new to me.

Justin Herbert and the Chargers are wildly entertaining to watch. I don’t watch them often, but it seems like every game of theirs I do end up watching is a thriller.

Currently reading: Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs 📚

Stuff

We are currently having improvements made on our home. The drywall has needed repairs since we moved in. We neglected to have the work done before moving in due to the time commitment of finding someone to perform the work while managing a move at the same time. This is much needed maintenance and I will be happy once it is complete. However, the journey to that completion has been a slog.

The largest issue is “stuff.” What do we do with our “stuff?” The contractor we are working with will handle moving and protecting large pieces of furniture, but we need to move our “stuff” off of the furniture. That is a reasonable request, but it has been a stressful undertaking for me.

Our kids each have their own toys and books that end up strewn around the house. This is their “stuff.” Ensuring this “stuff” doesn’t consume our shared living space is a constant battle. Ashley and I also have our “stuff” littered throughout the home: books, memorabilia, and tchotchkes. As I was moving a few autographed hockey sticks around, my immediate thought became “why?” Why do we have this stuff? These items are not even on display. We have moved them three times now and we have never displayed them in any of our residences. Why do I feel the need to pack them around with us? Why do I feel compelled to protect them in a half-assed manner? These items are not encased or stored properly. These items may have some monetary value, but these items will not fetch that much if sold. Yet, I feel compelled to keep and care for these items. Why?