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Todd Grooms

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Finished reading: Superbloom by Nicholas Carr 📚

There is a lot to process here. It can feel a bit overwhelming and deterministic: was our current reality set in motion over a century ago? Can our current situation be improved? I’m feeling less optimistic that it can be fixed.

Finished reading: Source Code by Bill Gates 📚

I really enjoyed the computer history covered in Bill Gates’ memoir. He comes across as a fascinating individual, especially when going into details regarding early software development.

🔗 Three Tough Truths About Climate

An interesting and thoughtful prospective about a topic that brings me anxiety. I often fret over my children’s experience with the world and what the climate will be like in their lifetime. Instead of feeling hopeless, this made me feel a little more hopeful.

You’ll never know what you’ll find when you pull up a thicket of petunias from a flower bed.

🛫 Preparing to depart SJC. I enjoyed a lovely week out in Cupertino, with an evening trip to Aptos.

One Year Later

A serene beach scene at sunset with scattered clouds and calm waves.

My father, John Wyman Adams, passed away a year ago today. I knew the anniversary was approaching, but it sometimes still doesn’t feel real. In the lead up to his death, I always assumed we would have more time. More time to talk. More time to bond. More time to share. More time to laugh. Man, I miss his laugh.

A few weeks ago, it dawned on me that the anniversary would coincide with a trip out to the office. Once I realized this, I knew that I wanted to visit Aptos on this day and I wanted to sit on the beach for a bit. I wanted to feel the breeze. I wanted to feel the sun. I wanted to breathe. I wanted to reflect. I wanted to grieve.

The other morning, while somewhere in between awake and dreaming, I thought how it had been awhile since I had called my dad. I wanted to call him. I wanted to give him an update on what had been going on. I wanted to talk about Max starting sixth grade and how he is in middle school now. I wanted to talk about Adelaide’s first day of kindergarten and about how brave she was. I still want to share this with him.

I’m not sure how to describe it, but I sometimes feel him with me. I see him in the mirror. I hear his laugh when I laugh. It’s funny how similar some of our mannerisms are, even though we never lived together. There are many traits that I share with him and many that I don’t. I would have loved the opportunity to learn more ways in which we are similar.

Thanks to the fog for cooperating today. I had my time in the sun at Seacliff. I thought about walking along the beach with my dad when he visited us years ago. I thought about him walking alongside Max and my sister. I thought about him sharing an ice cream cone with Max at Marianne’s while I enjoyed an ice cream cone this evening. I thought about him.

Finished reading: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 📚

Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.

I enjoyed it, but I also don’t get what all the fuss is about. Why is this book controversial? Would The Republic also be controversial today?

📺 Stick

I found Stick to be a lot of fun. Sad to see the season finale. If the writers have more story to tell, I really hope they can get picked up for a second season. I would definitely tune in for another season.

Absolutely incredible finish to the Brickyard 400 today. Bubba Wallace with a sensational finish. He somehow beats Larson on both Overtime restarts and somehow manages to avoid running out of gas.

Finished reading: The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton 📚

Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.

Ashley recommended this to me for our vacation. I was able to finish it as we landed back in Nashville. I enjoyed it so much.

Finished reading: Lead Yourself First by Raymond M. Kethledge 📚

Community is a group of individuals who have made an inclusive commitment to support each other. Inclusive because they welcome others to join them. Differences are a product of ideas. Division is a product of behavior. A community means we live together with differences, but we can’t be divided.

–Chip Edens

Finished reading: Things Become Other Things by Craig Mod 📚

When I was a kid, the whole world felt preordained, immutable. Everything about the old town simply was, always had been, and always would be.

🔗 The rise of Whatever

But I like programming. I like writing. I like making things and then being able to sit back and look at them and think, holy fuck, I made that. There is no joy for me in typing a vague description into a computer and refreshing my way through a parade of Whatever until something is good enough.

This one struck a chord with me. There is so much here that I have found myself thinking and not knowing how to put into words.

via Molly White