Today’s Micro.blog Analog Tools meetup was an entertaining show-and-tell session of our favorite pens. 🖋️📓🗂️ We ran out of time, so part two will be next month. Let me know if you’d like to join us! | Continue reading
My friend and I, seated outside with half-melted hazelnut lattes. Bees start buzzing around us. Smiles across the table: we love bees. One alights on my labradorite ring, crawls into the dark cool space between thumb and forefinger, tiny footsteps tickling my palm. | Continue reading
The reminder for the next Micro.blog Analog Tools Meetup has been emailed. 🖋️📓🗂️ If you’re not on this list and would like to join us, let me know! | Continue reading
Some days the gap between the leader I want to be and the leader I currently am is so wide, and it hurts. This is also true for the gap between the writer I want to be and the writer I currently am. And pretty much everything else in my life. | Continue reading
Mandy Patinkin in concert last night! 🎵 This musical theatre nerd’s heart is full. His interpretation of “Wandering Boy” by Randy Newman moved me to tears. And more tears when he sang Lyle Lovett’s “If I Had a Boat”, a song I love dearly. | Continue reading
After @bapsi mentioned Jillian Hess' “Re-Noted: 6 Ways to Use a Diary”, I got completely stuck on Lynda Barry’s basic quick diary format. I grabbed my copy of “Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor” and I’m adapting this format in my Hobonichi Weeks. | Continue reading
Another interesting, thoughtful, and fun Micro.blog Analog Tools meetup this morning! 🖋️📓🗂️ We talked about hybrid analog/digital tools and processes, how friction can help slow thoughts down, and much more. | Continue reading
Saturday nosh on yesterday’s baking project. 🍞 FunkyPlaid served the soda bread with two excellent condiments: maple orange cranberry spread and ube (purple yam) spread, both from Trader Joe’s, the ultimate snackiverse. | Continue reading
Today’s baking project: Fig and Caramelized Onion Soda Bread from Cannelle et Vanille Bakes Simple by Aran Goyoaga 📚 I don’t recall making soda bread before today, but this turned out great! 🍞 I appreciate how it’s basically a giant scone. | Continue reading
Four years ago today, I made the difficult and necessary call to shut the library. I had been the director for just over eight months. I went home, drained yet resolved, and had no idea what would happen next. And then everything else happened. | Continue reading
Currently reading: Molly by Blake Butler I’m used to being upset by what I read; I prefer it to indifference. But this … I can’t decide if I’m feeling the “good” upset or the upset I felt when I watched “Funny Games”, complicit in witnessing a horrible inevitable. | Continue reading
Recently I backslid into my hyperfocused “quantified self” ways and started tracking various metrics with apps again. As a result, my anxiety has ramped up considerably, and I feel like I’m doing more tracking than living. Time to delete some apps. | Continue reading
The real question on everyone’s minds after watching “Death and Other Details”: Was Rufus Cotesworth writing in a brown passport-size Traveler’s Notebook with an extra-wide elastic? (Yes, I am super-fun to watch TV shows with.) | Continue reading
After eight years in Portland, I finally made it onto the Portland Spirit for a river cruise. | Continue reading
The reminder for the next Micro.blog Analog Tools Meetup has been emailed. ️️ If you’re not on this list and would like to join us, let me know! | Continue reading
While walking to dinner tonight, a friend and I were screamed at repeatedly by someone walking behind us. Before I started working in public libraries, this would have thrown me. Tonight it wasn’t even a footnote (aside from this, of course). | Continue reading
Victory! I gave blood tonight with no issues. I hydrated all day, ate leafy greens, and took an iron supplement. | Continue reading
From the Chasing Fifty podcast: “You define what has molded you. Let’s not allow others to dictate how we heal and share our stories.” Wise words from my friend Shawn. | Continue reading
Loud, but I blame that on IMAX. Unnecessarily confusing, but I blame that on Nolan. The action scenes were absolutely worth my irritation at Nolan's refusal to write characters of any depth. Also, the casting of Robert Pattinson was inspired! | Continue reading
One last mug of Campfire S’mores tea, which we found at Crimson Cove in Poulsbo, WA. ☕️ This tea is no longer made. Enjoying it was a contemplative start to my birthday weekend. | Continue reading
Finished reading: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin It was the heartwarming, heartbreaking story about friendship and video games I needed. I highly recommend it. | Continue reading
Lunar New Year lantern viewing at Lan Su Chinese Garden. We enjoyed the tea tasting in the newly reopened teahouse. | Continue reading
Artsy photo of Criminy. I don’t post enough photos of our adorable cats! | Continue reading
Another Micro.blog Analog Tools meetup in the books (pun intended)! ️️ Thanks to the attendees who participated in our lively, meandering chat about analog tools, journaling, language, first drafts, and Journalception. | Continue reading
The reminder for the next Micro.blog Analog Tools Meetup has been emailed. ️️ If you’re not on this list and would like to join us, let me know! | Continue reading
I wasn't able to donate platelets today due to a vein issue. I'm so disappointed, and doing my best to release the feeling that I did something wrong. I'll go back to whole blood donation for now. | Continue reading
Recently I have read several posts to the effect of “why I won’t be writing publicly about horrible things happening in the world.” I am in full support of people not writing publicly about every single horrible thing that is happening in the world, because of the following: It i … | Continue reading
Getting a bit nervous about my first-ever platelet donation tomorrow. My friend Toby has donated 400 units! | Continue reading
Currently reading: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin I’m finally caught up with Mick Herron’s Slough House series, and switching tracks. Already I’m in love with this book! I can see why people are raving about it. | Continue reading
Disability Rights Oregon sues Washington County alleging it fails people in mental health crises (CW: descriptions of suicide and violence): Washington County routinely fails to meet the health needs of people in mental health emergencies by dispatching armed police officers inst … | Continue reading
Safe parking programs offer a way for people who are currently living in their vehicles to park securely overnight, access restrooms and running water, and get connected with resources so they can get housing. Here’s an example. Does your city have one? | Continue reading
Watched on Wednesday January 24, 2024. | Continue reading
Normalize not checking work email, voicemail, or any other work-related messages while on paid time off. Rest is productive. | Continue reading
Watched Librarians in Oregon share concerns about dangers at work: I’ll make an exception during my week off work to repost this. Worth the 4-minute watch if you care about public libraries. | Continue reading
Creamy, Spicy Rotini and Red Lentils with Tomatoes and Goat Cheese. 🥘 Easy and tasty! I used penne instead of rotini. | Continue reading
On the 40th anniversary of the Mac, I am celebrating the people in my life who, when I was but a cygnet, recognized and cultivated my aptitude and passion for personal computing. Without them, I would not have a career in information science today. | Continue reading
🤬 Irritated by my doctor's last-minute appointment rescheduling. I'll be in this particular pain for another week, and I'm not happy about it. | Continue reading
So much talking for a movie about feeling. I liked it, but was left yearning for more connection and less composure. | Continue reading
I haven’t yet done a wrap-up post for my seasonal focus for Autumn, but while it’s still Winter I’d like to get going on my seasonal focus, which is rebooting my writing routine. Metric 1: Hours in Focused Writing Time This is the cornerstone of rebooting my routine: I will aside … | Continue reading
Many different creativity systems1 stress the importance of the “capture” or “inbox” step — whatever you call it, it’s a place where you gather your ideas. It should be frictionless and ubiquitous. Though we exist in an age where technology has wrested the “frictionless and ubiqu … | Continue reading
Working remotely today, and wow am I out of practice. | Continue reading
Without the internet to distract me, I made it over halfway through the 2023-2024 YearCompass. Wrapping up last year this way was incredibly cathartic. I recommend it! | Continue reading
We had a PDX winter weather adventure, nearly 24 hours without power, which meant no heat. 🥶 It got down to 49°F inside. But our neighbors with a generator invited us over to warm up and charge our phones, and they fed us a hot meal. We are so lucky, and so many are not. | Continue reading
Diamine Solar Storm, a stunning blurple with chameleon shimmer, which means the shimmer changes color depending on how the light hits it. ️ This was an Inkvent 2022 offering; my friend L was willing to lend this to me to swatch. It’s even prettier than I thought it would be! | Continue reading
My office-mate Alfonso did not appreciate the reading material I provided today. | Continue reading
Nearly two years later, I’m reviving the idea of a Micro.blog meetup for analog tools like paper and notebooks, pens and ink, pencils, stationery, planners and journals, typewriters, index cards, etc. Thirteen intrepid fans of analog tools filled out the survey last time, and the … | Continue reading