Now

Sunday, February 9, 2025, Normandy Park, WA

I fill my gas tank every Sunday, regardless of how much gas my car needs. When I was pumping my gas at my local Shell last week, Regular was $4.19/gallon (with a credit card). I remember thinking, “gas was $4.09 last week.”.

Today it was $4.29. Same station, same pump.

Seeking a gut-check, I looked up trending prices on the AAA website. I am including this screenshot from today so we can recall when the truth somehow gets twisted.

Sunday, February 2, 2025, Normandy Park, WA

Cyber Cleanse

I am on Day Two of the Cyber Cleanse, wherein I am choosing a new web browser. I have installed Arc and Firefox and while I love Arc and might find it easy to get caught up in its hype, it is built on Chromium which makes me suspicious. Firefox is just more privacy-centered and that is really what I care most about. I have spent too much time sacrificing my time and attention on ‘free’ and ‘shiny’ software.

There are 21 days in all to the cleanse, which is described as, “…not a digital detox: one of those getaways where you lock your phone away for a few days and attempt to focus on the world around you instead of constant notifications. It’s a chance to take stock of your digital footprint, clean up what you’ve left behind, and move with intention toward a different set of digital habits in the coming years.” After opting out from some of the more pernicious social media and putting in place some tools to control the news and information flow that reaches me, I am excited to embark on this process. 

Thursday, January 30, 2025, Normandy Park, WA

Bonus Cantos

One of my favorite things happened today: an hour long meeting got cancelled at the last minute! That feeling of some bonus time to go for a walk, catch up on tasks, think about a creative projects, or whatever…without any obligation to use it productively. I spent it entering an Elvis Costello rabbit hole I have not climbed out of five hours later. 

Tuesday, January 28, 2025, Normandy Park, WA

AI-AI-O

On the recommendation of an old friend and colleague, I am experimenting with Reclaim.Ai. It is a combination task and calendar manager and works on the principle that by assigning tasks priority levels and calendaring them, one can manage their days with less stress, potentially get more done, but also schedule in important priorities like lunch, exercise, meditation, etc. If it goes well, this will turn at least two tools into one, allowing me to deprecate Asana and Calendly. 

Thursday, January 23, 2025, Normandy Park, WA

Work It

Met with a client’s marketing team to help them think through some recruiting challenges. Met with the same client’s PR firm to help unblock their B2B event attendance strategy. Reviewed and revised (and revised. And revised) a pitch doc for a whale that client is trying to land. Worked on an intake survey for a training session I am running for said client. 

Web-Weaving

Did some work on my personal and business website, hopefully simplifying both.

Outside Time

No rain in my neck of South King County yet again today. Managed another mid-afternoon walk. Glorious.

Wednesday, January 22, 2025, Normandy Park, WA

Life

A productive day at the desk, a quiet evening with my youngest son. 

Tuesday, January 21, 2025, Normandy Park, WA

The Stuff

One of those days. I probably worked too much/too late but I got a lot done on personal and creative projects and moved the ball down the field on some client work. Hard to feel bad about that. I did not get out into the (very unseasonal) sunshine as much as I would have liked to but blocked time on my calendar for that tomorrow. These whole week is stacked but when I look at my Asana tasks and my calendar, it is all pretty interesting stuff. Not going to go looking for reasons to complain. 

Monday, January 20, 2025, Normandy Park, WA

Projects

Today I interviewed, Midori Kono Thiel, a nonagenarian Nisei artist for a piece I am writing for KNKX. I annotated a piece of mine that we are publishing Wednesday on The Tonearm and I bought a refurbished cassette deck for a sound project I am working on. I also drafted and circulated the agenda for a monthly call I chair of the editorial committee for The Buzz, a podcast for which I am managing editor. 

Tools for Peace (of mind)

My friend and creative collaborator Michael Donaldson helped me get up and running with a new way to manage some news and information flow. He introduced me to Inoreader, which I am loading up with the websites, Google Alerts, newsletters and RSS feeds I follow. Not only is it one place for all of my news information, which is already decreasing my mindless browsing time, but it has an amazing Rules feature which allows me to block articles with certain keywords from even entering my new stream. If only my podcast player did the same….Inoreader is going to be a game-changer for my media diet and well-being. 

Sunday, January 19, 2025, Normandy Park, WA

I am starting a /Now page

I am increasingly unhappy about the state of technology and media. I was never a techno-utopian but definitely a techno-optimist. I would like to reclaim the power of technology if not to do good in the world, to feel good in and about the world. This is a small step in that direction. 

It is a day of task work

I do not need Sunday to be a day of rest. I find it more relaxing to get my projects in order so as to start the week feeling ready to go. To that end, I am prepping for an interview tomorrow morning with Midori Kono Thiel for a piece I am writing for KNKX. I have a call scheduled with a client (and friend) in about 30 minutes, and I am working on a new concept called “The Business of Culture” for The Tonearm.