2025-06-30 22:41:00
Being a work week (and a long, five-day work week at that) not much happened of note, but here goes.
🚗 I took my car, a 2017 Volkswagen Jetta, to the car dealer for routine maintenance. In addition to the usual stuff (oil change, filters, etc.) it also got new spark plugs and new tires this time around. Was not cheap, but it beats buying a new car.
💀 Like so many otheres, we had a few really hot days. But my grass still keeps growing and I had to get out there and cut it. Even though I waited until later in the evening (around 7:30 PM) it was still pretty rough.
⛈️ We’ve also been getting a lot of thunderstorms, so I try to keep an eye on the weather. I like to go for walks at lunch time, so I checked before setting out on day this week. It was a beautiful sunny day, so I donned my sunglasses and wide-brimmed hat. I walked to Tropical Smoothie, put in my order, and played with my phone while I waited. Upon receiving my smoothie, I put the straw in and turned toward the door only to discover that the sky had opened and the rain was coming down in buckets. Unsure of how long it’d be, I sat down and drank my smoothie. When I was finished the rain stopped, the sun came out and I had a nice (if a little humid) walk back home. And I didn’t get wet.
I came across this the other day, and it conveys a sentiment that seems to be widely held—especially among the Indie Web community that I interact with on Mastodon. I share the concerns over the manner in which some large language models are trained and used—particularly with respect to creative capital. However, the world of AI has a lot to offer and it’s a shame that this is the only perspective that many have.
🚙 I drove up to Mentor to visit my mother for a couple days at the weekend. Since my dad died, there are a few things that I try to help her out with here and there. And it’s nice to spend some time together, something we’ve been doing a lot more of these past 12 months.
🏖️ When the weather permits, I like to take my mother to the beach. Headlands Beach State Park has a magnificent 35-acre beach along the south shore of Lake Erie. And it’s just a short drive from my mother’s house. This time we sat in the sun, listening to the waves and watching the other beachgoers for a couple hours. 10/10 highly recommend.
🪦 One of the chores this time around was to visit the cemetery and clean off the markers at the grave sites of my grandparents. It was light work that didn’t take long, but it reminded me that a friend from college had died a few years ago and was buried in another cemetery in the area. So I stopped off on my way home Sunday. Seeing his name carved in stone was painful. I took it as a reminder that I owe it to his memory (and to myself!) to live this short life to the fullest.
On Point: The biomedical research enterprise is under attack
The Ezra Klein Show: Mamdani, Trump and the End of the Old Politics
RRR (See my micro review here.)
That’s it from this end. Cheers!
2025-06-30 18:59:00
One Year To Go
Good morning, party people. Today is the last day of the first half of 2025.
At the end of the first half of 2026, I intend to retire.
Counting down...
2025-06-29 19:35:00
Who holds the power?
To say that employers seek overtly to wrest control from their workers in this way is cynical. It characterizes corporate executives as modern day slave drivers—an exaggeration to be sure.
I prefer a simpler explanation, which is that it is merely one of many naturally arising side effects of continually maximizing profit and growing the stock price.
2025-06-29 18:11:00
Load. Aim. Shoot.
RRR has been on my watch list since it first came to Netflix back in 2022. I knew it was a long movie, so I’d put off watching it. But this week I found myself alone with some free time so I thought I’d give it a try.
To say this film is “over the top” is a wild understatement. Its weird mix of period drama, camp, and music is surprisingly delightful. Despite the long running time, it’s pretty easy (and fun) to watch.
2025-06-29 02:48:00
AI “engineers” be like…
This is just internetworking boot camps and coding boot camps all over again. Same get-a-career-quick bullshit, different decade.
2025-06-27 01:08:00
So here’s the sitch
It’s 90°F and beautifully sunny.
I grab my hat and sunglasses and head out for my lunchtime walk.
I walk to Tropical Smoothie, put in my order, wait, then ready to go. All in pretty quick time.
I turn to face the door.
The skies have opened and it’s coming down in buckets.
So I’m sitting here enjoying my smoothie while I wait for the sunshine to return.
