2026-04-21 00:45:00
Christina (left), founder of Fuerza Collective, and her niece, Jahnee (right) -- rockstars of the day.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending Fuerza Collective’s friends & family mobile coffee cart soft opening. I got to taste test some seriously delicious lattes, give feedback on them, and enjoy the sun with good company. By the end of it, I was highly caffeinated. That probably shouldn’t have been surprising though, since I had already had a cup of coffee before the event.
So many goodies, but stuck with just the specialty drinks for today.
I wanted to try all of the specialty drinks, but there was no way I could drink four caffeinated drinks and not die. Thankfully, LC ordered 2 and shared them with me. In the end, I actually ended up loving both of the drinks she chose, and ranked them above the ones I picked. That's not to say I didn't enjoy ALL of them, because I did. If I had to rank my favorites, it would be:
You’ve probably caught on that it's honestly really hard to go wrong with ANY of them.
I ordered everything iced because it was HOT outside. I think the differentiator in these drinks is hands down the cold foam. I'm convinced it's their secret weapon. It stayed flavorful all the way through, and my drink never tasted watered down, even with all the ice during a warm day. Though honestly, I probably drank everything faster than I realized because it was that good. I never even gave the ice a chance to melt.
I now fully expect all of the baristas I encounter to be this happy when I order a drink.
Overall, it was a really fun day. It was nice being in a space where people were genuinely excited, not just about the yummy lattes, but about where this business could go for Christina.
I genuinely think a lot of that also comes from the people. There's a quiet sense of awe I’ve felt in seeing the kind of community Christina has built. It feels deeply shaped by who she is and how she shows up for people. Although I am still a newcomer, she has made me (and LC) feel welcomed right from the very beginning. To me, that matters.
Our first drinks! Look how excited we are.
All of this to say: if you are in the Bay Area, go check out Fuerza Collective's mobile coffee cart. You can also visit their website, and/or Instagram for more information on how to book them for your next event.
A portion of the empty cups mean every single drink was consumed (and very much enjoyed).
We gave a cheer for every latte ordered today.
2026-04-19 22:22:00
I’m new to blogging, so I was a little shocked to see one of my recent posts about eggs appear on the Trending page of the Discovery feed.
Not only that, but I got a handful of wonderful email replies from people all over the world sharing their experiences with eggs for breakfast. One of them even turned it into his own post and made it on the Trending page too!
One thing I’ve learned from this experience is the benefits of friction in online communication. If it’s costless to interact, there is no bar for quality or intention.
Take a look at the comments section on any social media site. What you see:
One approach to combatting these behaviors is charging $$ to interact. Many writers on Substack paywall their comments section. Some big accounts on X actually paywall their replies as well.
While it’s effective, it feels against the spirit of the Internet to charge a toll on participation.
But there’s good news. Turns out you don’t have to charge money. You just have to make people fight through a little bit of friction.
One example: A well-known public intellectual was asked how he was able to get protesters to stop showing up at his talks and disrupting his events. He chuckled and said he simply shifted to hosting his events in the morning. His protesters weren’t willing to endure the small cost of just waking up early to disrupt his talks!
It’s the same on this blog. With no comments section, any reader has to take a couple extra steps to participate. They had to open their email client, enter my address, write a note, and send it to me privately.
The results are terrific. I’ve received only thoughtful, friendly correspondence with no performance and no malicious intent.
Last updated: 14 hours, 30 minutes ago
2026-04-19 20:22:21
This is the third post I start writing today.
The first was about mixing different kinds of content on your blog. The second was about trending posts and statistics.
I couldn't finish any of them. It felt so boring to write about. So uninteresting and unimportant.
I've had that feeling often lately. Not in a depressing way, on the contrary. More a sense of calm and relief.
Both work and blogging have felt fun, as always, but in a more relaxed way. It's not like it's been a matter of life and death earlier, but somehow it's been surrounded by more ease lately.
Things have felt satisfying in a new way, and at the same time there's a sense that it wouldn't be the end of the world if it ended tomorrow.
It's hard to explain and it all sounds a bit contradictory. I don't know why it is and what it means, if anything, and I won't try to figure it out. It feels good, that's enough.
Not everything needs to have an explanation. Some things need to be mysterious to stay magical.
2026-04-19 15:05:35
It is Saturday night. Technically, it's Sunday morning. Houston, for once, seems quiet.
I was delaying sleep after a night of intoxicating substances when I felt like finding some soundscapes to listen to. I happened to find one I used to enjoy before I realized how many of these videos across YouTube were AI generated. I was pleasantly surprised to find a video of the content creator on camera, showing his work process, including his keyboard and software. I suppose that also could have been faked, but it seemed real enough to where I felt I could indulge myself again.
And this got me thinking about Bear Blog. I fired up my blog on a whim last October. I had a story I wanted to tell, and just needed some where to throw it out there so that maybe someone would catch it, and we would share a moment of connection out there in the increasingly lonely internet. Since then, my mood has generally improved. I have an outlet for my thoughts and for all the writing ideas I have.
Rather than doomscrolling when I am bored, I have been making an effort to read more intentionally. This includes my copies of Texas Observer or National Geographic I get from the library and the Discovery page here on Bear. I almost never comment on anything, but I enjoy just picking a few by title, and then closing my eyes and picking some at random. Sometimes I find something enlightening. Sometimes I learn about a person's day. Sometimes I have no idea what I am reading.
Either way I always come away feeling better. It is nice to know I am not alone out here in the darkness.
2026-04-19 07:16:00
Stormy weather, cold weather, and hot-humid weather are all things that need to be considered when living the van life.
Over the years I’ve considered that I don’t like storms.
I can do cold (freezing) weather but I’d rather not.
As for extreme hot-humid weather, with no AC it can become a life threatening issue (only took once to learn that lesson).
I’ve had my share of tornados, flash floods, tropical storms, and more. But the latest one happened on April 17 in my hometown of Lena Illinois - where some of my family lives and where I stay at one of the area campgrounds over the summer.
I was supposed to check in to the campground on April 17. But it was going to be a cold weekend so I changed my check-in day to Monday (April 20).
My options were to stay south until Monday or use my moldy hotel rewards and book a hotel near Lena for the weekend.
The hotel had a room available so I booked it.
I had time to spare before checking in to the hotel, so I went to see Auntie M.
I also unloaded my food at her house because I didn’t want it to freeze sitting in the van over the weekend. It’s easier to take it to her house than to the hotel. Auntie M doesn’t require me to have it all packed up and out by an 11am check-out time. I can get it when I’m ready 😁
Barely half an hour later, I felt a calm but persistent urge to leave and get back to Freeport (a 20-25 minute drive).
Before leaving Lena, I stopped at Casey’s to fill Bella up with gas.
Bella was thirsty! $76.83 later, I was heading to Freeport.
In the distance behind me, the skies were gloomy. Ahead of me, the sun was out and skies were blue.
It took a while to check in because the lady checking me in was confused on what day it was. Then I started to get confused, wondering if I’m there on the wrong day. Thankfully someone stepped in to straighten us out!
Not having packed a bag ahead of time, I gathered up what I thought I needed, tossed it into the collapsible wagon, and headed to my room.
I dropped my things off in my hotel room. I was hungry and planned on going somewhere to grab a bite to eat. But the text messages and phone calls started flooding in.
At 3:46pm, my brother sent me a video of the view from his place in Lena. It was raining hard with sheets of rain rolling across the screen in waves.
When I look out my Freeport hotel window, the sidewalks are bone dry. It’s gloomy over yonder but blue above. Freeport was on the edge of a storm and I hoped it just passed us by.
We continue texting back and forth as the storm continued. My brother doesn’t text or call about minor things so I knew it was important to listen.
At 3:58pm, Auntie M’s neighbor calls to ask if I’m ok (they thought I was at the campground). She said she thinks they had a tornado and Auntie M’s front door just blew off.
I called Auntie M but it just went to voicemail. The neighbors went over to check on her.
At 3:59pm, my brother sent me a video of the huge hail coming down.
Once it stopped hailing, he sent a picture of the hail next to his shoe to show the size.
I don’t remember his shoe size but, when he was younger, my Mom bought him new shoes and told him they were banana boats. He went to school and proudly told everyone about his new “banana boats”. Funny how a simple picture brings back memories.
At 4:12pm, he sent me a video of the fresh aftermath as he walked down his street. There were trees and branches down and debris hanging in trees.
I don’t remember when it started but it only rained at the hotel.
It must have rained pretty hard because it actually cleaned the bug guts off the windshield of the van. I haven’t seen it that clean in a while.
The preliminary report lists this as a high-end EF-2 tornado. I watched it from Freeport through my brother’s videos (and what people later posted on Facebook).
In less than 30 minutes, a tornado rewrote the landscape of Lena. Debris everywhere. Houses and businesses missing roofs, walls, or both. Remnants of homes sitting amid the rubble.
I don’t think recovery efforts are completed yet but, per the latest report, there were no serious injuries or deaths.
The power is still out for those I’ve talked to and, I assume, most everyone else. Some estimates say power is to be restored by tonight.
I called the campground and they are up and running. They still have no power but expect it to be restored by tomorrow.
I still can’t call Auntie M. It keeps going to voicemail. She only has a landline but I can call her neighbors and her Caregiver was able to get there today.
There’s more I’ll need to do for Auntie M and I’ll figure it out as I go.
I can’t stop thinking about that calm little nudge to leave Lena early. Nor can I stop thinking about the texts and phone calls from family and friends asking if I’m ok (because they thought I was at the campground) and from those who needed to tell someone what they just lived through.
It’s a lot to take in. More will unfold in the coming days…
Connie 🌼
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2026-04-19 05:10:34
I started a blog - actually I use it more as a wiki - on Blogger in August of 2021 on a rather rare subject, Lingua Sistemfrater, an attempt at an international language. According to Blogger's statistics, it has over 10,000 views.
So I was very surprised when I searched for it on Google and found nothing. It does show up on DuckDuckGo and Bing.
So I started a Bear Blog in May just to see how well it would work with SEO (Search Engine Optimization). I started it in April, and went to the paid version on May 2. Just yesterday I noticed for the first time the blog - I doubt it is very well read here - showed up on just the first and second pages of a search on DuckDuckGo and Bing.
So I am very pleased with Bear Blog so far. (And it sure is easier without having to worry about the pictures.) If my Bear Blog ever shows up on Google, you'll get another nice letter like this one!