I frequently get the urge to learn some specialized skill I would get very little use out of, like how to bind a book, tailor a suit, leather craft, distilling, masonry, calligraphy etc. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, a quick YouTube binge will quell it. It almost never sticks. #mbnov

I certainly don’t want to inflate my qualifications as a responsible homeowner, but today I climbed up on the roof and cleaned out the gutters so I’m feeling pretty accomplished. #mbnov

Have you ever been at the point in coding a project where you’ve tried so many different ways of doing a thing, you find yourself wondering if it wouldn’t be faster to just randomly generate text until something works? (aka the Infinite monkey theorem)

I’ve been enjoying puzzling through sudoku when I get a little spare time lately. I especially enjoy all the variant rules that show up on Cracking the Cryptic puzzles like snake-egg, arrow, star battle, etc. Makes it a little more creative than a pure number fill-in. #mbnov

I’ve never really lived in a place that was conducive to just hanging out outside, like a stoop or a nice deck. Our new house has a good-sized patio in the back yard that I think should be good for that. #mbnov

Unanticipated pandemic side effect: there are lots of people and places I love that I can’t safely be near physically, but I have been privileged to spend the past 8 months to parent and get closer to my 5-year-old all day. I would not have otherwise had this opportunity. #mbnov

My capacity for procrastination and failure to learn from past events never fails to astonish me. Imagine if psychological stress had the same teaching power as physical pain — if you learned as much from scraping out a deadline as touching a hot pan. #mbnov