rambling How Does Your Garden Grow? My hands hurt today. Achy breaky joints... I knew they would. We did a lot of yard work yesterday. Planted our spring bulbs, did some cleanup, spread some good dirt. The challenge is that the land under our house is clay. When I dig far enough to plant a bulb
rambling Everybody Do the Propaganda... I almost feel like I should tag this one as fiction. It's really crazy making to watch the president lie about what is happening in your city and not see immediate pushback from the media he is talking to. Supposedly Portland is war ravaged. We are burning. We
rambling Entertainment? On Monday's The Daily Show Jon Stewart interviewed Tristan Harris about AI. It was really disturbing. I mean, I recommend the watch, it's very informative but it's also really depressing. Brent and I both agreed that we wouldn't be following Mr. Harris&
rambling Court Is In Session... Well here we go again. Another round of Inferior Court decisions are about to be made. I just read a book about how this entire court runs on vibes instead of the law. I don't really recommend the book because her style of writing was (again probably a
fiction Observations fiction "Okay, you've been surveilling the neighborhood for a week now. Tell me what you saw and what you think we should do." "Most of the houses are abandoned. And there are a few that look abandoned, their windows are boarded up, the doors blocked,
rambling Hairy Situation... I know this is going to come as a shock to all of you but...I'm very vain about my hair. Okay, so from the laughter I'm guessing it's not a shock at all. Yes, if you've known me for any time
rambling I'm Positive... I've mentioned before that I added a Positive book to my yearly "stuff I do" this year. It was part of my theme for the year (instead of goals, though I mean, I have goals too) I wanted to be the very best version of me
fiction Wrong Impression... fiction My first impression of Carl was that he had to be very very rich. Even when I learned the truth I had a hard time shaking that initial thought. There were reasons for that impression. First off he had contacted me through LinkedIn for a job opportunity. Now only
rambling Wake Me Up... and call me Billie Joe Armstrong because September is ending. It was a status quo month. That's the best way to describe it. Maybe I was napping along with Mr. Armstrong afterall. That cold I wrote about Brent having at the end of August turned out to be
fiction Sound Investment... fiction "First off, welcome to Reverb, we are so excited to have you here!" "Thank you. I'm looking forward to digging in to the research." "Sure, sure, sure...but today let's start with a little tour. Get you sort of acquainted
rambling Yes or No? So in my search for conversation topics to use for nonfiction (aka rambling) blogs I ended up on 275 Yes or No Questions to Break the Ice! Which, come on, yes or no questions don't really break the ice. A yes or no answer doesn't really
rambling Happy New Year! I have talked before about how I tend to want to start new things or set new goals in August and September, how it's actually weird to me to do it in January but I do because that's when everyone else is so there are all
rambling Excuse Me... I was listening to a podcast this morning (How to Do Everything) where someone wanted to learn how to burp. They couldn't burp. Never burped. The most they did was make this kind of gurgle noise. So it spun off into an exploration on if this was normal,
rambling Beyond Slippery... Yesterday ABC put Jimmy Kimmel on "indefinite hiatus" which is firing him without saying fired because of contracts. You'll see a lot of headlines about ABC firing him over what he said, but that's not accurate. They fired him because the head of the
fiction Stolen Memories... fiction "...I need you to understand what exactly you would be signing up for." "I know what I'm asking." "I know you think you do. But...here. Let's start with this." He took the letter from her. "What is
fiction Me Time... fiction The sun wouldn't be up for another hour. If she got out of bed right now she would have at least that hour to herself. Maybe. She would have a shot at it at least. But as soon as the house started to fill with morning light
rambling Again... There was an opinion piece yesterday about why Gen Z isn't mourning Charlie Kirk. Which is a nonsense take. A lot of Gen Z is completely distraught over it. He was if not the main reason at least one of the largest motivating forces behind getting Gen Z
rambling Unexpected Nostalgia... I've been listening to Levar Burton Reads while I work out. I used to listen on the treadmill at the gym. When we stopped going to the gym in March of 2020 I stopped listening. And when we got the home treadmill it has a program with it
rambling Pop Culture... I'm going to talk about a couple of movies and a couple of books so if you haven't seen the new Superman or Thunderbolts* or read the books Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle or Tantrum by Rachel Eve Moulton and want to spoiler free you need
rambling But at what Cost? I've been thinking a lot about Gen Z. Specifically the kids that graduated high school in 2020 and 2021. They lost their junior and senior years to COVID. Had to homeschool missing out on all of that end of high school stuff. Homecomings and proms and year book
fiction Disbelief... fiction She watched herself in the mirror as she pulled her hair into its familiar twist. She could do it without watching by this point but out of habit more than anything else she did it in front of a mirror. After securing it with a few discreetly placed pins
rambling That's the Difference... When I was a teenager our high school got a recognition from The White House for our diversity. Yes, diversity was a good thing. Under the Reagan administration. Which was at one point in time the pinnacle of republicanhood. Man, it was a simpler world back then. (It wasn'
rambling Here We Go Again... COVID has once again come to the Mastenbrook house. Uninvited. Unwanted. What a pain in the ass. Intel in all its wisdom decided that everyone should come back to the office full time. As we live 5 minutes away from the campus where Brent works he's been easing
rambling No Intentions... I'm flying blind today. Or two thirds blind anyway. Okay, maybe not. Normally on the last day of the month I set my intentions for the next month. I know, it sounds sort of self help bookshelf 101 but I still do it. I actually set them in
rambling The Fall of August... We made it! Another August in the books! As far as Augusts go it wasn't the worst August to ever August so I'll take it. Reading...I picked up the pace a bit after reading that massive King tome last month. Eight books total, two nonfiction.
