You will note that there is not a mention of tomatoes in this week’s edition.
Character / Week Notes Key has the decoder ring for the people mentioned.
Sunrise is around half past 6 and sunset is around a quarter to 8. Morning is the best time to run with some marine layer clouds, and lows at 60 F or a bit below. Clear skies later in the day, highs are mild low 80s to mid 90s F this week. Evening temperatures are just about perfect in the later hours. New moon ~this~ next week; expect dark nights.
In the morning I am writing on a personal project. I don’t know where to begin with something I want to say, so I set a timer and just gush words onto the page. When I do this, it is a list I am making. With bullets. I try to follow the advice and don’t filter anything. In the process, I solve one of the problems that has been impeding my progress. It’s an unlooked for reward and I hope to a) remember this success so that I might repeat it with other problems, and b) actually be able to relate it to you soon.
After work I go for a run. It was pretty awful. Just very hot and I am not used to it anymore.
Today I am in the office. Traffic never got better, it just took about an hour to get here. My morning is somewhat free, but the afternoon is more packed with meetings. So, I have a little time to make progress on an important project; I am still stymied. At the end of the day I spin around and ask lead a quick question, and he just reflexively punts the problem off to another team. In that interaction I saw two luxuries combined into more than the sum of their parts. I could just ask, low stakes, full context, and they were there and with me on the problem. The transaction costs were utterly minimized. The second luxury was that in this role the responsibilities are defined well enough that we can do that punting, it’s just not something that was an option ever before. It was nice, and the project has moved quite a distance since then too.
Okay, the costs are hidden by the distance of time. I commute an hour each way for the luxury of the interaction. Remembering that might be a good idea, for more than just me. It has a multitude of implications.
This morning I correct for the temperature problems on Monday and do my running early. It was great, a good run. I still have plenty of getting into shape to do, but this run was much better. As much as I don’t like doing exercise in the morning1, it was better for the temperature and it was nice to have it done before any other things could sap my will power.
Caught up with C. She got married (as expected). She quit (unexpected)! I don’t think the two things are connected. I am super excited for her!
Friday is chat with B day. We cover a wide range of topics, Puget Sound sailing situation, gardening, cooking, reading, news. One of B’s more intriguing culinary interests is fermenting. He recently made some beet kvass, and it turned out quite alright. Interesting and worth continuing to pursue. And coincidentally aligned with an article that I saw earlier this week about tepache.
The weather has been trending cool this week, so I chose to run in the evening again. The result was somewhat in between the two other runs this week. I’m talking all about how challenging it is to keep my out of mental and physical shape self going for the whole time. This run was easier to do than Monday’s, but by the end I was having to keep myself going by setting short term destinations to keep going to. “Get to that stop sign,” and then “get to that corner,” etc. Still a successful outing. Maybe next week I just try to go in the morning all week.
This morning I am reading on the back patio. Or trying to read. It seems like every sentence reminds me of something to look up. Or some thought I had earlier in the week and want to write down now before I lose it again. I read another sentence and it has a word that I am less sure of. Put the book down, grab the dictionary and look it up. A real dictionary. Just fyi, these things are great, and you can get two for twenty bucks used. Real books, real dictionaries. I suggest you try one.
(The day it is written.)
A and I are at the Cupertino library. It has been a while since I’ve been here, maybe pre-pandemic. There is a San Jose library branch closer to our house. This library is part of the county system and the county libraries have substantially larger collections. The cookbooks are both sides of an entire aisle, as a calibration tracer. There are many other interesting books on the shelf other than just the one that I am seeking and have specifically confirmed will be here. I take a rather absurd pile of books to a table to sort through, and note several titles that I would like to buy instead, because I plan to read them and make notes / marginalia. It’s a success in many dimensions. I make a note to come back to the county libraries even though they are a longer drive. It’s worth it.
Let’s be honest with each other, I don’t like exercise at any time of the day. But I do like being in approximate shape for hiking and for living in general. ↩
Posted: in Notes.
Other categories: week notes.
Back references: none.
Tags that connect: [[A]] Week Notes 21, Week Notes No. 19, Week Notes Key, Bi-Week Notes No. 14; [[B]] Week Notes No. 19, Week Notes Key, Week Notes No. 17; [[C]] Week Notes Key, Week Notes No. 17; [[running]] Week Notes 22, Week Notes 21; [[wfo]] Week Notes No. 19.
Tags only on this post: Cupertino, kvass, library, San Jose, tepache, wx.