No excuses, I’ve been pretty bad at updating over the last few months. Here’s an Autumn Edition of the Weekly Bump, and maybe it should be call Seasonal Bump but I’m stubborn.
I continue to mend from the spinal surgery I had in May. I’ve now been cleared to do whatever I want, but some days, it still hurts. I’m slowly adding things like rowing and pushups to my routine.
I voted Monday. Please vote. 🇺🇸
Some things I’ve been enjoying.
Loving my new iPhone 16 Pro. I went down a size from the Max to the regular sized pro phone this year, and so far I like it. I was using the Apple Silicon case but now have settled on this Native Union case. This case has a nice tactile feel, and the angle of the cutouts for the Camera Control is pleasing and very usable.
This autumnal candle is both inexpensive and enjoyable. I have burned it so much that it’s almost gone.
This Lake Como video is a place of peace playing over my desk here in Decatur. I do mute the music, sometimes.
We attended Landlocked this weekend, I think our third year in a row. Tickets sold out in less than an hour. Oysters were eaten, a spicy tostada from Gene’s was spicy, and many boat drinks and beers were enjoyed. Great to be able to support Oyster South while having so much fun.
Week 30 felt like it went by way too fast. My kids' last week of Summer, as they go back to school tomorrow. All four of us went to the Atlanta United Leagues' Cup game Friday night, which they lost on Penalty Kicks. While it was a good time because all four of us were there, it's been a rough season to be an Atlanta United fan. After seven years, since their first season, of having season tickets, I think I might be canceling for next season, because they raised the price again. We haven't been having as much fun at the games as we used to. I'm still waffling though.
This week's media consumption has been Olympics, Olympics, Olympics. I really enjoyed watching the Opening Ceremony live, and am really glad I have nothing to do with LA 2028 because that thing would be a hard act to follow. There are currently three TV's in our house streaming different sports. I am, of course, watching the surfing from Tahiti, which is once of the coolest venues on our tour. My older son has been fencing for years, and this is one of the very few opportunities to watch that sport at its highest level. The whole family has been watching those events.
Watching the USA basketball teams is, for me, just so much fun. I'm excited for another week of this. The huge smile on Kevin Durant's face during their game against Serbia brought a smile to mine, too.
I really enjoyed this Atlanta Michelin Eats Video from a YouTuber who I wasn't previously familiar with, Mike Chen. A few of my favorite spots were featured in this video, like Fred's Meat & Bread, Arepa Mia and Food Terminal. It still had some that I haven't tried, and those have been added to me to do list. There's something fun about watching travel and food videos about the town you live in.
I finished four books this week.
After really enjoying my read of Moonbound last week, I managed to find Sourdough by Robin Sloan on Libby and it was available! This one was a quick read, delightful as well, and I will read his other book as soon as the queue comes up. This book made me want colder weather so I could enjoy a nice bowl of soup and a piece of sourdough.
I continue to plow through all of Erik Larson's books, this week it was The Demon of Unrest. This one is mostly about the start of the Civil War and Fort Sumnter. It provides a real lot of details about the transition from the Buchanan administration to the Lincoln administration and the origins of secession. It's not one I would recommend unless you are really interested in that amount of information on that topic, but I really got a lot out of it.
Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang had been on my Libby queue for a really long time, I think since last Summer. This book about a chef working for a billionaire in a timeline where planet's food supply has been disrupted is well crafted and worth your time, especially if you're really into food. It actually paired well in a weird way with Sourdough above, without any intention to pair them on my part.
Bushido: The Soul of Japan by Niobe InazĹŤ reads like a guide to the chivalric traditions of Japan. I mainly read this looking for parallels to Stoic thought, and they were there. It is a very old book, and felt old.
I've been meaning for a few weeks to find one of these entries to talk about the pair of Ray-Ban | Meta Glasses that I bought and have been using. First, I don't particularly trust Facebook/Meta, and I have turned off anything even remotely creepy with these. No location services especially. I mainly use them when I go for walks, which have been much more frequent since my surgery in May. For this purpose, these things are an amazing combination of sunglasses/headphones/camera. The pictures they take are actually pretty good, the headphones are serviceable. I'm getting a fair amount of use from them. Again, not wearing these anywhere where taking pictures would be creepy.
With the holiday, and how overwhelmed I have been returning to work during our busiest season, I decided to combine two weeks of updates into a single post. For those in the States, hope you have a great 4th of July weekend.
I've had a pretty great, but stressful, couple of weeks. I continue to be able to do more and more post-surgery, and went to the gym a couple of times this week. I'm mostly still just walking, but am starting to work on my mobility and doing some band and body weight strength stuff. Some really sore days.
I finished "There Is No Antimemetics Division" by qntm. I found this science fiction book to be quite a mind expander, very inventive, has a certain modern-Lovecraft vibe to it too. Highly recommend. You can find more information on qntm's site. I'm going to be reading everything else by him.
I also finished "Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania" by Erik Larsen, the second book of his I've read in a few weeks. This one was great, a lot about the time period, German U-boats, the beginning of WWI and the US's entrance into the conflict. I really didn't know much about the Lusitania going in, so I soaked up a lot of new information. This won't be the last Erik Larsen book I will be reading this year.
I watched this Salt Hank video about making Anthony Bourdain's favorite sandwich, which led me to make this sandwich, and now it's one of my favorites, too. I've made it a couple of times, and I have to say that it will be a permanent part of my lunch rotation moving forward. I wish I had known to go and try it where he discovered it in SĂŁo Paulo. I was there two years ago.
We finished watching The Bear: Season Three. I wish there was more that I hadn't watched yet, but that's all there is for now. I couldn't be more enthusiastic about this show. The music selection and how the music is folded into the episodes is just so good. Here's an unofficial Spotify Playlist. Finally, watching episode six, the "Napkins" episode, I was struck by how it is, in part, an homage to Groundhog Day, one of my all time favorite movies. (If you're familiar with Groundhog Day, and you watch this episode, you'll get it.)
It's funny, I have been meaning to do a quick writeup about the Boox Palma here as part of one of these posts, and in the last couple of weeks it feels like its press footprint has just exploded. Bump favorite David Pierce had a nice writeup that referenced the same Craig Mod post that led me to buy one. I purchased mine a couple of weeks before I went in for my surgery, in April. I thought I might want something smaller than a regular Kindle in the hospital and during my recovery, and that's exactly how I started using mine. Since then, I have been carrying mine in my sling bag everywhere I go. It's a great device for the pool, the waiting room, or while waiting in line, and the battery lasts.
Having this device has made me realize how frustrated I am with the lack of any kind of innovation with the Kindles in recent years. I do love my Paperwhite, but there's so much more that Amazon could be doing. More competition in this market is great, and I hope the press that the Palma is getting turns into more readers.
Here are some things I've been enjoying recently, in no specific order. I am not compensated in any way, even referral payments, for these links. Hope I turn someone else onto something they enjoy.
This is an equivalent for rowing to Peloton, and by all accounts the best interactive rower on the market. I grew up as an endurance athlete, but I just hate riding stationary bikes, and I find rowing a better workout as well. Hydrow offers great instructors, a great community of people to support you as you progress, and it has worked for me. I know, this thing is crazy expensive, and also requires a monthly subscription, but I was able to cancel my gym membership altogether. We’ve had ours for about 11 months now, and I have worked out on it 300 days. This device, and the service it comes with, which includes guided yoga, pilates and strength classes, has been a key to maintaining my sanity and improving my fitness over the last year. Since we purchased it, I have lost about 26 pounds. (I don’t care that much about weight, I care about fitness, but it’s still an encouraging metric.)
I love this little wireless charging stand that I keep on my desk. It holds/charges my iPhone 12 Pro Max in either portrait or landscape, making it great for my ten hour shifts monitoring the live streaming coverage of our events through our app. It also wirelessly charges my AirPods Pro. It’s a game changer to be able to see your phone screen while sitting at your computer.
You may not be able to find these too far outside of Atlanta yet, but I'm fairly certain that you will be able to at some point. While most cocktails in a can that I have tried have been, frankly, gross, Tip Top came to the table with Old Fashioned, Negroni and Manhattan cocktails in a well designed can that are delicious, and have become a staple for me. In the last month, they added new Daiquiri and Bee's Knees cocktails to the lineup, and these two are both a welcome taste of Summer. I am not recommending their Margarita though. Start this Summer with the Daiquiri, you won't regret it. So great for a delicious cocktail on the go.
This neighborhood burrito joint opened last month in Kirkwood, on the edge of the Atlanta/Decatur line. If you are local, I would recommend joining their mailing list, which gives you ordering access to their Wednesday pre-order an hour earlier than people not in the know. Most burritos are protein-rich breakfast bombs, really flavorful and very filling. Each week they change their menu, introducing a new meat burrito, a new veggie burrito and a new frozen burrito, typically all named in some theme. (This week is Steve Martin themed.) There have been weeks, since they opened, when I have consumed one of their burritos for lunch 5 out of 7 days.
How are you? I’m doing okay given the circumstances, and I truly hope you’re doing well at this crazy moment in history. I should mention that I am currently looking for a job in digital products and you can read more about my background on my LinkedIn profile. I’m long overdue for some sporadic blog posting, so here goes, here are some things I have enjoyed lately.
Something to Read: A great TechCrunch article by Darrell Etherington about improving your at-home videoconference setup on any budget. This article goes into a lot of detail and has excellent videos inline that help along the way. Even if you think you have a great setup, worth a read.
Something to Listen To: I really enjoyed the most recent episode of Switched on Pop, an excellent podcast about pop music. This episode, Why lo-fi is the perfect background music, covers the rise and origins of lo-fi music, including J Dilla’s influence on its origins and Adult Swim’s role in its popularity. I've been listening to a lot of this style of music for a long while, this was a lot of information that I didn't know, and was very interesting to learn.
Something to Listen On: I’m loving my $20 IKEA Frekvens Portable Speaker. It’s become the speaker that I take out to the backyard to work on some project or to the front porch to listen to something while I have a beer and relax. I don’t think you can order them online, but I highly recommend if you have a means of obtaining. The sound is really good for such a little speaker, and the device was created in conjunction with Teenage Engineering. You may have heard of them because of Playdate, but I’ve wanted an OP-1 since basically forever.
Something to Snack On: I discovered Honey Mama’s, I believe, through the Random Show, which is a podcast that Tim Ferris does with Kevin Rose. In any case, these bars, and I love love lovethe Mayan Spice flavor, are made with honey, instead of refined sugars, cocoa, and other ingredients depending on the flavor. The Mayan Spice are a little spicy and a little chocolatey, are a nice treat. I will say that these are not cheap, and take a little while to ship if you don’t have a store near you. Worth the price and wait, in my opinion, I just had one after lunch.
