Week Notes, 2025-09-21
Weekly Features from September 15th - September 21st:
Greetings, citoyens! I hope you are enjoying these days without pants to end the year 233.
π After last week's birthday excitement, the downturn happened. Both L. and I had a quiet week overall at work and home. Gordie the Goose is adjusting to his new surroundings, geese friends, and attire. There are occasional quiet honks from the gang, but otherwise they are enjoying each other's company in stony silence.
π² Saturday 09-20 was a brief preview of what will happen on the following weekend. L. had a work assignment scheduled to run a half-day, but due to an early morning start and post-work shopping, her time away from home was almost the equivalent of a full day's work. We both kept to low-key activities afterwards, as we were both too tired to try anything active. Next weekend will have a similar feel thanks to me being on-call. I'm back on the clock starting on the evening of Thursday 09-25 until the morning of Thursday 10-02, though I am happy this will be my last on-call coverage for the year.
π« The outlines of our November vacation have been squared away. Our flight to El Paso and from Albuquerque were reserved, along with a shockingly good deal on a car rental--thanks, Costco Travel! Next up: establishing an itinerary, contacting folks to see their schedules during our visit, and so on. With any luck, an itinerary should be in place by month's end.
π¦ I am taking a break from Bluesky for the remainder of September, with a return penciled in for early October. The firehose has become a bit too much for me to handle, so I am stepping away for a bit. By contrast, I can manage the flow of information on Mastodon because the apps I use for it have a built-in limiter. I'm only able to view the last 800-1000 posts on Mastodon, so when I run out of new posts I have to manually refresh, and that's often just enough friction to give me pause. Other sites like Bluesky, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram keep the firehose blasting so that the feed never ends. Even Instagram Stories, which are supposed to last for only 24 hours, now have a recap feature where you end up watching stories from several days ago. Not only does that defeat the temporary nature of Stories, it also removes the built-in limiter that used to exist there. It's now become just another firehose1.
πͺ¨ On a somewhat related front, I've started to greyrock some of my online hangouts. I am angry at *waves hands everywhere* these situations making me feel like this action is necessary.
π I will be providing further explanations for the media files I'm noting below. This week, I will be talking more about the--*spins wheel of fortune*--Watching links.
Other Things to Note from The Week That Was:
π« Creating:
- Updated my "Where are you?" Page to reflect changes in Bluesky, Instagram, and Metafilter usage.
- Updated my landing page to reflect changes in social media sites. Here's where I put in a plug for the awesome services of omg.lol, which offers a boatload of online services for a measly $20 per year.
π₯ Health:
- Walk around apartment complex with L. on Monday 09-15 and Saturday 09-20.
- 7-minute workouts on Tuesday 09-16 and Friday 09-19.
- Neighborhood walk with L. on Thursday 09-18 and Friday 09-19.
π§ Listening:
- Episode 38 - Golden Hour, Ambient Daily - Ambient Music Mixes
- The Celts Invade Greece, Tides Of History
- 581: A Very Dented Can, Upgrade
- Bryan Johnson, Mortal, Dystopia Now
- in slow time, low light mixes
- 2025SepNo2: Jerome & IDM, Alient Air Podcast
- Witless for the Prosecution, Trashfuture Bonus Content Feed (Extremely Good)
πOrganizing:
- Spent a lot of time on the Greyrock project, with my feelings about it mentioned above.
- Relisted my Bushnell spotting scope on eBay at a lower price. If it doesn't sell after my second attempt, I will likely donate it.
π Reading:
- Airstrikes, drones, tariffs: Being a friend of the U.S. not what it used to be, Japan Times
- Exit 8βs director was inspired by watching people play the game, The Verge (this movie has the potential to become another classic Japanese horror film that's less gory and more creepy and unsettling)
- The United States of Snitches, Defector
- The right wing is creating a society of snitches, The Verge (at least the folks who informed for the KGB and the Stasi got some material goods for their actions--those doing the snitching now are just getting Likes, and you can't eat Likes)
- The West Wing And The Death Of Belief, The Index.
- The Diderot Effect - Healthy Or Not?, Permanent Style
- The Official Charity Of The Savannah Bananas Has A Hard Time Explaining How Its Money Is Spent, Defector
- The Last Days Of Social Media, NoΔma Magazine
- When Africaβs internet breaks, this ship answers the call, Rest Of World
- The Economic, Political, and Cultural History of Menswear, Jacobin (an interview with Derek Guy, fashion blogger and online hands-thrower extraordinaire)
- MAGA influencers are already fighting over Charlie Kirkβs death, The Verge (grifters gonna grift and in-fight; this will be the post-45/47 future)
πΎ Socializing:
- A Barnes & Noble run on Monday 09-15 and Friday 09-19.
- Coffee beans bought at Comet Coffee on Tuesday 09-16.
- A snack bought at Rosemary Coffee on Tuesday 09-16 prior to solo grocery shopping at Aldi.
- Picked up some beer orders at Side Project Brewing on Wednesday 09-17, which turned into a 2-hour visit with Maddie, Liz, and a few folks from Arizona. Pictures of geese were involved.
- Dinner at Side Project Pizza on Saturday 09-20. Pizza was fine, and a big improvement over the last version of their kitchen.
π§ͺ Testing:
- Installed the official release of iOS 26 and macOS 26 Tahoe on Monday 09-15.
- Installed Dumb Phone and EV13 (both iOS) last week, though I lost track of the dates.
πΊ Watching:
- Royal Albatross ~ Rangers Weigh SSTrig! Wingers & Last View Before She Walks Down The Hill π 9.16.25, YouTube, Lady Hawk
- Royal Albatross ~ SSTrig Fledges At 232 Days Old π π Top Flat Chick Practices Hovering! 2025 Sept 17, YouTube, Lady Hawk
- The last view of the RoyalCam albatross chick before she fledged. She will return to her nest in about 5-10 years(!) to find a mate and start the cycle of life all over again. Good luck, SSTrig!
- Experience Cloudside Glamping with Heavenly Views in Japan | Ryuoo Mountain Resort, YouTube, It's Time to Travelπ―π΅ / ζ
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- An affordable "glamping" experience on a mountain resort otherwise known in Japan as a popular ski resort. It's in Nagano, but not part of the actual Olympics grounds.
- Squirrels' reactions to seeing me outside, YouTube, Squirrels at the window
- This is a fun channel to watch. You will quickly discover that the squirrels have their own looks and personalities, some of which are really adorable. I have to remember these are wild animals and not pets.
- New England Summer - Live Webcams, Weather, Music, Timelapse, YouTube, Boston and Maine Live
- Autumn views are coming. Small patches of trees, largely in northern Maine and New Hampshire, are in autumn foliage mode, but the full onslaught of color is still a few weeks out.
- 8 Hours on England's Legendary Sleeper Train! | π¬π§Night Riviera , YouTube, Solo Solo Travel
- A ι»θ»γͺγΏγ― or "densha otaku" flies to London, takes an overnight train to Cornwall, walks around the shoreline of Penzance to see St. Michael's Mount in the distance...then gets back onto a train to return to London. That's it. He spent a lot of money for the experience, which is a decision best left for the viewer to judge.
ποΈ Work:
- Meetings were shorter and fewer this week.
- A plan has been formed for the Hardware project involving a Purchasing contact. My manager and team explained the organization better to me, which has allowed me to better understand the scope of the project and how I should ask for the information going forward.