Longer Posts
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It’s funny how those usernames have stuck. I was texting with @design_gal and @clowerpower this morning, and am grabbing bbq breakfast tacos with @wayneswhirled tomorrow morning.ngr) ↩︎
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If you enjoyed The Gates, you might also like two of their other songs: the also catchy Another Irish Drinking Song, and perhaps Enormous Penis, their “hit.” ↩︎
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Ok, it just occurred to me that my twine ball quest is literally
briefly mentionedenshrined in the US Congressional Record, which is absolutely fucking hilarious. Also, damn I need to write a blog post on each of those first Twine Ball visits… ↩︎ -
That makes the video sound way fancier than it is. ↩︎
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How to make driving across Texas more fun - a quick discussion of how a somewhat ridiculous new travel quest is making the boring parts of travel more fun.
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Friends for the sake of memories - re-examining some online friendships and choosing a path forward.
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I paid $100 for the privilege of travel today - taxing your own privilege.
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The last years of your life suck - a reminder of what your final years might look like.
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The only possible way to drive directly from Missouri to Kentucky - weird geography meets a weird quest.
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How can a digital camera from 1999 change your life? - purchases that change how you live.
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How many countries are there? - it’s more complicated than you might think.
Approaching the finish line on a big goal
This is Dennis.
I don’t actually know his last name. We’re just casual pub friends, a fellow regular I randomly met at the local bar I’d wheel my dad over to in his final years. Unlike many of the other regulars there, whose daily routine just about every day is to drink crappy beer and talk sports and politics, Dennis is quite the outlier.
First, he’s there much less frequently, and doesn’t drink a ton of beer, and he doesn’t endlessly debate the sports story of the day. Also, he often orders a saladāa salad!āwhich seems rare at a place that’s literally named Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers. That’s probably because, unlike the others, he has a big goal he’s been working towards.
When we run into each other at the bar every week or three, we tend to chat about two things: marathons and travel.
You see, Dennis is about to complete his own personal quest to run a marathon in each of the 50 states. Prior to starting this, the only running he had done were some 5- and 10Ks. Oh, and he started this goal at the age of 53. So I think we can all agree that this is an impressive quest to adopt, let alone complete.
Well, Dennis is approaching the finish line. He’ll run in his last stateāConnecticutāin May, a mere 153 months after starting.
Congrats Dennis! That next beer is on me.
What car camping stuff to buy at REI this year
The annual REI member sale has begun and Iām hoping some of my camping-curious friends get the itch to pick up some gear in preparation for the summer. If you live in Phoenix in particular, there are few better ways to escape the summer heat than heading north on the weekend and setting up a tent amid the cool pines. Itās also a great way to escape the perils of your phone and the ubiquitous political news cycle.
So in that vein, hereās a short list of recommendations to get you started. Note that while these happen to be REI-specific, but there are countless other companies and competing products you can buy (including some much cheaper options). This is just the stuff that I personally own and love enough to recommend. Itās also geared towards in-season car camping use, not backpacking or travel camping, or even dealing with tough weather conditions.
I donāt stay up on the latest gear offerings (and you donāt have to either), but let me know if I can be helpful. Also, there are no affiliate links here.
Sleeping pad
This might be the most important thing to get rightāat least it has been for meāso I donāt skimp on comfort. As a result, my wife and I are big fans of the Exped Megamat 10, and thatās what I recommend to others. Itās expensive and bulky, but when you have it dialed in, itās as comfy as your mattress at home and makes camping so much better. For me, thatās worth the price. Grab a cheap usb-rechargable Flextail pump for convenience.
Sleeping bag
Weāre talking car camping here, so that means we donāt need ultra-warm or ultra-light. Instead, we want to optimize for comfort during in-season use. My go-to weekend bag is the REI Hunkerdown 20. Itās a roomy rectangular bag that allows me to stretch out and not feel as confined as in a traditional mummy bag. And the 20Āŗ rating is perfect for the camping we tend to do, remaining perfectly snug when a cold morning might bottom out at 40Āŗ, but still not so warm that itās uncomfortably hot in the low 60s. When itās warmer out, you can unzip the bag from the bottom to stick a leg out or allow some cooler air into the bottom of the bag, or unzip it entirely to use as a blanket.
The oversized, semi-rectangular hood means you can bring an oversized camping pillow or even your own normal pillow from home, and it easily folds away if you donāt want to use it all. The accompanying draft tube for your neck comes in handy when itās cold, and is especially useful for blocking out the early morning sun when itās not. This new updated version doesnāt have the short off-side zipper that allows you to unzip enough to fold down the top and stick out both arms, but apparently the synthetic version still does.
The biggest downside of this bag is that it only comes in a left zipper orientation. Thatās frustrating because it means that if you and your tent partner both have this bag, you canāt zip them together to make one large one, and youāll both be āfacingā in the same direction, so itās harder for one person to get in and out, especially in a smaller tent.
Camp pillow
If youāre car camping and donāt have a tight sleeping bag hood, just bring your own pillow from home. Easy peasy and already just what you like. If you want a smaller, dedicated camp pillow, test out as many as you can. The ones we useāKlymit Drift in the large sizeāarenāt carried at REI anymore, unfortunately, but are still available elsewhere.
Tent
There are probably too many considerations here to give you a āhey, just get this oneā recommendation. So go talk to someone at the store about your own needs, or shoot me an email and Iāll help. If youāre camping here in Arizona in reasonable weather, youāll have plenty of options. If you might face a lot more wind, rain, or even snow, then youāll want to be more careful in what you select.
My primary advice here is to get something with multiple doors, no matter what style youāre looking at. And also, bigger does not automatically mean better, especially if you want more optionality on exactly where to place the tent once you get to your campsite. Grab some upgraded tent stakes while youāre at it.
Headlamp
You can get by with a standard flashlight, but whew boy are things going to be easier with a headlamp. My personal favorite is a Black Diamond Spot R 400 (hereās my review). We literally own four of these, theyāre great! If you want a simpler and dimmer and cheaper version, go with the Astro R 300 instead. Whatever you choose, just make sure you get the āRā version which is rechargeable via micro USB, and always get one that has a lock feature so it doesnāt get accidentally turned on. Cheap headlamps that use AAA or AA batteries suck and theyāre a pain to deal with, so just donāt.
Stove + Kitchen
If youāre car camping, you have a ton of flexibility here. The most common solution here is a āgreen and green:ā a Coleman two burner stove that uses the ubiquitous 1-lb propane bottle. Be warned, these things last forever. I haphazardly bought one in college and itās still running just fine more than two decades later; had I known Iād have this for so long, I probably would have bought a slightly fancier model.
There are also plenty of single burner stoves that sit on top of those same propane canisters, or attach via a small metal hose. Any of these options is just fineāthere are countless brands and variations that could work. Iād recommend avoiding the backpacking stoves unless youāre actually backpackingāthey are more expensive to buy and operate, and are far less convenient to use, too.
As far as cookware and such goes, unless you have an important need for size and/or portability, you can just use some cheap pots and pans from Ikea or Walmart or wherever instead. Donāt worry about fancy set-ups; keep things cheap and easy to start, or bring what you already have. Do pick up some plastic plates and bowls. About half of our dedicated camp kitchen stuff was acquired at the dollar store.
Oh, and if you donāt want to cook while camping, you donāt have to! Camping does not inherently require preparing an elaborate hot meal, you can just snack or get meals out. Thatās fine too. We nearly always default to cooking simple meals, often even preparing something in advance at home that we just reheat at camp.
Cooler
You probably already have a cooler, and itās probably just fine to use for this too. You donāt need a fancy Yeti, especially when youāre just starting out. After all, how you use your cooler is more important than which cooler you own.
Hiking boots/shoes
If youāre in the market for new shoes to use in the outdoors, REI is a great option due to their tremendously generous return policy (for members, at least, but if you buy anything over $100 you might as well join). If you try out some shoes, even for several outings, you can still return them if they arenāt working out for you. Itās a great way to ensure that you find a pair that works for you, worth paying a few extra bucks for.
Plotting out some road trips for the year
Weāre a bit behind this year in planning out travel for 2025, as so much of our energy went into planning our recent 100 Day Adventure. Of course, we couldnāt have planned many of these trips prior to leaving, as the reservation periods were not even open to do so. So one of our top priorities upon returning home was to get some trips on the books.
Booked
Hereās what weāve committed to and have at least partially booked already.
New Mexico
A long weekend drive over to New Mexico, primarily so that Jen can visit Prehistoric Trackways National Monument and Fort Stanton-Snowy River National Conservation Area, two as-yet-unvisited objectives for her Treasured Places quest. Weāll be camping at a new-to-us state park, hitting the Fort Stanton Historic Site, checking out the Cloudcroft area, marking off a couple more breweries in the state, and possibly barreling out to Roswell so Jen can see the kitschy alien stuff.
Northern California
This is a ādrive-and-flyā trip, where I leave a few days early and drive our camping stuff up to San Francisco and Jen takes a cheap budget flight up there right after work. Itās one of our travel strategies to help extend Jenās vacation time, while still allowing us to bring our camping gear and travel cheaply. It needs a better name thoughā¦maybe āwheels and wingsā or āhighways to flywaysā or āroad and runwayā orā¦
Anyway, weāll visit a number of family and friends in the Bay Area before meeting up with several friends from the old #ParkChat twitter chat (coming in from New York, Dallas, and LA). Weāll catch a minor league baseball game in Sacramento as a group, which gets one of those friends closer to finishing his own MiLB ballpark quest.
As folks head back, Jen and I will continue north to pick up the last remaining counties I need in the state on my US Counties quest before visiting the recent designated SĆ”ttĆtla Highlands National Monument (USFS) for our Treasured Places quest. Then itās up to Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument (BLM/USFS), and over to Oregon Caves National Monument & Preserve, one of the few remaining National Park units Jen needs in the West. Sheāll fly out of Medford, and Iāll make my way back to Phoenix.
Southern Idaho
Another long weekend drive-and-fly, this one via Salt Lake City. Iād drive up and grab Jen from the airport. The next day, weād head west past the Bonneville Salt Flats to the Enola Gay hanger at the historic Wendover Airfield for our Manhattan Project quest, then through northeastern Nevada to pick up some stray counties, camping at a hot springs resort (and yes, weāll book some time in the pools). Then itās on to Hagerman Fossil Beds for Jen, then back along the Thousand Springs Scenic Byway to see all the waterfalls, before bouncing up to Craters of the Moon (Jen still needs the attached National Preserve). Then itās on to see the EBR-1 Reactor before a stop at the Idaho Potato Museum (have you really visited Idaho if you havenāt been to a potato museum?). Weāll stop at Register Rock to see signatures from Oregon Trail emigrants on the drive south to Golden Spike National Historical Park and Spiral Jetty. Jen will fly home from SLC, and Iāll meander my way home via the canyons of central Utah.
Mega-trip to the East
While we were bouncing around rural Africa, we got word that two new national monuments had been designatedāwhich meant that Iām no longer ācompleteā on my National Park Units quest. So my personal top priority this summer was to get to Pennsylvania (Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument) and Maine (Francis Perkins Homestead National Monument) to mark these two new ones off. The original idea was simply to fly into Pittsburgh and out of Boston, which would also allow Jen to grab some other national park units she needs.
Before the designations, we had planned on her working remotely for a week from her parentsā house in Michigan, to get in a family visit while not burning any vacation time. Unfortunately, thatās no longer a viable option. Unfortunately, one of her close family members recently got a tough health diagnosis. So weāve decided to merge those trips together. But with a bit of a twistāIām going to drive the whole thing.
So, yep, itās another drive-and-fly trip. Iāll start a number of days early, filling in some blank spots on my county map in Kansas, visiting family and friends in St Louis and Louisville, and eventually picking up Jen from the airport in Indianapolis. That will give me an opportunity to remedy a longstanding issue Iāve had in my counties quest: Iāve been to Indianapolis before, but I canāt at all recall when or as part of which trip, so my counties map of the state is unreasonably barren.
Weāll drive up to Michigan to visit Jenās family, and then Iāll leave again and make my way towards Pittsburgh (while marking off Fallen Timbers Battlefield and Fort Miamis National Historic Site, one of the last remaining objectives of my Affiliated Areas of the National Park System quest). A couple days later, Jen will fly over to Pittsburgh, where I will spent the day exploring one the few large cities I havenāt yet visited. From there, weāll visit park units and friends in Pennsylvania and New York, mark off the one county we still need in Connecticut (we had previously completed it, but then they reorganized their counties and we were suddenly missing one), and get up to Frances Perkins in Maine.
Jen will fly home from Boston, and Iāll start making my way across the country towards home. My general goal is to head down towards North Carolina, where I have family and fiends to visit, and then over through the mountains into Tennessee, then down through a swath of western Alabama I havenāt been to, then follow a backroads route through Austin and home. Itāll be an adventure, and I imagine Iāll plan most of it as I go.
So, why would I drive all the way across the country? Good question. After checking relevant rental car and flight prices and doing some back-of-the-napkin math, it doesnāt look like the cost difference will be very much, at least if Iām able to camp as much as Iād like to. Itāll also allow me to see some folks I wouldnāt have otherwise been able to visit, and also possibly see some less important attractions that we wouldnāt spend Jenās more limited vacation time to see.
But itās also a bigger experiment aimed at giving some real world info to help us decide our next vehicle. Should we focus on something that can approximate vanlife? Or should we instead go for something more fuel efficient and resign ourselves to more frequent hotel stays when camping conditions are less ideal? Weāve struggled with this questionāand spent lots of time considering all various options during our recent campervan trip around Australiaābut a trip like this might give us some useful insights.
That said, it’s a bit of a doozy. And given my historical inclination to take every squiggly road and detour I can find, this one could easily find itself in 10,000-mile territory.
Chuckwalla
The newly designated Chuckwalla National Monument (BLM) has us plotting another weekend trip out to the Cal Desert. Since returning from our 100 Day Adventure, Iāve been furiously refreshing recreation.gov to find a campground cancellation in Joshua Tree we can take advantage of for this trip. Alas, none have quite worked, so Iāve found a relatively obscure county-run backup plan along the Colorado River. Since campsite availability isnāt an issue there, weāll leave this unscheduled while we get some other things booked, then slot this in whenever it fits best in the next month or so. Weāll hit a few other random deserty things while weāre out there.
Los Angeles
A weekend trip primarily to hang out and catch a Dodgers game with some friends (and to mark off that ballpark for Jenās often neglected MLB quest). Iāll also finally get to complete the Nixon Presidential Library for my Presidents quest. Iām sure weāll also mark off another brewery (or two) and another tourist destination that Jen hasnāt been to, like the La Brea Tar Pits or something.
Nevada
Another long weekend drive-and-fly trip, this one in and out of Las Vegas. Iāll drive up early, and Jen will catch a budget flight right after work on Thursday; sheāll fly home Sunday evening while I camp nearby, then make my way home on Monday. In between, weāll spend most of our time a few hours north of the city, checking out Cathedral Gorge and other nearby state parks and rock art sites. After a couple nights, weāll dip into Utah and make our way down to the Virgin River Gorge for the night. The following day, weāll either spend some time at Lake Mead and Valley of Fire State Park, or mark off Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area (which Jen needs).
Weekend camping
We also pulled the trigger on some in-state camping weekends. Nothing fancy, just leaving after work on Friday and returning Sunday afternoon. We have two separate weekends booked at Dead Horse Ranch State Park, which will allow us to visit a couple breweries Iām missing in the Cottonwood/Jerome area; not sure if weāll keep both reservations, but this gives us some optionality re: weather.
Still plotting
Weāre still working out a number of other ideas, some which will come into existence and others that will get kicked to another year in favor of something not on this list. But hereās what we are currently plotting out:
Costa Rica
Our (very tentative) plan was to do Costa Rica later this year, likely in our traditional early December travel window. However, thereās a good 12-day window in the fall that lines up three-day weekends and a holiday with a bye week and away game for ASU (as season ticket holders, the home football schedule often dictates our fall weekends)āwhich would be significantly cheaper and wouldnāt require more than a few days of vacation time. Definitely something to be investigated. If we stick to December, then this period would be open for another trip, though Iām not sure what would take its place, if anything.
Colorado camping
Last year we did a drive-and-fly trip to Denver to camp in the Rockies and escape the Phoenix heat. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to make it an annual thing. Since then, we had some camping friends move to Denver, so weāre now plotting to do a camping weekend with them. Weāre still deciding on which weekend would work best, as our weekend schedules are misaligned. We may shift to a northern Arizona trip with them instead, which would be easier to pull off schedule-wise. If that happens, Iām not sure if weāll find our own way to Colorado this year or not.
Idaho
Similar to the Coast Rica trip, thereās a chance to pull together a 10-day period during the summer, though weāre not yet sure if we want to spend the vacation time to do so. The idea here is a drive-and-fly trip into Boise, with a focus on exploring the Idaho panhandle (weāve never been), and probably dipping into Montana. We would pick up some new counties along the way, but this trip is more āescape the heat and go relax in the Northern Rockiesā than marking off a list of quest objectives. The deciding factor for taking this trip is how Jenās vacation time shakes out once we account for everything on our plate.
San Diego
We havenāt been out to San Diego in quite some time, so weāre considering a weekend out there (possibly a drive-and-fly if thereās a great deal to be had). The itinerary would include a visit to see my cousin and his winery, a stop at the San Diego Wild Animal Park (Jen hasnāt been, and now she has a camera to play with), and of course, some highly rated San Diego breweries. There are also a few social media friends out there that we may see.
Horseshoe Bend
Weāve been up to Page a number of times in the last couple years, primarily for two trips out to Rainbow Bridge, but we still need to tackle the overnight kayaking trip down the Colorado through Horseshoe Bend. Iād prefer to do this as a group trip in the fall, so we may punt on this if we canāt get everyone organized.
Backpacking
A few of my friends are backpacking-curious, so I have been thinking about putting together a beginner trip for them. My top target is my favorite place to bring first-timers, but itās a harder permit to get and I canāt snag it until 13 weeks before what would be a fall trip. So thatās a wait and see.
Organ Pipe Cactus camping
We had a group camping trip booked for a remote campground in this borderlands national monument last November, but had to cancel as we needed that last weekend to prep for our 100 Day Adventure the following week. Hopefully we can get it rescheduled with everyone for later this year.
Grand Canyon camping
Thereās been talk with two different sets of friends about doing a weekend trip up to the Canyon, and I imagine one or both of them will happen at some point this summer.
Other weekend camping
Weāll also try to get up to Prescott, Flagstaff, and maybe the Mogollon Rim this summer to escape the heat. Iād like to meet up with some friends at Chiricahua National Monument before it is nonsensically renamed a āNational Park,ā which will bring crowds of new tourists and overwhelm the sparse infrastructure there. Weāve also been meaning to spend a weekend in Bisbee, though that would probably only happen in the fall if some of our other trips fall through, as nearly all the weekends are already accounted for.
Postponed to next year
Unfortunately, we had a number of trips that we had wanted to take this year that just arenāt viable options anymore, for whatever reason. So these will get kicked to next year.
Vancouver
We had tentative plans for a short trip up to Vancouver and Vancouver Island, with a short jog north into the mountains. But Iām planning on sending my passport abroad for a dual citizenship claim, and so weāll be unable to travel internationally until itās returned, the timing of which is a bit unclear. So weāll hold off on this until next year.
Canadian Rockies
This was what I had hoped to be our big road trip for the year. Unfortunately, a few things got in the way of that. Most importantly, we didnāt have time other than reserve all the campsites that we needed in the popular parks we wanted to visit.
Isle Royale
We have been holding off on this one so that we could join a friend who was planning on completing her ānamedā National Park quest there. Her plans have been delayed a bit due to some other travel opportunities, so weāve delayed our visit too. Perhaps next year.
Yellowstone
Weāve talked about getting up to Yellowstone, and visiting friends both there and in nearby Driggs, Idaho, for a few years now. And for whatever reason, the trip just doesnāt come together. This seems like yet another year in which thatās the case.
Black Canyon kayaking
Similarly to Yellowstone, I’ve been talking to friends about organizing a trip for each of the last four or five years. And, sadly, it never quite seems to get scheduled.
September 2024 in 10 photos
Following up last monthās post with a similar one for September.
We started the month at an unlikely venueāa ballpark! We met up with our good buddy Doc, who was in town to watch his Dodgers play the Dbacks. We always enjoy catching up with him and we had plenty to talk about since we saw him in April in New Orleans.
We made it to Passport Health to get a medical assessment of what vaccinations we need for our upcoming 100-day trip. Hereās our country list, itās a doozieāand so is the list of vaxxes we need for the trip.
Oooh, be careful what you offer, Walgreens! After paying an ungodly amount of money at Passport Health for the shots we need, I decided to do some sleuthing about how to get some of them covered by insurance. After a ridiculous number of phone calls and in person visits with insurance companies, our local pharmacy, and doctors, I was able to make it all work. I have probably talked with Walgreens Pharmacy (shout out to Chris!) no fewer than 50 times in this whole ordeal.
I havenāt been involved in any national monument campaigns this cycle, but that didnāt stop me from heading over to Arizona Wilderness Brewing to grab a couple of beers they had on draftāone celebrating the 60th birthday of the Wilderness Act, and another in support of the proposed Great Bend of Gila National Monument, a place I believe is quite worthy of permanent protection.
This summer has been pretty weird, as weāve stayed in town nearly every weekend. In ānormalā years, weād have been traveling on at least one longer out-of-state trip and camped most weekends. Boyā¦I could use some time away (yes, yes, I know itās coming). That said, one of benefit of being in town is that I finally got to try the Friday Fish Fry at Wren SĆ¼dhalle, our favorite local brewery. Damn, itās probably the best fish and chips Iāve had.
Jen spent much of the month still working down in Tucson, and I made a few trips down to keep her company after work. For me, the city is a weird mix of memories and foreignness. I was born and spent my early years there, then worked there regularly up until a decade agoāsince which, much has changed. Both Jen and I have been reminded by how much we enjoy Phoenix so much moreāthough I wish we had more Eegeeās up here.
Another big focus of the month has been on finding appropriate travel clothes for our trip. We have limited space, irregular laundry days, and have to deal with a range of conditions across four different continents, so what we pack really matters.
And itās something we need to get nailed down asap, as weāre planning to ship off all our clothes to be professionally treated against mosquitoes. Skeeters and water contamination are the two biggest threats we face on the trip.
We finally got our camera situation sorted out for the trip, which involved buying a Nikon z50 for Jen and a new lens for Scott. We still have a number of accessories to snag, but at least we have the general equipment in hand.
My usual weekly kayaking routine has simply not worked out this summer, which has been a big bummer. So I spent each of those Thursdays at the SĆ¼dhalle doing some work on the trip and socializing with other regulars. It opened one year ago but quickly became our go-to spot.
Thatās it for September!
Re: Annieās āFeeling alive is where itās atā
I agree with Annieās assessment of feeling alive:
Because, I guess, not only do I want some amount of challenge but I want challenges that I choose, not just the random ones that happen.
Self-prescribing challengesāand then meeting those challenges? Yeah, thatās some good stuff. The liquor of empowerment, a sense of efficacy in the world. A feeling that you can, indeed, do hard things.
We had this feeling recently as our 4+ year challenge to devise a 100-day overseas trip finally came to fruition. While daunting, itās also made us feel a bit more alive. That, yeah, we can pull off some cool shit. That we have choice in this world, and perhaps even in how things play out. We’ve re-inspired ourselves.
I’ve also learned (though I still don’t quite believe) that achievement is not the endgame here. The outcome is unimportant. The benefit comes from the process of tackling the challenge, doing the difficult things it asks of me. It makes me feel alive. Itās exhilarating. And exhilaration is worth pursuing, or at least exploring. Feeling alive is where itās at. Not feeling good (although thatās nice, too). Feeling alive. Sometimes feeling alive doesnāt feel good. But itās still good, somehow.
That sorta sums up many of my travel quests. Is it exactly fun flying around the whole damn world just to get to some tiny specks on the globe? Trying to visit every single goddamn county in the US? Nope, not really. Travel often includes significant discomfort, boredom, hardship, anxiety, and unease. Much of the value of oneās travels occurs later, sometimes years later, when those good moments are recalled, or perhaps finally appreciated.
Itās not because of the resulting achievement, though. Itās because you did the thing. You experienced it. You lived it. It was something new, and it changed you. The process of doing, of enduring, of experiencing, of growing…that is, indeed, “where it’s at.”
When I finished my nearly-lifelong quest to visit all 400+ national parks in the US, I expected to feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment. I had made it, completed something very important to me, and also something quite rare. When I followed it up a few months later by being the first person to visit all 490 Treasured Places? You’d imagine that I was over the moon with joy.
Nope, not really. Sure, I was proud of doing all that. But living was being in the middle of it, not having done it. That’s what was exciting, that’s when you felt more alive. Accomplishments were in the past, and being alive…well, that’s in the present.
August 2024 in 10 Photos
I saw this post by Matthew Haughey and liked the idea, so hereās 10 photos from August 2024. You may also be interested in my recaps of the month: Mid August recap and End of August recap.
At Sun Devil Stadium after ASUās 48-7 victory. Itās my 38th year as a season ticket holder. Jen has been joining me at the games since 2016, and I believe my bestie Becci has sat with me since 2010ish.
With my mom and her new (to her) Nissan Kicks after she drove it home for the first time. Thank goodness she finally has wheels again; sheās been without transportation for ten weeks after a vehicle ran a red light and totaled her old vehicle.
An art piece at the Art Museum on campus in Tucson. I grabbed a free admission Culture Pass from the Phoenix Public Library and finally marked it off my list.
A view from the Catalina Highway, in the Coronado National Forest near Tucson. I grew up at the mouth of one of the canyons in this shot. I made stops at my old house and school.
The Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site off the Catalina Highway. This was once a āFederal Honor Campā (aka prison camp) for various offenders, most notably Gordon Hirabayashi, who was confined there after refusing to admit himself to a Japanese Internment Camp during WWII. His conviction was ultimately overturned in the 1980s and the federal government finally apologized for that whole unAmerican episode.
My wife spent much of the month working in Tucson, so Iāve gone down to keep her company after work. Weāve been trying to hit some classic Tucson restaurants. On this night, we went to my parentsā favorite restaurant back in the day: the entirely kitschy Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse.
Weāve had to file several documents with the Maricopa County Recorders Office, and we really enjoyed using this video service kiosk at the local library. Super convenient, but also feels a bit weird to file important documents at the library.
Another classic Tucson restaurant, often described as the original home of the chimichanga.
I had to get two old crowns replaced in August. This is a 3D image of all of my teeth that they used to make the new crowns. Man, thatās so much better than those awful goopy trays they used for impressions.
My buddy moved to Denver, so we had one last hurrah at our old local watering hole, Paradise Lounge. Man, we created so many crazy memories at that dive bar, back when we were young enough to get away with a long night of drinking.
Owning your music. Again.
Kelly Sims wrote some thoughts on Ownership in the Rental Age:
And so I find myself once again thinking about ownership. I owned this music, as much as anyone can really own anything these days. I took time to curate the music and time to carefully rip the CDās into a portable format. Now, as I look through the songs I had added to Apple match, a large portion of them are now DRMād as Apple Music files. I canāt ever take them to listen on some other player, which means I do not own these anymore. I effectively sold them to Apple for free. And in exchange for this āsaleā I get to listen to some of them some of the time, all when Apple and the music licensing gods decide.
I’m right there with you, Kelly. This was the same issue I’ve faced. And for much of the last decade, I had essentially given up on the whole damn thing.
Until earlier this year. I upgraded my computer, added a home NAS, and decided that I was going to reclaim my music library. A branch of the Phoenix Public Library is just a couple blocks away from my house. So a few seconds to set up a hold request on some music I used to own, select the local branch as the destination, and a day or two later, walk over and pick up the CD, and via a $25 external cd drive, rip it to my computer.
And thereby, own it once again.
Blaugust 2024
I’m participating in Blaugust 2024, though I’m not intending to post every day. But it’s always fun to have a bit of extra motivation to hit the publish button.
I’ll collect all the relevant posts here, as I’ll likely post on more than one site.
4/31
I wrote a bit about The Two Futures of Social Media: as social media fractures, two distinct futures are unfoldingātwo entirely different ways to participate socially online, a fundamental divide between viral entertainment and personal community.
Following the lead of several others, I wrote about the 15 Books that Most Impacted Me. What an interesting self-reflective exerciseāyou should do the same (ping me when you do).
Early Twitter: the golden age of social-to-IRL community
Early Twitter was amazing for social community buildingāthe absolute golden era of social media, imo.
I was reminded of that when I ran across some photos from a coworking space’s anniversary event that happened 14 years ago today.
Here’s a photo of about half of our #cwmn groupāaka, Co-Working Monday Nightsāwhich was just a dozen of us who had self-organized on twitter to show up at a particular coffeeshop after dinner every Monday to get some work done while also getting in some social time.
It was one of many social groups that formed here in Phoenix via twitter in those early yearsāback when it was primarily used for social purposes, not content distribution, newsmaking, doomscrolling, or mindless entertainment.
These “tweetups” were free and open to the public, and you generally introduced yourself by your twitter handle, not your actual name (unless your handle was, say, “rscottjones”).1 The only real thing that connected us together was primarily that we, well, used twitter and lived in metro Phoenix and were willing to meet other people who did too. You just ran across a tweet about something and decided, yeah, sure I’ll go to that.
There was #smunch, a monthly Saturday morning brunch that often took over smaller restaurants. And a series of Phoenix Friday Nights get togethers scattered across the Valley, including #dtfn (Downtown Friday Night), #evfn (East Valley Friday Night), #wvfn (West Valley Friday Night), and #nvfn (North Valley Friday Night). I co-hosted that last one, #nvfn, with someone I met at a monthly #smcphx gathering (yep, another tweetup). #FirstFriday gathered twitter users each month for Phoenix’s art walk. And #NightOwls, a #cwmn-like event held at the coworking space this photo was taken at. I also participated in #commpose, which was organized by copywriters but seemed to focus on writing in general. There were also plenty of one-time or irregular events, such as the charity event #Twestival, plus other minor get-togethers that were advertised nearly exclusively via twitter.
I met soooo many people during those events, many of whom have remained dear friendsāpeople I truly love. It was a big personal stretch for me to just show up to random events where I knew no one, but there was such a welcoming vibe at each of them that any initial angst disappeared almost immediately.
I miss those times.
On This Day back in 2017, I visited what was then-claimed to be the World’s largest and, perhaps, oldest living organism.
While it’s since been relegated to second largest living organism, and understood to be closer to 16,000 years ago, this video will still blow your mind. (read more)
While reading @mlanger@mastodon.world’s post today about taking a photo of her boat in front of the Statue of Liberty, I was reminded that small social networks are everywhere (still). They’ve always been hereāand even with federation and interoperabilityāsmall, theme-based communities are just better communities. They always have been.
Homemade music videos
I’m a fan of homemade music videos for ridiculous songs.
Not the influencer-quality videos you can make today, with a fancy iPhone and great editing apps. Nah, I prefer the ones from yesteryear where the tools had no auto mode and people weren’t routinely filming themselves for Reels or Tiktok.
I came across a great one yesterday when I went searching for a song I like that occasionally pops up on an Irish drinking sing-along Pandora station we enjoy. It’s a short but catchy song called The Gates by Da Vinci’s Notebook1, which details an IT disaster via “comedic a cappella” (is that a thing? I guess it’s a thing).
So I went on Youtube, searched for the song, and a high school student’s class project from 12 years ago came up. It’s hilarious in all the right ways, including easter eggs in the credits.
That kid seems fun, doesn’t he?
The video has probably overtaken my previous favorite: a much more poorly produced family tribute video for Weird Al’s song “Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota."
As an official twine ball aficionadoāyes, I’ve visited all four of them (each of which involves a fun story2), and even owned BallsOfTwine.com for a while (a never-quite-launched project dedicated to fun Roadside Oddities)āI really loved that video.
It’s extremely amateurish, which is a critical component of its charm. The camera work is terrible, the “actors” aren’t exactly hitting their lines, and the husband clearly owes his wife immensely for putting up with the whole thing.
And of course, it’s an entire damn song, a seven-plus minute song, dedicated to a Twine Ball, so of course I’m in. Did I mention that it seemingly wasn’t even produced for distribution? Nope, this was a passion project, pure and simple. A “Great Family Adventure,” as they called it in the opening title. The only way we can watch it is because the sister of the protagonist3 uploaded it to her own Youtube account.
It reminds me a lot of the personal websites many of us built before social media platforms took over personal expression online (then enshittified themselves).
I hope we don’t lose dare I say triumphs like this. But I suspect that we have, as modern apps + our cultural fascination with publishing highlight videos of our lives + the casino of virality + side hustle culture probably dustbins most uniquely pure hobbyist efforts like this.
I mean, it’s sorta like the whole endeavor of making a twine ball, as I mentioned in an article written about the song (Medium link):
Jones felt this too, especially compared to the heavily advertised presence of other roadside attractions. As he explains, “That’s got to be a hobby of love to start that. You don’t start wrapping a twine ball thinking you’re on to a million-dollar business venture. That’s not how that starts. I really appreciate, especially in today’s side hustle culture, that there are big endeavors people do just because it’s a fun hobby to them, it’s something that they just enjoy doing.” Just like the video that inspired him to go in the first place, the important element of the twine ball is the passion, not the product.
If you’re pursuing a similar hobby of love, really anything of that sortāand especially if it’s some wacky shit like a twine ballāI’d enjoy hearing about it!
I ran across this photo I took during a quick fast food stop in a small rural Texas town during a road trip last month. It reminded me of something I’ve been thinking about during my travels the last few years, so I wrote a little bit about it today.
#blogging #america #ruralamerica
I use RSS as a buffet, not a task list
I ran across this (very well done) post on hating RSS feeds yesterday.
It’s really well done and I appreciate the underlying notion: rss feeds can feel like “work” to be done.
But I’ve always viewed them as a buffet from which I can sample. Not as a task list. A place to graze.
I have absolutely no desire to consume everything on the buffet. Yes, I have some things I’ll eat nearly every time. But in general, it’s a broad selection from which I can sample, depending on my mood. I have no obligation to eat it all, and in fact, that might be considered unreasonable.
The stuff I always put on my plate first is in one folder. The stuff I don’t eat that regularly goes into another folder, from which I only occasionally peak. I even have feeds from my friends' blogs that I never read, as they’re not on topics I care about, or are a bit too influencer-y for my tastes. But I’ll occasionally pop in to mark those as read, giving me a second or two to scan for a (rare) life update or something surprisingly interesting.
There’s simply too much to consume in the modern era to ever consider some grouping of content as a task list. If your default is to view that as such, I think you’re going to feel especially overwhelmed in the modern world.
Reposts from my Hey World blog
I reposted several posts from Hey World to my personal website.