Blurt!Sben

As a birthday gift, my delightful family sponsored the characters U+2615 HOT BEVERAGE (☕︎) and U+2697 ALEMBIC (⚗︎).

Sat., May 27, 2023, 9:00:50pm PDT

Walked to Discovery Park and the lighthouse: 31k steps, 16 miles, 6½ hours including stopping for espressos and lunch.

Fri., May 26, 2023, 5:22:48pm PDT

The bambina’s passport finally arrived.

Fri., May 26, 2023, 5:20:33pm PDT

The crows have rediscovered our birdbath. Today, they’ve soaked and then eaten several slices of bread, some kind of small mystery things (peanuts? gummy bears?), and half a slice of pizza.

Tue., May 23, 2023, 4:27:06pm PDT

Finished reading Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett. This was a charming story about two academics — the titular Wilde, junior and diligent and quite possibly neurodivergent, and a tenured professor, lazy and charming and (Wilde suspects) prone to falsifying his research. Seasoned with little bits of horror, but still quite fun and cozy.

Tue., May 16, 2023, 8:43:00pm PDT

Smoke detector went off; firefighters used their “special wizard machine” (their phrase; presumably a term of art) and determined it was a false alarm.

Mon., May 15, 2023, 3:03:13am PDT

I am reminded, after closing my account about a decade ago, how transactional everything about LinkedIn is.

Sun., May 14, 2023, 9:29:45am PDT

Yard work today.

Sat., May 13, 2023, 7:21:10pm PDT

Finished reading The Language of Power by Rosemary Kirstein. This is clearly not the end of the series, though it ends on an adequately-satisfying note, but it’s the most-recently published. (Kirstein is apparently continuing to write.) Less Le Guin–esque than the others, but still reminiscent. I’ve enjoyed all these books.

Thu., May 11, 2023, 8:40:26am PDT

Finished reading The Lost Steersman by Rosemary Kirstein. This was a little more harrowing than the previous two, but (or thus?) a little more compelling.

These books are self-published, and could have used another pass from a copyeditor, but nothing that ruins the read.

Tue., May 9, 2023, 12:55:09pm PDT

Successfully added SPF and DKIM records for pile.org email.

Mon., May 8, 2023, 10:05:51pm PDT

The bambina came home sick from school today.

Fri., May 5, 2023, 9:16:40pm PDT

Discovered that today is literally the first day of Achewood’s return so let’s gooooooooo

(Achewood is foundational for Meghan and me, but not without its problems, as discussed at ridiculous length by the Brain Tape podcast.)

Fri., May 5, 2023, 8:54:36pm PDT

Announcement of upcoming email server changes.

Wed., May 3, 2023, 7:32:16am PDT

Finished reading The Outskirter’s Secret by Rosemary Kirstein. Confirms the Le Guin vibes I got from the first book: ecology and sociology are core to the story.

Tue., May 2, 2023, 7:12:58pm PDT