Did

Nothing super interesting to report. I went in to the office 4 days this week, a rarity since the pandemic. It felt pretty tiring by the end, but I was reminded that I used to go in 5 days a week every week, so I think I’ll readjust pretty quickly. I continue to enjoy going into the office to have some separation between work and home, and it’s been really nice to see my coworkers that come into the office as well. I love a routine, and there’s been a lot of changes to my work environment recently so it’s been fun establishing new ones.

The California Poppies are in full bloom all over Twin Peaks, so I went up with a coffee on Saturday morning to enjoy the spring energy and clear weather while it still lasts. This morning I awoke to rain, and rushed out to meet it head on with a much chillier and wetter walk to twin peaks. Just as invigorating though! It’s nice to see the chronicle is on board with my assertion last week that the only cure for this weather is a nice little walk.

Read

Watched

  • I’m a huge fan of Krazam videos. I think their most recent, presented live on stage at a tech conference, is their most ambitious one yet, and their most successful. In an industry with possibly the worst collective sense of humor imaginable, we are blessed with a Krazam that we do not deserve.

  • My alma mater Purdue University entered the NCAA tournament this weekend as the number 1 seed in their bracket. This was preceded by many breathless articles about the uniqueness of their situation, having built their entire team around a 7-foot-4 305 pound center whose singular weakness, as far as I can tell, is that he simply is not good at basketball. Purdue has never failed to disappoint me over the years, so I was delighted to watch the team absolutely crumble in the very first game, becoming only the second #1 seed ever to lose to a #16 seed in the first round. Yesterday I got a little more of my schadenfreude fix with this detailed writeup of what it was like to work the broadcast for such a historic game. Also, be sure to check out photos of their demented mascot Purdue Pete throughout history.

  • I saw the trailer for the Blackberry movie and refuse to believe that that’s the actual tone of the movie. With that cast and that premise, it has to be a parody. But we do live in an era of Ben Affleck directing a film about the white guys at Nike who dared to ask Michael Jordan to wear their shoe, so I don’t know what to think anymore. Instead of embedding either of those videos, please enjoy this incredible old sketch from the writer, director, and one of the stars of the Blackberry movie.

  • Actors Roundtable with Justin Theroux, Rajat Suresh, Jeremy Levick & More. I haven’t made it all the way through this, but it’s really an incredible piece of media. Props to Justin Theroux for being so game in this, although it’s not as surprising if you know that he co-wrote Tropic Thunder.

  • Back to the Blackberry movie, I think Glenn Howerton’s Always Sunny colleague Rob McElhenney said everything that needed to be said on the issue:

  • In Movies, I finally got around to watching Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and really enjoyed that. I watched the trailer for the one where Tom Hanks plays Mr. Rogers but think I got what I was looking for from the documentary.

  • Also, The Riddick Trilogy is currently streaming on Netflix. I don’t know that I’d recommend them, but watching them sure is a trip.

  • Like most of us, I’ve been watching a lot of clips of Lance Reddick after his untimely passing this week. My favorite so far was this anecdote and corresponding video about his appearance on the Eric Andre Show. I’d also really like to know more about his on-stage depiction of Roman performing a fake script called Fast Nein: The Fast and the Fuhrer.

Played

  • I haven’t played anything new, but did pick up a couple of games from the Steam Spring Sale: Red Dead Redemption 2, Dead Cells, and No Man’s Sky. If my current Steam collection is any indication, I will never play any of these games. I’ve had Bioshock at the “top of my queue” since 2007 and still haven’t played it, despite purchasing it at least 4 times.

  • I’ve been playing Fantasy Survivor this season, and have been in first place in my league for the last two weeks. I’m getting in my gloating now as I’m sure I will fall off my perch very soon. The web site for this is incredibly confusing to navigate, the rules are too complicated, and it’s easy to forget to vote every single week. I thrive in the chaos.

Computered

  • Velja is a really great free utility that I’ve added to my setup recently. You set it to be your default browser, and then you can configure it to open different URL patterns in different applications. I don’t use it for much, but the built-in Zoom functionality means that Zoom links open directly in Zoom instead of littering my browser with useless zoom tabs that I need to clean up. There’s also a great option to strip tracking parameters out of links, but I have that disabled for web development reasons. Shoutout to the Velja developer for a dedicated part of the FAQ to explain why this can’t “just work” for Slack. A top-tier free “set it and forget it” application.

  • One Sec App. I recently tried out One Sec for about a week, it’s sort of a souped up version of iOS’s existing Screen Time functionality. It’s got some great ideas, for example I really like the choices of different animations when you need to take a break before using an application. Taking a single slow deep breath is always helpful and restorative, yet I almost never think to do it. Ultimately I stopped using the app because the implementation method was sort of flakey and a pain to set up (everything is done using iOS shortcuts, which you must painfully set up manually for each app you want to limit your time on). This is Apple’s fault for limitations around its APIs, not the creators of One Sec. Personally I’m hoping that Apple Sherlocks them and builds most of this functionality directly into Screen Time itself.

ok, bye.