What I’m up to now

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Fall, finally

The summer ran long and dry. One Saturday V took me to her favorite spot in Henry Cowell, way more hiking than I expected, and we lingered a while. Then the Good Fire Fair, which my friend Michael, an off-duty firefighter, recruited me to. We watched a demo prescribed burn. Pretty cool! That afternoon: Open Studios, ending at The Tannery with the best lemonade I’ve ever had (passion fruit) while V and her mom played impromptu chess. This week, lunch with O at Steamer Lane. Cool and mild. Finally some weather.

A firefighter in yellow gear holds up a phone beside a split-rail fence while a demonstration prescribed burn smolders in the redwood understory

Michael at the Good Fire Fair demo burn.

Anniversary morning

Cards over coffee on the sofa with V and Charlie the dog. Flowers for my wife, plus ofrenda ceramics from a local artist at The Tannery. It was sweet. Then all five of us went to The Bagelry and talked about the wedding day, the day after, and France.

The Boogeyman

We’ve been watching Widow’s Bay, and my wife wants her Halloween costume modeled on episode 8. That makes me the Boogeyman. Rain coat and fake knife: ordered. The mask is papier-mâché, so I asked a buddy who’s an expert to check my plan. Also: rewatching The Last of Us (so tense!) and a ridiculous family movie night with Gremlins 2. Hahahaha.

Clipping from a handmade build manual: the title The Boogeyman, A mask you can actually build, four build steps (fit, form, shell, face), and front and side outline drawings of the mask's dome and neck opening

From the build manual I made.

Fixed plus new skill

A tie-off came loose on our Snow Peak tent, so I learned to thread a needle, backstitch, and tie off. Sloppy stitch and all, it worked. Then I fixed my dad’s tent too. Fixed plus new skill. Rad. The tent lived in the backyard for weeks: V’s homework, family dinner under the overhang (O even joined us!). V and I slept out one last time before the first rains were due.

Close-up of uneven hand stitching reattaching a webbing tie-off to the corner of a tan tent, next to a black bungee cord and steel ring

The repair, sloppy stitch and all.

Dads and daughters on Fremont Peak

Five dads, our girls, one Saturday night on the mountain. It’s so fun to see the girls look forward to it, then do their thing: tents, hot dogs, every dietary consideration accounted for, the propane campfire. Next time, two nights. Less than 24 hours is pretty tiring to pull off. My folks came by the next night for leftover camp fixings plus a salad.

Seven girls, seen from behind, sit and stand on a fallen log watching the sun set over a sea of fog from Fremont Peak

Sunset over the fog from Fremont Peak.

Desolation with Andy

Our Yosemite permit got canceled, so Andy and I went to Desolation Wilderness instead: Echo Lakes through Tamarack to Lake Aloha, then Lake of the Woods. We did alright. It was pretty cool, and we got tons of photos.

The sun peeks through a notch in a granite ridgeline above a steep slope of pines in Desolation Wilderness

Sun in the notch, Desolation Wilderness.

Learning to love cars again, through my son

I loved cars as a kid. Loving them again alongside O is even better. This summer: an old Lamborghini in a Portola garage, then Monterey Car Week. This fall: our own VW Golf, which would not turn over at all. Fuck. Larson brought his multimeter and we got it running (dead battery, likely a parasitic drain). By Monday it wouldn’t start. So bummed. Then O and I went through it together, and after some trial and error he got into it, with his own research and opinions on what to check next. Now we’re working out what he gets paid per fix.

A sky-blue widebody Nissan GT-R parked curbside at Monterey Car Week while onlookers stop to photograph it

One of the coolest Japanese cars we’d ever seen, curbside.

Basketball, all of it

V’s team was down 19–4 at halftime and won 24–23 in overtime. She played point guard and took her first shot. They were so stoked. One night after dinner she started shooting hoops, so I rebounded and told her this was my favorite thing. It is! Meanwhile the Valkyries made the WNBA Finals, the first expansion team to get there in its second season, and took Game 1 on our anniversary weekend. The Warriors are back too.

Same sun, different clocks

I made Same sun, different clocks, an explorable notebook about daylight and clock policies, and shared it with the family the next morning. They did not really engage with it. Womp womp. 🎺 Now I’m poking at LEGO as a system and finding out several things I simply did not know.

10 Feet High relaunched

In 2022 this page admitted I hadn’t shipped anything on my basketball side project since February. Ugh. This month I relaunched it as 10 Feet High and unlocked some stuff I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. V gave me feedback one morning, and three of her fixes went in that day.

🐢 > 🐇

This is my now page: a small, timestamped answer to what has my attention these days. I recommend one.