I enjoy reading monthly updates from people I follow (via RSS), they’re always so interesting. So I figured I’d try writing my own. It’ll be good to 1) get me into a regular writing cadence (I want to write more, here and elsewhere, this year), and 2) maybe someone will find mine interesting (jk I don’t think people read this blog). Anyways, let’s give this a try!

general

It’s been a month of biking for me. I picked up a new commuter bike - a Surly Preamble - from Comrade Cycles at the beginning of the month. It’s been a total delight. I loved my fixed gear bike, but having gears and a bit more relaxed geometry and wider tires are much needed improvements. I’ve been ripping around on it as much as I can, and I’m even able to rip up some dirt/gravel paths where I can find them. It’s pretty solid with it’s stock components, but I’m planning on new handlebars with some backsweep for a more comfortable, upright ride.

I’ve also gotten out on my road bike just about every week on the Lakefront trail. The ride down to 63rd Street Beach hasn’t gotten old, and it’s very doable in the morning before work.

using

The end of this month marks about a year since I switched from an Apple Watch to an analog watch. I won’t write too much about it here, since I’m thinking of writing a whole post on it, but I’m super glad I made the switch and won’t be going back. A simple tool, that does what it does extremely well.

I haven’t gone any further with Kakoune than what I mentioned in last month’s rcntly. I’m still interested in it, but I think it’s gonna require some dedicated learning time, and I just don’t have that right now. I’m considering a pared-down, minimal neovim config that could be a nice intermediate between the two, at least for now.

Speaking of neovim, the package is stalled at 11.6 for Fedora 43, but on my macbook I’m running 12.x. There’s breaking changes in nvim-treesitter between versions, so it’s a pain trying to use a unified config. I could build 12.x from source on Fedora, but I think this is a good reason for me to upgrade to Fedora 44 (which has the up-to-date 12.x package). I’ve never done a Fedora system upgrade before, so that’ll be exciting (and a little scary, I’m doing more and more development on this machine so if I bork it I’ll have to scramble to get it back into working order).

reading

I Deliver Parcels in Beijing was an interesting read, though it kind of veered away from what I expected. I figured it would be about…delivering parcels in Beijing. That was only about half of the book, the other half was about all the other jobs Hu worked. It was fine, but ended up being not what I expected.

I’m nearly finished with The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. This one is delightful - it’s about an old lady who writes letters to everyone and anyone. The whole story is told through these letters back and forth. Interesting and engaging, and a pretty quick read to boot. Quite enjoying.

watching

Beyond Paradise has returned and we’re working through that as they’re released one episode per week. It’s a nice cozy murder mystery, makes me want to move to Devon.

We started Patience, only two episodes in so far. So far it’s good, set in the northern city of York which also looks really beautiful. Man, I’d move to just about anywhere in the UK.

Speaking of anywhere in the UK, I came across this Youtube channel called Pink Sky Rides. Amy lives on the Isle of Skye and rides all over the island on some neat bikes. It looks really remote and quiet (most of the time)! Also, on this very remote island off the Scottish Highlands with a few small towns, there’s still a super dope coffee shop where the barista can pull Swan latte art. Too cool.

listening

I picked up tickets for a Mastodon show in October, with Deafheaven and Alcest opening. I could take or leave Mastodon, but seeing Deafheaven and Alcest together - that’s a can’t miss opportunity. As a result, I’ve been listening to a lot of Deafheaven (Roads to Judah in particular) and Alcest (Kodama) this month. Blackened shoegaze is so good.