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

Another month has flown by. I can’t believe we’re already at the end of August and the summer (though I expect the high temps will persist for a while).

Biking is back on the menu this month. My knees are feeling better, so I’ve been able to get out on some good rides. I’ve extended my route south by a little bit, going all the way down to the southern end of Jackson Park. That little bit extra clocks the ride in at a little over 20 miles now, and it’s nice to be on this side of 20 than just below.

Football is also back! The Premier League started last weekend, and Leeds United and Hull City are both off to great starts!

Leeds United also played a friendly at Soldier Field at the start of the month against Liverpool. Kat and I got tickets and had a great time! It was super cool to see Leeds live - I’ve been supporting them for a few years, and I never really thought I’d be able to see them live unless I made the trek up to West Yorkshire. But here they were in Chicago!

It was a rough start for Leeds, conceding 2 goals and losing Gudmundsson to injury in the first half, but in the second half Leeds came out firing and scored 4 unanswered goals to win 4-2!

The atmosphere in Soldier Field was great, though the stands were 90% Liverpool fans. But the 10% that were Leeds fans were LOUD. The Liverpool fans got to sing You’ll Never Walk Alone, and then went silent. But the Leeds supporter section never stopped, constant singing, Marching on Together ringing out all match long. It was a really great time.

using

I finished my Stalogy notebook for journaling. The 1/2 year size took me about a year to get through, and I liked the thickness - not too thin, not too thick. Next up is the Mark’s EDit notebook, and early signs are it’s another delight - good paper and design, though it take a bit longer for inks to dry.

The granola bars on my Surly are doing great, I love the swept back design for commuting. A great addition and I’m gonna stick with these for a while.

reading

I’m working my way through The Golden Notebook - it’s a really interesting and I think important read. It’s long, though. I didn’t realize at the start, but it’s almost 700 pages. Really good, just taking a while. Most reading sessions move the progress needle by less than 5%.

A Plagued Sea, in stark contrast to The Golden Notebook, clocks in at just over 100 pages. It’s a Korean retelling of a Lovecraft story, and has a very creepy, dreadful atmosphere. I enjoyed.

watching

We’ve been working through a lot of new series of British Detective shoes - we’re all caught up on Ellis, Professor T, Chelsea Detective. Started watching the remake of Bergerac and that’s been ok, though I kinda want to give the original a shot with thee almighty John Nettles.

Andrew Kelley’s talk at Software Should Work is really really good. I’ve been feeling a lot of things, and this kinda was more hopeful than a lot of my feels. It’s giving me a bit of a positive spin on things that I was missing.

We are now officially caught up on Taskmaster. It’s been a great run, but a little sad that we have to wait for new episodes (though, not that long. Series 22 starts later this week). I think we’ll end up going back and rewatching some of our favorite series over and over.

listening

Not much new music this month either. Sticking to the go-tos - Godspeed, Deafheaven, Touche Amore. Nothing wrong with that.