Kev Quirk

From: Kev Quirk
To: Jarrod Blundy
Subject: Letters - November
Date: November 5, 2023

Hey Jarrod,

Really glad you agreed to have me on as your penpal for November; I’m looking forward to getting to know you better over the next few weeks.

For context to both our readers, Jarrod and I have exchanged a few emails already, so I’ll respond to a few of the questions Jarrod asked in his previous email, then introduce myself etc. Thanks to ChatGPT, here’s a summary of our conversation so far:

Jarrod, the owner of heydingus.net, is considering using Buttondown for his newsletter but is concerned about the additional cost given his inexpensive hosting. He mentions his experiences with hosting costs and asks Kev about his experiences with Micro.blog’s native newsletter feature.

Kev shares that he uses Buttondown to send his RSS feed to subscribers via email and sees it as a way to ensure that his website remains the primary source of content. He mentions that he never sends traditional newsletters, and Buttondown automatically handles email distribution.

Jarrod asks Kev about his experience with managing engagement across various platforms and discusses his thoughts on maintaining both a blog and microblog or consolidating them into one platform.

Kev appreciates Jarrod’s blog and offers to be involved in Jarrod’s letters project for November, which Jarrod gladly accepts.

---

So for engagement across platforms, I only use Mastodon so there’s nowhere really for me to syndicate to and subsequently check. I did try Micro.blog’s newsletter feature and it seemed to work pretty well. It allows users to send a regular roundup (monthly or weekly, if I recall) or you can send emails whenever a post is published. The problem I had with it was that if I were to use Micro.blog, I wouldn’t want to host my main blog on there, as I don’t like Hugo and I personally think Micro.blog had some gaps when it comes to a “proper” blog - I just like to have more control than Micro.blog offers. So that would leave my microposts and let’s be honest, who wants to see a roundup of those hit their inbox. :-)

Ok then, a bit about me…I’ve been writing on my blog for over a decade now, it’s one of my favourite hobbies, and one that I’ve made a lot of friends from.

I’m in my late 30’s, married with 2 sons, 2 dogs, a blind cat, 4 fish tanks and 6 chickens. We live in a 200 year old converted barn on 2.5 acre smallholding in North Wales, which we’re currently renovating. We moved down here a little over a year ago and although the adjustment has been difficult, it’s been an amazing adventure so far.

Professionally, I’m an SVP at a very large bank where I run a global team within the cyber security organisation. I’ve been working in cyber for around 15 years now; I originally started off in the British Army, served in Iraq and Afghanistan, then got out and went to work at Hewlett Packard as a network engineer. While at HP, I transitioned over to the cyber side, then moved to the bank around 7 years ago.

Aside from looking after young people, animals and cyber security analysts, I also have a deep love of watch collecting and motorbikes. I have around 50 watches in my collection, and currently have 3 motorbikes, one of which is a project that I’m fixing up (it’s around 90% done).

I’ve been subscribed to your blog via RSS for around a year now, I think. I can’t remember where I first discovered it - probably on Mastodon on Micro.blog, either way, I really enjoy your writing, so thank you for that.

Question for you to end my inaugural letter - how do you discover new blogs to follow? I’m always on the lookout for new, interesting people to follow and everyone seems to have their own way of hoovering up RSS feeds, so interested to hear yours. Also, do you wear a watch? If so, what one(s)?

Looking forward to your reply.

Kev

From: Jarrod Blundy
To: Kev Quirk
Subject: Re: Letters - November
Date: November 8, 2023

Hey Kev,

I’m excited too! Thanks for offering to write with me this month and continue our existing email chain into the Letters project. It’s such a treat to get into these longer, more detailed discussions with folks like yourself from the internet whom I like and respect. Great idea to employ ChatGPT to recap what we’ve discussed so far. It’s a succinct summary.

Just one place to check for replies and engagement with readers and other writers…that’s the dream! I think I first discovered you and your site on Micro.blog, which I think is where you hosted it before moving to Kirby, right? Or maybe the fediverse was working so well that I didn’t realize you were engaging through a self-hosted site and Mastodon. Looking back through your many site designs and hosting swaps, I can appreciate that you’d want more control than that Micro.blog offers. I’m currently on a Blot site and it gives me just enough control to keep me both tinkering and happy. But the draw of migrating fully over to Micro.blog is so tempting to have everything all in one place. Gah, I can’t decide. But I probably won’t make any major changes unless I’m sure I can recreate my current site. Thanks for indulging me in bouncing these hosting/newsletter/engagement ideas around.

My brief bio: I’m approaching my 30th birthday, but still feel like a kid most days. My wife and I have lived in northern New York State for a couple of years, in Ohio for five years before that, and I grew up and lived in Michigan before that. I work as a Mountain Guide, but have also been a Scout Camp Director professionally. I like to say that I earned the “Boy Scout Degree” with a major in Outdoor Rec, and minors in Leadership and Youth Studies. I love guiding people through experiences in the outdoors — it’s my happy place and I’m thrilled to get to share it with others. I have big aspirations, but am still working out how I’m going to achieve them all.

I’ve been following along a bit with your farmhouse renovation. Your mowing woes had me worried for the mower. Hopefully, the livestock idea works out to keep those fields under control! But I didn’t realize you had all that going on with the zoo of animals. I imagine things are quite lively at the Quirk household. Over here across the pond, I feel like my hands are full enough with no kids, one dog, one cat, and a turtle, minimal property maintenance (although that’s picking up now that we’ve purchased our first home), and just a bunch of side hobbies. I’m in awe that you’re managing to juggle it all, along with family life and what sounds like a demanding professional career. My hat is off to you, sir!

It sounds like you’ve had a storied career. I’m curious about how blogging, running a Mastodon server, and web design interface with what you do for work. My job in the outdoor field keeps me off the computer enough of the time that it’s exciting to stretch those muscles and interests in my off time. Is the day-to-day of cybersecurity different enough from tinkering with your own code that it’s still fun to continue to monkey around on the computer when the workday is through?

Oh! Tell me more about your watch collection! I love hearing enthusiasts talk about their interests, no matter the topic (and it looks like you do too). There’s a podcast that you might enjoy and that I wish would come back called Enthusiast! where the host did really short interviews with people about their obsessions. A similar ongoing show is The Last Detail (technically part of the Thoroughly Considered podcast) by the guys at Studio Neat. Anyway, how did you get into watches, and what do you look for now that you’re a more experienced collector? I wear an Apple Watch and have had one on my wrist every day for over 7 years now. I upgraded to the Ultra version last year and adore it.

As for your question about discovering new blogs to follow, you’ve actually caught me at a telling time. Just this evening I scooped up the OPML file from Robb Knight’s App Defaults project and ended up with 60+ new blogs with nearly 300 new blog posts in my RSS reader. I’m sure to find some nuggets there from silly folks like us who jumped onto that blogging bandwagon. But when I’m not guzzling down OPML files, I usually find new blogs organically through the links that other people share. It’s quite common for me to fall down a web browsing rabbit hole, scooting from site to site and link to link. For example, I subscribed to Jan-Lukas Else’s feed tonight because I saw you recommended it on your site. Oh, and I recommend the Bear Blog Trending Posts feed for an eclectic mix of popular posts on that service. Jason Kottke’s site is another gold mine for new people to follow.

I thought I was going to pare back on internet reading this year, but apparently not.

Sorry about this book I’ve written for you; “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter,” as they say. But I can’t wait to hear more about your internet hobbying and watch collecting.

Take care,

Jarrod

P.S. I just discovered I’m not even following your Mastodon account, so there must have been a Micro.blog tie-in at some point. I’ve rectified that mistake!

P.P.S. Thanks for reading my site. It still astounds and humbles me that anyone is tuning in — much less fine folk like yourself with more talent than time.

From: Kev Quirk
To: Jarrod Blundy
Subject: Re: Letters - November
Date: November 12, 2023

Hey Jarrod,

Finally getting around to emailing you back, right at the end of the week…your email was a long one and I want to make sure I hit each point, so I’ve done some inline quotes with the answers. Hope that’s ok - makes things a little easier for my brain to parse.

I think I first discovered you and your site on Micro.blog, which I think is where you hosted it before moving to Kirby, right?

I never actually hosted my site on Micro.blog. I did use their service for what was basically a cross-poster for the kind of posts I tend to post on Mastodon - shorter thoughts that are ephemeral. I think cross-posted to a few places from Micro.blog. I ended up killing the account though, mainly because there wasn’t much value in it for me. BlueSky offers very little for me, so that just left Mastodon.

I would have never hosted my blog there because I really dislike Hugo, and I don’t think Micro.blog gives enough freedom for blogging.

I’m currently on a Blot site and it gives me just enough control to keep me both tinkering and happy. But the draw of migrating fully over to Micro.blog is so tempting to have everything all in one place. Gah, I can’t decide.

You might have already guessed, given my previous answer, but I’d say stick with Blot. That’s where I hosted my blog before moving to Kirby. The only reason I moved away from Blot is that Kirby seems to be Perfect for my use case. I continue to really enjoy it. For example, I built a custom UI for these PenPal posts where I paste both our emails into separate boxes, and the template does the rest. Kirby really is great.

So yeah, if you’re gonna move away from Blot, my advice would be to move to Kirby. But if you’re happy with Blot, I’d say stay there.

I’m approaching my 30th birthday, but still feel like a kid most days.

I’m 40 on my next birthday, and I still feel exactly the same.

I work as a Mountain Guide, but have also been a Scout Camp Director professionally.

That’s really cool, and a really nice digression from the usual developers that tend to run in the circles we run in. Both of my sons are in Scouts and the both absolutely love it - and we love it when they go away to camp and we get some much needed downtime. :-)

It seems like there’s a TONNE of work that goes into managing a Scout group, is that right?

I have big aspirations, but am still working out how I’m going to achieve them all.

Come on, man. Don’t leave me hanging…what are those aspirations? It’s funny how things work themselves out. I’ve always been very career-minded, which has motivated me to do well in my career so far. But I often wondered if it was possible to find a balance between being career-minded and being present for my family. Luckily I’ve been able to find a balance…long may it continue.

Your mowing woes had me worried for the mower.

The woes are ongoing. I need to do some more repairs to it over the winter, but I’m currently renovating the garage, so it will have to wait a little bit. It needs a whole new steering column. Ultimately, it’s not really up to the task, but we can’t afford a bigger mower right now (they’re stupidly expensive) so the poor little guy will have to keep on chuggin’ for a while yet.

Hopefully, the livestock idea works out to keep those fields under control! But I didn’t realize you had all that going on with the zoo of animals. I imagine things are quite lively at the Quirk household.

Things can get pretty crazy here with all the animals. I’m in the lounge writing this email and my wife is currently doing a water change on one of our 4 aquariums. I’ll do the others a little later, then I need to walk the dogs and apply another coat of paint to the floor of my garage…busy times, and this doesn’t include the kids and chickens.

We keep flip-flopping on the livestock idea. We recently found out there’s a natural spring at the top of our larger field, so we’re thinking about putting a pond in there and seeding the field with wildflowers, then having it like a little wildflower meadow. That way there will be lots of wildlife in there some summer, and it we will be able to leave it alone.

We shall see…

I feel like my hands are full enough with no kids, one dog, one cat, and a turtle, minimal property maintenance (although that’s picking up now that we’ve purchased our first home), and just a bunch of side hobbies.

I used to think that too when it was just the 3 of us (wife, 1 dog and me) but you’d be surprised how much time you can fine when you really need to. Things are busy, but it’s fun busy, not overwhelmingly, if that makes sense? I’m learning so much in this process as I’ve never done anything like this before, so it keeps things interesting.

I’m curious about how blogging, running a Mastodon server, and web design interface with what you do for work. My job in the outdoor field keeps me off the computer enough of the time that it’s exciting to stretch those muscles and interests in my off time. Is the day-to-day of cybersecurity different enough from tinkering with your own code that it’s still fun to continue to monkey around on the computer when the workday is through?

Anyone who reads this blog will know that I rarely write about cyber security, and when I do, it’s usually at a very high level. That’s how I personally separate the 2. This blog is my hobby, cyber is my job, and although they’re both computer based, they’re also very different.

I try to get away from my desk during the working day as much as I can. For example, if I have a 1:1 with one of my team in the office, we will go for a walk around the campus instead of sitting in a meeting room. If the weather is nice, I’ll go out for a walk during my lunch break and when I work from home, I take the dogs for a walk.

Most of my actual work these days is meetings, so it’s easy for me to get away from my desk for a good portion of the day. So when I sit down down to write, not only is it often on a topic that’s completely separate to my day-to-day, I’m also relatively fresh.

Anyway, how did you get into watches, and what do you look for now that you’re a more experienced collector?

The watches thing is a combination of nostalgia and just geekiness. I remember pining over Casio watches when I was a kid, but never being able to afford one. So I got myself a basic Casio as a beater watch a few years ago, then I discovered the sheer breadth of watches they offer, so I bought more, and more and more. I now have around 50 watches from various brands in my collection.

There’s 3 types of watch that pique my interest:

1. Nostalgic watches, like my Casios
2. Military / field watches
3. Watches that I just like the look of

After these 3, the next thing I look for is value for money. I could have a small collection of Rolex, Omega etc. but I’d much rather have a larger collection of cheaper watches. Plus, having a watch on my write that’s thousands of £ would really worry me. My most expensive watch was around £700, so although I’d be pissed if I lost or damaged it, I wouldn’t be out thousands.

I also enjoy the ritual of choosing a watch in the morning. I have them all in display cases on the window ledge in my bedroom; looking through them and choosing one just gives me joy every day. Here’s what the collection looks like:

I wear an Apple Watch and have had one on my wrist every day for over 7 years now. I upgraded to the Ultra version last year and adore it.

Before getting back into watches I wore an Apple Watch (which my wife now wears). I did like it, but I didn’t like how much I checked it for notifications. When I first took it off, I’d find myself instinctively looking at my wrist and tapping my watch. It was sad. I now find it frustrating when people check their wrist in the middle of a conversation too.

Do you worry about the addictive nature of having a little smartwatch on your wrist?

Oh, and I recommend the Bear Blog Trending Posts feed for an eclectic mix of popular posts on that service. Jason Kottke’s site is another gold mine for new people to follow.

I subscribe to both these already. There’s some great content that comes from both.

I’ll end this extremely long email with a question to you…are there any blogs you follow that have nothing to do with what we’ve covered already? No tech, no outdoorsman stuff etc? Is there anything that’s completely random that you follow?

Now I’m off to go paint the garage again so (hopefully) I can start working on my motorbikes again soon. Looking forward to our next exchange,

Kev

From: Jarrod Blundy
To: Kev Quirk
Subject: Re: Letters - November
Date: November 21, 2023

Hey Kev,

I didn’t quite get to it by the week’s end, but your letter gave me a lot to think about. And I liked the inline quotes, I might give that a shot too.

I would have never hosted my blog there because I really dislike Hugo, and I don’t think Micro.blog gives enough freedom for blogging.

You’ve mentioned a couple of times that you’re not a fan of Micro.blog/Hugo for a personal blog. I’m curious about what you find so limiting. I’ve done Squarespace and Blot (Mustache), and only just learning about other static site generators out there.

Both of my sons are in Scouts and the[y] both absolutely love it - and we love it when they go away to camp and we get some much needed downtime. :-)

Haha, yeah, camp can be a blessing for all. I loved my summers growing up where I got to spend a week (as a camper) and then a whole summer (as a staff member) away from home. It’s where I learned to make decisions and take care of myself since my parents weren’t there to do it. I grew a lot there. I hope your kids find that they grow into themselves there too.

It seems like there’s a TONNE of work that goes into managing a Scout group, is that right?

For sure. For many things, it was a one-man show. I had to do program development, fundraising, budgeting, property maintenance, purchase food and supplies, hire and fire…the list goes on. And that’s all before any kids showed up! For the events themselves when I had either a staff or a team of volunteers, my role changed to supporting them to implement all the fun stuff — although it was important to me to lead by example and sing the songs and do all the stuff that I was asking others to do. That role was a crash course in figuring out how to do a little of everything.

But that’s from the camp-specific side of things. Actually being a local Scout group leader, in many ways, is much harder. My campers all went home at the end of the week. In a Troop or Pack, you’re in it for the long haul with all your Scouts. Being that role model and helping them to be successful in the program and achieve their goals takes a special kind of person. Do you ever volunteer as an adult leader in the Scouts?

Come on, man. Don’t leave me hanging…what are those aspirations?

Well, since you asked. 😉 I would love to open a local climbing gym. There’s a decent population of dedicated climbers here, but no real “home base” for them to go to. Granted, many are outdoor climbing purists, but the weather’s not always good. And we could all use a place to train, swap stories, and hang out (literally). Plus, there are plenty of tourists coming through looking for an indoor activity to do when it rains.

My wife and I have also talked about the need for a doggy daycare service in our area. So many people have dogs here, but, again, there’s no great place for them to go during the day. I think it would be fun to operate the climbing gym and dog daycare together. Stop by to pick your dog up in the evening, and get a few climbing laps in! I think it would expose more people to the sport too.

And, as part of that business, I’d want to offer my own guiding service. I’m working on getting into a course progression that would certify me as an internationally recognized rock guide. But that progression is a very long, very expensive one.

Really, all those goals are very long and very expensive. But I continue to dream and scheme.

We keep flip-flopping on the livestock idea. We recently found out there’s a natural spring at the top of our larger field, so we’re thinking about putting a pond in there and seeding the field with wildflowers, then having it like a little wildflower meadow.

My grandparents’ property has a man-made pond. It was always a favorite place to go during the warm summers for swimming and fishing. And so peaceful to see the wildlife use it, too. Go for it!

I used to think that too when it was just the 3 of us (wife, 1 dog and me) but you’d be surprised how much time you can fine when you really need to.

There’s a mantra that Elizabeth Zott says in Lessons in Chemistry (which my wife and I are watching) about raising a child that I think is applicable here. “You don’t think that you can do it, and then you expand, and you do it anyway.”

For example, if I have a 1:1 with one of my team in the office, we will go for a walk around the campus instead of sitting in a meeting room.

Walking meetings are the best. I find it difficult to think clearly if I’m not moving around. If I’m on the phone, I’m probably pacing around my house while talking. I’m glad that you’re able to separate your work life and personal hobbies to keep both fresh, even though they’re in related fields.

I now have around 50 watches from various brands in my collection.

Wow! That collection sprung up fast. I figured it had been a lifelong interest, but it sounds like you only picked up that first Casio a handful of years ago. That it got started with one that you’d wanted since being a kid is pretty sweet. I like the breadth of your collection there. It looks like you have one that would fit for nearly any occasion! Your pragmatic approach of more less expensive watches, rather than fewer costly ones, makes sense to me.

My next question, though, is how do you keep them all synced up? Do you have to make adjustments often, like every time you put a new one on after a time change? Or do you spend the time to get them all in sync at once?

Do you worry about the addictive nature of having a little smartwatch on your wrist?

Not so much. It’s a pretty passive device for me. I’m self-conscious about looking too busy to be engaged in a conversation and will always wait to check it. I do like the notifications though, since they keep me from diving into my phone where I’m more likely to get sucked into something else. The phone is much more addictive for me. But I love the workout tracking and the little bits of data I get from it. For example, it’s helpful to keep an eye on the current elevation when I’m out hiking with clients. I can pass along encouragement for every hundred feet of elevation gained.

[A]re there any blogs you follow that have nothing to do with what we’ve covered already?

You know, I was tempted to give an emphatic “Yes, so many!”, because I follow a bunch of personal blogs. But, I’ve picked up a lot of those personal blogs from Micro.blog or Mastodon, which both attract folks with a certain amount of at least tech-adjacent interests.

However, I do follow the RSS feeds for One Sentence News (world news, distilled down to bite-size chunks), the Studio Neat Gazette (one weekly pick of something interesting from each of the cofounders, Tom and Dan), and some comic strips (The Oatmeal and xkcd). I look forward to all of those popping up my feed reader.

Now, if you had asked me about podcasts, I would have a more broader library of topics to choose from. Are you a podcast listener?

The time has gotten away from me, so it looks like I won’t be attending this week’s Run Club. But that’s okay since it’s basically blizzarding outside, and I have groceries to go pick up for Thanksgiving this week anyway. Looking forward to hearing back!

Take care,

Jarrod

From: Kev Quirk
To: Jarrod Blundy
Subject: Re: Letters - November
Date: November 25, 2023

Hey Jarrod,

So here we are, the last email of the month. This has been a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to getting to know Robb Knight in December. So thanks for giving me the idea to do this; it’s a lot of fun. Anyway, onto your email…

You’ve mentioned a couple of times that you’re not a fan of Micro.blog/Hugo for a personal blog. I’m curious about what you find so limiting.

It’s the fact that I can’t do things like managed the site header and meta data. Obviously I could do that with Hugo, but I can’t with Micro.blog. I also dislike that full posts and micro posts are all munged up together with no obviously difference between the 2. For Hugo, I dislike the templating. I had a taste of it when I created the theme for the Micro.blog site and it was really difficult for me to wrap my head around - it just didn’t make any logical sense to me.

The climbing gym / doggy daycare sounds like a great idea. It’s a diverse business too, so you’re more likely to succeed. I wish you the best of luck with it…very exciting!

My next question, though, is how do you keep them all synced up?

I don’t. :-) I have 1 watch (a G-SHOCK) that automatically sets its time via radio, so that’s the “main” watch that I use to set all my others by. A lot of my watches are mechanical, so they stop after a couple of days in the case anyway, so they have to be re-set with every wear. For the digitals, the only time they really need to be set is for DST, or reverse. I used to set them all in one go, but it was a pain. Now I just re-set set them as I wear them.

I’ve noticed over the years that I’m good in a crisis; when big stuff goes off, I keep a cool head and am usually the voice of reason. But small things (like a handful of watches not being perfectly in sync) really irks me, so I’m trying really hard to not let this kinda thing bother me as it isn’t good. Another good example is when I’m using shampoo and conditioner - if one is used at a higher rate than the other, it really bothers me. I’m a details person, and I need to try and stop this ridiculous stuff from annoying me.

That’s why I don’t set my watches. :-)

However, I do follow the RSS feeds…

Some really good recommendations there, thanks. I try not to watch the news these days, as it’s often depressing and I don’t want that in my life. I think the quick summaries would be good for keeping up with current affairs though.

Are you a podcast listener?

I am. I tend to switch between audiobooks and podcasts while walking the dogs. At the moment I’m on podcasts. A few of my favourites are This American Life, Serial, Smashing Security and Land of The Giants. I’ve also recently started listening to Vergecast, and while it’s generally good, it feels very AI heavy. IF you have any other recommendations, I’d love to hear them.

I think that’s that wrap. I’m happy to keep this conversation going, but I obviously won’t publish it. It also might take a little longer for me to reply. Like I said at the top of the email, thanks for the idea, I’ve really enjoyed this process and I’m looking forward to both reading your subsequent letters, and taking part in mine.

Thanks,

Kev

From: Jarrod Blundy
To: Kev Quirk
Subject: Re: Letters - November
Date: November 30, 2023

Hey Kev,

Man, that month flew by fast! I’ve had an excellent time getting to know you. I agree, this longer format is super fun to explore. I don’t hear from many people about the posts, so I wonder if other readers also find it naval gaze-y or awkward to “eavesdrop” in on these conversations, like that one gentleman mentioned. But I like reading them, and I can’t wait to hear what you get into with Robb.

It’s the fact that I can’t do things like…

Those are solid, respectable reasons. I’ll admit that the little I’ve looked into the templating with Hugo, it does not read very logically. I picked up what I needed to from Mustache fairly easily, so I’m not too worried that I’d get stumped by Hugo, but you’re right, it’s a bit jumbled. The more I’ve looked into it, the more I think I need to wait for some key features to get introduced before I’m ready to make the leap. On micro-posts and regular posts being mixed together…that’s an issue I’ve gone back and forth on a bunch. I think I’d offer a toggle at the top of the page (maybe it could somehow save a reader’s preference) that would switch between showing just regular posts, just micro-posts, or everything. Seems like an interesting design challenge.

Thanks for the encouragement about my small business idea. I think I’ll make it a goal to have some sort of progress made toward it next year.

I don’t. […] [T]hey have to be re-set with every wear.

Haha, that’s what I imagined. At first, I thought that would be super annoying, but now I think it would be a nice ritual. It would slow things down a bit and present an opportunity to really appreciate each watch as you go through the motions of syncing it up.

I’ve noticed over the years that I’m good in a crisis; […] But small things (like a handful of watches not being perfectly in sync) really irks me

I’m exactly the same. I think many of us who joyfully dive into customizing every aspect of our computing life and online presence probably have some sort of detail-obsessiveness to us. I don’t know if that correlates with performing with a cool head in a crisis, but I certainly feel that way. The world condenses down to just what I can control in those situations, and solutions typically come to mind with extra clarity.

I wish you luck on your “not caring so much about the little things” journey. It sounds like it’s working out alright with the watches. Life is stressful enough already, why let yourself add any extra, right?

I try not to watch the news these days, as it’s often depressing and I don’t want that in my life.

When I go to my parents’ house and the news channel is always on in the living room, it drives me absolutely bonkers. I can’t imagine now how I lived with all that blaring into my earholes every day growing up. I’ll just straight-up turn it off when I’m there to get some peace.

I tend to switch between audiobooks and podcasts while walking the dogs.

Audiobooks used to be bedtime and car ride pleasures. Now all my listening time has been devoted to podcasts, but I think I’m about ready to diversify more again. I’ve been atrocious about reading books this year, even though my want-to-read stack grows ever larger. It’s just that there are all these great blog posts that I discover and save every day, and those seem more time sensitive to get to…so they suck up all the reading time. I can passively recognize that I’m far more likely to remember and value the time spent reading a book, and yet it’s so hard to change the habit. Keenan’s blog post, ironically, has been a brainworm, though, and is helping me to reconsider things.

Land of the Giants has been on my listen list for a while. I’ve checked out a few episodes here and there, and they’ve always been excellent. I’ll make just one recommendation this time, and I know I just lambasted the news, but The Good News Podcast has been a daily listen for me for years and years now. It’s short, happy, and puts me in the right mood to start the day.

Thanks again for taking the time to be part of this project. It really has been an absolute pleasure and an honor to chat with you. Let’s certainly keep the communication going, either here or over on the social web. And best of luck with all those house projects. 😉

Take care,

Jarrod