Jerry Towler

Self-driven.

Reading

Book Art

How to Take Smart Notes

Sönke Ahrens


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    Tried to go out to dinner with Meera tonight. Unfortunately, San Antonio.

    This ramen—from JY Ramen—was nearly inedible; Meera’s actually was, and therefore remains unphotographed.

    Experiment failed.

    Anybody have suggestions for actually good ramen in …

    versenotes

    Finished writing chapter notes on Deuteronomy last night, completing the Torah.

    Today’s goal: editing. Then I can get them cleaned up for publishing.

    Unfortunately, I had to change my YAML scheme recently to make Pandoc happy, so it’s no longer as …

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    The mornings have been blessedly cooler the past few days (although the humidity has remained in the high 80s) so I’ve been more willing to walk the whole neighborhood with the dog.

    I’m amused daily by the variation in tempo he chooses, whether I …

    books

    Finished reading: 2k to 10k by Rachel Aaron.

    Picked this up off a Reddit thread. Good thing it was cheap, because it contains little advice a thinking writer doesn’t know (you should do some planning before you start writing!), and it needs editing …

    I now have a new category, VerseNotes, to hold microblog-sized comments on the Bible.

    I used to do this all the time on Twitter, but I don’t have a public place for it anymore. One day I’ll figure out how to get them all to appear on VerseNotes …

    versenotes

    My Bible reading plan today started three new books: 1 Timothy, Proverbs, and Ezra. It feels like they should be more connected, but I think that’s just how the timing worked out.

    One observation is that they’re from three very different eras: Rome, …

    Finished watching: Alien: Romulus. I’m not exactly a huge fan of the Alien franchise, but neither was this a particularly good installment. Parts of it were beautifully done, but most of it was unmotivated horror.

    And the last conflict in the …

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    My daily exercise minutes reflects the season and the temperature somewhat cleanly.

    The tall spikes are all ski trips—yes, even into April—except the most recent, which was a backpacking trip.

    Relatedly, we’re less than a hundred days from the start …

    Watched Borderlands last Friday thanks to the Alamo Drafthouse pass. Not remotely worth seeing otherwise. Kind of a fun bubblegum summer action movie though. 🍿

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    The saddest widget

    Empty Flighty widget reading “No Flights”

    And speaking of backpacking, I can now add a 🏕️ next to Wyoming for having spent the night outside (three nights, really), and I can justify moving Idaho to “visited” since we spent the night in Soda Springs on the way back (in a hotel). …

    First day back at yoga 🧘 after a few days of backpacking 🎒 and camping 🏕️ was instructive.

    I almost wrote “demoralizing,” but it’s good to know which muscles work just fine (legs) and which ones need more work (core).

    Maybe “trail yoga” should be a …

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    Stopped in Snake River Brewing in Jackson on our way up to the campsite. I can now check off two more states on my record of Where Have I Been.

    Old Snake River Brewing vat covered in stickers.
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    Dinner and drinks tonight at Wasatch and Hopkins with Salt Lake City friends; the real adventure starts tomorrow.

    Front door of Hopkins Brewing Company.

    travel

    Heading out on my first backpacking trip since before COVID. It’s only a few days on the trail despite needing to take a plane to get there.

    I’m a little bit nervous, but that’s what packing lists are for.

    So far this week I’m in a cycle of not sleeping enough, then drinking too much caffeine so I can stay awake, and as a result not sleeping enough.

    Today is a good day to try something different.

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    My crew is about to start a new adventure, ironically immediately after @TSindelar@zeppelin.flights and the TPK crew just finished it, seventy-four episodes and a thousand years later…

    The hardcover version of “The Curse of Strahd” Dungeons and Dragons adventure.

    I finally took the time to write a few more VerseNotes newsletters. Each one takes a surprising amount of time considering that I’ve had dozens of drafts written for ages. (ConvertKit’s refusal to let me paste Markdown properly …

    Finished watching: Deadpool and Wolverine.

    Exactly as irreverent as you expect. Gratuitous violence, fourth wall breaks, some fantastic cameos of both actors and characters. All kinds of in-jokes. Unfortunately, a criminal paucity of Morena Baccarin. …

    books

    Finished reading: Assassin’s Apprentice (The Illustrated Edition) by Robin Hobb.

    I know I’m late to the Farseer trilogy/universe, but I really enjoyed this first installment. An unexplained Skill, a Wit, a Fool, more than one father figure, …

    Somehow I managed to avoid almost all of the CrowdStrike travel chaos on Friday but get caught in weather yesterday. My original flight was delayed four hours before it was canceled, and my would-be connection was delayed almost two hours (but …

    I love renting a car out of DCA. Within minutes of leaving the airport, you see the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Potomac, the Pentagon… I’m sure residents are bored, but I’m always filled with a sense of power and history.

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    photos

    In summer 2023, we couldn’t bear the heat in Texas, so we took two huge escape trips: one to Santiago, Chile, and one to Queenstown, New Zealand. As a result, I have snow skiing🎿 pictures like this one dated in August and September.

    Unfortunately, we …

    I just learned today that Weird Al had released a Hamilton Polka. And this amazing soul edited the show to match the polka.

    Enjoy.

    “Weird Al” Yankovic - The Hamilton Polka - YouTube

    travel

    Just realized I didn’t update Where Have I Been after my recent trip. Got to add three countries! Luxembourg 🇱🇺, Netherlands 🇳🇱, and Belgium 🇧🇪.

    (I also spent a night in Paris, but France 🇫🇷 was already on the list.)