All public transportation in the entire country of Luxembourg is free of charge to all riders. And it’s mostly on time. This is a miracle.
This morning, I was leaving Luxembourg City to visit Vianden Castle (still en route) and asked how to buy a …
Reading
How to Take Smart Notes
Sönke Ahrens
photos
travel
I have apparently arrived in Luxembourg 🇱🇺 on the Grand Duke’s official birthday. Unfortunately, all that was left when I arrived on the TGV from Paris was the aftermath.
books
Finished reading: Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman.
A critical reminder that being the kind of person you feel you ought to be is impossible, and that’s okay—perhaps even freeing, when considered rightly.
Burkeman spends a lot of time …
books
Finished reading: The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher.
More swashbuckling! And spies! And a very weird planet. And cats. A good follow-up.
Now, Mr. Butcher, please get back to writing Twelve Months…📚
Today, I’m headed back to Japan 🇯🇵 for the first time since October 2022! Nineteen months is too long between visits.
I’m looking forward to sushi 🍣 and trains 🚅 and lots and lots of robots 🤖.
A first for me: a plane at a nearby gate is having a part flown in for maintenance. (Fortunately the origin city is very close, so that flight isn’t delayed by too much.)
photos
travel
Third Space Coffee in Colorado Springs serves artisanal coffeeee flights. We had to get one… okay, we got three. ☕️
Today was the last day of the ski season for us. We didn’t track every day, but we tracked most of them, and for a pair of engineers who live in Texas, we had a pretty good year. 🎿
photos
travel
I think we found our wall photo for this trip! 🎿
Sometimes the naming of ski runs is a delicate matter, full of nuance and wordplay and even history.
And sometimes a black diamond from the top of the mountain is just called KABOOM. 🎿
photos
travel
Meera skis like a girl. By which I mean, she had 2,000 feet more vert than we did today.🎿
Our first day this trip at Copper was exactly as beautiful as expected, if a bit warm. We spent all day on the eastern side of the mountain, taking the Super Bee lift over and over.
We even did a couple of double blacks off the back side of the …
Today’s the first day of the last (planned) ski trip of the season. The sun is bright, although the sky is partially clouded, and it snowed last night.
It’s going to be a good week. 🎿
books
Finished reading: Slow Productivity by Cal Newport.
What a spectacular book for post-pandemic white-collar knowledge work. Partly philosophical and partly actionable, Newport says maybe we should step back from the cliff of minute-to-minute …
Expanded the photo wall today to include our trips to Munich, Zermatt, Big Sky (Montana), and Solitude (Utah). I love seeing all our big trips together at a glance.
books
Finished reading: Hangman’s Gate (War of the Archons 2) by R.S. Ford
This world of forgotten gods where prayer and worship actually affect their powers continues to fascinate me, but unfortunately the writing doesn’t measure up to the story. …
Had to renew my driver’s license in person today. Texas allows one renewal online, but today I had to brave the DMV. Or as Texas inexplicably calls it, DPS.
It wasn’t Kafkaesque—it was actually quite easy once I found an office with an …
First First Robotics
Last Saturday, I judged a First Tech Challenge for the first time. In fact, despite having been a professional roboticist since 2009, this event was my first interaction with any First competition.
I shouldn’t have waited.
The kids are excited and …
This one went by quickly.
Conlextions #138 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦 Solve Time: 28 seconds
books
Finished reading: The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson
Apparently Sanderson’s fiftieth novel, and the last of the four Kickstarter books. Directly impacts the Cosmere, and the first of these weird ones where having read everything Cosmere really …
books
Finished reading: A Demon in Silver (War of the Archons) by R.S. Ford
Magic is creeping back into the world. Some parts think they’re ready; others have no idea; almost nobody’s prepared for what actually happens.
A fun read, with disparate threads …
Last night, I entered all my upcoming trips into my Obsidian trips database. The year is getting crowded, and we haven’t made it out of January yet. (I also haven’t entered some known trips for the back half of the year; at least August, …
One day I’ll post something more interesting. Today, it’s another puzzle.
Conlextions #132 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 Solve Time: 1 minute, 6 seconds
Posting NYT instead of @lex because the purples today are hilarious.
Connections Puzzle #219 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪
Also I initially made a silly mistake with the blues in Conlextions today, but I fixed it.
Conlextions #129 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 Solve …
This puzzle continues to bring a little joy (and sometimes frustration) to my day.
Conlextions #128 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 Solve Time: 1 minute, 24 seconds