Sönke Ahrens
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. …
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.
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.
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.)
The Atomium in Brussels is another one of those World’s Fair buildings (like the Eiffel Tower, but 69 years later) that looks cooler than it has any right to be.
The inside is apparently some sort of digital art museum and cultural archive, but Meera …
I converted my microblog to be my primary home page.
First, I converted my microblog to the Alpine theme. I love the aesthetics of the Tufte theme (GitHub) I was using by @pimoore, but it hasn’t been updated in a while and Micro.blog has been …
Took a little longer than I expected, but Meera now has a proper website with a nice headshot (photo by yours truly), a professional timeline, and contact info.
Based on Kirby Turner’s timeline-jekyll-theme with a new color scheme, a little …
Feeling dangerously productive today. Let’s see how long I can get it to last.
I have three targets for the afternoon: two quick ones and one big thorny one. So naturally my brain wants to focus on the thorny one instead of letting me get the …
“What is a TikTok dance mash up if not a digital Dorito?”
The hierarchy Newport builds up here seems to make sense, but I’m reminded of this Dilbert strip, which makes the point that the medium may encourage certain content, but doesn’t necessarily …
The previous post courtesy of Alamo Drafthouse’s season pass, which we just signed up for yesterday because for the next couple of weeks the second month is free.
Gonna try to get out of the house a bit more this summer, and into somewhere else with …
Finished watching: Fly Me to the Moon.
I was worried this would be another summer “comedy” that would leave me cringing, but it was actually a fun, fast-paced comedy/heist with a good performance by Scarlett Johansson, a hilarious Woody Harrelson in …
By far my favorite part of Flighty is the Home Screen widget that tells you when your next flight is.
We just got home yesterday from a week in Europe, and it tells me I only have to wait thirteen days until I’m back on the road.
Finished reading: Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree.
Fun prequel to Legends and Lattes, but missing some of the magic of the original. Still worth reading. Would be a great children’s/YA book with some light inessential cleaning up. 📚
The food and beer selection at CDG past immigration is criminally weak for a city that prides itself on food.
Maybe they’re just upset I’m leaving?
Finished reading: Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Awesome investigation of evolution from a totally different (sci-fi) perspective. Made me think fun thoughts. Excellent up until the last couple of pages, which were totally disappointing, …
Vianden Castle is a short but steep hike from the bus stop, but the views are excellent even before you get to tour the inside.
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 …
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.
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 …
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.)
