Sönke Ahrens
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.)
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. 🎿
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. 🎿
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. 🎿
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.
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 …
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
