current status of aaron

Grateful Log for Thursday, June 25, 2026

1. Mindsteward Abacus app is deployed, full day of testing tomorrow
2. Bourbon (Woodford) and some light work & tinkering to close the day
3. Made another batch of cold brew this evening (steeping now overnight)

New task logged: Mindsteward Abacus →

Grateful Log for Wednesday, June 24, 2026

1. Wine with dinner
2. A fantastic third day of mind steward kids theater camp
3. Tools that make work efficient and as a result enable more time for living

Grateful Log for Tuesday, June 23, 2026

1. Sleep
2. Coffee
3. That each bookend my every day in such a predictable way

Grateful Log for Monday, June 22, 2026

1. Fantastic first day of Mind Steward Kid's Theater
2. Flexible life/work
3. Using my skills/gifts to help others

Grateful Log for Sunday, June 21, 2026

1. A couple hours to relax this afternoon
2. Family laughter
3. Comfortable shorts

Grateful Log for Saturday, June 20, 2026

1. Made two small leather Father’s Day gifts for my dad
2. Shifting into a solid writing flow
3. A very family focused weekend

️ 8pm coffee. Necessary.

I'm terrible lately at sharing what I work on, something in an of itself to work on. I have a few things "finished" to share. The first is a small book I wrote (PDF) about the debt I took on as my marriage fell apart. More words about it .

New task logged: Tidy Calendar →

Grateful Log for Friday, June 19, 2026

1. A day to think and write
2. Sun is shining!
3. Faith and hope

I’ve been in a season of making for a while now, feels like maybe around a year but unsure…coming out of it now with a handful of exciting things to share and write about.

️ Time for the usual almost-3pm cup of coffee.

Grateful Log for Tuesday, June 16, 2026

1. Full sun today
2. Feeling a slight sense of focus
3. “Coffee cuddles” each morning with Lindsay before the day takes over

Hunt for Red October on while chipping away through today's list.

Grateful Log for Monday, June 15, 2026

1. Back home from Pittsburgh (great time, but there's no place like home)
2. Fantastic night of sleep
3. Coffee first thing, my usual french press...oh how I missed this!

Grateful Log for Friday, June 12, 2026

1. TGIF!
2. Taking off of work today, mostly, and road tripping out to PGH
3. Prior to leaving, I'll have quiet time to most wrap up a I've been chipping away at for a while.

Morning writing done. More coffee and then into the workday...which is more of 👨🏻‍💻

Grateful Log for Thursday, June 11, 2026

1. Watching a few episodes of with Mozzie yesterday
2. Nearing a point of "completion"
3. Today is my Friday, tomorrow I travel to Pittsburgh

New task logged: The Slot →

Grateful Log for Wednesday, June 10, 2026

1. Mozzie having time with his grandma (my mom) yesterday. (we are all collectively realizing, hopefully not too late, that he's no longer a little kid, 13 this August).
2. Coffee and writing this morning
3. Wednesday.

Thinking I may need to catch up on WWDC...seeing mixed signals...

Grateful Log for Tuesday, June 9, 2026

1. Bike ride with Mozzie yesterday
2. Local coffee shop that I can bike to (need to do this more often)
3. Have had a decent “in bed” time lately, between 10 and 10:30

Grateful Log for Monday, June 8, 2026

1. All of Mozzie's flag football games yesterday
2. The writing projects I have queued up
3. Monday...it should actually be easier than the weekend

New task logged: Splinched →

New task logged: Tidy Stage →

New task logged: Tidy Bar →

Grateful Log for Friday, June 5, 2026

1. TGIF
2. More sun!
3. Evening outside with Lindsay yesterday, just talking & staying connected.

Grateful Log for Thursday, June 4, 2026

1. Sun continues to shine!
2. Writing to solve problems
3. Getting into a flow

Grateful Log for Wednesday, June 3, 2026

1. Excellent sleep last night
2. Having a 12 year-old who cuts the grass
3. Temps continue to crawl up, Summer is near!

New task logged: Made My Day →

New task logged: First Thing →

Grateful Log for Tuesday, June 2, 2026

1. Time yesterday to get a batch of cold brew steeping
2. Space for brainstorming and capturing
3. Creative seasons

Grateful Log for Monday, June 1, 2026

1. Walking around Memorial Lake with Lindsay
2. The entire weekend with Lindsay 🥰
3. Spending all day outside yesterday

New task logged: My Scratchpad →

Grateful Log for Saturday, May 30, 2026

1. Writing last night
2. Weekend day trips with Lindsay
3. The shining sun on a Saturday!

New task logged: The Creed →

New task logged: Cadence →

New task logged: The Long Way →

New task logged: Endpaper →

New task logged: Plink →

Grateful Log for Friday, May 29, 2026

1. Had our first sale come in yesterday. Previous customer who bought from me way back when.
2. Mando movie with Mozzie last night.
3. New refrigerator is being delivered today.

Grateful Log for Thursday, May 28, 2026

1. Fire last night, s'mores for Mozzie
2. A few things coming to a stopping point
3. The weekend ahead to look forward to, Lindsay and I have both Saturday and Sunday all to ourselves!

Grateful Log for Wednesday, May 27, 2026

1. The walk with Lindsay after dinner yesterday
2. Clarity on several things at once
3. Making tools

Grateful log for Monday, May 25, 2026

1. A good family gathering last night in honor of mom-mom
2. Significant progress on Endpaper
3. Finally finished - handmade e-comm running on Jekyll/GutHub Pages/Flask app

️ Grateful log for Sunday, May 24, 2026

1. Time to write before the day started.
2. Coffee while doing so, always thankful for coffee.
3. Finally finding a new refrigerator (yesterday).

️ Grateful log for Saturday, May 23, 2026

1. Rain that helps the flowers bloom and grass stay green
2. Coffee on a rainy morning
3. An amazing 8 hours of sleep

it is a miracle, IMO, that the Indiana Jones franchise survived The Temple of Doom. Watched it one or two times as a kid, hated it. Finished watching it with mozzie and can confirm it is just as dumb as I remember it.

Writing out my eulogy to give tomorrow at my grandmother's funeral ("mom-mom"). Gave one at my grandfather's back in 2010 ("pop-pop"). Will be in the same church at the same pulpit, looking out at a lot of the same faces. I'm grateful for the moment to remember them both.

weekends lately have been anything but restful. feel like we've been on a turn-and-burn shift for a couple months now.

Clean out washing machine. Took it apart and cleaned as much as possible.

the sun is shining today! TGIF!

️ more coffee should do the trick.

reading before bed. Been a while!

watching Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

New task logged: Clean out washing machine →

restarting.

New task logged: Build "Command Deck" →

good morning! Sun is shining and the skies are the best shade of blue! I’ll ignore the below freezing temps.

temporary fridge in place (apartment size). will use it upstairs now until our main one is fixed or replaced. then the temp fridge will live in the basement next to the stand-up freezer for overflow stuff/drinks/etc. what an ordeal, but thankful to have the backup in place.

meh. Time to call someone who knows what they are doing. All of my poking and prodding and troubleshoooting has resulted it nothing. Everything seemed fine when I took it apart, I’m at a loss. Getting a smaller fridge for the basement and calling a pro for the other.

building tonight. distracting myself from the very real things of life at the moment.

continuing to troubleshoot the freezer. Larger issue identified today with independent thermometers in both fridge and freezer. Fridge is 20* above what it should be. Defrosting overnight and opening up from the inside to check out evaporator related parts…eesh.

Mozzie’s NFL Flag Football team (Steelers) won today against the 49ers! This is his second season playing and his first win, he’s pretty excited :-)

my grandma, “mom-mom”, is likely to pass today or this week. She’s ready. We were never close but this is still very sad to watch. She’s my last living grandparent.

️ Good morning. Windy out there today. Hoping today offers something akin to Holy rest.

these weeks lately, taking it out of me! Looking forward to sleep, praying it is a solid night of rest!

cold brew finished steeping, second batch of the season.

New task logged: Fix the kitchen drawer →

sawdust and shavings. Been a while.

️ alright, who’s making the coffee?

cold brew made and steeping. Popcorn popped. Crafting s manhattan next. Then sitting down with Mozzie to watch Rogue One.

cleaned out the inner workings (coils, fan, etc) of the refrigerator...hoping by later tonight it is apparent (via an ice cube forming) that the freezer is fixed...

ok. Regrouping a bit. This week has absolutely drained me. Today’s plan: do the daily items then focus on building automation. Continuing to chip away at automating the tedious parts of my job. Worthwhile investment of time.

well, that was quite the chase. back to the list for today!

hm. freezer isn't freezing...

so much python lately.

️ good morning, time to get into it. TGIF!

long but great day!

days like today make me feel...weird. brain is all over the place. work is insane. i have creative bursts/thoughts hitting me but i can't do anything about them, so then my brain starts to worry about losing them. meh. all good stuff, just a lot.

Wednesday afternoon slump...phew!

brew install --cask finicky

yesterday was nothing but fighting fires...fingers crossed today allows for a more stable approach to getting things done.

shifting from Pirate Ship to Shippo. fun names.

gonna need Monday to take a chill pill.

️ Building this morning, connecting things. FastMail, PythonAnywhere, Stripe, Pirate Ship, Jekyll, GitHub, etc etc etc. Hello Monday!

brain has been in overdrive lately with the ideas. jotting down and making as much as i can to capture them as they come in.

have a goal, and some late night time is required...

rewatching Andor season 2 with Mozzie.

hey, Saturday! Nice to see ya!

a nice evening catching up with a friend. belated birthday cigars and manhattans.

️ Good morning, my kind Internet friends across the globe :-) TGIF!

what a day, what a week! Looking forward to wrapping up a few things tomorrow. Grateful log to pickup again shortly. Writing in general. Stay tuned :-)

early morning tinkering before work (which will also include tinkering, just in a more professional manner).

feeling rested.

sleep shall be sweet, I pray.

brain is all over the place today. In an extremely creative spot at the moment.

late but good night.

car session while mozzie is at flag football practice. tinkering. launching some redesigned things soon.

sun is shining this morning! A welcome sight, now we just need to temps to continue their climb.

appreciate my family putting up with me being such a nerd.

what a weekend! Yesterday started at 6:30am with work, then house and yard work followed by taking dinner to my grandmother. Today started at 5:30 for resurrection Sunday and the related gatherings. Taking a beat now before resting. Full week ahead!

test...

wiring for sound

tinkering

overcast skies made for a bleak sunrise service earlier this morning. Was still a great service though, even if cold.

He is risen!

yard work Saturday!

problems lately have been solved by giving them a night to rest, solutions being found readily each morning.

️ early start to Saturday with work, unfortunately. Need to finish what I stated yesterday. Just a season.

helping Lindsay with her statistics class...oh man. not for me.

️ Having coffee with my brother and showing off my cool status update process.

️ good morning! yesterday was not ideal, too much work and not enough present family time. hopeful that the weekend offers us what we need.

steak on the grill

rainy today! more coffee required.

sleep lately has been terrible, or at least consistently terrible. First it was my shoulder waking me up all night, last night was my left shin (of all things). Need to figure it out, has been a few months of this.

awesome watching the Artemis II lunch!

power nap!

Warmer weather means we are getting closer to Mind Steward Kids Theater! I help the camp run their registration, daily camp rosters, and other tech related things as they come up.

Python has become a goto for a lot of personal and work stuff lately. Not sure where it has been my entire life, not sure why I didn't use it before, but man am I glad to have gotten into it!

Later and later lately...but I do eventually get started on what needs to be started.

️ Hey there, Tuesday.

sometimes, after a long work day and an evening full of family time, staying up to tinker is a nice way to wind down.

so much to automate so little time to do so.

reading before bed: by Amor Towles.

praying for a solid night of sleep!

️ time for coffee!

time to rest, what a week!

blown away by what is possible these days. definitely going to be sharing some of what I have built in a post later!

pouring a smidge more. Family is sleeping. I’m exhausted but have a few more things I want to tweak.

later night, watched part of a docuseries about the Inca Empire with Mozzie.

Friday night! Time for a manhattan!

SSH pipeline a success, now testing the API key (second test :-) )

testing...

Back from two weeks in Florida. Had a great time with family and soaking up the warm FL sun!

getting up to 60 (Fahrenheit) today! Windows open, pre-mature but necessary spring cleaning!

Landed on watching Sum of All Fears with Mozzie. Always a good one.

squirreling all over the place this evening, not in bad ways, just my brain trying to calm down from the week but not able to find a spot to land. Manhattan while it works itself out. Prost!

automating a bunch of things today 💪

that first sip!

my right AirPod went for a dip in our sump pit this morning. I retrieved it immediately...have let it air dry since...testing now...😬

Think I may have found a nice home for my gratitude log (that I hope to bring back). I, of course, need to add yet another place where I publish (because I love trying out new places to write and publish), and so this will reside there.

The falling snow is melting as it hits the ground. So thankful for this!

2025 taxes filed.

Filing 2025 taxes here in a moment, but first I'm going to write for a few minutes. Really want to start blogging more and I'm pretty sure journaling is going to be critical to getting me back to that point. Getting the words out is a muscle, and it hasn't been used in a very long time.

There's a lot behind this, but I've been waking up to roll over for a while now. And recently an origins-unknown shoulder "injury" wakes me up with each movement of my arm. On this particular morning I gave up trying to get back to sleep at 4:30. Work projects taking up a lot of space in my mind, apparently, that's what I thought about immediately. And so I think I'll do something I haven't done since October of 2024: journal.

One more account paid off. Onto the next!

2026 Winter Olympic Games opening ceremony - fun to watch as a family!

For personal and professional things that I do/track/manage, am at the point now where I'm looking to do daily review/input/maintenance of things that will support weekly/monthly cycles. Otherwise, if not daily, I feel like I'm constantly chasing my tail.

This Packers v. Bears game 😬

so much to write, so much to share, no clue where to start!

MNF and wine.

need more coffee before switching to tea with honey.

In the mood to tinker.

Family movie night: You’ve Got Mail. Such a wonderful classic!

37* F outside this morning. Coffee always tastes that much better when it is cold out.

Outside temps getting down to the typical morning range for this time of year.

Good morning world. Small update to my .

Days/weeks/months lately have been incredibly busy. My usual quest for balance continues.

Winding down. Think I'll start S5.

Yard sale today.

Almost a full year since my last "status update". What a whirlwind. Thrilled to be back, happy to get to a place where I'm able to put words to things.

A rather chaotic (in my head) 24 hours is coming to a close. Eager for rest.

The people we meet on our dreams: actual humans out there somewhere or figments of our imagination?

Past few years of go, go, go are catching up to me. Body is forcing rest at the moment.

Man. Whata day. Reading for a few minutes then some sleep!

Alright Monday - let’s do this!

Bit of a strange weekend. Had a low back flair up start on Friday, became worse all day and peaked Saturday. Believe it has been dealt with through stretching, Thera gun, ice, heat, etc., dealing with bruising now. Anyways. Prepping for the odd work week ahead. Will be out of town for 3 days.

Full day ahead!

More coffee. Quick workbench time then shipping. Then back to the bench for several hours.

Late work nights mean late starts, but that’s ok. Having the flexibility to follow creative bursts, no matter the time of day, is critical for me.

In the mood for some late night work.

Thunderstorm tonight. Sleeping with the windows opened slightly.

Calling it. Can’t just lay here. 3am yoga to start the day. Then diving into all the stuff my brain woke me up with.

Brain activity woke me up. Can’t get back to sleep.

Coffee round 2. Finish client work for the week. Dinner. Shower. Website/marketplace work. Sleep.

Recording another video this morning for The Jefferson website. Finishing touches! Coming soon!

Finishing a large order today. Eager to get this one shipped!

Oh man, the crash is REAL.

Monthly massage completed. Focus areas identified.

48*F overnight, nice and chilly this morning. Thankful for the crisp air and the change of seasons.

Sunday's have been different lately. I'm at an in-between with church, need to write about it properly, and have given myself time away from it over the Summer. So, Sunday's have been different. They are at least not all work.

Coffee round 2.

Eager for the day ahead! Happy Thursday!

A late work night after spending the evening with Mozzie. Bed soon! Next two days are packed!

All of the pesky things dealt with, time to head to the workshop!

These late night creative bursts will fade eventually, following them as long as they last.

Good morning so far. Caught up on sleep. Fruit for breakfast, with coffee, of course, while writing. Laundry handled. Indoor plants watered. Everything looking good. Now some light work, then whittling matches while watching football this afternoon.

Tired but gotta keep working…desperately trying to catch up…before the Christmas retail season kicks into gear.

1.25 hours left of focus this afternoon. Coffee to assist.

Accidentally turned my alarm off instead of snoozing it. Extra 1.5 hours of sleep. Feeling rested…but I do need to get an actual alarm clock.

broken record lately but this tired is really hanging around! something about this past week really took a lot out of me. eager for a solid night of rest tonight!

Crashing but still some work to be done before I feel like the work week ends where it needs to. Coffee.

Quitting while I’m ahead. Too tired to be efficient. Early bed, early rise. Everything can wait until then.

When I am tired, when I don't get enough sleep, the state of my mental well-being low.

Funeral this morning and afternoon. Did some work before and a few shipments now. Eating a dinner, sitting for a few, then back down to the workshop for the evening.

Massage done. List of areas to work on over the next month determined.

Close to 6 hours of sleep, good enough I guess. Odd bad night of sleep, not sure what triggered it.

Eesh. A sleepless night so far. Brain is too active. Not tired but want to be sleeping.

Lots of rain today. Great day to focus!

Boots on. Harry Potter playing in the background. Drinking water then switching to coffee. “Back half of the year” vibes are beginning to kick in.

Making a quick cup of evening coffee.

Seeking a calm spirit.

Making something new today, which is always amazing!

Focused today. More Harry Potter movies on in the background. Brain is funny how those movies just get me into a deep deep deep focus mode.

Switching a bunch of things up. Time to go back to the way some things used to be done. Easy is most certainly not always best.

Woke up with a fresh mindset, shaking off one that had settled in for years.

Need to write but the words seem stuck.

A nice start, now some work.

Spider Man: Homecoming tonight with popcorn 📼 🍿

Day planned. Full Friday ahead!

Finishing touches on the walkthrough video of the Ocean Front bag...once I have it on the website I am FINISHED and will launch it!

Harry Potter on in the background while working this morning.

Have been hitting an early afternoon crash the last few days. Coffee is needed. Need some positive life stuff too!!

Quiet today. Stuck to myself even when around family this evening, my natural reaction when attacked. Words hurt. Actions hurt. People are people. I'll get over it with time, but makes me realize just how vulnerable I've made myself. Bunch of issues here that I need to deal with.

up an hour before my alarm. late to bed as-well. nice start to the day though: walk, coffee, some writing now.

bed for now. tomorrow is a new day.

Man. today ended terribly.

A bit stalled with what to do next today. Heading to the pool, despite the cloud coverage, for a change of scenery.

An idea I had woke me up 30 minutes before my alarm. Brain has been in a heavy creation cycle lately!

So tired. Bed soon.

Massage done. Everything back where it needs to be.

ok, just a wall of text for now, but have the site published for those that would like to do some reading:

Working on a dedicated website for the new Ocean Front bag in the Strathmere Leather product line. Keeping it dead simple, keeping the assets simple, using what I have (photos only at this point), and will hopefully just get the thing up later this evening.

working on a few things

doing good.

Schedule the last few days has been absolutely bonkers.

The past three days I have had breakfast before 9am. Progress. Even more impressive is that I have then had something for lunch. Have been struggling with these two meals for far too long at this point.

Trying to figure out the best placement for this set of table and chairs I got for the deck...remember from living here before that there's something tricky about it. Having a few friends from high school over this evening (19 years goes fast!), will get their input :-)

Today is Friday! What a week!

Coming back to a clean house is never going to get old.

Taking the next 24 hours off. NO WORK!

Desperately need to hire part-time help.

Today is going to be insane. Wrapping up final items for the event I'm attending this evening as a vendor at the Hilton in Harrisburg. First live event for me...trying to make it not look so "thrown together" but think that is inevitable for the first. Will get things ironed out from here. Just hoping it goes well this evening!

Catching up on WWDC. Gotta say, tired of these overly produced keynotes. Bring back the stage!

Sheesh! What a Monday so far! Hit the ground running at 7am. Breaking now for food.

Work done. Orders shipped. Groceries put away. Cigar and a drink now (while unpacking some deck stuff), recycling boxes (yay!), and then making dinner. Grabbed a movie from Redbox for later this evening!

One of these weeks, when it gets close to 5pm on a Friday, I'm going to lean back, admire my accomplishments for this week and feel like I did all I could do and can now take the next two days off. This week is not that week.

Steady rain for an hour or so, setting up my office and will walk later.

To bed! At a semi-decent time!

Need. More. Coffee. Hotel coffee is the absolute worst 😂 eager to get back to my French press!

Apartment keys, mailbox key, fob, and garage parking decal returned to the office. Final clean completed. Final car load of stuff. A chapter closing. Feeling kind of bittersweet at the moment. A lot happened here. A lot of good, a lot of growing. Time to move on, in so many ways.

My lower left eyelid been twitching for a few weeks now…stress manifesting itself.

I’ve got quality of life issues that I need to address sooner than later with my work. I now have separation between personal and work spaces, which is huge, and next I need to work on delegating (I.e. some sort of hiring). Too much work, which is a good thing, but there is more to life than this.

Long work night ahead of me. Early start planned for tomorrow. Leaving for an event in Pittsburgh tomorrow around 4:30pm or so and need to cram in as much time at my bench as possible. Going to be responsible in 3 minutes and take a break for making, and then having, dinner.

Looking forward to things settling into the new normal soon. Moving is always very jolting, and there are so many positives to this last move, but my writing routine has definitely suffered. Eager to get back to it soon!

Final move out from the apartment this morning.

Had to cut out from Mozzie and Lindsay before Mozzie went to bed tonight. Out of the norm. Have to work as much as possible tonight while also getting a good night of rest. Miss him.

One thing I’ve been good at so far in the new place is a healthy bed time. With work so out of the way it is inconvenient to even try a late work night. Would rather get to bed earlier and wake up earlier.

Messages handled. Whittling matches outside in the sun now. Then handling emails.

YOU GUYS. I have been sleep SO good since moving...so good that I'm wondering if I've slept at all in the past three years!

Sitting on my deck in full sun, writing away! Previously I'd only have about an hour left of full sun before it passed over the apartment building. Now, out on the deck, full sun almost all day, casting tree shadows beginning around 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

Good day…still not quite back into my routines. Need to get things settled personally and for my workshop in the townhouse. Chipping away at it. Exhausting but good days! Need to write and publish some long form thoughts.

Just a few things remaining at the apartment at this point, I'll get them later today. Being back in the townhouse is a breath of fresh air, much needed. Haven't checked email, messages, replies, anything, since Friday. Will begin to get back into the swing of things today. Great blur of a weekend, and Mozzie with me the entire time!

2am again. Time for bed. Successful first official moving day. Finished the day with assembling Mozzie’s bed…finished at 1am 🙈 but he’s in his new bed on the first night. Sleeping on the couch for me tonight. Final everything tomorrow.

Up and moving! Coffee first then loading up a few more things before finding some food.

Van filled with boxes, will run it all over tomorrow. Next few days are going to be wild. Marking tonight as my last night in the apartment with a cigar out on the shared balcony (first in a while!). Next cigar will be in full sun on my deck, listening to birds sing their songs.

making and packing boxes, throwing stuff in, loading up my dad's van (thanks Dad!), and hopefully doing a run out to the townhouse tonight (if I have the energy). Home stretch!

Second round of coffee. Final leather dye work in this studio apartment, final photos as-well.

sunshine!!

Oh hey look, day onebajillion of rain and zero sun! Spring weather is out there somewhere...and hopefully Summer is in the wings waiting!

Rainy afternoon. Chipping away at all sorts of things, all will finish by Thursday. Coffee.

That earlier than planned alarm is catching up to me already. Afternoon crash is real. A nap is needed, but I have too much to do (as always)...but it may be the best way to remain as efficient as possible.

Alright. Calling it. Making coffee.

Jolted awake at 5:15 by the garbage truck banging dumpsters around, mind immediately started thinking about the day and now can’t get back to sleep. Was hoping for another hour or so.

Is that sunshine I see!?

Trying to do too much since 1986.

I went to bed talking myself out of 7 hrs of sleep so I could get a head start on a full day. I should have known better, I need at least 7 hrs to be in a good frame of mind. This morning I tried to talk myself out of my usual walk and writing routine...so I could get a head start on a full day...those two things are how I start my day. What was I thinking? 😂

just a few more quick things I want to get in before calling it a day. small pour of bourbon while I'm at it.

Getting the key to the townhouse today and will start moving stuff over. Very ready but not. Moving is such a thing.

Finished writing and noticed my back tire was deflated. Awesome. And my flat kit wasn’t packed back into my bag from the weekend. Pumped it up but a minute later deflated again. Thankfully didn’t bike too far from home. Walked it back and will handle it tomorrow.

Funeral was today for Lindsay's grandmother. I have a lot of memories with her from my time with the family since 2004, she was awesome and will be missed. Service was absolutely beautiful. Lost and found my wallet before and after the service. Need to retreat back to the beach.

Massage complete, everything back where it should be. We are going to try moving to every 3 weeks as I have been making good progress with my own care between sessions.

Just wrote for 3 hours. Getting back to reality is tough so far, even though the time away was so short. Lots of work to do. Lots of things to improve. Rest of the day is going to fly. Need to eat then dive in.

Looking forward to writing/blogging later today or tomorrow, brain is still a bit foggy from the week and writing will help to sort things out.

Rest of the day mapped out, should be able to get everything in...fingers crossed. Will be a late one!

Food consumed. What's next?

I'll eat eventually this morning.

Very disoriented by the week so far. Trying my best to keep my head above water. Lots of good, but plenty of not so good to keep the scales of life balanced slightly, or slightly imbalanced depending on your point of view. Sleep now and then will see what tomorrow brings.

Evening leather dye session getting started. Step 1: make room to lay out everything for drying overnight and to make sure I have space to left to sleep :-)

Alright. Resolved that hands-on leather work is not meant to be for today. Will need to do some later tonight and early tomorrow morning. Beer outside in the sun and the computer end of things for the rest of the work day.

Day is not going to plan, but that's ok. Will just shift accordingly. Is what it is.

Getting my timesheet up to date for the day then prepping for a large leather dye job.

Making more coffee then need to run a quick errand.

Welcoming the fresh week and eager to dive in! Lots of awesome stuff will happen this week!

Feeling overwhelmed by all the ideas, the things, what I want to do, what needs to be done. Frozen, foggy, befuddled. Eating ice cream now, then...unsure.

Alright. Supply run done, restocked. Errands complete. Lunch consumed. Time to dig into this leather project: first up is a custom order I've been working on for a while, iterating a lot with a very patient client. Then chipping away at an order for 7 leather bins. The West Wing S4E11 in the background.

Can tell already, today is going to be a heavy coffee day.

Going with the flow this morning. Ran out of material that I thought I had on hand, and so will be running out to stock up again. And while out might as well combine with other errands. Looking forward to getting to my workbench this afternoon!

Eh, The Godfather Pt. II instead, just for a little.

When I write down that I need to "work" on a thing, a client project in particular, sometimes that just means sit down and simply think through how I am going to approach it. Arguably the most important part of the project: sitting and thinking about it.

Started watching Argyle, 40 minutes into it. Enjoying it and liking the story so far. More work now though, then a short ride, then back to work for a bit...and then maybe will watch some more.

sat down to do some work and immediately forgot what I wanted to work on...taking that as a sign. Time to call it a day!

Godfather on while wrapping up the day.

Wine and Chinese for dinner tonight.

…gonna be making more coffee.

made it to the end of the day, and successfully too!

Back from my bi-weekly deep tissue massage. Muscles are back to where they need to be. Feeling refreshed. Making coffee ( of course) and focused on knocking out two orders before calling it a day. Here we go!

Ok Wednesday, let's see what we can do today!

Day so far is weird. Really weird. Poured a second cup of coffee and never drank it. Forgot about it completely. That has never happened. Ever.

yep, right on time. need that pickup.

So far have gone for a walk, wrote a bunch of words, ate breakfast, had a good lunch, showered, handled a bunch of emails, invoices, and contacted folks who ordered over the weekend. Now time to do some actual leatherwork for a few hours.

Alright...mapping out the week, noting things to be done, identifying what is missing and what I need to accomplish...going to be interesting!

A walk to start this Sunday. Forecast is looking pretty awesome for the next few days, maybe even out to next weekend if such a forecast can be trusted. 60’s and 70’s all week!

tired. eager for rest.

when there is too much swirling around in my head, when I'm not sure what to do, what to work on, what to write, I just stop. All of that means it is just time to stop. And so that's what I'm doing. Everything can wait until tomorrow.

Coffee consumption lately has been…a lot.

Cloudy all day today, maybe some rain later. All good, plenty to work on today!

Time for sleep!

Thinking Chinese and wine for dinner.

The sun is shining! Not a cloud in the sky! Heading out for a walk :-)

Looking forward to a glass of wine this evening!

More deep focus today. Making me hungry.

Lots of rain = lots of coffee

Feeling slightly out of touch.

Finding it quite difficult to focus on any one thought this morning.

Satisfied with the day and what I was able to accomplish!

Rain will be falling for the next few days. April showers bring May flowers. Makes for very focused work since I won't be distracted by sunshine and wanting to be outside!

Very full day today, all very good. Eager for rest and an early rise!

Working on an "action plan" of sorts.

Oof. Time to start the day.

West Wing on while working. Some shows just never age. Always perfect.

Good day up to this point, making progress on all fronts, but head is beginning to feel cloudy and I still have the evening to work though. Time for a walk and then probably making another round of coffee.

And now, time for sleep!

insane day!

Things have been quiet lately. Calm before the storm?

Early day tomorrow, need to save writing for later, rest is needed so that tomorrow is a success.

List for the day seems to be pretty realistic (i.e. short), which means I just might cross most of these items off before the day comes to an end!

I love how exhausting a full day is! Sleep at the end of such a day is a sweet reward.

Oof. The Sunday afternoon crash is real.

Good wine. Writing a letter I've been putting off for too long.

Focus.

Accepting things for what they are this morning. I am human. I have limits. Only so much can be done in a given time. I will accomplish what is intended to be accomplished. Everything else can wait until the prescribed time. Quality cannot be rushed.

Ok. Now to sleep. Full morning awaits.

I always make things such a project. It is fun, following the ideas as they morph, but also - will I ever keep things simple?

Oof. Long workday. Time for rest now before an early start in several hours.

Feeling great, positive, and optimistic! Amazing what a solid night of rest will do!

Feeling overwhelmed. Seems like many different and unrelated things are coming to decision points at the same time. Hoping sleep helps to better process everything in the morning.

Phone calls are the best (the non-spam ones).

What are dreams?

Sleep is going to be amazing tonight, I hope!

.

Late night storm!

Getting out for a walk before it doesn't happen!

I need a day, a full uninterrupted day, to sit with my and just page through the thing. Read every word. Look at every photo, page, and product listing. Act on ideas as I have them. Edit and rebuild as I go.

Back to using iA Writer for, well, writing. Not sure why I ever stopped. The file management, or lack thereof, is perfect, and best of all is not locked into the application itself.

...and now, time for rest.

Brain is a tornado so far today. Writing as quickly as I can to capture everything.

Saturdays are for slow starts. Raining outside. Coffee, writing, and will be making pancakes shortly. Then I’ll be at a place to get into the day’s work.

Working a bit more tonight so I won’t have as much to do tomorrow.

So deep into my mind today, which is annoying, depressing, and highly unproductive! Hoping some upbeat music and making progress on a few larger orders helps to lift me up a bit.

Making an early dinner, then back to work.

Thunderstorm this morning. Strange for this time of year, I dig it!

Brain is too scattered to be productive. Cleaning up. Laundry. Writing. Bourbon.

A feeling of peace and calm, that everything is ok, questions will be answered when they are meant to be, things will happen when they are intended to. Letting go of the idea that I actually have any control over anything is wonderful. Something that I should do more often.

Back from a walk to the coffee shop with Mozzie. Now time for pancakes!

Still fighting through back pain that keeps me up most of the night. One positive to this is that getting up at 4:30 and starting the day is not an issue!

Time to rest.

Work night. Dinner soon. West Wing in the background.

It is time!

4.5 hours of sleep. Definitely not in a very good frame of mind so far today...taking a few walks throughout the day to keep my head clear, coffee for sure, and a solid wind-down routine later this evening to support a healthy night of rest.

Working through some computer-based tasks this morning, giving the sun a bit more time to rise before heading out for my walk.

Planning to move in a few months, not buying for several reasons, most important being that I'm still figuring out exactly how I want to embark on that portion of life again. So, more renting. Either way, it will be nice to find a place that is a bit more "home like".

It never ceases to amaze me at how much self-confidence/esteem can fluctuate. Some mornings I wake up feeling sure of everything, by the evening deflated. Can't quite figure out the "trick" to managing this lately.

Was planning to chip away at a few things tonight but am too tired. Listening to the nudge of my body and will head to bed shortly. Looking forward to the rest.

Brain is moving faster than I can write this morning. Lots of scribbles.

Quitting work early, heading over to watch the rescheduled Steelers vs. Bills game with Mozzie.

Time to make pancakes.

The day did not go as planned and I'm too spent to shift into what I originally wanted to have accomplished. Tea and writing about several ideas swirling around my head instead. There's always tomorrow, or Monday.

I do make a good manhattan, if I may say so. Been a while. Still got it, and never disappoints.

There are some tasks that just seem to naturally occur after hours. Accepting that and working through them.

First coffee and writing of the New Year.

Entering that annual headspace of reflecting and planning, thinking and writing. Will settle in for a few days.

Slowly exiting the fog of the last two weeks.

Soaked in a hot bath last night, felt nice. The next 9 days are going to be crazy.

My hands are physically tired from all of the leather Christmas orders I've been working on. Such a great feeling, actually...but I am looking forward to having shipped the last one and taking a short break :-)

Tea with a bit of desk work.

Today shall be improved from yesterday by the simple act of taking a shower. That and eating breakfast.

Time to sleep.

Not stressing... :-)

Overdosing on zinc, vitamins c and d, honey, water, celery juice, and of course coffee. body can just get rid of what it doesn't need, otherwise want to make sure it has more than usual for the next few weeks.

Planning the day and week ahead.

Choosing to not work through orders today, need to rest as I'm already feeling a bit run down from the current pace of work. Will be back at it tomorrow. Baking instead, some knitting, football, paperwork, etc.

No time like the present.

Tired but have goals to hit before taking Thursday off for Thanksgiving.

Have been in an absolutely terrible state of mind since Wednesday night. Hoping putting up the small amount of Christmas decorations I have, baking chocolate chip cookies, and watching a Christmas movie will help.

Going to be a heavy coffee day.

Hiding today.

Weekend was very good but very full...may need a power nap to push through the afternoon.

Making pancakes this morning and then soft pretzels for the Packers/Steelers game later today.

First up for the day: making challah (will be my first time).

Another late work night, which is ok. Home Alone playing in the background.

Now page updated -

Feeling pleased with the unpredictable nature of life.

Insane morning so far.

A great day...the resignation part of my day went very well...pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

Watching Jumanji (1995)

Silo 👍

I am feeling oddly good about things/life at the moment...which is a strange way to feel...I kinda like it :-)

Wasn't able to take the bikes home yesterday, but we picked them out from a local bike shop yesterday. I'll go back on Monday and finalize and take them home! We are both eager to ride together...maybe even dipping our toes into bikepacking!

I love a "productive" journaling session where I start with a problem at the beginning of writing and by the end have it figured out. Too much fun.

Had a great evening yesterday in Baltimore, MD at the Aquarium's member night - a simple trip that doesn't seem to get old.

Hoping to get a bike this weekend and excited for the Summer ahead and the rides that I'll be able to do with my 9/10 year-old!

Back to tracking my time (personal, work, etc) with Toggl and I'm thankful for it. I've missed the insights gained by such a task.

Starting to watch Silo.

Happy for the sun shining today!

Cloudy but focused (trying to be).

First sip. Never gets old.

Have been enjoying Perry Mason on HBO lately.

Time to conquer the list.

Way in my head lately. Eager to get through this personal chapter of life.

Some nights I have to stay up later...a feeling I just kinda follow to see where it goes.

Have been formulating a lot of things in my mind lately, working out details, thinking ahead. Lots of custom leather projects in motion, but believe I may have also hit a semi-good stride with a writing project that I've been putting off for too long.

Mostly admin type work today. Necessary evil.

Eventually, maybe in a few months, I think I'll be at a good flow with managing everything (fingers crossed). But then I'll probably be moving (hopefully buying again, will call it my second first house) a year or so after. A few years ahead of when I had planned but needed.

So many thoughts and ideas running through my head at the moment, moving so fast I can't grab any of them. Sleep now and hopefully the important ones present themselves to me in the morning.

It is very loud in the quiet of my mind. Calm is in the future, something I am striving towards, but is still mostly out of reach.

looking forward to tomorrow, later this morning, when I will embark on my first woodworking project since early 2021. Nothing fancy, but is going to be a therapeutic exercise which leads to a very functional and long lasting addition to how I organize my work.

Sometimes, when I am least expecting it, I feel a deep sadness and there is nothing I can do but just feel it. Never quite sure what I am supposed to do with it.

One day soon, maybe this weekend, I envision myself making my usual French press and then sitting down at my computer to publish a few things and tinker on my various websites.

Next two days planned. This week is my last big push to get caught up on most of my work, making room to focus on some process improvements and learn a few new skills.

Enjoyed doing nothing for a few hours today and watched the Chiefs v. Jaguars. Will do a bit more of the same tomorrow afternoon. Still in a mode/mood of recovering from 2022, which I expect to last through this month.

Some quiet time before a busy day tomorrow. Lots of positive updates to share eventually, mostly related to my leather work. Oh, and I picked up my new Ray-Ban titanium glasses today and wowza are they comfortable!

This week is back to the grind. Spending today prepping for the week and quarter ahead. Eager for the year, both personally and professionally!

Leather product ideas are flowing, really excited about the focus for 2023. I made a significant financial investment yesterday in the future of that hobby that has become a business. Much more to come.

Feeling good about the status of things. All customer Christmas orders complete and delivered, my Christmas gifts are in-progress and will be finished soon. Tomorrow is a mix of work, video games, and comfort food.

last working weekend of the year!

Coffee, rain (was hoping for snow though!), focused work.

Increasing vitamin intake for the new few weeks, specifically C and Zinc.

Books ordered from a local-ish bookshop (hour drive). Planning to make a trip in the near future to pick them up. Will be a good break from routine.

Christmas music, coffee, wrapping gifts.

Tea now, then sleep.

Exhausted. Looking forward to a short break on Sunday!

Despite the insane work schedule this time of year I am keeping with my morning writing routine. Helps to setup the rest of my day.

Rain today, which I find myself enjoying more and more lately (which is new for me). Also new is wishing it was a bit colder so the precipitation would be snow.

Felt affection in my dreams last night. Slept longer than I should have as a result.

I shouldn't, but I need a break that isn't sleeping: watching Slow Horses S2E1

Planning to take "off" the last week of the year...looking forward to it!

Holidays feel much different with the divorce being finalized, feeling rather blue today. That aside, I am thankful for the rainy morning, my routine of hot French press coffee, and another day!

This morning I am happy to report that I was up early enough to watch the city around me transform from dark as night to light as day.

Since we've started having consistent days in the 30's, I open a window every morning and crack the door to my studio apartment - doing so drops the temperature a few degrees quickly but also gives my space a blast of fresh air as the night air is pushed out the door.

Christmas orders have me in "the zone" from 8am to midnight most days lately, with breaks for coffee and food. Quitting early today. Need rest before starting again tomorrow morning :-)

I do love the morning coffee ritual.

Admin type work first: emails, print shipping labels, reply to marketplace messages, etc. Once those important items are completed the real work can begin!

The mild Autumn weather continues! Sitting outside with my coffee this morning.

enjoying my coffee on this rainy morning.

I love waking up and starting the day with an epiphany. Sleep is fascinating.

32℉ outside, 77℉ in my apartment without the heat on...the climate control inside has been interesting the past few weeks. Have the windows up and fans on to cool it down in here.

Watching the latest episode of Andor with Mozzie.

Thankful for a morning that feels more appropriate for the season. Down in the 30's, first time in a few weeks.

Happy with today. Small amount of progress made across many different projects, no major roadblocks along the way!

Typical Monday so far: BUSY!

Tea to bring the day to a close.

Rainy Sunday morning - quite possibly the best!

what a day. exhausted at the end of it, as usual! spent some time reading to my 9-year-old this evening. he asked, I debated (I like the idea of him continuing to develop that skill on his own) but thankfully made the right decision. Time now for bed.

Coffee now, thankfully, while publishing a few thoughts elsewhere, then wrapping up a client project...then barbershop for a shave and then a cigar!

Thankful for the cloudy day today...will make it a bit easier to regulate the temp inside :-)

what a day!

The quiet before fully starting one's day...

Coffee and writing, favorite time of my day.

time to rest.

a bit of writing

tired but still a few more things to get to before oh so wonderful sleep.