field notes
Finished reading: Excession by Iain M. Banks 📚
Making dumb bumper stickers is my true passion and art. I’m selling some. If you’re not in the Portland area, I can ship them for a few bucks.
Legally speaking, the Unipiper owes me nothing. The Pickle is a goddamn thief though.
Thank you {{pharmacy_name}}.
I’ve had a sprint of sci-fi novels (a brief obsession with the Inquisitor trilogies by Dan Abnett & a run of Culture series novels) I’d like to read some recent literary fiction. Any suggestions?
Using my recovery time to watch movies and do LEGO. I’ve owned this, unfinished, for an embarrassing amount of time. I’m excited to find a place to hang it.
Belated #caturday post. What with the holiday and all… or something. Labor resting and all that. Just look at my cat. His name is Jinx.
We’re calling our trip off early because the back pain I’ve been experiencing turned out to be shingles. Happy it wasn’t my gallbladder or something. Here’s a few photos I managed to catch.
Currently reading: Excession by Iain M. Banks 📚
Currently reading: Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks 📚
Finished reading: The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks 📚
Finished reading: Ravenor Rogue by Dan Abnett 📚 — I think that’s enough Warhammer books for a while.
I think I have to admit defeat again with Orion as a browser as a daily driver. The 1Password extension continues to be unreliable, which is very frustrating. On top of that it seems like I am getting more frozen tabs and poorer performance than my initial go around. Back to Safari for now.
I visited Minneapolis for the first time over the weekend and I have to admit I was jealous of their cycling infrastructure. So many protected bike lanes. My jealousy was tempered by the fact I was constantly drenched in a thin layer of sweat from the humidity though. Jealous perspiration.
I demand that PDX start selling merch with the absolute banger characters they’ve created. I would fight a person for one of the giant sticky notes featuring these little weirdos they hung during the construction.
Even this serene donut dude on the wifi landing page is great.
Look I know there’s a lot of bad things happening in the world right now, but what really grinds my goat is email apps in 2026 defaulting to adding a “sent from phone” type line to your signature.
No one receiving it cares and nobody sending it wants it. Stop it. This is crime.
Lately I’ve been enjoying more newsletters. Some favorites include Dense Discovery, Citation Needed, and (rip) Naive Weekly.
I’m always looking for weird and interesting newsletter recommendations if you’ve got any to share.
One change I’ve made is trying to replace my doom scrolling habit with Kagi’s small web tool. It’s a spiritual successor to StumbleUpon that takes you to a random indieweb page. It’s been fun to see so many personal sites I’d otherwise never encounter.
I pulled the trigger on a Kagi subscription and moved my browsing back into Orion. Orion still has rough edges, but Kagi’s search is a superior product. The biggest hurdle was psychological. My brain’s knee jerk insistence that search should be free.
I’m pleased with the latest design changes I made to my blog. I’ve been collecting inspiration from other small web blogs for a while and finally implemented a few vanity features. My favorite: switching my footnotes to a “marginalia” style.
Watched: Over Your Dead Body 🍿 - 3/5
Watched: They Will Kill You 🍿
I’ve never watched any Star Trek. Not the shows or the movies. Maybe it’s time to dive in? What’s the best entry point?
Has anyone found an app (ideally available on iOS) that allows you to easily consume your Bluesky and Mastodon feeds in one place that they really enjoy?
I think some of these potential new Euro banknote designs are fantastic.
Wholeheartedly support the em dash. psychotechnology.substack.com/p/em-dash…
Apologies to Salem, OR who did not deserve to be left off that list.
Oregon is the absolute leader in America’s city flag game. The newest addition is Oregon’s City municipal elevator inspired update.
It joins the ranks of OG great Portland and recently redesigned Hillsboro who all buck the trend of crappy seal based city flag.
#oregon #flags
A tiny version of my van fits in the oddly shaped cubby in its dashboard perfectly.
Why hasn’t Games Workshop licensed out a mech warrior style Imperial Knights game? I want to start as a new pilot and build up to a titan.
Scenes from Overlook Porchfest. #pdx
I took this photo of my dog about a year back when I first got my Ricoh GRiii. It was a test for a film recipe. I am surprised by how much I still like it.
The Ricoh is a near perfect adventure camera. I do miss having a viewfinder, though.
The dog is cool too. Her name is Hex.
#photography #ricoh
Watched: I Love Boosters 🍿
While camping we met an old geologist who’d been living a super frugal #vanlife style for years and had so many practical tips for how he lived comfortably on the road. Man loved 5 gallon paint buckets as stools, toilets, water proof storage (not at the same time.)
I want to meet more folks like him
One thing I’ve been thinking about is how amazing every NPS park ranger and FWL/NFS employee I’ve ever met is. Friendly, passionate and so excited about our excitement for the natural world. Truly some of America’s greatest public servants.
I am not proud to admit I touched this to check. An outlet sticker in a pit toilet bathroom at the hot springs campground in Hart Wildlife Refuge.
More moments in eastern Oregon. #photography #travel #oregon
Spending the week wandering around Oregon again. Highlights so far include: Crack-in-the-Ground, a 2 mile canyon wrenched into the earth in the middle of the desert. Summer Lake Hot Springs and Wildlife Refuge. A neat floor lamp.
This is great. Currently making wiggles out of my excessively large photo library. lmao.center/blog/wigg…
Margo’s Got Money Trouble was a surprise joy for me. Heart felt. Fun. Weird. Watch it.
I also got to see local transportation hero and vigilante the Unipiper. Did not have an opportunity to ask him his thoughts on my bumper sticker.
Went to “Zoo Brew” at the Portland Zoo last night. My primary take away is that some lions like to be squirted with a spray bottle full of milk.
I’m looking for a new #browser. I was using Orion by Kagi but I kept running into snags that made my fall back into Safari. I’m interested in a browser this is fast, battery-efficient, and respects/protects my privacy. Zen looks interesting. What else is there?
Spending the morning reading the Wikipedia list of individual trees looking out at the Pacific Ocean.
Mentally preparing myself for my 100 mile ride by reflecting on how my 65 mile ride didn’t kill me entirely. If I never post again it’s because I was wrong.
Yesterday’s rain and wind shook all the buds free from the tree in our backyard. Now everything is blanketed in a soothing and soft green blanket.
I dig it.
My only form of sincere art is hyperlocal bumper stickers and it is the only pure art. #pdx
My new escape is a digital road trip w/ friends, using a HiAce van converted to ‘play’ American Truck Simulator.
We take our seats and act out the ritual of a road trip: chatting, snacking, drifting from city to city in a version of America that demands nothing from us but smooth deliveries.
It turns out it is not the first time a group of oligarchs have conspired to take over the American government and replace it with a fascist one, which doesn’t make me feel better.
I’m putting together resources for my friends on community resilience and disaster planning. If folks have any to recommend please send them my way!
Mojo Jojo in an alley.
In positive news, I am stoked to have marched in my first parade with Les Incompetents. Everyone carried an instrument they don’t know how to play and did their best to bring joy. We handed out kazoos and vuvuzelas to the crowd so they could participate in shared cacophony.
Another thing getting lost in the endless sea of bad news is Trump stating his intention to abuse the Take It Down Act to come after his critics.
I think I’ve nailed my professional webpage. Nothing more to be done.
Portrait of a cat in a sunbeam, unbothered, hydrated and in its lane.
A cat.
help
I just hot glued a kazoo to a vuvuzela so obviously things are going top notch over here.
Anyway, here’s another photo of my dog Hex. Despite looking like a cop dog she only bites fascists.
I don’t know why furries provide such top notch privacy insights but nothing else makes sense in this world either.
I’ve been learning ASL for four years. I still find myself oscillating wildly between “wow, I can’t believe how good I am at this” and “holy shit I didn’t catch a single fucking word of this.”
Sometimes during the same sentence.
I am working on putting together an online resource for HiAce vans. As a non-automotive person who finds these vans charming and practical I want to make information about them more accessible to folks like me.
If you’re interested in #JDM vans, check it out.
For you to enjoy.
My own van in a knock off ad.
I am a big believer in taking ownership of your online presence. One of the most joyous ways to do that is building your own website. (They don’t have to be good.)
This is a great resource for folks who are interested.
Lately I’ve been collecting vintage ads for HiAce and LiteAce vans. I’m not sure to what end except to fill the void.
Here are some of my favorites.
I present my marketplace of the miscellaneous. The digital home for the things that collect dust in the physical one.
A World Wide Web of wayward wares, prepared (at long last) for you to buy from the comfort of your computer.
(Largely composed of bike components currently.)
Olympic Peninsula.
An introduction to infosecurity aimed at activists, but but important for everyone.
We don’t treat them like the threat they are because there is enormous financial incentives for a small group of people to do otherwise. Incentives much larger than the cost of extensive lobbying & cultural propaganda.
Gigantic SUVs are a public health thread, why don’t we treat them like one?
It do be that way.
I think I have to admit that Zwift isn’t for me. I’ve been enjoying just putting a workout on TrainerRoad on my phone while watching a movie or reading on my iPad way more. Maybe I’m missing something or just not a social rider.
Made a much needed update to my photo site. This was my first project to move away from social media, and specifically Instagram if only driven by a desire to see my pictures… bigger.
My next van update is going to be a light bar at the top. The goal isn’t to annoy people while driving, but to shine the light of god on forest roads during twilight adventures and banish the horrors of the void from our dangerous path.
Last night I started the install for a set of fog lights on my HiAce’s bullbar. Still need to finish the last bit but delayed because I want an OEM switch that needs to ship from Japan.
It was a real shame to come out of the shop into this PNW fog and not be able to get a rad picture after.
I picked up a Stages SB20 indoor bike. This is my third year of trying to find a way to make indoor cycling tolerable for me. I am hoping not having to regularly setup and take apart a trainer helps reduce the barrier to usage.
Currently reading: Mothman Apologia by Robert Wood Lynn 📚