Weeknotes #25-26

Being a work week (and a long, five-day work week at that) not much happened of note, but here goes.

This and That

🚗 I took my car, a 2017 Volkswagen Jetta, to the car dealer for routine maintenance. In addition to the usual stuff (oil change, filters, etc.) it also got new spark plugs and new tires this time around. Was not cheap, but it beats buying a new car.

💀 Like so many otheres, we had a few really hot days. But my grass still keeps growing and I had to get out there and cut it. Even though I waited until later in the evening (around 7:30 PM) it was still pretty rough.

⛈️ We’ve also been getting a lot of thunderstorms, so I try to keep an eye on the weather. I like to go for walks at lunch time, so I checked before setting out on day this week. It was a beautiful sunny day, so I donned my sunglasses and wide-brimmed hat. I walked to Tropical Smoothie, put in my order, and played with my phone while I waited. Upon receiving my smoothie, I put the straw in and turned toward the door only to discover that the sky had opened and the rain was coming down in buckets. Unsure of how long it’d be, I sat down and drank my smoothie. When I was finished the rain stopped, the sun came out and I had a nice (if a little humid) walk back home. And I didn’t get wet.

AI is for Losers

I came across this the other day, and it conveys a sentiment that seems to be widely held—especially among the Indie Web community that I interact with on Mastodon. I share the concerns over the manner in which some large language models are trained and used—particularly with respect to creative capital. However, the world of AI has a lot to offer and it’s a shame that this is the only perspective that many have.

The Weekend

🚙 I drove up to Mentor to visit my mother for a couple days at the weekend. Since my dad died, there are a few things that I try to help her out with here and there. And it’s nice to spend some time together, something we’ve been doing a lot more of these past 12 months.

🏖️ When the weather permits, I like to take my mother to the beach. Headlands Beach State Park has a magnificent 35-acre beach along the south shore of Lake Erie. And it’s just a short drive from my mother’s house. This time we sat in the sun, listening to the waves and watching the other beachgoers for a couple hours. 10/10 highly recommend.

🪦 One of the chores this time around was to visit the cemetery and clean off the markers at the grave sites of my grandparents. It was light work that didn’t take long, but it reminded me that a friend from college had died a few years ago and was buried in another cemetery in the area. So I stopped off on my way home Sunday. Seeing his name carved in stone was painful. I took it as a reminder that I owe it to his memory (and to myself!) to live this short life to the fullest.

Watching and Listening

On Point: The biomedical research enterprise is under attack

The Ezra Klein Show: Mamdani, Trump and the End of the Old Politics

RRR (See my micro review here.)

That’s it from this end. Cheers!