Things I enjoyed since February
Got busy. Here's what I enjoyed since February!
We went to Florida and rode their private rail from Boca to Miami. Ignoring for a second that they might go bankrupt, it was easily as nice as a Japanese bullet train and restored some hope that we can build when we try in the west.
I was gifted some tickets to the see F1 in Miami. They're like fighter jets on wheels.
Friday is movie night for the kid and in between the animated shows I've been sneaking in some 90's kids classics. My reviews:
- The Sandlot - incredible
- Mighty Ducks - more dramatic than I remember; averman is actually funny
- Heavyweights - pretty bad tbh
- Angels in the Outfield - slow but orphan storyline came through as an adult
We took a boat from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Something about boats and approaching a shoreline gives me what I can only describe as therapeutic delusion of grandeur. No further elaboration.
It stopped snowing.
There was a chaotic easter egg hunt in Prospect Park where they cordon off kids by age group and let them go wild. Afterwards Mia joined two teenagers in smashing all plastic eggs to bits.
[Dumb Phone Update] I was using my Kompakt eink dumb phone exclusively since February. Fully a daily driver. Sadly, I lost it two weeks ago but that is the first time I've been able to cutover fully to a dumber phone. It's possible!
We were the last ones at the office and ordered a pizza.
In Florida we stayed at a family's place. I learned that my uncle who is the complete all around outdoors guy – think hunting, fishing, self made and very capable – has recently become obsessed with 3d printing. The week we were there it was always running. He makes toys for his grandkids and utilities like golf ball dispensers for himself. I've always associated 3d printing with sf nerds like me but in hindsight this makes complete sense and all at once I was inspired and impressed how far 3d printers have come in quality and cost.
I rode a camel in Morocco.
I did a workout at Gleason's. It's a famous and historic boxing gym in Brooklyn. We're talking Ali, Tyson and anyone that came through New York over the past few decades has trained here (or in its previous locations). There are trophies, belts, and tattered memorabilia in every corner, offices for trainers and active professional fighters and 4 rings with all the gear you need.
Mia is learning to read and in a couple week's time has become able to pronounce every letter in the alphabet. Its all thanks to my aunt showing us this education cartoon, the Letter Factory. I have little memory of learning to read so this whole process was interesting to me: they learn the letter, both capital and lowercase, then they learn the consonant sound associated with it. Then they drill with some words and associations and with that she can read some simple words around the house. One interesting meta challenge is teaching her that she can now pronounce words, they're not just noise anymore. I had to train myself on exactly the same thing when I started to get good at reading Japanese characters a few years ago.
I started using Meta Ray Bans to take candid photos of my kid without the phone distraction. It works very well and as a bonus, I can now listen to podcasts or talk without putting anything in my ears. I'm increasingly optimistic about invisible technology like this. We just need an open source privacy preserving option.
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