Over this road construction
Back in December the gas company started digging on my street. When the water company got to work, we were told that it would get worse before it gets better. Then in June they truly just tore the whole thing up. Straight dirt, no curbs. Just vibes. And cones. And equipment that shakes my house in a way that I think is exacerbating cracks in my foundation.
This is supposedly our week for curbs. We’ll see.
Other than that the vibe is pretty good! I went to Colorado for a couple of days, I got engaged. Not in Colorado, I got engaged before going to Colorado.
Hope everyone is having a good August!
Number One: I got engaged!
The big breaking news from the last few weeks is that I’m going to marry Chris. He got his engagement haircut, and it turned out so good.
Last week, people kept asking me if I was surprised, and the answer is, not really. But Chris coordinated like 100 people for various events throughout the day, and I’m going to feel loved and known by a high level of organization and my people 100 times over being surprised. I’m difficult to truly surprise, I’m sleuthy, I watch Find My Friends LIKE HAWK.
But just because I’m sleuthy doesn’t mean I’m not going to laugh and cry at the same time!!
Anyway, I love Chris, and I love my ring. And I’m happy. And I’ve have to apologize to eight people this week for already having big feelings about wedding planning.
Number Two: Celebrity Memoir Book Club
In the last year I went from being in zero book clubs, to being in four, and now back to three. My favorite part of book club is when someone summarizes the book for the folks that didn’t read it. I like the loose facts, I like the Wikipedia page version.
That’s basically what CMBC is, the loose facts of a Celebrity Memoir; more than likely a book that is only moderately well-written, so it’s nice if someone else summarizes it for you. It’s a good podcast for a long road trip, not sure yet that I’m going to add it to the weekly rotation. I like that the gals have opinions but aren’t trying to out-opinion each other. I like that they stay on topic. I like that there’s minimal interrupting each other.
Number Three: Turning off Times Square doesn’t help that much
I have a real interest in New York City infrastructure. Really any large-scale logistics that don’t involve my street. Like a couple weeks ago when a significant chunk of electric customers lost power in KC, I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in the control room where they were dispatching folks.
Anyway, I thought this was an interesting article about electricity conservation in NYC (with applications elsewhere), and why turning off Times Square doesn’t do much to alleviate pressure elsewhere.
Number Four: Nobody Wants to Work Anymore
A helpful twitter thread (x thread?) demonstrating that “nobody wants to work anymore” has been true for about 100 years.
Number Five: Peace like a River
Speaking of book club, I just wrapped up Peace like a River for one of those book clubs and really enjoyed it. Great writing, compelling themes. Not a beach read, but not a taxing read.