Since I was traveling this week and on my laptop, I’m not counting tabs (or emails 
). I’ll get back to my stats next week…
I’ve been a curious but critical part of the Roam application community for quite a while now. I’ve been blocked by Conor on Twitter, and subsequently unblocked some 6 months later, no explanation given. So I wasn’t entirely surprised when I was banned from the Roam subReddit (also without explanation), even though it did seem like an extreme move. When I began to see the context of it, and that it was far from just isolated to me, I began to realize it may have far greater significance.
Roam was already starting to falter in comparison to other rapidly growing tools in the market (Obsidian, Logseq, etc.), but to-date there hadn’t been any really significant cock-ups. This just might be one, though, judging by the reaction on Reddit and Twitter, and the continued fumbling from Roam team on actually fixing their mistakes. They ended up banning some notable Roam community figures, at least one of whom took it as a good reason to finally leave. I’m curious to see this play out further. I don’t wish Roam or Conor ill, but I definitely think the founder and the application itself haven’t been living up to their promise(s) for a while now, so I’ll admit to feeling just a bit of schadenfreude.
A few weeks ago I started to narrow down my decisions on a custom sofa for my bar/living room area. In the process I noticed that one of the companies I was considering a purchase from might actually need some tech help, so I thought I’d see if we could work together on something. In particular I think a digital catalog that they and their customers could access on a tablet could be really helpful (I know I would have appreciated it as a potential customer!). So this week I was able to go over and make a presentation of some of my ideas, and it seemed to go well! If we move forward with it I’d probably end up doing more work than a sofa would be worth, but I think it could help them out, which would be well worth it even if it doesn’t pencil out on an hourly basis.
I discovered Matchbook Distilling Co. recently, and since a big part of my life these days seems to be pursuit of novelty in food and drink, I was immediately enthralled by their super unique lineup. Unfortunately none of it was distributed locally, so I began trying to make plans with someone who lives in NY (or was visiting) to get some to me: desperate measures I don’t usually resort to! (some booze hounds regularly order with pricey shipping from the likes of The Whiskey Exchange, just to get their hands on some of the more unusual things that you can’t get here) Fortunately it turned out Astor Wines had a free shipping promotion and carried a number of Matchbook’s products, so I made an order a few weeks back, and after some FedEx frustration, I finally got it this week! Tasting notes are over here, if you’re curious: Tasting Notes: Matchbook Distilling Co. haul #1 - sunchoke, smoked pineapple, and more
During the pandemic I did twice weekly cocktail Zooms with a small group of regulars, literally all of whom were essentially new acquaintances. Most of them I hadn’t met in person prior to this, and although that is slowly changing, it’s still very novel meeting them in-person! I recently went to an in-person gathering of many of these folks, so I met several at once, but it turns out long tables are not as easy for socializing as compact Zoom screens. So it was a real delight when, this past week, I got the opportunity to meet a couple from the group in a more intimate setting, over a drink at their Bernal Heights home. Simple, effortless hospitality, sweet people, and the time flew by. It was great. 
I’ve been working my way through Season 3 of The Expanse, a show I first watched up to the end of Season 2 a few years back. Season 3 was all new to me, and I was glad to see it generally maintained the high quality, etc. I did find the sub-plot with the reality TV/documentary producers to be pretty annoying/frustrating, and there were some other annoyances at times. But overall it remains a great show with really well-portrayed and complex characters, I think. Alex’s character in particular had some more interesting development this season, and I think the actor is settling into the role a bit more as well.
This is a small thing, but I bought my first concert ticket since the pandemic began. It’s for next year, I don’t think I’ll feel comfortable going back - at least to indoor venues - until then. But it’s a milestone, and I’m excited even though it’s a bit far off. Pre-pandemic I went out to see live music pretty frequently, so as with the pause in visiting restaurants, this has been a pretty big change in my life, and I’m cautiously optimistic about getting back to it in 2022. I’ll be seeing Amber Mark for the second time, and she put on one of the absolute best shows I’ve been to in recent memory. It’ll be at The Independent, which is one of San Francisco’s smaller venues, and that is also by far my preference for most concerts. So it should be a good one! Here are a few of my other past favorites…
I actually left for a week-long road trip just at the end of this week! The entirety of next week I’ll be traveling. I headed up to Oregon (Eugene, specifically) for a long-time and dear friend’s birthday, and they have always been very hospitable so I can stay a week and make it really solidly worth the drive. 
I plan to explore local sights and local booze (turns out Eugene has a bunch of cool distilleries in and near it!), and I’m also just generally looking forward to a change of scene. Somehow I’ve always really enjoyed the feeling of “living” at other people’s houses. Not just your one-night hospitality, but that feeling when it deepens a bit and you start to develop routines that incorporate each other a little bit. Something about seeing how other people live, and adapting my own habits (and seeing where they are less comfortable to adapt!) is really interesting and appealing to me. In practice it can often be a bit challenging in some respects, but it’s always valuable, I find. So I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.
Speaking of which, my first full day was for the party, and I ended up being in charge of cocktailing. So I made up a couple big batches of “mule” variations (gin, lime, ginger beer, and some other stuff, depending). The first was fairly straightforward, but the second was after we’d run out of some ingredients and I had to improvise a bit, so it got more interesting! Into the jar went huckleberry syrup, key lime juice, and more. I got some nice feedback on both batches, but the second seemed to be more popular (perhaps it was the purple color?), so that was an interesting and fun experiment.
More on my travels next week!