I have been planning to get a sofa for my front room for over a year now. Seriously. Obviously the pandemic had an effect on that, but it’s also just procrastination of various things, which I’ve mentioned before. This week I finally made it to the Custom Sofa Company (that’s literally what it’s called) where I hope to get my new sofa. It was a great step! But being custom, there are now quite a lot of choices I need to make about exactly what I want, most significant of which is probably the color. I went the custom route because I didn’t find any options in the usual places that were really what I was looking for, and were affordable. So now I’m comparing color swatches at home. Current front-runners are either in the red-orange spectrum, a rich red or a sort of rust, or in the blue-green spectrum, teal, turquoise, or a rich blue… Feedback welcome!
While I was in the sofa company’s showroom, they were trying to show me examples of some colors and styles they didn’t have in stock to see in-person. Unfortunately all they had to show them on was an iPhone! So the thought occurred to me, maybe they could use some tech help setting up a better virtual brochure sort of system, and perhaps I can get a discount on my sofa in exchange. 
They seemed intrigued by the idea, but it needs further discussion. I borrowed an iPad from a friend and hope to make a demo soon!
Along those same lines, I’ve found myself wanting to offer simple tech assistance to a number of small businesses (mostly food producers) that I like and buy things from regularly. Mostly I’m open to free, or services in exchange for goods (pastries, ice cream, etc. 
). But it’s also just interesting to think about my motivation here. It’s not money, and not even about getting “free stuff”. I think it’s me seeing these people struggle with something that is way outside their own knowledge, and totally unrelated to what they’re really good at, and knowing I can help them pretty easily, without taking too much of my time. They’re nice people, and I want to help them, pretty simple I guess. But still interesting to think about…
I finally messaged some more people on OKCupid and had my first date in a while (from Hinge). Nice and interesting person, not necessarily a romantic interest, but someone I’m still curious to know better. So we’re proceeding on that basis for now. Regardless it feels good to actually make some connection and even just to have a chance to try (i.e. have a date). It’s been rough going during the pandemic (well, also in large part because of my procrastination!).
I started watching Loki and was surprised to not really be that into it even by episode 3. I’ve since gotten to some more interesting stuff and am just about to finish out the series, with a moderate appreciation for it. But I’m a bit surprised it is so well-liked overall, even by friends who I wouldn’t call Marvel nuts. Let’s see how this finale is…
I got to have a 1:1 with one of the co-founders of Anytype, which I’ve wanted to do ever since I joined as a consultant. It was cut a bit short, but was still really nice to do. Turns out she has a really impressive and interesting founder’s story! I hope they talk more about that soon, because it’s compelling stuff.
In the pursuit of my Anytype work I’ve also been experimenting quite a lot with Discourse and configurations and plugins I wouldn’t normally need for my own uses (like the content you’re reading now!). I’m trying to setup a workflow and set of tools to better manage an increasing volume of feedback coming into the forums from the ever-growing alpha test user group. I think Discourse can form the basis of a notable improvement on their current approach (the existing forum is using another open source platform called Flarum). Plugins like User Notes and Assign, or built-in features like Whisper and Tagging, can together help a feedback management team do their work much more efficiently. Combine that with something like Fibery, which can actually pull a large amount of Discourse content directly into it for further manipulation, and you have something really powerful…
I started trying to find an IFS therapist recently, and this week I connected with someone who happened to have availability. We had a 20 minute intro call, which seemed reasonably promising, so I have my first session scheduled for next week! This is an exciting step. I have a lot of interest in and appreciation for the IFS model/modality, and it seems quite promising for making bigger strides in understanding some of the things I struggle with and hopefully starting to address them more. I’ve made a lot of progress over the past ~6 years with my existing therapist, and it has been great, but I’m hoping now to get to the next level. Definitely something I’ll report back on soon!
Back in late July I had a bit of a realization that I needed to be safer about eating out. Which is to say I needed to stop for a while, while Delta ran its course a bit, etc. I’ve since eaten outdoors a few times, gotten takeout a couple times, and kept an eye on things. It’s only just this week that I am starting to feel like it might be time to try indoors again, although I’ll admit that part of that is motivated by seeing a bunch of exciting, new places open up! That said, San Francisco now has a vaccine mandate, and I believe Berkeley and/or Alameda County will follow suit shortly. I know vaccination is no guarantee of safety, but it does make me feel a lot better about going for it in the current environment. Let’s see how I feel in the next week or two…
This week I got inspired to play with Sherry Cobbler variations (loosely) and ended up coming up with some really delicious and nicely low-ABV drinks. Basically I use a couple ounces of dry sherry, some lemon or lime, and some sweetener, either simple syrup, or a liqueur or two, shake it up and serve over crushed ice. I often add a little bit of a higher proof spirit just to give it some more punch, but it’s often not necessary. This one is a strawberry ginger thing that was particularly excellent (though I do say so myself). I encourage you to have a play in the sherry cobbler space! Keep it loose. 
Finally, major progress on another long-procrastinated project: cleaning out my closets! Some friends were doing a backyard “stuff swap” this weekend, and it was good motivation to go through most everything and pull together what I wanted to let go of, which ended up being a pretty good amount, from clothing, to books, to gadgets. I still have a bunch of clothes I don’t/can’t wear yet because they need alterations, or dying, so that’s a future iteration of this. But this was a big step forward and it feels good!