Some days, I miss working in news. Some days, I don’t.
So utterly sad to see this: Beloved Poet Mary Oliver, Who Believed Poetry ‘Mustn’t Be Fancy,’ Dies At 83 (NPR)
Reading: Sorry I Forgot Your Birthday, I’ve Stopped Checking Facebook (Wall Street Journal; subscription req’d)
Upshot: People have to use – gasp – paper calendars and cards now!
Reading: Here’s why we need to stop celebrating ‘superparents’ (Washington Post)
Never mind the data thing. The online parenting-as-performance thing is another big reason I’m done with Facebook.
Reading: Conan O’Brien Wants You to Know That Nothing Matters and You’re Going to Die (Vice)
It’s actually more upbeat than it sounds. #MementoMori
Dreamed last night that I was moving my family to Sacramento so I could take a newspaper job. Nobody was happy about it. With all due respect to my friends in Sacramento, I don’t think I was, either.
Then I woke up. And I was very relieved.
Billy Idol is headlining this year’s Ribfest in Naperville, Illinois. I can’t decide if this makes me feel really old or just kinda sorry for Billy Idol.
Proud to announce that Our Tween the Percussionist is on to a new instrument: the cowbell.
We’ve done our due diligence as parents and introduced her to this.
Totally digging this Samurai Jesus take on the miracle at Cana.
It’s cold.
Chargers-Pats game on, muted. Remembering that (1) I generally haven’t missed football, (2) I don’t miss having my heart broken by the Chargers, and (3) the Spanos family can still bite me.
Reading: In San Diego, a Quandary Over the (L.A.) Chargers (New York Times)
National media picks up on the dilemma of many of us San Diego fans torn over the team’s success. Personally, I’m rooting for Rivers and Gates, but that’s about it.
Reading: What’s the last song you want to hear before you die? (Washington Post)
Need to think about this one. I vacillate between the entire “Rubber Soul” album and the “Charlie Brown Christmas” soundtrack, or maybe early Springsteen.
And so ends another Pokemon Go Community Day with the tween. Evolved one of the scores of Totodiles I caught into a Feraligatr. I renamed it, as is my wont.
Reading: Social media addicts ‘have same personality traits’ as drug addicts (Independent UK)
Reading: Don’t Reply to Your Emails: The Case for Inbox Infinity (The Atlantic)
I thought I was just being lazy about not answering email. Turns out I’m just managing my stress levels.
Reading: Trump’s Typos Reveal His Lack of Fitness for the Presidency (The Atlantic)
”Nearly every time he puts thumb to keypad, he exposes that he has never progressed beyond the mentality of the precollegiate, trash-talking teen.”
Reading: The astonishing effects of the shutdown, in 8 charts (Vox)
Another dinner in the books at the Golden Pheasant. (Elmhurst, Illinois)
Can’t decide what’s worse: the 10-year-old practicing the cymbals or the husband playing the “Baby Shark” video on his phone.
Friday Five: “The epidemic of distraction” … and the Pips. (garciabuxton.com)
Reading: Millennials Don’t Have a Monopoly on Burnout (New Republic)
As a Gen Xer who has lost count of how many times I’ve burned out, I can concur that, yeah, it’s a societal thing.
Reading: The Death of the Sick Day (The New York Times)
The shifting definition and expanding mobility of the office — thanks to remote work and the rise of contractors in the gig economy — is also making the sick day somewhat passé, at least for some jobs.
Reading: Smartphone users warned to be careful of the Antichrist (BBC)
”Every time you use your gadget, whether you like it or not … somebody can find out exactly where you are, exactly what your interests are and exactly what you are scared of.”
Insert Facebook joke here.
Reading: ‘Voice of the forest’: George the snail, last of his kind, dies at age 14 (Guardian)
This is actually a sad story of biodiversity in danger. Also sad to see no funeral will be held.