Category: Things

We recently picked up a rotating compost bin and I’ve been depositing the goods every morning.

Our local ants have discovered this new treasure trove in the backyard.

I wonder what they are thinking when everything goes spinning around for ninety seconds before settling back into normal until the next morning.

We were shopping in Ikea and after a coupon, we ended up owing only 28 cents.

I pulled out a dollar and handled it in cash.

In return, I was given a few nickels, pennies, and a fifty cent piece.

Pretty cool, the girl got really excited!

If it isn’t a gimmick, well then it should be one.

Do chairs support our posture, or do they enforce a certain type of posture, maybe to our detriment?

This question could apply to any number of things in our world that surround us.

Though I’d reckon it is never a true dichotomy, but a bit of both.

One of the local parks has a frisbee golf course so we brought one with us this latest visit.

First, I most likely could use “better” frisbees. I remember the game store in Berkeley having a whole wall of different frisbees for aficionados of this hobby.

Second, I have no idea if it made me any better, but I was constantly reminded of what I learned in Tai Chi. I tried to root my self in the ground and let the body relax, whipping around to initiate a wobbly sad flight trajectory.

Third, my almost 40 year old body was pretty compliant while on site. But it only took the ride home for my left arm to decide that this sudden uptick in this particular repetitive action was traumatic enough to send alarm bells for the rest of the day.

Finally, my daughter had a ball running up and down the hills chasing the frisbee and throwing it around.

My last two decades in a nutshell, encapsulated in a plastic disc.

As an architect I’ve always been picky about my writing tools.

As a draftsman, I started using 2H lead, but learned a lighter touch and transitioned to H lead for my line work. For my lettering I always used HB lead, which Staedtler Mars discontinued during that stint and caused a minor panic, but we bought enough to last me thorugh to leaving for graduate school. And yes Staedtler Mars was a better lead than Alvin.

I also have picked up a few fancy fountain pens over the years, but ultimately they were too scratchy and have not been used.

I appreciate the fine points of rollerball pens, but I don’t like the fact they can get cloggy.

And the micro fine points of razors are nice for about half a day until they get frayed under my heavy hand, at which point they are not at all pleasant to use.

But my tool of choice is the Papermate Flair pen. It’s a finely crafted writing tool that is cheap enough I can have copies all over the place and feel no pain when it runs out of ink or when one is lost. With a plethora of colors, I can make multiple layers of notes on a single sheet of paper. The felt tip runs smoothly on any type of paper. The point is fine enough to make good notes, but blunt enough to degrade gracefully. It is in short, my perfect pen.