Grab Bag vol. 2
Things I found interesting lately, what I’ve been up to, and whatever else comes to mind.
Somehow, for the 3rd time in 2023, Kit and I found ourselves on I-40 recently, traversing across central Arizona and New Mexico. There is not much scenery but there is reliable cell service, so it’s not the worst stretch of highway we’ve been on. Out of boredom, Kit spent some time poking around Atlas Obscura and stumbled across this post. If only we had known, he may have brought a relic from his previous job, as he is currently unemployed (by choice) and hunting for a new one. The end of an era! We didn’t make the detour to check out what others had left, but it’s a fun little concept. Maybe next time.
On this same journey, we also stopped in Holbrook, which doesn’t have a whole lot going on except for a Rivian DC Fast Charger, which was why we were there. Except! It also has the best sake maker outside of Japan?? Arizona Sake. While we weren’t able to secure a tasting session in his brew shack, we did stop by a janky convenience store to purchase a bottle.
Why were we in central New Mexico in the first place? A variety of reasons, one of them being the 2nd Annual Foothills 10 Mile Run, a trail race at Elena Gallegos Open Space outside of Albuquerque. For a new, local race, it brought in some fast runners, including an Olympian. They were actually offering reward money for the top 5 men and women, which is rare and cool to see. Since it was on trail and I am still probably technically recovering from my 50 mile run, I was expecting it to take me a cool, slow 2 hours to complete. But Kit and I tucked ourselves into a slightly faster pacing group at the start, and lo and behold, we both finished right around 1:40 minutes, which I’m pretty happy about. I even placed 3rd out of 12 in my age group, which I will definitely take. A nice reminder that shorter races can feel great and rewarding!
I just finished reading “Why Fish Don’t Exist”, written by Lulu Miller, and I highly recommend it. I didn’t really know much about it when I started, and I liked that, so I don’t want to say too much. It’s an interesting biography about a scientist in the late 1800’s, but also about how we try to bring order to a chaotic world.
Look, I know that Twitter is a cesspool and owned by a lunatic and we shouldn’t use it anymore. I rarely visit the site anymore. BUT. Occasionally I do and I stumble across content that I find ridiculously hilarious, such as silly prompts people have thrown at Dall-E/ChatGPT. Yes, I know AI is also horrifying, but sometimes we have to just let go and laugh. (Note: There is a whole thread of these prompts, but I’m not sure exactly what the link will share for those not logged in).
cheers,
april
Song of the Day: Realign by Henry Green