Are you inside the work or outside the work? It’s basically another way of talking about status and mastery, but I think it’s a nice shortcut. Where are you? Are you in it—actually doing the thing—or are you outside, staring at the finished product, obsessing over how other people are going to receive it? My new theory is this: the only real home is inside. That’s the only place you can actually live. ...
As I venture forth into this new wilderness, I find myself returning again and again to influences and inspirations. Specifically, I want to write them down, for myself, and share them, for y’all. It’s way too easy to forget about them in the maelstrom of the day, the hubbub of the night. So, in no particular order, here are some people whose work inspires me and to whom I look when thinking about this next chapter: ...
I just want to give a big shout out to the word ‘blend.’ Coffee is a blend. I just made a blend when i took beans from two different bags and tossed it all into my grinder. That is a blend! The word blend is powerful. It is a marketing word. Imagine if you were paying for a ‘coffee mix’ - I would not pay top dollar for that. Blend though, now blend sounds good. ...
Hi it’s me Alex. Did you know that you can paste images into Claude Code with control-v (instead of command v)? This is big because pasting screenshots is half of how I use the dang AI these days. Lemme tell ya. Mac (macOS) Use Ctrl+V (not Command+V). This lets you paste screenshots or copied images directly into Claude Code blocks. Windows (PC) Use Alt+V (per recent updates). Works the same way: paste screenshots from your clipboard into Claude Code. Linux / WSL Caveat Some users report image paste doesn’t always work in terminal environments. If that’s you, you may need to fall back on drag-and-drop or file upload until it’s patched. ...
I wrote this at Sept 28 at 4:04am I don’t know how else to put it. Today, this morning (Sept 28), just now, at 4:04am, I cut my journaling into my little notebook with my little pencil short - I cut it short so I could get on and write into my big computer with my big keyboard the big idea I had about the word blend. But when I got onto the computer, this vegas strip with its bright lights and flashing distractions all hand crafted and premium made for me truly, exactly as I left it last night, I forgot all about blend. ...
When thinking about mastery, for myself, there seem to be two frames: How do I define what it means to strive for learning, for mastery? How well am I following that rubric / framework for any given essay? I think I need to figure out #1 first, or at least have some sense of it, in order to give it a whirl. But I also need to not be too prescriptive. Who knows what’ll happen when I write. ...
I’ve been thinking a lot about it, this idea, forgiveness. That might be all I have on it right now, which raises a meta question for the blog - is that enough to publish? To which I’d ask myself - what’s the point of the blog? Is it mostly for others? Or mostly for me? And then I’d of course realize, as I am, that the same question can be asked about forgiveness itself. ...
Reading more of her this morning and I don’t want to stop. There is a joy in her words, an aliveness, that is contagious. I feel as though she does not want to stop writing, and thus, perhaps, I don’t want to stop reading. The topics vary wildly from why armed forces wear uniforms to the paucity of ‘growth’ as the prevailing metaphor for our entire way of being and doing. No matter the details though, I want to keep reading. ...
I’m reading her book right now, No Time To Spare, and am filled with this familiar feeling of how it feels when you’re reading someone and just feel…seen. Understood, yes, but more than that, like your own way of understanding itself is being reflected back to you. Or, in other words, she’s just smart and I like how her brain moves ideas around, how it thinks and how she shares that thinking with the world. ...