My daughter has gotten us all into F1. Jill’s become a hard core McLaren fan. My wife seems to have settled into cheering for George Russell and Mercedes. Ryan is a Max Verstappen fan.

As for me, I tend to be pulling for McLaren. Which causes a problem. Their color is papaya… which is orange.

I don’t do orange. As a South Carolina Gamecocks fan, orange is the color of all of our rivals… from in-state Clemson to SEC foes Florida and Tennessee. (And I’m not just a SC fan, I’m also manage the schools visual branding.)

Jill’s convinced herself that papaya and Clemson orange are different colors. She’s decked out in papaya right now celebrating Lando’s Dutch Grand Prix victory. She’s right – the colors are different – but it’s still tough for me. We’ll see if I come around to McLaren papaya, or if I continue my orange ban.

Looking forward to...

Posts in the “Then” category were originally shared on my “Now” page.

The start to the school year continues. I had my first grad school class of the semester this week. Looking forward to learning more about qualitative methods. Liz starts her Ph.D. class this week and the kids' school is in full swing.

Feels

• Tired. After the summer, getting back into a routine has been tough. Waking up earlier. Going to bed earlier. Longer drive and more traffic. It’s exhausting, but I know it will get better.
• Grateful for some cooler weather. Most summers in Columbia, South Carolina are hot, but this summer has been brutal. I’m looking forward to being able to comfortably hang out on our back deck and enjoy some cooler weather.
• I’m pumped up about the Harris/Walz ticket. Let’s go.

Health

• Did a great job eating healthier this week. Really proud of myself for planning ahead and bringing...
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Posts in the “Then” category were originally shared on my “Now” page.

Liz and the kids are back in school. We moved our oldest into an off-campus apartment. Starting to figure out everyone’s schedules. It’s been a busy week.

Feels

• Our oldest, Norah, moved into her own apartment this week. And while she lived in the residence hall last year, she’s now really out on her own. Proud of her, but it’s always a little bittersweet to watch the kids grow up.
• Back to heading to the coffee shop to work every weekend with my daughter. She has so much AP work to do, that she likes to go to Starbucks to study. I usually have work to do, too. So we go together. I don’t love the stress that comes with the work, but I adore having the time with Jill.
• Continue to be both nervous and excited about the future...
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Posts in the “Then” category were originally shared on my “Now” page.

Reasonably good week. We’re getting our oldest ready to go back to college. I’ve started my plan to be healthier at 50 than I was a 40 — working out a little bit and eating better. Lifestyle change is hard.

Feels

• Had someone be incredibly rude to me at work this week. And it really bothered me for a day or two.
• Tim Walz. My goodness. I didn’t know politicians like this get elected. What a breath of fresh air. I’m all in on bringing joy back. I’m tired of the doom and gloom.
• Work on the Ph.D. will continue soon. A couple of weeks left until classes start. I’m taking one class this semester — a qualitative research class in the College of Education. Will be a bit of a change from my normal comms classwork.

Health

• Started this week...
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Posts in the “Then” category were originally shared on my “Now” page.

I celebrated my 49th birthday this week. My kids have an annual tradition where they bake a cake for me, usually with a high degree of difficulty. This year, they attempted to make a Borg Cube from Star Trek.

As I turn 49, I’m looking ahead to 50 next year. I’ve decided that I want to be healthier at 50 than I was at 40. I need to loose weight, eat better and be more active. Basically a lifestyle change. I’m going to add a health category to my weekly Now page updates.

Still wondering if I should post these on Sundays instead of Saturdays.

Feels

• Uncomfortable. The air conditioning went out in my office this week. That’s never something you want in Columbia in the summer.
• One of my friends is leaving for a job at another school. I’m bummed,...
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Posts in the “Then” category were originally shared on my “Now” page.

Just had a relaxing week of vacation with just my wife and me. The kids were at summer camp for the week so we decided to celebrate our 25th anniversary early up near Asheville. We had a great time, but it’s going to be hard going back to reality on Monday.

Feels

• I feel refreshed. I really needed to take some time off from work and reset. With the leadership change at work, I think I needed the break more than I realized.
• I’m worried about the state of our nation, but I’m energized by the change in the presidential race. Biden stepping down, and Harris consolidating support has me encouraged.
• Being open to changes. The camp our kids went to is also the camp that I attended and worked at. They changed pick up this year, ending on Friday...
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Choosing our words carefully

I wrote a blog post in early 2019, trying to make a distinction between “open” social platforms that thrived on interoperability compared to “captive” networks that trap you in their system. As an aside, I also noted the difference between “indie” social and “open” social and added this footnote:

I recognize that the concept of an open social network from a large corporation might seem absurd in today’s environment, but you never know.

Five years later, we have Threads, a somewhat open social network from a large corporation with a track record of building toxic captive networks. The word “open” in this case is distinct from “indie,” since no one can ever claim that Meta is a small independent company. But in the case of Threads, they do seem to be moving toward being more open.¹

I think it’s important to make a distinction,...

Posts in the “Then” category were originally shared on my “Now” page.

Weird week. I got randomly sick for an evening. I woke up at 2 AM with a fever that only lasted a couple of hours and no other symptoms. So strange. Whenever I get sick now, I worry about COVID and getting others sick, but I’m pretty sure this was just a random virus.

Feels

• I’m excited about upcoming vacation. It’s been too long since I took a significant amount of time off.
• I’m worried about the state of our nation.
• Grateful for some rain. (We needed it.)

Projects

• I published two longer blog posts this week. One about the Star Trek episodes I tend to play in the background, and a second post about the whole Sticker Mule debacle.
• More progress on fonts. I inched closer to releasing my new typefaces. Just some refinements to make sure everything passes...
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