The Dunkin’ Donuts near our house is closed for remodeling. While it does look a little dated, the real reason for the remodel is trying to accommodate the massive volume of DoorDash and other delivery services that flood the location with orders. The physical space needs to be renovated to accommodate a cultural shift toward delivery services.
Spending my evening sitting on the back deck with a glass of bourbon, grilling hamburgers and writing. It’s a little bit cool, but I can’t complain. 🥃🍔💻
Our local minor league team, the Columbia Fireflies announced an alternate identity… the Carolina Grits. This is in addition to their La Copa de la Diversión look, the Chicharrones de Columbia. One alternate is fun… two might be overkill. Minor league teams will do anything to sell merch, though.
After all the upsets yesterday, I was surprised to see my ESPN bracket is in good shape. My entire Elite 8 is intact, I’m at 96.1% among the ESPN brackets and first in my office pool. Not too bad for someone that didn’t watch a lot of men’s basketball this season. 🏀
Liz and I walked a couple miles in the park behind our house. Everything is starting to turn green. The birds are out in force. And the pollen. Springtime in South Carolina.

I’ve gotten back into designing shirts and I’m sharing them on Cotton Bureau. Today’s shirt is a salute to the 3.5 inch floppy disk. As a student, I swear I could fit an entire semester worth of work on one of these.

As a creative person, your job should not be your sole creative outlet. Even if you work at the coolest design firm in the world, you still have clients and deadlines. Maintaining personal creative outlets is a key to remaining creatively fulfilled.
More car manufacturers are showing interest in developing less expensive electric vehicles. This report from Ford caught my eye. I saw an old Ford Ranger on the road the other day and commented that they don’t make small trucks like that any more. A small EV pickup would be a great option to have.
Green beer for St. Pats at Craft and Draft in Irmo, SC. 🍀

The Jobification of Volunteer Work
Almost 20 years ago, I was in San Francisco for my first AIGA Leadership Retreat. AIGA is a national organization for design1 and I was a first-time president for the South Carolina chapter. I’d just finished attending a session on leadership and one of my new friends who’d been a president before pulled me aside and gave me some advice: “This is supposed to be fun. If it stops being fun, ask for help. You are giving up a bunch of your free time and if you aren’t having fun, it’s not worth it.”
I’ve been thinking about that advice a lot lately and I’ve come to a realization. Our volunteer “opportunities” have become unpaid part-time jobs. (Maybe they always were…) We are saddled with job descriptions and expectations. We dedicate our time and energy to a cause because we believe in it, but we manage volunteer...