I want to go to the ESRI UC and then just do all the mixers afterwards. Balboa Park with nerds is kinda the best.

I've got a bit of work to do still but this weekend the Map Center is functional and open for business AT ITS NEW LOCATION (down the hall from its old one)

I visited @mapcenter.com and all I got was this amazing map of Atlantic subsea cables from 1919 which tells the story of human connectivity and exploration.

Inviting a dozen men over to work as a team to move heavy objects and eat pizza is Anti-Male Loneliness Epidemic praxis

I have thought a lot about how weird it is to receive donations of money or time for a for-profit entity like The Map Center and I wrote a little on the subject for the business psychos at LinkedIn. Asking for help is hard. I'll write more later. Here's a taste: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

I'll be getting a couple of pizzas and I was thinking some Indian food takeout from Not Just Snacks on Hope St. I'm borrowing a pallet loader from Jordan's Jungle. We're gonna get the heavy stuff taken care of as a priority but if you just want to sit and alphabetize stuff we can accommodate that.

Tomorrow night I'm having a moving party- some friends of mine are helping me move some big, heavy, flat files and furniture down the hall to the new space. If you want to meet some other nerds and lift heavy stuff, please join us! Tuesday May 26, 5PM-9PM. There will be food! Thank you!

the world needs more guinea pig cartographers

Sweet ass ribbon map of the Deschutes River by @aaronkoelker.bsky.social. www.currentflowstate.com/announcing-t...

Finally meeting @eileenleft.bsky.social at The Map Center irl is proof that the Internet is still good for things. It doesn't have to be all doom scrolling and ads. We can connect online if we're smart about it.

Got a call yesterday from the widow of a cartographer. She told me what a curious and kind soul he was. Worked with Arthur Robinson at UW. He'd wanted to come visit the Map Center but ran out of time I guess. She's donating his library of map books to the Map Center. A fitting home I think.

I'm having a work night on Tuesday the 26th from 5-9 so if you wanna roll up yer sleeves and lift heavy stuff I'll have food available

Maps are comics

Just got a sneak peak of @mapcenter.com 's new space and it's gorgeous and everyone should spend all of their disposable income on maps so he can afford the rent

My favorite role models are those mysterious people who spent their entire lives building elaborate projects in their backyards at tremendous personal expense for no apparent reason and I think that's evident in most of my life decisions.

Cars are supposed to help us get around but do you know how many adamant car users I've met who only eat at strip mall chains because they don't know how to parallel park? You'd think that folks committed to cars would feel that way because they were actually able to access things they wanted!

The one thing that Rhode Island does inarguably better than California is summer rain. It really only rains in the winter in California so it's always a cold and unpleasant drizzle. Give me a refreshing warm rain after a hot muggy day in New England. Lovely.

Proud moment: I just landed a speaking gig at Yale.

Win this @cleverhood.bsky.social hat! Stop by TOMORROW, May 20 from 6 - 9am on the pedestrian bridge (across from the CIC) in Providence as we celebrate #BikeToWork month. Can't make it? Log your bike rides in the @drivelessri.bsky.social app for an extra chance to win! Details: RIPTA.com/BikeToWork

Map Center 2.0 loading....

It's frustrating when I hear customers tell me that they "have been meaning to come ever since I saw that thing (that came out multiple years ago)." Especially when they live close by. Like, what was it that kept you? And what keeps me from my own long list? Why are we like this?

I dreamt there was a restaurant in the Air and Space Museum and I ordered spaghetti with a red Mariner sauce and I felt like my subconscious was trying too hard. "Get it? get it? like the Mars-" YES I GET IT. IT JUST WASNT A GOOD JOKE A restaurant in the museum though. I stand by that.

Geopackage, GeoTiff, .csv, .SHP, .LAS, .gdb

My friend is teaching his college aged kids how to cook for themselves by leaving a bag of frozen meatballs and other ingredients in the fridge and assigning them dinner duty. This is the modern equivalent of bringing a wounded gazelle to the den for the cubs.

Thanks to Wayne Miller at Salve Regina University for doing a little write up on The Map Center for Ocean State Stories. Bless him for slicing through all of my metaphysical bullshit to get to something worth reading. www.oceanstatestories.org/new-map-cent...

I'd be happy to teach the extra credit seminar which would be the geography of recreational scuba diving.

Loads of people liked our sand tray map pic from Armageddon Auckland—so today we filmed an actual play video so you can see it in action. The players are archeologists exploring an Egyptian tomb. The map gets slowly revealed by brushing the sand away... Such a fun way to introduce Call of Cthulhu!

Despite all of my flaws, I don't see much of myself in any of these "Clueless men are the reason why they're single!" articles. That should make me feel better but it doesn't. The competition is this bad and I'm still single? Ouch.

I decided that an ebike would improve my mood this summer so I put a deposit down at my local ebike dealer. Originally I thought I was gonna get the Tern NBD (belt drive! it's on sale!) but now I'm thinking the Tern Quick Haul would be more fun and that's also important to me. Thoughts?

Did you know that Pawtucket, Rhode Island was once Pawtucket, Masachusetts, as this 1858 map by Henry F. Walling of Bristol County Massachusetts depicts? See the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 45 U.S. 591 (1846) for more!

Boston in 50 Maps comes out in a week! Here’s a quick glimpse inside the pages to hopefully add a little brightness to your day, especially if you have a nostalgic fondness for McCloskey's book! (I added a couple bonus pictures of the book/ducklings) More info: beltpublishing.com/products/bos...

Sergio Garcia’s Golf Bag Ken shared this pic of Sergio Garcia's new golf bag for the US Masters

On May 15 I'm going to get the keys to The Map Center's new space. It's going to be bigger, brighter and better able to handle events, classes and workshops. It may even look a little less like a bomb went off in it than it currently does.... More importantly it'll be all mine. No sharing required.

Everyone casually knows stuff that isn't true. (Your tongue has taste-specific regions!) Whatever. No biggie. It's when people invest in and systematize bullshit that I lose the ability to even. Anyway. Today I let my first astralcartographer IRL.

I don't have the key to the new space yet but I'm starting to scheme how I'm going to arrange everything. I need to be visible so folks don't think I'm sneaking up on them when I say 'hi' from behind my desk. And I kinda need to watch folks. What's a friendlier version of a panopticon?

Yesterday I told someone I'd done a PhD in geography and they said "so you're a Marxist?" in case anyone was wondering about the field's brand recognition

A cool thing about owning a bookstore is that getting high on your own supply is strongly encouraged as market research.

'GEOGRAPHER, n. A chap who can tell you offhand the difference between the outside of the world and the inside.' - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911

Me: I found the quadrangle you wanted! Have a look! Customer: Oh. The thing I'm interested is way up here in a corner. Is there a way to like, crop out the parts I don't want? Me: A pair of scissors. Customer: ..... oh, you're not joking.

I've never wanted to do a second season of Measure for Measure more

Tomorrow morning I'm locking in a new location for The Map Center- it's just down the hall from my current location. It'll be bigger, cooler and spacious enough for classes. San Francisco and Pittsburgh are still on the table but being better in Pawtucket comes first.

brb updating my tagline to "Gallery of Wonders"

One of my customers, Miya Frohmeier, took a picture of me with her vintage camera. She just got the film developed.

This pre-order sale won’t last much longer as pub date approaches for @awoodruff.bsky.social‘s gorgeous book

Who is a cartographer doing really good maps of the Caribbean? My selection for the Dominican Republic is embarrassing given where my so many of my neighbors are from.

What? So now I need like a whole shelf dedicated to Kenneth Field's work?

Our project, MappingMay4.kent.edu , created for the 50th anniversary in 2020, is here. It places small stories from the oral histories on a map of Kent from 1970, showing a variety of voices and perspectives with the goal promoting discussion & reconciliation. @spaceforpeace.bsky.social

I went to a RI small business meetup at a cigar bar a couple summers ago and it was the most cringe-inducing display of insecure masculinity I've ever seen. Every aspect of it was intolerable. But at least I got some great advice like: "The key to making more money is higher revenue."

The number of customers I've had point out that I'm under charging for something is evidence that 1. I could really dial in several aspects of my business so I don't make so many errors 2. The old adage "readers don't steal and thieves don't read" also applies to map people

@aasmith.bsky.social Couple of Portugese guys who have a cottage on Prudence Island just bought a nice print of your map of their island. They were amazed by how many details you got right! Happy customers!