In case you hadn't noticed, @sofurry.com is back. Glad to see it!

Why I love my local taproom: - Short visit turned into 3 hours of fun chatting with multiple customers & bartenders - Great beers all around - Talking shop with brewer from brewery down the street - 6-month-old black lab pup named "Bernie" - A random person picked up my tab (gotta pay that forward!)

I’m getting a preview of next weekend with a Boston import. Quite tasty!

I just made some chicken salad for the next few days with sous vide chicken breast, pecans, celery, Granny Smith apple, red onion, parsley, mayo (50/50 Kewpie/Hellman's), Dijon mustard, and white wine vinegar. The recipe writers call it "Easy Chicken Salad". "Easy" if you have a sous chef, maybe...

After a month of leaving Spotify for Deezer, I can say I'm pretty happy with it. Spotify has a better interface, but I'm liking Deezer's music discovery features more. I'm not sure it's better, but it is different. Deezer does have some odd gaps in their catalog, but nothing too notable.

In Feb 2016, I weighed 284 lbs. After a 4-month, medically-supervised weight loss program, I got down to 231. The last 10 years has been really fuckin' rough, which leads me to weighing 273 lbs now. I'm not upset, but the upward trend needs to stop now. Portion control and exercise will be the key.

THIS HOUSE HAS GOOD BONES

Check out awesome Dawson, who let himself out of both a cage and a locked shelter door so he could return home to his person. 30-second video in article shows escape highlights. Good boy. www.msn.com/en-us/pets-a...

Tired city

If you’re in Minneapolis and need a place to just BE right now, Big Hill Books and Birchbark Books & Native Arts are both open and ready to welcome you with open arms.

Gotta love that (on my work laptop) I get a big splash dialogue box asking me to "chat with Copilot" when I open any Office program. Every. Single. Time. And turning off Copilot has been disabled by my employer >.<

If anyone is planning to go to the Chicago Cider Summit at Navy Pier on Jan 31 (www.cidersummitnw.com/chicago/), hit me up! Think something like a beer festival, but with cider. We have a small furry contingent that will be there, going in early with VIP tickets.

Also, a little-known Easter egg that since at least 2009, @furfest.org Publications has slipped a fun little phrase on the back of each keycard, sometimes theme-related, sometimes pop-culture-related. This was started by Takaza J. Wolf, and carried on by Rifka & Reno, and now by Artyskox.

Hey, who wants some 17-year-old furry art? I was going through some old convention mementos can came across a complete set of the hotel keycards that @furfest.org made to celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2009, with art by Guests of Honor from the previous ten years (credits in alt text).

All of those road trips have paid off, I suppose. tenpages.github.io/us-level/us....

It appears that the stars have aligned and I will be attending Anthro New England next week! If you'll be there, I'd love to say hi while at a con where I'm not going 100 mph the entire time 🙂

Ah, I see it's the time of year for me to put the RSS feed for The Verge into timeout. (They're basically just repeating press releases from CES all week.)

Trying to mentally downshift to the workweek routine and I think my mental clutch may be slipping.

The new Black Mirror episode was pretty weird

It's been quite a while since I made an ill-advised, last-minute trip to a con. The cons were lovely but I had a terrible time because I didn't plan ahead to spend time with friends, and everyone I knew was working the cons. Unrelated to this: I wonder how things are in Boston this time of year?

It's been a productive day so far. Caught up on 3 weeks of work email (so I don't get ambushed on Monday), then went out for brunch, stopped by a brewery, and drove out in the rural farmlands a bit. Now: Laundry! And maybe a bit of housecleaning as well. Exciting times at Casa di Canine 🙂

2025 was a rough year for me, personally. Losing Nora was rough, but losing my beautiful boy Charlie was devastating. I'm still grieving, to be honest. That's gonna take a while. There were a lot of stressors from convention work as well, though I'm satisfied with how things came together (1/n)

I spent NYE with @boredomallergy.bsky.social and @legonnare.bsky.social visiting @mwwaff.bsky.social. It was so much fun, and of course I got so much dog time with Maynard (border collie), Ranger (Malinois/GShep), and Po (St. Bernard/Bernese Mt Dog). Really an excellent evening all around.

Life is short. Be silly!

orcas have the chance to do the funniest thing

@furtech.bsky.social Thank you for your lovely card! I am indeed on BlueSky 🙂

There's no Wuffmeet this year, however @boredomallergy.bsky.social and @legonnare.bsky.social have come down from Minneapolis to hang out for a week of great company, drink, and food. Tonight's (homemade) dinner was a joint effort and was both thoroughly enjoyable and delicious! (recipes to follow)

Yesterday I received a wonderful and thoughtful gift from @geemo.bsky.social. He commissioned an artist (@amanda.a.anthony_art on Instagram) to create this beautiful painting of Charlie. I love it! It's going in a special place in my office where I will see it often. Thank you so much, Geemo!

Low-key fretting about being That Friend That Clicks 'Like' On Everything You Post but at the same time wanting to provide support and encouragement where I can. Social media is weird, y'all.

I'm pretty sure this is the same jackhole. You love to see it 😀 www.lakemchenryscanner.com/2025/12/26/a... (I'm attaching the pic that didn't show up in the original post, though it doesn't show said jackhole.)

Home safe, unpacked, and everything has been put away. I hereby declare the Portland trip a success!

Fun fact: all flights to O’Hare actually land at Midway. This is why it takes 40 minutes to taxi to your gate.

Hi Chicago. I’m happy to be back home.

@nyxsiern.bsky.social Happy birthday!

As for flying on Christmas Day: it’s been pretty much the same as every other day, if only slightly fewer people. The general vibe has been good, at least.

Ok, I can think of worse layovers: Bonus: they have dog agility trials on the TV.

Hello Denver! I’ve got two hours to kill, then it’s back onto a plane to Chicago.

I’m traveling all day today, flying from Portland to Chicago, via Denver. Christmas is a fraught and complicated time for me, so I figured this was probably a good way to spend the day. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas (or very happy Thursday, if appropriate)!

Talking to the bartender at a restaurant near my hotel: Me: “I assume you’re closing early?” Him: “Yeah, but I’m not sure when. We’ve been open since 11 AM and have had 12 customers.” Me: “ Yeaaah. I promise I won’t hang around too long!”

Ok, one more: the Waterfall Garden at the Portland Japanese Garden, featuring some enormous koi. (At the end you can hear one of the docents explaining the symbolism of each part of the garden. She was very good at her job!)

And while I’m posting video clips, a nighttime view of the Portland riverfront from the Burnside bridge, on my bus ride home last night.

One last view out my 12th floor hotel room window before I transfer over to my hotel near the airport, in preparation for tomorrow’s early-morning flight home.

❄️🌲🪾📖 I hope everything goes well for all of you animals who live inside the screen of my phone.

Finishing out my tour of amazing Portland food with a local classic.

Sometimes just hanging out in a nice coffee shop for a couple of hours is just what you need.

I was going to go out and carouse a bit but wound up at a brewery near my hotel instead. It turned out to be an excellent choice! I spent a couple of hours chatting with the bartenders and waitstaff, slagging on rude and ignorant customers, and generally laughing my ass off. Definitely a good night.

This story made me smile a lot and I’d like to share that. (Also I love @kfieldingwrites.bsky.social’s writing and I’m happy to add my support.) It’s set in Portland and I’ve recognized many landmarks during my visit. I’m giving away copies (on Kindle) to the first 3 people who DM me. #mmromance

TIL that Dark Horse Comics is based out of Milwaukie, Oregon. That’s really pretty cool.

How has my morning been? - Rose-pistachio croissant from Nuvrei - Roasted fig latte from Good Coffee - A really excellent beer flight plus an apple/brie/bacon sandwich from pFriem Family Brewing in Milwaukie So pretty darned good!

I-just-missed-my-train-but-at-least-the-city-sights-are-nice selfie.