The secret to a productive afternoon

The snow is thin, but the sunsets are solid.

I knew this diner had its shit together the moment I saw the jam bowl.

Always carry the strap, Brian. It’s winter. Just always bring the strap.

I need a system.

If the forecast is lying I will be *quite* displeased.

My kingdom for anyone who can diagnose what’s wrong with my boiler. It only does this very intermittently and smells acrid, like something bad smoldering, when it does so. Thoughts?

Justin, my UPS guy, just came knocking, not because he had a package, but because he’s partway through my first trilogy and the library DOESN’T HAVE THE NEXT BOOK. I was able to hook him up. Made my morning.

More porcupine content

Having seen other people’s houses and how there’s nothing on the counters or the table or the bed, I’m pretty sure entropy is just higher in my house.

Just finished George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo. I generally like his stuff and this was no exception. Found it quite moving, but couldn’t decide by the end whether he hit the hard questions straight on or managed to slide past them. Would definitely recommend!

Baby porcupine

Porcupine

The best thing about Violent Night is that you never learn how or why Santa made the transition from Viking beserker to Santa Claus. Just a wonderful lacuna in the backstory.

Need a little help remembering something. I have a dim memory of a cartoon (coyote and roadrunner) in which a character is riding a cart along railroad tracks and frantically building the tracks ahead as they ride. Anyone have a more specific memory of what this might be?

Hey folks. Just got a bunch of Chinese-language author copies of The Emperor’s Blades. If you live in the US and you want a free copy, let me know!

Rachel Podger is my favorite violinist and Tutta Sola, her most recent recording, is just wonderful.

Why does every single quest in life have like six subquests?

I haven’t been hooked into a video game in years, but Chants of Sennaar is excellent. All about decoding language. My son and I are loving it. Sorry for the shitty pic!

State of MA: We need your step-mother’s death certificate. Office of Vital Records: You need MA to give you *proof* that they need the death certificate. MA: You need to file the claim without the certificate. Then we will tell you you did it wrong. *Then* we tell you we need the certificate.

Do y’all think it would be cathartic to read some Kafka while dealing with the administration of my deceased brother’s records and my still-alive but dementia-riddled mother’s affairs, or maybe not?

Great day on the mountain with the kid today!

F plotting the nav for our adventure race…