My digital garden is a junk drawer
I ve somehow managed to post the song in my head when I wake up, also known around here as Wake Up Songs , for three years! And like 2024 and 2023 , I m also keeping the streak alive of posting uninteresting tidbits about this year s songs. I kicked off 2025 with Bad Man by Katy Kirby and ended with Operate by ASTR. My unconscious enjoyed a lot of Wet Leg, Kate Bush and New Order. All in all there…
July 1, 1995. The Lady and I drove through Brooklyn while Funkytown by Lipps, Inc . blasted in the U-Haul on route to our final destination, Long Island City, Queens. The plan was to stay for a month or two with friends from grad school in their giant dirty commercially zoned artist loft, and then find our own place (or places, we weren t planning on living together!). As it turned out, we took…
It s been awhile since I ve made a random post. In the blur of busyness I had a funny involuntary memory. I made a cryptic note about it in the Junk Drawer equivalent of my running notes and promptly forgot to post about it. Now, weeks later, I can t remember what, if anything, prompted it, so please enjoy an extra dose of random. Way, way back in the glorious days of art school (the 90 s) I could…
Not to jinx it, but it I ve managed to keep up with posting Wake Up Songs , so like last year , I will now share a bunch of uninteresting tidbits about this year s songs that were in my head when I woke up. I kicked off 2024 with Instant Crush by Daft Punk and Julian Casablancas and ended with Let the Lights On by Sorry. My unconscious enjoyed a lot of Kate Bush, Wet Leg, and Momma. All in all…
Just like in previous years, here s one sentence about everything I watched in 2024 ( 2022 , 2023 ). Despite letting most digital things slide in 2024, I managed to keep up with TV Blurbs , and even managed to rework the entire section . For better or worse, I ll now be able to link to link to available Blurbs, which admittedly are mostly cryptic half-formed thoughts. Much like these descriptions!…
I wasn t paying attention again, and just like last year I missed the Junkiversary of this site. This time by two months. Admittedly, I ve had a lot going on . Despite the not great year, I ve managed to keep up with TV Blurbs and Wake Up Songs , and even did some blurb tidying to add organization to my random missives about shows I m watching. Keeping the trend going, here are some stats about…
Things have been quiet around here, at the web dev site , and over at Mastodon . Not that anyone has been wondering what s going on with me, but if you have, here s an update. Dear friends of the Junk Drawer, this has not been a great year. I m starting to feel more like crawling out from my under rock, at least enough to post boring thoughts about the Olympics. So it feels like a good time post a…
I ve been feeling uninspired and moderately guilty about not finding something new to post at Pixelfed . Part of it is me lazing around the apartment because it s cold outside. I ve also been using my Brain Power for stuff at work, which doesn t help with the apartment lazing. I decided to look at my page to see if that would prompt some ideas or direction. I do have a lot of stuff queued up from…
Last spring when I added TV Blurbs , my aim was to get them on the site and worry about improving the organization later . That day has finally arrived! The most recent blurbs are still on the homepage , and there s still a landing page for the section , but now each show or film has its own page. I ll probably write about the process of setting it up over at the web dev site (it uses Airtable if…
In 2023 I added the Wake Up Song section . Every morning I record whatever song is in my head when I wake up. I don t have hard and fast rules, but generally the song has be in my head right when I wake up or within in a few minutes of waking up. If there s a mash-up of multiple songs with no clear winner I don t record either, or multiples. I also don t record sequential repeats. If I wake up…
Last year I wrote one sentence about everything I watched in 2022 . I enjoyed writing and re-reading last year s so I guess it s a Junk Drawer tradition now. The original post has a bit of information about my viewing habits in general as context for this list. It took a few more months to launch the TV Blurbs section , but the idea is the same. Blurby thoughts about what I watch, which is mostly…
Seeing a couple of funny anecdotes of using Christmas or birthdays as a way to manage kid behavior reminded me of something similar my Grandma did when I was a kid. Unfortunately I m very picky eater, and as a child I was a stubborn picky eater. I would sit in front of the plate for hours and not eat if necessary. My Grandma made a very dry roast beef. I would eat it, but I never really looked…
I ve been a fan Michelle Barker s writing for a few years. The first thing that made me understand CSS grid was her 2019 speaker deck Building Complex Layouts with CSS Grid . I ve learned a lot reading her posts since then. She also posts on various aspects of web sustainability , and a recent post touched on something we try to practice here at the Junk Drawer. My iPhone 8 is still going, four…
I used to be clever. As proof I offer this impromptu Halloween triptych, originally posted over a six day period at Instagram in 2018. When you get to the party just a little too early. Original post at Instagram . When your friend finally gets to the party but it’s too late. Original post at Instagram . When it turns into an after party and you just want to go home. Original post at Instagram .…
I had a big, weird, discombobulated dream last night. I remember one clearly part though. Dreamlog: 2023-09-19 The first part of the dream is vague, if I remember more of it I ll come back and update. Part of it was that I was trying to help my friend Chris, but I was stuck on a door (??) and then my friend Jessica came up with a clever fix for the situation. Then it was time for me to leave, this…
The other day The Lady and I were joking that the pets think of her as The Treat Bitch and/or The Brushing Bitch. This brought back a funny memory from a long ago job. In the late 90 s and early 00 s I worked at MTV Interactive. I led a team of front-end developers, then referred to as client-side developers. My title was Director of Development. Several times in big meetings where introductions…
Well look at that. This site has been up for a year! One year and one month to be exact. I only noticed because I shared a post I wrote last year, Bittersweet day , on the date that was bittersweet. Even then it took me a couple of days to realize the site had been up for a year. I ve been a little busy with Hot HTML Summer over at the web dev site this month and didn t notice. Like all new…
On my big list of potential posts or reoccurring features I have an item noted as LOL dream file . Over the past year or so I ve accumulated several pithy write-ups of ridiculous dreams and put them in file for future use. The day has come for this idea! Thanks to a ridiculous dream, or part of a dream(?), that I had last night I m going to kick off the Dream Log series . That sounds a lot more…
It s finally happened, I have a Necropost ! Or Retropost as I ve settled on, at least for now. What s a Retropost? It s a post or writing that was originally posted elsewhere, or written prior to having somewhere to post. Our inaugural Retropost was originally posted on Instagram in June of 2020 . It recounts a pet-related poignant moment that has since turned into an annual tradition. It s the…
It s been just over a month since I added TV Blurbs , Wake Up Songs and the latest from Pixelfed, and things have been moving along nicely. In that time I ve added 26 blurbs, 20 songs, 6 photos, and no blog posts. Whoops! Having a new outlet for blurbs has been a nice, lightweight way to write. I ve made some notes for blog posts, but haven t had the chance, or the inspiration, to work on them.…
After failing to deliver on my threat of unearthing old writing , at least for the time being, I ve added some new stuff around here. In February I mentioned a couple of ideas for Junk Drawer fodder over at the web dev site . After a few weekends of fiddling I ve finally got it in decent shape. And, I added something else that I thought of since then. Latest from Pixelfed This addition was the…
This morning I was scrolling through my RSS reader, begrudgingly getting ready to start my day, when I happened on an interesting post by Terence Eden. A blog isn t an immutable chain of events. There s nothing to stop us travelling in time. When I go digital sperlunking though my history, I often find interesting things I wrote before I blogged. So I bring these back from the dead and publish…
The Super Bowl will always be one of my fond gay memories. And for more than one reason. The first time I kissed a girl, my then Secret High School Girlfriend (SHSGF), was on Super Bowl night. I asked my Mom if I could go to her house to watch the Super Bowl, and she hesitantly said yes. She was not fond of SHSGF and suspected something was going on between us . Mom: Are you and SHSGF and gay? .…
The blogging momentum I had earlier in the month was rudely interrupted by a bout of Covid. My first, and hopefully my last. I suspect I picked it up in the hallway of my walk-up building. I don t socialize, go to restaurants, shows or things in general. And when I do to go a bodega or the laundromat I wear a mask. The only time I don t wear a mask is dog walking, which means I m not wearing a…
In my haste to publish a year-in-review post I forgot to add something that brought me a lot of joy. In fact, if I had to pick the thing that made me the happiest in 2022, this would be it. Our reactive dog made a dog friend. Some backstory Frieda, our sweet rescue Chihuahua mix, is the most loving dog I ve ever known. She s also leash reactive. Leash reactivity is what it sounds like, and no…
Most of you smarty pants types share your highfalutin Books I read or Films I watched lists. Here at the Junk Drawer we re out and proud TV watchers, there s no shame in our series watching game! Kidding aside, there is no shortage of good crime drama series, especially non-American crime drama, my preferred viewing genre. I keep an Airtable base with notes about what I ve watched. It started…
Every New Year s Eve I m reminded of a phone call I had with my Dad. It was early in the evening on NYE in the mid 90 s. Me : Hey, happy early new year! What s going on over there? Dad (laughs): Not much, we re watching TV, the kids are downstairs and we got a crank phone call. Me (laughs): Oh yeah? Dad : It was great, it was a couple of kids, they whispered fuck you giggled and hung up. Happy New…
I suppose it s a good practice to review what has come to pass Our existence on Earth is a puzzle. Carmela Soprano Rummaging through the drawer The biggest item around these parts is this site, launched in July of 2022 . I ve published 17 posts since then, including this one (and now 18 with a last minute entry !). The five most visited posts were: Indie inspiration Packing tape to the rescue…
Now that The Lady is enjoying The Sopranos Biennial I want to take a moment to brag about share one of my prize possessions. My Sopranos prop sale vintage wood lacquered tiger plaque. The final episode of The Sopranos aired on June 10, 2007. Not long after a giant prop sale was announced. At the time I was working only a few blocks from the location. On the first day several colleagues and I…
Apparently I have a new tradition of watching a show s finale without watching the entire show. Everyone I ve mentioned this to has reacted the same, stunned and confused. Won t you regret it? What if you want to watch the entire show later?? Trust me, I won t. As much as I m wracked with doubt in other areas of my life, I know when I m not going to watch a show or film. I don t think this should…
There s a part of me that would like to start a TV blog. Not so much reviews, but thoughts, observations, etc. I always think I m going to sit down and write my thoughts after I watch an episode or a show. Turns out I like to think about a show after I ve watched it more than I like I to write about it. The Lady and I have different viewing habits, and don t watch things together. She s much more…
Usually my neighborhood has a go big or go home holiday decoration vibe, and Halloween is no exception. This year has been a bit subdued though. Apparently the crypt-keepers of a nearby legendary Halloween house have moved, shifting the cosmic Halloween decoration balance towards the more understated. Still, there s no shortage of funny little installations here and there. Cobwebs and hanging…
Not much going on here at the old Junk Drawer as I ve been busy elsewhere. I finally finished Engrenages a couple of weeks ago (started in mid-July!). It did not disappoint, and I m glad I got to watch it end-to-end. Hoping to write a post about it . Over at the web dev site I wrote a technical post about using logical properties on this site, if you re interested in that sort of thing. Next week…
Now that the weather is tolerable I m out and about with more regularity. Please enjoy the scenery from a few recent constitutionals. We recycle everything here. And you thought you had a hard time with alternate side parking. Special delivery? Outdoor space can double as storage. The end of the month in New York City is a great time to find stuff on the street. Every month people are moving in or…
I admire a nice labor of love. It s always a joy to behold something that someone has put a lot of time and effort into. a labor voluntarily undertaken or performed without consideration of any benefit or reward Merriam-Webster I follow several sites and accounts that are labors of love. Quite a few of them focus on a local topic, something particular about a specific location. Since I live in New…
Over the holidays last year I had a minor health scare … I was walking the dog when I started to notice some flashing in one of my eyes. There was a lot going on, and it was windy, so I didn’t think too much of it. Once I got home and sat in front of the computer I was greeted by an onslaught of eye floaters. There were so many that it was difficult to see. It was a bit terrifying. Me at the Web…
Earlier in the week my Mom sent an email with her usual innocuous subject Hi . Instead of an update about her bingo results, or the gossip at her assisted living facility, the email read Was just looking around Facebook and found this picture of you . Yikes. The photo was from around 1987 in Ye Olde College days. I had a pretty good idea of who posted it, but inquired further. After a bit of back…
The brutal heat that s seemed to go on for months finally subsided enough to resume a semblance of my daily constitutional, otherwise known as a walk. My current neighborhood is mostly residential with a fair amount of greenery and a great park nearby. People make good use of their little green spaces with all kinds of plantings and the occasional funny decor choice . There s also your typical New…
I watch a lot of TV. Not much of it is American. And mostly I watch crime drama. There s no shortage of crime drama series from countries other than America. There are a few classics of the genre on my watch list that until recently were not available in the U.S., Engrenages /Spiral (France) is one of them. Other genre urtexts now on the watch list include Bron / Broen /The Bridge (Sweden/Denmark)…
Three years ago today we said goodbye to our beloved dog Rulo after a six month battle with lymphoma. Rulo a few days before we said goodbye. I don t have the time or emotional wherewithal to give Rulo the introduction he deserves, but he was a sweet, funny Chiweenie boy who brought us much joy. In early February of that year he was diagnosed and started treatment. He went into remission for a…
When I was thinking about what to do with this site I spent some time looking around the IndieWeb Webring . I d pick a site and then use the Webring link to randomly move to the next site. You can also view it as a directory listing . You can also explore sites not in the Webring with this handy site . IndieWeb, in case you re not familiar, is the idea that you should own everything you post on…
One of the Twitter accounts I enjoy is @WhatIsNewYork . Spend enough time in New York City and you re sure to see some hilarious things. The account has a regular Friday Photo Dump that s usually good for a chuckle. This week s included a photo that reminded me of one of my finest there I fixed it DIY moments. The image of interest is on the lower left and can be seen here in all its glory . Laugh…
Now that I ve got the site set up, all those little notes and ideas I had don t seem that interesting. Uh oh! I ll chalk it up to needing to get in the flow and start with something easy pet pictures. Our Home Zoo has had many members through the years. We re currently at three, our highest attendance record was eight. Perhaps that s a story for another day. Here s a little bit about each of the…
Blogging, apparently it s going around ! Recently I ve found myself wanting to do some occasional blog-like posting, but I didn t feel like I had the right place for it. I do have a personal site that s focused on web development. In an annual wrap-up post I mentioned this I’m also going to try to write more observations and thoughts, and maybe even some posts that aren’t about the Web. Me, hoping…