Internet home of Michael D. Ivey since '99
I finished 5 books in January 2025, which is a little less than average for the year but feels like a good start, since I normally binge a bunch during summer. The first was Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner - finished it on New Year’s Day. I guess if everyone started the year with lesbian soccer smut the world would be pretty different. This was cute and fun and very graphic. When I started branching…
When Eleanor was around 5, when we lived in Bay Minette, Emily found a cat in the woods. She fed him and got to know him, and we decided to catch him and take him to the vet. We got his ear tipped in case we never saw him again. Dr. Biles took off a lot, it made him look like a pirate. We did see him again, though. He stayed around the house, and was our outside cat. We named him Tyler. He brought…
Like everyone else, I’ve spent this week watching the LA fires, especially Palisades Fire as it encroaches on Santa Monica. I’ve been going to Santa Monica and Los Angeles a few times a year for 13 years now, with a break for COVID. It’s where I’ve spent more time than anywhere other than home. I love Santa Monica, and mostly like the rest of LA. It’s been awful to watch places I love be on the…
There’s no way this lasts, but here’s some things that caught my eye: Thoughts on heuristics for writing software - I am especially intrigued by starting over if you didn’t finish in one day. I strongly advocate for task sizes that can be done in a single day. “This is not your last job” reminds you to be growing and continue learning new skills. Mostly saving this to find it later, Alignment >…
Happy New Year. Here’s to actually writing in 2025. My plan is to collect the various links I send to people or toss on socials, and post them here in a link blog style post when I think about it. If you look at how I started , that’s pretty much how my original blogging worked - a long running daily commentary of thoughts and links. Interesting post on RPS about why RPGs default to violence . I…
The Ivey Family did our usual “go get Christmas books” journey today, but we mixed it up a little, and walked. It’s been our dream to walk to the bookstore for years. When we first moved to Tuscumbia, we got to do it a few times, but COVID killed Coldwater Books. I got the 4th book in the Skyward series, Defiant , by Brandon Sanderson . It’s time to pour some eggnog, grab a blanket, and read until…
Since I last posted, I’ve been working on a pair of socks. I started in May, and finished the first one in July. 5 months later, I have finally finished the second one. Part of the reason it took so long to finish, and that I didn’t post anything for months, is that we moved to Connecticut in September. It’s a little weird having so many neighbors, and I’m not sure how we’ll do with a lot of snow,…
The past few months have seen me spending weekends working on a new knitting project, and I finished it last weekend. I finally got it blocked and ready for pictures this week. I present: a green hat. This was several firsts: first time using a pattern, first time using double pointed needles and circulars, first time decreasing. There’s at least 2 little mistakes in there, but I’m not sure I can…
Lady Bird died in her sleep last night. She was 19. My biggest wish for her was that she could go at home, on her terms, and I’m very thankful that she was able to. If you had told me 16 years ago she’d be the last survivor of our 6 original cats I would have thought it was impossible. As a kitten, she was so weak we had to spoon-feed her yogurt to try and get her digestion working. A few years…
I didn’t post about this while I was making it because it was a present for my mom, and then I didn’t post it after I gave it to her because it was really cold here and our pipes were off, and then the hot water pipe burst, and then William Henry got worse … But I made a scarf. It’s using some older yarn Emily had, Lion Brand Landscapes. She says it’s discontinued. It’s 14 stitches across on US…