Recent content on up & to the right
A month ago, eagerly test running my new smoker, I overestimated my abilities, underestimated the darkness, and earned myself some nice food poisoning. As a result, the coffee ritual I have been so faithfully running for three or four years came to an abrupt end. Coffee aggravates the intestines and is a big no-no while trying to get them back to normal, much to my dismay. Since I was still firmly…
This is a follow-up post to Landing in Shanghai. Thanks to Savannah for draft edits. While in Shanghai, I was told a few times Shenzhen is a planned city: car-centric, not walkable at all, completely unlike Shanghai’s dense interconnected streets. I was picturing, and somewhat bracing for an industrial city; pedestrian-unfriendly and unappealing. Shanghai was cold, so I was also expecting…
It all started with a poster: My friend Weiwei invited me to Mahjong Hackhouse, “a space where genuine conversations, ambitious dreams, and shared curiosities can compound into enduring relationships”, with a stated goal of letting attendees “walk away knowing each other, trusting each other”. I couldn’t resist. Damn my mid-December house move with pneumonia, I was…
Mt Sanitas with four inches of fresh snow. Lots of slipping and sliding but my problems seemed smaller after I came back down. a friend recently prompted me with some good questions along the lines of what am I looking for? how do I want to be? my journal entry soon felt like something shareable. what do I want? It’s a good question. Overdue for a think on this.
'after getting through his morning routine of exercising his demons, it was time for Corporal Spacecake to do a little house keeping', seen at First Friday in Boulder CO Maintaining a good relationship with my phone is hard. We just didn’t evolve with a pane of glass mesmerizing us with aesthetic stimuli one second and then triggering our nervous system the way a tiger jumping out from…
Made it up Sanitas ~50 times over the course of the year A few years ago, I wrote a similar post for my 24th birthday (funny enough, 4 days late last time too). It was a nice prompt so I’m trying something similar this year. some learnings & reflections How I feel is a product of many small decisions throughout my day, like what time did I go to bed?
context: a few friends and I are circling around the idea of “Local Community Tech Stacks”: interoperable, somewhat vibe-coded, ideally self-hostable apps to help our communities run. While still fairly nascent, we agreed to start publishing our adventures in this space to record and share our insights for each other and the broader world. Savannah runs something called food exchange…
On Friday July 4 I took a tumble over my handlebars. I’m stable and alright now; it could’ve been much worse. But here’s the full story for your pleasure (or displeasure). Medication station My friend Andrew (check out his Soundcloud) and I had summited Flagstaff Mtn via Chapman Dr. We took the back road to avoid cars because cars are how you get injured. We made great time on…
location: Roosevelt National Forest, CO at Colorado Mountain Club’s Brainard Cabin length of stay: 2 nights party: Gary, Lauren, Ken, and myself weather: "Highs in the 40s and mostly clear with clouds at sun set. Steady barometer." If ever there was a cabin to describe as analog, this would be it. From the first signage as you approach the door to the closing remarks on the check-out report…
2024 Nano Texture Macbook Pro on the left; 2021 Glossy Macbook Pro on the right TLDR: the Nano Texture performs wonderfully anywhere where light used to be a factor and used to force me to shade my screen or avoid the place entirely. I’m less concerned with where I sit indoors. Coffee shops / offices with skylights or intense lighting are much more comfortable Coding and working outside is…
In light of all the interesting times going on around us, I was exploring some possible future scenarios. I don’t know how things will go. There are as many wonderful outcomes possible as there are awful ones. But scrolling back from these futures back to the present day, I seem to land on three distinct actions I can take today. These hopefully nudge the space-time around me in slightly…
artists rendition by openai apologies for not having better photos. My phone was packed away for most of the shore activities and they don’t let you bring underwater cameras while practicing so you don’t drown. Probably a wise choice. Scuba always seemed like something I’d get around to doing someday. Living in Colorado or New York City I had little reason to do so; the warm, fun…
on the Amtrak from Denver to Sacramento When I get to write or read on a screen that’s reflecting the sun back at me instead of needing to be shielded from it, I get a dose of this feeling that this is what all computing could feel like. I want so much more of this in my life. This is a piece of hardware that makes me want to go outside instead of keeping me trapped inside.
note: if images aren’t showing up for you in Brave, try Safari or Chrome :) 3 day backpacking adventure in Indian Peaks Wilderness Projects are like plants, they live and they multiply and they can die without the required care. Choosing what to focus my time and attention on is the biggest challenge; getting it right causes cascading positive results but getting it wrong leaves me…
Top things by category. Thanks Jordan for the inspo. More to come Snacks Gochujang Kettle Brand Chips Jubes, specifically the Lychee flavor Cheetos: Cheddar Jalapeño Talenti Pacific Coast Pistachio Doritos: Spicy Sweet Chili bonus: a Snacks Tier list slideshow I made for a powerpoint party Hikes O-Circut in Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile Top of Yosemite Falls Mariposas Monarcas Santuario el…
when you need to bring big tools in a little car I want to build wilder and more beautiful things with my friends. I’ve been trying to live this philosophy for a while. What does that actually mean though? to build = to continuously be learning with and from those around me, be challenged, and to push myself to discover new places and possibilities. To participate in the process of ideating,…
Hello world. It’s been a busy few months. I got sick about six weeks ago and it finally let up about a week ago; I was coughing an annoying cough and the doctors didn’t know what it is. In typical Jon fashion I was starting a new contract job and went full steam ahead while my body should’ve been recovering, and that’s probably what made it last weeks and weeks. It’s…
A few months ago my friend Eli was sharing his screen and opened a new tab on his browser. Instead of the usual inspirational quote or clock extension, commonly-visited tabs, or my personal pet peeve - recent breaking news articles and photos from disaster zones - his new tab was a map of his internet and most important documents: I was enthralled: it was the most useful thing I’ve ever seen…
Midjourney By the time I got my first computer, connecting to the world wide web was a quiet affair. No longer was it screeching boops and beeps; a process I watched but had only later come to understand as computers talking to each other on the lines we humans built to talk to each other. Now, a simple switch toggled on, and I was in. And how much there was to explore.
Fourth of July Trailhead, Nederland, CO I recently hosted (my first ever) writing workshop on journaling at Burning Man. These are my notes in blog post form - thanks Alex for the idea! The workshop and this post are a spiritual successor to a post from a few years ago. Thanks to Savannah, Nancy, Kristen, and Dave for showing up to my workshop on that beautiful, dusty, windy day.
In the playa, looking west at the city. Hello world. I’m writing this on the heels of a week out in the desert at Burning Man: fully offline and thoroughly dusty. In the days since Savannah and I have returned to Boulder, we’ve been unpacking, cleaning, and de-muddifying all our stuff. Simultaneously I’ve been sorting through my thoughts and experiences, processing everything…
A bit late, but better late than never. A collection of journal excerpts and photos from a wonderful year. I concluded my nomad journey and settled into a new city. Made new friends, fell in love, and built awesome things with incredible friends. Read thoroughly or skim casually; I’m just grateful you’re here and I’m grateful to everyone who made this a beautiful year of…
The last time we played this game, I was astonished at how fun and generative it was. I believe the reasons for that came down to: just enough constraints. we had to split things into content, and metadata. and get it published on a markdown 11ty site. the rest was up to each of us. so we took it in different directions; wherever felt most alive to each of us
6 weeks near Silver Strand Beach, Coronado, CA thanks to Savannah for inspo and reflections Some time ago I wrote about my intentions to live with friends in nature to satisfy my desire for community, access to outdoors, and convenience. I wrote it from my childhood bedroom during quarantine amidst the California summer fires. Partly as a result of that post and some luck, my experiment ran its…
📍 writing indoors from Boulder, CO Chautauqua Park, Boulder, CO We’ve officially entered winter. There’s snow piling up outside, I’m drinking hot chocolate again, and going outdoors is a bit like going into outer space. Though living in New York did expose me to snow, it was urban snow, where the subway never needs to defrost and the heat island effect takes care of much of the…
settled into a year-long lease in Boulder, Colorado thinking about collaboration, therapy, and journaling. Occasionally all at once falling in love with an amazing woman developing experimental social tech primitives with Relational thinking about moving this blog to blot building notes.site for publishing Apple Notes to the open web previous • What’s a now page?
Boulder Valley Ranch, CO written in response to Savannah’s wonderful prompt I’d like to start by trying on “makes” in that prompt instead of “is”. A meaningful life is dynamic, a state to exist in; it is not “achieved” or “found” to be held on to, nor can it be compared or measured – it is practiced and nurtured and welcomed. Day…
A post from the archives, capturing the moment I realized I was ready for a more stable & calm existence, prompting me to start making my way up north to Boulder, CO where I reside now. We are still in negotiation with the insurance company. Lightly edited in the time since. the entire town, as seen from a popular climbing spot Cerro Castillo is a small town sitting on Route 7 in Chile.
Sanitas Valley, Boulder, CO It’s been 19 months since I last took mushrooms on a hike with a friend in San Diego, CA. Apart from an acid trip, I haven’t returned to that space in the time since. Now that I’m settled in Boulder I feel I’m in a place where I can explore them again safely and comfortably. In a recent Lex Friedman interview, John Vervake proposes an addition to…
📍 writing from Boulder, CO Marfa, TX So I don’t know. Where are we now. My mind has been blown. The world has a greater capacity to surprise me than I have the capacity to predict its surprises. That much has been true for a while but just seems to become more and more true as time goes on. Mere days after writing about how nice it’s been settling into my nest and taking my daily…
📍 writing from Boulder, CO Dakota Ridge Trail, Sanitas Valley, Boulder, CO In the mornings I like to get outside as soon as possible, to walk the 17 minutes to the second-nearest cafe for a coffee and a croissant. Some mornings I take the long way home and sit on the bench a while. I’ve been biking more, relishing in the freedom of mobility provided by my own two feet (and sometimes a…
the Cloud. it's located in boulder, co Parts of my self are stored in the cloud, some in my squishy meat computer, and the rest are on my friends’ squishy meat computers. Friends who might be anyhwere on the planet and servers under my feet. Written journals, stored photos, parts of life I can download again; rewind in time. I can be reached, I’m safe. This connection requires much to…
For the past 18 months I’ve been building as part of a squad we call buzzard. I first wrote a reflection on the experience six months ago. Another half year has uncovered new practices, questions, and potential directions of exploration. One shape of this collaboration is a live, recorded zoom call with one person driving and everyone else participating in various ways. Sometimes…
An experimental post. Might feel similar to patch notes but want to play with the form. Probably post through blot first for a publish loop. I visited about a month ago and wasn’t planning on being back so soon. A few weeks prior my friend Cody and I got to scheming and came up with the shape of something to demo in-person for a discord we’re in; called DEF. It would also be NFT NYC…
Dakota Ridge Trail, Sanitas Valley, Boulder, CO 📍 writing from Boulder, CO Almost two months since arriving to Boulder: a newfound stillness, structure to my day, a consistent place to sleep. A few months ago a friend and I caught up. He lovingly advised I slow down in life, for my own good and health. I think I finally have. I’ve started meeting friends. Meetups, uber drivers, parties, film…
There are almost eight billion of us on this planet, ten thousand likely very similar to yourself. The Internet is a typical person’s best hope for finding and connecting with them. Mount Sanitas Summit west, Boulder, CO I enjoy life in large part thanks to friends I made on the internet. These friendships have led to jobs, romantic adventures, stays in dreamy oceanside villas, global…
Fourteen days since I packed my rented Jeep Grand Cherokee full of my earthly possessions (and some new ones from Amazon), said my goodbyes to family, and set off east towards Denver. Naturally I decided to make the 18 hour drive in one go. I would look a little worse 24 hours later I fear I am approaching the conclusion of the age where I still have both the desire and the energy to pull…
Garner Pass in Torres del Paine 📍 writing from Roseville, CA It’s been a wild few months. I was just starting to recover from a 100 kilometer trek through Patagonia 1 when a friend and I found ourselves crawling out of a totaled Ford Explorer2 in rural Chile, stranded in a town too small to need a gas station or an ATM. Not that we had any use for gasoline at that point; we were just happy to be…
Leander, TX from my hammock post 11 / 100 - an exploration into the sort of internet spaces I’d like to be a part of. Inspired by recent directions of research in relational.fyi and conversations with friends. Most of the current internet is a dopamine-hooked fully-immersive casino with information access putting our collective brains into frenzied loops. Entire memeplexes propagate through…
view from the pool deck I’ve spent a decent amount of time in cities (New York, San Diego, Mexico City) but for the most part it’s been at ground level or in sub-five floor walkups. Some of my friends live in nice luxury towers along rivers and my visits there would give me a peek into the day to day of such places but spending extended periods gives a different perspective compared to…
Tulum, Mexico posting from: Mexico City, Mexico. In this edition, driving back and forth a lot thoughts on resort culture and foreign money update on exquisite land got a new thing brewing currently reading year in review post… soon next steps Hello friends and hello 2022. I hope you celebrated well and are entering this year with at least a decent night’s rest. Since the last patch…
as much as I love my blog, suggesting others start their own like I did is too tall a technical ask. The hosted options come with their own pitfalls. Is there a better way? What might it look like? How do we get there? Over the past few years I’ve advised many friends to start blogging – or to put it more directly, to start putting their wonderful thoughts and ideas online for others…
post #5. I’ve spent the past half-year building with wonderful people I re/met on the internet. Our squad consists of a site, private Discord server, and a multisig wallet. With them we’ve developed a practice of building in the open and are in the midst of hosting our first experience – exquisite.land. what’s in a squad? A squad is a collective identity in which I can…
at the Marisposa Monarch Butterfly Preserve posting from: Valle de Bravo, Mexico life updates Hello friends. Five months and ten cities since my last patch notes, almost everything in my life has been significantly re-arranged once again. I’ve left my role at Ressemble and become enmeshed in several new projects and communities – more details on these below. I’ve gotten a bit…
Soumaya Museum in Mexico City Post three of my 100-post challenge. An attempt at putting my driving experiences into writing. As the set of driving experiences in a different country is massive and intimidating to write about, it helped to narrow it down to a singular element: hazard indicators. Also adding some of my own doodles to the post. One interesting element of driving in Mexico is the use…
This is post #2 of my 100-post challenge. This one is for friends interested in writing practices and musings on how they might relate to publishing online and doing regular reflections. Portland, OR Over the past half-decade I’ve had an evolving and contentious relationship with writing, note-taking, newsletters, and publishing. It’s spanned a range of apps and workflows (Apple Notes,…
The following are efforts I hope to contribute to over the following decades. If you’re researching, building, or excited about any of these – let’s chat! 1. combining journaling + therapy Therapy needs to be more scalable. While it can achieve amazing things, its current form generally requires money and is subject to severe 1:1 time constraints. Talk therapy is also limited to…
Socorro, NM It’s my birthday again. My second as a nomad and my first in a relationship. Some reflections on life, inspired by this past year of adventuring across the continent. Some are new learnings; others are re-discovering consistencies in life. Grateful to everyone in my life who made the past year a beautiful one and looking forward to the next one. Also very excited about no more young…
These are my semi-regular Patch Notes – updates on my life and things I’m learning and exploring. Subscribe here. In this release: 31 days in Huatulco, Oaxaca cities are chapters 28 nights later driving around where to next? cities vs beaches photos and assorted memories meta on a hike in Tepoztlán Hello friends. Glad to be writing and thanks for reading. The past few months have been a lot…
These are my semi-regular Patch Notes – updates on my life and things I’m learning and exploring. Subscribe here. In this release: next steps, 2021 update my fractured online identity road tripping through the southwest Canyonlands National Park, UT After three thousand miles of driving and a dozen sleeping arrangements I just want to plant a garden and lie in a hammock with a book. It’s…