The public digital notebook of Carlos E. Russo.
So, it's already February. Time has been weird lately. Speeding by, but also going at a snail's pace. Since the second half of last year, I've felt an odd duality in our time, likely because it was the most challenging year of my life, yet also included several of the most rewarding moments. Life is funny that way. Everything will feel upside down, and yet, we progress. Slowly, but surely, we get…
Just getting back from a much needed trip to Ciudad de México. Maybe next week I'll share a recap. For now, I try to ease back into ✨ everything ✨. Here's hoping the weekend has been chill. Reply via email
Sometimes you have it; Sometimes you don't. You realized yesterday that you wouldn't have it today. You are tired and at a loss for words. Work has taken up a lot of your creative time lately. Which is unfortunate. Eventually you'll get past this. You always do. Kind of your thing. You get heads down and power through when necessary. Then you find rest. One way or another. So what do you do when…
I love reading. Always have. Ever since elementary school, and those fantastic Scholastic Book Fairs, I’ve enjoyed picking up a book and diving in. Getting into a story and becoming lost in their world, is a great way to slow down time. You become immersed and can disconnect from the everydayness of life. As I wrote about earlier this month: I miss reading . Since time constrains are the main…
Back in 2021, I snapped the following picture as I packed my notebook archive away in preparation for a move. That stack has grown a lot since then. I've added pocket notebooks, other brands, different sizes, and many formats and methods. You see, I like to experiment with my style of journaling. I've tried just about every method I've encountered online, but always find myself coming back to…
This weekend, I read Robert’s Write whatever whenever , which was inspired in part by BinaryDigit’s Trying to blog more often . Both were timely reads since I’ve been grappling with my own thoughts around writing and blogging on here. What’s all this for? Should I have a content plan? Who’s coming to read this? Who’s my target audience? What’s going to get captured by the bots and served up…
“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson When you read the above reference, did you think of the primary definition: Experiment -- noun -- a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact. That'd be understandable, but the other definition is more appropriate in life: a course of action…
The streets were alive with commuters heading to their jobs and starting their lives again. While the four of us left our hotel on a mission: We needed to find Pho. It was our singular focus that morning, and we were not going to let anything stand in our way. No room service was going to appease our desire. We wanted to experience breakfast how locals did. At a small hole in the wall, with tiny…
Two months ago, two friends and I finally launched The Modernhood Podcast . At first, we figured it would be a fun way for the three of us to stay connected and discuss each of our own journeys in parenting, fatherhood, and life generally. We knew we’d get vulnerable and get real about the highs, lows, and everyday chaos we were all living. That, in turn, has actually allowed us to connect and…
The last book I read to completion was Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline. I finished it on October 27, 2024. I listened to The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene earlier this year and finished it on April 8, 2025. I also picked up The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin sometime in August 2024. More than a year later, and I’m still roughly 55% of the way through that one. These are terrible stats for…