I'm also on a bit of a cooking spree. Spent the day today seasoning my first carbon steel skillets, hopefully this also pushes my wife over the threshold where we never cook in nonstick ever again. Bought some new baking tins and knifes and treated myself to Good Knifes for a change. And I made the NYT beans that Reddit is going nuts over.

They're really good! I thought the arugola would kill it, but this is the first time in a long while I've loved arugola. Swapped the heavy cream for 30% fat coconut milk to make it vegan, didn't seem to impact the dish at all.

Been pushing myself physically over the past weeks (in a good way!) as I've joined a running course and have been getting ski lessons in preparation for going to Austria next week. It's been really great to move up the learning curve multiple times a week, learning proper techniques from good teachers and seeing real progress. Makes the sore legs worth it.

Today my biggest project of the past year is coming to fruition, a large research study that's finally being published and sent to the assembly (or parliament? council?) I don't know what the US equivalent is). It's a guess what the politicians will think of it, but I've done my best and I'm proud of what's been done. The process of submitting it to the assembly has also been...informative, a mix of crunchy bureaucracy and vague tribal norms that people disagree on entirely.

We've been casually looking for a house for like 6 months or so, mostly for fun and to understand the market in case we are ever able to afford something here. Well an absolute stunner of a house came up towards the top of our price range, so we reached out to the sellers agent to get disclosures and everything looked really solid so we found an agent (family recommended) to talk to and the agent was like "that's going to go for 30% or more over asking I won't even go through with helping you beyond a verbal offer" which like, she is probably right, but was a huge asshole about the whole thing. We aren't getting that place, we know that, but at least do your job and put in a formal offer. Don't be a gatekeeper and say no for the seller. So that's disappointing but not surprising. Oh well, something may come up or maybe the housing market will come crashing down and we can afford something even better in a year who knows!

Bathroom cabinets are in. They don't tell you this when you buy cabinets - make sure you know how you're going to get them there. We had 3/16ths of an inch clearance.

Laundry room door is in.

Wet room door is in. Yes, strange and exciting new room names are having to be created for this house. The "wet room" is off the "art room" which is more of a zone of the 'living room' which you step down into from the 'fish room' which is more of a hallway except it's eighteen feet wide. The "wet room" was once outside, contains a shitpump, has three stairs down, a massive shelf big enough for a queen-sized bed at 4' above the floor and 15' ceilings. It also has a door to the outside. It could be a mud room? Except I'm building a mud room and if you're coming to the house through the wet room you have missed some cues. Regardless, the wet room used to have two shitty no-glass doors, so it could have been called the darkroom. It now has glass in both windows and is fairly pleasant, especially now that I have completely overhauled the shitpump so that it has gaskets and a vent. The glass on the outside door causes concern because obviously, you could break into it. Obviously, you could break into anything with a window. Nonetheless.

The sign is currently a lie. It won't be for long. There are four 50m runs of multimode fiber connecting the main rack stack to, eventually, five other racks. Two of those runs are complete, which means the network is alive. There are currently two subracks live, one of which is completely finished and one of which is in process. This particular locality has exactly one police officer on patrol at any given time and I will have a workshop full of precious metals so I figured it was worth the effort to discourage opportunistic pillaging.

Counters go in today. Having a discussion with the county tomorrow about riparian restoration (I have a quarter acre of wetlands).

I take watchmaking classes because they are humbling. I have been humbled more than enough over the past six months. I had to design a component in order to fit a doorbell yesterday. Granted, the doorbell has two cameras and a screen and granted, the doorbell is on brick but fuckin' hell.

The analogy I've taken to is that I'm retrofitting an ocean liner into a science vessel. As I was pointing out to my wife yesterday, there is no building system that has not been completely revised. Sewer, water, gas, hot water, electrical, data... completely modernized.

My fear is that when we're actually living in the place I'll be too burned out to enjoy it.

Working a lot on the future of Forever Labs. I think this will be a great year for the company. It's been a long time coming. We have been alive for 10 years. It's time to thrive.

Family is doing well. Kids are growing up too quickly. They're wonderful people. Each so unique. I've been working hard to be a better father and husband. Leaning into moments, instead of out of them. It's a subtle change with enormous returns. Less phone, more family.

It's gonna rain all week here. Tonight is supposed to be my first USTA Spring match, but it's almost certain to be cancelled. Bummer.

I've been working out so much for the past 2 years. I feel great with the exception of my knees. Damn genetics. I also have an inguinal hernia. Damn genetics! Both are bad right now, which makes walking up and down stairs a real slog. I'm feeling every bit my age in my knees and mid section. My upper body feels super fit.

I'm going to be building a home gym. Want my kids and wife to workout with me. Set the kids on a path of lifelong fitness. Something I wish I had started when I was younger.

I have an idea for a screenplay that I'm going to begin fleshing out. It's a Christmas film. I'm excited. Even if nothing ever comes from it, it's fun to create.

Obsessed with tennis, loving my family, excited about business, and enjoying creativity in many forms. If my knees were better I would say that I'm batting 1000.

Hope you are all doing well.

Keep it thoughtful, y'all.