I write. I take pictures. I grow my own food. If I were a pioneer, I’d be dead. IG: @runningdmc
Joined July 2009
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- Followers 2,248
- Likes 30,393
937 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
20 Dec 2014
The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. -Henry David Thoreau
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Really enjoying the World Cup fans! And that Lay's bandwagon ad--fantastic.
I still don't understand "off sides," and can only argue bad calls in basketball, baseball, and football. I wasn't born into soccer.
But... I feel the spirit. Thanks, world!
I'm not going anywhere near Foxboro or Providence today--watching the Scotland game from home, looking for jumbotron pix of friends with the courage to go.
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I asked The Bots for a couple ideas to build a garden gate. Instead, I wasted an hour arguing with what felt like a 7 year old giving me crappy info.
"That makes no sense! That's wrong!"
"You're right to correct me." This is happening more and more. Things just seem incomplete or wrong.
"Show me the citation. That seems wrong."
I could've built the damned gate by now. But now I'm annoyed and don't feel like building.
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I'm noticing more and more LLMs prematurely deployed in businesses, utilities, med billing centers, e-comm... Bad call loops, ignorant chatbots.
They're truly awful... just good enough so I think there's hope then at the end--wrong info, transferring me over to "We're closed" or after shouting into menus, I get the human only when I'm good and mad--and have to repeat everything... no info carries.
I'm abandoning carts, leaving call loops, clicking away from chats, failing to upgrade. I'm buying less, simplifying, going shopping in person...if at all. I'm getting offline more.
It feels good!
I'm starting to think the true gift of the LLM is I'm offline and getting back out there into the world--going analog. Using my human brain!
I don't think it's just me, either. Wondering if it's a ripple in the force... or a real trend? Thoughts?
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Jun 12
Luxury in 2016: rocking ugly bags with someone else’s initials on them.
Luxury in 2026: Firing up four burners with propane at $8.88/gal to cook a dish for a pot luck.
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Jun 12
I'm not in a culinary mood today but I'm going to a pot luck tonight. I was assigned "the rice," which, for a non-drinking party, ranks up there in the places of honor.
Growing up: If you were told to bring the meat or beer, you were either rich or reliable. Can't have a party without the meat or beer.
Next in ranking: Potato salad, deviled eggs, side dishes, and desserts--nice... but you can live without.
Chips: assigned to the least reliable person--the most likely to no show, since everyone's got some chips stashed away around (before they rose to $7, anyway).
So, I've been sitting here for an entire cup of coffee deciding between making a hotel pan of fried rice or a Mexican style rice.
We shall see.
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Jun 11
We are still watching the livestream of the corpse flower about to bloom. I laugh just a little because people forget they're being streamed: youtube.com/watch?v=67O9UR8Y…
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Jun 10
Having fun here lately with all the food and garden people. A lot of authentic exchange. But I do wish for pre-monetization Twitter. Once you see the patterns, they can't be unseen.
There's something a little less magical about "serendipity" driven by monetization.
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Jun 9
This flower blooms once every 5 to 7 years. It's live streaming with an ETA of this upcoming week. I'm definitely going to drop everything and go see it.
uri.edu/news/2026/06/uri-cor…
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Jun 9
Monday. I love Monday. Thanks food, garden, doc, fitness, & Japan Twitter for one coffee's worth of stories and connection. Now--time to work, clean, and exercise. I leave you with an heirloom garden pea--I'm about to get flooded with them.
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Dawn Casey-Rowe retweeted
Jun 6
I was thinking about this topic while out for a suboptimal run today.
We spend and extend too much energy not only in the doing but also simply thinking about “the best” or “most optimal” often at the expense of living a life.
Longevity is a battle you cannot win. It takes relatively MORE at some point on the age curve to simply tread water. You will eventually find yourself at a point where you can’t do anything really except sleep, eat, and workout if you want to be “optimal,” missing out on life.
The hang ups on best and optimal are ruining our ability to not only find any real balance but also enjoying life in a reasonable fashion.
The pursuit of longevity relies upon the assumption that more years means more life.
More years does not mean more life.
A week spent fully awake contains more life than a decade of mechanical existence.
In most cases, an extended life span just means a prolonged interval between birth and death.
You won’t be defined by how long you ‘occupied’ reality
You will be defined by the extent to which reality was forced to acknowledge your existence
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Jun 7
Filled the last raised bed. Was much more dirt than it seemed. Rejected the bed frame as a structure. Used the old iron gates instead. We have standards.
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Jun 5
This little GSD turned 10 yesterday. Here she is over the years. The only thing better than a dog… is more dogs.
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Jun 5
At Subaru for an early morning oil change, rotation, & state inspection sticker time. “No rush,” I said.
Packed coffee, full breakfast, snacks, but they have snacks and more coffee. Love it.
It’s like a coffee shop except I have to fight the temptation to buy a car.
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Jun 3
Quick trip to NYC yesterday--I used to go weekly but haven't been in a while. I wanted dim sum and my son always wants The Slice.
Sometimes we'll go to New York just for a slice. It's the best pizza in the world. But, we ate every neighborhood and by the time we got to Nom Wah, I really couldn't eat.
The perfect slice is paper thin. Must be folded. Garlic on top. And note to travlers--it's always cash only. Be prepared.
I was already full but I ate it.
Below: Joe's on Carmine, a boba shop with a person making boba from scratch, Chainsaw Man (we went to some manga and anime shops), and our giant wagashi haul.
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Jun 3
I've always said, "You can be one thing only" for dietary preferences without being weird. For example, "vegetarian," "kosher" or "low carb."
But for anyone with two things, it's your problem and you should pack your own food in groups. No one should have to cook for you.
But look--kosher vegetarian!! New York City helps out the "two things" eaters! That's an amazing city.
(This is on the west side of Mulberry traveling uptown from Chinatown toward Little Italy. It's on my "next time" list).
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Jun 3
Here's a couple pictures of Chinatown--walking all the way to dim sum (Nom Wah) that I was too full to eat.
The history of this area is interesting--there's a 90 degree bend in the road around the corner of Doyers Street. Since NYC is built on grids, this is rare, and might be the only 90 degree bend.
It was called "the bloody angle" because of ambushes and murders in Chinatown in decades past. Today--it's a lot of great food. If you've never visited New York, don't miss this!
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Jun 2
Today my FedEx guy brought me the last 2 garden beds. And he left with an heirloom tomato plant. No one leaves here without an heirloom tomato for at least the next month.
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Jun 1
I live in Rhode Island, the Pothole State, where we don't have a "zipper merge." We have a giant game of chicken.
My merge technique is actually an old sailor's trick taught in my freshman military science class: Point right hand at approaching vehicle (vessel).
Keep hand locked in on that vehicle. If arm/hand moves forward, it'll successfully merge in front of you. If it moves back, it'll merge behind you. If it stays steady, you'll intersect (crash).
If you detect "intersect" it should be a no brainer--the merging vehicle adjusts speed or yields. But not here, where the blinker package is an option and "yield/merge" isn't on the driver's test.
I wonder if full self driving can adapt to our driving culture where cars pull out in front of two lanes of traffic then stop to finish their left because "they've been waiting long enough."
Time will tell. Maybe FSD gets a RI option?
May 31
Everyone in that line was probably big mad when my Tesla full self driving passed them up and cut right in at the front. But to be fair, that is how zipper merge is supposed to work so you have 2 shorter lines merging together, instead of one long line that created more issues.
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May 29
I do love this post showing off a beautiful morning in Japan. For two seconds my brain asked, "Abbey Road?"
May 28
In Japan, you can still see the sight of elementary school children walking to school on their own.
A quiet morning residential neighborhood.
Small children wearing bright yellow hats walk in a neat line.
In some areas, they form tōkōhan (登校班) — groups that walk to school together.
At intersections, cars gently come to a stop,
while local volunteers and neighborhood adults naturally keep an eye on the children.
This is a completely ordinary scene for Japanese people,
but it’s said to look quite rare and surprising to people overseas.
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