It’s been a while since the last “phase” post, and while I won’t recount every twist and turn of the recent madness, I’ve been busy navigating the storm. In the middle of the chaos, I found steady ground in creating, staying active, and showing up for the people around me. There’s a quiet truth I’ve embraced this year: those who have the least often give the most. Choosing to give back when life felt bleak was the very thing that helped me through.
A few things I’ve made
I designed a table for our design team workspace. I wanted a round table, and one of the designers mentioned the feeling that when you sit at a round table, you can’t tuck in. I took that as a design challenge and created nooks. I’m still trying to draw more–still working on it. Issue #5, Tails Of… Photographers finally came out. Along with the book, I created new physical products and social posts to promote the issue.
In between the work, I completed a 2nd run at a skateboarding trick-a-day for the entire year. I did this 4 years ago, this time it was way harder, but the goal was met.
Books that I’m currently reading…
It takes me a long time to read books because I read many at the same time
- Top Fice Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware
- Girl Gangs, Zines, and Powerslides: A History of Badass Women Skateboarders by Natalie Porter
- The Art of Cycling: Philosophy, Meaning, and a Life on Two Wheels by James Hibbard
- Master Your Next Move by Michael D. Watkins
- NPR’s Podcast Start Up Guide by Glen Weldon
- Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
Books I just finished…
- Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Vern
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren
- The Year of Less by Cait Flanders
- Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow
- What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
Random stuff I thought was worth capturing…
Phase 007, lucky number seven, is in the books.
I’m a proud member of the Panera Sip Club. If you aren’t aware, the membership ($11/month) gets you a beverage (coffee or tea) every two hours. There are other benefits, but that’s why I’m there several times a day. In the wrapped spirit of everything, they sent this email to celebrate my savings of $2332. That (if it’s only drinks) means I got over 550 drinks. I don’t think I’ll be able to top this in 2026.
