God DAMN this song is absolutely perfect youtu.be/liVnl2gIdhs

a wide mushroom that's kind of orange with white dots

a cute mushroom i saw on the trail

woman in a pink puffer jacket from behind looking at a sunset over the ocean with a seagull flying over head

took a trip to Yachats for my birthday, the Oregon coast is amazing

black and white photo of the silhouette of Botch playing on stage with a dude doing a big thumbs up in the crowd

Botch in Portland #metal #nostalgia

A cozy workspace with an open notebook, pen, markers, and a disposable coffee cup on a wooden table. In the background, shelves are lined with various figurines and memorabilia under warm ambient lighting. A decorative table lamp with a wireframe shade.

Notebooking at Wonderwood Springs

had a really fun holiday party for work last night

HAHA! BUSINESS BOOKS

A man in a business suit ecstatically laughing with his head thrown back and fists clenched in a triumphant gesture, holding a stack of books in one arm against his side. The man is Caucasian with short, tidy hair, wearing a black suit, white shirt, and a grey tie. He is outside, possibly on a city street with buildings in the soft-focus background. The image has a candid, spontaneous feel, as if capturing a moment of pure joy. The text at the top reads HAHA BUSINESS BOOKS! in large, white, capitalized font with a drop shadow to make it stand out against the background.

📚 My work is giving me access to a business coach, which has been pretty cool. I’d been thinking it would be pretty nice to have someone to talk to, essentially like a work therapist, and then I got added to a program at work that gives people access to BetterUp, which is BetterHelp for work, without all the podcast ads. I filled out a survey thingy and they matched me up with a coach that could help with the stuff I wanted to talk about. We had a kickoff session and they seemed like a good fit, so we scheduled some weekly sessions.

In one of the sessions I was telling them about a big project I’m helping lead and the questions I had about how to get the word out to the right people, get them to buy into the vision, get excited, etc. After talking things through for a bit, they assigned a PDF to me that was an excerpt from Harvard Business Review by some dude named John P. Kotter. It was titled “Leading Change – Why Transformation Efforts Fail” and it was originally published in 1995, the year after I graduated high school. Almost 30 years ago.

I was skeptical.

As I read it, though, I found myself nodding my head like an old lady in the front pew of a Baptist church. This mf was spittin'. He was laying out pretty much all the stuff I was facing and struggling to formulate strategies for to a T. And, he had an Eight Step Plan™ I could follow to address everything I was worried about, as well as all the stuff I hadn’t yet considered.

Which made me realize that none of this shit is new. The same politics, bureaucracy, and jockeying this dude was writing about from the mid 90s is the same old stuff every business is still dealing with. For all the technical advancements, management trends, LLMs, real-time collaboration, etc., good old human dysfunction will always reign supreme. Undefeated World Champion.

Anyways, I just finished listening to the full book on libro.fm (referral link for a cool Audible alternative that gives money to the local bookstore of your choice) and, while obviously dated and read by a dorky narrator, it was all still super relevant. I went to Powell’s and bought some more of his books used to read over the holiday. If you’re working on trying to introduce some big changes at work, check out this 30 year old book full of apparently evergreen ideas.

🖋️notebooking at wonderwood springs

Finished reading: The Little Book of Humanism by Alice Roberts 📚 micro.blog/books/9780349425450

Finished reading: The Little Book of Humanism by Alice Roberts 📚

We took a trip to Japan this past summer and it was awesome takeo.blog/2023/12/15/170654.h

📷 ✈️ We took a trip to Japan this past summer. My wife does synchronized swimming and the worlds competition was in Kagoshima, so we made a family trip out of it. Unfortunately, the competition got cut short because of a typhoon warning, but we had an amazing time in Kyoto and Tokyo. Here’s some photos from the trip!

A traditional Japanese building rooftop against a clear blue sky.

A traditional Japanese garden with raked gravel, rocks, shrubs, and a large pine tree in front of a wooden gate with intricate designs and a tiled roof.

A hand holding a paper coffee cup with “%” logo printed on it, with an out-of-focus background featuring people walking on a street.

The image shows a self-service coffee bean selection area with a variety of coffee beans displayed in clear trays, each labeled with their origin and type. A coffee grinder is to the right, and a commercial coffee machine is at the back.

Traditional Japanese wooden structure with ornate roof and metal fixtures, set against a backdrop of lush green hills. A few people are visible at the bottom, suggesting a peaceful, historical setting.

A scenic view of lush green forested hills under a cloudy sky in Kyoto.

A serene landscape of lush green hills with a traditional Japanese pagoda nestled among the trees under a cloudy sky. A crane is visible in the distance on the left side, suggesting construction or maintenance activity.

A view of a lush tree canopy with a few sparsely leafed branches against a cloudy sky, with hints of a cityscape in the distance.

A vibrant red pagoda with multiple tiers surrounded by tourists, some wearing traditional Japanese attire, under a cloudy sky.

A vibrant orange, multi-tiered pagoda in a Japanese architectural style, with visitors walking and taking photos around the structure, set against a cloudy sky.

Sculpture of a dragon at the base of stone steps leading up to a traditional orange Japanese temple with decorative details and a cloudy sky in the background.

A man and a woman in traditional Japanese attire stand in front of a large red bell tower, with cloudy skies overhead and greenery to the right.

A traditional Japanese pagoda with bright red accents set against a cloudy sky, surrounded by lush greenery, with visitors ascending the stone steps.

A pagoda peeks out amidst lush green foliage against a backdrop of gray, overcast skies.

Ornate golden lantern hanging from a dark wooden ceiling with traditional detailing.

Three individuals seated on a bench in front of an ornate altar inside a temple, with intricate carvings and hanging lanterns visible.

Traditional Japanese temple with intricate gold designs on the blue roof, wooden structure, and a hanging lantern, set against a hazy sky.

Saw Quicksand play Slip from start to finish for its 30th anniversary recently. Flawless album.

Botch in Portland, October 7, 2023

dr phil is a camry man hell yeah

dr phil is a camry man hell yeah

a camry with an Oregon license plate that says DR PHIL