My immediate behavior in the face of obligation-free paid time off is to sleep until I can’t sleep any more. If/when this is interrupted, I go back to bed as soon as possible for as long as possible.

Reading and writing is wonderful. I have a brain that likes to make connections. Between consuming some social media posts today, then writing an update to my Now page, I’ve learned some things that have helped me to clarify my own values and principles.

I’m neither a Democrat nor a Republican, but on the face of it I support Minnesota Governor Walz' decision to support a person’s right to choose. I support self-determination, and I support anything that supports people where they are, as they are.

ADHD Tax: When I panic about losing my phone while I’m in a meeting. Phone was less than a foot from my person but I had set another object on top of it.

I always wanted to be a DJ, from the days I listened to my Radio Shack FM radio all day long as a boy. The people pushing out the sounds always seemed to have a finger on a pulse. They seemed to connect to something. I imagined a depth and breadth of knowledge and a currency that I’m sure was impossible to attain in reality.

In the 90s I took a job at a record store, which in some ways was a sort of dream come true. I thought I knew about music. I was an avid consumer of what radio and MTV fed me. But it was then that my education began.

When techno and electronica hit, my DJ dream shifted. I wanted to play the records that moved the people in the moment. I have played with decks and mixers a teensy bit. I played with a friend’s collection of vinyl and did my best to beat-match records during a small gathering.

I’ve made lots and lots of mix tapes, that mostly no one has ever heard, but me.

What’s happened is I’ve collected a lot of music over time. I am infected by people who are enthusiastic about a genre or a scene.

Music is so powerful.

It is a giant river, life-giving and fertile like the Amazon or the Nile. Some of it is written down or recorded, where it lives in the vast ocean.

Just like I can’t read every book, I can’t hear every record.

I have been listening to a series of playlists generated by someone close to my own age, that span years including the four that I spent at the record store.

Boy, is it resurfacing old thoughts and ideas and dreams.

The cool part is I agree with many of the selections.

The cool part is I’m hearing songs I would have never heard, otherwise.

The cool part is there is always such good music.

If you do the Apple Music thing, I’m here and I like to share.

What if you took the opportunity to turn your secure pass-phrase into a positive affirmation?

Or a goal? A mission statement? Your intent?

There is a lot of discussion of justice on the national level.

We have a single case of accountability.

And a lot of work to be done.

From an email subscription today:

So be good to each other. Be humble and kind. Be generous. If you fight for anything, fight for justice and fairness. That’s what we were put here for.

This is what I believe.

When the wind makes it feel colder than it is… 15 degrees Fahrenheit