I like to cook. I have felt that way ever since I was out of school and on my own. Being in the kitchen is a happy place of mine.
I don’t pretend to be any type of chef, but I think I can hold my own for many recipes and dishes.
To me cooking is all about getting in your reps. A lot of doing the same technique or dish to over and over to get better each time. I don’t think a dish ever reaches perfection, but you can get it close.
I want to share with you something that feels like a very hot take in 2024. Something I didn’t think I would ever go back to.
I think I have returned to being a one monitor kind of guy.
For so long I gave my wife grief because she would never set up multiple screens and now I am seeing the light.
Last year we had a home office space shuffle at home which meant I was using my laptop in a few different places around the house. Our son’s bedroom, the dining room table, or out in the world at the library. Previously I was always all about a multi-monitor setup where the laptop connected to a second monitor for what I had always thought was the most productive way.
Well today is the day. The first time in over a month where I have pulled up WordPress and stared at this screen for more than a few minutes.
I have nothing trying to jump out of my brain. No hot opinions. Nothing entertaining to share. So what do I do?
I could just close the tab and move on with my day, but then my streak is broken. And I am a sucker for keeping a streak alive.
So I am basically writing my way into a topic. So stick with me. The weather in Toronto has been very mild considering there are other parts of Canada buried in snow. I mean buried. Go check out the photos from Cape Breton.
I have a podcast on in the background. NBA talking heads going on about the NBA trade deadline. This is pretty boring as it’s usually all talk, no action. The Toronto Raptors are a sad mess. Maybe they tear down the team even more. Nothing there.
Every Friday I fire off a list of things I think you need to know. Want me to know something in return? Leave it in the comments.
Hello sunshine – As I sit here putting together this week’s Friday Newsletter, I am basking in the glow of the sun that is actually out this morning. This winter so far has felt more dreary than normal so when the light blasts in through the window, it is special. It makes me think about spring. We are not that far from it now. February will be over in a blink. It also helps that lately the weather has been pretty mild compared to other parts of Canada. This is great for getting out for long walks and closing those rings on the Apple watch.
New TV – With February upon us, that means more new TV shows starting to come out. On my radar this weekend is the premiere of the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. One of my all time favourites. Larry David has been making the rounds on talk shows and podcasts to promote and I have to say, it’s nice to have LD back in my life. He even had a moment with Elmo after Elmo had his big moment on X for mental health this past week.
This may make me sound really old but I watch the news on TV every night. In our house it has been what we do for many years. 10pm-11pm, we watch the National news and then the local news.
Currently we are in the habit of watching the CTV National news at 10pm instead of waiting until 11pm (which we used to do when 11pm wasn’t so hard).
But over the last year or so, we find ourselves looking at each other and saying – is this even news anymore?
Well, today is the last day of January. That means I have successfully gone a full month of writing at least 500 words for every week day. Not bad. By no means is this amazing, but I wanted to get back into a routine. I wanted to reignite something I used to do a lot more of. I would say, so far so good.
Has it meant a lot of traffic? Not really. Has it meant a lot of SEO rich results? Not yet anyways. So why do I bother typing out all these words and sending them out there for very few to read?
Well, like I said, it’s a routine. It’s setting a goal and sticking to it. It’s keeping the mind clear and giving me a creative outlet.
Every January 30th is a small celebration for us. It’s the day in 2016, that we moved into our current house. Our Toronto home that we never imagined we would find. Its the day that we reflect on how much we have enjoyed it and how much our family has grown. You remember the new furniture. You remember figuring out how things worked. You remember planning where everything was going to go.
Every January 30th, I do take a few moments to remember a lot of these things. What always jumps out to me is how lucky we were to get the house in the first place. So many things went our way to make it happen. The right place. The right time. It could have gone so different.
Even just a year later, I don’t know if we could have been able to do it. With the housing market and just how expensive things became, we scored.
Leave it to the platform formerly known as Twitter to spark a debate among parents. It’s kind of what it’s there for. You throw out your thought or opinion, and hundred to thousands of people weigh in on what you said with their thoughts and opinions. Arguments happen. Things go sideways and before you know it, the argument is not even about the original topic anymore.
So why do I read these threads? I find it a little entertaining to see just how silly it gets. But every now and then there is a thread that shares a lot of solid thoughts.
Take this one for example I read today:
