Day To Be Living

When talking with my therapist about healthy boundaries as a theme, he recommended an interesting documentary to watch through that lens, titled “Deconstructing Karen.” You can find it online to stream for a couple bucks: www.youtube.com/watch I think it’s absolutely worth a watch, but not for the first reason that might come to mind with being “more woke.” I think it’s worth a watch to see boundary setting within the group, and as a microcosm into why we’re unfortunately and expectedly regressing on DEI. In my view, (and others may disagree with me, as I mean, that’s part of living in a supposed democracy right?) so-called “wokeness” has gone SO far off the rails that I don’t even see the term as virtuous. Rather, I see wokeness as synonymous uniformly-minded, context-bankrupt cancel culture—something that has overall done far more harm than good.

In this film, the lack of self awareness of the Indian woman and black woman leading this group was astounding. Do they not see their own implicit biases against these white women, based on their own trauma? They are treating white people, which have diverse subcultures within, as one monolith. On a fundamental level, I see things differently. Me having a different perspective doesn’t make me the racist or white supremacist these women would think I am. It was a bit entertaining watching Tucker Carlson criticize the documentary so far in the other direction: www.youtube.com/watch

I’ve attended the NW Public Employees Diversity Conference before and was in my 20s during the Black Lives Matter movement. I saw well-intended and important efforts backfire, and DEI just miss the mark. It was namely with lower-income, less-educated white people, who do face real struggles in our society. It would not be truly diverse, equitable, or inclusive to leave out all white people, as though they are this one oppressive monolith. I had privileges that a white impoverished trailer park kid in rural Ohio, with an institutionalized father and single drug addict mother simply didn’t have. Many BIPOC folks have better opportunities than that. It’s not all black and white in 2026, literally and figuratively.

Look, I’m married to an immigrant. I have first-handedly witnessed and experienced systemic racism in America’s immigration system, and am still experiencing it with the green card process, in ways most Americans, oppressed or not, simply don’t understand well. It’s OKAY and understandable that others don’t totally get it. It’s not people’s fault for not knowing what they haven’t had the opportunity to learn. Thus, they shouldn’t be attacked or villainized for it.

I get that being born a U.S. citizen who is white, male, straight, cisgender, upper-middle class, college-educated, and the like gave me real and tangible advantages unrealized by others. I acknowledge, and do appreciate that. I’m not going to pretend to understand what it’s like to be part of an oppressed group or think I know better. I will listen and validate other peoples' lived trauma and experiences. And sure, I have implicit biases like all of us that I should do my best to stay aware of. We all have them though! It’s okay that we do. It’s totally normal, and it’s totally human. Implicit biases ranging from totally innocuous to less so. It’s what we do with these biases that matters.

Where I draw the line is falsely accusing people of being “racists” or “white supremacists,” or saying that we are all racist and white supremacist because of our oppressive system. I’m sorry, but I think that’s fucking bullshit. I draw the line not because I’m a fragile white person as the Robin DiAngelos of the world may assert. No, I strongly disagree on principle. My perspective is, and should be treated as just as valid, as someone from an oppressed group. Frank Bruni in his book “The Age of Grievance” hits the nail on the fucking head, and I’m totally in alignment with his viewpoint. Actual racism and white supremacy is very serious, very fucked up shit. It totally devalues these extreme and pejorative labels to assert we’re all racist and white supremacists when we’re not.

I have never done anything to actually oppress others, and I know it. The worst “crime” I committed is being part of our societal system, which we’re all part of. Have I made so-called “microaggressions,” before a very badly-phrased label for what’s really just totally unintentionally/accidentally triggering someone who’s faced systemic trauma? Sure. Have my intentions not matched my impact? Sure. Someone committing a so-called microaggression, should not have ill intent assumed, which is what almost always happens.

It should be a calm, and thoughtful learning opportunity for understanding, and dare I say it, for love. For PLUR. By the way, so many anecdotal reports of people on MDMA and/or psychedelics have claimed to be colorblind and see people’s oneness and humanity. I can’t imagine substances that chemically induce emotional vulnerability by opening up the higher echelons of the mind and consciousness invoke “racism” and “white supremacist” thinking! Tell me: when was the last time someone under the influence of psychedelics committed terrorism or a hate crime? Even sober, if the proverbial white person says “they don’t see color” because we all bleed red, and they want to see the beauty of people’s individuality and character? Not everyone has to agree or like that, but people should still be afforded the benefit of the doubt. Not doing so really backfires, as evident by the anti-DEI push back in the years since George Floyd’s horrific murder at the hands of an ACTUAL racist and white supremacist.

Even worse yet, people are “cancelled.” I had a couple of acquaintances who effectively cancelled my wife and I because we disagreed with them about the PSU library being occupied by hardcore pro-Palestinian protesters. These protesters will conveniently refuse to denounce Hamas or October 7th, even if prompted. Uh… really? Where’s the nuance in a very tragic, theocratic, and complicated geo-political history? I’d never defend Netanyahu! I think he’s a radical Jewish terrorist and war criminal. He’s at least as bad for Israel as Trump is for America. Neither Netanyahu nor Sinwar supported a two-state solution, now did they?

Anyways, speaking of the Middle East, as contrasted with the “Deconstructing Karen” documentary, I came across Rick Steves. Since world travel is among my ongoing bucket list, I love travel documentaries. I knew the guy was a PBS travel journalist, and heard of him, but I didn’t realize he actually went to Iran back in 2009. His perspective on seeing peoples' humanity, especially as one of the rare Americans permitted to visit Iran, was pretty cool. A good corollary to Frank Bruni, I’d say. A recent interview since the Iran War began was great: www.youtube.com/watch Worth the 20 min listen! More to come on this another time!

No meteor showers visible today, with the morning clouds blocking the view. Not a perfect start to my day with realizing one bag of groceries was left in the car last night unrefrigerated. Only a few items were in there, so maybe a $15 mistake, but it certainly made last minute breakfast more difficult. Sometimes the ball is intercepted on the first play of the game and you’re down a touchdown 30 seconds in. But you have the ball again and are making your way down the field. Today is one of those days.

Maybe it’s a fitting metaphor for environmental progress. Huge setbacks by Trump 2.0, but some progress is being made. Today is Earth Day. Happy 56th birthday! So much history surrounding it, starting before 1970, an era when Congress actually acted responsibly on occasion (i.e. Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, were all passed around this time. Notably the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts as well!)

One noteworthy and local environmental current event getting very insufficient media attention is the issue of the City of The Dalles attempting to buy 150 acres of Mt. Hood National Forest Land from the federal government, at the local community’s economic and environmental expense. Here’s a good article about it: waterwatch.org/trust-iss… Don’t be fooled by the proposed legislations' specious title “The Dalles Watershed Redevelopment Act.” And guess who introduced it? Representative Cliff Bentz, the lone wolf Congressional Republican in Oregon. Fuck that shithead. Check out the primary source text for yourself, straight from the source: www.congress.gov/committee…

That title makes it sound so much more harmless than it really is. To reference yesterday’s post: doesn’t a food processing facility sound so much better than a slaughterhouse? Doesn’t enhanced interrogation sound so much better than torture? It’s the same idea here.

The Dalles genuinely needs all of this extra water for its (nonexistent) explosive population growth, right? No… just kidding! They aren’t in the Portland metro area. This legislation is just a pretext to pave the way for the enormous water needs—almost exclusively—for the greedy, extractive, and exploitative data center companies. If that’s not bad enough, they want to use resources for less money per unit of utilities than the local community’s utility costs. Their local politicians are totally conning them. I’m no conspiracy theorist normally, but certainly I wouldn’t be quick to rule out the unproven possibility of data center lobbying, and secretly paying off all these leaders behind the scenes. After all, it is expressly signing away protected federal land. No one who is sincerely and thoughtfully looking out for the community, in their right mind would ever support this legislation as written—at least without serious strings attached to the data centers, which aren’t there.

Also, and not unimportantly, this new legislation arguably violates existing federal laws, like the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Public Lands Act, among others. One perspective on recent Trump admin actions: westernlaw.org/73-wester…

Sometimes the devil is in the details. It’s the seemingly boring bullshit that often ACTUALLY matters. People need to FUCKING READ legislative texts, contracts, deeds and the like. As an MPA graduate, I can tell you it sounds far more intimidating to do so than it actually is. If you are literate, speak English fluently, and have a high school diploma, you can do so. If you don’t speak English fluently, ironically AI chatbots are cutting edge translators for this kind of thing!

I’m not an anti-AI person, and I think we can have it both ways. Data centers are part of the future. If said data center wanted to develop near the Columbia River, use and treat the river water for their operations (which these companies could easily afford to do), subject to monitoring and huge fines for violations, as well as increased metering rates going forward per violation, incentives would be in place. If they were on unprotected land, where trees weren’t being cut down, that’s one thing. But of course, that’s not what’s really going on, and the community is either being conned, unaware, or not paying attention.

Like any big corporation, they aren’t inherently bad, but they are inherently exploitative if not held to account. Capitalism does great harm if unchecked like it usually is. Corporations must pay their fair share. They must be regulated, with stringent environmental standards, pay for at least their per unit cost of utilities, plus capital expenditures associated with their required infrastructure improvement costs so residents and small businesses aren’t holding their bag. That should not be a partisan or controversial statement like abortion, guns, and immigrations inevitably will be. Across the political spectrum, that should be as universal as it gets. Plus the proposed job growth and economic benefits are so fleeting with data center construction, relative to long term costs forced on the locals.

Could you blame those who don’t like data centers and AI? This is the case in point why the left hates capitalism. If Walmart or Amazon wants to move to your small community, then great! Let them. They will provide an economic benefit, unlike an ICE facility, which costs the local economy and taxing jurisdictions.

I’ve literally heard both companies try to bully Washington County and Multnomah County on property tax assessment, as though they should be valued on “dark store” theory, which is not a statutory or industry standard. It’s why a small municipality, with possible rare and unusual exceptions, should never give tax incentives or set up enterprise zone property tax abatements or deferrals for big corporations that would be building there anyways.

When people talk about both Democrats and Republicans being the same, and being in the pockets of corporate interests—this is what they’re talking about, because it’s been total fucking crickets from Jeff Merkley, Ron Wyden, Tina Kotek, and all other prominent Democrats from what I’ve found. And probably for a reason! Democrats suck less than Republicans, but are still uninspirational as fuck. Of course I’ll vote for Democrats over fascists every time. But every election—for me at least—has always been voting between two or more bad choices, and determining the least bad. Who can I vote for that will harm us the least? It’s still important to do so, but this is why so many young people are disillusioned.

I forgot to mention regarding Coachella: I also watched Moby’s set! Besides being an older Gen X/younger Baby Boomer rave kid with some very cool experimental “old school” EDM, I didn’t know much about him beyond his hit singles. Impressed though by his set. Reading about him afterward, I learned he’s quite well known as an animal rights advocate. Philosophically, I have total respect for that. In fact, “Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect” or PLUR as colloquially understood in rave culture! His views got me contemplating, as they sometimes do, the broader question of suffering among living beings, both humans and animals alike.

I do think, though, that anything good on its face can be taken to an extreme. I worry when perfect becomes the enemy of much better. We need social change warriors and moderates alike, and I likely fall somewhere between the two camps as a so-called “pragmatic progressive.” In other words: Stoicism? I want to make the world better than it is, but with the wisdom not to waste resources trying to make it what it can’t be, only to end up nowhere, or worse off. Case in point, the Dignity Act post I made last week about imperfect immigration improvements gone unrealized.

There is no easy or simple answer to the inevitable extreme suffering of living beings. It’s one of the hardest things to contemplate. This is among my darker blog posts, but important to speak out loud nonetheless. Heads up: if you happen to be under the influence of any psychedelics, come back when you’re sober!

What a tragic fact of the universe - that when Earth was established, by God, nature, or whatever higher power, killing animals for survival was built into the very conditions of survival for other living beings. Humanity didn’t cause this dystopian reality, but we’ve certainly worsened it at an extreme scale.

If you are a believer, God is either all powerful or all good, but the observable world suggests both can’t possibly be true — as Neil deGrasse Tyson has put it, given all the ways the universe seems intent on killing us. (An online search shows this argument itself goes way back to Epicurus, but Tyson has done as much as anyone to bring it into the mainstream conversation.)

The suffering produced by industrial-scale meat production is horrendous, including for human workers. I’d argue slaughterhouse work is the worst job in the world. And yet I also recognize it’s unrealistic to expect meat consumption to disappear. Dogs and cats need meat for adequate nutrition, for starters.

Given the above, I have really uneasy feelings about the proposed hunting ban in Oregon going on the ballot. At a No Kings rally I was asked to sign it, and at first I didn’t, but changed my mind when a second person came by. It’s a worth thoughtful conversation for sure, but on its face, I’d still vote no. Are we trying to create a culture war issue? Although hunting and fishing is not my thing at all, do people really not see the difference between slaughterhouse factory farming, and someone who quickly kills an elk that dies instantly and has meat in the freezer for 6 months, and sustainably so? Why are we focused on individual hunters who are disproportionately Republican, instead of big corporate agriculture?

Then there’s also the issue of animal testing. I think it should be discouraged whenever alternatives are feasible, but I’m not yet convinced outright bans are appropriate, especially where animal testing is needed for human medicine development. That said, the most humane methods available must be mandatory and strictly enforced, particularly for any debatable activity involving animals.

“Certified humane” must become the international standard, not an option. The USDA does technically enforce some humane handling requirements, and while far too inadequate, it’s at least a framework. Recent violations are made publicly available here: www.fsis.usda.gov/inspectio… It’s difficult to even read any of it. But that’s exactly why we need to look. Worse yet, this last February 2026, the Trump admin has tried to eliminate speed limits to slaughterhouse kill floors: humaneaction.org/press-rel…

I also know I am far too much of a foodie to be a fundamentalist vegan, but I do opt for a healthy, plant-dominant diet, especially at home. We’re biologically hardwired to like meat, though I still feel a bit guilty when I eat it, even when it’s supposedly more humanely raised. I’ll also acknowledge that there are multiple credible schools of thought on plant-based versus omnivorous nutrition—an area where I’m far from a full expert. Importantly, I don’t believe in fundamentalism, and I strive for the Buddhist-oriented middle path. That said, too many people out there demonstrate blatant indifference to the suffering of other people, as seen every day in our political system, let alone other living beings. I hope that changes.

The most extreme forms of cruelty must be banned across the board. We desperately need improvement for the collective bettering of the world, despite there being understandable justifications for meat consumption and animal testing—unlike, say, the Holocaust, or torture carried out simply to make others suffer. Those have no justification whatsoever. Organizations like Freedom From Torture document in sobering detail how many countries still practice it today, in defiance of international law: www.freedomfromtorture.org/news-and-… The fact that ongoing torture happens to the most vulnerable among us is a total disgrace.

I get that suffering, to very widely varying degrees, is part of any living being’s life. Some of us get to live with far less of it than others. I find solace in believing in karma and the possibility of its manifestation before, during, and after my life—rather than in blind, random luck (or lack thereof) of the universe. I hope most of humanity can better agree on eliminating the most extreme forms of suffering towards all first: cruelty, torture, human rights abuses.

Kudos to the organizations and people out there actively doing good and moving the needle—for animals and for humans alike.

Last thing about the cosmos for a little while: I forgot to mention lunar rainbows and meteor showers. I saw a lunar rainbow on New Years Eve at Mt. Hood Skibowl which was a first. It’s a pretty rare phenomenon. A little bit about that: www.astronomy.com/science/i…

I also took stock of potential upcoming events visible in the Portland, Oregon area. This coming Wednesday morning, April 22nd, we could have a pretty cool meteor shower at 5am if it’s clear although rain is in the forecast. That said, weather changes quickly. Although we don’t have any total eclipses coming up soon, we will have another nearly total (still partial) lunar eclipse after sunset on August 27 that I’ll be trying to watch!

Also, as someone that loves watching Goose shows live, I appreciate the high quality production of Coachella being live-streamed in real time on YouTube (known buy the pun “Couchella,” although I wish they “premiered” some of their sets at a later date and took a page of out of the Goose playbook. Still nice to tune in for free on YouTube though, in real time! To my knowledge, other music festivals don’t do that, but given Coachella’s enormous size and international recognition, it makes sense.

It’s not my number one festival I’d like to go to, but I’d put it my top five. Current festivals I’ve never been to that are top of my bucket list include Viva El Ganso in (Cancun, Mexico), Shambhala (Salmo, B.C., Canada), and Electric Forest (Rothbury, Michigan). Coachella would probably rank 4th, maybe 5th if I included EDC or Bonnaroo in the top 5.

I watched all of Sabrina Carpenter’s first weekend set, and Foster the People last night, both of which exceeded my expectations. I also watched part of DJ Snake, RL Grime, and Flossadramus play on stage together. These are 3 EDM DJ legends from the 2010s (my wife knew pretty well), doing actual skilled DJing and mixing live. True craftsmen indeed.

While I didn’t watch in real time, I also later saw excerpts of Justin Bieber’s performance. His fans going apeshit was impressive and entertaining to watch! It easily exceeded that of Rush in Rio’s famous Brazil show in way back in 2002, and was honestly more comparable to Beatles fans screaming in 1960s. I know it’s a big statement, but it’s also clearly evident by the screaming supposedly getting so loud, it interrupted the WiFi broadcast. Damn… who would have thought?

Also, as I’ve been guitar-focused, I’ve felt more or less indifferent to most pop superstars, as notably contrasted with the animosity and trolling put forth by some haters. It blows my mind how much of it is out there. Justin Bieber’s songs are catchy, sure, and the guy clearly has a nice voice and some talent, but personally, I rarely get lured in without some tasty guitar riffs.

That said, don’t like an artist? Then don’t listen to them! Just because they don’t inspire you doesn’t mean we should disparage their inspiration towards their actual fans. It’d be an oxymoron to say you’re a music connoisseur and also a troll. Despite his talent, Bieber always seemed hostage to the whims of greedy producers. After my wife pointed it out to me, I could tell now that he’s in his 30s, he’s just doing what he wants to do, which is very cool to see. Honestly, fuck the record companies. I always want to see artists do what authentically their art, even if it doesn’t inspire me the way it does to others. That goes for any genre!

A few recent things on my mind these last few days that I’ve come across:

Marketplace’s special released recent episode. www.youtube.com/watch

Full episode required listening! I mean, Kai Ryssdal in his element is always great to hear. I need not convince regular listeners of the program on why.

I wasn’t familiar with his interviewee, Kyla Scanlon, despite her being close to my age, probably since I’m not on social media anymore. www.kylascanlon.com (As a side note, I often find that women my age who are a little nerdy adds to their overall attractiveness for me.) Super cool nonetheless!

Regular listeners of NPR in the morning have undoubtedly heard the unmistakable voice of David Brancaccio of the Marketplace Morning Report. It’s cool to see how Ryssdal and Brancaccio are good colleagues with a warm relationship. Ryssdal finished everything by talking about his unwillingness to compromise on national security as a veteran, fact based reporting, and democracy itself in his economic journalism. Respect!

On a different topic: the Epic History YouTube channel. I thought the story about the Apollo program was interesting! Like many people, I’ve been thinking about space exploration more with the successful completion of the Artemis II mission. www.youtube.com/watch I haven’t watched or listened to any of the other history videos, but I don’t doubt they’re highly informative and accurate. For the history nerds out there, Epic History appears solid.

On this topic of space, I found a short clip on the Star Talk channel, discussing how and why it’s not currently feasible to send human astronauts for Mars exploration, let alone “colonize” Mars in the way Elon Musk had allegedly mentioned. www.youtube.com/watch

Mars at its closest to Earth is still supposedly 3 light minutes away (and 22 light minutes at its furthest orbit)? For comparison, the moon is just over one light second away. Mars is so far for human travel, it’s hard to conceptualize as it would take many months each way in the fastest rocket. Just the fact that rovers have landed on the planet is pretty badass. Some of the scaled videos of I’ve seen of the solar system make it make better sense. www.youtube.com/watch

The fact humans have learned so much about the solar system and observable universe over so many decades is amazing. What a far cry from the hypothesizing of early astronomers like Newton and Galileo. When we consider our political priorities, why wouldn’t humanity want space exploration to be even a small part of what we spend? A good short video by Neil DeGrasse Tyson: www.youtube.com/shorts/Ww…

Come to think of it, my last post on the night sky apps should have been titled “Night To Be Living” as a pun from the title of this blog. Sometimes the creative juices come to mind NOT at 9pm after a long day. But there you go.

Anyways, yesterday was a good day to be a honker, because Goose released a new song yesterday which is worth a mention, titled “Good2B.” It’s got a fun jam. It’s not in my all time top Goose songs, but I mean, it’s vibes bring me joy. Their EDM remix of “Everything Must Go” has been on regular rotation in my shuffle too. There is much good live music on the horizon this year. The intro bass riff, low mix synths, percussion, vocals, and the Rick’s fretwork: I tip my hat as a fan and fellow musician.

Ok, lunch is over. Back to work. But, I had to give an honorable mention to the song. www.youtube.com/watch

Every once in a while I like exploring some of the popular apps on the App Store. Most of the popular ones I already have, and some are worth a more in-depth shoutout, soon but two must haves come to mind for tonight.

The first is the Sky Guide app. I can’t recommend it enough! It’s so cool how you can point it at the night sky and know what you’re looking at. It will also gives the option for alerts for when the International Space Station flies by, as well as calendar alerts to upcoming celestial events. These could be at your geolocation, and/or around the world over the coming months and years. I can read about the cool ones and add them to my Google Calendar with months of advanced notifications!

I have been very fortunate to have seen one total solar eclipse (August 2017), and one total lunar eclipse in my life here in Oregon (March 2025). It would be a real treat to get to see other amazing celestial events in the coming years.

I saw my first total lunar eclipse, in part due to this app right outside my front door. It was a work night, but I went to bed and briefly woke up to see it and go back to bed. We got really lucky with a bit of clouds clearing just in time. It was around 12:07am on March 14, 2025 (unfortunately I missed the most recent total lunar eclipse on March 3rd, although the timing was worse, as I would have had to wake at 3am and go back to bed on a work night, but I still wish I had added it to my calendar).

The second app that I like is the Aurora app for tracking the northern lights. You can see live webcams of some of the best activity in the world at the moment too which is cool. In the Portland, Oregon region, getting the northern lights is so rare, and I was bummed out not seeing it last time. But this app does notify you when there is a slight chance of auroral activity at your location. The closest spots to Oregon are often at best British Columbia, but more often Yukon or Alaska. So not exactly a quick drive. But one I’ll do someday? You bet. Mother nature’s, trippy, colorful night skies are indeed on my bucket list to see at some point!

The American Immigration Council, a subsidiary of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is an excellent nonprofit advocacy organization. They are much like the ACLU, but with a niche pro-immigration law and policy focus.

The following blog article, from several months ago is well worth a read regarding the Dignity Act. www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/legi… I heard about it from an immigration lawyer I follow on YouTube, Brad Bernstein, who made jokes about it has a practically zero percent chance of passing. www.youtube.com/shorts/bs…

If you are familiar with the Dignity Act, then wow! Kudos to you for learning about the most esoteric, inconspicuous Congressional activity that’s been given functionally no media attention. In many ways, it makes sense, given it’s virtually impossibility of passing in this hyper-partisan gridlock. Indeed, the insanity surrounding ICE got front page headlines, and deservedly so. Even so, I was a bit surprised to have not heard about it. I thought I follow U.S. immigration news pretty closely, and even I wasn’t familiar.

There are elements of the Dignity Act that both progressives and conservatives will absolutely hate. I don’t love it myself, especially as our border with Mexico is as secure as ever. Mexico is not run by ISIS or Kim Jong Un. But much like Oregon’s property tax system, there is no perfect fix to the last 30 years of U.S. immigration history, but that doesn’t mean all ideas are are equal. E-verify is so piecemealed anyways, replete with perverse incentives, that this does a quasi-reset anyways.

To help appease Republicans, the proposed Dignity Act mandates nationwide E-verify, increased border security, and that it only applies to non-criminal undocumented folks, who don’t get an independent path to citizenship or federal benefits despite paying into them, and pay a $7,000 fine over time. It also wouldn’t use any taxpayer funds, and would be immigrant funded, a net tax benefit. I could see how that could be a selling point to Republicans, those who ostensibly claim to not hate immigrants who want to “pay their debt to society” for “not getting to the back of the line and doing immigration the ‘right’ way.”

However, to help satisfy Democrats, it creates a new lawful immigration status called “dignity status” which provides both international travel and work authorization, and protection from deportation if program conditions are met. If those with dignity status are married to a U.S. citizen, or have U.S. citizen children over 21, they could much more easily adjust status outside of the dignity program, and get potentially get inadmissibility bars like unlawful entry waived. It also gets those who entered the U.S. without inspection as children (whether or not DACA status is active) automatically upgraded to a conditional green card, followed by a lawful permanent resident green card, and eventual citizenship if conditions are met.

Side note: speaking of citizenship we MUST affirm birthright citizenship. I hope the Supreme Court does so, and I think they will. Not only does the 14th Amendment speak for itself, but so many people fail to understand that NOT every child automatically gets their parents' home country’s citizenship, and even when they do, it can cost money and time. Plus it will fuck over regular U.S. born children to U.S. born citizens, who don’t automatically get citizneship at birth, but have to go through far more bureaucracy to prove their parents are citizens. It would create a ton of hassle for entirely native born American families.

The prospect of statelessness, where someone is born without citizenship to any place, I see as a very dangerous human rights problem, even if it’s only temporary. It could easily open the door to babies of Mexican immigrants being deported to impoverished, unstable third countries like South Sudan. Everyone deserves to have at least one reasonably stable, peaceful country in the world claim them as their own people from day 1. While I reject American exceptionalism, and believe America is only one of many great countries to be a citizen of in the world, you should get to be a born a citizen where you first arrive into this world, period, full stop. Regardless of the parents, I just think that’s only right and just for humanity.

While not without some serious downsides, compared to the status quo, the Dignity Act sounds like a net improvement from my read of it. For progressives who oppose this legislation, under the excuse of creating second class residents, I would ask, “how is the status quo any better?” Because it isn’t.

Photo below: Oh no! There’s a gap in the border fence! Look at all of those violent criminals and kilos of fentanyl coming through there, by the millions!

Lately I haven’t prioritized my blog and writing daily like I normally like to do. My list of topics I want to write about has been growing faster the days elapsing, which is pretty cool, huh? It feels like life has had one thing after another these last couple of weeks, both good and bad. It has been wonderful finally having the whole interior of the house painted (as it looks and smells way better after the kitchen fire) but it has created a lot of house work with packing and moving, and unpacking belongings in addition to the usual requirements. That said, I’ve been running and went to the Wildwood Trail today for over 12 miles to avoid the sun and get some time jogging. Marathoning again this year is tbd, but feels great to try to stay in good shape nonetheless, especially for the Cascade Relay coming up which I’m joining upon invite!

The Oura app finally gave me my chronotype and body clock since my last post. I am officially a “morning type” based on its assessment, and supposedly my ideal sleeping time is 9:53pm, midpoint at 1:53am, and awake at 5:53am. It’s kind of cool to know this. My Oura sleep stats have worsened the last week or two as I think the scores are more calibrated to my baseline rather than the generic person, although I am very fortunate to sleep mostly well most nights. My weekend scores are invariably better with not waking up at 4:45 am. It will be cool to see more as things progress.

Also, I rarely watch TV, but now that we have a TV in the bedroom mounted, I started watching and listening to the sitcom “Kim’s Convenience” when folding laundry and puttering. It’s about a Korean-Canadian family running a convenience store in Toronto. It is hilarious! And has the cringey, ridiculous style humor of The Office, which I love. I never even knew about it. I guess most Canadian TV shows just aren’t very popular here in America? Since this family is stereotypically Korean-Canadian, both in the show and real life, it is full of their own good-natured Korean and Canadian stereotypes. Now how about some kimchi bulgogi beef bibimbap with my ketchup chips and Molson, eh?

Today I checked out a new hiking area en route home from the Oregon Coast with my wife and two dogs, called Drift Creek Falls Trail 1378. It was on a very narrow paved forest road from the Lincoln City area. We brought some binoculars in hopes of seeing the whale migrations at Boiler Bay State Scenic Viewpoint (apparently whales are supposed to be headed from Mexico up to Alaska at this time). We didn’t see anything in the sunny, cold, and very windy beach weather. Mildly disappointing, but maybe some other time. It was nice to just do a day trip and get a change of pace on a nice day.

A couple cool YouTube videos that I stumbled across this last week while I haven’t been updating the blog:

1. Neil deGrasse Tyson gives a very insightful astrophysicist’s perspective of why war is very bad for humanity and the planet from an evolutionary standpoint. The Star Talk channel that he leads seems intriguing so I subscribed to it. Totally makes sense why the guy is good friends with Bill Nye, The Science Guy. www.youtube.com/watch

2. I mentioned James Talarico before, but he continues to impress me. At this point, he’d be my top choice for a “national” 2028 Democrat who’d make a great president, even over Gavin Newsom. Talarico just has serious charisma, he’s well spoken, and sounds moderate, patrioritic, and Jesus loving in rhetoric, while being totally progressive on policy, which is perfect (While, for example, I love Zohran Mamdani, but realize he’d be too progressive in rhetoric for a national candidate). This video was great with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov of Raging Moderates. www.youtube.com/watch

3. SNL last week was awesome! Harry Styles joined in a couple of some funny clips too! Plus, Weekend Update was great as usual. Not to mention James Austin Johnson’s impersonations are spot on. My faves from last Saturday: www.youtube.com/watch www.youtube.com/watch www.youtube.com/watch

Will have more to add soon too!

Recently my direct supervisor in our team meeting mentioned how he wanted to prime our meeting with a Beastie Boys song, but didn’t have a jam in mind with “work appropriate” lyrics. (I highly doubt anyone on my team would have been taken issue with less-than-clean lyrics, but I get it. It’s a professional setting, and better to be safe than sorry on a topic eligible to be a needless HR headache. Fair enough.)

So, with the “clean lyrics” ethos in mind, I had the audacious and silly Michael Scott-esque idea of offering to share a poem on property tax appeals, when the next team meeting started. As a matter of fact, my very first ever ChatGPT prompt was asking it to write me an Oregon property tax poem, to which it blew my mind in 7 seconds!

My direct supervisor, whom I like and respect a lot (and I’d imagine he feels similarly towards me), and shares a similar sense of humor, was coincidentally gone that meeting (although that wasn’t a factor in my calculus of whether or not to share). In a half serious, half joking, prim-and-proper tone, I pitched it as a potential on-topic way for us to get in the zone and maybe even better engaged with the minutiae of our [dry and administrative] job duties, as a plausible, “clean lyrics” alternative to our boss’s cool idea.

If you’re already chuckling, and maybe cringing a little, you’re in good company. I took it a step further and decided to take a verbal poll over Zoom, and ask if anyone wanted to hear it. One of my colleagues suggested waiting until our supervisor was back so he wasn’t left out. I laughed and replied “that’s the nicest way I’ve saying, ‘please no, spare us the cringe! Don’t be a Michael Scott with us being Jim Halperts.’ But it’s all good, I’ll spare you guys.” Given the cultural popularity of the TV Show “The Office,” I knew most people would get the joke, and it seems everyone did. I got some hearty laughs after that.

Most people seemed to enjoy my sincere and goofy essence, especially since I’m a good colleague that cares about others, and gets my job done. And honestly, if that type of completely innocuous humor happened to be less than well-received by someone, who didn’t say anything, I don’t fucking care. Those wouldn’t be the people that I’d click with or win over anyways. If you have a problem with me as a colleague, you’d have a problem with anyone as a colleague.

I’ll take my net social winnings with those who matter and actually appreciate me, and those who don’t can be dismissed as overhead on my figurative social balance sheet, as emotionlessly as utilities or administrative fees. With age, my figurative social net operating income (NOI) only increases, and figurative social expense ratio only decreases, especially measured year over year, or longer.

In the meantime before the next week’s meeting, I shared the poem with my supervisor during our one-on-one. The look on his face was worth a thousand words. He jokingly suggested that in my free time, I make an AI-generated “chill hip-hop remix” of my property tax poetry lyrics. So I kept that in mind.

The next meeting my supervisor also had to be gone, so I told our team that I already shared the poem with him and we didn’t have to worry about excluding him. To not inadvertently push anyone’s discomfort with my goofy sense of humor too far, I mentioned that if anyone actually wanted to hear the ridiculous poem, to just privately message me. To my pleasant and rather endearing surprise, my one other colleague on my team close to my age (she’s I believe a few years younger actually) reached out and said she wanted to hear it.

Fortunately this type of poem wouldn’t be a foreseeable HR problem. Being a government employee, I know everything I do is subject to public records requests and auditing. I never say anything on my work chat or email that I wouldn’t be okay with my boss’s boss’s boss seeing, or plastered on the front pages of The Oregonian.

More recently this week, even though my supervisor was totally joking about the hip hop mix tape, he was absolutely rolling on the floor cracking up, when I actually followed through on making an AI generated song, and shared the MP3 files, although this time over private personal phone text. I also privately shared the MP3 files over text, to both my boss and my above mentioned colleague.

So how did I pull this off? Well the poem was courtesy of Gemini. The actual soundtrack was courtesy of the free version of the Suno app/website. It was kind of fun, to be honest. On a more serious note, I think real creativity in music is still far better done by human ingenuity. That said, for comedy, parodies, etc., or as a learning tool, AI can be a novel and admittedly fun tool/toy.

It’s a good lesson that while actually doing your job well, with integrity to the public matters first and foremost, it’s also good to be able to make fun of yourself and enjoy the journey along the way. Take your job seriously, but take yourself less so.

So… here’s the poem:

At Five-Oh-One, on Haw-thorne Street, Where pub-lic needs and val-ues meet. I serve the town with heart and pride, With mar-ket da-ta as my guide.

On Jan-u-ar-y first, the day, I look at what the mar-kets say. The stat-ute says that I must be, A source of deep neu-tral-i-ty.

The retail owner has a case, We meet to-geth-er, face to face. We look at ev-ery va-cant space, To find the mar-ket’s hon-est place.

I use the income approach tool, It is the standard coun-ty rule. We take the prof-it, then di-vide, With math-e-mat-ics on our side.

For mul-ti-fam-ly build-ings too, I check the ren-tal facts with you. I find the rates from down the street, To make the val-ue quite com-plete.

The ner-dy num-bers help me show, How val-ues rise or how they go. I share the sales that I have found, To keep the roll on sol-id ground.

Though Mea-sure Fif-ty lim-its change, And keeps the tax-es in a range. It is my goal to be sin-cere, For ev-ery per-son wait-ing here.

The PVAB board will make the call, In-side the coun-ty hear-ing hall. The clerk records the fi-nal word, Where ev-ery voice is fair-ly heard.

How about it eh? I tried attaching the audio file samples to give it a listen, but it didn’t seem to work, so you’ll just have to take my word, or reach out to me. I also attached a screenshot of the Suno website.

I haven’t yet listened (start to finish) the Grace Under Pressure live 1984 Toronto show, posted by Rush’s official YouTube channel yet. www.youtube.com/watch But I did pre-save the Grace Under Pressure remastered album in Spotify, got notified about it. I re-listened to the whole re-released studio portion start to finish on my long, slow run today.

Also, for some book updates, I finished “Abundance” on audiobook by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. Excellent read, and free on Libby! It’s nice to take a little hiatus from podcasts, and the inevitable ads that accompany their free episodes.

The first portion of “Abundance” by Klein gets very wonky, dense, and into the stats. But it all binds together well, without being overly optimistic or pessimistic. If that’s your cup of tea like me, you’re in for a treat. Conversely, if you’re more into the nonfiction narrative, historical explanations of ideas, the Thompson portion (part 2) of the book might be more for you, although both authors feature both wonky stats and narration. Even as someone with formal education in Enviro Econ and Policy, and Public Admin, I learned some new ideas myself, which mostly validated my own intuitions and understandings alike with some broader clarity…and detailed receipts! The big takeaway, in a sentence? We can have a quasi-utopian future of sustainable development by efficiently and effectively implementing clean, cutting edge tech at scale, some of which is already underway.

I’ve also been listening to “The Age of Grievance” by Frank Bruni of the New York Times, also on Libby. I’m about halfway done now, and find it super insightful on how much grievance is glorified in society, in a really unhealthy way. Will give more of an update when done!

Last, I also started listening to “The Let Them Theory” by Mel Robbins. I’ve listened to excerpts of her podcast episodes and like the content I’ve heard by her. She’s chatted with both Jefferson Fisher, and Vanessa Marin before. Not far in, but so far so good!

Yesterday I had a nice surprise to see that my directly deposited paycheck was several hundred dollars higher than normal and expected, after taxes!

As I believe the saying goes, “a life well-funded is a life less stressful.” Actually, I don’t know if that’s a common saying… but I remember hearing it somewhere! Can’t remember the source. But I like it because “well-funded” isn’t simply glamorizing wealth in and of itself.

As it turns out, I’m getting back pay since July 1, 2025 for a retroactive cost of living adjustment, and wage changes, added to my current mid-March paycheck! I hadn’t been following developments closely like I should have, but union negotiations took place for a long time between AFSCME Local 88 and Multnomah County. Then it understandably took time for payroll to process. Information is publicly available here:

www.afscmelocal88.org/2026/02/l…

There is also a NW Labor Press article about it: nwlaborpress.org/2026/01/m… My wife and I both get print editions mailed to our house for free as members, but their content is online. I highly recommend reading it if you care about labor union activity in the PNW!

It was very welcome news during a time of unusual and unavoidable expenses such as immigration filing fees, my car’s registration DEQ and registration renewal, and my wife needing new construction boots and pants. My parents have also generously helped with reducing our housing payment this month, and fronting the cost of the post-fire expenses like the stove, and painting. While my wife and I have been low on day-to-day cash this year, we have proudly been making principal payments on credit card debt, and have exclusively used the debit card for everything.

I think the old saying about money not buying happiness is such a crock of shit for the bottom 90% of society. Here’s my metric: until you can comfortably make ends meet while also having 3-6 months of liquid short-term savings, and are totally debt-free (with the exception of fixed low-interest, secured debt that’s specifically leveraged towards a lucrative investment, like a house), money absolutely buys happiness. Maybe put another way, financial security buys happiness, and well over half of society does not meet that criteria. Beyond that, then it probably buys happiness, but not by big margins, if at all. I think the money-happiness graph follows a logarithmically-shaped line with quickly diminishing marginal returns for each additional dollar beyond a certain point.

I take a more controversial, leftist position than most of society, but I think there should be legal ceilings and floors on everyone’s poverty and wealth. I don’t think anyone should live below the federal poverty line, or personally have more than $999 million dollars. I don’t think billionaires should exist. Multi-millionaires, yes, but billionaires, no. Organizations, foundations, governments, etc. could have billions, sure, but not individuals. The figurative floor to ceiling height is still pretty fucking high. After all, if you’re living just above the poverty line, you’re simply having basic necessities of shelter and food met. Conversely, if you’re not happy with $999 million dollars, the problem is you, and only you. There are plenty of other people that would take $9 million, or $0.9 million and be stoked, myself included.

Today marks 6 years since the World Health Organization officially declared the no-longer-novel Coronavirus a global pandemic. Man, what a long and very strange trip it has been since then, both personally and societally, spanning ages 24 to 30 for me.

Wednesday, March 11, 2020 was also the last “normal” day of major gatherings, such as professional sports and concerts here in Oregon, and very likely elsewhere, as lockdown restrictions came into full effect over the coming days.

I remember that strange day for totally unrelated reasons, as my colleague whom I liked, was terminated for cause, with very unfortunate timing. I remember hearing rumblings about this novel virus before, in late February 2020 when a Lake Oswego School District custodian was hospitalized, and around the same time, The Daily podcast mentioned how what happened in Wuhan (roughly the size of Chicago) with its lockdowns could happen here. But it wasn’t until Monday, March 16, when I got sent home to work remotely and Oregon went into partial lockdown that I fully understood how cataclysmic, devastating, and game-changing this virus would be. I have some strange recollections between March 11th and March 16th, as things became progressively more eerie.

In hindsight, I’m grateful for how privileged I really was relative to most of humanity. I never contracted this microscopic enemy until the Omicron variant infected me in February 2022 (on the tail end of its January 2022 peak) nearly two years later, and after being vaccinated and boosted.

Goose released their final jams of 3/11/2020, which also turned out to be their last “regular” concert before things reopened in 2021. I discovered these hidden jems much later, probably at least a year or two. Their “Lovely Day” cover was awesome and especially their jam starting around 3:57 to the end: www.youtube.com/watch Their version of “Arrow” was also great, and likely one of my favorite versions of the song I’ve heard: www.youtube.com/watch Well mixed too! The cool part is that Jeremy Schon, the lead guitarist for Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, joined on the second part of the Goose song, “Butter Rum.” A fun jam indeed. Plus, Jeremy Schon is such an underrated guitarist. Fitting titles perhaps, given it was last “Lovely Day” of live concerts, as the “Arrow” of the pandemic loomed?

Also, and not for nothing, newly released content by Anika Nilles I see? Um, yes! Sign me up! Need I say more? www.youtube.com/watch The odd time signature rhythms and vibey synths were pretty cool to listen to!

I don’t know where I was going to go with today’s blog post. I had a few ideas. As regular readers of this blog know, I am a regular listener of Ezra Klein’s podcast, as well as the New York Times' “The Daily,” and sometimes I listen to “Today Explained” or “On Point” with Meghna Chakrabarti, all shows aired that have been aired on NPR.

A few thoughts. I haven’t followed the news cycle of late very closely, although I listened to recent podcasts as I was intrigued to understand Iran better. I’m no foreign policy expert, but feel like I have a better grasp of it than many, if not most Americans. While I fully condemn Trump and Netanyahu provoking conflict, and see both leaders as truly evil, reprehensible men, it’s worth noting the silver lining. I saw a report that many Iranians around the world justifiably celebrated the Ayatollah’s killing, especially in hopes of potential future family reunification. I was glad to see the Iranian regime momentarily destabilized. Fuck violent religious fascism or oppression in any form. According to the Ezra Klein podcast I listened to with guest Ben Rhodes–a senior advisor to President Obama, who helped work on the Iran Nuclear Deal–supposedly most Iranians don’t support the regime by about 80/20. Fuck the religious right wing 20% of Iranians that do. Similarly, fuck the minority of Americans that support January 6th Insurrectionists. Same shit, different toilet. Anyways, the worst part is the new Iranian Supreme Leader sounds like just as much of a piece of shit, from the little I saw. I hoped the fleeting celebration would be a precursor to a better outcome. If Trump does one thing that has a positive outcome, I’ll still praise it, even if I hate everything else. But as history seems to teach us over and over again, power vacuums rarely ever have positive outcomes.

Besides an argument for disarmament, the best point I heard from Klein’s conversation with Rhodes (and I’m paraphrasing here but not by much), is that like with nukes, we need a de-escalatory disarmament race, rather than an escalatory arms race.

Most importantly: choosing to not attack a country does NOT mean we approve of their authoritarian regime at all. We can feel sorry for the mostly good people of Iran, and also not get caught up in armed conflict. War should be an absolute last resort. Very rarely in history has it actually been necessary for humanity’s greater good.

From an U.S. immigration perspective, not only is there a visa ban to Iranians, outside of the U.S. at the State Department, but also for Iranians inside the U.S. seeking immigration benefits from USCIS. Like with many Mexicans, there is all too often long term long term or indefinite family separations. The longstanding Iranian regime seemed mostly to blame, although the U.S. government has not exactly made legal Iranian immigration easy. While outright country bans are nothing but racist nonsense, that said, people do need to be vetted. The negative effects of uncontrolled migration and open borders would be very real. I get that. I take a progressive left position on immigration, never a far-left anarchist one. But Canada’s immigration system, while far from perfect, is light years better and more sensible in every detail I’ve read.

I also think there’s some layer of intentionality by the powers that be, in making it difficult or dangerous for Middle Easterners and Westerners to visit each others' very different countries and cultures. After all, if in lieu of propaganda, people from different cultures could firsthandly see and understand the humanity of each other, we’d be less likely to support armed conflict towards the other.

Point being, anything that helps lessen international family separations is a win in my book. It’s something even liberal media doesn’t seem to emphasize enough, if at all. I think most Iranians, Mexicans, Americans, and really most people from most places, even from opposite cultures, are still more similar than different. I think most humans just want to live their lives in peace, and with enough means and dignity to support themselves, their families, and their communities. It’s crazy to think of what a human construct it all is, not just government repression, but nation states and borders.

From an self-serving American perspective though, military action against Iran so dumb beyond belief. Why get involved now? Iran hasn’t attacked us! We fortunately haven’t suffered a major foreign terrorist attack in a quarter century. The number one priority should be preventing terrorism, not attacking other nations, unprovoked. We flushed the Iran nuclear deal down the toilet so stupidly and for nothing! Why risk further entrenching anti-American sentiment among extremists in that region? It doesn’t exactly sound like it’d make our homeland any more “secure.” Hypocritically, somehow it didn’t matter for the U.S. to intervene when the Iranian regime gunned down thousands of peaceful protesters earlier in 2026, but now it’s fine, since Netanyahu has Trump by the balls now? And who the fuck is Israel to be the morality police of Iran, when they have arguably committed full-blown genocide in Gaza, starving and killing magnitudes more innocent civilians than Hamas terrorists, most of whom had absolutely nothing to do with depraved October 7th terrorist attack? Not to mention, the U.S. has no shortage of very real, domestic crises here at home.

I think of Reza Azlan’s premise in his book “How To Win a Cosmic War” which is to refuse to fight one (I haven’t read the whole thing, only the intro, but its thesis is on point). Similarly, I’ve heard scholars on nuclear proliferation say the best thing to do is to not have an arms race, but a disarmament race. Can’t imagine the same analogy doesn’t apply here, given the above-mentioned ethos of most humans just wanting to live their lives in peace around the world.

Let’s hope things get better eventually.

On Friday morning, both my wife and I had the day off of work, and we briefly left our house for the gym around 9:15am to lift weights for 30 minutes.

Upon driving up to the house returning from the gym, everything seemed normal. But then when I turned the front door key, to our utter horror, the entire interior of the house was filled with smoke so thick we could barely see, with no fire alarms going off, and all of the windows closed. We bolted into action. The pets were nowhere to be found. Fortunately everyone was alive and ok, other than some smoke inhalation and vomiting, but we didn’t know that right away.

I’ll always take shit happening over tragedy happening.

Without thinking, we carelessly left a wooden cutting board on our electric, smoothtop stove. It was thoroughly charred, and still in flames when we came rushing in. One or both of the dogs had jumped on the stove when we were gone, to get some blueberries and maybe remnants of tuna, and hit the front facing stove knob to turn it on. We suspect it was Cici, the flat coated retriever. Both dogs have been notorious for counter surfing, and Sage constantly finds non-food items like plastic parts or shoes that she’ll chew up, which we’re usually good about putting in closets.

We were so fucking lucky we came home not a moment later than we did. The fucked up part was the smoke detectors we bought on Amazon a while ago didn’t even go off. What the fuck? That made me angry. One star review on those! Time for a Whole Foods return and refund, and anything short of that, channeling my “I’m quite displeased, and would like to speak to your manager,” vibes. While I prefer not to be, I know how to be a polite, yet firm “Karen” when the situation truly warrants it. Think of your stereotypical Canadian academic when mistreated and angry. I grew up in Lake Oswego after all!

Back to what happened: in an adrenaline-fueled panic, I covered my face with my thin dri-fit running shirt, which did little to filter carcinogens in the air. I didn’t even realize how bad my smoke inhalation was until much later when I could feel this novel, irritated pain in my trachea and bronchial tubes. I probably inhaled 100 cigarettes worth of carcinogens in 10 min. Fortunately, being a marathon runner and a non-smoker helped my already stronger-than-average lungs have optimal resilience and recovery capacity.

I immediately opened every window and ran through the garage to the electrical box to turn off the kitchen range circuit, which took 15 seconds longer than it should, as I couldn’t see well, and had belongings in the way, but I found it. Fortunately, we had a fire extinguisher right by the fridge. My wife had the wherewithal to know how to use it in seconds from her safety training as a pipefitter. I had the intuitive, but profoundly stupid idea of spraying down the stove with water, since it was a wood fire, rather than an oil or chemical fire. But it still could have been very dangerous, since the glass surface cracks from rapid changes in high temps, and has electrical components underneath. I later learned that if you are dealing with oils, gasoline, lithium battery, electrical, or other chemical-induced fires, never use water.

With the fire chemically extinguished, and all of the windows open, and the back sliding glass door open, we searched for all 3 cats and 2 dogs. Turns out Sage was hiding in the master closet, and resisted me rescuing her out of understandable terror. But I grabbed her anyway, reassured her as I carried her down and outside of the house. I knew every second counted. Cici appeared out of nowhere during the process, presumably going outside instinctually, and the cats were found behind the couches, clothes, or in the cat tree.

Once the fire was put out and everyone was rescued, we were all just stunned, and traumatized. We felt this intense mix of guilt for being so stupid and careless, and also gratitude that everyone was alive and we came back when we did.

I hate it when my home, yard, or my car is a total shitshow of a mess, maybe more than most. This weekend definitely overwhelmed me. Sure, my car has a few dings and scratches on it, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I probably do have some level of undiagnosed OCD though, since it just bugs me. Maybe it’s the inability to find things. Maybe it’s the realization of how much more there is to do before I can have some leisure time.

Sometimes I wish I was the chill and laid-back hippie I’d like to be, but when it comes to extreme clutter, grime, hoarding, or messes that are going to take hours or literally all day to fix–I’m admittedly as uptight and rigid as it gets. I just have a hard time relaxing. I’d love to someday be able to live comfortably below my means, and hire help with deep cleaning and/or yard upkeep.

Unfortunately, the stovetop was cracked and permanently damaged. It would have been equally expensive to repair it as to buy a replacement one (with knobs on the back) so we bought a new one. We spent the weekend deep cleaning, scrubbing walls and ceilings, washing dishes, re-washing clothes and bedding that had just been washed. Fortunately it was a wood fire, so the house smelled like a natural campfire rather than melted plastic or something highly synthetic, but it still wasn’t good. It’s gotten better each day though.

The whole thing came at bad timing financially with a lot of expensive necessities happening. My parents have generously helped helped front the cost of the new stove, and painting the house, if needed. Fortunately my in-laws and parents have helped with bringing food. My sister-in-law helped scrub the couches.

The lesson from all of this is obviously to never leave anything on the stove, especially if you have dogs, take off the stove knobs, and unplug dryers and toasters. Clean everything out periodically, so nothing is a fire hazard. Keep two fire extinguishers, and one in the kitchen. Keep a clear path to the electrical, water, and gas shutoffs. It could mean life or death.

It’s a good reminder to everyone to think about your home in the exact same way a firefighter or fire marshall would. If you haven’t done so already, that’s awesome! If not, I urge you to do so as soon as you can.

Regarding community, I mentioned Stavros Halkias previously doing great comedy. Check out this video where he talks about this caller’s dad falling in love with ChatGPT. The latter part is so great, it’s like DUDE! Fucking meet people in-person to play board games! People are lonely. Anyways, it’s funny, and has a good message: www.youtube.com/watch

It’s amazing how much nostalgia I feel sometimes for the in-store, in-person experience. We can get to the nth degree of market efficiency by having self checkouts, but unless it’s one item with a long line, I try to avoid it. It’s good to chat with the clerk at the checkstand. Does anyone under 30 know what that’s really like? Sometimes I wish I could time travel to 1995, where I can only imagine people had to act awkwardly in line, and start conversations with strangers, since smartphones didn’t exist back then.

Usually with products, I want to test out a product in the store. Can’t really do that online.

Similarly, I’ve also never liked the e-readers on my phone. I like the print editions. I recently went to Powell’s Books, and realized how awesome it was just to browse physical copies and run my fingers through the freshly printed pages of a new hardcover. You don’t get that from Amazon. The library feels very similar. We need more so-called “third spaces” for people, which transcend demographics and serve everyone.

It’s one of the reasons why I was especially frustrated with this Multi-Level Marketing Amway scam attempt that happened to my wife and I, at our local Target store last December. You could say we were “targeted,” pun intended! It’s a long story, but for now, suffice it to say there were giant red flags getting bigger and brighter as the conversation went on, leading to a Christmas party invite from total strangers. Odd enough, but okay. But what made me far more upset than whatever dumb bullshit they were trying to sell itself was the deceptive methodology behind it: the exploitation of people’s sincere willingness to chat with strangers, especially in 2026 when everyone’s lonely.

Similarly on theme, I also did a presentation recently in-person at Portland State University that just isn’t the same over Zoom. Speaking to everyone in person was so great! I’m the odd person that usually enjoys public speaking. I did a presentation that explored the practical elements of my completed graduate level experiential learning project: the time management, people skills, and everything else, which meant so much. While there are plenty of people to go around to talk about what such a learning project might be at a local government substantively––which I did address for a few minutes––more importantly, I talked candidly about the practical stuff, from lifestyle trade-offs, tight finances, less social time and partner time, and using AI responsibly rather than avoiding it, which I think people appreciated.

Also on my mind: last night I attended the men’s meetup group for a second time recommended by my therapist (my first time was several weeks ago) which was also great in having a space for men to share more openly challenges they are going through, without stigma or judgment. On the in-person theme: attending in-person was so valuable! I’m making it a goal to go to events like this at least weekly, and also other meetups without pushing myself too hard. The Meetup App, by the way, makes the daunting task of branching out simpler. I highly recommend people download the app and make a free account, as it’s easy to use.

Speaking of Meetups that step outside of my comfort zone: I also look forward to the Dougy Center orientation later this month, as discussed in a prior post, and sharing how that experience goes.

Kai Ryssdal is among one of my favorite journalists. Likely my number 1 favorite of all time. He has an excellent radio voice, radiant charisma, and isn’t nearly as serious as Ezra Klein. Even the recent Marketplace episode (2/24/26) with the outgoing President of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, Raphael Bostic, included some dry humor and charm.

I’m a little late on the subject, but it was great to hear Ryssdal chat with Scott Galloway again recently on the Prof G pod, especially in reverse roles, being interviewed rather than the interviewer, posted on 2/19/26: www.youtube.com/watch

I was a bit surprised to hear Ryssdal mention (I’m paraphrasing here, but not by much) the idea that public media shouldn’t be dependent on federal funding indefinitely, but rather just to kickstart operations. Ryssdal having said that absolutely FLOORED me! But on second thought, his explanation sounded reasonable nonetheless, and had me reconsidering my position on federal funding of public media being essential. I’m not sure that I agree with Ryssdal, in that I still support ongoing federal funding of public media, and think it’s vital to have a public source of news info ostensibly not fully corrupted by corporate money or special interests. There is a reason why NPR, OPB, and Marketplace are less “clickbaity” than CNN or Fox News, or worse of all, hate-mongered disinformation platforms like InfoWars, or 4chan/8chan. That said, even public media has its “underwriters” so it’s not perfect, but certainly not comparable.

Personally, I like Ryssdal much much more than Galloway. While Galloway brings up many good points, my opinion on Galloway is extremely mixed for many reasons. I appreciated his viral TED talk, and his book “The Algebra of Wealth.” However, last year on the Raging Moderates podcast, Galloway and his co-host Jessica Tarlov pontificated some profoundly misguided immigration perspectives (which I will talk about why in-depth sometime later). Admittedly, it really rubbed me the wrong way, as someone who objectively is much more of an immigration subject matter expert than either of them. For another, I think Galloway’s content is excellent regarding the challenges young men face, especially if you read or watch him in depth, which is great. Yet, his social media approach seems to prioritize soundbites designed to get attention, controversy (and consequently ad revenue), rather than to inform well. How ironic given that his published books seem great. Yet, unfortunately in today’s algorithmic social media economy, there is usually a trade-off between being “attention-grabbing” and being “informative.” I think someone with Galloways’ magnitude of wealth and influence should prioritize the latter of said tradeoff rather than the former.

Galloway also sounded like such a negative baby boomer, totally missing the point, when he mentioned to Ryssdal that youth unemployment is around 10%, which is supposedly “typical.” He suggested that youth sentiment might be exaggerated. Are you fucking kidding me? That’d be like telling a school teacher that a class size of 40 students is historically normal, and imply that teacher burnout is just over-exaggerated by social media. Even if you’re not a school teacher yourself in the trenches, assertions like that would be poorly-received. Why would it be any different for young people?

And sure, I’m all for critical thinking, and food for thought. It’s always good to know what the “other side” is saying and step outside of your own echo chamber.

But at the same time, let’s not slip into the tendency of giving misleading data disproportionate “voice” or influence, just to sound “moderate.” Such a statement might sound thoughtful, but sounding thoughtful and being thoughtful aren’t the same thing.

Ryssdal’s reply to Galloway was excellent, challenging him: “well can you blame them [young people]?” To Galloway’s credit, he said no and backed down. Ryssdal then went on to address the substance of the question, in intelligent, nuance-filled depth.

Personally, I don’t care how “typical” 10% for youth unemployment might be, it’s still totally unacceptable, no matter the justification. And it’s all the more unacceptable when so many other unfavorable generational economic factors are stacked on top.

Consider the following: if you used a credible unemployment rate figure for ANY minority or underrepresented group, we’d be deep in a recession right now. If we had 10% “headline” unemployment, we wouldn’t accept that, because that would be akin to late 2000’s Great Recession numbers. It’s why headline economic data (namely unemployment and inflation numbers the Federal Reserve evaluates) must be taken with a gigantic, brick-sized hunk of salt. It’s why we must fund the Bureau of Labor Statistics to give us credible, accurate, and niche government data that is accessible to all of us, for free, as a public good.

Anyways, if you’re not a daily or even regular Marketplace listener, I’d strongly recommend it. Kai Ryssdal has a way of making what could be a dry business program into engaging material. I’ve learned so much from there. It almost all non-partisan, non-clickbaity content. Check it out!

Oh man, I’ve been slacking on the blog! Still have more niche things to write about though!

I’ll give more of a detailed review when I listen to it all, but I must give an honorable shoutout to Goose’s EDM-coated remix of their album Everything Must Go. I love their rave themed coloring of their original album cover, and love the explorative side. U2 did some electronic remixes of their songs too. I always love seeing the creativity and branching out. Some songs I like better than others, but always cool nonetheless to get this surprise! Must have been fun for them!

The last few days I went up to the mountain to ski with one of my best friends. This ski season at Mt. Hood for anyone following has been unseasonably weak this year. I’ve gone up on the best days in a weak season, so conditions have been at least average. Sometimes weather has been amazing, but snow quality has been a B at best. Getting outside, especially on a Friday is so important to me. The fresh alpine air, or going out for a run, it’s important when your job is very sedentary, indoors, and on a screen. My friend and I have been alternating on who drives to the mountain rather than paying each other back and forth for gas money. But you know what? The ski season isn’t over yet, so we’ll hope for a miracle March. The days are getting longer, and I feel grateful to live so close to so much beautiful nature.

It was also fun going over to his house and playing video games this weekend, particularly the cross-platform Dead by Daylight (DBD) game. It’s very niche, but my former roommate and I became obsessed with it during the lockdown early days of the pandemic. Since it isn’t first person shooter (FPS) like Call of Duty or Battlefield, I actually was able to get proficient enough at playing. I don’t watch much TV, so I’ve thought about adopting one of my friends' PS4 consoles now what we have a couple of smart TVs that we got for free. My wife though loves that I don’t play video games, and comically hated the Dead by Daylight game when we all lived together early into dating. When DBD was playing on the living room subwoofers, she thought my roommate was watching porn! The the female survivor characters in the game (notably Feng Min) would squeal and moan in a very sexual sounding way, particularly when injured, or getting hung on one of the map’s sacrificial hooks by one of the killers. It was pretty hilarious! Whoever conceived the idea of this video game were probably a bunch of hetero men, no doubt.

Anyways, regarding getting outside, if I don’t start my day at 5:30am running with the dogs, I definitely do so at lunch or at least walk around and stretch during my morning or afternoon break. I have a foam roller in my home office area, and I’ve been good lately about doing 5 minute breathing meditations via my Oura app, and “rolling” out my body. I’m also trying to get my morning sunlight and setting my circadian rhythm. It seems to do wonders. I learned that from prior podcasts listening to Andrew Huberman.

I’m not a big fan anymore of popular health and science podcaster Andrew Huberman. I think he has credible info about sleep, sunlight, and circadian rhythms, among other topics. But I found his anti-vax tendencies alarming. His statement on not getting the flu vaccine years ago was eyebrow-raising, but everyone’s own autonomy I suppose? Worse yet, he circumvented discussing Covid vaccines, which was also strange. My fear was all but confirmed when he hosted Jay Bhattacharya, the current NIH director, who’s stance of letting the virus run rampant was nothing short of reckless. The fact that Huberman had on this Trump 2.0 appointee, without tempering it with a mainstream guy like Anthony Fauci said everything I needed to know. I’m all for openness to dissenting or unpopular opinions. But let’s also not pretend like they’re all perspectives have equal credibility. Even the most plausible conspiracy theories at best to me seem just short of 50/50 with the “official narrative.” There aren’t two sides to a story when one side is a lie. For example, flat earth, pizzagate, etc.

First of all, my wife passed the practical turnout test! One not-so-little victory, eh? (My fellow fans of Canadian dad rock will understand the reference. Maybe even those my fellow, unavoidably indoctrinated non-fans?) In any case they’re still several hundred on-the-job training hours (OJT) that need to be completed, and a State of Oregon boiler test, but the hardest part is over. Unfortunately, if you fail the turnout test, you have to defend yourself in front of the Junior Apprentice Training Council (JATC). Rather than having a standardized approach for allowing everyone multiple chances to retake it, nepotism and favoritism often gives way to discrimination. Avoiding all of that is a big win!

Speaking of pipefitting, the UA (United Association) has local union groups in Canada, and Mark Carney has repeatedly talked about the importance of the skilled trades (refreshing to see at least one influential liberal politician say so much). I would not be surprised at all if unemployed American UA pipefitters end up traveling to The Great White North to work there. Time will tell. I realize that the Supreme Court ruled against the tariffs, but it added little substantive certainty in an anything-but-certain economy, as last Friday, February 20th’s Marketplace episode illustrated in great depth.

A couple other quick things on my mind:

Speaking of Canada, Rush came out with some new promotional content and an interview. I must say, Geddy Lee mentioning that he’d be the J.Lo to Alex’s Beyonce had me dying and was NOT on my bingo card! Not to mention, the importance of good health, working out, and mastery all were themes o' the day. Both of the following are must-watches: www.youtube.com/watch www.youtube.com/watch

So, given the “good news first,” I thought it’d be a good throw back to 6 years ago today. My favorite live version of Phish’s “Everything’s Right” was performed February 23, 2020 www.youtube.com/watch It was Phish’s last show from the before times. Came up on YouTube, but been a while since I listened to it. What a great jam, all of it. A good reminder to live presently, and appreciate when things are right.