🏊♂️🚴♂️🏃♂️ Ready for tomorrow
🇵🇹 Lisbon trip
Friday, May 31, 2024
The second half of our Portugal trip was fun too. We stayed in São Vicente, to the east of the historical core. Lisbon is certainly bigger than Porto, so we used the transit system much more extensively and the Lisbon cards came in really handy with their access to transit and attraction discounts
Castelo de São Jorge offered some great views of the city, after a pretty steep hike.
A sailboat tour was a great way to see the city, especially since it included beer.
The Jerónimos Monastery was a highlight.
As was the Oceanarium.
Along with great food and drink
Finished reading: The Dog Sitter Detective by Antony Johnston is an entertaining and easy to read murder mystery 📚
Finished reading: The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss is a fun interlude of the Kingkiller Chronicle series 📚
Finished reading: Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie is a good continuation of a great series. Includes some interesting ideas about AI 📚
Finished reading: Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson has a good twist on the humans-colonizing-other-worlds narrative, along with his usual, highly technical descriptions 📚
🇵🇹 Porto trip
Thursday, May 23, 2024
The Porto half of our Portugal trip was great fun. We stayed on the west side of Bonfim, relatively close to the historic district and walked (seemingly) all over Porto. The one exception was taking the 500 bus out to the ocean for the afternoon.
We also took a day trip out to the Douro Valley for a couple of winery tours and port tastings. Well worth the trip for gorgeous scenery and tasty wine.
Lisbon is next!
🏃♂️ Today’s run was a fun exploration of Porto
Gorgeous views in Porto. We’re having a great first day here
🔗 Variations on the Theme of Silence
Silences that close us off, refusing connection, shoring up the ego at others’ expense—those are dead silences. But the letting-go sort, the silences that hold space or keep vigil for someone else? They are alive.
🏃♂️ Nice to be mostly on trails for today’s run
🎧 Perfect albums
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
On Hemispheric Views 110, Jason asked:
Pick in your mind a perfect album. And I think it’s mostly open to interpretation, but I’m kind of thinking an album that you would say you could just start from beginning, let it run all the way through, without skipping songs, without moving around, just front to back and just sit there and do nothing else and just listen to that whole album.
What would that album be?
An important, though fraught, question.
I completely agree with Andrew that OK Computer and Dark Side of the Moon both belong on the list. After that, there’s great opportunity to overthink this. Instead, I’m going with albums that were significant to me and, so, came to mind quickly.
The Joshua Tree by U2 (1987)
Violator by Depeche Mode (1990)
Ten by Pearl Jam (1991)
Us by Peter Gabriel (1992)
The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails (1994)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco (2001)
Give up by The Postal Service (2003)
Funeral by Arcade Fire (2004)
For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver (2007)
I also find it interesting that nothing comes to mind from the last 20 years. Is that because no one makes perfect albums anymore? Seems unlikely. More likely that our musical tastes get set when we’re younger and that I rarely listen to an actual album anymore. I can change this.
Finished reading: The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter is entertaining. Takes a relatively simple premise about parallel worlds and really works through the implications 📚
🏃♂️ A misty run this morning
🚴♂️ Nice to get out of the basement for a proper ride outside. First one of the season!
The coffe and pastries halfway through were very helpful.
Finished reading: Jinx by Matt Gemmell is a fun read. I enjoy these characters and the settings Gemmell places them in 📚
📷 Day 22 of the April Photoblogging Challenge
Blue
📷 Day 21 of the April Photoblogging Challenge
Mountain
📷 Day 20 of the April Photoblogging Challenge
Ice
📷 Day 19 of the April Photoblogging Challenge
Birthday
