What I’m Up To, Vol. 108
Here’s what I’ve been up to since Volume 107.
Hey friends,
Here’s what I’ve been up to since Vol. 107…
- June Happenings – Volume 108 marks 9 years of sending this little newsletter. I’m always a little surprised when I find out someone I admire is a long-time reader. Early in June I caught up with Tom Rath to hear about his new book What’s the Point?. He’s a subscriber. 🤯 Thanks for joining me on the journey!
We showed our ranch to some potential buyers, an older couple from Houston. The husband was a former engineer and Exxon executive. He peppered me with questions for 2 ½ hours while we drove around in our UTV. He needed to know everything about everything. How deep is the well? What’s the PSI? How many gallons is the tank? I didn’t have many specific answers. So we’d just go look together. Finally, he was asking about a tractor disc that had come with the ranch. How wide is it? Do you know the manufacturer? I stopped the UTV and turned to him. “Alan,” I said. “It’s yellow.” He cracked up and we drove over to have a look.
The highlight of my month was delivering a new keynote at Kit’s Craft + Commerce in Boise. It’s by far my favorite conference. They offer a nice mix of breakouts, attendee led events, masterminds, and keynotes. The headliner this year was James Clear, with a couple of thought-provoking Q&A sessions. The attendees are the best. Everyone is generous with their time and knowledge. I’m lucky to call many my friends.
On the social front, we celebrated Val’s birthday with a crawfish boil. It was Wendy’s first time eating mudbugs. She declared them “good,” especially with a cold beer. Happy bday, Val! We also celebrated Gus’s 22nd birthday. We took him shopping for some new clothes and he got a beard trimmer, which he has, thankfully, used. Dude got the hair gene, for sure. It clearly skips a generation.
Wendy set up a double date with Jennie and Lonnie for the Paramount Theater Summer Film series. We ate at the legendary Texas Chili Parlor before catching the 50th anniversary cut of JAWS on iMax.
For Father’s Day, we took the pups to the dog park, got ThoroughBread “burridoughs”, and ate lunch at Kerbey Lane. I also watched World War Z, which has become a tradition for reasons I can’t explain.
- What I’m Reading – For fiction, I read the 2025 Nebula Award-winning novella The Dragonfly Gambit by A.D. Sui. It’s a love triangle between empresses of a galaxy-spanning imperium, her star fighter pilot, and the pilot’s former lover, a disabled pilot turned saboteur. If you enjoy SciFi, it’s a solid addition to your list. I also loved Sourdough by Robin Sloan. It’s a magical realism novel about a robotics engineer in San Francisco who is gifted a sentient sourdough starter. I found myself surprisingly invested in Lois’s journey from software engineer to craft baker.
For nonfiction, The Way of Excellence by Brad Stulberg joins the ranks Best Reads contenders. Stulberg taps into his experience as a performance coach and researcher to highlight a harmonious approach to a great life. Like Oliver Burkeman, he wants to pursue excellence but without losing our sanity.
Finally, one of our coaches introduced me to Simone Stolzoff who wrote How to Not Know. Stolzoff is a journalistic poet. He writes beautifully about how we can embrace uncertainty with less anxiety.
- What I’m Watching – For starters, we’re watching a lot of World Cup games. Go USA! If anyone questions the expansion from 32 to 48 teams, remind them that we wouldn’t have gotten to witness Cape Verde’s miraculous run.
If you’re a fan of Hacks (HBO), the final season perfectly wraps up the story. The show is one of the strongest from start to finish. If you’re new to the show, be sure to watch the commentary after the episodes. HBO does such a good job with these vignettes. I’m surprised other streamers don’t copy the format for their signature shows.
Finally, we took in Normal with Bob Odenkirk. Someone successfully pitched “Yakuza take over a small town in Minnesota and a temporary sheriff saves the day.” And it kinda works.
That’s it for this month. Please reply back and let me know what you’re up to!
Be well, do good deeds, and eat tacos!
Jay
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