Thinking Inside and Outside the Box Newsletter 003 April 2024
Welcome to issue 003 of my newsletter. In case you are new here, the newsletter summarizes blog posts since the last newsletter, which was around a month ago.
Let's go. Or, as they say at the rodeo, "Let 'er buck!"
BOOKS
I only have one book review posted. Magic Hours is a collection of essays that I found quite enjoyable. It is intended to cover various forms of Art (writing and movie making seem most prominent), but what really appealed to me was author Tom Bissell's skillful prose.
I've been exploring Kurt Vonnegut's books that I last read while in high school. I reread Cat's Cradle and did a first reading of Slaughterhouse Five. Although enjoyable, I'm still liking The Sirens of Titan Better. Next in the queue is Player Piano.
Other book notes are waiting to be posted, but I'm not quite finished with them. One is a biography of Ben Franklin, the other is an introductory philosophy book by Michael Huemer. More on these next time.
FITNESS
I recently posted articles about these topics
a deep core muscle group called the QL
a theoretical article on why we vary tempo in strength training,
Cardio or weights? Which comes first?
Here's a link to the Fitness tab on the blog.
What's the QL? It's deep inside other muscle structures, but here's what it looks like in isolation. It turns out to be pretty important in stabilizing the core.
FOOD
Here's a link to my recipe for sourdough cornbread, where I've replaced the butter normally found in cornbread with olive oil. Yum!
GAMES
I finally got around to playing The Plum Island Horror, a cooperative board game, with a full complement of three other players plus myself. Great fun trying to save Plum Island from a horde of zombies. After Action Report here.
JOURNALING AND LEARNING
I'm combining these two because most of March's learning was focused on doodling, which I plan to incorporate into my regular journaling activities. I'd like to learn more about visual note taking too.
The first item is about fountain pen ink. At the most recent PDXPen meeting, I was able to see two purple inks and decided that I needed to add one to my arsenal. I've used fountain pens for many years, but have always used black, blue, or brown ink. Time to branch out!
On to doodling. I see doodling as less formal than either "drawing" or "sketching". Consider it more refined than the artwork that most of us drew as kids.
I'm just learning--don't be critical! Here's Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of my journey.
VISUALS
Finally, to wrap this up, here are some photos of urban street art, some cherry blossoms, and the September 2023 Pendleton Roundup.
Please forward this along to a friend that might enjoy it, and I'll see y'all down the road.