A Week of Being Kin Lane - October 27th, 2025
I did not publish a newsletter last week. I didn’t feel like writing on Sunday afternoon, and I started writing it on Monday, but my day quickly got away from me. That is OK. I don’t put unreasonable pressure on myself regarding these deliverables. I have stronger expectations on my business storytelling, but my personal will often shift with the winds. However, it is important that I maintain the momentum with my personal newsletter because it helps keep my week visible, structured, and known—so that I can learn from it.
When I went to the Cannabis store this week I found the kiosks that may or may not have existed pretty thought provoking. I feel like these two kiosks reflect how our physical world is being consumed by compute thinking (ie. Internet, AI, etc.). There were clearly two kiosks in front of me, but they were essentially useless because digitally there were no “kiosks” listed as part of the software or the subscription to the software. This is the business I am in—taking our meaningful physical world and rendering it to useless digital objects that do not exist. Or do they?
Something was clearly wrong with the new JPMorganChase Building this week. It was glowing many different colors, but then eventually settled on a pretty infected looking red. They have been building the skyscraper the entire time we’ve been living in NYC, and I guess this week they officially moved into the building this week, and one of the ways they celebrated was by turning it red.
The city (and Audrey) are preparing for the NYC Marathon in Central Park, making it not an ideal situation in the park for riding a bike. As a result we are riding other places around the city, which included downtown on Saturday, making our way found the waterfront over to the Lower East Side. After getting stuck on a few too narrow bike paths we eventually made our way to Union Square, and back up 6th Avenue. There was a street fair going on, so we managed to score ourselves an ear of street corn before we made our way back home after about 3 1/2 hours out and about.
I got me a new camera. My old Nikon is pretty beat up from dragging it around California, so I got myself a new one. I am bringing it with me, hanging it on my neck as I make my way around the city on my bike. I am still getting used to having it around my neck and learning how to use it, but there are so many amazing shots to get if I have it with me. I’ll make sure and drag it along whenever I can, but I am more likely to turn one of the photos into an algorotoscope photo than I am to actually share any of the original photos, but I enjoy snapping photos of this big complex system in which I live.
Audrey was out for a talk in Brooklyn one night this week. Facing starvation I took Poppy for a walk to pee, and decided to head up to Mido’s Halal cart on 9th & 58th. It is the best Halal in the city. It is always amazing. It gave Poppy and I a chance to stalk a couple neighborhood bodega cats before we made our way home to eat some delicious chicken and rice.
I voted for Zohran Mamdani as the Mayor of New York City. I am 100% convinced he will be our mayor. He is what NYC needs. He is what the democratic establishment needs. It is mind blowing to read stories about how afraid people are of him. The muslim. The socialist. It absolutely terrifies people to hear him talk about providing people of New York with your average common sense things we feel everyone should possess. He really shows how people’s chains have been yanked for years when it comes to socialism, racism, and religious wackiness.
Audrey and I squeezed in some more jazz at Birdland this week. We jump at any chance to see Ron Carter, but this week was his Foursight Quartet, which is is Payton Crossley on drums, Renee Rosnes on piano Ron Carter on bass, and Jimmy Greene on tenor sax. Pure heaven. A welcome defrag of the burden of being a human being. I left renewed.
Audrey and I went for dinner at Raku in Hells Kitchen. I had an amazing seasonal mushroom udon with King Oyster, Brown Shimeji, Enoki, Shiitake, Wood Ear, and Maitake mushrooms. The Tororo kombu seaweed and udon noodles in broth were soul nourishing, but the mushrooms reminded of just how limited chicken, beef, and pork can be. Mushrooms can take you to entirely new places with the flavors and textures, and they bring a earthy yet cosmic richness to the broth of the warming udon I had at Raku. I am so ready for winter now!
"Soup puts the heart at ease, calms down the violence of hunger, eliminates the tension of the day, and awakens and refines the appetite" - Auguste Escoffier,