Archive (Page 3) • Hit and Miss • Buttondown

Hit and Miss #399: New ways to understand New Ways to Bus

April 27, 2025

Hi friends! It’s very suddenly the end of the weekend, and I haven’t sent my weekly note yet. I’ve spent much of my downtime in the past few days working on...

Hit and Miss #398: “Prompt Builders”

April 20, 2025

Another GTA/401 inspired headline for you: Friday, T and I drove down to Waterloo to visit family. Along the way, I saw a business called “Prompt Builders”....

Hit and Miss #397: National interest

April 13, 2025

I’ve been thinking often of the the season 4 finale, season 5 opening arc of The West Wing. President Bartlett’s attention is split between a national...

Hit and Miss #396: Having opinions!! (also government machinery, uncertainty, and modular housing)

April 6, 2025

Hello! Nice to be back and writing you from a normal setup. (A proper screen and keyboard, a touchpad—so much glorious room to write, compared to the phone...

Hit and Miss #395: Facing backward has its charms

March 30, 2025

I’m on a train to Ottawa, facing backward because that’s just how we roll in this country. We’re freshly back from a trip to Japan for the last few weeks, so...

Hit and Miss #394: Bring on the SPRING

March 23, 2025

Hello! It was the March equinox on Thursday, the start of spring here in the northern hemisphere, a day with more or less equal hours between day and night....

Hit and Miss #393: Oh, for a greenhouse house

March 16, 2025

Hullo! We’re on the road this week, so will keep it short with some links: If you want a garden and greenery all year round, but live in a cold climate,...

Hit and Miss #392: Reading, public service reform, diagetic theme songs

March 9, 2025

Hello! It’s been a very full week, with some ups and downs. We’re looking forward to a few weeks of much-needed vacation, time just to be together and away...

Hit and Miss #391: Burning, 18F, and change

March 2, 2025

Oh boy. Where to begin, and where to go? Today, let’s meander. The last few days have been weird, energy-wise. The go-go-go of the last few weeks finally...

Hit and Miss #390: Try carpolling

February 23, 2025

Picture this: GTA, 2025. You’re driving down the 401, pondering whether Alto will ever be real enough to make you reconsider driving from Ottawa,1 when,...

Hit and Miss #389: Shovelling the snowbanks

February 16, 2025

Whew! This morning, I pre-shovelled the driveway as the storm started to intensify, listening to Robin Wall Kimmerer in conversation with Krista Tippett—I...

Hit and Miss #388: Hair of the dog

February 9, 2025

Friends, I did it! After many years of missing out on Canal ice skating fun (some climate induced, others self-inflicted), I skated the full length...

Hit and Miss #387: “Brace for impact”

February 2, 2025

Where was Begu now? … It was a worry already worn smooth from use and there was nothing she could do. She set it aside to watch Oswine’s entrance. Nicola...

Hit and Miss #386: Paying attention

January 26, 2025

What a week. I’ve been sick for much of the week (physically so, some sort of respiratory fun, though, with waves hands at the news, feeling sick in various...

Hit and Miss #385: Government innovation with TREES

January 19, 2025

Hello! It has been a few weeks of writing at work, so I’m a bit word-ed out. I’m also happily tired after a pretty full weekend, so will just move ahead to...

Hit and Miss #384: Mercurial January

January 12, 2025

Hello! In what seems to be a trend, my mood this weekend has been mercurial. Partly, I think a stressful upcoming month at work, but also, as my therapist...

Hit and Miss #383: “Finish”

January 5, 2025

Hello!! Yesterday was pretty so-so—irritable all day, like I’d just started it with the wrong mindset (though T’s suggestion of a midday walk did help). Then...

Hit and Miss #382: Some books from 2024

December 29, 2024

Hello! Back in Ottawa, cozily ensconced in freezing fog and other “how’d they come up with this” weather phenomena. I woke at 4 this morning and couldn’t...

Hit and Miss #381: No tinsel for you!

December 22, 2024

Hello! Today was a driving day, so I’m pretty zonked. It’ll be a bit of a weird Christmas, but looking forward to some lower-key weeks nonetheless. If you’re...

Hit and Miss #380: “Song for a Winter's Night”

December 15, 2024

Hi there. Weird times. Just a week or so from holidays, and it’s decidedly Christmas-y out, but I haven’t felt hugely in the spirit. T and I were discussing...