Hit and Miss

Hit and Miss #300: Living the principles

June 4, 2023

Hi! A very happy Sunday to you. We’ve had a whirlwind few days, but in a way that feels as relaxing as it’s been full: a woodworking course yesterday morning...

Hit and Miss #299: Issues elsewhere, issues here

May 28, 2023

Hello! I spent the morning as a biking kit man to T and T’s mom, who ran the Ottawa marathon today. CONGRATS BOTH!! It was so awesome to see their...

Hit and Miss #298: Manure breach heat agreement

May 21, 2023

Hello! I smelled manure from the Experimental Farm while out biking this morning, and it gave me a great smile—manure’s a smell that reminds me of home,...

Hit and Miss #297: Free time

May 14, 2023

Hello! I was already a few minutes from home during a walk earlier today, when I realized I hadn’t taken an antihistamine. Miraculously, I emerged mostly un-...

Hit and Miss #296: From weary of dreary to cheery

May 7, 2023

Whew! We made it through a dreary week of April showers, and are now truly treated with May flowers. I’ve had Springsteen’s “Glory Days” going through my...

Hit and Miss #295: (not) Ottawa things

April 30, 2023

Hello! It’s been—finally—a mostly chill, restful weekend. Long overdue, and grateful for it. We read, ate ice cream, did some light shopping, caught up with...

Hit and Miss #294: Explaining the inscrutable

April 23, 2023

It’s an overcast Sunday and there’s a mariachi band playing outside, which, much to T and A’s chagrin, means I’m trumpet-mouthing along (I suppose we should...

Hit and Miss #293: Spring regrowth

April 16, 2023

Hi folks! Hope you’re all doing well. Two interesting links, as I slowly get back into a groove: Land trusts as a growing player in housing (along with all...

Hit and Miss #292: Four weeks in Portugal, Belgium, America, and Canada

April 9, 2023

Some issues are links, others are reflections—this one’s a snapshot, of the last month. It’s been a long one, full in ways good and bad. I share it with you...

Hit and Miss #291: Tired, so tired

April 2, 2023

Folks, it’s been a day—a week—a month. In hard ways, yes, though also in good ways! But I am thoroughly tired. The kind of tired where you’re waiting for the...

Hit and Miss #290: Mockingbird

March 26, 2023

Hello! Another weekend spent checking out cool places and visiting with friends. (I’ll stop vaguebooking in a week or two, I promise.) I heard a mockingbird...

Hit and Miss #289: No news

March 19, 2023

Hi there! It’s been a lovely week travelling with T and friends (hi S and V!), but I’m pretty wiped and don’t have much to say otherwise. (Other than, I was...

Hit and Miss #288: Honoured

March 12, 2023

Hi! Writing after a fairly hectic week, wrapping some things at work before some time off. Because of that hectic week, I haven’t had much time to speak to,...

Hit and Miss #287: Good company

March 5, 2023

Hello! It’s been a lovely day, hosting S and V for brunch (Dutch babies are the best!), followed by time in the sun and springlike weather. Yes, there’ll be...

Hit and Miss #286: Cosy up

February 26, 2023

Hello! Having a lovely cosy morning, after a lovely cosy day, which leaves me in more of a reading mood than a writing one. And that’s great! Rest, rest,...

Hit and Miss #285: Links on data, exploitation, and hunkering down

February 19, 2023

Hello! I’ve spent much of the weekend working on an exciting data-y side project. Been having fun learning about graph theory (just enough learning, that is,...

Hit and Miss #284: Holding on

February 12, 2023

Hello! T and I were talking last night about hospital doctors (particularly residents) who work 24-hour shifts. (If you hadn’t heard about this, there’s a...

Hit and Miss #283: Existing in melancholy

February 5, 2023

Hello! Yesterday was one of varying degrees of angst and worry—the kind that, though not entirely gone, dissipates gradually with solitude and sleep. So,...

Hit and Miss #282: Snowy brain

January 29, 2023

Hello! T and I spent the day in Montreal with family—a last minute decision, but a nice change of scenery (even if much of the scenery was obscured by...

Hit and Miss #281: Links on recordkeeping and more

January 22, 2023

Good afternoon! (That’s me, trying to wake myself up as a small food coma combines with a dreary weather day.) I’ve got some exciting spreadsheets to make...

Hit and Miss #280: Living by the clock, by the light

January 15, 2023

Hello! Good afternoon—or, well, it feels like afternoon here, as the sun stretches closer to the horizon and the shadows lengthen. There are two modes we can...

Hit and Miss #279: More rest

January 8, 2023

Hello! Been a bit of a week. Returned to Ottawa after a few (pretty full, heavy) weeks away, only for all the stress to dump on me and trigger a sick...

Hit and Miss #278: 2022 to 2023

January 1, 2023

Hello! It’s been a pretty full day here (Italian families hang out on New Year’s Day, so I’m chock full of lentils and whatnot), after a full few weeks. 2022...

Hit and Miss #277: 2022 reads

December 25, 2022

Hi there! Bit of a different situation today: writing this post from my phone, on the road. It’s been quite a week, but things are feeling more or less...

Hit and Miss #276: Passing the baton

December 18, 2022

Hullo! Today began gloriously sunny, lighting up the decimetres of snow we got the last few days. It’s more subdued now—low-level clouds moved in, darkening...

Hit and Miss #275: Assurance

December 11, 2022

Hello! Say a government has a policy objective. Implementing it requires sophisticated underlying infrastructure. This infrastructure is large, complex....

Hit and Miss #274: See also

December 4, 2022

Hello! It was a good week. Changes afoot, on which more another time—for now, reading and rest. As an opening note, I really appreciated Sara Hendren’s...

Hit and Miss #273: Transcripting

November 27, 2022

Hello! I spent much of the weekend working on a civic tech project, so I haven’t got much juice left to write in-depth here. The project is a web version of...

Hit and Miss #272: Extremely online

November 20, 2022

For the Extremely Online™, this last week has been a continued horror show. It’s renewed and revitalized my impulse to have whatever I write (post, photo,...

Hit and Miss #271: Promises to self

November 13, 2022

I’ve been lacking the motivation to go outside the last few weeks—little surprise, as the seasons change and our bodies only gradually adapt. And as I write...

Hit and Miss #270: Constitutional unconstitutionalism

November 6, 2022

I’m pretty tired, so I won’t dive into the big thing of the week—constitutional unconstitutionalism is what I’ve been calling it, and yes, sure, in a formal...

Hit and Miss #269: Crises abound

October 30, 2022

Hello! Had one of those “sitting an exam you haven’t studied for” dreams last night, except it was very much a history student version of it: I dreamt that...

Hit and Miss #268: Convo dump

October 23, 2022

What a lovely weekend it’s been. Plenty of time outside, alone and with friends, biking and walking and eating and enjoying the scenery. But it’s also tired...

Hit and Miss #267: Serious links™ on work

October 16, 2022

Hello there! It’s been a few weeks of glorious fall colours. T and I have been making a point of getting out, to bask in some of this precious season while...

Hit and Miss #266: Public delivery

October 9, 2022

I often put off shopping (and the research it often requires) until I can do so in one burst, which I did recently. I recently had something like four or...

Hit and Miss #265: Calls continue

October 2, 2022

Hello! It’s October, delightfully, and we’ve resolved to get out regularly to enjoy the changing leaves. So far, on a good track in that direction. Friday...

Hit and Miss #264: Work, birds, tech, munipoli

September 25, 2022

Hello! Meant to get this out earlier today, but the weekend took a series of unexpected turns. All’s good now—on with the show! I’ve been thinking about...

Hit and Miss #263: Technicalities

September 18, 2022

Hello! It’s been a great week, full of catch-ups and chats and down-time and up-time. With more to come, today and tomorrow! Some links—most of which have...

Hit and Miss #262: Five years!? A thank you

September 11, 2022

Hello there! It’s been quite a week, hasn’t it? We came back from a great weekend away, with plenty of ice cream and friendship time, only to confront long...

Hit and Miss #261: Holding pattern

September 4, 2022

Hello! Writing you Friday, but if all goes well you’ll get this sometime Sunday. We’re away for the weekend with friends and I’m trying my best to...

Hit and Miss #260: Learning in crisis

August 28, 2022

They’re filming yet another Christmas movie in the courtyard below, which means August is nearly done. Strange to say it, but it increasingly feels like fall...

Hit and Miss #259: Just the links

August 21, 2022

Hello! It’s been a bit of an odd week—lots of good, some tricky, but on the whole doing fine, if fairly tired. There’ll be some more such times ahead, but we...

Hit and Miss #258: A shout to the wind

August 14, 2022

Good morning! I’ve been getting up around 5:30 when T has day shifts, both out of solidarity and because, while I don’t like getting out of bed early, I...

Hit and Miss #257: Hot brain links

August 7, 2022

Hello! Spent a few hours on the shore of Lake Ontario today, enjoying fish and chips with my dad and Oma. It was lovely—but hot. My brain is more fried than...

Hit and Miss #256: Malleable words

July 31, 2022

Arthur’s on the couch beside me, dreaming about whatever cats dream about; my family are arrayed through various rooms of the apartment; and T’s sleeping off...

Hit and Miss #255: Welcome to the party, pal

July 24, 2022

When new leaves grow on one of my houseplants, I sometimes greet them with, “Welcome to the party, pal.” Hello! Happy Sunday to you. (That opening quote is…...

Hit and Miss #254: Slow links

July 17, 2022

Hello! Bit of a slower day here—mostly laying low as this heat rolls through. It seems Europe’s in for a wallop of a heatwave, but I don’t have the heart to...

Hit and Miss #253: Systems

July 10, 2022

Hello! This week’s reading seemed to converge on a theme of “thinking and acting in systems”. This is, perhaps, the root challenge of our times. Using self-...

Hit and Miss #252: Broken social scene—wait, I mean, contract

July 3, 2022

Hello! I hope you’re doing well. I don’t say that enough, tend not to address you directly—but it’s true, I do hope that, today and always. It’s an important...

Hit and Miss #251: Internalized stress

June 26, 2022

Hello! Friday, T and I drove Arthur to the vet for a regular check-up. It was perhaps shortsighted to go at the end of the workweek, heading into a sunny...