Archive • Adam Keys' Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers • Buttondown

The waves in Northern California were wild. We arrive in (Southern-most) California and Pacific Time, in earnest. Through the Colorado Desert to north of San...

[CDS] Day 8 – The Grand Canyon

June 1, 2024

Some things are easy to photograph.

[CDS] Day 5-7 – Williams, Arizona

May 29, 2024

Colorado’s parks and rest stops are top-tier stuff. A rest stop off I-70, nestled between the mountains, adjacent to a river. I mean c'mon, you can't beat...

[CDS] Day 2-4 – Denver

May 25, 2024

Surprise, you're in Oklahoma!

[CDS] Day 1 – Texas Highways

May 24, 2024

There are some archetypes you might notice after several hours on Texas' highways.

Prelude: My contribution to the pantheon of “pop-up newsletters”

May 21, 2024

They’re like pop-up1 shops, exhibits, shows, etc. Craig Mod, Nat Bennett, and Naz Hamid do them, to great effect. I like the idea that 1) they're temporary...

And, we're back

May 18, 2024

Something newsletter this way comes.

That's a wrap on 2020

December 28, 2020

The time of year is upon us when things feel like they’re winding down. Even the days end earlier, for most of us. It’s the season for looking back, looking...

World keep on turnin’

December 6, 2020

I’m listening to Stevie Wonder and so should you. (I’m Adam Keys and this is a bunch of things I’m enthusiastic about. If you’re wondering how you got here...

Just fix the thing

October 25, 2020

Mandatory Central Texas weather update: cold front came in last night. It is now cold in a seasonally-appropriate way. 🙁 I’m Adam Keys and this is a bunch of...

A slice of the old way

October 4, 2020

Somehow it's October. Time’s arrow is a helluva thing here lately. My lived experience in Austin is blooming in an odd way. As fall arrived, so did hanging...

Kind of making it, kinda

September 15, 2020

I window-shop cars a lot. Too much, honestly. Lately, that window shopping has escalated to outright attempting to buy a used car a few times. Let me tell...

Do Texans Dream of Summer Days?

August 8, 2020

If you have a conversation with a Texan in the summer and the weather doesn’t come up, you have to ask yourself some tough questions. Did that conversation...

Unpausing life, cursed technologies

July 5, 2020

July 5th The feeling that life is on pause sort of overwhelmed me this week. I brainstormed ways I could unpause my life, given the circumstances. Writing...

Never give up on reading the whole internet

May 31, 2020

The pen ran dry for a bit there. A cadence is being rediscovered, if ever so slowly. National news aside 🤦‍♂️, this is about the trajectory of things. I’m...

Now way through but together

April 26, 2020

New routines are emerging. Feels like we’ve moved on from sitting on our hands, biding time. We’re fully into the in-between time. Seven billion of us are...

Ever forward, eventually, to the new way

April 5, 2020

Salutations! It’s a strange time. Life feels at once at a standstill and in motion. We want to return to the old way, but that’s probably not a thing. There...

Why not wash your hands to some of the best songs of the twentieth century?

March 8, 2020

Salutations! I’m Adam Keys and you’re here because, at some point in your past, you subscribed to my newsletter on interesting things you can enjoy and/or...

A dusting of "snow"

February 16, 2020

Salutations! I’m Adam Keys and you’re here because, at some point in your past, you subscribed to my newsletter on interesting things you can enjoy and/or...

Tasty, tasty email content

January 26, 2020

Salutations! I’m Adam Keys and you’re here because, at some point in your past, you subscribed to my newsletter about interesting things you can enjoy and/or...

The halls were decked, now clear the decks

December 29, 2019

I remember when I left college in 2003 and started my career in earnest, the days between Christmas and New Years were more busy. What I don’t remember is...

I hope you're having just a swell day/week/month!

December 8, 2019

I wrote a bunch of things! Such as, using Things to capturethings that aren’t just things I want to do, but things I want to think about too. I pondered the...

Automotive form, Eddie Murphy, DC, the Goodfellas/My Blue Heaven connection

November 10, 2019

I wrote a little bit on cars, form, and function. I’m firmly in the “function determines form” camp, but the future of cars has me wondering if this will...

The good stuff, but also the not-so-great stuff

October 20, 2019

Spoiler alert: it's all good with me! I hope it's all good with you. Funny that, in a more personal medium like email newsletters, I feel like even alluding...

Increasingly a condition you find enjoyable

September 29, 2019

Is there anything more joyful than Stevie Wonder’s music? I find that there is not! Any song, any era. It is somehow still quite warm in Austin. I’m okay...

Waning warmth

September 7, 2019

I rather like, and am currently enjoying, a very warm day of 95 degrees Fahrenheit heat. It won't be long before a cold front blows through and takes us into...

Just lovely

August 24, 2019

The Siri command of the summer for our HomePod: “Hey Siri, play music by Lizzo.” What ‘Song Exploder’ Has Taught Us: So where do songs begin? In states of...

Emerging from a vacation bubble

August 3, 2019

I don’t want to brag but: I’m getting good at vacation. It helps that the vast majority of them are to a Disney park and that my wife does a lot of the...

The rule of three turned up to five

July 6, 2019

Wrapping up a long weekend here. Turns out, four-day weekends are just _excellent_. When all else fails: the rule of three. Parquet Courts’, Wide Awake- it’s...

Wherein long form is made

June 15, 2019

I wrote a longer thing about problem solving on computers. I feel, only fifteen years into my career as a developer, that I’m (finally) confident I can...

I'm rebooting this newsletter

June 10, 2019

Howdy friends, It’s been quite some time since I wrote! Things have changed, things have stayed the same. We’ve learned things. We’ve stuck to our...

Enjoyable things

January 4, 2014

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S2E07Hello, friends! I enjoyed things last year, and what would the internet be if I didn't use it to share...

Learning about the world, and east Texas

October 24, 2013

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S2E06I've owed you a newsletter for an intimidating number of weeks. Everything is peachy in Adam Keys land, so...

Making music, remembering music, ordering music, great TV

June 4, 2013

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S2E06 Four things: Classic Albums, wherein the performers and producers who made some really great pop music...

The Quality, Longevity, Billy Joel, and Beethoven

May 26, 2013

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S2E04There is a quality I want the things I code and write to embody. I'm not entirely sure what that quality...

What's another Beatles cover between friends?

May 6, 2013

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S2E04I almost let this week slide, but a fantastic Beatles cover fell in my lap. How could I deprive you of a...

The Downsides of Live Music

April 28, 2013

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S2E03Ed. As promised, the things I find unenjoyable about attending live music performances. Everyone loves a...

Drums are a lie

April 20, 2013

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S2E02Ed. I'm working on a longer piece on my numerous grievances with live music. Turns out I had a mini-essay...

An Internet shopkeeper

April 13, 2013

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S2E01Friends, For several weeks, I've been asking myself what this thing should be. It could be a 'zine, the...

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S1E29

February 5, 2013

Saturday, I biked to downtown Austin, sat around at a coffee shop, caught a sidewalk parade, read on the pedestrian bridge over the river, and did some...

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S1E28

January 27, 2013

WHAT'S THE CONCEPT BEHIND CONCEPT Concept, is the new business-word utterly devoid of meaning. It's no longer about a vague idea. Now it's a football play-...

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S1E27

January 21, 2013

CHECKING IN WITH MYSELF Things I didn't love five years ago: Bruce Willis movies Working out Coffee This year's Woody Allen movie The Talking Heads Breakfast...

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S1E26

January 13, 2013

I'LL INTERNET IT TO YOU I don't like using technology or brand names to describe communication anymore. It requires too much auxiliary information. "What's...

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S1E25

January 6, 2013

The sixties in America were uncertain. Civil unrest and the threat of nuclear annihilation made for a rough time. However, out of the sixties, we got a lot...

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S1E24

December 15, 2012

I went to a pizza place. A good pizza place, but not outstanding. I ordered a pizza for myself and sat down at a table by the large, plate glass windows. By...

Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers

December 8, 2012

It has been unseasonably warm in Austin this fall and winter. We’ve basically been gifted a second spring. It’s too warm to swim, but cool enough that one...