😀 Updates since last month
Updated: February 1, 2022
- I got promoted to a Principal Consultant at AspireHR at the start of the new year.
- I’ve been travelling more again for work and plan to travel more in 2022 than the last 2 years. I’m a little out of practice.
- I’ve been reading a lot about astrophysics and space, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s nightmare still has me thinking.
- Neil Young gave Spotify an ultimatum, in the end the fans lose.
- I made it up to 100+ subscribers on my YouTube channel – I have some big plans for a future video series that will take some effort.
📗 Books I’m currently reading
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinkbeck
- Of Mice And Men is a re-read for me. My wife, who is a high school English teacher, is teaching it to her students. I wanted to re-read it to be able to discuss it with her as she prepares her lessons.
📕 Book I finished reading last month
- Moby Dick by Herman Melville
- This was tough to get through and I’m not sure it was worth it, really.
- First Blood by David Morrel
- It’s not often that both the book and the movie are fantastic, but First Blood made a great book and the movie is one of my all-time favorites.
- Origins of Existence: How Life Emerged in the Universe by Fred Adams
- After reading Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, I was very interested in astrophysics. I thought I’d take it one step further – this was pretty good, but at times might’ve been a little more than I could handle.
🎸 Music I’ve been listening to
- Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf
- Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, Meat Loaf
- Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose, Meat Loaf
I had never listened to Meat Loaf before. Since he died I thought it was a good time to go back and take a listen – it’s interesting, it’s not all good, but it’s certainly not all bad either. I found it most interesting that both him and Jim Steinman were only able to really achieve success as a team.
✍ Quote I’ve been thinking about
“Nobody in this world can tell me what to think. But I think everyone has a lesson to teach me.”
– Lex Fridman
🎧 Podcast episodes I thought were interesting
- The Rewatchables – Rocky IV
- As a big fan of Rocky, this was incredibly funny and I listened to it more than once.
- Jocko Podcast – 310: Relish The Struggle and Keep Reaching For The Stars. With Jose Hernandez
- This was an interesting story about someone who tried and failed to become an astronaut for 11 straight years, but succeeded on try #12.
- Lex Fridman Podcast – #136 – Dan Carlin: Hardcore History
- Good conversation, lots of “thinking” points – for example, “in a society who’s heroes are warriors, what happens when there’s no war?”
🎥 YouTube videos I thought were worth watching
- Clive Thompson “How The Way You Write Changes the Way You Think”
- I wonder where typewriters fit in this?
- How Wolves Change Rivers
- I always liked the movie The Butterfly Effect, this is just one real example in nature.