February 2022

Posted on February 1, 2022

😀 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.