February 2023

Posted on February 1, 2023

🌟A few updates since last time!

Updated: February 1, 2023

I got a bit of a promotion in January, so I’m now the Payroll Practice Lead (Interim) at AspireHR.
I’ve been trying out Twitter again – I had not used it for several years – we’ll see how it goes. If you’re looking for me at @_joshuabest
I tried my hand at making some YouTube shorts – I’m not sure that TickTick ‘How to’ videos are ideal for YouTube shorts, but I’m giving it a shot.
My daughter has been making cakepops for all of our family gatherings for a couple of years now. She’s decided to try her hand at making some money from it. I made her a web-site: charmedcakepops.com.

Gilead by Marilyn Robinson
- I’ve spent a long time with this book. This is the first book I’ve read twice, right in a row. It’s not particularly interesting or compelling, but it has been interesting to read it twice.
The Humans by Matt Haig
- An alien visits Earth and notices that odd behaviors of humans and attempts to act like one while completing the task he was sent to Earth for. It’s pretty comical and really makes you think about some of our odd behaviors. I finished reading this once, but I will read it a second time as well.

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- I’m reading at a much slower pace than normal because I’m trying out/testing out reading books twice through rather than just once. It seems it takes twice as long to read a book twice. But I have found that I do seem to get get a little more out of the second reading that I missed the first time around – or maybe it gives it me more time to think about the story.

Midnights, Taylor Swift
- This one is slightly embarrassing. But, I have to be honest – I’ve listened to this album a lot over the last few weeks, especially on runs. Maybe it has something to do with the tempo of the songs that makes it a good running album? That’s what I’ll blame it on, anyways.
For Emma, Forever Ago, Bon Iver
- Speaking of Taylor Swift, I was unfamiliar with Bon Iver except for his duet with Taylor Swift. After watching a brief video on the making of his first album which was very interesting, I took a listen… and didn’t like it. Then after about the third listen through, I started thinking – hey, this is not too bad! This is normal for me – I sometimes need 3-5 listens through before deciding that I like something.

Don’t be a Cowardly Manager, At the Table with Partrick Lencioni
- This could be titled, Don’t be a Coward. It’s about having tough conversations in a timely manner. Good reminder.

The Need to Read, Paul Graham
- I’ve been thinking a lot about the question – why do we read? What are the benefits? Can we get the same benefits from other mediums? Anyways, this article I thought summed up a good point on one reason to read is so that you can write, and you should be able to write so that you can think.

Note Taking Basics – Fiction and Novels, Robin Waldun
- I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of figuring out how to get the most out of reading the last few months. This video was one that has convinced me to read novels twice. I’m giving it a try.
The election of George Washing was weirder than you think, Premodernist
- This video explained a lot of concepts of early US History clearly, simply, and quickly.

“You’re under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago.“
– Alan Watts,