Author: stenaros

SKS: Postal Boxes

Look at this fun postcard! Post boxes are one of those things I’m not aware that are not universal. I mean, I am, because of Postcrossing and travel, but it’s one of those utilitarian things that seems to be more about function than form.

Sara reports that she ordered this set from an Etsy shop (based in Eagle, Idaho!) and that it’s was her first official day of the semester. The semester has started off well.

She also commented that she needed more postcards like she needs a hole in her toe and, looking at my 12 inches of shelf space dedicated to postcards, I can relate.

I Discover Time Guessr

Hank Green, of the Vlogbrothers, was killing time on a video (for algorithm reasons?) and so played through some of the games he plays. One of them was TimeGuessr. I was intrigued.

In this game, you are given a photo and then must guess when and where the photo was taken. It’s quite fun.

And I did really well my first time out, like here where I was only 241.4 meters off! (Though 5 years off.)

And like this where I was only 4 years off, but amazingly 12.1 miles away even though I had no idea what I was looking at except it was somewhere in Asia that used a lot of English in their signage.

I don’t have a lot of room in my schedule for daily games, but I would like to dip into this one now and again.

SKS: Hello California Local Produce

This is a fun card, and the second in a row with the word “hello.”

Sara reports that she just opened my Christmas present and loved it. She correctly observed that I probably will know this by the time I get the postcard because she sent me a Marco Polo of her opening it.

She’s also still recovering from the flu, which she caught as she came home from Coeur d’Alene.

American Son at Twilight Theater Company

Matt and I bought tickets for our first outing to the Twilight Theater Company. That’s our neighborhood theater; it’s an 11 minute walk.

Jeri Haile was great as Kendra Ellis-Connor. She is apparently new to Portland. I look forward to seeing her in more things.

The play gave us a lot to talk about on the walk home. It was a good evening at the theater.

Matt Has Attended 500 Classes

Matt came home with an exciting prize from his gym:

We took the official picture and then both realized, “Wait. It’s been way more than 500 classes that he has attended at MeFitness.”

We concluded that he had attended 500 classes since the switch of the scheduling system. Well done, Matt, for attending 500 classes beginning from a random point in time.

SKS: Just Saying Hello

Sara added some stickers to this postcard. It made for a fun presentation. Fun fact: I have a duplicate of this postcard (sans stickers) displayed on my wall. You can see it in this post.

The Spokane postmark tells me that this came from Coeur d’Alene. Sara reports that they are doing some cleaning and organizing and that she found some Christmas stamps back from when stamps were 37 cents. She put two on my postcard.

Two Terns at a Bike Rack

I was at Kaiser getting some imaging done, and had fun comparing and contrasting my Tern bike to the one already parked.

I observed that the other bike did not have the folding handlebar mechanism and that the light was down on the front fender rather than on the handlebar.

I also checked out the locking method. I use three: a front-wheel lock, a U-lock and cable, and a U-lock on the back wheel that also holds my helmet.

The other bike used wo U-locks and two cables. It looked like it worked well and was fast to set up.

The Brutalist in 70mm at the Hollywood Theatre

70mm films cost extra, but they often come with fun perks, like this handout for the Brutalist. It contained a sleeve, a brochure highlighting the architect’s works, and a postcard. A24 did a great job of promoting this film and sustaining the idea that László Tóth was a real architect.

SKS: Informative, Exclamatory Buttons

Sara writes from Wallace, Idaho, where the town highlights the work done in the old brothels as well as the work done in the mines.

Not learned via this postcard, but learned via text: Lana Turner was born and raised in Wallace, Idaho, at least until her family relocated to Hollywood where Turner was discovered. That was news to this Idaho native.

Keeping Me on Track in 2024

Getting things done didn’t come as naturally to me in 2024 (and 2023, (and 2022, and 2021, if we are being honest)) as it had before. Early in 2024, I made two sheets of basic stuff, one for my stuff, and one to stay on top of my aunt’s finances.

The sheets took probably 10 minutes to make, and they worked very well. You will notice the additions that appeared as the year went on. The delimitation for books and movies was particularly important. It’s really hard to catch those up in one session at the end of the month so switching up the goal to the 15th and the last day helped.

With my aunt’s stuff, it was nice to cross things off as I canceled things no longer needed.

You will notice that I gave myself the last week in December off. A just reward after a year of good work.

I’ve drafted new sheets for 2025. Let’s see if they work as well as these did.