2023-01-13
Riding a bike up a hill is like eating spicy food, an acquired taste and one that aficionados take seriously
2022-11-14
In the 20 years and 100K mi that I have ridden on Portland area streets, my bike has contacted a car five times
2022-05-26
(Originally published 2020-06-13, updated 2022-05-26)
2022-03-03
Is it sinking in yet that 2019 was the last remotely “normal” year, like, ever?
2021-08-06
I grew up on a gravel road, and that’s still my favorite kind of road, and my favorite kind of landscape
2020-06-23
For much of my 20s many of my jobs looked suspiciously like backpacking and I lived for weeks or months at a time in tents....
2020-01-08
The central urbanist question for moderately posh urbanites like myself is:
“should poor people be allowed to live in our neighborhood?”
If the answer is...
2019-03-27
Human beings are machines designed to walk.
2019-03-15
There always comes a point where I can’t finish “designing” something in my head. I have to start building it to find the edges.
2019-02-15
Every three or four years I’ll kick a hornet’s nest by saying something like:
fellow front-end devs: if you ever feel intimidated by your back-end...
2018-08-16
Discerning whether something is real or a fantasy is no longer a salient problem for daily existence.
2018-05-18
Nostalgia is a dangerous impulse
2017-07-26
Pondering the distinction between being right (correct) and right (moral).
2016-02-21
Everything you want to work on, work on it with both hands.
2015-08-06
I reckon the statute of limitations is probably up on this lie.
2015-07-04
Delivered at the Merna Community Cemetery, July 2nd, 2015
Dad was not a Churchy man and while he liked to discuss religion, he didn’t often...
2015-05-01
Over the last four years I wore a literal groove into the gravel behind the bleachers at the Lewis and Clark baseball diamond.
2014-11-30
The dirt in my father’s blood
2014-11-18
About twelve years ago, in the middle of my divorce, my father paid me the greatest compliment I have ever been given.
2014-03-17
Scenario: a bike is broken down. Probably a flat tire. Bike and cyclist are on the roadside and might need a little help…
2011-08-17
I like my commute so much I make it longer, and do it on the weekends
2009-12-31
I don't know anyone who says anything other than “good riddance” to the first decade of the 21st century.
2008-08-08
Programmer Michael Thomas revisits an old theme: Why Free Software has poor usability, and how to improve it. This was a theme I heard a...
2008-07-11
You can use a Swiss Army knife to cut your fingernails in two different ways: with the scissors, or with the knife blade.
2008-06-18
You can’t learn to plow by reading books
2008-04-21
Why I left, and what I miss
2007-07-03
In the last 24 hours the feeling finally hit us: OK, we're actually leaving.
2007-02-26
Dear Honored Foreign Designer,
The following is a guide to the use of color in Chinese graphic design. Unlike foreign color symbolism, in which colors...
2007-02-18
I realized on this trip that I don’t particularly care for travel. For me this is a big admission, although in retrospect it’s kind of...
2006-08-09
After about 25 hours of transit we are finally in Xiamen. Flights were all smooth, after a delayed departure from Portland. The delay actually worked...
2006-06-16
I rode the bus in today early. I get a lot of thinking done on the bus, but it's languid, unfocused thinking. Conscious dreaming, but...
2005-08-30
1990 Honda Civic, Runs, Sort of - $250 (SW Portland)
Reply to: anon-xxxxxxxxx@craigslist.orgDate: 2005-07-24, 6:47PM PDT
This is a Champagne (transl: “Gold”) 1990 Honda Civic...
2005-03-18
As I Learned Them from Seven Years of Anthropology Classes
2002-05-05
The last day of the most consequential bike ride of my life
2002-04-22
Describe a perfect machine
2002-03-13
The squall of March rain arrives like an announcement, travelling a patient course, propelled by 8000 miles of Pacific Ocean. I hear it crawling eastward...
