29

Lobster Felicia

“The lobster’s a soft mushy animal that lives inside of a rigid shell. That rigid shell does not expand.

Well, how can the lobster grow? Well, as the lobster grows, that shell becomes very confining, and the lobster feels itself under pressure and uncomfortable. It goes under a rock formation to protect itself from predatory fish, casts off the shell, and produces a new one. Well, eventually, that shell becomes very uncomfortable as it grows. Back under the rocks. The lobster repeats this numerous times.

The stimulus for the lobster to be able to grow is that it feels uncomfortable. Now, if lobsters had doctors, they would never grow because as soon as the lobster feels uncomfortable, goes to the doctor, gets a Valium, gets a Percocet, feels fine, never casts off his shell.

I think that we have to realize that times of stress are also times that are signals for growth, and if we use adversity properly, we can grow through adversity.”

– Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski

I've just about finished turning the corner that I started last year. I wanted to grow in a few ways, so we followed the rabbi's advice literally with our home purchase. I'm excited to share the progress we've made since then. Also, lobsters are rad animals - check this out.

Greenhouse
I learned a lot from my experience growing peppers and tomatoes over the last couple years, but that setup was always a prototype. We just finished building a permanent new greenhouse, made from aluminum and polycarbonate, and my thumbs are turning green again. "After" pictures first:

This project took a about a dozen weekends including landscaping, site prep, laying a foundation, framing, sealing, connecting utilities, and lots shoveling. Big thanks to Felicia, Phil, Jan, and Lauren for helping out with the labor.

	Phil seducing Jan on the job

Right now I've got Avocados, limes, tomatoes, jalapenos, and clementines (to cross-pollinate the limes). I'm planning to fill out the rest of the space with garlic, onions, cilantro, strawberries, and sweet potatoes if I still have room. It's amazing how much you can fit in 192 square feet when you utilize the vertical space. I'm not sure where the hobby will lead me. Maybe I'll start a new family of businesses. Maybe I'll get bored and burn out, but that's cool too because I'll still reach my dream of having a personal guacamole garden! Either way, check the live stream for updates if you want to see how things are going.



Kitchen
As a kid I was never interested in cooking, and when I moved out of the house at 17 I was too busy working and going to school to really pick it up. I think that’s common among my generation - being unprepared when leaving your parent’s home. Anyway, in the past decade my direction in life has changed from building a future to living in the present, and what better way to do that than through home cooked meals and good company? That’s why Felicia and I started our remodel in the kitchen.

After

We tore out the closed-in 60’s style kitchen with help from friends, and hired some pros to remove the load bearing wall dividing it from the living room. Our new design is an open concept L-shape with an island, instead of the cramped galley that it was before. My favorite part is the corner of the L, where I got to design some floating shelves and a black pipe fixture to keep the fun in functional. The investment is paying off so far - we’re eating healthier and living in the moment during mealtime more often than we used to.

Before

Studio
Creative expression is a big part of the human experience that I’ve been neglecting, and making music is my favorite outlet for that, so I made sure our new house had space to jam and record. The downstairs of our split level consists of the garage, a laundry room, and a large bonus room. We stayed in the bonus room for six months while we remodeled the upstairs, but now it’s my “office,” complete with a drum kit and plenty of space to setup more equipment. I’ve dipped my toes in a few projects so far. Just check the top of the charts if you want to know when I’ve released something.



Garage
Junk dominated our garage for a year after we moved in, but after purging a ton of stuff it’s become the big industrial space that I had imagined. There’s a long workbench, pegboards and storage racks, and room for cars and bikes. After swapping the old manual doors for automatic ones and a throwing on a fresh coat of paint, it’s even kind of nice. I’m using the space now for greenhouse stuff and other homeowner chores, but I’ve got plenty more functional and artistic things that I’m itching to build.

Ball is Life
Sports are making a comeback for me, hopefully for good. Competition is a spark for chill dudes like me to be fiery, kinda the same way that making music is. I’ve been hitting the gym and riding my bike to stay in shape. I’ve had fun with my ultimate frisbee, softball, and basketball teams, but I haven’t gotten back into baseball yet. I’m planning to try out for the men’s league next year.

One of the reasons we bought the place is because there’s room to install a basketball court in the yard. We haven’t done it yet because it’s the worst investment of all our projects, but it’s still on the table. The reason I want a backyard hoop is because it’s hard to find time for family, friends, work, travel, and all of my hobbies, and being able to turn a spare 30 minutes into game time would be clutch. Of course we would get the adjustable-height rim too, so Felicia and I could throw alley-oops to each other #RelationshipGoals.

b-ball court goes here

If we wind up passing on the sport court, then that space could be a huge addition to the urban farm, or maybe just stay as a nice open yard for a dog and some kiddos to run around in some day...maybe ;)

Birthday
My best buds from middle school came to Seattle on my b-day weekend, so we spent a couple days downtown and indulged a little bit. It's pretty remarkable how you miss people for a long time, and when you get together again you pick up exactly where you left off. Shoutout to one of my new favorite places, Rachel's Ginger Beer. I don't know Rachel, but I wish that we were friends since middle school too :)


TGIB

Iceland and London

We split last week between camping in Iceland and celebrating some friends’ birthdays in London. We explored some really breathtaking places, and it was fun mixing a rugged adventure with an urban vacation. Bonus relaxation points for this trip because we got first class upgrades on our two longest flights!

Iceland
We rented a camper van in Iceland because the places we visited were spread out, and we didn't want to have to deal with checking in/out of motels every day. This was our first time doing the van thing, so we didn't know what to expect. After lots of research we decided to rent from Happy Campers, and for the most part we're satisfied with our choice. The fan was cozy for sleeping, and we made good use of the kitchen. Our only snag was that they charged us almost $400 for some damage we didn't do, but they agreed to refund it after I showed them our inspection photos.

Day 1 was rough because we drank wine instead of sleeping on our red-eye flight. I blame the midnight sun for that. After straightening out with some coffee at the airport, we picked up the van and drove across the southern coast to Skaftafell National Park. The roads were desolate once we got away from Reykjavik, which made sleep-deprived driving difficult, so we took a few breaks to walk around and get our blood pumping. It was still too early for bed once we got to the campsite, so we hiked around the park and discovered the first of many magical waterfalls. I respect TLC too much to go chasing waterfalls, but in Iceland you can't avoid them.

We started the next day with a visit to Jökulsárlón and Diamond Beach. It's unlike any other place I've ever been to. There's an ocean on one end, a glacier on the other, and a lagoon between them - all in the foothills of a volcano. You can watch chunks of ice fall into the lagoon and join the other icebergs being swept out to sea. After their brief nautical voyage, many of the smaller icebergs get washed up on the black sand beach, where they form a fun maze. We took a chilly zodiac boat tour on the lagoon and then had a picnic with the beached ice before it was time to hit the road.

draw me like one of your French girls

Our next stop was at Skógafoss, a few hours back to the West. This is an absolute unit of a waterfall that you can see from the main road. Most folks just take the short trek to the observation deck, but I thought the real gem here was the hike that begins just above the falls and takes you up the Skógar river. We also visited Skógafoss' lesser known neighbor Kvernafoss, which is hidden in a narrow canyon just a short walk away. We setup camp under some more waterfalls at Hamragarðar, which was my favorite campsite of the trip.

The next day we we stopped for lunch at this place called Friðheimar. It's a giant indoor farm that grows about 20% of the tomatoes in Iceland, but they also serve a variety of upscale tomato-based foods right in the greenhouse. We had the bottomless tomato soup and bread buffet (with pick-your-own basil on every table) and a green tomato & apple pie for dessert. We skipped on the tomato beers, but the table next to us seemed to enjoy theirs. I really dug this place because it's a concept that I've tossed around for my own career - a family of businesses to grow and prepare fresh food. I would also try to leverage my tech skills, and sell the infrastructure that I develop as a service to other growers. I don't know much about entrepreneurship, but I'm pretty sure it's a good idea to start several businesses at the same time ;)

We spent the rest of that day on the beaten path in the Golden Circle. It's hard to describe how massive Gulfoss is. Geysir feels like it belongs on another planet. At Þingvellir National Park we walked between the North American and European tectonic plates. You can also scuba/snorkel in the volcano-filtered waters between them, if you can brave the 2 degree (C) temperature. We totally would have done it but we forgot to bring a towel.

	gainz in two continents

On our last day we packed a picnic and hiked up Mt. Esja. We ate lunch with a beautiful view overlooking Reykjavik. Then we headed into the city to try some of the famous Icelandic hot dogs that we heard so much about. They were alright but they don't belong in the same conversation as Sonoran dogs. Finally, after a few long days of getting dirty, we headed to the Blue Lagoon to clean up and unwind.

The southern coast of Iceland has an awesome mix of intense and peaceful scenery. In some places the forces of nature are at war with one another, but in other places there's nothing but green pastures and sheep as far as the eye can see. It's an especially great place to explore in the middle of summer because you have literally all day to get wherever you're going, but I'd make a return visit in the fall or spring in order to see the northern lights.

London
We spent all of our planning energy on Iceland, so we just showed up in London with a license to chill. We stayed in a homey airbnb near Earl's Court and Kensington. Our host was super nice and the bed felt amazing after 4 nights in the van, but sleep was still rough because of the heatwave.

In 3 days we toured Westminster Abbey, the Churchill war rooms, London Tower, The Eye, and Globe Theatre. We also checked out Borough Market on a Saturday, visited platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross station, rode a double decker bus, walked through some parks, and stopped at lots of pubs. I was pretty excited to find out that ginger beer cocktails are a big thing there. My favorite meal was at an Indian restaurant called Dishoom, recommended by my buddy Chris. Most importantly, though, we got to celebrate Nik and Marlene's birthdays! Honestly I feel like we didn't even scratch the surface of the London experience, but it was a kick-ass weekend anyway.

Þakka þér fyrir and mind the gap!
TGIB