All Over the Place

A lot has happened in the last nine months and somehow, even though I’m unemployed, I haven’t found the time to write about it. Until now. Buckle in because this is gonna be all over the place.

Baby on the Waybe
Speaking of nine months, Felicia and I are having a baby! Our due date is in September. We know the gender and we have a name we like, but for now it’s our little secret. We’re both a little nervous and a lot excited to start this next chapter. I doubt we’ll have a baby shower because of the pandemic, but if you want to celebrate with us then send a nice message :)

Thanks Auntie Mama for the baby swag

COVID-19
We read about the first US COVID-19 death when we were boarding a plane to Hawaii. This virus on the other side of the world wasn’t a factor in our lives, and then all of a sudden it was infecting people in our neighborhood. We had a blast exploring the big island, but we didn’t exactly find peace and relaxation there because whenever we checked our phones there was more news about the deadly breakout back home. When we started our vacation on February 29th there were two announced cases, both fatal, from Life Care Center of Kirkland. By the time our vacation ended on March 8th, Life Care had announced 48 cases and 22 deaths, and an unknown number of staff and residents had yet to be tested. We tossed around the idea of staying in Hawaii until we had more clarity on the outbreak, but ultimately we decided to take our scheduled flight home.


The Kirkland we came back to seems a lot quieter than the one we left, not that we get out of the house much. The extent of our activities is basically my weekly grocery run and our evening walks around the neighborhood. Thankfully I’m an introvert and I have plenty of hobbies at home so I’m comfortable. Microsoft was ahead of the government issuing work from home orders, so Felicia hasn’t been into the office since February, and by the time she’s done with maternity leave the total gap will be over a year and life will be totally different.

I want to give a shoutout to my friends and family members who had wedding and graduation plans cancelled, and of course pay respects to the families that have been directly impacted by the pandemic. When this is over I hope we can all live with a greater sense of urgency and purpose, because today’s opportunities might not be there tomorrow.

Fitness
Before the breakout I was as fit as I’ve ever been. I had a different routine every day of the week involving weights, running, and pickup basketball. I’ve been able to touch the bottom of the rim throughout my adult life, but in February I could get about three inches above and pull it down. If I kept at it then the sky was the limit. Unfortunately the gym is closed and I haven’t adapted to a new routine, so the buffness is gone.



Having a nice bod was fun because I got a lot of compliments on my appearance, and that was a new experience for me. I was working out to improve athletic performance, but positive feedback became a new motivation. I never understood Instagram culture until I realized that I just wasn’t attractive enough for it. Praise is addictive! I’ve come back down to earth now, for better or worse. But when I was working out I had a lot of confidence, so I joined a baseball team for the first time in 15 years. When the virus canceled those plans it felt like my teenage years again, when a broken hand derailed my career at its peak. Maybe I’m just not meant to be on the diamond.

The good news about being sidelined is that my feet are back to normal. They were overworked and nasty, and I’ve always defined myself as someone who has nice feet, so that’s a pretty big deal. Slide into the DMs if you want to exchange feet pics. Just kidding...unless??

Projects
Instead of working out I’ve been spending time on hobbies at home. I started this solar-powered greenhouse project over a year ago, but then forgot about it when we went to the Galapagos Islands. I picked it back up a few weeks ago, and it felt really good to tie up all the loose ends I left for myself. You can check it out at https://smartgreen.house/



Just before the outbreak I finished up a demo for my game, Salary Man. The vision I have in my head for this game is amazing, and it’s been a lot of fun bringing it to life. The incarnation that you see here is nowhere near the final version. Everything in this video was an educational experience for me, and I plan to apply the lessons I learned from it. Hopefully you can still grasp what it’s about. Wu Tang!



Video Games
Video games are following the same path as the movie industry; the biggest studios are milking the same franchises over and over again because it’s the best bet financially. Meanwhile the purist content, the media from independent studios, rarely reaches a mass audience. I haven’t bothered with recent installments of Pokemon or World of Warcraft, two franchises I grew up on, because commercialization-forwardness is an affront to game design. Maybe someday in the distant future, after Salary Man DLC has made me rich, I'll re-read this paragraph and cry at my loss of innocence while wiping my tears with hundred dollar bills.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Super Smash Bros is one franchise that’s trended way up for me. I’m part of an eight-player league that competes in olympics-style tournaments whenever somebody has a birthday. It’s fast paced and there’s something at stake every match, so it’s a good burst of adrenaline for a couple hours. I need to shout out my dudes Link and King K. Rool for making me champions, and also my friend Marlene who made an app to help us manage the events. You can check it out at https://flammcon.github.io/smash/



For a more prolonged social gaming experience, six of us play an asynchronous online game of Civilization VI. Civ is a crazy complicated strategy game where you have to juggle resource management and relationships to take over the world. For us it’s basically a Game of Thrones simulator. Each person spends maybe 10 minutes a day logged into the game, but the plotting and scheming between turns never stops.

My favorite game in recent memory is Cuphead. It’s perfectly difficult and the artwork is amazing. Plus it’s co-op, and like I said earlier, playing games socially is a whole different level of fun. Props to my man Mugman Phil for beating the Devil with me.

I also just finished playing the new Final Fantasy VII Remake. I never played the original FFVII, so right now I have more questions than answers, but I thought the visuals and music were amazing. The characters and story are also well written. The only part of the game I didn’t like was the side quests.

Holidays

• For Halloween we dressed as chefs from Overcooked
• We spent Thanksgiving with a bunch of friends at home. Gotta shout out Jan and Lauren for hosting their Friendsgiving every year.
• We were in Tucson for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. For us that’s like a no brainer because both of our families gather there and the weather is great. They had a lot of rain just before we arrived, so the water features in Catalina State Park and Sabino Canyon made for awesome hiking.

Miscellaneous Highlights

• I saw Logic live for the first time in October. He’s got such a positive energy it felt like a Christian rock concert.
• I got a flu shot for the first time. I’ve always had good health so it’s never seemed important, but I got my ass kicked by the flu last year and vowed to never let it happen again.
• I saw the ‘Cats hoops team beat UW in Seattle. Last time I was there in 2018 they lost on a buzzer beater, so payback was nice.
• We rented a house on the Olympic peninsula with some friends for a weekend in November. Lots of food, drink, and Cuphead until 4 AM.
• We spent a weekend in Vancouver with the in-laws. Always a good time with them. The only bummer was the border line on the way home. Felicia and I were motivated enough to get Nexus status (which include Global Entry and TSA precheck), but with this outbreak I doubt we’ll use them any time soon.

Bear Down!

Stay safe out there.

TGIB

30

Picking Up Where I Left Off

“You can’t have the fruits without the roots”
-Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Last year was all about the roots and this year was about continued growth. We got some great harvests from the greenhouse in terms of food (tomatoes, peppers, limes, lettuce, microgreens) and data about environmental controls. I’m excited to iterate on that and do even better next year. On the home improvement front our yard is now fully fenced in, and we installed AC just in time for summer. I’ve also been busy with indoor gardening. Our main room is slowly transforming into a palace of houseplants.


Artistically I haven’t come as far as I had hoped. I had all the tools I needed to be productive and creative, but I was too tired to pour myself into personal projects on evenings and weekends. The energy I spent at work was more valuable than the money I made, so I quit my job. Since then I’ve enjoyed making music and developing a video game. The music is harder than I expected. I like everything that I’ve written but it’s hard to bring it to life at production quality. The game is easier than I expected. I’m confident that my imagination is the limit and I’m excited to see where it takes me.

placeholder art for the prototype

Travel
Last summer we went to Iceland, which is the furthest north we’ve been. Over the holidays this year we went to New Zealand, which is the furthest south we’ve been. It’s a long way away, but we can’t wait to go back and do more great walks. From the time I quit working in April up until my birthday in August, I’ve been on a long victory lap for my 20s. I visited Arizona twice, California twice, a couple places in Mexico, the Galapagos Islands, Texas, Idaho, and Nevada. Every year I promise myself that I’ll stay in the northwest all summer (the summers are great, winters are for travel) and every year I break that promise worse than the year before.

Birthday
I spent the week before my birthday boating and golfing around Coeur d’Alene. I went 2-for-2 landing t-shots onto the floating green! Then I spent one night partying in Las Vegas to celebrate a friend’s 30th bday. I was pumped to get back in town just in time for the softball championship game being played on my birthday. All the golf didn’t help my swing and we lost a close game to a team of jerks, so I guess I stumbled just before the finish line of my victory lap. Maybe the doctor was right, everything starts going downhill when you turn 30. At least I can still pretend to be young! Next week I’m hosting a super smash bros tournament that will last a few hours until a champion is crowned. I think the last time I went to a birthday party like that I was 11 :)



Next Year

“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for... That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”
-Robin Williams as John Keating, Dead Poet’s Society

I’m blessed because my wife is cool with my lifestyle right now. We’re striking a balance that I think is difficult for young Americans to achieve. The last few months were a fun whirlwind but I’m burnt out from travelling, and that’s not what I quit my job to do. I wanted to gain ownership of my time, and I’m finally getting it. I’m excited to keep working on my game, music, and greenhouse, and to get some other folks involved with those projects. I’m also getting on a more serious athletic regimen. Finally, and most importantly, I’m looking forward to keeping Felicia happy and continuing to build our life together!

TGIB

Galápagos++

It’s been a busy few weeks. We celebrated matrimonies and feasted with our families. We climbed mountains and swam with a mermaid. We traveled back in time to teenage years. We spoke Spanish for the first time in a while. We drank cold beer in a hot tub, and tequila poured from clowns. We danced with a robot. We lit the sky on fire and slept by the ocean. We roamed a castle and saw life beyond death. We witnessed a golden angel wrestle victoriously against evil. We ascended the Pyramid of the Sun and survived Montezuma’s Revenge. Then after all that we took the best vacation of our lives!

There’s no time to break down everything we did in Arizona and Mexico, so use your imagination. I really only exaggerated a little bit. The coolest leg of our journey was a cruise around the Galápagos Islands, so I’ll focus on that. Shout outs to Ryan & Victoria and Nick & Marlene for your awesome weddings.

I really wanted to go on a cruise when I was a kid but it never happened. Then I realized people on cruises just drink for a week straight and norovirus breaks out and the plumbing stops working and everything is expensive, so I figured not going on a cruise was cool too. The Galápagos is different though because boats are small and the clientele aren’t there just to party. Our boat had 15 passengers, 7 crew members, and a rich itinerary. It’s an immersive escape from modern life because there’s no cell data out there. For a week your only contact is with exotic animals.

Cruising

Shout outs to Renata, Jutta, Gerald, Pia, Stewart, Lauren, Jen, Ian, Arlene, Bryce, Leah, Harry, and Linda! Our shipmates were from England, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, and USA, and the crew was all from Ecuador. On the boat we ate three course meals together and enjoyed each other's company despite some small language barriers. Off the boat we mostly spent our time snorkeling and hiking the different islands with our Naturalist guide Felipe. Every day was like playing Pokemon Snap in real life. A typical schedule was like this:

* 6:00 Breakfast
* 7:00 Hike
* 10:00 Snorkel
* 12:00 Lunch
* Siesta
* 3:00 Hike
* 5:00 Snorkel
* 7:00 Dinner

We also did some kayaking, dinghy rides, beach lounging, bird watching, and Felicia even taught us all synchronized swimming in the ocean! Our last day was spent in civilization around Puerto Ayora. We toured some research and conservation projects, and learned about the impact that humans have on the islands.

When the skies were clear we spent evenings stargazing from the top deck. We crossed the equator like five times so it was pretty neat watching the sky flip upside down. We were in bed early every night because the days were so long. Sleeping while navigating was great. It felt like mama ocean was rocking the crib just right. There was only one night when she was in a bad mood and our small boat felt like a roller coaster.

Marine Life

We swam with penguins, sharks, turtles, sea lions, flightless cormorants, iguanas, sting rays, octopus, lobsters, forests of starfish, puffer fish (the kind they make fugu out of), and various schools of fish by the thousands. We also spotted whales and manta rays from the boat, and raced with pods of dolphins. The sea lions are super playful and curious. You try not to get too close but they swim right at you and then do cool spinny moves at the last minute to dodge before circling back around. Galápagos is also the only place in the northern hemisphere where penguins live. They’re pretty silly on land but It’s amazing how fast they are in the water.

Diversity

The islands are located a major intersection of trade winds and ocean currents, which means lots of animal migration traffic. Each of the islands rose from volcanoes at different times, and the lava flows on each island establish boundaries between isolated ecosystems. The result is an abundance of micro-habitats within close proximity, each of which was seeded at a different period in history and has evolved independently of the others. Some flora and fauna are capable of island hopping, so their species have homogenized across the islands. Other plants and animals have adapted differently to their specific environments. For example there are 12 known species of giant tortoise and 15 known species of finches! I was excited by some first generation “pioneer plants” that we saw on a remote lava flow. These plants are the first generation of an adaptation process that will lead to new habitats and development of new subspecies.

The diversity of the animals follows from the dynamic landscapes. Some islands are predominantly red sand because of the rich iron content. Other islands have white sand beaches, others black. Some beaches are organic, which means they’re composed entirely of little shell flakes. One island reminded me of Mars because of its desolate terrain. Another was even more otherworldly - a lush swampland with an abundance of cacti. In some places mangroves dominate the coast; in others lava flows clash with the sea to form inter-tidal grottoes. We walked through a massive lava tunnel and saw the giant pit craters that fed it with magma before they collapsed. One of my most visceral memories was watching penguins swim against a backdrop of lava rocks, red sand, and candelabra cactus.

Fernandina

It’s not fair to pick a favorite island - one of the things that makes them so cool is how they contrast with each other. But my favorite day was spent on Fernandina. That’s where they filmed the epic iguanas vs snakes scene in Planet Earth 2. It was the first time we saw marine iguanas, and there were piles of them. We also saw one of the racer snakes (although it wasn’t hatching season), some sea lions, various large birds, and tons of crabs. The iguanas have no concept of personal space. One iguana was just minding its own business when another one crawled on top of him and took a big dump, then crawled off and scurried away. The first iguana just sat there and took it.

The snorkeling that day was incredible. Our swim began with iguanas diving down to feed on algae. We followed them until some big webbed feet caught my eye on the sand about 30 feet below. It was a flightless cormorant, so we watched it dive and feed for a while until Felicia spotted an octopus, so we checked that out until some schools of fish were startled, which looked awesome because of the way the light reflected off of them all moving at the same time. A moment later a group of penguins zoomed through, changing direction on a dime, catching as many of the fish as they could get their beaks on. We tried to keep up but they were too fast. When we lost them we were surrounded by more sea turtles than we could count, so we just mellowed out until it was time to get back in the boat.

Boobies

Blue-Footed Boobies are large white birds with huge blue webbed feet. “Boobie” comes from the Spanish “bobo” which means clown, because of the way they lift their feet when they walk. The blue pigmentation comes from the nutrients of the fish that they eat. More fish means bluer feet, and deep blue feet is a sign that a mate will be a good provider for their chicks. Sexy blue feet is a good start, but it’s not enough to get the green light for reproduction. Once a male has attracted the attention of a female, he charms her with a silly courtship dance. If she accepts the proposal then she will join his dance, and eventually they start a home together and get down to business. They don’t build traditional nests out of twigs, but they find a sandy area between some rocks and poop together in a circle around it to establish their territory. Sometime later the female will lay her first egg, then about five days later she will lay a second egg. The male will help incubate the eggs (another important function of those feet) and he will also guard the chicks underneath him after they’ve hatched. As whimsical as nature can be, it is equally as savage. The second egg that the female lays is a sort of insurance policy, and they don’t often need it. If the older chick is healthy and strong then the parents will favor it. If food is scarce then the younger chick will starve to death. The older sibling sometimes murders the younger one by pecking it or dragging it out of the nest while the parents watch idly. I love the bright side of nature. Respect the dark side.

Recommendation

Don’t spend too much time trying to pick the “perfect” Galápagos vacation. There’s no way you can do it all in one trip. Pick a couple animals that you want to see and research the best months to see them. Many animal mating/hatching habits depend on the climate. They have a cool/dry season, and a warm/wet season. The other variable is itinerary. Most boats have a 15 day itinerary to tour the islands, and they generally break it apart into two week-long cruises. We did the 8 days west tour on Tip Top II. It’s not cheap, but you get what you pay for. I had a lot of uncertainty arranging this trip but we absolutely loved how everything turned out, so I cannot recommend Rolf Wittmer highly enough. We booked our tour through Happy Gringo. If we go again, we’ll pick a month that best fits the animals of the Eastern itinerary.

Fun Facts

* Galápagos Tortoises can live up to 180 years, and weigh up to 770 pounds
* A group of iguanas is called a mess
* As a result of global warming, tortoise/turtle eggs are hatching dramatically more females than males
* 21 of the 23 reptile species (including all 3 snakes) found in the Galápagos are endemic to the islands
* 41 of 400+ known species of fish in the Galápagos are endemic to the islands
* The islands have 837 miles of coastline - more than mainland Ecuador
* Galápagos tortoises can live up to a year without food or water, so sailors used to keep them alive on their ships as a food supply
* Marine iguanas use their nostrils like a blowhole to expel salt. Over time the salt residue calcifies on their heads like a crown

TGIB!