đź Whatâs the worst thing thatâll happen?
Ep 54: Home improvement adventures, Choccy cow half tights, and brewery hopping as the calendar grinds forward.
I packed a lot into the weekend, and frankly, Iâm tired! Home improvement is hard, but Iâm making good progress, having moved on to a second bedroom after doing this to the first one. The furniture will arrive late next month, and the rooms must be ready for sleeping by mid-December. Itâs nice to have a deadline!
A Tip for the Modern Worker
You donât get if you donât ask. If you want something, put together a plan to get it. If you donât plan, you canât act. If you donât act, you canât achieve. Ask yourself: whatâs the worst thing thatâll happen if I ask for something I want? Very likely, the worst outcome is that the answer is no. Everything else is better than that, so go for it!
This tip is one of 365 in my Handbook for the Modern Worker. When was the last time you spoke up when you had nothing to lose? It could result in nothing, but it also could get you exactly what you want. Itâs the reason I work from home, doing what I do, for who I do it for. Ask away.
#365DayDraw
I drew this and wrote the accompanying annotation as part of my #365DayDraw project 7 years ago today.
I made one innocuous observation about her plumage and the odd bird got her feathers ruffled
Plumage is a fun word. Iâm unsure what prompted this drawing but I think this little bird is pretty cute. I certainly hope it wasnât because I offended someone seven years ago. If so, and if that was you, I sincerely apologize.
Commentary
Amy and I were in Finger Lakes Running a week ago. They carry the ChicknLegs line of shorts for runners and Iâd seen that they started making an 8â tight for men. Iâm unsure if Iâd run in them, but I sure would try hot yoga. Amy said, âHey, you only live once,â and that YOLO reminder was enough of a nudge for me to get them. I wore them to hot yoga last night and loved them! I felt like a kid on the first day of school, sporting his brand-new clothes, backpack, and shoes. Hereâs what the Men's Choccy Cows 8" Half Tights look like on a model (because Iâm not sharing photos of me in these shorts on my Substack; I have to draw the line somewhere).
Very much in that YOLO vein, weâre starting to do things in the spur of the moment simply because. Like deciding last-minute to hit Scale House Brewery for dinner because itâd mean another punch on our Hops for Humanity card, even when there was perfectly delightful food at home. Moments like that are fun, especially when you get to drink out of a Straight Outta Hector pint glass. With 13 stops left to go on the card, and 15 Saturdays left in 2023, weâre going to have to get moving!
Miscellanea
đ I loved listening to Martinus Evans (founder of Slow AF Run Club) on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! while painting doors in the garage.
đ Look at the Iconographic Encyclopaedia project. Itâs a pleasure to peruse this modernization of the 19th-century encyclopedia that covers astronomy to zoology. Plus, you can use the illustrations freely without any restrictions.
đ° Are you into connections? Relationships? System, a novel use of AI, could be worth a look: âAs the world becomes increasingly complex and interdependent, our vision is to relate everything as it is â one system. We believe that seeing the whole system will help us all make better decisions at home, at work, and as a society.â