Engineering Solutions

Yesterday moved from SESIG discussions about grease through England blog migration to solar system engineering, from First Tuesday lunch stories about Alaska to solo yoga that proved painful and good. Jerry at Be Solar clarified I'll need to engineer my own system, Aurora the new Suds bartender draws an interesting crowd, and I chatted with Emily on Strava—pleasant conversation, though these days you have to wonder if online connections are actually human.

The Art of Deliberate Design

October 8, 2025

The morning started with a little time chatting with Emily on Strava—kind of a random connection but the conversation is pleasant. She doesn't seem to be an AI but if so, she's very convincing. It's interesting that we have to ask this question these days about online connections, evaluating whether the person we're talking to is actually a person.

SESIG gathered at Imagine Coffee in the morning—Larry, Tom, and Jim making for good turnout. The setting works well for conversation, but their coffee remains terrible. They're down to just their medium roast now, which is really bad. The irony of a coffee shop that can't manage decent coffee isn't lost on me, but the space serves its purpose for group discussion. We talked about grease among other topics, the conversation ranging wherever curiosity led.

Ian in costume from the play I went
to just before leaving England

The morning and afternoon belonged to finishing the England trip blog migration—grinding through the last posts, moving them from Patreon to my personal blog where they belong together. Having them all in one place feels right, creates coherence rather than fragmentation. I'm pondering a low energy book project just based on these blog posts, letting the existing writing stand rather than trying to transform it into something else. We'll see how that idea evolves as I sit with it.

First Tuesday lunch brought Bill, Ted, and Steve together at what was supposed to be Nirvana, but they were closed. We pivoted to Tacovore and ate outside—pleasant weather making that choice easy. Ted told an interesting story about his time in Alaska and about a mountain climber who lives there, the kind of narrative that opens windows into lives very different from our ordinary routines.

Minecraft claimed some time for continued warehouse work. Lots of little engineering puzzles to solve—logistics problems about material flow, spatial constraints, aesthetic choices that serve functional purposes. Virtual engineering as mental exercise, problems that have definite solutions if you think them through carefully.

The Zoom call with Jerry at Be Solar Electric provided more insight into solar installation possibilities. The conversation clarified something important: I'm going to need to engineer the system I actually want rather than just accepting whatever standard package gets proposed. It'll likely be expensive, which means I may need to approach this incrementally—installing components in stages rather than all at once if I'm paying out of pocket. I need to talk with Energy Trust to understand what options exist for phased installation and how that affects incentives and approvals.

Cleaned off the deck, revealing actual surface colors beneath the gray patina left by tree clearing. The cushions should probably move to the lower deck for winter storage, though there might still be opportunity to use the deck furniture over the weekend if weather cooperates. The umbrella will require serious repair before it's functional again—another project added to the queue.

Rajeev and I walked around the neighborhood, and I delivered his magazines. He keeps mentioning taking me flying someday, though no specific plan has emerged yet. It's one of those standing offers that might materialize or might just remain a pleasant hypothetical.

Yoga in the evening marked a milestone: first time going when Cathy wasn't there. Apparently I'm qualified to fly solo now, capable of showing up and participating without needing familiar company for courage. Yoga was painful and good—exactly what it should be, pushing against limitations while honoring what the body can actually do in the moment.

Post-yoga beer at Suds introduced Aurora, the new bartender. She's pleasant and seems to draw an interesting crowd—one of those people whose energy shapes the social space they inhabit. Different dynamic than other bartenders there, but not worse, just different.

The evening followed familiar patterns: The Greatest Controversies of Early Christian History explored Jesus' relationship with Mary Magdalene, revealing how little actually exists in the historical record, at least prior to his death. Most of what people think they know comes from later works of imagination rather than contemporary sources. Hogan's Heroes followed, providing comfortable nostalgia after the historical scholarship.

Slept like a rock afterward. Yoga seems excellent for that—physical exertion that leaves the body genuinely tired in ways that mental work alone never achieves.

Yesterday reinforced something about how I approach problems: most worthwhile things require engineering rather than just purchasing. Solar systems, blog organization, warehouse logistics, even yoga practice—they all benefit from deliberate design choices rather than accepting default options. The solutions take longer this way, cost more effort upfront, demand more thinking. But they end up fitting actual needs instead of approximating them. Some things are worth engineering yourself.