Friday

SESIG ranged from self-driving cars to federal policies to solar installations, Ben from Pure Energy brought solar consultation to my living room, and Minecraft claimed multiple sessions between social engagements. The day accumulated through alternating rhythms—virtual warehouse construction, real conversations about energy independence, hot tub soaking, and 3am insomnia remedied by more block-placing. Woke up this morning wanting my Starbucks routine, but that life is gone now. Some changes arrive through corporate decisions you never get to vote on.

Patterns and Disruptions

October 4, 2025

SESIG opened the day with Jon, Jim, and Tom gathered for the usual intellectual wandering. Self-driving cars dominated early discussion—the technical challenges, the liability questions, the timeline predictions that keep getting pushed back. From there we drifted through federal government policies, solar installations, and whatever other topics caught attention. These meetings function best when they're allowed to meander, following curiosity rather than agenda.

Minecraft claimed the mid-morning hours. Completed The Workshop zone in the warehouse—another section of the grand organizational system finished and functional. There's satisfaction in virtual completion that physical projects rarely deliver so cleanly.

Booked a Philomath Salon with Bill's career retrospective as the topic. These salons provide useful structure for sustained conversation about subjects that deserve more than casual attention. Bill's professional journey should make for engaging exploration.

Ben from Pure Energy Group arrived for the solar consultation—a face-to-face meeting that immediately distinguished them from competitors relying on phone calls and online forms. Sitting down together to discuss installation specifics, site conditions, technical options, and financial projections felt like appropriate initial engagement for a major home infrastructure decision. Local company, good presence, the kind of interaction that builds confidence before money changes hands. The solar project continues moving from abstract possibility toward concrete reality.

More Minecraft followed, because apparently The Workshop zone's completion merely opened space for continuing warehouse expansion. The project has developed its own momentum, each completed section revealing what needs building next.

Joined Tim and Brian at Squirrels in the early afternoon for casual hanging out—the unstructured social time that doesn't require justification or agenda. Sometimes friendship is just being in the same space without needing entertainment or purpose.

Random flower picture from my walk

Evening brought the walk to Suds and time with Michael, Mary, and Cathy. More conversation, more beer, more of that essential human connection that makes days feel inhabited rather than merely endured.

Home welcomed me with dinner responsibilities. Japanese curry and meatballs—pretty good and pretty easy, the kind of cooking that satisfies without demanding excessive attention or skill. Success measured not in culinary achievement but in functional nourishment that tastes decent.

Random TV consumed some evening hours. Not everything needs to be prestige television or documentary education. Sometimes the brain just wants familiar patterns and low cognitive demand.

The hot tub provided its particular form of evening meditation—heat and water and darkness, the body's tensions gradually releasing while thoughts drift without direction. These soaks have become minor rituals of transition between day's engagement and night's surrender.

Bed arrived on schedule, but sleep had other plans. Woke in the wee hours with that particular insomnia that won't yield to willpower or patience. First order of business: posting my poem to my journal—the creative work that had been waiting for attention, now finding its moment in the quiet darkness. Then Minecraft provided the continued 3am solution—enough engagement to quiet the restless mind without stimulating it further. Eventually sleep returned, earned through poetry posting and block-placing meditation.

This morning brought sleeping in and the ghost of routines past. My usual habit would send me to Starbucks by now, but that option has been corporately eliminated. Life changes whether you're ready or not, whether the changes make sense or not. New patterns will emerge to replace old ones, but this morning just felt like absence—the missing piece of daily structure that used to anchor my mornings.

The Red Queen's race continues, but sometimes the track itself shifts underneath you, forcing new routes whether you wanted them or not.