Systems and Social Connections

Morning routine. Day planning. SESIG discussion. Automation work. First Tuesday lunch. Continued email summarization. Upper Hand appointments. Google workspace integration. Minecraft gaming. Beer at Suds.

From motorcycle instrumentation to email systems

Events and activities that occurred on Monday, February 03, 2026

The morning gathered momentum through journaling and day planning before driving to Imagine Coffee for SESIG. Will arrived first and walked through his motorcycle instrumentation project—lab-based performance analysis for a small bore land speed record breaking motorcycle he's building with John Greeven and OSU students. The ongoing project involves custom instrumentation for performance measurement rather than decoration. Larry followed with updates on his 3D scanner work, anchored in a hand grip shield project for his motorcycle. He'd purchased a capable 3D scanner to capture the complex curves involved in creating Kydex molds, though the software bundled with the scanner proved more interesting than the hardware itself. The technical discussions reflected a pattern I appreciate about SESIG gatherings—people bringing whatever captures their attention rather than following predetermined agendas.

Automation work continued throughout the day, focused on email summarization systems that weren't yet behaving correctly. The challenge resided not in making something work once but in making it work reliably every time. Systems thinking requires accounting for edge cases and failure modes, which reveals itself slowly through iteration rather than sudden breakthrough.

First Tuesday lunch at Nirvana brought Steve and Bill, with Ted arriving later. The conversation ranged across houses, television shows, and politics without settling deeply on any single topic. Walking there and back provided welcome movement between morning and afternoon work blocks.

One of the places I visited this past weekend

The afternoon brought Upper Hand Orthopaedics coordination. Surgery scheduled for March 20 at Waverly Lake Surgery Center, followed by physical therapy on March 24 and a hand post-op appointment on March 30. Medical appointments accumulate their own logistics—dates to track, forms to complete, schedules to coordinate.

Technical work expanded into Google workspace MCP development, enabling access to multiple email accounts. The gmail search tool's capabilities became clearer through experimentation. Progress emerges through understanding tools more completely rather than finding new tools.

An hour of Minecraft with Leland proved far too short. He's currently building a store along the river's edge, and I helped supply materials for the project. The game provided structure for connection across distance and generations, a shared virtual space where seven-year-old imagination and adult problem-solving could collaborate. Games serve social purposes beyond their explicit mechanics, though this session ended before I was ready to stop.

Evening brought beer at Suds, where Aaron mentioned Julie hadn't left a note about last night's unpaid tab—I'll settle up when I see her next. Brittany stopped by and showed pictures of her new baby, big smile and pretty cute. Aurora took over the bar later in the evening. The bus covered most of the journey home.

A bit more email summarization work before the day concluded. The observation that living alone removes sources of corrective feedback lingered from earlier reflection. Without someone there to notice when patterns drift or perspective narrows, awareness requires more deliberate cultivation. The possibility of drifting in undesirable directions increases when there's no external reference point.