Home

Chicago Marathon tomorrow. Goal: 3:45. Realistic goal: finish and still be able to climb the stairs to the office on Tuesday.

Timber Coulee, 7 a.m., 48°F, one brown on a size-18 BWO after an hour of nothing. The hour of nothing was the point.

Last harvest of the season from the Halsted plot: 4 lbs of tomatillos, 2 lbs of serranos, one tomato that refused to ripen. Salsa verde for the whole block this weekend.

The C10 passed emissions. Ten years, one engine rebuild, a bed I made from scratch, and a man at the testing station who said 'nice truck' like he meant it. Best day of the quarter.

Monday loaf on the Portland branch counter means I was in over the weekend. Today there are two loaves. Draw your own conclusions about the quarter-end.

Tuesday bridge: 61.4%, second in section. My partner bid a slam I would not have bid. It made. I have apologised. Litigation with a partner you have to be polite to.

Harvest, day four. Sweepers running since 6. The black pine my grandfather started in 1955 got watered at 5:45 because it does not care about harvest.

Lake temperature at Lee Street Beach this morning: 54°F. Six of us went in. The seventh is 'thinking about it' for the fourth year running.

Wednesday-night series is over for the year. Tuesday finished fourth in fleet. We have never won. We have never not shown up. Both of these are the point.

Sent my first 5.12a outdoors at Devil's Lake on Sunday. Took eleven attempts over two seasons. Discovery is the same: you fall ten times and then you don't.

Friday, 5:10 a.m., six loaves in. Two for the office, two for the pantry, two for us. The six-strand braid is muscle memory now; the 5 a.m. is not.

Chess, Saturday standings: Dev 31, me 14. He has started offering me a draw as a kindness. I have started declining it out of pride. Both of us are learning something.

Phil's Trail, 6:05 a.m., 14 miles, 41°F. Miguel's shop sponsors me, which Helen has confirmed is a declared conflict of interest. The bike is fast and the conflict is disclosed.

Brisket went on at 4 a.m. It comes off when it's ready. This is also my trial-prep philosophy.

Beginners' step class tonight: nine adults, one eight-year-old who is better than all of them, including me. Humbling. Correct.

Moog Prodigy update: VCO 2 now tracks across five octaves. Took eleven months. The migration took eighteen. Analogue oscillators are, it turns out, harder than banks.

Coast Trail, segment 23: Cape Falcon to Manzanita. 290 of 382 miles done. I take the long way round every headland. Maya says this is 'a character flaw'. It's a method.

Tuesday league: 11 points, 6 assists, one mid-range jumper that the fieldhouse will remember. Jess was not there to witness it, which she says is convenient.

Airstream status, year nine: kitchen works, shower works, toilet 'mostly'. Carol has declared the coast trip a success on the grounds that we came home. Next: the awning.

U-12s won 3–1. Two goals from set pieces in the playbook. The playbook is 14 pages. Several parents have asked if it's a bit much. It is not a bit much.

Rouleur and I did 50 miles at the Oregon 100 fun ride yesterday. Vet check: 'horse is fine, rider is suspect.' Trucking taught me pace. The horse taught me patience. The vet taught me humility.

Wednesday series final results: Audit Trail, 7th of 9. Crew remains convinced we could have won. Skipper remains convinced that is not the point. The boat is 48 years old and floats. Winning.

Term sheet arrived with 'customary protective provisions.' There is no such thing. Every provision is custom to whoever drafted it. Read them.

Honey harvest done. 94 pounds this year, up from 90. Every lawyer in the firm gets a jar. Clients who ask get a jar. Opposing counsel: it depends.

Four days on the lower Deschutes booked for the 19th. Steelhead count from the last nine trips: two. The river does not care about my win rate and that is why I go.

Groundbreaking in Sisters. 24 homes for wildland firefighters. Kyle. Marisol. Every time.

Jury selection tip from twenty-five years of doing it: stop trying to read people. Ask them a real question and listen to the whole answer. Most lawyers stop listening at the first word they wanted to hear.

Friday. Alhambra. Twenty years and Luis still can't lead a cross-body turn. I love him anyway.

Honey harvest: 61 lb from six hives. Cafeteria will sell it by Friday. Every jar funds the clinic in Kumasi. The bees do not know this and would not care.

Motion granted. Treating myself to a 2,000-piece crossword — I mean, puzzle. Hannah has been a bad influence.

Q3 one-pager published. Someone asked for a second page. The answer was the same as last year.

Lost on Thursday to a 14-year-old who played the Caro-Kann better than I do. Rating now 1742. Stubborn, not stupid: I'll be back next week.

Four years ago tonight we cut over the core system. I sat in the ops room until 4 a.m. watching a dashboard do nothing. Best night of my career. Nothing happened.

Independence vote today. 9–0. Fifth year. Independence is a decision the board makes again every time someone offers to buy it. Nobody offered this year. We voted anyway.

Worked a station in the Falklands on 20 metres last night from the attic in Logan Square. 7,300 miles on 100 watts and a wire. Nobody at the office finds this as exciting as I do.

Finished the green dress. 1956 Simplicity pattern, grandma's Singer, four weekends. Wearing it to the firm dinner. Patrick has been told the correct reaction.

Exam week. Tray of besan ladoo, my mother's recipe, in the review session. Attendance 100%. Measurable, replicable, peer-reviewed by 48 undergraduates.

A promise to a client is a logistics problem. If you can't say who, what, where and by when, you haven't made a promise, you've made a wish.

Third dining table is at the sanding stage. The first two left home with their owners. The third has about four years before it needs to. Shaker furniture and children both reward patience.

Window sash #31 of 34 reglazed. Karin has asked when the house will be 'done.' I have explained that this is not how houses work.