Appointed, beyond creating my favorite not-cheap notebook, also produced a “studio calendar” that was gorgeous and equally not-cheap. It was spiral bound with lovely paper weight and typography. I loved it and it looked right at home in my home office.

But they weren’t available this year. I confirmed with them over email that it’ll be coming back but, naturally, that left me without a paper calendar.

I was near Daiso earlier this week and picked up this little beaut. Your cost: $2.25.

As a bonus, I get a whole other set of holidays from another part of the world. Not a bad deal.

It’s not as elegant as the Appointed calendar, but it’s extremely simple and fairly unadorned. Very much my speed.

I recently watched a snippet of a MKBHD podcast video thing where he and his crew talked about the website RTINGS going full paywall. First of all, man, this video needs more guys. Really sad to not see more white dudes represented in podcasts and videos.

RTINGS is a fantastic site but one thing that the crew on the talk show pretending to be a podcast get right is: it’s a very situational site. If I’m looking for blenders, as Marques illustrates, then I’ll probably spend some time researching it against my budget and making a decision. RTINGS is a place that could support that. But now I need to pay them at least ten bucks to do so. Depending on how I’m feeling and how much I care, I might pay that. Then I get a month of their stuff “for free”.

I was a little surprised but then not to immediately clock that Consumer Reports has been doing this model for decades. They’re 90 years old. They still exist as a non-profit. Lots of people like to dunk on them, especially in the car world, because they don’t always fawn over the latest and greatest. (Their continued endorsement of Tesla is the one that baffles me. But, I understand why they do.)

RTINGS offers an annual subscription too, for a reasonable $45 (on sale for $31.50 as of this writing.) The McLaughlin Group here basically scoffs at the idea of paying for something like this annually. But, Consumer Reports continues to be right there, with a current circulation of 3.8 million for its print magazine. And lo and behold they too offer an annual digital subscription for… $39!

What I’m saying here is that both CR & RTINGS (CRTINGS!) probably know is that some people will use these things situationally. But there will also be people who just nerd out about this stuff, just like they do over the latest microphone-in-your-home-that-looks-like-a-cute-cat, and those people will pay annually. There are also people out there, I trust, who have a pot of subscription-ready money each month and are looking to support the mission of RTINGS.

The esteemed panel seems to conclude that RTINGS is toast, and they’ll die because of Google and AI summaries that short circuit all of their content and work and just tell you what to buy. It’s important to recognize that’s happening not because of competition, but because of unregulated industries that can do what they please and suffer no consequences. RTINGS isn’t large enough – they aren’t even based in the US! Go Canucks! – to encourage the current government to continue to look the other way, so they suffer. And because this goes on unchecked they’re asking people to pay or else.

RTINGS is a company, and they need to make money to do what they do. But I wonder if what they should do is hook up with CR. CR definitely tunes to a different audience than RTINGS, a very general consumer mindset. CR’s folks probably don’t want to nerd out about blender settings, but their employees and researchers absolutely do. So there’s some crossover there. CR’s model clearly works. I wonder if they ever chatted.

I wish RTINGS well, but they may need to take refuge if they don’t make it on their own.

It’s impossible to understate how influential Pandora was on me in the 2000s and 2010s.

Yep. Pandora. The now shell-of-a-brand, shell-of-a-company, owned by SiriusXM was for a time an interesting avenue to discover music. (Now, underground stuff? Not so much. But that’s not what I needed or wanted back then.)

My own personal modern music eras started, of course, with R.E.M. in the 90s. But a bit after that when I started telling Pandora what I liked to listen to as I spent my working hours designing the public website for a hospital system, I discovered a ton of artists that I ultimately came to really like or love. This  marked another era for building my own musical loves and tastes. These are some of the artists I first heard on Pandora.

• The New Pornographers

• Neko Case

• Cornershop

• Destroyer

• Lucy Dacus

• Bishop Allen

• Calexico

• Erin McKeown

• Low

Not all of these are all-timers for me, but plenty are. And for the artists I didn’t stick to, plenty of individual songs from this era are still in my music library.

It was all really exciting because I was just constantly having new music auditioned for me and I was hungry for things to listen to and enjoy. It was a different take on how my friends and I in high school would just listen to music for hours and go to record stores and just try things out. At a time when radio was in rapid decline, things like Pandora picked up the slack. Now, I absolutely remember Pandora getting stuck in ruts with my stations, so I’d need to make fresh ones with different influences from scratch. In time I found the selection of music to be lackluster and repetitive… just like radio.

 It also never truly pushed me out of my comfort zone which, especially nowadays, is something I want more and more. I have musical homes I will always return to but I really like auditioning things that are typically not something I’d listen to. Pandora wasn’t good at that and, I would argue, many of today’s algorithms aren’t made for that. (It’s about sharing stuff you like and similar to what you’d like so you’ll just keep earning slivers of a penny for artists. I get it.)

These days I still rely on a combination of people (friends, and the people talking to me on radio stations) and The Computer (via Apple Music playlists or things floating by on Mastodon) to share new music. It’s a different time, of course, and music is wallpaper for so many, but I don’t know that I’ll stop sharing what I’m hearing and what I love.

My father was a photographer. That’s how it started.

I mean, he wasn’t a professional. But any school event or even just family get-togethers my dad would usually have his Pentax K-1000 at hand. We’d get the photos back a few days later and enjoy them, then put them in an album or back in the little paper sleeve with the negatives, and next. You know?

In high school I took a photography class where I learned all the ropes. I learned how to develop my own film and make my own prints. I had a lot of time in the darkroom, working on pieces that were art and many that were crap and everything in between. I learned on my dad’s K-1000. It was a faithful and dependable camera. But… then, the light meter broke. That made photography a little too difficult. And I wanted to try out something new, so I made my way to LaGrange Camera (still exists) and looked at options. Tempted by Canon or Nikon, the equivalent of going with a Honda or Toyota, I instead found a lightly-used Pentax ME Super. All of the K-mount lenses I had used would still work. It was similar to the K-1000 in a lot of ways, just a bit more compact.

In college I started out studying computer science at UIC but later became terribly bored of it, learned about Columbia College Chicago, and transferred there to study photography. My ME Super carried me through college, even though I fell away from a dedicated photo major. I did some of my favorite photo work at that time.

The Move to Digital

Camera One: Epson PhotoPC

My first foray into digital cameras didn’t happen until the mid-90s. Digital cameras of the time were real shit – just low quality affairs. But there was something about them that was really appealing. The first digital camera I bought was an Epson PhotoPC, clocking in with a 640×480 resolution and 1MB of memory. I kept it for a week but returned it because it was so much money – $500 – and I was overwhelmed with buyer’s remorse.

Camera Two: Olympus Camedia D-450

What brought me to the Olympus, I am not sure. It was pretty compact and had a good-enough zoom. The door on front slid open and closed, which was especially handy and very satisfying. Nothing was manual on this; this was a point-and-shoot. But it got me out there trying things with digital photos, and that was the start. In time, the lens cover door jammed up and died. Much like the light meter on my dad’s old K-1000, this made taking photos very difficult. Tech had advanced pretty significantly, so I started to shop around.

Camera Three: Canon PowerShot A80

When I think about the camera that really got me into digital work, this is the one. The A80 was it. It was my companion for years. I loved it because it was compact and had a respectable 4MP resolution. It had a fully extendable screen, too, that could be flipped around for selfies! But one of my favorite things was that this was hackable. The thin ring around the lens could be removed fully and replaced to use some lenses and filters. A cottage industry sprung up around this.

I bought myself a cheap “tube” to go over the lens, and then some tiny macro filters. This led to me really getting into macro photography, beyond everything else. I just took really fucking good photos with this thing, for years.

Some of my all-time favorite photos I’ve taken to this day are from the A80. It was, simply put, a great camera.

I started to become much more interested in long zooms, though. At this time I considered my camera strategy (ha!) to split into having a daily carry camera and a DSLR. The DSLR would be for more “serious” situations, naturally, but I wanted something compact with a nice zoom as well. The A80 couldn’t quite do it.

Camera Four: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1

The TZ1 (“Tizzy One”) was another camera I really just enjoyed because of its formidable 12x zoom in a small package. I didn’t travel a ton but loved the idea of a travel zoom. I did sacrifice a bit from the A80, but not as much as I might have thought for my needs. The DSLR – noted below – would take on heavier duties, so this could be a little lighter on features. Notably I took this on my first ever weekend long photo road trip, and it held up like a champ.

The lil’ Lumix stuck with me for a number of years before I got tempted for an update with the SZ3.

Camera Four, Part 2: Pentax K100D

My DSLR journey began with the K100D, which was not an amazing camera but did work with all of the ME Super lenses I had held on to. I took some really fantastic photos with this camera, but started to care a little less about this especially with the SZ3 and iPhone 5 combo that was just around the corner. I brought this out for more formal occasions while the other cameras (and later, the phone) mostly took its place. I sold this camera along with all of the lenses and the ME Super. Mild regret that I sold the lenses, honestly.

Camera Five: Panasonic Lumix DMC-SZ3

I admit, I totally forgot about this camera. I don’t think I had it very long. It was a knee-jerk reaction to wanting an even smaller long zoom camera for daily use, but it was the last small camera I ended up ever owning!

As our family grew around this time and just prior, my camera needs changed a whole big bunch. I also got my first iPhone – the iPhone 5 – so a lot of my casual photography needs were usurped by the phone, as they were for a lot of people, I trust. The SZ3 made its way to some other lucky owner and my photos started becoming encased in my phone.

Camera Six, Part 2: Pentax D-50

But it’s worth noting that I still have and use my Pentax D-50 here in 2026. It’s a camera from 2013. It’s old, you know? It has a real viewfinder and using the screen (non-touchscreen) has a separate mode. But, critically, it was not too pricey as an upgrade from the K100D and the idea of using K-mount lenses again was something that really appealed to me. I used it primarily for more “formal” occasions, but leaned heavily on my phone for daily photography.

And during the course of my phone journey that meant, of course, I ended up with more than one Pro phone. It’s Pro! It says so right there! But to me there was something distinctly different of, say, going out on a photo trip with just my phone that I have every day versus a device made for photos.

The K50D is not super fast, but it’s totally fine and keeps up with me. I do not use its video features, which it has, but I trust they’re terrible nowadays. It’s 16MP, which is totally fine. I worked with the short zoom kit lens for years with this puppy.

But I’ll say this. I had been very tempted to stick with the iPhone Pro because of its lenses. However, they are not as good as a real camera. Most needs, absolutely, totally fine. Still, a month ago I was able to bop over to KEH and find a couple of fantastic cheap used lenses – one, a nice pancake-like F2 and the other a nice big fat zoom.

To me it’s telling, and good, that I never sold off this K50D. Admittedly it was in a bin in my office for years and survived multiple moves, but anytime I picked it up I just felt more connected to my work.

I considered things like Moment lenses for the iPhone and gimbals and stuff but at the end of the day, I just prefer using a DSLR for my art.

Photography is something I’ll do as long as I can. It’s how I express myself and what I see. And while I appreciate that I typically have a phone camera with me, the work I’ve done in camera is the stuff I like more.

As noted elsewhere my Kia EV6 is rounding the bend on its 2-year lease, added to my household as a second car at a time when federal and state incentives were exceptional. It’s not a sure thing that I’ll need or want to replace it but I’ve started looking at a few options again. Notably, now, this car will have a lot more time with my son who is on his way to getting his driver’s license! Incredible.

Context-wise, I’ve been driving for decades and am a bit of a car geek. I’ve owned or leased multiple EVs and PHEVs and feel strongly that electric is the way to go.

Anyway, I took two for a drive and here are my notes.

Volvo XC40 Recharge

I love a Volvo and this is of the generation that still felt like Volvo instead of a Geely badge-engineered mess. There’s a lot to like about this car. It’s a pleasant small size with enough space, but not too much, and it’s got an actual trash can right in the center console.

The car has a lot of spunk and power, and in some circumstances feeling much more capable than my EV6 – itself no slouch in the torque department. The XC40 is quick. Handling is good, and braking is firm and lovely – the way it should be. On a route that included suburban stroads and highways, this car shined.

The seats are exceptionally comfortable. They are firm, but very supportive and straight up good. With the seat depth adjustment and good lumbar support I could definitely drive this for a good stretch of time if needed. The interior quality is excellent and the thing feels better put together than the EV6. Volvo is not good with infotainment and in the car I tested, a pending software update initially prevented any navigation from showing up in the main cluster. And of course, I had a bad experience with an XC60’s infotainment last year. The overall feel of the interior is pleasant but serious. Oh, and visibility out the rear window was excellent. The EV6 has a small rear window (sans wiper!) and the ID.4 also has a small one.

Ultimately, I feel the XC40 may enter the same trap as the Polestar 2: I love it, but it may just not be practical enough. The back seat space is small and headroom is not great (doubly so on the C40). Due to its setup up front, the car doesn’t feel particularly open or inviting; it’s not as tight as the P2 but still reads as “small.” A good little car but the infotainment and tightness gives me pause.

Volkswagen ID.4

The darling of last year’s Colorado lease specials (under $100/mo.), I wanted to try one of these out. Yes, first, the UI is absolutely terrible. The lack of physical controls is very bad and frankly, it’s a frustrating experience.

“Frustrating” sums up a lot of my time with the ID.4. But let’s tick off the good stuff. Comfort is pretty good. This was an older model with the armrests on the front seats, but I really prefer that – my arms don’t typically reach a center console whilst driving so that’s much better for me. The interior has an open feel akin to the EV6, but quality is visibly worse than the Volvo; it absolutely feels cheaper. But it is, so.

The tiny gauge cluster behind the wheel made this feel like a toy, to me; while the information on that little screen was clear, the typography and appearance just felt amateurish. The UI for a time became unresponsive to presses for me, either from the faux buttons or the on-screen ones, so that wasn’t great. It resolved itself after a time.

Driving was okay, but the one-pedal mode’s regen is not good at its job, even when I found the setting to maximize it. It does not have the punch of the EV6 or XC40 which, with a new driver, may be a net positive. Braking in the ID.4 was an exercise in patience, and the pedal felt like sponge cake. Overall driving it felt overwhelmingly pedestrian; it was not memorable in any way. It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t terrible.

Still, the ID.4’s size is good – it’s more spacious than the XC40 for certain and has a bit more room than the EV6 in the rear. The trunk is also a much better size. The idea of me or my son fiddling with the UI forever just to, like, turn down the radio is not a great one. It’s really unfortunate that VW and so many other companies decided to just throw ergonomics away in the name of cutting costs.

To me, if the VW were about $15k (and there are some out there), that would be appropriate; that’s when I’d start thinking, “Okay, the UI is shit but this is a fairly cheap car.” C40 and XC40 pricing (EVs) have hovered around $20-$25k in my area, and I find they’re not quite worth that… but almost.

So many various thoughts on the whole Jony Ive Making a Ferrari interior that people are gettin’ excited about but a few loose thoughts before I compose them into something real:

1. This had to be an hilariously expensive project. 2.5 years of design work, 6 months of research. I love it, and I want to make a research book for clients someday, but that’s exceptionally unlikely. Lovefrom is an expensive firm creating expensive things for rich clients and rich people.

2. It’s a car.

3. The end products that we’ve seen so far are, indeed, admirable from a “looks pleasant, works well [probably]” perspective but in total the thing has no verve, no personality. This is the continued path he walked down at Apple, removing all trace of humanity from his designs. (The e-ink key is the lone nod to some degree of humanity, I’d say.)

4. The lone article sharing this info (in PRNDL) is on Substack, which supports Nazis.

5. Good to acknowledge that touchscreens in cars, along with multi-purpose single screens (thinking of the horrid HVAC/radio controls in my EV6), are horrid and terrible.

6. This is the type of project people will write about, faun over, admire or despise, but will have very little impact on day-to-day lives. It’s a client project at the end of the day.

Anyway, again, looks nice, same trappings of Ive’s from before. At least he’s consistent.

A number of years ago I was driving my coworkers from a successful client workshop. We were enjoying a fantastic streak of warm weather in the Bay Area so we figured we’d go find a small beach to get a few minutes before heading back to the cold of Chicago and Denver.

We were chatting in the car when the conversation ebbed to silence. One of my coworkers interjected, “Well, I do know one thing. Paul doesn’t LOVE MUSIC! Come on man, put something on!” (She was a good colleague, so this was all good-natured.)

Internally though I kind of freaked. What’s appropriate “I don’t quite know all of you coworkers” music that won’t bother or offend? I rifled briefly through the recently played stuff in CarPlay, from a time before there were just random channels and the like.

I grinned and took on the ribbing. “All right, all right, I got you.” And so I put on “Jungle Love” by Morris Day and The Time. A classic banger. A funky groove! Tough to beat, strong opening.

The car fell silent.

I did the gentle bopping of the beat on the steering wheel, very white person move, to no avail. Everyone was uncomfortable. No one enjoyed it. No one, I think, knew it.

After that I think I told someone else to hook up their phone and put something on.

But it’s a good song.

A few days ago an essay by Terry Godier made the rounds, examining why RSS readers mostly look like email programs and also asking why they have an unread count (badge) in most cases.

I don’t intend to totally blunt their argument but my initial reaction was: turn off unread counts.

I’m not saying “this will work” because it may not, for you. But this is an area where the user does still have control. You can turn off notifications and badges, at least on the Mac and iOS, at will. This is how I’ve always run with NetNewsWire, by the way… I have zero desire or need to know I have 58 articles to read.

In essence, it’s about noise and concentration and purpose. This is an area where your computer can be quiet, so go for it.

On the “why like email tho” aspect: I would posit that this is something that doesn’t really need innovation. Truly. There have been more ideas around RSS! Flipboard, anyone? The original version would bring together various sources, including RSS, and create a customized feed of stuff to read. Similarly, AOL had an iPad app called Editions that would pull together stuff you said you were interested in, and create a magazine for you. These did not work for myriad reasons. Maybe what we have in “this is evocative of email” is good enough.

The End

There is something really nice from that article about Editions, though. Here’s a quote from that 2011 piece from Sol Lipman, a honcho at AOL at the time:

“We wanted people to have a sense of completion … You get the issue, say in the morning, and you read it all the way through on the way to work or at breakfast, and you're done.”

Very much in the spirit of Godier’s essay, and my earlier lament of infinite scroll + the death of the scroll bar.

All good things come to an end. That’s true of all the stuff we take in, as well.

Earlier today I linked up a post on Mastodon by Marco Arment (developer of Overcast) that noted the US’s march towards requiring a phone app to enter the country – one that completely scours one’s online usage and data, and requires a fucking DNA sample, removing any semblance of privacy – was “inevitable.”

I said it there and I’ll say it here: it is not.

Data centers being built everywhere is not inevitable. Perpetual surveillance via tech is not inevitable. Choosing to attend a private party celebrating a piece of propaganda while a secret police kills people is not inevitable.  Having shadow apps slurp up and weaponize people’s data is not inevitable. Pretending social media posts are policy is not inevitable. The use of AI is not inevitable.

Nothing with technology is inevitable. We have choices. We have the ability to change things. We have the responsibility to speak up and push back against things that threaten our communities, our lives, our ways of being.

January 25 marks the 27th anniversary of phonezilla.

A few years ago I ran a client workshop. It went well. Afterwards my boss gave unsolicited feedback and said, “You were a little professorial.” This was meant as criticism and was coming from a place of true ignorance.

Little did they know, I’m happy to be compared to someone who shares wisdom and knowledge, and cares about details. It’s part of the overall package.

The feedback was, as I would say, a little shitty.

Not The Four Seasons; the web browser.

I’ve not been adverse to trying out new web browsers time and again. Since Safari is an ugly mess right now I thought I would give Vivaldi a fresh go, having tried it a few years ago and noping right out.

But so far this time around, there’s a lot I like about it.

• Speed is noticeably faster than Safari. I’m on an M3 MacBook Air, pretty new, but Safari just feels like it’s walking through molasses sometimes.

• The amount of customizability is off the charts. You can pretty much customize everything. Keyboard shortcuts, toolbars, gestures, theming, typography, whatever. I’m running with my tabs docked at the left with thumbnails… I’ve loved thumbnail tabs since the days of OmniWeb!

• Tab groupings make sense to me. It’s still conceptually not my favorite thing on earth but Safari’s implementation of groups is so, so bad that this feels reasonable.

• The information density of Vivaldi is far superior to Safari. There’s less ornamentation so the overall feel is much more functional. But that also means I don’t need to try to look through simulated water droplets to guess what mode I’m in, as with Safari. Vivaldi is better at using all this space; Safari wants to draw attention to its UI.

• For better or worse it uses Chromium so extensions are available. Safari’s extension support, in comparison, is weak sauce but I had a few that are almost all here. (Notable exception right now is Tamperish, which I used for custom CSS on a few sites I use. I trust there’s an equivalent but I haven’t bothered to look yet.)

I appreciate that Vivaldi has a few features designed around taking breaks. There’s a literal Break Mode that basically could be Touch Grass Mode. There are also timers available to encourage these breaks, or focus, or whatever. I love all this even if I won’t use it.

On the downside, I dislike how integrated Google Accounts are with even Vivaldi; if I am logged in to Gmail to check for spam every few days or so, I’ll get prompts on other websites urging me to log in with my fucking Google Account… and those appear immune to uBlock Origin, unfortunately. This is not huge but annoying and notable.

I use Apple Passwords and I will say that the password extension they offer is just a little shittier than Safari’s (shocker.) It’s not bad, just a little dorky. Similarly not having autofill of credit card info that “just works” is a small annoyance, as is having no Apple Pay in checkouts. Little things, but no showstoppers.

All told, especially in light of Mac OS Tahoe’s Safari, Vivaldi feels like a real tool, something built to help you get things done or browse or search. It’s refreshing.

Many years ago a critical review I read of an R.E.M. album said something like, “Making nothing feel like deliverance is R.E.M.’s blessing and curse.” (I couldn’t easily find this to attribute it.)

I was thinking briefly about this when I was reflecting on Pluribus and Severance, two TV shows that garnered a shit-ton of acclaim. Both are arguably extremely well done; they have great casts, good writing and concepts, and high quality production values.

But as I stare into the abyss that is multiple years between TV seasons (hello For All Mankind), I am curious about the substance of both of these shows. What are they trying to say? So far Pluribus has an edge over Severance in that department, as its concept really suggests that it has things to say. As much as I really enjoyed watching much of Severance, with distance from its most recent episode it simply feels like a walled garden of its own, with no outside impact just yet.

This is mass entertainment, so I don’t expect high art nor do I need to spend a lot of time really thinking about it, but I definitely have viewed a lot of recent shows in this vein lately.

I firmly believe saying “I am exiting a creative funk” is an aid in coming out of a creative funk.

Here are some people that have been on my radar recently, or longer, and have been inspirational.

• Just today I realized (via her newsletter, long dormant) that Robyn Kanner is still doing cool shit, writing and designing and much more. She’s been doing good work for many years but seeing everything after a while was inspirational. I need to steal more of her work.

• After Taskmaster series end I’ve tended to look up the sites of the folks on the show, and I kind of love that they follow a set format. The sites of Jessica Knappett and Lou Sanders, in particular, are ones I really like. Don’t care that they’re Squarespace templates. Mostly looking at how people who do things across many mediums get their voices out there.

• Aaron Draplin, yeah, pretty much always.

• Meg Lewis on the maximalist end of things, again, always. Can pop over to her site almost anytime and get inspired, and her about page is fab: “Look around! Every condo building looks the same! Every company culture preaches identical values! Every tech marketing site follows the same trends! Every teen is wearing the same North Face puffer, baggy jean, UGG boot combo!!!”

• Naz Hamid. Of course. Easily a career-long influence on my stuff.

• Jim Darling. A local photographer and fellow Neko Case fan who documented my Creative Mornings talk so long ago. He’s damn good.

One of the things I loved about the Mac when I switched to it is how quiet it is. Yes, sure, physically, but more so from a tool perspective.

It didn’t interrupt me a bunch. It didn’t need my feedback or permission for a lot. I could open Lightroom or Photoshop, and just get in a creative flow. Same with Word. Or BBEdit. It gave me the space and solitude to get things done, or learn, or goof off, or whatever.

Modern computing is very loud. There’s a constant cacophony. We can dip in to a river and be carried away in an instant. It’s a very real attempt to take our attention and never give it back. And that’s a finite resource.

I run with minimal notifications everywhere, including on my phone. I limit those interruptions because odds are good I’m doing something more important.

Even if that’s nothing.

Technology should be quiet.

The end of my Kia EV6 lease is in sight, as the dealership already sent me an email telling me to think about turning it in – in 6 months. A little early, folks.

I had been publishing regular updates to my tumblr, which will make their way here eventually, but wanted to provide a take on this car. First, of note, is that it was sidelined for a solid month back in October/November due to a person sideswiping me and an inept repair shop. I had been driving gas cars during that time and it was a small but great adjustment coming back to the EV6.

My overall take on the EV6 is that it is still, on balance, nice and pretty easy to live with. I won’t buy one when/if it comes time to get a car, though. There are a few reasons why.

• The overall comfort of the car is very good, but not great. I mentioned the somewhat short seat length (which is tough to remedy for me), but the seat’s adjustments don’t ever quite get me to a fully comfortable spot. I do wish the lumbar would move up and down, too (it’s just a more/less toggle.)

• The lack of a rear wiper. Unforgivable in winter, annoying during rainstorms.

• The rear hatch not having a way to open it via a leg swing underneath the bumper is really inconvenient.

• Storage space in the trunk is good but hampered by the smooth carpet therein, causing everything to slosh around easily.

• HVAC controls are still terrible to use. I’ve shifted more to just using auto mode a lot of the time but I’ll say it only does an okay job.

• It’s worth calling out that there is a bit of a lag when I turn on the heat (and heat has an explicit button much like AC, which is surprisingly thoughtful.) I don’t get instant heat, which makes sense since the car doesn’t generate heat on its own, but it’s noticeable in cold months.

• It’s very minor but man, I love a sunroof. My model doesn’t have one. Extreme first-world problem.

• The big one is the infamous ICCU failure that the Kia, Hyundai, and Genesis models have. It’s something that can happen at any time, with no warning, and completely disable the vehicle. Knock wood, I’ve had no problems with this – and while I would imagine a majority of people don’t, when it happens it’s basically a dead car. Given we quickly traded in our Chrysler PHEV minivan for the same reason (it had the potential to just die without warning due to a defect, and was never fixed!), this is the biggest dealbreaker for obvious reasons.

These are largely tiny things at this point but that’s how it goes with cars, right? The big stuff gets shaken out in test drives and research. There’s plenty to like about the EV6 and it’s far more memorable than the Niro EV I had prior – it has a lot of personality. The size of the car is about right for me and what I need, too – usually transporting teenagers and Costco & Ace Hardware runs. And ventilated seats are going to be extremely hard for me to give up from a comfort perspective.

Kia didn’t really fix the issues I called out with the newer models, unfortunately. Its twins have their own problems. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 has oddball packages, so things like cooled seats are only on the highest, most expensive trim. The Genesis EV60, still rare in these parts, is much pricier for no good reason; the interior fixes some problems (HVAC controls).

On EVs

EVs are under attack by the current regime, and manufacturers are backing away from their “all-in” or “pretty much all-in” stances on them. I can say, still, that I fucking love them and insofar as privately-owned vehicles go, EVs are the pinnacle. They should be the way forward for us as we all look to diminish car usage whenever possible, bolster and expand free public transportation, and make sure everyone has the ability, dignity, and capability to get where they need to go.

The US has failed to meet the moment on EVs, and a future where we are stuck with an ironclad dependency on gas and oil, with no pollution controls in place nor incentives for manufacturers to create clean cars, is some real bullshit. China has eaten our lunch and I am highly skeptical we will even get back in the ring with them.

Beyond that, manufacturers are dropping plans to bring EVs to the US as the federal incentives are gone and states are also dropping the ball. It’s a dark time for the US already, and this is just one more facet where we’re getting less choice.

Shifting needs

My needs and priorities are changing in the next year, so I’m unsure if I’ll even need a car once the EV6 goes back. I definitely won’t buy this one due to the gulf between the residual value (nearly $40k) and the market pricing for EV6s ($22-25k.) But if I do need another one, I would be extremely hard-pressed to go with a gas car.

The tariff BS has already impacted a few cars I had on my shortlist for future consideration. The Polestar 2 has been unavailable for a long time, so it’s now just used ones on the market. (I do think this’d be too small for me, still, so just a pipe dream.) Its twin, the Volvo C40, is also unavailable new – but used ones are creeping down towards $20k and less, which is very encouraging. And even EV6s, Ioniq 5s, et al are way down in the $20-$30k range.

EVs are completely better in nearly every way. I’d be happy to be that one weird old person who still uses one, whilst surrounded by giant lifted pickups.

When a company does a good job standing behind its products, these days it’s somehow noteworthy.

Our home came with Moen kitchen & bath fixtures when we got it. But a couple of months ago the adjustable ring around our kitchen faucet’s handle broke, leaving the whole thing just a bit loose. It’s very much still usable, just with a bit more of a wobble. I spent a little time figuring out which parts I needed, but after fruitlessly searching for a place to buy them online, I called Moen instead.

(Incidentally, their site includes fully exploded diagrams of their products, so I was able to identify the specific parts I needed very easily.)

I was very wary of calling them because, well, calling companies tends to be awful in 2025. But while there was a long hold time, their callback feature actually worked. I then spoke with a very helpful person who noted the parts I needed. One part – for a minor but malfunctioning feature on the water wand – was backordered and wouldn’t ship until the end of the year. The other was in stock. I had my credit card in hand, ready to provide the info to her, but no: the whole thing was warrantied. In moments I had an order confirmation email along with a link to instructions on how to replace the handle’s parts. The order shipped the same day and I had it 3 days later!

Unfortunately, I was not  sent the correct part. But again, a quick call over to them, and after 5 minutes of a chat with a real person, I had the correct one on its way to me. Each of the people I spoke with was helpful and understanding, and they were apologetic for the small mixup on what was sent.

This is one of the only times I took the Qualtrics survey email, because this was all handled so very well.

Our wall oven, that famously poorly-made Whirlpool, only came with a 1-year warranty and we’re now having to sink money into repairing it because it is junk. In contrast, this Moen faucet – which is expensive new but much less than a wall oven! – has a 5-year P&L warranty and a lifetime limited warranty.

It’s nice when things work, but it’s better when a company stands behind its stuff.

This past weekend we said goodbye to one of our dogs, Buddy. The great Bubs McGubs. We brought him into our family back in 2017, originally as a dog for our son, but they never really bonded so Bubs became the family dog (alongside the late great Wally.) We didn’t know his exact age or breed, but we guessed he was about 5 or 6 when we got him. He was a fluff ball, leaving hair everywhere, and always pawing at us for pets – always. Somehow he learned the signal for “more” before we got him, and man, did he use it.

Buddy was diagnosed with bladder cancer earlier this year – a total surprise, just happened during a routine visit to the vet – and we chose to go with a course of meds that would make him as comfortable and painfree as possible, but without going to a full chemo route (which felt like too much.) Our vet estimated he’d have about six months… and he made it almost double that. But he was struggling more and more in the past few months. One hard thing we learned from the vet appointments this year was that Buddy was walking around with more than a few BB bullets in his chest and abdomen… which broke my fucking heart, knowing that someone shot at or near him when he was a younger dog.

Buddy never knew how to play. He was okay with walks.

He started really following us around the house, even more, in the past six months. He’d come with us into the bathroom. When the door was closed, he’d lay in front of the  door, waiting for us to come back. I’d walk into the closet and Bubs would follow me all the way in. Only in July did he figure out he could hang out under my office desk to be closer to get more pets. But he had his spots in the house: right against the couch in the living room, and in the corner of my office.

As with Wally, we chose to put Buddy down here at home instead of at the vet’s office. It was extremely tough, but I was glad we were there to send him off and say goodbye to him.

It’s only been a couple days so naturally I’m not back at 100% and never will be since that’s not how all this works. My mornings, which are my quiet time prior to the start of the day, were also my “pets for pets” time with both of the dogs. They got a load of pets and a few bonus treats and attention. Our other dog, Hooper, still does get a lot of love and attention, but since Buddy’s passing the whole house has just felt quieter and it’s most noticeable in the mornings.

But, I wanted to share that this morning I looked out the front window to a light purple sunrise, and remembered how much Buddy loved to be outside, laying on our patio, just looking up at the sky – especially sunrises. He’d stay out there for an hour or more, just looking around, looking up. The old man.

RIP, Bubs. You were always a good boy.

A while ago I struck up a conversation with a person who had studied photography in college and afterwards. It was great, because I too studied photography in college (arguably not afterwards.)

He was coming from the opposite perspective of me: everything was done digitally by default, and he had just recently gotten his first film camera… and was now experimenting with that.

It was amazing to hear and see, in a way, because digital photography was just starting to maybe become a thing – but definitely not at a professional level – towards the end of my college years. I worked primarily in B&W film, doing everything from developing it manually to making prints in a darkroom and all of that fun stuff. I later learned how to do that, minus the developing part, with color film.

Aside: Around that time I did get my first digital camera, an Epson PhotoPC, but returned it due to buyer’s remorse. My first “real” digital camera was an Olympus  that got me hooked. Just having dozens and dozens of photos available, in contrast to film, was remarkable. (And the sliding door on that Olympus was so good. Until it broke.)

One of my coworkers has gotten into film photography a bit, still sending it off to get it developed and then getting  prints. Just a few decades ago, that was the norm. How far it’s come.

What an awful fucking year.

My take is that, for a confluence of reasons, the stuff I enjoyed that came out this year in general wasn’t as strong as last year’s. The Past is Still Alive is an all-timer for me and so that’s gonna be hard to top. But for the music I really enjoy and stretching out a bit, there were more hits than misses, and many things I spent a lot of time with. Let’s dig in.

Album of the year: Lucius, Lucius

A band that was on my radar for a while (“Dance Around It”), this year I explored more of their catalog and was really impressed – but their self-titled full-length sealed the deal for me. Finding the sweet spot of pop, a tinge of country, and singer/songwriter with impressively emotionally-charged lyrics, the group hit its stride on this rumination on settling in to life. “Old Tape” is a tremendous and soaring tune; “Stranger Danger”, "Gold Rush”, and “Impressions” are just really fucking good.

2. Tunde Adebimpe, Thee Black Boltz

Prior to the TV On The Radio reunion tour, Adebimpe dropped a shockingly great solo album that connected with me really quickly. He’s got a lot of what I loved about TVOTR – those driving beats and melodies – but carefully balanced it with an even deeper nod to funk and pop, if that’s possible. “Magnetic” is a stomper, a real hit, but the quieter moments work so nicely here too (“ILY”.) That said, “Pinstack” quickly became one of my very favorite songs – it’s got it all and it’s just sitting there as track 3 next to good shit like “God Knows” (a song that feels like it’s existed forever), "Drop”, and “Somebody New”. Exploring identity, love, death, and loss with a groove. Almost was my pick for my favorite – it’s real close.

3. Neko Case, Neon Grey Midnight Green

Neko Case’s music remains weird – her stuff has gotten less directly accessible over the years, but the trade-off is worth it. Neon Grey stays in a deeply meditative space that wraps together nature and emotion and love. And then there’s a song about literally becoming a werewolf. You know. I hear a lot of her prior tunes here, almost a tour of her greatest hits – “Wreck” recalls Middle Cyclone, “Match - Lit” recalls …The Harder I Fight. “Louise”, “Baby I’m Not”, “Destination” are strong. The less poppy sound here means I might come back to this less, but the craft is flawless and the songs are rich.

4. Franz Ferdinand, The Human Fear

The waning days of the Biden administration ushered in “Audacious”, a typically wonderful Franz Ferdinand song almost casting hope to the future. But the album is a Franz Ferdinand album through and through and, fuck, having a little comfort feels nice right now. Riffs and hooks for days here, but I find the back half of the album a little  lacking. Still, “Audacious”, “Build It Up”, and “Hooked” are fantastic, as is “The Birds” (what a weird and great choice for a closer.)

5. Jay Som, Belong

“Float” is a 90s song through and through with its driving  guitars and, well, its loudness for an artist who has built strong things in quiet moments. Melina Duterte is simply a good songwriter who is getting stronger as she opens up the aperture a bit on this one. “Cards on the Table”, “Float”, “Appointments”, “Past Lives” are the great tunes here.

Honorable Mentions

• SASAMI, Blood on the Silver Screen: Stunningly great pop. “Honeycrash” is a fantastic song with a wonderful chorus. “Slugger”, “In Love with a Memory” are just right. Sasami made a concerted effort to study and understand pop here as a creative restriction and, man, it shows. Not a terribly deep album but I really dug it.

• King Princess, Girl Violence: “RIP KP”, sure, but I think their voice this album is what made me pay attention – “Cry Cry Cry” is superb. Whole album could be a tad tighter. Falls almost into the “admire the work but not a fan” space, teetering.

• De La Soul, Cabin in the Sky: Incredibly, this sounds really fresh. Q-Tip is even here, for goodness sake. A strong opener from “YUHDONTSTOP” to “Sunny Storms” to “Good Health” (after the intro with Giancarlo Esposito, naturally) and Q-Tip on “Day in the Sun” makes everything here feel very much like a De La Soul album. Solid.

Good/okay stuff that didn’t quite hit for me

• Lucy Dacus, forever is a feeling: Listen, this is a Lucy Dacus album so it’s going to be good at a minimum – it has a real mood. “Ankles” is sexy, and “Best Guess” is maybe her best direct love song.

• Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory: Van Etten is stronger with a full band, somehow. Strong opening three tracks – “Live Forever”, “Idiot Box”, “Afterlife” – that get murky for me afterwards.

• Destroyer, Dan’s Boogie: Always an acquired taste, Dan Bejar’s stuff does work its way into my head now and then. Here it’s “Hydroplaning Off the Edge of the World”. “Bologna” is a close second. Won’t be mad if those pop up in a shuffle, but I won’t just go listen to this.

• Japanese Breakfast, For Melancholy Brunettes (and sad women): After the highs of Jubilee, this was probably my biggest disappointment of the year. I felt disconnected from most of this and I didn’t see or hear many through-lines. Sometimes you gotta get stuff out of your system. “Orlando in Love” is weird and still a favorite, and while there are fleeting moments here and there (“Picture Window”, “Mega Circuit”) I find little here I’ll return to. Still a fan, eager to turn the page though.

A few last songs I really liked

• jasmine.4.t., “Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation” (nice and melodic, great voice)

• LCD Soundsystem, “x-ray eyes” (paint-by-numbers James Murphy but I still liked it)

• Surprise Chef, “Websites” (almost an honorable mention album)

• Julien Baker & Torres, “Sugar in the Tank” (an all-timer queer country song, so good; album was so-so)