archived old stuff and added pdfs and walks

19 files changed, 607 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/beyond-your-head.txt b/beyond-your-head.txt
index 4324930..e2cacf6 100644
--- a/beyond-your-head.txt
+++ b/beyond-your-head.txt
@@ -8,7 +8,23 @@ If you're not alone you take different photos. I rarely feel the urge to take pi
 Stop giving away your work to people who don’t care about it. Host it yourself. Distribute it via methods you control. Build your audience deliberately and on your own terms.
 
 I don’t read a lot of philosophy, but I found Crawford’s book here timely, deeply considered and very profound. He takes a thoughtful approach to how one constructs an authentic life in a world surrounded by “choice architects” that mediate our experiences through technology.Blair Reeves added,
-Crawford is better known for his first book, “Shop Class as Soulcraft,” which ruminates on the value of engaging with the physical world in one’s work. The dude is both a philosophy professor and owns his own motorcycle repair shop in Richmond.
+
+
+It's come to my attention that people spend considerable amounts of their day looking at other people's thoughts on social media. I did this for a while myself, but I found that it left little room for my own thoughts and, call me selfish, but I value those more, so I stopped. And this was some time ago, when services like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were considerably more innocent than they are today.
+
+All of which is a long-winded way to say that I very much agree with Michael Crawford's premise in this book: that our attention is a precious resource and that we need to actively protect it, or risk losing it to politico-corporate interests.
+
+Crawford isn't some attention blogger though, and this is not a self-help book. It's a book of philosophy more than anything, and it's central premise isn't just that you should reclaim your attention, but that your best bet to reclaim your attention is through a culture of traditional craftsmanship and hands-on activities. Crawford isn't suggesting you close that Facebook tab so much as you close your laptop and go do something physical, with your hands rather than your mind. 
+
+Much of the book is spent on a deep dive through into various communities where excellence and even competence comes only through apprenticeship with experts and, wait for it, hard work. And that last bit is why I propose, most people will not like this book. Among the things Crawford looks at in some detail are glasswork, engines (Crawford owns, or did own, a motorcycle repair shop), and most interesting to me, pipe organs.
+
+More than anything, The World Beyond Your Head is a wonderfully well-thought out rebuttal to the argument that technology drive culture. It doesn't. Humans drive culture. Human activity, human skill, human excellence, drive culture. In the end, for Crawford, this mis-centering, this hyper-focus on technology, is the real cause of our mis-placed attention and it is going to take real work to free ourselves from it.
+
+>What I have found is that once you recognize the "choice architects" for what they are, you begin to see them everywhere. They are the sites you visit, the networks you use, right down to the form factor of device that is your internet portal. The internet is inherently a mediated platform, after all, and there’s just no getting away from any filter whatsoever. In the real world, you can’t just Richard Stallman your way through the internet. Thus, it becomes a question of making the right choices to maximize your agency and take what control of your internet experience any one person can.
+
+If you're looking for an easy answer to your own attention problems, you won't find it here. If, however, you want to spend some time taking a deep dive into the *other* things you could be doing with your time, I highly, highly recommend this book (and along with it Crawford's first book, Shop Class as Soulcraft, which played no small part in convincing me that it was worthwhile to try to understand and maintain an 1969 Dodge 318 engine).
+
+which ruminates on the value of engaging with the physical world in one’s work. The dude is both a philosophy professor and owns his own motorcycle repair shop in Richmond.
 A lot to absorb in this book, but two parts that really resonated with me: Crawford points to our attention itself as a precious resource (which it is), and describes how protecting it against politico-corporate imperatives to seize it helps construct ourselves intentionally.
 In addition: he goes into some lengths discussing the cultures of traditional craftsmanship in fields like glasswork, pipe organs and engine mechanics, in which, technological progress aside, real excellence is achieved only in a community of expert practitioners.
 “The World Beyond Your Head” was, to me, a powerful rebuttal to the mantra of technology as the chief driver of human progress and a mis-centering of the modern self. I strongly recommend it.
diff --git a/cooking.txt b/cooking.txt
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/cooking.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+Vintage RVs aren't the best place to cook. Our kitchen works, but it's cramped. Vans are even more cramped. Most of the time we cook outside and if you're planning to do this I'd plan to cook outside as well. 
+
+I end up cooking three ways. 
+
+**Grilling**: Thanks to all the testing I've done for *Wired*, I've grilled on everything from the provided pit at state park campground to some fancy grills like the Green Egg. My favorite, and the one I actually own, is the Weber Smokey Joe portable grill. It's big enough to feed a family of five, but small enough to still be portable. I've customized and modified mine a bit, which you can read about in my [guide to grilling and smoking on the road]().
+
+**Stovetop**: Again, I've tested just about every two-burner stove on the market, and at the end of the day the one I actually own in the Coleman two-burner propane stove. It's cheap, cooks well in wind, and it simmers. I have a small collection of cast iron pans, two pots, and that's it. Most of the time I use the pressure cooker.
+
+**Pressure Cooker**: Pressure cookers I have not tested extensively. The one I own was recommended to me by someone I trust, and I love it. It's the Kuhn Rikon Duromatic (I have the 7.4-quart model). It was well worth the money, and I can't imagine anything that would make it better. A pressure cooker saves tons of time and fuel (once you get it pressurized it takes barely any heat to keep it there). I have a bunch of go-to recipes that involve nothing more than throwing stuff in the pressure cooker and turning it on. Some time later, dinner is served. Simple and sweet.
+
+
diff --git a/notes.txt b/notes.txt
index 24ff4af..fe0e88e 100644
--- a/notes.txt
+++ b/notes.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+## Novelty and place
+
+It's one Barry Lopez spends some time on in *Artic Dreams*, noting that for natives of the Arctic Circle, "land does... what architecture sometimes does for us. It provides a sense of place, of scale, of history." Architecture has never done much for me, but I've been known to try constructing a cathedral of words to describe simple things, the way a blade of grass bends in the wind.
+
+Lopez's thought jumped out at me because I catch myself telling stories the wrong way these days. More and more I notice how much of the stories I tell are not what happened, but where it happened. I have developed a need to locate the past in space as well as time. I have to watch out for this because I've noticed many people find it annoying. I can watch their minds wander as I talk. I lose them.
+
+You gain a sense of place by merging into it, however briefly, in way that can only be done by giving up familiarity. Novelty sharpens the experience of place. Perhaps because we evolved to be wary of the novel, to be on edge in experiencing the unfamiliar. All that grass doesn't matter, that one part where it's novel, that one part where there are no shadows when there should be shadows. That's a lion. Novelty is bad in that sense. 
+
+Now the evolutionary threat is largely gone though novelty becomes useful. It a grindstone sharpening your experience of place until it comes to the foreground. You notice what was not there yesterday. It's not a lion anymore, but still you notice.
 
 ## Maps
 
diff --git a/pdfs/coming-home.pdf b/pdfs/coming-home.pdf
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+++ b/pdfs/coming-home.pdf
diff --git a/pdfs/edge-continent.pdf b/pdfs/edge-continent.pdf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f990f27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pdfs/edge-continent.pdf
diff --git a/pdfs/gulf-islands-national-seashore.pdf b/pdfs/gulf-islands-national-seashore.pdf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f18d8a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pdfs/gulf-islands-national-seashore.pdf
diff --git a/pdfs/storming.pdf b/pdfs/storming.pdf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f05d68a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pdfs/storming.pdf
diff --git a/pdfs/swamped.pdf b/pdfs/swamped.pdf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a20aa9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pdfs/swamped.pdf
diff --git a/published/2019-12-22_birthday-beach.txt b/published/2019-12-22_birthday-beach.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..95d7273
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/2019-12-22_birthday-beach.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+Last year I promised Elliott that he and I would have our birthday at the beach, and we did.
+
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-21_144951_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2223" class="picwide" />
+
+But next year I'm upping the specificity: we're going to have our birthday at a beach *where it's warm*.
+
+Not that I'm complaining. Cold beaches beat no beaches any day. And a couple days after our birthday it warmed up and we had a week of great, relatively warm, weather.
+
+The birthday celebrations started dark and early. Elliott was out of bed and asking to open presents at 5:30 in the morning. 
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20_052551_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2206" class="cluster picwide" />
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20-063106_birthday.jpg" id="image-2215" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20-063406_birthday.jpg" id="image-2217" class="cluster pic66" />
+</span>
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20_054638_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2207" class="cluster picwide" />
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20_054845_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2208" class="cluster picwide" />
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20_061131_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2209" class="cluster picwide" />
+</div>
+
+After some breakfast it warmed up enough to get outside and play. And there was one more present waiting outdoors.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20_105323_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2211" class="cluster picwide" />
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20_105242_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2210" class="cluster picwide" />
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20_105345_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2212" class="cluster picwide" />
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20-113407_birthday.jpg" id="image-2219" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-21-113408_birthday.jpg" id="image-2225" class="cluster pic66" />
+</span>
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20_111756_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2214" class="cluster picwide" />
+</div>
+
+The most played with item of the day was... the cardboard box the bike came in. It was a raft, a houseboat, and several other things I wasn't allowed to know. For all the plastic in the world, it's been my observation that kids are best entertained with cardboard, sticks, mud, and the occasional bit of rope or twine.
+
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20_110518_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2227" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20_111231_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2213" class="picwide" />
+
+
+It wouldn't be a birthday without a pinata. As happened [last year](/jrnl/2018/12/four) there was nothing around to string it up with so we just stuck it on the end of a stick and hoped for the best. Two years running with no injuries is probably pushing it.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20_135625_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2226" class="cluster picwide" />
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20-113409_birthday.jpg" id="image-2228" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-20-133408_birthday.jpg" id="image-2224" class="cluster pic66" />
+</span>
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-20_151913_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2229" class="cluster picwide" />
+</div>
+
+After plenty of cake -- and no, it was not [waffle cake](/essay/waffle-world) this time around -- we headed down to the beach to burn off some sugar-driven energy. It may not have been all that warm, but there's pretty much no such thing as a bad day at the beach.
+
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-21_143218_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2221" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2019/2019-12-21_144140_5th-birthday.jpg" id="image-2222" class="picwide" />
diff --git a/published/2019-12-31_holiday-island.txt b/published/2019-12-31_holiday-island.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33cfc63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/2019-12-31_holiday-island.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+It rained pretty much all day for a couple days. We spent way too much time indoors. Thankfully there were a lot of recent birthday gifts to keep the kids occupied. 
+
+We considered giving the kids their new rain boots a few days early, but the nice thing about storms in South Carolina is that even at Christmas, it's warm enough for flipflops.
+
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-23_094721_edisto.jpg" id="image-2230" class="picwide" />
+
+The rain let up the day before Christmas. The wind and cold came in behind the storm, but it wasn't bad enough to keep us off the beach. Looking at our kids you'd never know it was cold. They'd have been swimming if we'd let them. And we would have let them if the surf wasn't so rough. They settled for running around at the shoreline exploring all the treasure the storm brought ashore.
+
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-23_145417_edisto.jpg" id="image-2231" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-23_150239_edisto.jpg" id="image-2232" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-23_160718_edisto.jpg" id="image-2233" class="picwide" />
+
+Some friends of ours come to Edisto for Christmas every year. When they found out we were going to be in the area as well, they invited us over for some cookie decorating on Christmas eve. It was kid sugar heaven. 
+
+Normally this is the sort of thing I like to do early in the day and then take the kids out somewhere and let them run off the sugar. I was surprised at their restraint though. They went over the top decorating cookies, but they didn't eating them. I mean they ate their fill, but their fill turned out to not be very many. I'd have eaten the lot and been sick.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2020/IMG_20191224_171907.jpg" id="image-2240" class="cluster picwide" />
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2020/IMG_20191224_172624.jpg" id="image-2242" class="cluster pic66 caption" />
+<img src="images/2020/IMG_20191224_172017.jpg" id="image-2241" class="cluster pic66 caption" />
+</span>
+</div>
+
+I'm sure anyone with kids can say the same, but Christmas started before dawn. I never realized it until I had kids, but stockings aren't about gifts, they're about stalling the main present opening long enough to make some coffee. And monkey bread. Coffee is even better with monkey bread.
+
+My favorite part of Christmas, or any other time there's gifts being given, is watching the kids give each other gifts. They have the same look of anticipation and excitement watching someone open a gift they've carefully picked out as they do getting something themselves. It's impossible to strip the gross face of consumer culture from Christmas at this point, but there's these little moments like this, the honest enthusiasm of giving and sharing, where I can see what it must have once been like, not all that long ago.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-25_062716_christmas.jpg" id="image-2235" class="cluster picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-25_062702_christmas.jpg" id="image-2234" class="cluster picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-25_062439_christmas.jpg" id="image-2243" class="cluster picwide" />
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_0954.jpg" id="image-2238" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_0956.jpg" id="image-2239" class="cluster pic66" />
+</span>
+</div>
+
+After Christmas it was back to the beach to see what new treasures had come ashore. The sea is a little like Santa Claus. But real.
+
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-26_124224_edisto.jpg" id="image-2245" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-26_135125_edisto.jpg" id="image-2244" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_0921.jpg" id="image-2246" class="picwide" />
diff --git a/published/2020-01-08_walking.txt b/published/2020-01-08_walking.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad60dc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/2020-01-08_walking.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+We've never stayed at the beach front campground in Edisto. We prefer the marsh campground, back from the beach, on the inland side of the salt grass marsh. It's not any less crowded, but there's at least some vegetation between sites.
+
+There's a trail that makes a roughly mile long loop through the marsh. It's partly boardwalk built over the water, and partly a sandy trail that follows a series of hammocks running half the length of the marsh. I managed to get out on it most mornings, partly for the birding, partly to experiment with a walking form of meditation. I tried to time it so I'd be in the middle of the marsh at or around dawn.
+
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-28_073240_edisto.jpg" id="image-2251" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-28_073428_edisto.jpg" id="image-2252" class="picwide" />
+
+It's winter, which means many of the birds are well south, but there were enough around the make it interesting. I sat most mornings on the edge of the marsh for a few minutes marking all the slow waders that would disappear the minute I stepped out of the shadows. A kingfisher never cared what I did, it just fished and shrieked. As you do fishing.
+
+I stumbled upon and startled the same hooded merganzer couple three mornings in a row. The first time it was a true surprise to all present when I rounded a corner and there they were. The second time we were all more startled that it had happened again, than startled I think. By the third morning it was no longer shocking, none of us flinched, we merely regarded each other for a while before moving on, they deeper into the water channels tracing their way through the marsh, me to the sandy side of the marsh walk. 
+
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-27_113622_edisto.jpg" id="image-2261" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-27_113252_edisto.jpg" id="image-2260" class="picwide" />
+
+One morning there was almost no bird life at all. I was standing in the middle of the boardwalk, wondering where everyone had gone, when a black glimmer of shadow shot across the water beside me. I knew it was an eagle before I ever looked up. I spent some time later trying to work out how I knew that, but I never arrived at anything beyond: I felt it. 
+
+By the time I found it with the binoculars it was on the far side of the marsh perched exactly where you'd expect an eagle to land, near the top of a huge dead pine, sitting on the most gnarled, skeletal branch. It sat watching the marsh, feathers ruffled, head cocked, unperturbed by cars passing on the road below. 
+
+As long as it was out there bird life in the marsh ceased. The kingfisher was still out fishing, but he was decidedly quite. Everything else made itself scarce. I walked the rest of the way back to the campground without touching my binoculars. When you see a bald eagle you see little else. It's worth the trade off.
+
+<hr />
+
+Charleston is a good town for wandering. The main street is mostly shopping, but if you duck off on the side streets you'll stumble across all sort of odd things, little parks, squares, churches, centuries old buildings abound. 
+
+We've always used the lack of laundry in Edisto as an excuse to drive up to Charleston. It's like a tradition at this point -- we do our laundry, eat some Thai or Vietnamese, and wander the streets of downtown, seeing what we see, including something new for us in our travels: a sunscreen dispenser. 
+
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-30_142546_edisto.jpg" id="image-2253" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-30_142816_edisto.jpg" id="image-2255" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-30_142759_edisto.jpg" id="image-2254" class="picwide" />
+
+I don't know why I find this so disturbing but I do. There's some kind of cautionary metaphor in this disgusting clump of caked white paste, but I'm not exactly sure what it is yet.
+
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-30_143315_edisto.jpg" id="image-2256" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2019-12-30_143725_edisto.jpg" id="image-2257" class="picwide" />
+
+Sometimes, when you're young, you've just had enough of walking. You just want to stand still and fish. Our friends Charlie and Allison have been coming down here for decades and they showed us the best fishing spots. This one was ridiculous. I've never fished somewhere you could throw out a line, wait less than five minutes and reel in a fish. Consistently. For hours. Best place to take your kids fishing ever.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1021.jpg" id="image-2263" class="cluster picwide" />
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1020.jpg" id="image-2262" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1028.jpg" id="image-2264" class="cluster pic66" />
+</span>
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1034.jpg" id="image-2265" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1036.jpg" id="image-2266" class="cluster pic66" />
+</span>
+</div>
+
+Standing still has its place, but if you're young and you happen to live with us, you'll probably be walking again before too long. The world is too big to see standing still.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1050.jpg" id="image-2267" class="cluster picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1071.jpg" id="image-2268" class="cluster picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1073.jpg" id="image-2269" class="cluster picwide" />
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1062.jpg" id="image-2270" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1083.jpg" id="image-2271" class="cluster pic66" />
+</span>
diff --git a/published/2020-01-22_traveling.txt b/published/2020-01-22_traveling.txt
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/2020-01-22_traveling.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+I dislike traveling. 
+
+This will seem like a strange comment coming from someone like me, but it's true. I don't like traveling. By traveling I mean leaving home, leaving your sanctuary, your familiar. To leave is to disconnect, to be adrift. It's exhilarating in one way, draining and tragic in another. 
+
+Maybe it's neither and I complain too much. Still, I have never seen living in the big blue bus as traveling. My home is like yours. I am just as connected to it. It may move from place to place, but I never leave home. Or I try not to anyway. Sometimes you do though. 
+
+First I went to Las Vegas for work. Las Vegas is America turned to 11. It's awful, but also hard to look away. The Strip, where I stayed, is strange place, like being inside a pinball machine, bouncing from bright light to bright light. At least there was good Thai food. I got to see some old friends and make some new ones. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be, but Las Vegas is still just... too much.
+
+The last night I was there I walked a couple miles to try to get a better sense of the city. I started from my hotel, went down the strip, and turned west at the first street. The desert air was sharp and clear, so dry you worry it'll start crackling.
+
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-07_200157_las-vegas.jpg" id="image-2273" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-06_200157_las-vegas.jpg" id="image-2272" class="picwide" />
+
+Once you're fifty feet away from the strip Las Vegas becomes an ordinary western city. I walked broad highway-like streets designed never to be walked. I took a convoluted freeway overpass walkway lined with the tents of a homeless village. It was a warm night for January. Several people returned my hello from beneath nylon tarps.
+
+After a while time ran out for my walk and I called a ride. I met some old friends for dinner. It was nice to be around normal people after a week on the strip. It's exhausting being in crowds in Vegas. The desperation and longing are palpable and it seeps into you. Later I caught another ride straight back to the hotel. I took a cold shower and caught a plane back home before the sun rose.
+
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-09_092955_las-vegas.jpg" id="image-2274" class="picwide" />
+
+<hr />
+
+A couple a weeks later the kids and I boarded a plane for Los Angeles to visit my parents. Corrinne went to Mexico to visit her parents.
+
+Newport Beach, where my parents live, was warm. Warmth in January? Yes, please. The kids got to spend a week with their grandparents, nearly every day of it at the beach. It wasn't always sunny, but it was never cold, and that was all that mattered.
+
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-22_175044_newport.jpg" id="image-2275" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-25_165419_newport.jpg" id="image-2281" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-25_172010_newport.jpg" id="image-2282" class="picwide" />
+
+Even the gray, overcast didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm for the beach. We tried going inland one day, to the La Brea Tar Pits, but despite the bones and fossils, it failed to generate much enthusiasm.
+
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-23_145111_newport.jpg" id="image-2276" class="picwide" />
+
+It was funny how much the drive and L.A. traffic dampened the kids' enthusiasm for it. I'd never really considered it before, but our kids hardly ever spend time in a car. True, we drive all over the country, but it's rare that they're in the car for more than a couple hours. On the rare occassionas that they are, at the end of it there's a whole new world to explore. And it doesn't happen again for weeks after that. 
+
+Our kids have no idea what it's like to sit in a car seat for hours on end, stuck in traffic after school, or running errands around a city, and the taste they got on this trip left them unimpressed. After that experience we stuck to the beach. Whole worlds to explore there. Even foggy days at the beach beat a car ride any day.
+
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-25_181423_newport.jpg" id="image-2285" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-25_180750_newport.jpg" id="image-2284" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-24_153120_newport.jpg" id="image-2277" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-24_155128_newport.jpg" id="image-2279" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-24_153845_newport.jpg" id="image-2278" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-24_155406_newport.jpg" id="image-2280" class="picwide" />
+
+Luckily the gloom only lasted two days. The rest of the time we got to live that luxury that is a southern California January -- sunny and 75. We explored the jetties, ate plenty of tacos, and even managed to get some swimming in on the warmest day of our stay.
+
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-25_172022_newport.jpg" id="image-2283" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-25_183852_newport.jpg" id="image-2286" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-25_181528_newport.jpg" id="image-2289" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-25_181203_newport.jpg" id="image-2288" class="picwide" />
+
+And then just when we'd found a bit of familiar we were yanked back out of it, disconnected. Slammed in a metal tube and shot back across the country. 
+
+I am convinced that future generations will look back, long after the cheap oil is gone and flying is a luxury, if it's possible at all, and marvel at our extravagances and peculiar habit of air travel, wondering why we did it at all, and ostensibly for fun.
+
+Which is to say, we were all glad to be back home, together.
diff --git a/published/2020-02-05_learning.txt b/published/2020-02-05_learning.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..813a6d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/2020-02-05_learning.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+Winter is a good time to remain still and watch. The world is naked, dazzling in the winter light. It is easy to focus. Single flowers break through the frost. Buttercups, trout lily, dandelion, and Skunk Cabbage leaves in the wet bottomlands. You can count the buds on bare dogwood branches and still-leafed holly.
+
+There is less of you here, more of the world around you. You learn by being quiet. Leaves fall one by one, each with a clatter as it lands, all winter long. Orange dust appears, grows and extends to reveal fungi, and returns to dust again. The wind tastes of rain long before the clouds appear.
+
+All of this is to say, it is not you and the world, it is the world with you.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2020/DSCF0025.jpg" id="image-2308" class="cluster picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-01-19_154827_fort-yargo.jpg" id="image-2295" class="cluster picwide" />
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1163_BXEDJ73.jpg" id="image-2299" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1181.jpg" id="image-2300" class="cluster pic66" />
+</span>
+</div>
+
+It is the world within you. There is no world without you. Existence is a relationship. It put you in it to learn. You put what you learn in it. It puts more in you. Give and give. No taking. You're not here for long, there's no time to take. Barely time to give what you can. Better still: remain motionless, watch, wait, listen, observe.
+
+<img src="images/2020/2020-02-26_081155_nikon-watson-mill.jpg" id="image-2310" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSCF0024.jpg" id="image-2307" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSCF0044.jpg" id="image-2309" class="picwide" />
+
+Down below the falls I watched a great heron feed. It moved slowly, sometimes not at all for longer than I can endure sitting still. And then when it need to, it snapped so fast I could not see it move, only the head coming up with a fish.
+
+This is the way to learn I think. Moments of sudden insight are rare. Rather there are a whole lot of moments that come together so gradually you don't notice them. Even in hindsight they seem painfully slow in arriving. But then, at some point, you holding that fish in your beak and you *know*. 
+
+Watching the kids learn is like this. There is no day I could point to and say, this is when they learned to read, this is when they learned to write. There are simply days that pass, and more days, and more days, and then -- fish.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1294.jpg" id="image-2302" class="cluster picwide" />
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1311.jpg" id="image-2304" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1308.jpg" id="image-2303" class="cluster pic66" />
+</span>
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1391.jpg" id="image-2305" class="cluster picwide" />
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1405.jpg" id="image-2306" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1450.jpg" id="image-2311" class="cluster pic66" />
+</span>
+</div>
+
+When we decided to spend autumn and winter here it felt like another defeat to me, like spending summer in Texas, like we had once again failed life's geographic climate test. We're supposed to chase the weather, be in the sunny deserts of the west, or down at the beaches of Mexico. 
+
+Now though I am glad we were here. There is much to learn in not getting what you want. 
+
+There is much to learn from discomfort -- like how fast you adapt to cold for instance -- much to learn from the leaves falling, much to learn from herons fishing in the cold waters, much to learn from the forest when it falls silent for the winter.
diff --git a/published/2020-02-19_snow-day.txt b/published/2020-02-19_snow-day.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..05e3ced
--- /dev/null
+++ b/published/2020-02-19_snow-day.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+It starts falling when we're at the hardware store, filling the propane tank. At first I try to downplay it for the kids. I don't want them to be disappointed if it turns out to be just a couple flurries, which is all we're likely to get in this part of the world. Still, the chickadees and titmice *were* particularly chatty and busy this morning. Maybe.
+
+Driving back to the campsite though I can see it's sticking to the ground in the colder areas, the tops of trees, on grass in open fields. The birds are on to something I think. I allow myself to get a little excited. The kids are way ahead of me, yelling about a real snow day. 
+
+By the time we get back to the site it's coming down hard and clearly sticking to the ground. Jackets and gloves go on, everyone piles outside into the winter wonderland.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1501.jpg" id="image-2313" class="cluster picwide" />
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1491.jpg" id="image-2312" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1537.jpg" id="image-2314" class="cluster pic66" />
+</span>
+<img src="images/2020/2020-02-08_114648_snow-day.jpg" id="image-2317" class="cluster picwide" />
+</div>
+
+Anyone living north of Georgia will probably chuckle at this amount of snow. I know. I lived in Massachusetts for a few years. It's not snow much, but it's enough to put smiles on everyone's faces.
+
+Maybe it's more special because it is harder to come by snow in these parts. Six inches of snow in this part of Georgia somehow feels more miraculous than three feet ever did in Northampton. Maybe I am just weird though, I used to get excited every time it snowed up there too. Even when it snowed in May. There's just something great about snow.
+
+This was not the first time the kids have seen snow, but it might as well have been -- it's been years since they've been in it.
+
+I always say we chase the weather, and we try to, but when you fail at that, then you might as well get some snow out of it. And for once, we did.
+
+<img src="images/2020/2020-02-08_125402_snow-day.jpg" id="image-2320" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-02-08_125430_snow-day.jpg" id="image-2321" class="picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-02-08_130100_snow-day.jpg" id="image-2322" class="picwide" />
+
+After an hour so the cold began to set in. We don't really have the clothes for snow. Cotton is not your friend in a snowball fight. Wet and cold I was ready to warm up. Lilah was undaunted though. She made me take her for a snow hike. 
+
+We walked down the river to see snow on the covered bridge, but water was running high and cold made white vapor that all but obscured the bridge. On the hike back the cold finally overcame her and I carried her the last half mile up the hill. We caught a couple last snowflakes on our tongues and ducked inside to dry off and drink hot cocoa. And play a few intensely competitive games of Uno. As you do.
+
+<div class="cluster">
+<img src="images/2020/2020-02-08_125157_snow-day.jpg" id="image-2319" class="cluster picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-02-08_124954_snow-day.jpg" id="image-2318" class="cluster picwide" />
+<img src="images/2020/2020-02-08_133713_snow-day.jpg" id="image-2323" class="cluster picwide" />
+<span class="row-2">
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1540.jpg" id="image-2315" class="cluster pic66" />
+<img src="images/2020/DSC_1541.jpg" id="image-2316" class="cluster pic66" />
+</span>
+</div>
+
+The world seemed to warm up with us. By the time we went back outside for round two, melting snow was coming down like a hard rain. By evening our white wonderland was gone.
diff --git a/src/qutebrowser-notes.txt b/qutebrowser-notes.txt
index f7887e6..584a47a 100644
--- a/src/qutebrowser-notes.txt
+++ b/qutebrowser-notes.txt
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ handy commands:
  :download
 
 ## shortcuts
+
 xo - open url in background tab
 go - edit current url
 gO - edit current url and open result in new tab
diff --git a/scratch.txt b/scratch.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7bee981
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scratch.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+I did. For just over three years. 2004 among them. I ran the kitchen at Fresh Pasta Bistro, which became Viva around the time I left. I believe it finally shut down for good a couple years ago. Anyway, yeah, Northampton. Good town.
+
+
+A while back someone at work mentioned wanting to write about how there is little to no regulation in the realm of "alternative" medicine and its rife with scams. I volunteered to write a rebuttal, because I'm glad alternative medicine is not regulated. I did not elaborate and I forgot all about it until someone brought it up again, this time specifically asking why I was glad there were no regulations.
+
+I will likely never write a rebuttal because for one thing it would be publishable as anything other than Op/Ed. I am not scientist by training and, lack credentials, not allowed into the debate on equal footing. 
+
+I don't hold this against science as a method of inquire, but I do very much hold it against scientists, who have become a modern priesthood controlling public discourse, just as the Catholic church did through the middle ages, the high priests of Set did in ancient Egypt, and so on through any other culture you want to cite. 
+
+There is always a priesthood setting the limits of acceptable discourse, what matters is how that priesthood (and the culture more broadly) handles dissent. How much room is there for discourse outside the acceptable? We're very fortunate to live in a culture where for the most part there are no limits placed on dissenters. I can write this, publish it where anyone can read it, and there are (currently) no consequences. I will not be burned at the stake, exiled or any number of horrible things visited on those with "unacceptable" ideas in various cultures throughout the ages. There is some risk of publishing these opinions and having them come back to haunt me at some point in the future of course, but ultimately all I am advocating for is that we continue to not punish, or censor people who old opinions, beliefs, customs, what have you, that are considered unacceptable to the current priesthood.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+How do I make this while still being present. Here. Right now. In this bus, on this night, feeling this feeling?
+
+This turns out to be a very difficult problem to solve. 
+
+Writing inherently pulls you out of the moment. It has to all reflective thinking is, well reflecting on something rather than something. So there's that. But I accept that. I've been writing for so long now I've long ago forgotten what it would be like not to always be compising things in my head. There may be some negative consequences to this habit, but for me, it was what it is and I am okay with it.
+
+I am less okay with the performative aspects of creating things based your experiences. This enters a peculiar gray zone in which one must be very careful. For me, it is fine if the desire to write about something drives me to go to a place that I might not otherwise have gone to. For example I doubt I would ever have gone to tk, except I wanted to write about it. But wanting to write about it is a kind of wanting to go.
+
+The danger lies in pulling yourself out of the experience of being there by performing for the imagined audience. I try to avoid this. It works for some people. Some people are able to think about getting a great image while still enjoying themselves. I am not. I have to lose myself in those moments or whatever I try to produce from them suffers. 
+
+Which is to say I almost universally miss the great shot because I am too busy watching whatever it might be unfold. 
+
+
+Things need edges, edges are a kind of contract with things. The book ends when you close it. Begins when you open it. In between there is no contract. Or not much of one?
+
+I think we have our edges wrong. Things that should have softer, indistinct edges, like our homes, have hard edges that divide us from the world. Things that should have hard, distinct edges, like tools for communicating, have no edge at all, the loops are always running, never closing off.
+
+Adding edges to the loops closes them.
+
+----
+
+Solutions I have seen work, and that I am experiementing with: 
+
+All communication happens in loops, you say something, there is a response, you respond to that response and so on. This is the communication loop. How long is the loop? I find that the longer the loop is, the better the thing I am able to produce. So where instagram has loops measured in minutes, maybe hours, maybe at the most days, I find that loop overwhelming and short. The most I can do there is put something out, I can't and don't partake in the loops there.
+
+A website I control is an infinite loop potentially. Or rather I have to create the loops, I have to set the pace. And I generally do not do well at that.
+
+
+
+Consolidate data on a schedule, publish one thing on a schedule.
diff --git a/src/guide-to-switching-i3-to-sway.txt b/src/guide-to-switching-i3-to-sway.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33e7742
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/guide-to-switching-i3-to-sway.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+I recently made the switch from the [i3 tiling window manager](https://i3wm.org/) to [Sway](https://swaywm.org/), a Wayland-based i3 clone. I still [run Arch Linux on my personal machine](/src/why-i-switched-arch-linux), so all of this is within the context of Arch.
+
+I made the switch for a variety of reasons. There's the practical: Sway/Wayland gives me much better battery life on my laptop. As well as the more philosophical: Sway's lead developer Drew Devault's take on code is similar to mine[^1] (e.g. [avoid traumatic changes](https://drewdevault.com/2019/11/26/Avoid-traumatic-changes.html) or [avoid dependencies](https://drewdevault.com//2020/02/06/Dependencies-and-maintainers.html)), and after reading his blog for a year he's someone whose software I trust. 
+
+I know some people would think this reason ridiculous, but it's important to me that the software I rely on be made by people I like and trust. Software is made by humans, for humans. The humans are important. And yes, it goes the other way too. I'm not going to name names, but there are some theoretically good software out there that I refuse to use because I do not like or trust the people who make it.
+
+When I find great software made by people who seem trustworthy, I use it. So I switched to Sway and it's been a good experience.
+
+Sway and Wayland have been very stable in my use. I get about 20 percent more out of my laptop battery. That seems insane to me, but as someone who [lives almost entirely off solar power](/1969-dodge-travco-motorhome) it's a huge win I can't ignore.
+
+### Before You Begin
+
+I did not blindly switch to Sway. Or rather I did and that did not go well. I switched back after a few hours and started doing some serious searching, both the search engine variety and the broader, what am I really trying to do here, variety. 
+
+The latter led me to change a few tools, replace some things, and try some new work flows. Not all of it was good. I could never get imv to do the things I can with feh for instance, but mostly it was good.
+
+One thing I really wanted to do was avoid XWayland (which allows apps that need X11 to run under Wayland). Wherever I could I've opted for applications that run natively under Wayland. There's nothing wrong with XWayland, that was just a personal goal, for fun.
+
+Here's my notes on making the transition to Wayland along with the applications I use most frequently.
+
+##### Terminal
+
+I do almost everything in the terminal. I write in Vim, email with mutt, read RSS feeds with newsboat, listen to music with mpd, and browse files with ranger.
+
+I tested quite a few Wayland-native terminals and I really like [Alacritty](https://github.com/alacritty/alacritty). Highly recommended. [Kitty](https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty) is another option to consider.
+
+That said, I am sticking with urxvt for now. There are two problems for me with Alacritty. First off Vim doesn't play well with the Wayland clipboard in Alacritty. Second, Ranger will not show image previews in Alacritty. Both things work as I would expect in urxvt. I'd like to find a solution to these issues because I like Alacritty better than urxvt, but so far nothing has made Vim work and that one is a deal breaker for me.
+
+##### Launcher
+
+I've always used dmenu to launch apps and grab passwords from pass. It's simple and fast. Unfortunately dmenu is probably never going to run natively in Wayland. 
+
+I tested rofi, wofi, and other potential replacements, but I did not like any of them. Somewhere in my search for a replacement launcher I ran across [this post](https://medium.com/njiuko/using-fzf-instead-of-dmenu-2780d184753f) which suggested just calling up a small terminal window and piping a list of applications to [fzf](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf), a blazing fast search tool.
+
+That's what I've done and it works great. I created a keybinding to launch a new instance of Alacritty with a class name that I use to resize the window. Then within that small Alacritty window I call `compgen` to get a list of executables, then sort it to eliminate duplicates, and pass the results to fzf. Here's the code in my Sway config file:
+
+~~~console
+bindsym $mod+Space exec alacritty --class 'launcher' --command bash -c 'compgen -c | sort -u | fzf | xargs -r swaymsg -t command exec'
+
+for_window [app_id="^launcher$"] floating enable, border none, resize set width 25 ppt height 20 ppt, move position 0 px 0 px
+~~~
+
+These lines together will open a small terminal window in the upper left corner of the screen with a fzf search interface. I type, for example, "dar" and Darktable comes up. I hit return, the terminal window closes, and Darktable launches. It's as simple as dmenu and requires no extra applications (since I was already using fzf in Vim).
+
+##### Browsers
+
+I mainly use [qutebrower](https://qutebrowser.org/), supplemented by [Vivaldi](https://vivaldi.com/)[^2] for research because having split screen tabs is brilliant for research. I also use [Firefox Developer Edition](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/developer/) for any web development work, because the Firefox dev tools are far superior to anything else.
+
+Qutebrowser and Firefox work great under Wayland. In the case of qutebrowser though you'll need to set a few shell variables to get it to start under Wayland, out of the box it launches with XWayland for some reason. Here's what I added to `.bashrc` to get it to work:
+
+~~~bash
+export XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland 
+export GDK_BACKEND=wayland
+~~~
+
+One thing to bear in mind if you do have a lot of X11 apps still is that with this in your shell you'll need to reset the `GDK_BACKEND` to X11 or those apps won't launch. Instead you'll get an error, `Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: :0`. To fix that error you'll need to reset `GDK_BACKEND=x11`, then launch your X11 app.
+
+There are several ways you can do this, but I prefer to override apps in `~/bin` (which is on my $PATH). So, for example, I have a file named `vivaldi` in `~/bin` that looks like this:
+
+~~~bash
+#! /bin/sh
+GDK_BACKEND=x11 vivaldi-stable
+~~~
+
+Alternately you could just create a bash alias like `alias vivaldi-stable="GDK_BACKEND=x11 vivaldi-stable"`, but I prefer my `~/bin` method since I override a bunch of other apps too for other reasons and this way everything is in one spot.
+
+Note that for me this is easier, because the only apps I'm using that need X11 are Vivaldi and Slack. If you have a lot of X11 apps, you're probably better off making qutebrowser the special case by launching it like this:
+
+~~~bash
+GDK_BACKEND=wayland qutebrowser
+~~~
+
+##### Clipboard
+
+I can't work without a clipboard manager, I keep the last 200 things I've copied, and I like to have things permanently stored as well.
+
+Clipman does a good job of saving clipboard history.
+
+You need to have wl-clipboard installed since Clipman reads and writes to and from that. I also use wofi instead of the default dmenu for viewing and searching clipboard history. Here's how I set up clipman in my Sway config file:
+
+~~~bash
+exec wl-paste -t text --watch clipman store --max-items=60 --histpath="~/.local/share/clipman.json"
+bindsym $mod+h exec clipman pick --tool="wofi" --max-items=30 --histpath="~/.local/share/clipman.json"
+~~~
+
+Clipman does not, however, have a way to permanently store bits of text. That's fine. Permanently stored bits of frequently used text are really not all that closely related to clipboard items and lumping them together in a single tool isn't a very Unix-y approach. Do one thing, do it well.
+
+For snippets I ended up bending [pet](https://github.com/knqyf263/pet), the "command line snippet manager" a little and combining it with the small launcher-style window idea above. So I store snippets in pet, mostly just `printf "my string of text"`, call up an Alacritty window, search, and hit return to inject the pet snippet into the clipboard. Then I paste it were I need it. 
+
+##### Volume Controls
+
+Sway handles volume controls with pactl. Drop this in your Sway config file and you should be good:
+
+~~~bash
+bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec pactl set-sink-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ +5%
+bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec pactl set-sink-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ -5%
+bindsym XF86AudioMute exec pactl set-sink-mute @DEFAULT_SINK@ toggle
+bindsym XF86AudioMicMute exec pactl set-source-mute @DEFAULT_SOURCE@ toggle
+~~~
+
+##### Brightness 
+
+I like [light](https://github.com/haikarainen/light) for brightness. Once it's installed these lines from my Sway config file assign it to my brightness keys:
+
+~~~bash
+bindsym --locked XF86MonBrightnessUp exec --no-startup-id light -A 10
+bindsym --locked XF86MonBrightnessDown exec --no-startup-id light -U 10
+~~~
+
+### Quirks, Annoyances And Things I Haven't Fixed
+
+There have been surprisingly few of these, save the Vim and Ranger issues mentioned above.
+
+I haven't found a working replacement for xcape. The only thing I used xcape for was to make my Cap Lock key dual-function: press generates Esc, hold generates Control. So far I have not found a way to do this in Wayland. There is ostensibly [caps2esc](https://gitlab.com/interception/linux/plugins/caps2esc), but it's poorly documented and all I've been able to reliably do with it is crash Wayland. 
+
+I miss xcape. I've reverted to `inoremap jj <Esc>` for vim, but if you have a solution, please do let me know in the comments.
+
+I've been using Waybar as a status bar and it works well enough. To be honest I haven't put in the time to get it exactly how I want it, but it's close enough. My one gripe is that Slack doesn't show up in the icon tray, but I hate Slack and only use it because of work, so my motivation to debug that issue is very low.
+
+Surprisingly, those are the only problems I can think of right now. I've been using Sway exclusively for almost two months now and I have no reason or desire to ever go back.
+
+### Helpful pages:
+
+- **[Sway Wiki](https://github.com/swaywm/sway/wiki)**: A good overview of Sway, config examples (how to replicate things from i3), and application replacement tips for i3 users (like this fork of [redshift](https://github.com/minus7/redshift/tree/wayland) with support for Wayland).
+- **[Arch Wiki Sway Page](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sway)**: Another good Sway resource with solutions to a lot of common stuff: set wallpaper, take screenshots, HiDPI, etc.
+- **[Sway Reddit](https://old.reddit.com/r/swaywm/)**: There's some useful info here, worth searching if you run into issues. Also quite a few good tips and tricks from fellow Sway users with more experience. 
+- **[Drew Devault's Blog](https://drewdevault.com/)**: He doesn't always write about Sway, but he does give updates on what he's working on, which sometimes has details on Sway updates.
+
+
+[^1]: That's not to imply there's anything wrong with the i3 developers.
+
+[^2]: Vivaldi would be another good example of me trusting a developer. I've been interviewing Jon von Tetzchner for many years, all the way back to when he was at Opera. I don't always see eye to eye with him (I wish Vivaldi were open source) but I trust him, so I use Vivaldi. It's the only software I use that's not open source (not including work, which requires quite a few closed source crap apps).
diff --git a/src/ranger.txt b/src/ranger.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f66a707
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ranger.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+[Ranger](http://nongnu.org/ranger/) is a terminal-based file browser with Vim-style keybindings. It uses ncurses and can hook into all sorts of other command line apps to create an incredibly powerful file manager.
+
+If you prefer a graphical experience, more power to you. I'm lazy. Since I'm already using the terminal for 90 percent of what I do, it make sense to not leave it just because I want to browse files. 
+
+The keyword here for me is "browse." I do lots of things to files without using Ranger. Moving, copying, creating, things like that I tend to do directly with `cp`, `mv`, `touch`, `mkdir` and so on. But sometimes you want *browse* files, and in those cases Ranger is the best option I've used.
+
+That said, Ranger is something of a labyrinth of commands and keeping track of them all can be overwhelming. If I had a dollar for every time I've searched "show hidden files in Ranger" I could buy you a couple beers (the answer, fellow searchers, is `zh`). 
+
+I'm going to assume you're familiar with the basics of movement in Ranger like `h`, `j`, `k`, `l`, `gg`, and `G`. Likewise that you're comfortable with `yy`, `dd`, `pp`, and other copy, cut, and paste commands. If you're not, if you're brand new to ranger, check out [the official documentation](https://github.com/ranger/ranger/wiki/Official-user-guide) which has a pretty good overview of how to do all the basic stuff you'll want to do with a file browser. 
+
+Here's a few less obvious shortcuts I use all the time. Despite some overlap with Vim, I do not find these particularly intuitive, and had a difficult time remembering them at first:
+
+- `zh`: toggle hidden files
+- `gh`: go home (`cd ~/`)
+- `oc`: order by create date (newest at top)
+- `7j`: jump down seven lines (any number followed by j or k will jump that many lines)
+- `7G`: jump to line 7 (any number followed by `G` will jump to that line
+- `.d`: show only directories
+- `.f`: show only files
+- `.c`: clear any filters (such as either of the previous two commands)
+
+Those are handy, but if you really want to speed up Ranger and bend it to the way you work, the config file is your friend. What follows are a few things I've done to tweak Ranger's config file to make my life easier.
+
+###Ranger Power User Recommendations
+
+Enabling line numbers was a revelation for me. Open `~/.config/ranger/rc.conf` and search for `set line_numbers` and change the value to either `absolute` or `relative`. The first numbers from the top no matter what, the `relative` option sets numbers relative to the cursor. I can't stand relative, but absolute works great for me, YMMV.
+
+Another big leap forward in my Ranger productivity came when I discovered local folder sorting options. As noted above, typing `oc` changes the sort order within a folder to sort by date created[^1]. While typing `oc` is pretty easy, there are some folders that I *always* want sorted by date modified. That's easily done with Ranger's `setlocal` config option. 
+
+Here's a couple lines from my `rc.conf` file as an example:
+
+~~~bash
+setlocal path=~/notes sort mtime
+setlocal path=~/notes/reading sort mtime
+~~~
+
+This means that every time I open `~/notes` or `~/notes/reading` the files I've worked with most recently are at the top (and note that you can also use `sort_reverse` instead of `sort`). That puts the most recently edited files right at the top where I can find them.
+
+Having my most recent notes at the top of the pane is great, but what makes it even more useful is having line wrapped file previews so I don't even need to open the file to read it. To get that I currently use the latest Git version of Ranger which I installed via [Arch Linux's AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ranger-git/).
+
+This feature, which is invaluable to me since one of my common use cases for Ranger is quickly scanning a bunch of text files, has been [merged to master](https://github.com/ranger/ranger/pull/1322), but not released yet. If you don't [use Arch Linux](/src/why-i-switched-arch-linux) you can always build from source, or you can wait for the next release which should include an option to line wrap your previews.
+
+###Bookmarks
+
+Part of what makes Ranger incredibly fast are bookmarks. With two keystrokes I can jump between folders, move/copy files, and so on. 
+
+To set a bookmark, navigate to the directory, then hit `m` and whatever letter you want to serve as the bookmark. Once you've bookmarked it, type ``<letter>` to jump straight to that directory. I try to use Vim-like mnemonics for my bookmarks, e.g. ``d` takes me to documents, ``n` takes me to `~/notes`, ``l` takes me to the dev folder for this site, and so on. As with the other commands, typing just ``` will bring up a list of your bookmarks.  
+
+###Conclusion
+
+Ranger is incredibly powerful and almost infinitely customizable. In fact I don't think I really appreciated how customizable it was until I wrote this and dug a little deeper into all the ways you can map shell scripts to one or two character shortcuts. It can end up being a lot to keep track of though. I suggest learning maybe one or two new shortcuts a week. When you know longer have to think abut them, move on to the next couple.
+
+Or you can do what I do, wait until you have something you want to do, but don't know how, figure out how to do it, then write it down so you remember it.
+
+####Shoulders Stood Upon
+
+* [Dquinton's Ranger setup details](http://dquinton.github.io/debian-install/config/ranger.html) - I have no idea who this person is, but their Ranger setup and detailed notes was hugely helpful. 
+* [Ranger documentation](https://ranger.github.io/ranger.1.html) - The docs have a pretty good overview of the options available, though sometimes it's challenging to translate that into real world use cases.
+* [Arch Wiki Ranger page](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ranger) - Where would we be without the Arch Wiki?
+
+
+
+[^1]: In fact, just type `o` and you'll get a list of other sorting options (and if you know what `normal` means, drop me a comment below, I'm still trying to figure out what that means).
diff --git a/walks/edisto-marsh-walk.txt b/walks/edisto-marsh-walk.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d5ede1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/walks/edisto-marsh-walk.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+We spent Christmas as Edisto and every morning it didn't rain I walked this short loop in search of marsh birds. It cuts right through the marsh on wooden planks, which I always find troubling, disrupting an animal a thruway like a marsh all so we could get a closer look at it. At the same time, well, it is nice to get a closer look. 
+
+I did this walk early in the morning, before breakfast. Usually right about dawn or a little before, using the birds around camp as my clue when to hit the trail. I came upon a pair of Hooded Mergansers twice rounding a bind corner, startling all of us. 
+
+Every morning the same Belted Kingfisher was out in the middle the of the marsh squawking as it fished. The last day there was hardly any bird life about. When I stepped out on to the marsh walkway a shadow passed over. I instantly knew it was a bald eagle. Its presence was unmistakable long before I could get my binoculars on it to confirm the feeling.
+
+Aside from birding, I did the trail each morning to stretch my feet, which were hurting from long days spent walking in the soft sand near the shore. 
+
+After the first day, when my heels began to hurt so bad it was difficult to finish up this sort walk, I started going barefoot. 
+
+Walking barefoot made me completely understand the barefoot running shoe craze. You can feel so much more. Wearing shoes (or even flop flops) all the time we forget that the bottom of our feet can be a sensory input. Go for a walk barefoot and you'll remember -- possibly in a very painful way -- that the bottoms of your feet have something to tell you about the world.
+
+It's nice to feel the ground beneath you. It's strange to think that for however many hundreds of thousands of years we felt the ground beneath out feet. At most we might have had sandals or moccasins, fur-lined in the winter, but never padded. The bare earth was right there underfoot. The best shoes you could make were essentially barefoot shoes. 
+
+And then in the span of a few dozen generations in the west, daily contact with the earth disappears. Even more striking, the notion of daily contact with the earth becomes so remote that we re-invent the idea with "barefoot" shoes. But really? Why stop at a thin-soled shoe? How about no shoe? It's easier. It's  cheaper.
+
+Since this walk I've tried several barefoot shoes, but none feel quite a good as being barefoot. Something about ll the strange synthetic fabrics leaves my foot feeling sweaty and clammy at the same time. There are certainly trails that would be tough on bare feet, but whenever I find one that's not, I plan to leave my shoes at home.