Back in early April we were looking at our calendar and saying “we just have to make it through May”. And today we have. I’ve been home for roughly 2 of the last 5 weeks and made 3 separate west coast trips. We now have two full weeks of the family and just the family at home. Thankful.

2026 Reads: Beyond the Empire by K. B. Wagers 📚

Books 2 and 3 could’ve used some significant editing, but they were still fun.

2026 Reads: After the Crown by K. B. Wagers 📚

Not as strong as the first one but I still loved it.

I never thought I’d feel sympathy for Rory Kinnear playing a British Prime Minister after his turn as a thick, pompous ass of a PM in The Diplomat.

But then tonight I watched the first episode of Black Mirror (“The National Anthem”). And, well, holy shit.

My next post is gonna demonstrate that I’m waaaaay behind on some popular media, but stick with me here.

Cubs lose ignominiously to the Pirates 12-1, dropping their 10th game in a row.

Oof.

It’s a short work week, but it’s a travel work week.

CID ✈️ DEN ✈️ SEA

Let’s do this.

Yesterday at church a friend who is an editor for Random House was talking about editing a new biography of Pope Leo. Someone mentioned the Pope’s upcoming encyclical, to which my friend replied that oh yes, he’d read an advance copy.

I mean that’s a niche flex, but it’s a helluva flex.

Working to set up a new iPad for my MIL. Going from an 8-year-old iPad still running iPadOS 17 to a new A16 iPad. The device-to-device transfer setup failed, as I expected it might. Restoring from iCloud backup now. Fingers crossed…

So far this morning:

  • assembled cinnamon rolls from last night’s dough
  • left them to rise
  • 5.5 mile run
  • baked and frosted the rolls
  • Got ribs thrown on the smoker
  • Washed up the resulting dishes

And it’s, what, not yet 9 AM? It’s gonna be a great holiday.