Compared to the excitement of the NEW YEAR in January, February felt a bit, well, wintery. Winter vibes are ok though, because this year is the year of reading. I finished reading Norwegian Wood, Creativity by John Cleese, Sweat the Technique, and Building a Second Brain. I started a bunch more books as well. The reading habit is having some good side-effects. Read on for what else happened in February 2023.

Week 5 (Jan 30 – Feb 5)

For some reason, January left me a little exhausted. I think it was similar to how you feel when you start out a race a bit too fast and need to pare things back a bit. The first week of Feb felt like that.

The main thing I wanted to do this week is start publishing a regular review and I did it! Behold the January 2023 Monthly Review.

In the category of things that might be only interesting to me, I learned what deus ex machina means and I also shared photos of some new shelves that my neighbour made for us.

I also brought a ball along for Rubee for our run on Saturday, something I haven’t done before because I figured a six mile run is enough without additional ball chasing in the middle. There is a field we only can get to on our runs though, so I wanted to try it. She loved it of course and showed no signs of being tired.

Actually, come to think of it, I’ve yet to really tire her out anywhere but on the beach.

Week 6 (Feb 6 – 12)

My time this week was mostly spent running or reading when I wasn’t working or (still!) watching Yellowstone with my wife.

I wrote a little about finishing Norwegian Wood and also the book on creativity that John Cleese wrote inspired a post about deferring decisions to allow maximum time for play.

Sam was/is in the afterglow of a great experience playing team football (soccer) and now wants to join a club and start playing. His grandpa immediately got him a full football kit to support this newfound passion.

Vivian is tearing through her most recent book series obsession and her new hobby of creating fan fiction and illustrations is a fun side-effect.

February is always a stormy month but that leaves a lot of room for rainbows and I tried to capture them.

On the weekend the fam and I all went for our first indoor climbing experience together and it was super fun, we’re definitely going back.

I ended the week by staying up way too late to watch the Super Bowl with my father in law (it started at 11:30pm) and I paid for it. At least it was a great game.

Week 7 (Feb 13 – 19)

I was off work all week last week to look after the kids (mostly) and to have a couple of days with nothing going on. The days with the kids went like a blur and were mostly spent either playing video games or trying to find indoor activities that were not video games. I was pretty successful at the latter but happy for school to start again. 😤

I finished reading Sweat the Technique by Rakim and wrote a little bit about it. Legendary.

My daughter started taekwondo with us!

All of a sudden I have a nagging foot injury (plantar fasciitis I think) that is preventing me from running so I slowed down a bit and realized just how much dogs love Scotland.

Also, here are some photos of playing in the park and OMG!

Week 8 (Feb 20 – 26)

I finished reading reading Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte and two of the things that stood out from the book were that self-expression is a basic human need and creativity is like cooking.

My vacuum robot has been my trusty sidekick during this new era of me being head of household operations, and I’ve been thinking about how to make it the best robot it can be.

The usual other stuff has been happening as well. We’re going to taekwondo twice a week, and though I was nursing a little foot injury, I still got out to my waterfall and Rubee came with me.

My media consumption has been primarily books these days, and the kids and I have been obsessed with the book and show The Last Kids on Earth. Also, I hadn’t listened to a podcast in a minute but this recent conversation with Wade Davis was a gem.

Week 9 (Feb 27 – 28)

Definitely one of the highlights of the year so far was finally getting out on a hike up Meikle Bin. It had been five months since the last outing and was all the things you might expect: restorative, life affirming, and tiring (in a good way).

I ended the month by sharing my favorite albums of February starring a new-to-me MC named Marlo, the Scottish band Young Fathers, and many others.

That’s it for February, see you next month. ✌️