October is easily one of my favorite months of the year. I love the fall, and the weather in Scotland tends to be the perfect mix of stormy and beautiful (fall and spring are the best seasons here).

Read on for other updates, images, and miscellany from the month.

“…the goal of public policy often seems to be to create work-friendly families, rather than family-friendly work. […] …our work and care structures are relics of a past when only men had both careers and families.””

Tales of boys and their fathers

Week 40 (Oct 2 – 8)

I had a couple of days off this week and spent two of them volunteering as a parent helper with my kids school for their “outdoor week”. They spent the week at a local country park, doing all sorts of outdoor activities like bike riding, rock climbing, boating, fire building, orienteering, and lots more.

I started reading Of Boys and Men and shared a bit about family-friendly work.

My son’s birthday is coming up and I have a tradition now of sharing my kid’s wish lists, like this one which contains Robux and a dirt bike.

It was crazy rainy and stormy over the weekend in Glasgow, so we kind of hunkered down in the house most of the time, although I did venture out in my waterproofs to give the dog some exercise.

I also published my monthly review for September late as usual, but better late than never.

Week 41 (Oct 9 – 15)

Oof, this week was kinda hard. Mostly because I succumbed to the sickness that’s been going around, and it was my son’s seventh birthday, which meant there was a lot going on regardless of how I was feeling. In the end, though, things went well.

I wrote about a book I’m reading called Of Wolves and Men. Really enjoying it.

I shared a short tidbit about how you only have one job.

I came across this notion of creating your own user guide that I thought was really useful.

Because I was sick, I was also spending a fair amount of time playing Zelda and loving it.

Week 42 (Oct 16 – 22)

Most of this week was spent equally between stints of fighting a nagging cold and playing hard with the kids who were off school all week for their usual October holiday week. We were all still recovering from the Yes Day at the beginning of the week and by the end we were painting together. In between, Sam and I played a lot of video games (mostly Grounded and Super Mario Wonder).

After a really dark and rainy week, the sun eventually came out on Sunday, and it was epic.

Week 43 (Oct 23 – 29)

The beginning of the week was spent with the kids still off school (continuing from the entire week before for October holidays), and when they finally went back they were in a new school building, so it was very exciting for them and us as well. Overall it was a really smooth transition, but even better to have them back in school.

The rest of the week was super busy, too, as my wife and I went to see The Chemical Brothers in Glasgow, the whole family went to a hockey game (awesome), and we had a belt grading for Taekwondo as well.

Week 44 (Oct 30 – 31)

I shared Bombay Bicycle Club, Gabreil Teodros, and more of my favorite albums from October 2023.

We didn’t go out trick-or-treating this year (the kids actually weren’t interested), and instead, we enjoyed answering the door to greet others and sitting by the fire.

See you next month!