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In 2001, my band Canterbury Effect released a record called An Exercise in Humility. We were a few kids from southern Indiana playing hardcore, punk, and emo before we even knew what to call it. The record eventually came out on a small label called Pluto Records. They believed in our record for some reason, signed us to a two record deal, and gave us few boxes of CDs to sell. Somehow — through basement shows, short tours on vacations from work/school, and word of mouth — it found its way to a few towns across the Midwest.

It’s wild to think that was nearly twenty-five years ago.

In March 2026, all of us are getting together to play those songs again. Our friend James, who started Crown Vic Records (and also played in the band later on), is releasing An Exercise in Humility on vinyl for the first time.

I did the artowrk for the new 2026 version:

The reunion show will bring together everyone who’s ever been part of Canterbury Effect — the four of us who recorded Exercise, plus Jeremy and James, who played on later records, plus a ton of friends that were there along the way.

I'm looking forward to playing these songs again after all this time. I imagine it'll be strange and emotional and wonderful in equal measure — a reminder of what it felt like to make something with your friends and share it with anyone that would listen.

We went with our friends Alan and Bridget on a quick 24-hour road trip to see one of my favorite bands when I was in college, Hot Water Music. It's honestly been years since I listened to them regularly. I think they've put out more albums since I stopped listening to them than had back when I was super into them, but the concert was a blast and it's always good to get some hang time with good friends.

Quicksand was one of the openers and they were the real highlight for me. It made me wish I'd listen to them more when I was younger. They'll definitely be in my rotation for the foreseeable future. Also the bass player played a sick Fender Bass VI that made me want to buy one. I did a bit of research online yesterday and it turns out they make a Squire version that super affordable! I'm very much considering picking one up.

Here are a couple quick snaps from the show. I was standing far away, so they're not great quality.

We also ate at a pretty great restaurant called Kitchen Social. I would definitely recommend. The cheddar and scallion biscuits were diabolically good. All in all a really great, but short getaway. Looking forward to doing something similar again soon.

I've been overweight most of my life. It's a constant struggle for me to not gain weight. I went to the doctor earlier this year and I'm the heaviest I've ever been in my life. I joined a gym with a personal trainer this Spring to finally try and get myself in shape and so far it's going much better than I anticipated. I'm getting in three pretty intense workouts per week, mostly staying away from alcohol, and I'm doing surprisingly well on following a nutrition plan.

I say surprisingly well because food has always been my downfall when trying to get in shape. I fucking love food. I plan whole days around it. I reward myself with food when I've had a good day. I also reward myself with food when I've had a bad day. But, something about the nutrition plan I'm following just works for me.

My trainer loosely refers to it as the Palm, Fist, Thumb method. For breakfast and lunch I eat a palm-sized protein, and a fist-sized portion of both carbohydrates and vegetables. For dinner I have a palm-sized protein, a fist full of veggies, and a thumb-sized portion of healthy fats. I have a list of a dozen or so foods in each category that allows me to assemble easy healthy meals. It's It's nothing revolutionary, but it follows a loose system of modular components that let's me pick and choose how I design my meals. That appeals to my design and systems nerd sensibilities.

Looking back, it's easy to see how I end up where I am health-wise. Things really got away from me during the pandemic. I developed a lot of bad habits, both physically and socially, and haven't really been able to recover as of yet. But, today marks a moth since my first workout and Monday will be a month on the nutrition plan. As of my last weigh in I've lost a little over 10 pounds, but more importantly, I feel so much better physically and mentally.

There will be a total solar eclipse today and my home town of Bloomington, Indiana is in the path of totality. The eclipse will start at 1:49pm EST and will peak at 3:04pm. We are situated in the best viewing area in the state with maximum coverage at 100% for a total of just over four minutes. William Shatner is in town to speak at an event IU's Memorial Stadium that also includes a performance by Janelle Monáe. The population of Bloomington was expected to increase from around 100,000 to almost 300,000 for the event.

We have a perfect view of the eclipse from our front yard. Our neighbors are coming over to watch and then we're going to have dinner together after. Being in the path of totality is a once in a lifetime event that won't happen in the US for another 21 years on August 12, 2045. I'll be 54 by then and our son will be 38.

I worked the first half of the day, had one meeting, started prepping some food for dinner. All in all a pretty leisurely day so far. I'm Feeling excited and lucky I get to watch the eclipse with my family and have a nice dinner with friends.

I never knew there was an official term for the language phenomenon where people substitute words in common phrases because they don't know the real words. Apparently, this is a relatively new term. Language is so fascinating. Here are a few eggcorn examples.

• Eggcorns → Acorns
• All intensive purposes → All intents and purposes
• Doggy dog world → Dog eat dog world

I first heard about eggcorns via a new YouTube channel I recently discovered called RobWords and highly recommend checking it out if you have any interest in language and etymology. I've been slowly working my way through all of their videos this week. There is also an online eggcorn database if you really want to dig in.