🎵 Today’s listen: The “Andrew Bird Essentials” playlist on Apple Music. I don’t know Andrew Bird’s music too well, but I’m really enjoying it so far.

I’m working overtime, late at night, after a long day at work. I was on the phone about 7 hours out of 9, which is a lot for one day. At least I can listen to music now.

🎵 Today’s listen: “Honeymoon” by Beach Bunny. I’m a big fan of the lead single, from way last year: “Dream Boy”. The rest of the album, which I’ve been waiting a long time for, is a fun listen. I love lead singer/bandleader Lili Trifilio’s balance of insecurity and poise in her both her lyrics and performance.

I bought “Frozen II” for the kids to watch today, because it was not a school day. I’m glad the movie is available already. It sure made my daughter happy this afternoon.

It is going to be a long, long, long work week for me, I’m afraid.

I got bookshelf speakers today, set them up in my office, and absolutely love them. Of course, now I want to put them on stands to make them ear-level, because I can’t stop spending money on my audiophile hobby. 🤣 💸

The President’s decision to expand his power post-trial has stunned Washington. Has it, though? (That’s what I want to say about just about every headline these days. We are through the looking glass now.)

“The French Dispatch” appears, from its initial trailer, to be the most “Wes Anderson” Wes Anderson movie ever.

Uh-oh. Apple Photos started saying my full-resolution photos will no longer fit on my Mac. I have 80 GB free on a 500 GB SSD, but Photos is still complaining. I’m debating what to do about it. A huge part of my backup strategy is using Arq backup to back up my full-resolution photos (the entire library, really) to Backblaze B2. Maybe I will export all my photos (the originals) and copy them to B2, then turn on “Optimize Storage”, and then stop trying to back up my originals on my Mac. I’m not getting a new Mac with a 1 TB SSD in it anytime soon, unfortunately. What a pain.

I just learned the specs of my new, upcoming work laptop. For the first time since 2000, I think, it will be higher-speced than anything I own. 😳

Shirin Ghaffary at Recode reports that Google’s head of HR, Eileen Naughton, is stepping down.

Executive leadership changes happen at major companies all the time — but at Google, Naughton’s move is notable because she was a key figure responsible for dealing with an unprecedented level of internal employee turmoil and dissent. In recent years, Google workers feuded among themselves and with management over issues ranging from the company’s alleged mishandling of executive sexual harassment cases to its crackdown on employee speech in the workplace. Naughton is also the fourth long-tenured Google executive, including the company’s cofounders, to step down from an executive position or resign altogether in recent months.

Google’s main internal problem, from my outside point-of-view, is that the things they are best at—software and services—are not really their business. They are just Google’s bait. Their business is online advertising, and that business is at odds, in many respects, with quality software and user-focused services.

One thing I started doing recently with my almost-8-year-old daughter is saying “I’m happy I could spend this time with you” as often as I can to her. Results so far have been excellent.

I’m interested in the New Hampshire primary results, but what I am really thinking about tonight are the speakers I’m expecting to get on Friday. I just unpacked a Chi-Fi amp that will drive them, and ordered some cables for them.

I thought that I kept up with politics pretty closely, but I don’t think I even realized this guy was even running for president.

Andrew Yang dropped out of the presidential race tonight. He certainly stayed on brand when announcing it: > “I am the math guy, and it’s clear from the numbers we’re not going to win this campaign,” he said. “So tonight I’m announcing that I am suspending my campaign.” I hope he does something good with his newfound fame.

🎵 I like the new Nada Surf album.

🎵 Today’s listen: “Out of Time” by R.E.M. This is one of the foundational albums in my music collection. It’s 10th track, “Country Feedback,” is R.E.M.’s best song, in my opinion (and in Michael Stipe’s).

App Review approved my app update within an hour of my submission of it tonight. That is a new speed record for me.

My daughter got a ukulele and is starting lessons. I just ordered one for myself so I can play with her. Hopefully that will keep her motivated and be a fun thing we can do together.

Now I’m a crank who hates the new Google Maps icon.

There is a lot of confusion surrounding election security, and how voting machines should work. Every tech pundit podcaster I listen to says that electronic voting machines must have a paper trail, so there is a backup if the software behind the voting system fails. That sounds reasonable.

The thing is, they all have it backward. The original vote should be on paper. The paper trail should be the actual votes cast, not the results recorded by voting machines. After all, if the software running the voting machines is improperly coded or compromised by malware, why would we trust the paper trail that same software creates?

I’m sure there are election experts that know far better than I do how to do it right. I just wish someone would call into question the assumption that a computerized machine is necessary to cast votes in the first place.

🎧 I haven’t been listening to all my awesome headphones nearly as much for the past week, because of some tinnitus-related problems (which I have discovered may not have anything to do with noise exposure). It’s uncanny how weird they sound all of the sudden.

I wonder if/when Mitt Romney will be booted out of the Republican Party.

Rejoice! The bottom toolbar of the iOS mail app is changing back to its prior, more sensible layout in iOS 13.4.

⚾️ The Mookie Betts trade, which was rumored for months, is still disappointing enough to me to consider not bothering with my MLB TV subscription this year. He was my favorite player to watch on the Red Sox roster.