I just learned, to my complete shock, that there are other ways of tying your shoes. I have been tying my shoes the same way for nearly three decades, the only elaboration made in that time being an insistence on the double knot (to my wife’s joking irritation). So, I’m in awe of this.
Author: T Coe
On learning to be organized
I’m a little embarrassed to admit it: I didn’t learn how to be organized until after college. College, though—as my wife observed the other night (as a person who did learn the essential skills of self-management in college)—is the ideal opportunity to learn such a skill. You have four classes—let’s call them projects—that overlap in … Continue reading On learning to be organized
On the relief and irritation of finally figuring out a problem that had annoyed you for years
It happened every once in a while: elements in my InDesign template would refuse to align to my 1” margin. Frames would instead snap to 0.097”, resisting my attempts to nudge them over to the 1” margin until I zoomed WAY IN and forced them over. Today, I discovered why. (For the InDesign nerds out … Continue reading On the relief and irritation of finally figuring out a problem that had annoyed you for years
On the genius of Hayes Carll
Shame on me—I only just this past week listened to You Get It All, the indelible 2021 album from Hayes Carll. I’ve been a Carll fan for some time and have never understood why he’s flown so under the radar. A handful of his songs—“Drunken Poet’s Dream,” “KMAG YOYO,” and “American Dream”—are among my favorite … Continue reading On the genius of Hayes Carll
On the Federal-Colfax cloverleaf
Denverite recently published a neat little piece on the Federal-Colfax “cloverleaf” interchange. If you have ever lived in the Denver metro, you’ve probably passed over or under this interchange. It’s a rare bit of transit infrastructure: neither Colfax nor Federal are interstates or highways, so the exchange always comes as sort of a surprise. An … Continue reading On the Federal-Colfax cloverleaf
On 7 things from last week (10/9/23)
Reviews. I conducted a bunch of 360 performance review meetings and it’s such a a pleasure to gather positive feedback about your colleagues. Parliament / Fundadelic mythology. Was a new thing to me! The Wikipedia page is a delight. Javelin (Sufjan Stevens). I’m really digging this new Sufjan album—it’s the fingerpicked folky stuff plus the … Continue reading On 7 things from last week (10/9/23)
On opportunistic
In an opportunistic move in early 2020, the City purchased a 1.99-acre parcel near its downtown core. Hm. Opportunistic? There’s nothing wrong with it, to be fair. Merriam-Webster has it as “taking advantage of opportunities as they arise.” And that’s just what the City of Lafayette, in a recently reviewed RFP, was doing. But it … Continue reading On opportunistic
On the delight of IKEA
I’ve written before about the IKEA effect, but—as Daniel Kahneman warns his readers in Thinking, Fast and Slow—we are all helpless to biases, even when we know about them. I went to IKEA this weekend to pick up two tables to serve as desks in our remodeled home office—and raced home to feel that sweet, … Continue reading On the delight of IKEA
On songwriters knowing their songs
It should be no surprise that songwriters have a good ear for songs. But it never fails to surprise me how tribute albums to celebrated songwriters—like the recently released one for Nanci Griffith—are not merely a collection of greatest hits covers. Some of the songs on this album are classics—including one of my favorites, “Love … Continue reading On songwriters knowing their songs
On the silly term porte cochere
Why use jargon? Sometimes there’s just no other way to say something: you can say electrochromic glass or you can burn a full sentence glossing “glass that responds to an electric current by changing color.” Clearly, there’s an advantage to the first option, though it may occasionally send something scurrying for a dictionary. (But sometimes, … Continue reading On the silly term porte cochere
Taylor Coe 