David C. Morris

  • 🍿 Celeste and Jesse Forever

    I was browsing through Apple TV+ last night waiting for my son to come home from a Halloween Party (he dressed as Stuart from Letterkenny).

    I found this movie from watching trailers from other movies and getting “you might like this” recommendations. I was excited because I really like both these actors.

    The best word to describe this moving is ‘safe’. I was surprised to see that the movie was made in 2012 because it felt like man of the newer watered down, and safe movies.

    Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg were great. They had good chemistry. The supporting cast was great. They had potential to add a lot to the movie. And I loved the camera work. The move contained a lot of intimate two-person scenes.

    The storyline just didn’t take any chances. Why did they break up? I get it, people grow apart and want different things, expect different things from their partners. They touched on all the right topics, but didn’t go into the depth that was needed to make it feel like the two characters really went through anything real. No real growth, just cute.

  • Generational Differences in Car Interests and Customization

    My son is learning to drive. He’s doing well, but doesn’t seem too interested in the whole concept of driving, having a car, etc.

    In an effort to spark some interest, I ask him what types of cars he likes and I share stories about the cars I drove and dreamed about when I was just starting out.

    After a couple of weeks, I’ve made an observation. It my be my age (48) but I seem to see a lot less customization being done to cars in my area (Inland Southern CA) than in the past.

    I know it is still out there in certain pockets. But when I first started driving in the late 80s, it seemed like most everyone was lowering their cars (terrible idea), buying custom wheels, and adding decals or stickers, anything to stand out.

    It got me thinking that one reason I might not see as much customization being done to cars is that they’ve gotten a lot better since the late 80s.

    The stock wheels on most cars look pretty decent, and for an extra $1000 or so at time of purchase, you can get pretty sweet looking wheels from the factory.

    As far a lowering goes (kids, listen to me - don’t ever lower your car, just trust me on this and save yourself years of headache and $1,000s on tires), stock cars have a much more aggressive line to them today.

    I know there are other factors that my play into this, maybe this generation isn’t as materialistic as mine, or that overall their interests lie more in the digital rather than the analog realm.

    It just bugged me the other day when I asked my son what type of car the girl he’s been seeing at work drives (she’s brought him home a couple of times) and he shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know, but it is pretty nice.”

  • 🎵👻 Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

    Album Cover and Record

    In the spirit of Halloween, I picked up her album. I recognized a couple of songs from the radio. Appreciate the nod to The Office, a little Michael on Side 2. Digging the creamsicle color of the album too. And the bass? I didn’t know my Elac Bookshelf speakers had that much bass in them (I play mostly heavy metal on my turntable).

  • 👻 Halloween Trivia Prize

    Bottle of wine and goblet

    I am hosting a Halloween Trivia contest this week at work. This is the first place prize.

  • 💡On Demand Trash and Bathroom Cleaning Service

    Two things turn me off when I visit a restaurant: 1) Dirty bathrooms and, 2) Full Trashcans.

    Regarding bathrooms, when you walk into them, they should appear clean, smell clean, be stocked (soap in dispensers, paper towels, toilet paper) and everything should work properly (sinks dispense water, toilets flush.

    Regarding restaurants, nothing is less attractive than walking up to throw your food away and the trashcans are completely full.

    I was sitting in a Habit yesterday (BTW - they had clean bathrooms and their trashcans were empty) and I watched Food delivery drivers come in to pick up online orders and it got me thinking the same could be done with bathroom and trash services.

    I’m not suggesting Food Delivery drivers do this, that would be gross. Instead, a business could contract with a 3rd party to make sure the bathrooms are clean and trash is emptied.

    Contracts could be set-up depending on the volume of traffic they receive and they could have an on-call service where they text or even hit a button like the one’s Amazon has to reorder products and a person would be there to address the issue.

    Just an idea. I may be getting old, but I’ve noticed dirtier bathrooms and full trashcans more and more lately.

  • 📚Little Free Libraries in my neigborhood

    IMG 0777

    I came across one of these while driving around looking at Halloween decorations. I’ve seen them before, but just not in residential neighborhoods. Last year, I had to cut down one of my queen palm trees because it died. It was right next to the sidewalk. I’m going to save up and install one in place of where the tree once stood. So far, I’ve found three other houses with them. I’d be the only one of my street. I love the idea.

  • 👻 Halloween Decorations Around Me

    IMG 0770

    IMG 0769

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    Halloween is my favorite holiday. This year, I started taking pictures of all the houses by me with cool decorations. I’ve been posting them to Twitter, but I thought I’d share some of the better ones here.

  • 🎵 Discography feature in Spotify

    I recently discovered this feature in Spotify. It lists all the albums the band has released by year. Once a week, usually on Fridays, I pick a band I like or one I don’t know much about, and I listen to one of their albums in full.

    I recently listened to Rush’s first and second album this way. I like the experience of working through an entire album instead of just listening to my favorite or most played tracks. Feels like a slower and more satisfying way to consume music.

  • Switched back to Roam Research from Obsidian

    I forgot to cancel my recurring annual subscription to Roam Research last month. I got the notification, but I did not look at my email in time. So, I was charged $154.00 for the annual fee.

    I had not used Roam Research much since switching to Obsidian back in January. However, because I just renewed it again, I sat down and tried to think how I could use both? My solution? I am switching everything back from Obsidian to Roam Research (for now).

    Here are a few reasons why? First, I love the automatic outlining feature in Roam. Yes, I turned on the nested outline in Obsidian, but I really like that bullets are automatic in Roam and the vertical bullet outlines are helpful for longer note taking sessions. Second, I find the Daily Notes much more intuitive and usable in Roam compared to Obsidian. I just put everything in the Daily Notes, everything. I found myself creating and having to navigate to different pages I created using backlinks in Obsidian. Maybe I didn’t understand how to best use backlinks in Obsidian, but they seem easier to reference with Roam. Lastly, I really missed all the / forward slash shortcuts with Roam. My favorites are /current time, /wordcount, and /pomodoro.

    A couple of things I will miss with Obsidian. First, the price. It is free, but I did pay some money, can’t remember how much to support the developers. Second, I like that each backlink is turned into it’s own markdown file and it is saved to my secured location instead of the web.

    I don’t plan to get rid of Obsidian, I may use it for some more limited purpose that I have not quite figured out yet. But for now, Roam Research is back and I am really enjoying it once again.

  • 🍿 Weekend at Bernie's

    On Friday or Saturday, my wife and I watch a late 1980s and early 1990s movie with our 16-year-old son. These were the years we were both in high school. This week, we watched Weekend at Bernie’s. My wife loves this movie, and I remember only seeing it once soon after it was released to video.

    There are three things I like about the movie and three things that I don’t. I like Bernie. Even dead, he steals the show. The second character I like is the guy who kills him. Such a great act. Lastly, even though she played a small part, I loved the woman cheating on her mafia boss husband with Bernie.

    I did not like Jonathan Silverman’s character, Richard. I have never got the no-confidence, awkward, hopeless romantic male lead in movies. Also, I did not think Andrew McCarthy was believable as the delinquent man child. He seems like too nice of a guy for that. There didn’t seem to be too much chemistry between the two of them. Lastly, I like campy movies, but this one felt a little creepy at times.

  • Can I buy toner at Sportsman's Warehouse?

    I live in Murrieta, CA. Our local Staples store next to Best Buy closed about four months ago. I thought a gym was going in it’s place, but to my surprise it is now a Sportsman’s Warehouse.

    I’ve never been inside one. Not sure how successful it will be. Most of the stuff inside the store you can get at other places around here. Personally, I don’t like big box retail stores. I wish we’d go back to smaller specialty stores. But that is just me.

  • Dollar Shave Club is better than Harry's

    I am an avid podcast listener going back to almost the beginning. Pre Covid-19, my daily M - F commute has been 90 minutes each way for most of my 20+ career. So when I heard about Harry’s Razors (I think from the Revolutions podcast), I wanted to support the show, so I used their code to purchase the monthly subscription service.

    I liked Harry’s backstory, and I wanted their product. I never felt the razors were better than Gillette, but I did like getting new razors in the mail each month, along with shaving cream. The convenience factor outweighed my slight displeasure with Harry’s razor blades. I always felt I didn’t get a close shave with them, hair gets caught up in between the razors more, and they seemed to lose their sharpness prematurely.

    A few months ago, I purchased a razor and blades from Dollar Shave Club at Target. I don’t like the name, and I don’t care for the handle. Harry’s come in cool colors and feels more sturdy in hand. But after switching to Dollar Shave Club, I believe I get a better shave with them compared to Harry’s. It’s too bad because I really wanted to stick with Harry’s.

  • Roam Research Renewal

    I mentioned in a previous post my disappointment with the state of personal email and that I don’t check it for weeks at time. Well, I missed the renewal notification for Roam Research. I knew it was coming up (I just paused and set-up a reminder in ToDoist for June 1, 2022.) So I got hit with the auto-renew of ~$150.

    Last night, I decided to login for the first time since the beginning of 2021 when I switched over to Obsidian to manage all my work-related note taking. There are things I do miss in using Roam Research. Probably my two favorite features that are the outlining feature (Obsidian does this too, but it’s not ass good) and the ‘/’ (forward slash) features that auto pop-up.

    Since I am paid up for another year, I’m trying to figure out how I might be able to use it and fit it into my life. I am going to stick with Obsidian for work. I like the security of having .md files saved to my computer instead of out in the cloud as well as I get a .md file for each Topic I create.

    Right now I’m thinking of using it for my personal writing and research. I like the ‘unstructured’ nature of Roam Research for this purpose. When I’m thinking of something, I can just pop it into my Daily Note and go back and add wiki links after the fact.

    I will see. Obsidian is free (or super cheap to through the developers some money). I still think Roam Research is too expensive for what I am using it for. But who knows, maybe once I give it a try, I’ll think differently.

  • 🍿 Conjuring 3 - The Devil Made Me Do It

    My son and I went to see it on Wednesday at the luxury theater. I didn’t tell him that I already watched it on my laptop about a month ago through HBO Max. At first he didn’t want to go see it. He didn’t like that the premise was set on a ‘not guilty by reason of demonic possession’ plea.

    For me, I liked it better in the theater. It’s not the big screen, it is the sound. Just can’t get the same effect with earbuds or even over-the-ear headphones.

    Ed and Lorraine are terrific. But what I missed from the first two films was the focus on the family. You really didn’t get to know them as much as you did in the first two films. The retired priest and his evil priestess daughter were super cool, but there wasn’t much backstory there either, besides a quick peruse through a photo book.

    Probably my favorite aspect of the film (aside from the relationship between Ed and Lorraine) was the special effects they used on the characters that were being possessed by the demon (also, no backstory on who the demon was). I call it the ‘pop-and-lock’ effect where they twist and turn and arch their spine in unnatural ways. This always gets me way much more than the levitation stuff.

    Overall, I say you gotta see it if you are a fan of the series and the other films in the same universe. I thought the casting was great, especially Arne and his girlfriend who’s bond reminded me of a young Ed and Lorraine.

  • Currently reading: The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You by Julie Zhuo 📚

    I bought on Kindle and bought the hardcopy for one of my direct reports that I recently promoted to her first manager role. We are reading it together.

  • What is Personal Email Good For Today?

    I have given up trying to keep my gmail inbox clean. I have spent endless hours unsubscribing from companies who send me their ads. Most do not honor their unsubscribe policy.

    Today, I deleted over 500 emails I received in the past two weeks. Out of the 500, I did not have a single email that was worth reading. 99% was SPAM (okay maybe I signed up to received something, but again, tried to unsubscribe). The other 1% were statements.

    So my question is, what is personal email actually good for today? Does anyone ever sit down to compose and email to a friend or colleague?

  • Workflow - Time Blocking with Obsidian

    Timeblocking.

    I am still using Obsidian everyday since switching from Roam Research. One document I use to stay on track is my Work Log. I don’t use the daily file option as I like to keep my Work Log items all in a single document so I can easily scroll down to a day if I need to remember something.

    I recently started listening to Cal Newport’s podcast. He’s big on Time Blocking. I thought about trying to time block in my Leuchtturm1917 notebook (I don’t bullet journal, I just use it to jot down stuff when it isn’t convenient to enter them into Obsidian). However, I know I won’t remain consistent based on past history of my attempt at bullet journaling.

    So, this morning, I attempted to integrate Time Blocking into my Daily Work Log. See below for picture. Following Cal’s advice, I start off calendaring what meetings and other commitments I have for the day and then look for blocks that I can carve out to work on projects or other ‘deep work’. I used the Task [ ] square brackets to help them stand out and also a little nod to Time Block. I’ll let you know if I keep it up.

  • 📚 Dr. Seuss Takes up 1 - 8 books on Amazon's Top 100 All-Time List

    I had not thought this could be true

    Nor did I have a clue

    Until I clicked on the link

    Highlighted and underlined in blue

  • 🎙 Lead from the Hip with Eric Weinstein on Diversity & Inclusion

    Quote from Lex Fridman podcast episode 163 - Eric Weinstein: Difficult Conversations, Freedom of Speech, and Physics

    …“I want greed for our country and for the future to determine diversity and inclusion as opposed to shame and guilt which is destroying our fabric.” - Eric Weinstein

  • 🎙Lead from the Hip with Jason Calacanis - Lex Fridman Podcast #161

    Only about a quarter of the way through listening. I love the speed that Lex and Jason are going, running through ideas and concepts at lightning speed. Hard to take it all in but one thing that Jason says around the 11:00 minute mark resonated me with me:

    The way to do really well as as an angel investor, or just in technology or in life, is not to say what can go wrong, but what can go right? And then to just imagine for a moment if it does work, what would the world look like?

  • 🍿Endless - Weird movie but good

    I have been on a time loop kick over the past couple of weeks. After watching the Map of Tiny Perfect Things, I went online to search for other Timeloop movies. Endless came highly recommended. It was a weird movie but I thought the acting was good and the relationship between the two brothers was authentic. Kind of a weird force of nature or creature in the movie that they never really try to explain what it is or where it came from. That would be my only complaint about the movie.

  • 🎙JRE #1609 - Joe and Elon (Jelon?)

    Listened to Joe’s interview with Elon over the long weekend. It lacked some of the sizzle from their first interview. My favorite part of the interview was listening to Elon try to explain a lot of the technical details of how things work, why certain things won’t work, etc. I learned a lot about solar. I’ve heard from other engineers that today’s solar panels are about as good as it will get. Elon confirmed that in this interview as well.

    Why I thought the interview lacked some luster is because although Joe is a really smart guy and a great interviewer, I think he lacks the scientific background to keep up with Elon. I did appreciate Elon’s attempt at explaining some of his concepts in a way so that Joe (and his listeners including me) could understand them. I think this would have been a good time to have a third person on the show. Someone like Lex Fridman or Neil Degrasse Tyson, that could’ve helped Joe dive a little deeper into Elon’s world.

    Still a great interview though. Every time I listen to Elon, I feel like I’ve been transported into the future.

  • 🍿The Map of Tiny Perfect Things

    Pretty good time loop movie. Was hoping it would be a little darker. Liked how the focus shifted between characters and how they figured stuff out at the end. Not your typical teenage love story. Supporting cast helped round the movie out too.

  • 📚 Amazon's Top 100 Best Sellers - Dungeons and Dragons

    While doing research for a new project, I was surprised to see the Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook and Monster Manual on Amazon’s Top 100 best seller list in 2020, 2019, and 2018. As a kid back in the early 80s, my favorite part of the game was building new characters. I loved to choose a race and class, then roll for things like strength, dexterity, charisma, and constitution.

    Thinking back now, I believe Dungeons and Dragons played a role in pursing my degrees in Psychology. I am still building character sheets and planning out campaigns so to speak, now I just call it Talent Management or Project Management.

    I hope that younger kids are the cause of putting them in the Top 100 instead of old nostalgic guys like me. Maybe I’ll venture back into the game some day.

  • LinkedIn Post: Zillow Hiring Machine Learning Engineering Manager

    What kind of machines are we talking about? I know my way around a copy machine and a vending machine.

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