Clack, clack, clack

Hi y'all,

• Taking a quick summer break from the blog this week. I said last week that Part 2 of "My Dunkin Commercial" was coming, but it's on the shelf for one more week - and the main culprit is the garage. (Interestingly, I do have a strange opportunity to do some serendipitous firsthand research on the piece this weekend. We'll see if it pays off in Part 2.)
• So, the garage. I've begun the process of finishing/remodeling it, and it's been consuming my excess energy in the best way. Many of you got a chance to see my previous garage space, so you know the many roles I hope a garage to play (workshop, home office, bike storage, gym). I'm hoping to mold this space into something similar, and because we moved in in December and it's now July, I've experienced the full range of temperatures an unfinished, westerly-facing garage can offer (hint - very hot and very cold). To that end I've started with insulation (after adding more electrical outlets and installing a temperature-controlled extractor fan in the attic space above the garage). Next up is putting sanded maple plywood sheets on the walls. I'm going for a bit of a Scandinavian vibe in there, and plywood is also excellent for hanging shelving, cabinets, and other garage accoutrements. I'll keep you posted as it comes together and share photos and video of the process.
• Reader Armand shared this awesome app Klack (https://tryklack.com/) with me over a year ago and I'm a huge fan. It serves no truly utilitarian function - it simply applies a chosen mechanical keyboard noise to your keystrokes on a Mac - but I massively enjoy having that calm and deliberate background chatter in my headphones. That might be because I'm a fan of mechanical keyboards (current fav), so it's fun to take them with me. And the app is beautifully designed to boot!
• I tried a new vegetable last night! We were sold a few kohlrabi at the excellent Lafayette farmers market (go check it out if you're in the area) by the farm stand where we were getting dinosaur kale and spring onions. We've long been fans of peeling and chopping broccoli stalks and then dipping them in Maldon sea salt as a little bonus when cooking broccoli. This experience was the same one that was used to convince of us the kohlrabi - its very similar in taste, color, and texture. Anyways if you see them on a menu don't be afraid to say 'yes, please.'
• At the recommendation of reader Dave, I've dove into the book London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe. It's the story of the mysterious death of a 19-year-old from a well-to-do family who found himself intertwined with shady figures in the London underworld. It's been hard to put down, which makes it a nice follow up after living in the world of East of Eden, whose felt weight (length, topics, characters) occasionally made it a struggle to pick back up. Falling a fun summer page-turner whodunit, but there's more there - for example one of the best chapters so far is a foray into the geopolitical history of the Indian population of Uganda. Also, Keefe keeps me reaching for the dictionary. Let me know if these are everyday vocabulary for you: insouciance, manque, bonhomie, louche, bravura, and mendacity are some of my noted favorites.
• The song rec this week is "You're My Favorite Waste of Time" by Marshall Crenshaw (Spotify). A wonderful little love song that sounds like it was recorded on a tin can (in a good way) because it was originally a home demo. The distortion creates a warm fuzz that feels like slipping into a body of water that's just the right temp.