What I Read

It’s been a slow reading month as I headed back to work, but I finally knocked out the first in what are three planned memoirs by Bill Gates, Source Code. Despite defaulting into the Apple ecosystem for the last 20 years, and despite Microsoft’s less than stellar legal history, I’ve long held a fascination with the early days of personal computers and Microsoft’s operating systems. I leapt at the chance to snag a pair of Microsoft themed Crocs for their 50th anniversary this year, and I have a Dell Dimension running MS-DOS and Windows 98 in my office, which I use for my writing and clipart creations, not to mention for playing dozens of old PC games like Putt Putt Goes to the Moon, Jump Start 3rd Grade, and Rockett’s New School. All that is to say that Bill Gates is my least disliked billionaire. Admiration isn’t the right word, but I do respect that he is one of the few billionaires who doesn’t consider his wealth a proxy for his intelligence.

Photograph by Deborah Feingold

The book covers his earliest days playing with BASIC at Lakeside School in Seattle through the beginnings of Micro-Soft in Albuquerque to its permanent relocation to Seattle at the dawn of the personal computer revolution in the 1970s. One of the most interesting elements of the book is the contrast of early computing’s countercultural ethos embodied by Steve Jobs against Gates's unashamedly capitalist goals, and the longstanding tension it fueled between them. In the 1996 PBS documentary nerds 2.0.1, which I have featured in my TV room, Jobs doesn’t hesitate to insult Microsoft (skip ahead to 13:15 to watch). Gates is a little more tactful in Source Code, but the tension is still palpable. While I’m currently bookending this read with Sarah Wynn-Williams’s memoir about my least favorite billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, I think Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs is a more logical follow up.

What I Watched

As I write this, I am wearing a Better Call Saul t-shirt and drinking coffee out of a Los Pollos Hermanos coffee mug. The X-Files is playing quietly in the background. In other words, I worship at the altar of Vince Gilligan, so of course I had to tune in to his much-anticipated new series, Pluribus. The show follows bestselling romantasy author Carol Sturka (played by the inimitable Rhea Seehorn) as she SPOILER navigates a world that is suddenly joined into collective consciousness by a virus to which she is immune. While Vince Gilligan’s conception and filming of the show predate generative AI’s public release and rise, the parallels are profound. Despite having the collective knowledge of every person on Earth and a biological imperative not to harm living things, the hive fails to conceive of irony and is more than willing to supply Carol with weapons of mass destruction simply because she requests them.



As a personal favorite, I love this shot of Carol watching The Golden Girls on DVD. Pluribus is perhaps the most fringe argument for collecting and using physical media – if and when society collapses, at least Betty White can keep you warm. The irony is that Dave Porter’s fantastic soundtrack for the show was not released on CD and it remains to be seen if the series will be put on DVD/Blu-ray. For now, it’s currently streaming on Apple TV. Apathetically faithful to the Apple ecosystem, I’ve been able to watch for free thanks to a recent Apple Store purchase, but I love this show so much that I would sign back up for streaming to keep watching.

What I Listened To

My listening has dropped off dramatically since cancelling Spotify and I’ve yet to transfer my music over to my iPod, so I’ve been listening to a lot more podcasts including Cal Newport’s Deep Questions, Amanda Montell’s Magical Overthinkers, and the official Pluribus podcast. The options are overwhelming, so let me know if you’ve got a favorite podcast recommendation for me to check out!

What I Thought About

I’m still thinking a lot about engaging with the algorithm and what it means to be a creative person online. Building this website has been such a source of joy that likes and follows will never touch. People have emailed me, sent me messages, and even sent letters to my P.O. Box to share their thoughts on physical media, nostalgia, and the old internet. There are no analytics. There is no optimization. There is no subscription. It’s just (I hope) a fun place to hang out online. Kyle Chayka wrote an interesting article for The New Yorker this month on the rising cachet of low follower counts. Similarly, I’ve noticed an increase in videos about escaping the algorithm. The irony isn’t lost on me that they’re posted on TikTok and garnering hundreds of thousands of views, but I think both speak to a growing discontent not only of being online, but the feeling of having to be online and craft a marketable virtual identity. As I’ve suggested before, I don’t think the problem is necessarily the internet or even social media, but rather the relentless commodification of our online experiences that has effectively turned us all into brands. Blame Bill Gates.

I’m not interested in creating content or going viral or influencing people, unless it’s influencing them to think more critically about the media they consume. I don’t fault those who choose to play the game or strive to earn a living doing so, but all I personally want to do online is connect with interesting people doing weird and wonderful things, and in turn share some of the weird and (hopefully) wonderful things I’m doing. For me that’s writing. I want to be a writer. I have multiple works in progress right now, both fiction and non-fiction for an upper middle grade audience, that I want to bring into the world. It seems like the default way to do that now is online. Last month I shared that I was experimenting with cross posting my writing to Substack to see which drew more engagement. While I don’t track analytics on this website, I will note that I received actual engagement by way of comments, messages, and emails from this blog. The same post on Substack got 13 views. Siloing my writing on my clunky hand-coded website may mean the difference between 10 views versus 10,000 views, but if from those 10 views I get a comment like “cool short story love the spooky vibes” or “you inspired me to start (and i hope some day actually finish) my website” then those 10 views mean more to me than any other kind of passive engagement could on a platform over which I have no control. To that end, you are probably going to start seeing a tonal shift in what I do share on those platforms that feels a little truer to who I am and what I’m trying to do. In the spirit of Frank Sinatra, who's “Who Was” biography I read this month, I’ll do it my way.

What I Did

New Year’s Eve is one of my favorite days of the year. I love the promise of a fresh start and I spend most of November and December gearing up for this day by reflecting on my goals, seeing where I made progress, and charting a path for the upcoming year. I’ve been experimenting with different planning systems after the planner company I’d been using for years discontinued their weekly book bound planner. None have really worked for me, and I’ve felt the impact this year from having an inconsistent and at times non-existent system. For 2026 I’ve decided to try Sofia Coppola’s Important Flowers planner, complemented by my go-to Leuchtturm 1917 A5 ruled notebook. That notebook serves as my external brain and houses everything from writing snippets and web design ideas to travel itineraries and books to read. I’ve spent this month setting up my new systems, making my vision board for 2026, and thinking about my goals for next year.

What I’m Looking Forward To in December

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! D.C. got its first flurries this weekend and snow is in the forecast for this week. I’m looking forward to celebrating the holidays with my loved ones and closing the door on this chaotic year. As a federal employee, the start of the year found me working remotely in Los Angeles for an office I loved doing a job that I loved. I’m ending the year in Washington, D.C., the office I worked for was dissolved, and most of my colleagues were either laid off or reassigned. I was one of the lucky ones, but admittedly I have not come out of it unscathed. 2025 has been a tough year and I’m ready to put it behind me. I’m working on finalizing my goals for 2026 including developing a consistent writing habit, finishing and querying a manuscript, and continuing to develop a community through this website. I’m thankful for each and every one of you who reads this and reaches out, and I’m always open to your suggestions for how to make this space even more inviting. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and have a happy and hopeful New Year!