I am not throwing away my shot!

Justin getting his first COVID-19 vaccine shot
Got my first shot of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on April 10 in Fresno

Update: And I got my second 💉 on May 1st!

Update: And I got my booster 💉 on November 12th!

Update: And I got my bivalent booster 💉 on October 10, 2022!

Update: And I got my Comirnaty 💉 on September 18, 2023!

Update: And I got my 2nd Comirnaty 💉 on September 6, 2024!

Landscape Accounting

Landscaping drew me in for a number of reasons, but I had completely forgotten about one until digging it up recently: on February 3, 2020, I got an estimate back from a landscaper that seemed so astronomically high, I decided I just had to start doing the work myself. I hired a tree service company to do what I couldn’t, and they showed up the very next day. You know how people say “Oh, you must be saving a ton of money doin’ that yourself”? My reaction is usually, “I dunno, I’m at Home Depot like every other day,” because it feels like I’m actually spending a ton, but at least I’m learning a ton, and I think I’m getting a better result in the end.

Justin planting blue glow agaves
Planting my first agaves back in February 2020

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Glug Glug Glug Glug Glug Pizza

The dough recipe I return to, over and over again, is from a video by Mark Bittman in the New York Times for Potato Pizza (in which potato is just the topping). In our household, we refer to it affectionately as glug glug glug glug glug pizza—after the sound Mark makes (and I imitate) to “measure” the olive oil. I love precisely weighing out the flour and then glug-glugging the olive oil with almost reckless abandon before adding just enough water for the dough to come together. Here’s my adaptation, which makes enough dough for two 11–12″ pizzas:

I’ve also been incorporating some of the techniques from Adam Ragusea’s video, Making New York-style pizza at home, and his followup a year later, New York-style pizza at home, v2.0.

Pizza in portrait mode
A pizza in portrait mode

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Watching me work

While I was working in the front yard this afternoon, a dove stopped by for several hours.

Dove, watching me work
“Hey, whatchu up to down there?”

How to Coordinate a Supported Thru-Hike

It started with a spreadsheet. For his attempted northbound thru-hike of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) in 2016, Dad cataloged the towns where he planned to resupply, i.e., buy food, mail food to himself, and/or pick up food he’d mailed previously. Sometimes the trail would meander right through the center of town, but most of the time he’d have to roadwalk or hitch, often a great distance from the trail. Generally he’d aim to resupply every 80–120 miles (or every 4–6 days at a 20 mile-per-day pace).

Excerpt of Dad's 2016 CDT resupply plan
Excerpt of Dad’s 2016 CDT resupply plan

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