As I approached graduation, I felt like I'd be somewhat aimless during the summer — perhaps to an extreme — so I came up with the goal of reading around ten books this summer. Over the past couple of years, I've indulged in book buying and my physical "to be read" pile is now substantial. There are at least two books I've started and put on pause due to school and work.

This is my first full weekend post-graduation. I'm reading Chris Knapp's "States of Emergency", published by Unnamed Press. The book is challenging, set in a charged time, full of overtly literary language, and evokes a malaise that's hard to describe.

I've been running a simple tech stack on some personal/shared servers with friends for years, but got out of the discipline of blogging as I fell headlong into my undergraduate and then graduate studies. Now, with the changes in routines, I may have more capacity to write more!

On Sunday, five of us housemates went to Piper Mountain Christmas Trees in Newburgh to find a tree (and get out of the house). It was a perfect tree hunting day — the air was crisp and the sky was clear.

The tree was picked in short order and stuffed neatly into the bed of the pickup. The trip home, via backgrounds in Newburgh, was more interesting than the Christmas tree hunt. Newburgh, at least where we were, had fantastic, well paved roads. The evidence of mixed money and poverty was abundant. Perhaps it’s naive, but it seemed like only in Maine could there be such a clear contrast between living situations within a thousand feet.

When we returned home, the tree was ready for its new home in the foyer.