The Weekly Wrap: July 9, 2023

Whilst working on a brain dump for a presentation I'm giving in a few months, I had a lightbulb moment. That lightbulb moment was for a new newsletter. Not content for my current newsletter but an entirely different newsletter - something that is slightly more work related. I started brain dumping and strategic planning that night.

I'm so eager to launch this that I want to rush in and DO ALL THE THINGS immediately. That desire was even stronger when I talked to the Husband about it. He said it sounded like a solid idea. It's hard to hold back energy when someone supports your plans.

But, I need to let it simmer a bit. I'm still doing strategic planning and backend set up work (I even claimed the Substack domain), but I  to want ensure that I can be realistic. This idea means A LOT more content curation and creation. It would be something that posts Monday through Friday. I think what I want to do is sustainable, but I really need to plan this out.

So, to that end, I am making lists, graphics, setting up templates, and doing some strategic planning. My hope is to launch this September 1 (maybe sooner?) but I want to be on firm footing before I do that.

So, stay tuned. I know this new idea won't be for everyone, but it's designed to be helpful for a lot of people.

How do you handle moments of creative spark?

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• Improve your pictures with people. [PetaPixel]
• I love everything about this. [Hedger Humor]
• Try these s'more ideas. I co-sign the use of peanut butter cups. [The Takeout]
• This extended bike trip sounds like an amazing experience. [CNN]
• Three ways tipping has changed. [NPR]
• We need to give our kids more freedom but judgement from others prevents that. [The Atlantic - may be paywalled]
• US law requires libraries to, basically, lie about copyright. [The Scholarly Kitchen - reader submission]
• I did not know this was possible. [WaPo - gift link]

• Election workers don't deserve this. [Up First]
• The science of low and slow cooking. [Short Wave]
• What's happening with federal student loans. [The Daily]
• I just wrapped up season one of a real play Dungeons & Dragons podcast. It was excellent! If you like immersive storytelling podcasts with strong sound design, I highly recommend it. [Dungeons & Daddies]

• I think I not-so-secretly love Chris Hemsworth. We watched Extraction 2 and it was mostly enjoyable because of him. The movie kicks off immediately after the first film ends - essentially bringing a dead guy back to life. They tried to recreate the action-packed magic of the first film but were clearly trying to hard. One of the chase scenes in particular was a direct throwback to the first film. The chase was structured to look like it was out of a video game with zero obvious cuts. I wonder, if this series keeps going, if that is what it is going to be known for. Also, I appreciate the real speed action in the fights but it does mean you can see the choreography. [Netflix]
• In the week that Meta launched Threads, we watched The Circle. Emma Watson was great but the story was far too on the nose. I get that giving our lives over to social media is dangerous, but this was just too obvious. [Max]
• I basically remembered the "modern era" for my AP US History test by memorizing Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire." Now Fall Out Boy has an updated version. It's good, not great, but still a decent listen. [Fall Out Boy]

• The Husband made us baked chicken wings and they were so good. It takes WAY longer than deep frying but are just as tasty. We served ours with salad and carrot sticks (with bleu cheese dressing on the side). Hubby gave me kudos for buying "party wings" so that he didn't have to prep them. I didn't realize that was a thing, but go me. [Cafe Delites]
• To use up the head of cauliflower we got in our farm share, I adapted roasted cauliflower taco bowls for regular tacos. I roasted off the cauliflower in taco seasoning then tossed it all into a frying pan with black beans and corn. Served them up with lime crema. Not too shabby. [Budget Bytes]