The Weekly Wrap: May 2, 2021

I spent four evenings of my week scrubbing our bathroom floor grout. This is one of those chores I put off for months. I just didn’t want to do it. But, every time I stepped foot into the room, the dingy grout lines bugged the heck me. Like many projects, the idea of working on it was actually harder than just doing it.

Since we have a kiddo who still puts far too many things in her mouth, I wanted a relatively non-toxic, non-stinky method. The internet led me to try the baking soda/hydrogen peroxide method. It was as easy as mix, let sit, scrub, and wipe up. That was it.

Something I’ve been dreading for months took, in total, all of 2 hours of my time. And the results are spectacular. Our bathroom is not only cleaner but looks newer.

Now I need to attack the kitchen.

In a few months…

What easy chore have you been putting off?

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• Josh Fight: There is brotherhood in boredom. [CNN]
• You can't just wish for happiness. You have to work for it. [The Atlantic]
• An iPhone update means you can stop apps from tracking you. [WaPo]
• Is gray over? [WaPo]
• Space junk is slowing science. [WaPo]
• Adapting French classical food... for space. [NYT]
• The science of candles. [NYT]
• A rainbow and a tornado. [WaPo]
• Microsoft is retiring Calibri as it's default font. You can help choose its replacement. [CNN]
• Does your kid's swimsuit pass the color test? [Lifehacker]
• Paris from the air. [CNN]

• Is it entrapment or terrorism prevention? [The Daily]
• Russia is trying its hand at vaccine diplomacy. [The Daily]
• Secret seed science. [Short Wave]
• All the things you should have learned in high school sex ed. [Life Kit]
• Listener questions about life in prison. [Ear Hustle]
• Why we're so hot on chili peppers. [Gastropod]
• At the start of the week, I finished off my listen of The Indicator's archives. Here are some of the good listens from the last of my deep dive:
  • DIY firefighting. It's a thing. [TI]
  • How we got to the American dollar. [TI]
  • The economics of the three-point shot. [TI]
• My new archival deep dive is for The Daily. I won't share as many of these since most episodes are basically old news stories, but here is what I think is worth a listen this week:
  • The personal connection of Netanyahu and Jared Kushner. [TD]
  • Cell phone harassment in India. [TD]

• A short look and listen at the world's oldest piano. [WQXR]
• We started watching the Netflix series Away. If you can ignore some of the gaping "NASA totally wouldn't do that" plot holes, the show is good. It's a high drama plot but, somehow, manages to be quiet. 

• I am a sucker for all caprese-based recipes. This sheet pan caprese gnocchi was delicious. We did not have leftovers.
• Since our kid devoured bacon last week, I made some salmon BLTs to enjoy this week. No recipe to link to, just make a BLT on sourdough bread and add salmon. I did sub arugula for regular lettuce. Kiddo inhaled the bacon but ignored the fish.