Whew, welcome to 2025!
A new year, a different style
I realized that I hadn’t written in over a month and then it struck me. This needs to be more fun. Looser. So I’m going to try some new things this year. Going to experiment some, and then will you let me know what you like? OK? Here goes!
Leading Thought
Be a connector.
A connector isn’t just a good networker. They go one step further, acting as a loyal agent, finding good people and connecting them to other good people, in business and in life. They foster community and consider those in their network like honored companions on this wild and winding road of life.
Now more than ever, we have to look out for one another. As good neighbors and fellow humans, we have to be kinder to one another. We have to give each other the benefit of the doubt, the compassion and empathy of evolved people, and find ways to share our collective abundance.
While our physical world becomes “flatter” via the digital world, and small-minded politics swirl and spit above our heads, I think it’s important to remember the present and the truly proximate. The people in your community, your friends, your family, and your neighbors. Your service providers and baristas and casual acquaintances. We must set down our phones and really acknowledge one other’s presence.
We’re all responsible to each other, simply by being humans who share space. So lend a hand, make an introduction or a referral. Smile and laugh.
Be a connector.
Food Find
Quarter Sheets has been around for a second, but it’s still one of the best squares of pizza in LA. These were a white slice with potato and onion and a red slice with ricotta and basil.
Pet Pic
Andrea (foreground, formerly known as Sissy #1) and Emily (background, formerly known as Sissy #2) like that I put their bed underneath my bed.
Who can guess which movie those names, a female duo, come from?
Hint:
Andrea (Andy for short) is a bit disheveled and loves to eat.
Emily is poised, always ready for the camera.
Pet Prod
My cool ass brother got me this gorgeous stainless steel fountain and it is definitely the nicest kitty product I’ve encountered in a while. Petlibro (even the name is cool!) also have a pet mouse that looks like devilish fun and a bunch of other elegant gadgets.
Collage of the Week
“Rescue” by jizsander, a nod to the recent extreme dryness and fires in LA.
I caught a different angle of light coming down from my mirror toward the sink, hitting the gnarled Acure moisturizer tube just right to light up the aqua-colored top. I like finding colorful and architectural products online and overlaying them with photos I’ve taken, filtering and recoloring both to sort of settle into a poster-like collage, with varying depths. The Preppi earthquake preparedness kit, especially in bright blue, yellow, green, and orange, seemed like a natural offset to the mostly muted colors of the still life.
Fire Trucks
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) is one of the most iconic and highly trained firefighting and all hazards-mitigating agencies in the world, and they will respond to my street from time to time here in Filipinotown, which I find pretty exciting.
For a run of the mill report to 911 of a house fire like in this instance, dispatchers assign several companies of apparatus and personnel to respond, based on whoever is closest. My street is about equidistant between Stations 6 and 20, while Stations 3 and 11 are second-due.
I get notifications to an app on my phone called Pulsepoint of any significant incidents when they’re dispatched, so I was able to run downstairs and down the street to capture their arrival at this scene. That video is here, along with the rest of my firebuffing channel.
Pictured above from left to right are Truck 20, Engine 11 in a reserve apparatus, and Truck 11.
Signs from the Universe
My friends and I found this incredible wall hanging textile sitting rolled up on a “free” table in front of a large home in the Silver Lake Hills around the New Year. I unfurled it and was charmed to find this happy sun image.
Apparently Alexander Girard was a respected textiles designer for Herman Miller in the 50s and 60s. Finding this piece inspired me to apply to an open position with MillerKnoll, the parent company of Herman Miller and a number of other historic and legacy midcentury modern design brands.
I can’t stop looking at it and enjoying it—and it was free!? My mind is blown.
I’m planning to post more often.
Love you,
Alex