February 7. I watch the State of the Union speech every time, even though I can’t convey to anyone that I do so unironically.

February 6. Yesterday with J at the Prohibition with live music. It was a real revelation. I’ve never been that into jazz, but yesterday I could hear a lot more than I used to. There was one surprising, dramatic, funny idea chasing another. I could hear if the vibraphone was close to the underlying harmony or far from it. Found the scales and rhythms spectacular. By the time I’m sixty, I want to be able to do that.

February 5. The hot water boiler in the building is broken. It needs to be repaired and a makeshift boiler will be installed to bridge the gap. It will probably be a few days before we have any hot water at all again.

February 4. When I hear music somewhere that I recognize and like, I always suspect that some system has registered that someone of my generation has entered the room and therefore plays music that people like me like.

February 3. In the meeting, we are supposed to explain how we keep the business and the personal separate in our conversations with customers, and make sure it doesn’t get too personal. I don’t bring anything personal into my conversations with customers, since I don’t have anything personal to talk about. – That is also great! So we can see that you can be very good at your job even if you don’t bring in anything personal at all!

February 2. It was one of those runs when you feel exceptionally in shape. The training in recent weeks must have helped, and you’ve really made some big progress now. You can’t believe your watch when you glance at your pace. So effortless. – I had a hunch it must have been wind. But I looked at the barren trees, and not a twig moved. And neither the water on the river suggested any particular air movement. It was only when I turned back at the far end that I realized, hardly surprised, that there was, indeed, a lot of wind. It was tough getting back. I managed to exhaust myself so much that at the end I almost stumbled back up the incline to Riverside Drive. I ended up only marginally faster than usual.

February 1. A musician in the subway at Times Square – where, as far as I know, you need a license to make music and have to submit demos to get one – is playing Stand by me as I pass by in the waning rush hour. When I pass by again an hour and a half later, he’s still playing Stand by me.

January 31. Ran ten miles. If not often, at least long.

January 30. J suggests that I should let someone who is totally not on my wavelength read my stuff and pay them to criticize it.

January 29. Installed three new smart switches and one ceiling light at J’s place. I imagine how this will look a few decades from now: there’s wiring from before 1960 in which there’s no neutral in the switch boxes (and some smart switches of today can make do without it), then there’s wiring from after 1960, and then all hell broke loose around 2020 when everybody made their home smart and messed with their wiring on their own. How will anyone ever find their way through that? They will be cursing forever.

Also how circuits found their way into language: there’s the line, the load, the traveler and the ground, and so many other words that are rooted in a completely different world than the one they are describing.