I’ve donned the Morocco jersey that my friend Youssef gifted me. As much as I have enjoyed watching Sadio Mané these past years, I’m pulling for Morocco to win AFCON today.
Cold rainy day in Chapel Hill. I skipped pickup soccer to stay in bed with this drippy, sneezy nose. Now I’m sitting on the porch in front of the fire with a mug of coffee. Will hope to use the day to fix the search on my Txp blog and turn on a feature to my installation of Feedland.
Moving the stack of lumber yet again, this time into a new shed. I laid out the 3/4-inch white oak planks to think about the plan for the long table project. Getting close to finding a carpenter to help me transform my dream into something real. We milled this in 2019 so it’s been germinating long.
After my experiment with GPT-5 to get the Lopevi cartoon, I went for a search of a photo I remember from that day in the South Pacific. Did not find it on my computer but I must have posted it in 2013 (as part of Hi, project of Craig Mod).
Have decided to finally start experimenting with the new tools. At home I’m using PrivateLLM on my MacBook Air, at work Microsoft CoPilot, which uses GPT-5. I asked that to make a cartoon depicting me at rest during my 1999 hike on Lopevi Volcano, with my home island Paama across the sea.
What a delight! Josh Ritter talks and sings on World Cafe.
At Oliver’s futsal match. Here he is with new ball I gave him for Christmas. I played pickup soccer this morning. Last day of holiday break. Beautiful sunny day.
Seems I posted my music in 2026 recap prematurely. At last night’s NYE show, dealia-h invited my son Oliver to play a sax solo on the final song of her set. So proud of Oliver.
Oliver and I woke early, drove with a friend to Kerr Lake (which straddles NC and Virginia), and spent the day fishing for striped bass. Great day. We got our limit of two stripers each. Oliver also reeled in a long gar and a small-mouthed bass, and I got small white perch; we tossed these back.
Great way to end the year by seeing delia-h at Cat’s Cradle back room as part of NYE Hootenanny. We’ve know Deliah since she was an infant and her band mates and brothers all their lives. So proud of them. A very talented family.
Also at the Chronicles, my annual year-end recap of where I traveled.
Over at the Zuiker Chronicles, I’ve posted a year-end list of the shows I attended in 2025. Mostly music, some theatre and dance, and two classical performances.
Cinnamon rolls were ready just as the family gathered around the tree for gift exchange and a #feast of holiday cheer.
Textpattern, the content management system I use for The Zuiker Chronicles, released an upgrade today. I’ll need to upgrade my hosting account before I update my sites. I’m so grateful to the developers who keep this CMS current and useful.
Sunday morning pick-up soccer, Oliver joined me. We had fun. Now home and ready for our annual holiday bagel brunch. Cool temperature is perfect for a fire on the patio.
That box of old records we brought back from Erin’s family home is the gift that keeps giving. Listening now to Billy Idol. Maybe Erasure next.
Been playing soccer for nearly 50 years and have been baffled by the position numbering system used these days. Watching Chelsea-Everton and heard Alcaraz described as a ‘box-to-box number 8’ so finally decided to look up a chart.
Saw this film last weekend: Hamnet Film was good, that birthing scene intense and the final scene emotional. I loved the book. 🍿
Josh Ritter will be in the area at the end of January, but I’ll have to miss his two shows at Haw River Ballroom. More on why next month. However, I have just purchased tickets to see him perform solo at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, a city I’ve never visited, next May. Road trip!
Good night to come to the Canes game. I’m here with the Science Communicators of North Carolina sitting way high up.
