Chris Vannoy

Final tally for the day! Benjamin:

• Set six new personal bests (out of six possible)
• Made the second round of 3x3 for the first time and had his first few sub-20s solves
• Made the cutoff for 4x4 with a solve in less than 1:20 for the first time

Fun day!

First cubing competition since the pandemic started.

Benjamin has already racked up personal bests in Pyraminx single solve (10.25s) and average (13.10s).

3x3 and 4x4 still to come, but he’s already in his element and with his people.

Really enjoying Glass.

Giving me an excuse to scrub through my photo library and pick out the good ones to highlight.

glass.photo/chris-van…

Today’s of St. Paul’s.

Great morning to get out for a quick hike at Fort Harrison to break in some new hiking shoes.

Aside: Have yet to find a bad trail at Fort Ben. Well worth the annual state park pass if you’re Indy-adjacent.

Find myself wondering if the NONULLS vanity license plate in front of me belongs to a database administrator or not.

Tempted to wait for them to come back to their car and ask …

Hi. I’m trying my level best not to read Twitter anymore these days.

Luckily, I already have had a home over at micro.blog/v for a while now. And posts start there.

I miss yinz, though. If you’re also on Micro (or Mastadon or something), let me know.

Did an overnight backpacking trip on the Bloodroot Trail at Salamonie Lake State Park here in Indiana.

Close to 13 miles over two days. Some corn fields and such in the front half, but worth it for the morning views on the way out.

Now to wait for these blisters to heal …

Spend a day in Paris and now I can make baguettes. Weird.

Westminster Abbey, on the other hand, feels old. Ancient, even.

The thing that strikes me in retrospect about London’s St Pauls Cathedral is that it feels relatively modern - and not like a relic.

I have to remind myself that it’s from the 1600s instead of the 1960s.

Whenever I get around to writing that novel, or some future speaking gig, I think I’ve got the photo for it now …

Our day trip to Paris was a snowy April Fools Day.

Trying not to judge on our short time, but felt like traipsing through the beautiful remains of a decadent, depraved, and dead civilization. Beautiful but doomed. Might feel differently with more time (and better weather).

Happy to be home after a week spent traveling to London (and a day trip to Paris) with the family.

Planned and arranged everything myself and, frankly, kinda nailed it.

With a hat tip to @RickSteves guidebooks and videos.

Achievement unlocked!

Dinner without a single recipe.

Brown butter garlic salmon, with cucumber-tomato-balsamic salsa, lemon-basil couscous and corn with peppers, butter and honey.

Corn turned out a bit too spicy for my family, but otherwise 👍

Kids home from school and solo parenting again means you get Fancy French Grilled Cheese for lunch.

(This way I can coast on those Croques Monsieurs laurels the rest of the day)

I know they want us to call it “monobob”, but I prefer “Soapbox Derby on _ice_”

Each year for the Super Bowl, I whip up party food for our family of four (typically making enough for a party even though it’s just us).

This year:

• Boneless wings (Buffalo, BBQ, Soy Ginger)
• Potato Skins
• Queso & Chips
• Party Meatballs

Most from scratch.

It’s been a good week.

I made an observation over the weekend.

I’m the only one making me miserable or anxious. Nobody and nothing else.

And I don’t have to make myself any of that.

So, I notice when I’m doing that, and remind myself it’s only me doing it.

It’s helping.

This is an known technique for most, but one I’m working on training myself to remember/rely on more often when making big decisions:

If it’s not a “Hell yes!”, it’s a “No”.

Since Friday afternoons are the best time to launch something …

Excited to introduce exitimpact.com

It’s a curated marketplace for Central Indiana small-to-medium-sized businesses.

Tell your friends!

See. Sledding was fun for all.

Said hill for the curious.

I’ve lived in Indy for nearly fifteen years.

Today it snowed enough that I could take the kids (and my wife) sledding for the first time in their lives at the Fort Harrison State Park sledding hill.

Wish I’d done this sooner.

Stick around at a startup post-acquisition for long enough, and it starts to feel like the Career of Theseus.