5 Things I’m Loving Right Now
and maybe you will too?
Happy January 31st. Here are five things bringing joy and inspiration to my life right now. Maybe they’ll do the same for you too. Or maybe you’ll think “Trae, you’re weird”.
SOUND & FURY, Sturgill Simpson
Every now and then an album tips me into the country world ever so slightly. This is one of them. Although it sounds more akin to a funk / rock album at times with heavy guitars and disco-like synths, Simpson is without a doubt a country artist.
The FUJIFILM X-T5
We bought this right before my 6 week Sabbatical this Summer with the help of an incredibly generous gift from my parents. It was the perfect addition to what ended up being the best, and longest vacation we have been on. Memories made and memories forever captured. Because of some of the proprietary technology in this camera, it feels a little bit like my high school days of shooting film. Yes I’m that old.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE PASTOR, Eugene Peterson
I judge books by the cover all the time. Literal books…not people. Eugene Peterson is one of my favorites, however, this would NOT be a book I would pick up because of the cover, and quite honestly the title as well. But this is very much a Jessica book, and it came highly recommended to me by her. I’m only about a third of the way through this short book and I know it will be a reread in the near future. Reading this is a bit of an affirmation to my mind.
WINTER WALKS
Jessica had a great idea for our family this year. The five of us are going on at least one substantial, outdoor walk a week in 2024. Three out of four walks of the year so far have been COLD. Like sled-down-the-hill-across-the-frozen-pond cold. And all of them have been special.
CHATGPT, OpenAI
Yes, AI is incredible. Yes, AI is scary. But that’s what they said about the Internet and e-mail (I guess they were right). Like many of you, I would assume, I use ChatGPT just about daily. It doesn’t work as a quick question then blindly copy-and-paste your obviously robot-created paragraphs. But it does work when you train it. It works for idea generation, organization and productivity, it’s my go-to “Just Google It” replacement, I use it for all things SEO, and it’s more recently been the place we’ve uploaded all of Phoenix’s blood tests for the last year for analyzation and a sounding board for any questions me and Jessica can throw at it.
What are you loving right now? Tell me.
I'm so glad you started writing again. I've been wondering where these were at. I really enjoy them.