Learning Log, Nov 2025

We have a two month old now! 😱 She’s started giving us the most beautiful social smiles and it’s the best thing ever.

Baby S’s other grandparents (my in-laws) came all the way from India to spend time with her and incidentally experience their first Thanksgiving. S is the child who made them grandparents, so it was extra sweet and special to witness the three of them bonding together.

🧶 Crafting

• I’m working on a Granny Core Quilt for my daughter’s room. I’ve got the checkerboard and the first plant pieced so far. I’m already scheming about (and bought fabric for) the next project to hang on her walls.
• Did some scribbles in my teal Art Creations sketchbook. I’m really not vibing with this particular sketchbook for whatever reason, though I really enjoy using my smaller square Art Creations sketchbook. I keep waffling on whether to put this one down or fill the remaining pages.

🧙🏻‍♀️ Side quests

We took my in-laws to Carkeek Park to see the salmon swim upstream to spawn. We were able to spot the chum and coho salmon at their peak, instead of the end of November like last year. That late in the season, there’s more carnage than living fish. 😅

For years now I’ve been aiming to live more seasonally, and I think this will become a November family tradition. There’s something so special about getting to bear witness to our local ecosystem.

🌱 Digital gardening

• Prepped the Backlog Readathon site and social media profiles for the December 2025 readathon
• Added a backlog of candies and such from Japan Candy Store to my Snacks site

🔖 Reading

Web

Use Cases for Field Sizing

AI

• The AI Data Center Boom Is Warping the US Economy
• The Data Center Resistance Has Arrived
• Non-Determinism and Ownership
• You Won’t Be Able to Offload Your Holiday Shopping to AI Agents Anytime Soon
• Some Researchers Are Hiding Secret Messages in Their Papers, but They’re Not Meant for Humans (via Eric Bailey)

Personal growth

• Psychology of Craft
• How Not to Waste Your Life
• 102 Lessons From the 102 Books I Read This Year

Journaling & stationery

• A Picky Person’s Guide to Pens: Lefty Edition
• The Power of Sticky Notes in Your Planner: Fun, Flexible, and Surprisingly Essential

Art & crafting

• What It Takes to Make
• In and Out of a Sketchbook: Stories, Inspiration and Creativity
• How a Tsunami Revived a Global Craft Movement: The Story of Japan’s Sashiko Gals

Other interesting articles

Scientists Now Know That Bees Can Process Time, a First in Insects (via Eric Bailey)