Around the World in 48 Hours

Happy 2026! It's been really sunny and windy in Portland this month, which is unusual for this time of year. Where's the rain? It should've been here by now. It makes me nervous that summer's going to be late this year. I bought a 3D printer on a whim last month and have been printing up a storm. I've been printing drawer organization bins for my coffee cart as well as a frame for a "very slow movie player" project I started like... 4 years ago.

The very slow movie player is playing Sentimental Value (my favorite film I saw last year) at 1 frame every 2 minutes and it will play the entire thing sound-free and in black and white over about 67 days. I've had this little e-ink display and a tiny Raspberry Pi computer sitting on my desk for like 2 years, and thanks to my new printer, it finally has an actual home. I've also been pumped about printing custom-sized bins for my storage drawers starting with the drawer I keep my coffee supplies in. The idea is that every item will be measured and have a bin that perfectly fits said item. I have a lot more measuring and printing to do before it's done, though. 🫠

Cafe Joseph Fall Edition

Back at the end of October, I did another Cafe Joseph. This was our first event indoors and I loved how cozy it was. Charlie and I brought our beergarten table into the living room and set it up with tablecloths and candles. We had about 25 people come through for coffee (featuring a house-made PSL) and Swedish cinnamon buns.

Tokyo and Montreal

I mentioned in my last post that I was about to do a good amount of traveling. Specifically, I went to Tokyo with my mom and brother, and then right off of that trip went to meet my friend Joe in Montreal. I had been planning a quick trip to Tokyo since last July, and in August my mom and brother joined in on the trip. This was the first time for both of them to leave the United States and they boldly chose their first international trip to be a culture that's really alien to the US. I think they did reasonably well with it (especially people who had never really eaten Japanese food). They both said that their favorite part of the trip was Rykugien Gardens, and it may have been mine as well. We also took the Sapphir Odoriko to Atami (this was my mom's choice), which was really nice. Mom and James weren't impressed with the beach at Atami, though, due to its small size and lack of waves.

I was home for about 24 hours before jumping on another plane and heading to Montreal to see my friend Joe and hang out with some of his friends who live there. Montreal is great. This was my first time there, and it was wonderful. It was cold as hell, but really cozy at the same time. Lots of cool stuff to see and do. I didn't take a lot of photos (which isn't great for blogging content), but here are the few that I do have:

I got back home from Montreal and was pretty wiped out. Charlie went to Virginia for Thanksgiving, and I went to my friend Claire's house, where the food was 10/10 incredible (she works in food writing). It was a great time.

December was a quiet month (as it usually is for us). We went to Charlie's aunt's house on Christmas Day and spent a lot of the end of the month hanging out at home. Charlie was off work, and I spent a lot of time building us some new nightstands (which as of this writing, still need pulls for the drawers)

That brings us back up to date! I'm looking forward to a few trips to California next month as well as a trip to Lake Cushman in Washington and then it'll be March which (falsely) in my mind is the beginning of spring. Right? Right?!!?!?

til the next one,

joseph