This photo was taken by Andrew Berns in New York (on the Brooklyn side) in about September of 2008. It’s easily my favorite photo of all time.
There’s not much story behind it: Alicia and I were posing for a photo with Manhattan behind us and I leaned back to grab the rail behind us. Whoops, I grabbed bird poo. With no bathrooms or hand wipes near by, I did what anyone engaged to marry would do – I threatened touching Alicia with it. I guess she didn’t like it.
Thus, this magical photo was born.
It’s been posted to Facebook ever since and usually accompanies any “about me” slides I present at work.
I’m not much of a gardener, but I really like a well put-together space. It gives you a sense of control.
About three years ago (2022), I was accompanying Alicia at Michael’s Crafts while she shopped for Halloween goods. Since it was October, they had a ton of fake flowers from the summer season on clearance. On a lark, I bought about $25 worth, which was a LOT of flowers on clearance.
The yard was pretty much put away for the season, so it looked bleak. I decided to spruce it up with my newly purchased fake flowers!
Surprisingly, they lasted the winter! Even covered with a foot of snow, they popped out in the spring looking fabulous.
Now, it’s a tradition. They require no watering, are always in bloom, and add so much color to my back yard. Yay!
Back in November 2021, Sister’s Sludge hosted a chili cook-off. About twelve people entered it, each bringing in a crock-pot of chili for tasting. The judges were three of the cooks/staff from Northbound Smokehouse.
I’ve been pretty proud of my chili, it’s Alton Brown’s Pressure Cooker Chili, but in a pot on the stove for 6 hours (since I don’t own a pressure cooker). It’s pretty unique for a chili:
There’s three different animals (cow, pig, sheep).
It uses cubed meat that maintains its fibers (instead of ground meat).
It usually comes out a pretty dark brown, if not black.
It’s beanless.
….in fact, there aren’t other discernible ingredients, it’s very meat forward.
It’s rich as hell.
The competition was two types of chicken chili, a veggie Verdi chili, at least three classic ground beef chilis, and a few interesting ones (with one going really heavy on cocoa).
The contest was judged without toppings (to the detriment of a few of the chilis that counted on sour cream or tortillas) and was judged separately by the judges and the crowd.
I’m proud to say I won both contests handedly! Woo!
One of the biggest changes over my last 39 years has been my style. In high school and college, I dressed to blend in. I wore clothing from the Gap and usually pretty boring t-shirts.
Sometime in my early 30’s, I started wanting to stand out. Life can get sorta boring and the people that dressed differently really made life more interesting. So I doubled down on dressing to impress. Or, if not impressive, I at least want to turn heads.
First off, I almost always have a flower in my hair. My hair has gotten long and curly, so a flower sorta balances it out. It also draws a lot of compliments, especially if I can color coordinate it with something else I’m wearing.
I also don’t wait for Halloween anymore. Here I am dressed as a light up, inflatable chicken at the bar across the street from my house in NOLA. There wasn’t a special occasion, it was just a Saturday night.
Sometimes it’s just unexpected. For the record, I definitely don’t pee in pools. But wearing the above t-shirt around, people go out of their way to either fist bump me or tell me I’m not invited to their pool. It’s awesome to see a wide variety of reactions.
More often than not, though, I dress for the occasion. This was my face paint for a concert on a recent Saturday night – “LSD Clownsystem”, a clown-based LCD Soundsystem cover band. How can you go to a clown show without clown face?!?!
My favorite drinking game is called “What are the odds?” It features a 20-sided die. Players say a number aloud between 1 and 20, then roll the die. If a player rolls the number they called, they take a shot. Simple!
It’s also dangerous. So many people see the 5% odds of hitting and throw caution to the wind and give it a roll. I’ve seen a table roll the die 50+ times without hitting, but also seen the same person hit three times in five rolls.
Everyone just gets captivated with how 5% plays out in real time. “I just took a shot last round, what are the odds it’ll happen again?!?”
My 20-sided die currently lives at Sister’s Sludge, tempting bar patrons with it’s mystery.
Early summer of 2020, it became pretty clear no one was doing much. So I went on walmart.com and found an inflatable hot tub for about $400 (Intex brand if you’re curious). It was so great.
Downsides:
It only heated to 104 degrees.
It was constantly getting new holes in the lining and subsequently deflating.
The latches that held the lid on broke at a rate of one per 3 months.
It fit four people, but I wouldn’t say comfortably.
It cost about $1 a day for the filter/heater combo.
Upsides:
About two months after I purchased it, prices rose at least $200.
It only required a 120 volt outlet!
It was WONDERFUL in the morning with coffee.
The replacement liner was only $150.
It was a destination during the pandemic, friends would come over just for the hot tub.
No regrets. Reviews on the internet said we’d get 3 years, which was exactly right. The heater was leaking heavily and not getting the water to 104 anymore by late summer 2023.
Hopefully, it’s not the last hot tub in my lifetime, I love a hot tub!
About eight years ago, I stumbled upon an N64 carrying bag at a garage sale in South Minneapolis. I remember when this bag was sold in the mid to late 90’s, specifically that it was bizarrely impractical. This bag is the size of a single N64 console, not including the cables, controllers, or any games.
That said, I love this thing. It is the first bag I grab to go out the door all the time. It holds sunglasses, sunscreen, a backup battery for my phone, and a few more small things. Or it holds my USB keyboard, a stand for my phone, and a journal.
I haven’t really gotten sentimental for video games yet. Around the time I turned 28, I sorta stopped being a “gamer.” Which is weird, video games were a large part of my life from as early as I remember through grad school. I still have all my original NES + SNES + N64 games, as well as PlayStation + Sega + others. I lugged those systems to New York City and back because they were a core part of my identity.
…now-a-days, not so much! But carrying this bag around is a fun little nod to my older self. If you see me out walking around, there’s a good chance this’ll be on my shoulder.
Future you. Your posts become a time capsule of your evolving mind.
I’m turning 40 soon, so let’s do just that. For the next 30 days, I’m going to write a little about myself each day. Highlights from the first 40 years, or just small tidbits about things I like.
For post #1, let’s start with a general update!
Alicia and I are still rockin’ it
Taken at our anniversary dinner 2025-02-13 at Seaworthy using the BeReal app
As of exactly today (February 14th, 2025), Alicia and I have been together 20 years. We just hit our 15th wedding anniversary in August of 2024. We’re still in love, she’s the best person to talk to.
Alicia’s birthday trip hiking in Colorado, October 2024
I left Target
Me rocking my Target shirt near the end of my tenure
After 12 years at Target, I chose to step away from being a Director of Data Science in October 2024. I’m currently job hunting. There wasn’t one major reason I left, but there were a ton of contributing factors:
I had not taken more than seven consecutive days off of work since I joined the workforce in 2010.
I had built a Data Science team focused on Pricing and Promotion, but leadership “swapped” my team into Demand Forecasting in July 2023. In one month, my team was solving completely different problems in a totally different organization, which was really tough for morale; I lost two team members.
My immediate supervisor – the Senior Director of Forecasting – resigned his position early May of 2024 and the position remained unfilled through my resignation.
Major life events were coming up – travel for my wife’s birthday, the Super Bowl in New Orleans, family health issues – that made taking time off much easier.
Mostly, though, I’m ready for a new challenge in my career to ensure I continue growing as a Data Scientist.
We bought a second house in New Orleans
The front of our house in New OrleansInside the front door, with my foot on the coffee table
In the deep pandemic of 2020, fearing a very cold Minnesota winter, Alicia and I booked an AirBNB for November/December in New Orleans. Our honeymoon cruise in 2009 had set sail from New Orleans and it’s a city we’ve visited several times since. At the time, we had just paid off our student loans and we were looking for an upgrade from our starter home in Minneapolis. But staying down south that winter, we fell in love with the city.
When there’s blood in the streets, buy property.
Baron Nathan Rothschild
The house we eventually bought is two bedroom, two bathroom shotgun house built in 1920. It was only four blocks away from our AirBNB rental in the Marigny neighborhood and is a 3/4th mile walk to the French Quarter. Plus, the finances worked out – mortgage interest rates were below 3.0% and the combined total of both houses was less than our budget for the Minneapolis upgrade. We knew owning two houses would be tough and it might end up being a mistake, but it’s been a heck of a learning experience.
Snow in January 2025St. Patrick’s Church lit up for Super Bowl LIX
Plus New Orleans is crazy. Last month alone, it snowed 10″, tying the record set in 1865. Three weeks later, the Super Bowl came through town. Down here, I’ve learned to love live music, have walked more here than in my entire life, and started loving pinball. Currently, we’re in the middle of Carnival season and I’ll write more about Mardi Gras in a future post.
We adopted a new cat
Punkin at her first vet tripHalloween 2024Taken minutes ago, 2025-02-14
Punkin was probably born under our New Orleans house in the summer of 2023. We first saw her come to our back door for food in July 2023 when she couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old. At the time, we weren’t ready to adopt a cat, but Punkin was still around when we returned for the winter. As a result, just before NYE 2023, we cat-napped her and brought her to the vet.
Her name (coined by Alicia) is a portmanteau of “punk” and “pumpkin”. “Punk” because she was a ferocious little kitten that would not stop meowing at our back door. “Pumpkin” because her eyes are a very vivid orange.
There are two other cats in our back yard – Minnie and Mootch – that are similarly striped but black and white (instead of grey) that she treats like her parents. Which is strange, both Minnie and Mootch have their ears clipped, suggesting they’ve been fixed. Every single morning, Punkin insists they get fed before her. She’s such a sweetheart, but very shy. If you visit us, consider yourselves lucky if you get a glance of her.
Fashion Changes
I guess the last major change has been my style. I’ve grown my hair out into a long front curl. I really enjoy not traditionally masculine accessories, like a flower in my hair. Mostly, it’s an attention thing. I’m constantly stopped on the street and complimented.
I’ve been doing a lot of digital cleanup lately, which included cleaning out my bookmarks. It turns out I’ve got a collection of “screen saver” websites – sites you could just leave up and watch passively.
I’ve deleted my Twitter account, which had my actual name. There’s a radio show host in California that’s also named Brian Copeland that was probably very upset I got @BrianCopeland earlier than him – he had to settle for @BrianCopie.
I’ve deleted my reddit account. I was /u/jhinra for 15 years, reddit was one of the first websites I really engaged with. I paid money immediately when they started the Reddit Gold program. I participated in Reddit Secret Santa, and was proud to call myself a redditor.
Both platforms brought me immense joy. I remember live-tweeting my jury duty in New York during grad school. I remember when my Power Point slide for Alicia teaching her coding went viral and was on the Reddit home page.
But more and more, I don’t want to participate in social media platforms that don’t care what I want. I don’t want suggested posts. I want to see stuff in reverse chronological order. I don’t want to make a political statement by actively participating on a platform.
I’m told there’s a phrase for this new phase of social media, enshittification. I feel it whole-heartedly.
I’m not sure where the internet is going, but I know I’ll be here, on my own website, without ads.
