ess emm arr

Just a home on the web where I write whatever comes to mind. Like we all used to do back in the day before The Algos came and destroyed everything good about the internet.

Subscribe via RSS here

Cancer Diary II: So. Many. Calls.

So I'm still in the decision phase of treatment (which boils down to: radiation vs. surgery. A real Sophie's Choice, to be honest), but the one thing that's already just weighing me down, which will come as no surprise to anyone who's ever had a medical problem ever, is: the fucking commo. It's not just the calls with an actual doctor of some sort; it's EVERYTHING. I get a text from my medical provider telling me to login to their portal because I have a new message. I try to login and it has to send me a text with...

July 15th, 2026 cancer

Things I Like: My macOS Start/Stop Work Shortcut

It's the little things, really... When Apple released the Shortcuts app for the Mac (3 years after releasing it for their mobile OSes, the jerks [yes, I know we had Automator before that but Shortcuts fills, I think, a different niche]), I didn't have much use for it. My file operations are covered by Hazel automations that I've had forever, and I struggled to think of any use for Shortcuts. I do my job from home, from my own computers. Yes, my workplace provides me a laptop, but I'm a dainty fancy lad, and I like to work on what...

July 1st, 2026 tech

Cancer Diaries I: Liminal Spaces

Recently, I was diagnosed with cancer. Got the ol' Dude Killer, aka, My Prostate Has Had Enough of My Bacon Habit and Has Decided to End Things. On the plus side, like, a LOT of dudes get this cancer, it's eminently treatable if caught early, yadda. On the negative side (which, naturally, is the one I focus on because of residual Catholicism), mine seems on the aggressive side and I'm rather young to have it at all. So, we'll see. The super-annoying thing so far has been the waiting on the unknown. Yes, I realize THAT isn't exactly an original...

June 30th, 2026 cancer

Let's Get On With It

For as much as I generally enjoy The Holidays (and I do... mostly), I am quite glad they're over with. I am tired of not being 100% sure what day of the week it is. I miss structure, and am glad to return to it. I am building temples to whatever gods helped me avoid getting The Glurge that struck down every single other member of my family and many friends as well, which almost guarantees I have it coming for me any day now. I am almost excited to actively whittle down a work to-do list that grew a...

January 5th, 2026

Book Review: Of Blood and Fire (The Bound and The Broken #1), by Ryan Cahill

I don't want to spend too much time on this one, so here's the short version: This book feels like if every other multi-volume fantasy series was used to feed an LLM, which was then prompted to output the absolute average of everything it had ingested into a starting volume of a new multi-book series. It is the Applebee's of fantasy books. Absolutely mid, relentlessly derivative and unambitious, yet industrially competent and blandly satisfying in a way that makes you say "yeah, shouldn't overindulge on this crap but once or twice a year is fine". Take that as you will....

December 1st, 2025 book reviews