Being a dad and a husband. Working from home for a big company. Writing a newsletter every Monday morning. Filling my Watch rings every day. Last updated: September 21st, 2023.

Morning Coffee


Latest Issue: Areas of Life

Latest Issue: She’s 22 Months

Latest Issue: A Space Story

Latest Issue: A Vertical Sling (Four Month Review)

Latest Issue: A Stack of Cards

Latest Issue: The Box Comes Alive

Latest Issue: Preparing for the Stars

Latest Issue: Folders and Bridges

Latest Issue: The Bigger Story

Latest Issue: Synthesizer

Latest Issue: How to Build a Website

Latest Issue: How to Pack

Latest Issue: Sunday Sabbaticals

Latest Issue: Hole in the Wall

Latest Issue: Time is Shrinking

Latest Issue: Ready Player One

Latest Issue: Habit Stacking Marathon

Latest Issue: This is Plastic

Latest Issue: Rose Turns 18 Months

Latest Issue: My Favorite Computer

Latest Issue: The Ghost

Latest Issue: The Perfect Day

Latest Issue: Every Monday For An Entire Year

Latest Issue: Move Fast and Break Things

Latest Issue: An Open Field

Latest Issue: It’s All Projects

Latest Issue: The Beauty of Chapters

Latest Issue: Building a Studio

Latest Issue: The Return of Mixtapes

Latest Issue: The Architect: Crafting a Better Story

Latest Issue: The Shrine Hunter: Exploring Creativity, Fitness, and Adventure

Latest Issue: 15 Months

Latest Issue: My Writing Workflow

Latest Issue: Getting Things Done

Latest Issue: Selective Sync

Latest Issue: The Great Consolidation

Latest Issue: The Year of Depth

Latest Issue: The Story of 2022 (Morning Coffee: December 26th, 2022)

Latest Issue: The Best Of (Morning Coffee: December, 19th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Omni (Morning Coffee: December 12th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Easy Mode (Morning Coffee: December 5th, 2022)

Latest Issue: The Partitions (Morning Coffee: November 28th, 2022)

Latest Issue: What’s Holding All This Together (Morning Coffee: November 21st, 2022)

Latest Issue: Rose Turns One (Morning Coffee: November 14th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Rose Turns One (Morning Coffee: November 14th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Showing Up and Looking Forward (Morning Coffee: November 7th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Robots Painted This (Morning Coffee: October 31st, 2022)

Latest Issue: Sharing Sofa (Morning Coffee: October 24th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Crates and Presets (Morning Coffee: October 17th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Homecoming (Morning Coffee: October 10th, 2022)

Latest Issue: The Traveling Drone (Morning Coffee: October 3rd, 2022)

Latest Issue: System Thinking (Morning Coffee: September 26th)

Latest Issue: On This Day (Morning Coffee: September 19th, 2022)

Latest Issue: On This Day (Morning Coffee: September 19th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Dynamic Island (Morning Coffee: Sept. 12th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Organizing Health (Morning Coffee: Sept. 5th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Up Ahead (Morning Coffee: August 29th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Dancing with the Stars (Morning Coffee: August 22nd, 2022)

Latest Issue: Dancing with the Stars (Morning Coffee: August 22nd, 2022)

Latest Issue: Military Backpack (Morning Coffee: August 15th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Military Backpack (Morning Coffee: August 15th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Space Between Time (Morning Coffee: August 8th, 2022)

Latest Issue: A Tiny Gameboy (Morning Coffee: August 1st, 2022)

Latest Issue: 5,000 Photos (Morning Coffee: July 25th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Upgrading the Newsletter (Morning Coffee: July 18th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Emoji Folders (Monday Coffee: July 11th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Happy 4th of July (Monday Coffee: July 4th, 2022)

Latest Issue: WE ARE THE ENERGY (Monday Coffee: June 27th, 2022)

Latest Issue: My First Father’s Day (Monday Coffee: June 20th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Hard Work Pays Off (Monday Coffee: June 13th, 2022)

Latest Issue: A Lens Blur, A Time Blur (Monday Coffee: June 6, 2022)

Latest Issue: Yelling Into The Void (Monday Coffee: May 30th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Today is my birthday (Monday Coffee: May 23rd, 2022)

Latest Issue: New Motivation (Monday Coffee: May 16th, 2022)

Latest Issue: A Camera Changes Everything (Monday Coffee: May 9, 2022)

Latest Issue: A Camera Changes Everything (Monday Coffee: May 9, 2022)

Latest Issue: Make Gifts (Monday Coffee: May 2nd, 2022)

Latest Issue: Make Gifts (Monday Coffee: May 2nd, 2022)

Latest Issue: A Cheap Projector to Watch the Suns Lose (Monday Coffee: April 25th, 2022)

Latest Issue: Monday Coffee: April 18th, 2022

My Thoughts on Blonde, Frank Ocean’s New Album

Frank Ocean’s album, titled Blonde, came out this past weekend. It’s been four years since his last album, Channel Orange (which is one of my favorite albums ever). I’ve been eagerly waiting for his follow up ever since. It’s finally here, and needless to say, it doesn’t disappoint.

In fact, I consider it even better than Channel Orange. Frank taps into more complex emotions, as the album isn’t as black and white as Channel Orange was. There’s so many abstract moments throughout the 17 songs that I catch something new every time I listen, which is huge since it literally hasn’t stopped playing on my phone for days. As soon as the last song ends, the first song starts, and even when I’m busy and can’t pay attention to it, it’s still playing in the background. The reason it hasn’t gotten old yet is because Frank didn’t focus on the traditional verse, hook, verse, hook format. In each song, there’s no telling what happens next. Stories are constantly moving. From beginning to end there’s a nonstop sense of progression.

The album starts with Nikes”, which incapsulates the album on its own. That entire song is a build up, from the words to the production, and even the adjusted pitch in his voice, chipmunk sounding. But you know that you’ve finally arrived inside of the album, three minutes in, when the pitch is corrected by his natural voice, and the first words you hear from him are, We’ll let you guys prophesy.” This is the beginning, this is when the story starts, as if those first three minutes were a tunnel, traveling towards him for those first words, we’ll let you guys prophesy.

There’s a level of detail throughout the entire album. His thoughts are all over the place. One song could be about a dozen different things—they’re all well thought out, but with a sense of calmness and patience. And that’s what I appreciate most about this album, the controlled chaos. It’s rare to see an artist take so many risk on an album, but yet still be in complete control.