Peregrine Lake – A Weekly Webcomic Written by Trae Dorn and Drawn by Ethan Flanagan

So I should probably mention this publicly somewhere, but I stepped down as Convention Director of No Brand Con a couple of weeks ago.

It wasn’t for anything terrible or awful, and I’m not leaving the organization. I’m stepping back into my old Head of Advertising and Public Relations position for the time being, and may take a larger role depending on how things shake out. No Brand Con XX is moving forward in interesting ways.

In truth I never really wanted to be in charge of the organization. In early 2021 though, when Pat stepped down, we were deep into planning a very delayed con and no one else was really prepared or in a position to steer the ship. So I stepped up, because I’d done the job before.

And, not to sound like I have an ego, I’m pretty good at it.

But here’s the thing, I’m in my forties. I don’t have the energy to do the sorts of things like I did in my twenties. I work a more stressful job, I’m trying to run a podcast network at the same time, and my health is drastically different. I’m not dying or anything, but my body can’t take the abuse like it used to.

And, thankfully, unlike a year and a half ago, we have a couple of people who now have the experience to fill those shoes. Well, two people. Because they’re sane, and not dumb enough to try to do it on their own.

Y’know, like I was.

Jun and Chris are going to do a great job with the con, and they have my full faith and confidence.

And, like, also I’m still here. Just not in the drivers seat. So I can occasionally take a nap.

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So every few years I’ve felt the need to make an update about my ever evolving workspace, and how I (more and more) seem to be cultivating an aesthetic that screams “secondary side character in a cyberpunk story who probably gets killed off in the third act.” It’s an aesthetic I’ve been working on on purpose (well, not the getting killed off bit), but every time I declare it’s reached “peak cyberpunk” I end up outdoing it soon after anyway.

Like that 2017 update? I exceeded it in mere months.

Anyway, since I made some significant changes recently, I thought I’d post an update about my weird hole of many screens where I run The Nerd & Tie Podcast Network from. I’m not going to run through everything, but I will map out the biggest differences from 2017. The first is (obviously) the 32″ display up top, which I now use to stream media on instead of the Kindle Fire (though the Kindle Fire is still used for audio bumpers on podcasts). An Apple TV runs that, though I also have a spare Switch dock hooked up sometimes. The Linux laptop is gone (I mean I still have it though), replaced by the late-2011 13″ MacBook Pro which used to be my main personal machine. That MacBook Pro is tucked away, but displays on the relocated black monitor in the lower left.

Of course, my new main personal machine is a brand spankin’ new M1 Mac mini, which is controlled by the keyboard and trackpad that sit where my laptop used to be. I’ve expanded the physical desk (and retired the mini fridge) to support the monitor for the Mac mini. And don’t worry, Linux isn’t gone from my desk (and I mean I still use the laptop) — as you will notice one last monitor on the lower right which is hooked up to a Raspberry Pi 400. This is notably used from a different chair, as that’s my “goof around” computer, and would literally be a distraction if I was trying to use it while getting work done.

It’s funny, I bought two computers in 2020, both of which are ARM based. With a good chunk of my desk now on RISC architecture, I’m happy I can just dig out this image without context as I sign off for today…

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Ten years ago today I stood across from Crysta in a chapel in Glacier Hills Park in Washington County. Ten years ago we got married. Ten pretty freaking awesome years.

Right now as we buckle down during a global pandemic, every day I thank the gods that she’s the one I spend my days with. I can’t imagine going through this with anyone else at my side.

So much has changed since we got married — we’re both different people than who we were back then. But as we’ve grown, we’ve grown together. For every challenge that has come in front of us, we’ve tackled it as a team. I count myself as lucky every day because of it.

We celebrated our anniversary early back in May with a week in a cabin on a lake up near Phillips, WI — and tonight we probably won’t do anything more than order a nice delivery dinner and watch Netflix in the living room.

But any time I get to spend with Crysta is special no matter what day it is.

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