It’s amazing what scares me. I went to the GL CC ping pong expecting a bunch of rowdy teens, or social cliques I couldn’t fit in with. Honestly, I spent more time pushing away irrational concerns than just embracing the idea of some play.

I used to play ping pong as part of my 1:1s at Isilon. The table was in the basement near the server racks, so it worked well to have private conversations. I eventually secured my place at the top of the ladder (perhaps because we laid off the #1 guy. 🫣)

Afterwards, for about 10 years, my only play was with Zack at his home.

After ten years in Streaks , my habits now live in habits.nick.org, a small app Claude Code built for me in hours.

I can automatically mark so many tasks based on my wide variety of data sources.

It was difficult - doing so little - but the time flew by.

Most of the time I enjoyed with Piko - napping, walking, playing.

I did start to resume some of my “extracurricular” activities.

• Monday: TKD - a little rusty
• Tuesday: Piko’s last (puppy) vaccines; I made dinner
• Wednesday: dance class (bachata, foxtrot, and salsa); very rusty
• Thursday: bath and kindergarten - she was zonked
• Friday: gym & housework; good play & nap rounds

Around Thursday I realized I want this month to be a slow start.

Momo is.. WOW. I’d leave a job for her too.

That sums it up.

I’ll be taking the next two years - at least - to be available for Momo through high school graduation and beyond.

Of course, this sabbatical is also for ME.

I’ve got a lot of things on my list, and I’m sure the time will go quickly… so I gotta get started!

• house inventory
• daytime gym
• meal planning
• daily crown w/ Piko
• build in the workshop
• social calls
• stretch routines
• travel w/ Momo
• motorcycle & camp w/ Piko
• …

My three sites (kirsch.org , nick.org , and extreme.org ) are now built by the auto-builder .

I write down what I want and approve it. An unattended Claude Code agent opens a pull request, waits for CI, and merges.