Author: Matt Maldre

Found some cool "wooden balls" on a fallen oak branch for my snowman’s eyes. Turns out they’re wasp galls.

Loved it! Absolutely loved it! True to the original. Relevant to our times. Big score. I hope there's more.

Today I learned "The Power" by Snap opens with Russian text about... a computer for blind people? "The American company Transceptor Technology has started production of the Personal Companion computer." This dance anthem literally announces assistive technology. 90s were WILD.

Algorithm. No archive. Can’t search properly. No real links. Designed to keep people anxious.

My work laptop is 10+ years old. For the monitor cable to work, it has to be lifted up higher. Otherwise, the screen turns off.

Waiting doesn’t have to be empty time. Sometimes it’s time to make something.

I found another jazz album that fits into the 1% of just right: "Dial S for Sonny" 1957 by Sonny Clark

The sun is so amazing. It was -24° Real Feel outside, but our enclosed front porch was basically a solar oven. Also, I​  realized I can take a panoramic selfie. The panoramic selfie is not done in selfie mode. Rather, it’s…

Tried to leave a simple comment on an Instagram story today but got hit with a "Get the App" wall. It’s a classic move to prioritize data over user convenience. I’ll stick to my browser.

Well, I completely botched this blog post. Yeah, that's the actual summary. I'm keeping it up, because it's hilarious how badly wrong I got it.

When snow is on the ground, carry carrots in your pocket. Tiny snowmen have a way of appearing when you’re ready.

A tiny box doesn’t just limit length. It lowers expectations.

Every family should have an official coin for settling disputes. Not just any coin—one that means something. Ours is a French Piastre from 1908.

In 1932, an illustrator drew a window washer for Fortune magazine. In 2007, I photographed a window washer from my desk at Tribune Tower. Same view? Maybe.

Why does every store play the same Christmas songs from 1950? Turns out there used to be a stigma around recording holiday music. That stigma accidentally created the canon. When it disappeared, so did our ability to make new classics.

I bought a pair of Columbia Bugaboot III winter boots in March 2016. Eight winters later, after years of 2–5 miles of daily walking, they’re still going. Minor cracks only now. That’s real durability.

I’m trying to identify a Christmas song from a CD mixtape I made in 2007. Siri, Shazam, and Google all came up empty. So I posted the lyrics and a rough recording. Deep-voiced Santa mystery.

Two overlapping bootprints in the snow make a perfect heart. Shoe hearts? Heartsteps? Snowstep hearts?...

I biked around Glen Ellyn on a 26° lunch break and somehow ended up with a whole string of tiny adventures—arctic winds, alleys, cuteness, Taco Bell drama, and even a private snow fort for my bike.

Tried balancing my phone on a snowy branch. Failed. Put my winter glove on the branch instead. Succeeded. Accidentally invented the glove-pod.

Wear a shirt that says 闹痒痒怪物 in Chinese. Wait for someone to ask what it means. Say, "I am the Tickle Monster." Consequences follow.

In 1992, my brother & I saw Gorbachev at Hard Rock Chicago and made the Sun-Times front page. 32 years later I bought a commemorative pin on eBay. Now Facebook thinks I'm a Hard Rock collector and serves me ads…

Tired of Google results buried under SEO spam? I just discovered Feedle, a search engine specifically built for blogs and podcasts. It's exactly what the internet needs right now.

A leaf stuck to siding. Another floating in mid-air for 8 hours straight. These aren't magic tricks, they're Miracle Leaves. I'm collecting sightings on Bluesky. Share yours!

I made a Josef Albers painting by accident while fixing someone's logo colors.

Finally got my hands on a Kodak Charmera (nearly impossible to find). Took it to the woods this morning and shot straight into the sun. The lo-fi quality makes it feel like 2003 cameraphone nostalgia.

A five-pound book with 5,000 new words.

13 years ago: bought delightful $1 art cards from Brevki on eBay. Today: Brevki is selling conceptual ownership of the number 4 for $4,444.44.

What happens when your kids start sorting their Halloween candy, and it turns into something that looks like a Paul Klee painting? This year, our post-trick-or-treat candy sort turned unexpectedly artistic.

Google just pulled the plug on first and second gen Nest Thermostats. It’ll still work as a standalone thermostat, but it won’t connect to or work in the Google Nest app or Google Home app starting on October 25, 2025.…

What happens when you look beyond the perfect frame of an 80s cartoon? The uncropped original animation art reveals the painterly truth hidden in the margins.