There is a tile floor in my office that is lots of little squares. The little squares are blue and yellow. Each color is clustered together to make larger squares that are each 8x8 tiles big.

When I'm in that room, my brain always tries to make new blocks of patterns. This one will be 4x4 of both colors. That one will be a long row. Another will have a four quadrants. Another will be 75% of one color and 25% of the other. ​My brain can't help but see new shapes.  

I'm not sure if this my brain trying to amuse itself during a quiet period or some weird byproduct of spatial mathematics. I'm not bothered by it; I just think it's interesting that this is how my brain works. I notice it with wall paper and carpet designs too. Something about patterns makes my brain go, "Okay, but what if....?"

Do you ever try to make patterns out of other patterns?

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I started the third book in the Noodle Shop mystery series, Murder Lo Mein by Vivien Chien, a few nights ago. In many ways, this feels like something I could write. That makes it seem approachable. I'm only a few pages into this, but it's like catching up on a conversation with a friend you haven't seen in awhile - easy and fun. I do get glimmers that this is falling into the cozy mystery trope of the lead not being able to pick a "special someone" to focus on. I do find that aggravating after a few books.

*Books shared here are affiliate links for Bookshop.org

• I understand all these idioms. Ergo, I am old. [Lifehacker]

• We are a closed captions on household because no matter what we try, the dialogue is always too quiet. [The Guardian]

• The comfort of Kraft mac and cheese. [Catapult]

• A murmuration of starlings and the destruction they can cause. [WaPo - gift link]

• Why the Gen Z Shake works. [The Tab]

• Not so sure I like knowing what viruses keep epidemiologists up at night. [NPR]

• Impressionists may have been painting air pollution. [WaPo - gift link]

• Making Dijon mustard. [Atlas Obscura]

• You know how we solve this problem? Stop degrading and discounting feminized traits like sharing emotions, being vulnerable, and asking for help. The staggering disfunction of toxic masculinity comes down to the fear these kinds of men have of being called "girly." All humans are emotional. It's the engrained socialization of men bottling the hurt and fear up that cause problems. No one should be afraid to cry or show they are in pain. [The Atlantic - may be paywalled]

• Why not having a gas stove is no longer a deal breaker for me. [Short Wave]

• How to get started with meal prep. [Life Kit]

• The battle for water from the Colorado River. [The Daily]

• Finding groundbreaking economics on Groundhog Day. [Planet Money]

• I love it when I find a movie that has an unexpectedly good cast. We turned on 12 Strong since it was something that looked semi interesting. Every time a new cast member was introduced, I went, "I love that guy!" This is just a generic war movie, but the attention to detail was good. I also appreciated that they did not explain the military lingo. Plus, a constant feeling of unease and anxiety permeated the film which made it far more believable. [Netflix] 

• The husband is going out of town for work and we didn't want to start a new long series to binge. As an interim fix, we put on Chernobyl which I have been wanting to rewatch. It's just so darn good - rich in detail and (adequately) historically accurate. Always worth a second view. This round, I realized that the accident happened while we were alive. In my mind, it happened "long ago." To me, "long ago" is before my birth, not two years after it. [HBO Max]

• I feel vindicated that my ears work fine. It's the bad sound in movies that's the problem. [Vox]

• We made sheet pan gnocchi with sausage. This is just a slight spin on the other sheet pan gnocchi dishes we've been eating. What made this time great was that we used pork Italian sausage instead of chicken. It's been a long time since we've eaten pork sausage and it felt extra luxurious. I also amped the flavor by tossing everything in Tuscan herb olive instead of plain. Plus, I doubled the red onion because it's a flavor I very much enjoy. [The Seasoned Mom]

• It's been awhile since we had tofu and I wanted to try something new. Turns out the peanut tofu with rice was just a remixing of flavors I've had in other recipes. Still tasty, but not quiet the new flavor I was looking for. It did reheat well for lunch the next day. [Budget Bytes]

Normally, I wouldn’t share a product image in this space… but this one had me giggling for an hour. I might just need to buy it. [librarycatdesigns @ Etsy]

I can’t stop reading about ChatGPT and all the other AIs. Get the inside scoop on all things AI with AI-zing News with Ava. Ava provides daily updates, tools, and a dash of wit to keep you on the cutting edge of the AI world.

There are a lot of fun things to explore in the world and Wonders of Street View puts some of the hilarious ones at your fingertips. All this website does is show you delightful things from around the globe. Click random to get a new picture that puts a smile on your face. You can also like and share images.

The husband is out of town for work much of the week. I hate driving. I’m finagling my schedule to make it possible for me to do most of the daycare drop-offs and pick-ups by metro or walking.