This week I (finally) got to book my travel for a work conference in May. It's out on the west coast which always presents a dilemma. Do I get up before the sunrise so I can minimize delays and arrive at a normal hour but show up exhausted? Or, do I sleep to a reasonable hour, leave in the afternoon, but arrive quite late?

So far, I've always opted for option A.

For some reason, I prefer getting up at 3:30 in the morning to make those 5 or 6AM flights. I like knowing that my plane is already there and that I have a better chance of making my connections. Then, when I arrive on the west coast, I have the chance to settle in and, just maybe, sneak in a few hours of sightseeing.

But, I always end up struggling to stay awake past 8PM. At my last west coast conference, I fell asleep at 8:30PM and awoke at 5AM the following day. I never really did settle in to the time change. Getting up that early makes for some very long conference days. I generally break down and get an afternoon coffee for an energy boost which is something I rarely do.

Do you prefer early flights or later flights?

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Jill Bearup’s Just Stab Me Now is a romance novel based on an insanely good video series. Bearup never intended to write this book but her viewers (including me) clamored for it. I'm about a third of the way through and the book is just as delightful as the videos. So far, the book has included all the main points from the videos and expanded upon things with more description and nuance. The book bounces between viewpoints and the changes in font for each section help keep things understandable. While I already know how this ends, I'm still loving it.

*Books shared here are affiliate links for Bookshop.org

• Essential Reading: Google's algorithm is making the information landscape harder to navigate. [HouseFresh]

• Making spots for beauty. [enJOY]

• The long history of slow cooking. [TASTE]

• Big plants to put in your house. [WaPo - gift link]

• Consider single tasking. [LinkedIn Learning]

• Grappling with teaching information literacy in the age of misinformation. [Faculty Focus]

• Don't open new tabs while in an argument. [The Atlantic - gift link]

• Grocery store design as suburban sprawl. [The Deleted Scenes]

• The librarians on horseback. [The Kitchen Sisters Present]

• An interview with the archivist of the United States. [The Kitchen Sisters Present]

• Feels like home. [Atlas Obscura]

• The book of jazz. [99% Invisible]

• The history of public defenders. [Throughline]

• Why kids sell popcorn for school. [Planet Money]

• A bakeware 🤯[@savkaypierce]

• Leave the World Behind is thriller that's filmed like a horror. The super creepy music only adds to that feeling. This is an apocalyptic story with a stacked cast - Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Mahershala Ali. The narrative tension is only increased with well done references to racism. I was not at all surprised to see the Obamas were listed as producers. This was quite well done. [Netflix]

• Continuing our end of the world viewing, we watched I Think We're Alone Now. Peter Dinklage heads this small cast which also features the fantastic Paul Giamatti. This film is more thinky but also humorous. Dinklage plays a character who lives in the library where he worked and embodies his profession until the end. That appeals to me for.... reasons. [Amazon Prime]

• We've been eating a lot of tacos as of late but I switched things up and tried fish stick tacos. I just baked the sticks according to the package to get them nice and crispy. Then, I made a slaw with a spiced sour cream. I also made a lime crema for topping. These turned out pretty good as is, but would have been even better with pickled red onions. [Based on Real Simple]

• When we buy chicken, we tend to get the big packages. That leads to a lot of single breasts in our freezer. I turned one of those into baked pizza chicken. The night before I made this dinner, I sliced the chicken breast in half and then marinated it in the oil and spice blend. We then sous vided it the following day. It was only a matter of minutes to finish this by topping the chicken with sauce, cheese, and pepperoni and baking in the oven. We served this with garlic bread and salad. [Budget Bytes]

The kiddo’s daycare asked for local winter pictures. I went through my archives and sent a few. I always loved this image of the zoo’s lion in the snow. I took it after we got about 2 feet of snow in one storm.

While I work on my faculty portfolio this week, I will be streaming this excellently named Spotify playlist this week. You’re A Single Mom in the 90s Cleaning Her House contains all the tunes of my high school years and are the perfect background music for productivity.

It’s spring break at our university. Fewer students around means more time to go head down on some projects.