We've still got 6 work weeks left in 2024, but Thanksgiving always seems to signal the beginning of "circle back in the new year" season.

At this point in the year, I don't like to take on anything new. My brain is generally done when it comes to "thinky" things. I prefer to finish up odds and ends and start planning - but just planning - for next year projects. It's a lot of email follow-ups, file organizing, list making, and project set up in my Trello. 

​At what point do you decide to coast through the end the year?

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After finishing the first book in the Crescent City series, I rolled right to the second. I'm only 90 pages into House of Sky and Breath so we're back to plot set up. (This is another doorstopper of a novel.) I was rather intrigued by the preface that introduces this book. I can't wait to see how it connects back to our two main characters. Also, now that I'm in book two, the world building feels much less info dumpy which I appreciate.

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• A profile of what it takes to run a mass transit system. [Washingtonian]

• Some useful productivity reminders. [Josh Spector]

• The hope of Wonder Woman. [AV Club]

• If you need a good giggle. [@iamemployedaf - shout out to my colleague for sharing this on the internal chat]

• I'm intrigued enough to want to try to make this. [The Takeout]

• A rather interesting living medieval tradition. [Planet Money]

• The company behind cheerleading. [The Daily]

• You probably don't need to panic buy. [The Indicator]

• The development of agriculture had quite an impact. [Good on Paper]

• The long history of washing dishes. [Gastropod]

• America Has Fallen might be the worst movie I've ever seen. It had sub D-list acting. It was like they pulled people randomly off the street to read some lines. In many ways, it felt like high school kids deciding to make a movie over weekend on their phones. I could tolerate all of that but the movie takes itself WAY too seriously. That said, there were two decent plot things I would love to see tried in a better funded production. [Amazon Prime]

• We put on The Infiltrator and, beginning with the first scene, realized we had watched it before. Instead of turning on something else, we let it roll. The cast is stacked, the script is tight, and the production values are fantastic. Even knowing what was coming, we were still entertained. [Netflix]

• This was a clean out the fridge before we travel week. A perfect excuse to make a simple meal of grilled cheese and tomato soup. It's a favorite classic for a reason. [Campbell's]

• The one "fancy" meal I did toss together was tomato ravioli. Your supposed to bake the tomatoes on a sheet pan, but I just sauteed them in a pan to speed things up. One of these days I will use the oven because I think that extra bit of flavor would be phenomenal. [My Evernote]

I find it lovely when parts of nature replicate each other. This image was a winner in the International Landscape Photographer of the Year awards. [Peta Pixel]

This could be a fun thing to do with family of friends this holiday. Find your name in Landsat images!

Because you can never have too much stuffing and cranberry sauce leftover.