Twin Cities IndieWeb - BlogFlock

Dolly Parton – I Will Always Love You - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-25T18:09:55.000Z

Surprised how absolutely crushed I am by the passing of Dolly Parton. A true legend and beautiful soul. What a gift she gave us all, not just in music but how to handle fame with grace, humor, and humility.

Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstad

2026-08-24T22:31:31.000Z

Closest I came to a selfie with Brandi Carlile at today’s sound check. <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/9479474ebf.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-23T02:13:22.000Z

The IndieWeb Is Punk Manifesto

You don’t need a deal with a label. You don’t need a platform’s blessing. All you need is an out of tune guitar you can barely play, or a free text editor and a hosting bill. That’s it. That’s the whole scene.

What we believe in.

Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstad

2026-08-22T13:48:54.000Z

Love that Jim Mitchell created this new <a href="https://indiewebispunk.net">IndieWeb is Punk Manifesto</a> site, inspired by my <a href="https://www.thingelstad.com/2025/06/19/indieweb-is-punk.html">blog post</a> from 2025. <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/screenshot-2026-08-22-at-8.40.23am.png" width="600" height="436" alt="">

Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstad

2026-08-22T12:56:43.000Z

Great coffee this morning at <a href="https://www.johnsonpublichouse.com">Johnson Public House</a> in Madison. <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/bbe1d53fe0.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">

An astounding performance by Cory Wong, Joshua Redman,... - Barry Hess

2026-08-19T18:50:02.000Z

An astounding performance by Cory Wong, Joshua Redman, and more:

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Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-19T00:33:34.000Z

Building without predicting | Derek Sivers

On a podcast, I briefly mentioned that I’m building my dream house without predicting – by living in a bare cabin in the woods, then adding only what I find I actually need.

A fascinating idea. Great experiment if you have a life that supports it.

He highly recommends and is clearly influenced by How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand. It is a great book if you’re interested in architecture. The BBC did a series with Brand based on the book worth a watch too.

Competition’s Good - Barry Hess

2026-08-18T02:11:30.000Z

A friend let me know about Olly’s recent blog post. Olly owns and operates Pagecord, a very nice blogging service running in the same world as Pika. It sounds like another indie blogging developer accused Olly of plagiarism, and that makes me sad. I’ve had a couple conversations with Olly, and he sure seems like a nice guy who just wants to build the blogging software he wants to use. He offers it for a fair price for others to use if they have the same attitude toward blogging that he does. It’s a very familiar story to me!

Olly shared that he doesn’t read the blogs or socials of competitors. I’ll admit that I do check in on the blogs of other indie blogging services, as well as the blogs of their creators. The primary reason is that I’m a geek about blogging, so naturally I find it interesting. Reading the personal blogs of the creators also makes sense because we have something pretty big in common.

Olly also mentioned that the news from other blog builders doesn’t make him feel good, and I’ll also admit that at times I feel that way. If someone else builds something cool, after the cool wears off, of course I’m a bit disappointed in myself.

I was having an email conversation with Tom recently, and he brought up the subtle difference between when a group/network/piece of writing is more aspirational than inspirational. Keeping up with competition feels like something that should inspire me to build my own cool stuff. Yet it seems pretty self-evident that reading about the things competitors have built is much more likely to make me feel like I need to keep up with them, or, worse, disappointed in myself. Perhaps I should limit myself to the creators’ personal blogs?

At the end of Olly’s post (go read it before reading this!), he says:

The more people who want to blog, the better it is for all of us! We need to support each other’s work and focus on the greater goal of getting people blogging again.

I’ve most certainly written this sort of thing before as well. I’m not saying that Olly is copying me, though! This is a very natural conclusion. WordPress powers like 40% of the internet. I’m sure there’s some stupid-high percent of people that use social media. The more people know that there are alternatives to these options for self-expression, the more likely it is that they’ll learn about each of our indie blogging services. And that’s a very good thing!

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Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-18T02:08:14.000Z

The Retro Dad : The Guy at Wawa

“That’s the kind of retiree I want to be.”

Not necessarily wealthy, or accomplishing.. anything important every day. Just being happy to be alive.

You know.. get up in the morning.. go somewhere..talk to people. Take a walk.. stop for a coffee.. scratch a couple of lottery tickets.. help somebody if they need it.

I needed to read this. You might too.

(sent to me by my friend Stephen Best)

Boston - Barry Hess

2026-08-15T14:16:40.000Z

We went to Boston the first week of August. The planning for this was unique as the first step was securing tickets to watch these young men perform in one of three cities. See, the closest city to us in which they are performing is Chicago, but the timing of those shows did not work for our schedule. Boston (well, Foxborough) won out, and that was a good thing because there’s very a lot of things to see in the area!

We made our home base Salem for the first few nights. At least three of our group were excited for the witchy, ghosty experience. Two of our group could take it or leave it, but that didn’t matter because Salem was also filled with history (they had their quatercentenary parade [!] on the day we arrived) and good eats. We were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed being in Salem. It was more of a destination and less of an “interesting place to homebase” than we expected.

One of those days we took the train in to Boston. We walked The Freedom Trail and saw lots of history things. We also took a break at the Treehouse Brewing beer garden near Faneuil Hall. They had a lot of more highly-regarded options, but it was a hot day and the Komorebi was perfect for the moment. We also did a quick “campus tour” at Harvard before training back to Salem.

Patrick and Shawn swung by for a half of a day in Salem and it was lovely to see them. I’d share a picture, but I don’t know if they’re weird about that. 🤗

Four of us drove out to Halibut State Park to get a bit of ocean time. It was a nice place for a quick bit of fresh air.

Then we moved locations to near Gillette Stadium¹ in Foxborough to attend two nights of BTS concerts. I wouldn't say that I'm a proper fan of BTS, but my three daughters are mega-fans. They put on quite a show. In addition to the music there was a giant stage, giant screens, fifty dancers, and light sticks programmed down to the seat. And the entertainment was heightened by the incredible band-fan dynamic. One of our daughters made a setlist playlist named “the best 5 hours of my life”, so that speaks for itself.

On our last day we took a quick trip down to Providence, Rhode Island, since it was only fifteen miles or so from our hotel. We visited the John Brown House, walked around Brown University a bit (“campus tour!”), had another great meal, and saw a quick few blocks of Federal Hill.

On our final night this big baseball fan got to experience something pretty cool: Fenway Park. It was awesome to see and a great atmosphere for a game.

And now it’s Saturday a week later and we have a water puddle under our refrigerator.

🎶 Back to life, back to reality 🎶

(You can read more about the terrible logistics of the venue here.)

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Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstad

2026-08-15T13:43:00.000Z

Departing CDG on way to MSP! ✈️ <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/cc7951db01.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">

On Juggling - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-13T15:37:21.000Z

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to Vincent, one of the juggling and unicycle coaches at circus. One almost never sees Vincent still. He’s almost always practicing juggling.

For the first time in the 18+ years I’ve known him, it occurred to me to ask, “How much do you juggle every day?”

Well, I juggle for probably 1-2 hours a day if you add it up which is not necessary but I do it because I love it. I like to keep my hands busy. But, juggling is one of those things you can lose quickly if you’re not doing it every day. It’s better to practice for 10 minutes every day than to do it for 2 hours a day every week. I can tell the difference between my students who only juggle when they’re here once a week and the ones that juggle fruit or something in the lunch line to show off to their friends every day.

I suspect there are a lot of things in life like this. Things that are better to do a little bit each day than to do a whole lot regularly. I’m going to make an effort to identify and pay attention to those daily things more.

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-12T12:12:23.000Z

Two. Friction is the feature Notice … | Hunter Gatherer 21C

A perfectly frictionless life is subtly deadening, because it leaves you nothing to push against.

This series on the benefits of analog is Nicholas Bate at his best.

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-12T02:26:48.000Z

I know it’s weeks away but…

I’m ready for flannel shirts and broken-in jeans. I’m ready for Bean Boots and shirt jackets. I’m ready for chunky wool sweaters and corduroy. I’m ready for more pockets and layers. I’m ready for fall.

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-11T15:09:44.000Z

Our daughter, who turned 18 this year, voted for the first time today. The world will begin slowly changing in the right direction now.

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-11T14:58:40.000Z

I’ve really been enjoying this new YouTube show, One Question with TK. I don’t know many of the guests but the premise is so interesting and the conversation so fascinating it doesn’t matter. Highly recommended.

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-11T04:45:55.000Z

Dense Discovery #401: Your call is important to us

Technology has stopped being the thing that connects us to people and became the thing standing in for them.

Nailed it.

Black Hat USA 2026: The ‘Breaking’ News: The OpenAI–Hugging Face Incident - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-10T15:02:40.000Z

I’m not scared of AI. I’m scared of the humans behind it.

Very dangerous things are often very cool.

“What we didn’t realize…” is the warning phrase that should cause one to notice the danger. Instead, these people seem to only notice the cool.

Finishing Our Routine - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-10T02:40:05.000Z

One of the running conceits in the most recent summer show at Circus Juventas, Whimsy! involves Lady Licorice, played by Beatrix, becoming more and more annoyed that she and The Candy Sisters never get to finish their routine. Whenever someone enters Candyland, they have a welcome routine and it always seems to get cut off, interrupted, or the visitor doesn’t stay long enough to see it. It’s one of my favorite elements in the show.

For sixteen years now, our family has had a routine around Beatrix’s circus schedule. Weeks were largely structured around when she had circus classes after school. When we ate dinner together as a whole family and how we’re built around it. If I had to plan dinner for just Bethany and I and something else for Beatrix to eat between classes. When both Beatrix and I were at Circus in rehearsal for a show so Bethany was on her own. Pretty much everything in our lives was a complex scheduling Tetris around Beatrix needing to be at Circus. It was a routine that we never fully thought would ever be finished.

In the show, towards the end, Lady Licorice and The Candy Sisters do get to finish their routine and it’s beautiful.

This afternoon, Beatrix took her final bow at Circus Juventas. She got to finish her routine for the last time and it was even more beautiful than the first.

And, with that, we as a family have finished ours.

Parking for a Concert at Gillette Stadium - Barry Hess

2026-08-09T20:05:14.000Z

Parking a vehicle for a concert at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, is quite a challenge. Before heading to the BTS concerts this past week I did some research, even asking Chat GPT about how to handle parking. To its credit, with my hints about what I wanted, it ended up putting us at a pretty good spot in someone’s yard. The spot was a 25-minute walk from the stadium.

We were staying at a hotel about four miles south of the stadium. Our tickets provided us free parking in the general parking lot across US-1, but I was skeptical. A bit of reading said you could end up waiting in that lot for quite a while after a concert. After day one, we talked to some folks who parked there and discovered they had literally not moved their car in the lot for about two hours. Not waiting in line, but literally just sitting in their car unable to move into a line.

US-1 does not allow any left turns heading north toward the stadium starting anywhere from 2-4pm, and I assume something similar happens north side of the stadium. Earlier in that time slot you can sometimes sneak a left turn into a gas station when heading north, but as the day goes on you will probably get a ticket (or in an accident) if you try to do that.

If you also need to head south after a show, parking where we did is a pretty good option. You can text the number on that page to reserve a spot. In our case, reserving was $40, but if you drove up to the lot it would have been $60. I’m sure prices vary per event. If you don’t park there, finding one of the few side streets to park on like this one on Pine Street is a good bet since you have easy right-turn access onto US-1. (I think that Lafayette House was also doing parking on Pine.) There are many businesses directly on US-1 south of the stadium that offer parking, but most don’t offer traffic control to get you out of the lot past the walking concert leavers and into the bumper-to-bumper traffic on US-1.

If you’re heading north, I’ve read good things about parking at South Walpole UMC. I assume you could take some side streets from there to a less congested version of the busy road that you need to get to. Parking on Pine Street might even work for heading north if you can head west from your spot to 115 and on to 1A. The city does block off some residential roads in the area to protect neighborhoods from all the traffic, so your mileage may vary (heh). I did see some people leave lots on Pine and head west, though.

If you need to take ride share, good luck! I read of people waiting at the ride share lot on site until 2 or 3 in the morning. At a certain point I think that drivers just stop being willing to drive there. I believe your best bet would be to start walking toward a side street like Pine and scheduling a car for a time about 30 minutes after you start walking. (Of course, cars cannot turn right from US-1 to Pine and I don’t think they’re allowed to enter Pine from the west, so YMMV on this as well. Probably you can’t do what I’m recommending!)

If you need to take the event train back toward the city, good luck! For these concert there was only a single train and tickets sold out in five minutes. I assume there’s always only a single train. Some booked the commuter train that was scheduled between 10:30 and 11 pm. You will need to leave the show early to make that train.

There are two hotels on site. If you want to book them for a show, you’ll need to book them well before the show tickets actually go on sale, so good luck! For these shows I checked every week to see if some rooms were cancelled and later became available. About a month before the show a few rooms became available, probably because they released accessible rooms that they have to hold back. Those rooms were…over $1,000 a night. I’m not sure if that’s the original price if you booked pre-sellout or if that’s just the “we’re sold out” price.

A final option is to check if some of the restaurants to the west of the stadium are open for a couple of hours after the event. In that case, I may suggest parking in the general lot and hanging out for a meal after the game.

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