The percolator that I use to make my coffee each morning is toast. I put it on the stove this morning, and walked away. I was deep into a conversation with Erin in another room when the smoke alarm went off. I rushed to the kitchen, where Oliver was lunging for the stove to turn off the burner. The pot was bone dry and the kitchen reeked of smoke. Life lesson #37: don't walk away from the kitchen when coffee is on the stove.#

The Noun Project seems to have had an update, and now I can create an icon with background color. That's what I did for the lemon icon below.#

Yesterday, I noticed a smell in my office, something vaguely plastic-like but also floral. I was just rummaging in one of the cabinet drawers, with my head near the Meyer lemon tree that is in the corner for the winter, and I realized I've been smelling the flowers that bloomed last week. I wonder how many will develop into lemons. There are five golf ball-sized lemons that started as flowers this summer, when the potted tree was out in the garden.#

Erin's aunt sent her a copy of an article about fig trees around the world (The Incredible Fig). I sat down to eat a bowl of pasta, and since I was alone at the table, I started to read the article, which starts with a reference to a walkway built above a fig tree in Samoa. I was halfway in when I noticed a caption that mentioned Meg Lowman, who was the author of the article (and the memoir from which it was excerpted). It all made sense, because Meg is known for her research, conservation, education, and eco-tourism efforts in and among the treetops. I got to know Meg when she spoke at one of our ScienceOnline conferences and then became a member of the board of directors. She's amazing, and I can't wait to read her book.#

I went to the office in Durham to work today. My usual office-hotel on the second floor was taken so I went up to the seventh floor and found an empty office. A few times during the day, on my way to the printer or the toilet, I looked out the window and saw a long tour bus parked outside the Carolina Theatre. Later, as I started the drive home, I noticed on the theater marquee that Old Crow Medicine Show is performing there tonight and tomorrow. I love that band; I've seen them a few times, including twice at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, where I saw OCMS co-founder Willie Watson a couple of weeks ago.#

For my morning coffee reading, I enjoyed the account by Ed Caesar about his short solo trek in the Anti-Atlas mountains of Morocco, and the delicious meal that capped the adventure. That reminded me of our Peace Corps hike to the volcanoes on Ambrym Island, which I wrote about in Sea food.#

I wrote an article for Duke Magazine. It's a profile of two alumni on the island of St. Croix and how their commitment to the leatherback sea turtle connects their work. Read it.#

I added an acorn icon to the post below. I wish I could connect Drummer and Noun Project so that I could grab an icon for my posts. Not that my three-step process to find an icon and save it to my server takes that much effort or time. #

It's a beautiful fall day. The oak trees were raining acorns on our land. I can see yellow leaves outside of the Duke Health clinic where I'm waiting. My spouse is upstairs in surgery. I'm nervous. Earlier in the day, I felt depressed. Then I bought flowers, snap dragons for Erin, and a cinnamon roll from Weaver Street Market, only to walk to the parking lot just as a student pulled into the next space and along the side of my van. So I went for a flat white from my favorite coffee shop. Last night we gave away our hens. We're deep into a driveway project that's created neighborhood tension. I'm a mess but life is great. #

I tried the new Drummer feature to create a standalone page from an outline, and I asked a question about the instant outline tech. Dave took my question and turned it around as an added bit of functionality for that feature. I like being one of the plumbers on this project. [Actually, I'm a poet, now that I'm rested and can think straight.]#

Speaking of plumbers, the guys from Drain Express were back today to take care of the final pieces of the expensive project that's given this old house all new pipes out to the septic system. The last of the toilets is installed and flushing and the bathroom that Erin and I share is put together. #

It's been a busy and intense week, and while I love to blog, the things occupying my attention are best left undocumented, at least for now.#

So much candy. I've tried to limit myself. I'm going for a run shortly to burn off a few of the bites I've enjoyed.#

As Erin was getting ready for Halloween, she came across a red winter vest. She tossed it to me with the suggestion that I dress up as Marty McFly. A few minutes later, I had a checked Oxford shirt and a denim jacket underneath the vest, the collars up, and my hair brushed back. When Back to the Future came out, my dad and I saw it at the movie theatre on Third Street in downtown DeKalb, Illinois. I liked the movie so much I returned the next day, and the next day, and the next day. I saw it four times that week.#

I just found this article I wrote in 2001 (for the innovation column I contributed to Northern Ohio Live for a year or so). It was about the future of cars and how consumers would purchase new cars. I referenced Back to the Future, naturally: "Mirrors? Where auto purchasing is going, we don’t need mirrors. Just a computer and an Internet connection."#

Rain over the last few days, and I didn't have the tarp securely weighted over the stack of firewood out by the pit. Somehow, though, I found enough dry pieces to make a fire for Malia, who invited her friends over for a fire and s'mores.#

I finished reading The Dead Ship, a New Yorker feature by Ed Caesar about an oil tanker off the coast of Yemen and the potential for it to unleash an environmental catastrophe in the Red Sea. It's a fascinating article, and deep into it in just one paragraph are these two arresting lines: "A spare supertanker cannot be summoned like a taxi." and "The crisis unfolds at the speed of rust."#

I visited my favorite bakery this morning. It's called Loaf, and it is in downtown Durham. I enjoyed a feathery cinnamon roll. Tomorrow I'll return for a pain aux raisin.#

These shorter days and longer to-do lists make for a grumpy me in the morning. #

I'm glad to report the RADx-UP Scientific Meeting last week went well, with a short talk by NIH Director Francis Collins and 11 presentations by the project teams describing their research aims and community engagement.#

A long time ago, I had a short coffee chat with Francis Collins. I was in grad school (studying medical journalism), he was head of the National Human Genome Research Institute and was in Chapel Hill for a visit, and he agreed to meet a few of us. I blogged about it then.#

I was reminded that there's a way to let someone see an Instant Outline through the test feature called Concord Reader (documented in the Drummer Work notes for Sept. 30). This could give me a way to demonstrate outlining to my colleagues. For example, I could demonstrate the I/O for places I have lived. I'd like to introduce outlining as a better way to take notes in a meeting and document progress for a project or two.#

Updating my About tab. And looking for a new Radio3 entry to show up on my Links tab. And wondering about Manton's reference to Markdown quote using the > character. #

Here's Dave's change note (opens an outline in Drummer) about the Micro.blog feature added by Manton.#

Now if I could add a tab to Drummer I can have the Micro.blog feed next to the Radio3 feed. I know this is possible but Jack and others could do it faster so maybe I'll ask them for help.#

I followed Manton's video and voila! I am using Drummer to update my Micro.blog (see it at smol.zuiker.com) #

Nice to see upgrades to the MacBook Pro. My 2015 model is starting to get sluggish, so I may use my side savings account to get myself a new laptop. #

Now that we have Drummer, there's not really a need for me to use 1999. I'll have to remember to ask if there's a way to take the archive of my 1999 blog and convert to opml so I can include those previous posts with my Drummer blog.#

I have switched this Drummer blog to my domain storian.org and renamed the blog to Yumi stap storian. Storian is a Bislama (lingua franca of Vanuatu) word that means to have a conversation, or to tell a story, or to chat with friends, so 'yumi stap storian' means we're having a conversation. #

A beautiful fall day. How do I know? The acorns are falling like rain, often onto the metal carport and making an explosive sound. I'm outside enjoying the day. Have just moved two railroad ties into place and filled in more wood chips beneath the swing that reaches high into the massive white oak that is beside our house. Now I'm about to move the Meyer lemon tree from the garden into my office. Then I'll pick the rest of the Brazilian star and Serrano and Cayenne chile, and think about making another batch of hot sauce. And Erin just walked by the remind me we bought a bag of grass seed to fill in patches in the front yard.#

We spent a bunch of hours learning about windows and doors today, and looking through the catalogs, and poring over the plans. We're going room by room and making notes on window shapes and sizes and styles (fixed or awning or casement or slider). My brain is mush, but we're making progress.#

Builder drove up. We chatted outside. We signed the contract. It's quite a large number but we know he'll build an excellent structure, which we've designed with the help of an architect friend. Here we go.#

I'm thinking of reusing storian.org as the domain for my Drummer blog. Yumi stap storian was a blog I created as a Peace Corps third-goal effort to connect the U.S. to Vanuatu. I failed at that, but I love the domain. Storian is a Bislama word that means to have a conversation, or to tell a story, or to chat with friends. #

I added urlBlogWebsite and my blog is now at drum.stor.im (at least until I land on a better domain). That change initially broke my images because I was storing them in the same domain forlder, but I moved the images and am updating the links in the headers. #

I was reading the Change Notes, and Dave is updating it in real time. The icon is the world. I was reading the bottom note, and every time Dave wrote more in the note above, the lower note closed. Was driving me nuts. Then I remembered the lock feature in the iconbar. Right now as I type in my blog.opml tab I see the world icon has changed to green, so there's more to read in Change Notes.#

Just finished a family meal, the first at our dinner table with all the children since Anna went back to college and the big dig for the plumbing repair. Anna's home for fall break, Malia got back from a weekend camp, Oliver recovered from a tough loss at the soccer tournament, and even Tilly was back from a weekend stay at the kennel. I made a family favorite: fennel-crusted tuna.#

Oliver played two games today with his soccer team in the Burlington Shoot Out. He had the ball on his feet many times, and wow did he burst toward the goal. Alas, a lot of shots, but all into the arms of the goalie. In between games, we went for coffee and snacks, then back to the park to wait. The rain had stopped, so I sat in the back of the Ranger and listened to Dave's audio update about Drummer. Back at the house, Erin and I sat at the dining table with Layton, who will build our new house, and we reviewed the plans and cleared up some details to help us get ready to go.#

Following the link to my own antonzuiker.com page, I noticed that's a big out of date, so I'm going to update it to reflect my current work. I recently wrote a blog post about my resume at Zuiker Chronicles. #

I went into the office to work today, to focus and write, so I was offline and without my personal laptop. But on my phone I saw the nice note on Scripting News.#

Just got an email about the Tableau Conference, read the preview and thought, so cool @10ch is keynote. But, oh, it's that other Beck, as special musical guest. #

Wishing safe travels to my father.#

There's a new font from the Atipo Foundry. This one is called Novela, and it looks nice although I dislike the lowercase y. I may buy the font anyway.#