I temporarily jumped on the AI bandwagon by asking Copilot to suggest a new song for me to like. First, I scrolled through the 1,216 songs I have saved on my phone, and selected the ones that I really, really like – my favorites of my favorites, basically. Then, I copied that list of songs (there were about 100 in that list) and dropped it into Copilot and said “Here are my favorite songs. Based on my preferences, provide what you think would be my favorite song that is not already listed here.”

I figured Copilot would just offer me a song by one of the artists on the list, a song which I probably already know and like, but just wasn’t on this abbreviated list. So I added, “Be sure that the song you recommend is not performed by any of the artists listed above.”

Here’s what Copilot said:

Thanks for sharing your list! Based on your preferences, here’s what I notice:

• You enjoy lyrically rich, introspective songs (Paul Simon, Mason Jennings, John Lennon).
• You like classic rock and iconic bands (Beatles, U2, Queen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin).
• There’s a mix of folk, alternative, and progressive elements (Simon & Garfunkel, Radiohead, Crosby, Stills & Nash).
• You appreciate songs with strong storytelling and emotional depth.

Given that, and avoiding all the artists already listed, I recommend:

“The Sound of Silence” (Disturbed version)
Why?

• It’s a powerful reinterpretation of a classic Simon & Garfunkel song, but by a completely different artist (Disturbed is not on your list).
• It has the introspection and lyrical depth you seem to love, combined with a dramatic, modern arrangement that adds emotional weight.

Other strong contenders you might love:

• “Black Hole Sun” – Soundgarden (dark, poetic, alternative rock vibe similar to Radiohead)
• “Hotel California” – Eagles (classic storytelling, iconic instrumentation)
• “Hurt” – Nine Inch Nails (or Johnny Cash’s cover) (raw emotion, haunting tone)
• “Creep” – Radiohead (but you already have Radiohead listed, so skip this one)

…Okay, that was a pretty good response. I know all of these songs, and they’re all good songs. However, I already have “The Sound of Silence,” only I have the Simon & Garfunkel original. Actually, I have two versions of that song on my phone – the other is a live version performed by Paul Simon in the 1990s. So, I don’t think I need yet another version. I also have Johnny Cash’s version of “Hurt” on my phone, and though I don’t have “Creep” on my phone, I do have other Radiohead songs, as Copilot noted.

Therefore, I decided to add one more caveat. I said, “Okay, recommend a different song, but no covers of songs.” Copilot then responded by suggesting “The Man Who Sold the World,” by David Bowie. Again, a good choice, but I already have the Nirvana version on my phone. So I then requested Copilot provide me with 10 songs, figuring one or two would be new to me. It replied:

1. The Man Who Sold the World – David Bowie
   Haunting, poetic, and introspective—perfect for fans of Pink Floyd and Paul Simon.
2. Hotel California – Eagles
   Iconic storytelling and rich instrumentation, similar to your love for Beatles and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
3. Black Hole Sun – Soundgarden
   Dark, surreal lyrics with a grunge edge—great for fans of Radiohead and U2.
4. Hurt – Nine Inch Nails
   Raw emotion and depth, resonates with the introspective tone of Mason Jennings and Pink Floyd.
5. Life on Mars? – David Bowie
   Dreamlike and lyrically complex, appealing to fans of Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel.
6. Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac
   Classic rock with emotional honesty, similar to Billy Joel and Elton John vibes.
7. No Rain – Blind Melon
   Alternative rock with a reflective, melodic feel—great for fans of Radiohead and Mason Jennings.
8. Wish You Well – Bernard Fanning
   Modern folk-rock with heartfelt lyrics, in the spirit of Paul Simon and Mason Jennings.
9. Round Here – Counting Crows
   Narrative-driven, moody alternative rock—perfect for fans of Simon and U2.
10. The Pretender – Foo Fighters
    Dynamic, powerful rock with introspective undertones—ideal for fans of U2 and Queen.

Pretty interesting, I’d say. I already have songs #1 and 4 on my phone (albeit by different performers), and I have song #9 on my phone already as well. The only two songs on here that I did not know were #8 and #10. So, all in all, a good exchange between me and our new robotic overlords.

Here is a list of all the books I completed reading in 2025.

I finished reading 28 books this year, which is the least amount of books I’ve read in a year in a long time. In 1997, I read 28 books, and every year since then I’ve read between 33 and 75 books. Until this year. Refer to the post below, “Movies I Saw in 2025,” for an explanation.

The shortest book I read this year is Benito Cereno, by Herman Melville, with only 78 pages. The longest book on this list is the 462-page An Immense World, by Ed Yong. I read three of these books for school; besides the Melville novel, this also includes One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Yellow Birds. This trio of novels, plus A Father Reads to His Children and When We Cease to Understand the World are the only fiction books on the list. My five favorite books from the year appear in bold.

TITLE	AUTHOR(S)
50 Universe Ideas You Really Need to Know	Baker, Joanne
Ask A Historian: 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know	Jenner, Greg
Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune	Cooper, Anderson / Howe, Katherine
Benito Cereno	Melville, Herman
Condom Nation: The U.S. Government’s Sex Education Campaign from World War I to the Internet	Lord, Alexandra
Cunk On Everything: The Encyclopedia Philomena	Cunk, Philomena
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…And It’s All Small Stuff	Carlson, Richard
Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World, the	Freeland, Jonathan
Father Reads to His Children, a	compilation
Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution	Dawkins, Richard
Genius of Birds, the	Ackerman, Jennifer
Hidden World of the Fox, the	Brand, Adele
How to Do Things You Hate: Self-Discipline to Suffer Less, Embrace the Suck, and Achieve Anything	Hollins, Peter
Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, an	Yong, Ed
Little Book of Lost Words: Collywobbles, Snollygosters, and 86 Other Surprisingly Useful Terms Worth Resurrecting, the	Gillard, Joe
Logic of Miracles: Making Sense of Rare, Really Rare, and Impossibly Rare Events, the	Mérő, László
Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy	Stewart, Katherine
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest	Kesey, Ken
Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowstone’s Underdog, the	McIntyre, Rick
Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body	Ackerman, Jennifer
Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets, the	Singh, Simon
Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, the	Kolbert, Elizabeth
Stuffocation: Why We’ve had Enough of Stuff and Need Experience More than Ever	Wallman, James
Travels with Charley: In Search of America	Steinbeck, John
Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea, the	Hoare, Philip
When We Cease to Understand the World	Labatut, Benjamín
Who’s Bigger?: Where Historical Figures Really Rank	Skiena, Steven / Ward, Charles B.
Yellow Birds, the	Powers, Kevin

I don’t think I’ll see any more movies in the remaining few days of this year, so here’s a list of every motion picture I saw for the first time in 2025.

I saw 49 movies for the first time in 2025; this is fewer than the number of movies I’ve seen in any of the previous 10 years. I would attribute this relatively low value to two things. First, I am working on my graduate degree, and this year I completed four courses and, so, a few times when I would have watched a movie, I was busy working on schoolwork. Second, I was feeling pretty down during the second half of the year and often did not feel like watching a movie. In fact, only 21 of the movies on this list are ones that I watched during the second half of the year.

I saw four films at the theater this year, and nine films while on an airplane. Three of these films are animated. The shortest film on this list is 75-minute long Velocipastor, and the longest is The Great Race, which is 160 minutes long. These are also, coincidentally, the two lowest-rated films on this list. Velocipastor is also the first movie I saw this year (watched with my kids on January 3rd). The most recent movie I saw this year is Wake Up Dead Man, which Brycie and I watched on December 26th. The month in which I watched the most movies is June, with nine. The month in which I saw the fewest movies is September, when I saw only Cool Runnings. The oldest movie on this list is The Reluctant Dragon, from 1941. The newest movie on this list is Wake Up Dead Man, which was just released a few weeks ago.

Anyway, next to each movie’s title is a rating of 0 (complete waste of time) to 10 (among the best films I’ve ever seen). The third column indicates the year in which the film was released. Film titles in bold print are ones that I saw at the theater. The English title of non-English films appears in parenthesis after the title.

TITLE	RATING	YEAR OF RELEASE
28 Days Later	8	2002
Ainda Estou Aqui (I’m Still Here)	8	2024
All of Me	6	1984
Anora	8	2024
Argylle	8	2024
Bedazzled	4	2000
Children of the Corn	5	1984
Come Play	6	2020
Companion	8	2025
Conclave	8	2024
Cool Runnings	5	1993
Death of a Unicorn	5	2025
Death of Stalin, the	7	2017
Depravity	5	2024
Elio	6	2025
Emilia Pérez	5	2024
Evil Dead, the	6	1981
Fantastic Four: First Steps, the	6	2025
Final Destination	5	2000
Final Destination 2	5	2003
Final Destination 3	4	2006
Final Destination 5	4	2011
Final Destination, the	4	2009
Final Destination Bloodlines	6	2025
Fish Called Wanda, a	5	1988
Great Race, the	3	1965
IF	4	2024
It Ends With Us	4	2024
Joker: Folie à Deux	4	2024
Lilo and Stitch	4	2002
Naked Gun, the	8	2025
National Treasure	5	2004
Nickel Boys	5	2024
Real Pain, a	8	2024
Reluctant Dragon, the	5	1941
Return of Swamp Thing, the	4	1989
Sand, the	5	2015
Shallow Hal	4	2001
Soldier’s Story, a	8	1984
Straume (Flow)	9	2024
Substance, the	4	2024
Superman	6	2025
Swamp Thing	5	1982
Twisters	4	2024
VelociPastor	3	2017
Wake Up Dead Man	8	2025
Woman in Cabin 10, the	7	2025
Woman in the Yard, the	5	2025
Zombeavers	5	2014

When I was a teenager, I made a list of things that I had wanted to do, and had done. One item was that I wanted to visit Disney World, and I did, when I was twelve. On that occasion, however, the ride “It’s a Small World” was closed for repairs, so I did not get to go on that ride. So I also made a second list of things I wanted to do at some point in my life, and I added “ride the ‘It’s a Small World’ ride at Disney World” to that list. As the years progressed, other things attracted my attention, and I added them to my list. Some of them were big things – such as owning my own home or obtaining a bachelor’s degree – and others were relatively small things, such as reading a smutty romance novel or having a backyard garden. As I accomplished or achieved various goals, I moved them from my list of things of I wanted to do, to my list of things I was glad I did. Eventually, of course, I did own my own house, and so I was able to move that item. I even read a smutty romance novel, and if you want to read about that silly adventure, visit this old blog post.

Once, about 20 years ago, I posted online my Ultimate To-Do List, which recounted nearly all my goals in life. I say “nearly” because I left off certain personal goals, such as things about my mental and physical health. Like I said, that was 20 years ago and a lot has changed since. Here, then, in no particular order, is an updated list of things I’d like to do at some point in my life…

• Obtain a Master’s degree
  • I added this to my to-do list back when I achieved my undergraduate degree and, guess what? I am on track to complete this goal by the summer of 2026.
• Attend a science fiction convention
• Be a member of a TV audience
• Be a tour guide
  • Probably saving this for my later years. I’d love to do this at some historic site.
• Step foot in every US state
  • I’m getting there! I’ve been to 40 of our nation’s states. I’d love to accomplish this within the next 8 years, because then I’ll have been to all 50 of them within 50 years.
• Visit Denali National Park
• Visit the Hennepin History Museum
  • Okay, this one is almost laughable. It’s not very far away, it’s not very expensive, and I could just drive there right now. In fact, I’ve probably tried to visit it 20 times since I first learned of its existence 6 years ago, but something kept postponing it. Once I actually do visit this museum, I’ll make a maudlin blog post detailing the hilarious misadventure.
• Visit Yellowstone National Park
• See the Grand Canyon
• See the big trees in California
• Travel across the Golden Gate Bridge
• Visit Voyageur’s National Park
• Ride a Segway
• Visit the Wabasha Street Caves
• Visit Las Vegas
• See a concert at First Avenue
  • As much as I love music, concerts are not really my thing. They’re often overpriced, too crowded, and take place in lousy venues. Still, I’d like to find out firsthand what is the big deal about this place.
• Visit a Presidential Museum or Library
  • I almost achieved this goal in October. I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and only about ten miles away from the Gerald Ford Presidential Library. This seemed like a good presidential library to visit, as Ford was President when I was born. Alas, the government shutdown rendered this museum closed during my entire time in Michigan. So…hopefully another day.
• Try my hand at glassblowing
  • I used to have a renter in my workshop who used the workshop for precisely this activity. It seemed pretty cool.
• Bowl higher than 150
  • This should come as a surprise to no one, but I’m completely abysmal when it comes to all sports. I do, however, enjoy bowling, and I’m at least reasonably competent at it. I’ve come close to a half-perfect game, but have never quite gotten there.
• Visit the Boundary Waters
• Visit the Northwest Angle
• Make something out of pottery
• Visit New Orleans
• Ride a unicycle
• See every film directed by Buster Keaton
• Observe the planet Uranus through my telescope
  • This in one of those goals I could do from the comfort of my own home, ostensibly. Alas, whenever said planet is in the sky, the weather is not accommodating, or there’s too much light pollution, or I haven’t succeeded in finding it via my telescope. I’ll keep trying.
• Observe the planet Neptune through my telescope.
  • Ditto.
• Attend a state- or national-level session of Congress
• Visit the Academy of Motion Pictures Museum
• Publish a second book
  • Okay, so I didn’t really enjoy the process of publishing a book, but I don’t want to be a one-and-done type of author.
• Visit every one of the Minnesota State Historical Society’s sites
  • There are 26 sites; I’ve been to 16. I even have a water bottle with 26 spots for stickers to place on it as I visit each one. I definitely plan to visit at least one in 2026, but achieving this goal might be hampered due to some of the sites being indefinitely closed.
• Visit the Continental Divide
  • I recently read the book Travels with Charlie, by John Steinbeck. In one scene in the book, he comes upon the Divide and gets out of his jalopy to stand astride it for a moment and he wrote about how, even though it’s not much to look at, it’s a pretty cool thing to think about. So, I wanna do that. Actually, I maybe have driven (and have definitely flown) over it during my travels, but I did not pay attention to it. I’d like to be intentional about it next time.
• Keep up with the Oscar winners for Best Picture
  • I suppose I have achieved this goal, because I have seen every motion picture that has ever won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Still, the powers-that-be over at the Oscars insist on anointing a new winner each year, and so I am compelled to seek out and watch the latest winner each year.
• Take a train ride to a destination in the US
  • Okay, so I’ve probably been on dozens of train rides, but they have all been just a quick jaunt for fun (such as a 2-hour ride through Duluth and back that Brycie and I took a couple years ago), or have been in another country (I took at least 6 train rides in Germany), or have been short trips within a big city (like when I took the light rail to the Minneapolis Pride Parade back in June). But what I’m talking about here is a serious ride – one that takes hours – and go across the country.
• Be in one of those olde tyme photos
  • This just seems like something everyone does at some point in their lives. Everyone’s got a picture like this hanging in there house. Even I do…but it’s a picture of my kids. I wanna dress like an Old West gunslinger and proudly display it on my wall.
• Visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

There you go. Thirty-six things I’d like to do. If you are doing any of these things soon, or know a way to make them happen for me, let me know! I’d love to join in.

One idea both my therapist and my fiancee proposed to me recently, was to make a list of things I really enjoy. This might enhance my mood, or give me something to read over when I’m feeling down. So here it is: 52 relatively small things that I enjoy doing, seeing, or otherwise participating in.

Why 52? Well, I wanted at least 50. The initial list was about a dozen items long, and then I kept adding to it until I passed the 50-threshold. I tried keeping it to an even 50, but I went a bit over that, and couldn’t find anything to combine or delete.

A few clarifications: I tried to keep it to small, repeatable things. For example, my recent trip to Hawaii was amazing, but that is not very small. Likewise, attaining my 4-year degree provided me with a wonderful sense of accomplishment, but it’s not repeatable. Also, I tried to provide a variety of things. Like most people, I could easily have made this a list of 50 movies I like to watch, or 50 foods I enjoy eating, but I didn’t want the list to become narrowly focused.  I tried to avoid schadenfreude (and except for #41 and 49, I think I did) because I was trying to be completely positive here. Finally, the list is rated G, by which I mean I only listed things that I would feel comfortable having my underage children read. Understand?

Okay, here it is:
1. When I pull into a parking space, and the spot in front of mine is open, so I can pull through and then, when it’s time to leave, I don’t have to back out.
2. When it is snowing and it’s after dusk, and the new white snow is lit only by the moon and the streetlights and the Xmas lights, and it forms just the perfect bib on the roof of my little free library, and I am watching this from the comfort of my living room.
3. Tea.
4. Pretty much any food made from potatoes.
5. Tacos.
6. When I’m listening to a good song, and the best part comes on.
7. When I take off my socks at the end of the day and I scratch my ankles.
8. When I am at one of the top floors of a tall building, and I look out at the vista.
9. The sights, sounds, and smells of a bonfire. Bonus: I smell it on my clothes hours later!
10. The smell of bookstores.
11. When I get a new book.
12. Cacti. They’re such bad ass plants.
13. Petrichor.
14. When it’s spring, and the ice closest to the ground has melted, but the ice just above that has not melted yet, and so I can step on it, and it cracks.
15. When I go to bed at night…and it’s raining. Bonus: It’s a thunderstorm!
16. When I wake up in the morning and I’m just so comfortable I don’t want to move at all because everything feels just right. Bonus: There’s a purring cat curled up next to me.
17. When my elbow/ankle/wrist/knee/neck/back/finger/toe feels a little stiff, and I get it to crack.
18. When someone distracts me from reading a book, and I realize I was so into it that I forgot the rest of the world was even happening.
19. Playing board/card/dice games – especially ones that rely more on skill than luck.
20. Maps.
21. When I’m at one of those restaurants where they just set a basket of bread on the table. Bonus: Instead of bread, it’s chips and salsa!
22. When I step into a swimming pool and the water temperature is perfect.
23. When I get a haircut, and they shave my neck.
24. Optical illusions. Especially that one that makes it look like wheels are going backward.
25. When I approach a vending machine, and there’s change sitting in the coin return.
26. When I’m about halfway through watching a film, and I realize, wow – this is better than I thought it would be. Bonus: I’m 90% of the way through a film and I realize it’s one of the best films I’ve ever seen.
27. When I hear or read a bit of trivia, because – holy cow! – that is so interesting!
28. Peeling off labels and wrappers.
29. That first time in the fall when I have to close the windows and turn on the heat, and that first time in the spring when I get to open the windows.
30. When I get to update one of my lists. I keep lists of everything – big ones include my lists of books I’ve read and movies I’ve viewed.
31. When I get a card or a letter in the mail. Or money.
32. When I’m somewhere with minimal light pollution and the night sky looks amazing. Bonus: I brought my telescope with me.
33. Bicycling or walking to a destination.
34. When I’m riding my bike, and the odometer displays something significant, like 123 or 500.
35. Any day that I don’t have to drive anywhere. Bonus: Any day that I don’t have to get into a car at all.
36. When I enter a conference room at work, and there are leftovers from a prior meeting.
37. Traveling past a mobile home park. Yeah, this is probably the weirdest one on this list. I can’t explain it. There’s just such a certain nostalgia.
38. When I successfully dislodge a food particle from between my teeth.
39. When I’m pushing a cart or hand-truck, and the opportunity to ride it arises.
40. When a circular object does this:

41. When I sneak food or beverages into a movie theater. Yeah, theatergoing is so bad now, this is really the biggest joy I get from the experience.
42. Watching birds at a feeder or a birdhouse. Bonus: There’s a bird sitting on my arm!
43. When I sit in my living room, or really any room in the house, and it’s so clean it is just perfect and I can’t even find anything to correct.
44. Giving out candy to trick-or-treaters on Halloween.
45. Collecting swag at conferences.
46. When I pull out my Viewmaster collection and watch a few reels.
47. Kayaking, canoeing, paddleboating, or paddleboarding
48. Flipping something, like this:

49. When a credit card company mails me an offer, and I rip up the offer, put it in their “no postage necessary” envelope, and mail it back to them.
50. Listening in on the Wassip Session.
51. Doing jigsaw puzzles.
52. When I visit a museum, historical site, zoo, library, or monument.