Bird Mail 037
Happy New Year Bird Mail Club!
Once again, it has been a bit since my last message. There are reasons, but they don’t seem to matter as much as making sure this issue hits your mailbox this Tuesday.
This week’s Bird Mail is a short one using the “Five Nice Things” method that I discovered through Jason Kottke, who borrowed it from Siobhan O’Connor’s technique for getting unstuck from crappy feelings. I’ll let Siobhan explain,
You take turns naming things that are nice. Five is the number. It can be a thing that makes you happy, a compliment for the other person, a win at work, “This broccoli is tasty,” whatever. It’s a bit sappy, but it’s not the sappiest, and the rules were: Don’t overthink it, and be specific.
Here are my Five Nice Things from since I last wrote you all.
- Bird and I don’t usually sit down to watch much TV—it was a minor feat that we finished The Queen’s Gambit in a reasonable time. The one show that we have watched not once, but twice, this year is Ted Lasso. I am not even sure where to begin with why Ted Lasso is so great. Perhaps it is the way the characters are developed throughout the ten episodes. Or maybe it’s the way that Ted, and others, are the rare model of nurturing modern men, which is not something media tends to portray. I think it might be the way it gave me the words semantic satiation, which is something we’ve all experienced, but never had the name for. Whatever the reasons, Ted Lasso is a delight, and the perfect wholesome, uplifting show for this dumpster fire of a year.
- It’s far too late for a Bird Mail gift guide, so in lieu of that I want to recommend some BS. Specifically Boy Smells. These candles are not cheap—though they aren’t Le Labo priced—but for the money they burn for a long time and the scents are excellent. Favorites include Cashmere Kush, Hinoki Fantôme, LES, and the Kacey Musgraves signature Slow Burn.
- If you’ve been reading Bird Mail for a while, you know that I am a big fan of what I would call “Food YouTube.” The Babish Culinary Universe, Claire Saffitz, and George Motz’s Burger Scholar Sessions are some of my favorites. Bird found a most relaxing TikTok account that also happens to be a YouTube channel. Men with the Pot is cooking ASMR at its finest. I’ve never seen someone handle such a large knife so deftly, and watching someone cook over an open fire in a Lord of the Rings scene is relaxing.
- Winter can be a difficult time for cyclists, what with having to spend twenty extra minutes putting on layer after layer and hunting down that one missing glove before going out to ride in the cold and/or wet. Sometimes, it just doesn’t feel worth it for 60-90 minutes of riding. Lately, Bird and I have been rucking, which is nothing more than putting a heavy weight in a backpack and walking about with it. Hiking is a form of rucking. We put twenty pound weight plates in our rucksacks and ruck around Austin with our little dog. It makes a simple walk more challenging and has the added benefit of being easier to do than riding in miserable winter weather.
- Bird Mail Official Endorsement: Misunderstood Ginger Spiced Whiskey. A friend of mine from college (JD) co-founded Misunderstood a few years ago and it wasn’t until 2020 that I was able to try a bottle. Other than some dabbling with Fireball in the days when I partied with JD, I didn’t have much experience with flavored whiskey. Misunderstood is a wonderful whiskey and the ginger adds a spiciness without overpowering the bourbon. I recommend snagging a bottle and mixing up my new winter favorite cocktail.
Maple Ginger Old Fashioned
serves 1
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces Misunderstood Whiskey
- ½ tbsp maple syrup (I like my old fashioned less sweet, add more maple syrup if you like)
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- splash of water
- 1 big-ass ice cube
- Luxardo cherry for garnish
Directions:
Mix Misunderstood whiskey, maple syrup, bitters, and 1 tsp. water in an old-fashioned glass until syrup is dissolved. Add your big-ass ice cube, then garnish with Luxardo cherry.
Cheers y’all 🥃,
Bruce
If you enjoyed this issue and aren’t already getting Bird Mail every other Tuesday, you can join the small, but growing, group of birders here(https://buttondown.email/birdmail) to get more—but not too many—emails about design, bicycles, art, technology, and anything else on the internet I find worth adding to my collection. If you want to share Bird Mail with someone you know, simply forward this email to them.