Altadena is a shabby, proudly unincorporated little town in a pretty part of LA. We moved here in 2015 because my wife sends things to other planets. Last October we were on the Cape watching the LARGEST SPACECRAFT EVER launch for Jupiter on a Falcon Heavy. On it, four instruments my wife oversaw. It was a glorious culmination of a five-year slog. Last Tuesday, warm in a Colorado condo with our...
Around 2020 I decide to make my birthday private on Facebook.For many years, it had felt special to hear from friends far-and-wide on FB, but as the years passed, it started to feel like a performative social duty and that I, past age 50, could not ask my pituitary to downshift for the once-a-year dopamine marathon. Worse, reciprocating “Happy Birthday” at 1,200 friends a year had...