iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Baby Boomers are fascinated with following each other's flights when they travel. "What's your flight number? I'll put it into the tracking app." I'm sure it's meant as a kind gesture. I'm just not sure what it actually accomplishes.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Today is the ten-year anniversary of the second Trump-Clinton Presidential Debate. I live-tweeted it, and that blow-by-blow color commentary now lives in Facebook Memories as an annual reminder that I used to think politics was fun and interesting and how society figured out its problems. Ah, well.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Okay, Chicago. It's been fun. See you again next month. Toronto? Leave the porchlight on. I'm coming home.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I have a friend whose wife is a high-level (international on several continents but not-quite Olympic) triathlete. A slogan among triathletes that I'll paraphrase: "If you don't collapse trembling and vomiting at the finish line, you didn't give it all you had to give." I think about that a lot.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Okay. We're on the plane. Chicago? It's been a minute, and I'm not staying long this time around, but this new gig of mine will see me visiting you three times a year for the foreseeable future. Let's get reacquainted.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

My first work trip with the new job (and my first work trip in 16 months) has me up early enough that the dog didn't get out of bed to see me off. She just moved over. "Where's Geoff going at this ungodly hour? Who cares. I'm going to steal his warm spot..." She's got her priorities straight.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I grew up in a town small enough that everyone knew why any piece of road infrastructure got installed. It always involved someone getting hit by a car. "Crosswalk in front of the school?" Kid hit by car. "Four-way stop now has a light?" Car hit a pedestrian. "Bike lane?" Bicyclist hit by car.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

My dog and I have a little tradition where we split a babybel as a midnight snack. Today my wife asked me to put a babybel into my lunchbag. Eating it without my dog around somehow feels wrong. The crinkle of the plastic doesn't beckon her, and I'm supposed to eat this whole thing by myself?

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

One of the great joys of ending a prolonged job hunt is unsubscribing from all the notifications and unfollowing all the LinkedIn pages. I can actually feel my inbox becoming less cluttered every time I get a push notification for something and go hunting for the 'take me off your list' option.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I would love to see how the demographics of the 'suckers born every minute' line up over the decades and generations. Do today's crypto-bros occupy the same socio-economic, educational, and religious demographics as the people who bought snake oil patent medicine in the 19th Century?

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

That's a great deal. For anyone who likes a really smart take on 'cosmic dread popcorn fiction with heart and a sense of humour,' Jason Pargin has basically invented his own genre.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

One of my regrets about being a Torontonian who follows politics is I know who Warren Kinsella is. One of the nice things about that is understanding what Warren Kinsella bailing on the consensus-Conservative- candidate-for-mayor's campaign means for its internal polling numbers.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The Jeremy Allen White Springsteen movie, "Deliver Me From Nowhere," was focused specifically on the writing of this album. I enjoy Springsteen without being a devoted fan. The movie was so obviously a love letter to those devoted fans, it made me listen to several of his albums and do some reading.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'm the genealogy nerd in my generation. My aunt was walking me through her notes (she was the nerd of her generation). There was a whole thing in the 1950s where the family was sure they were related to an NHL referee. Dozens of letters, back and forth, of him denying it. We're not related.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The only other person in the world with my name (to my knowledge) was in Ireland in the 1990s. I say 'was' because his online footprint stopped around the time I went to university. I have a terrible feeling he died an early death.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"Stay Glued to Glud" "Not Afraid to Glud the Lily" "You'll be Glad it's Glud. We sqeeze in another Glud pun here with the thanks of our AI tool... Glud glud gludgludglud."

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

But if you don't promise to bring in one of the Big 4 to audit City Hall while making campaign promises based on all the savings you're sure they'll find, have you really run for mayor as the consensus Conservative candidate? Something-something-run-government-as-a-business!

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

...They don't want teenagers hanging out at the mall? The Mall doesn't want that? Was this Mall a mall back when malls were a big deal? Teenagers hanging out in malls used to be ubiquitous enough to be the go-to reference for ubiquity. Did teenagers stop having money? Is that the problem?

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I lived on Euclid Ave in Toronto in my mid-20s. I look at addresses all the time in my career, and it jumps out at me how many different cities have a Euclid Street or Avenue or Road or what-have-you. I guess 19th & 20th Century city planners all knew their ancient Greek geometers and logicians.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Spotted this on LinkedIn. As a conference producer (of one kind or another) for 17 years, this is a solid piece of 'who can I send this to who will understand both the terror and absurdity of this?' humour.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The Phoenix was a big part of my early 20s. I really had nothing to do with it as all in my 30s. If it's going to move out to where I'm living now that I'm in my 40s? Well, I'm long past my clubbing days, but I'd go see some live music from time to time to support a Canadian/Torontonian institution.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I lived in Chatham, Ontario, from the third grade until the end of high school. For about half that time, my father ran his business in an office across from a bar called Mike's Place. It burned down last night after 48 years in business. That seems worth sharing. cknewstoday.ca/chatham/news...

cknewstoday.ca

UPDATE: Overnight fire causes roughly $1M in damage to Chatham restaurant

A fire has caused $1 million in property damage to Mike's Place restaurant and bar in Chatham.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

AI is the furthest realization of the tech industry's philosophy of building valuations on the sizzle, not the steak. Hundreds of billions in economic activity churning around on the premise of what it could do someday, and do you want to be left behind? Meanwhile, it doesn't actually generate ROI.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

There is a lot of criticism about the value and utility of a university education these days. My best single takeaway from my time at university was discovering over and over again that not only was I not the smartest kid, but that there are lots of type of 'smart' and I'm average at most of them.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Saw this katydid (bush cricket) yesterday. I immediately recognized it from the last time I saw one on a beach in Algonquin Provincial Park ~20 years ago. I've also 'not seen' hundreds between now and then. Their camouflage is so good, you need them on a contrasting background to pick them out.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Do you ever write out a script to be read aloud, use a semicolon, and ask yourself, "Who's that for?"

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Baby shampoo doesn't sting if you get it in your eye. Who decided adults should suffer? I want to be treated like an infant!

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I enjoy that Toronto's Old City Hall stands next to Toronto's New City Hall, which has been the 'New' city hall for ~60 years while also being only ~60 years older than the 'Old' city hall. I enjoy a lot of boring things, I guess...

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

How interesting! I've been aware in a vague way for years that many of Toronto's wards had names before they were numbered. I didn't realize they were all named for saints, or that so many of them do live on in political and transit monikers ~120 years after they were abandoned.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I love a clever bookstore with a clever sign.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Aside from all the other reasons to be unhappy with this list, why would the New York Times' definitive list of the best television of the 21st Century come out in late-summer of 2026? We all know they're going to revisit this topic several times a year, every year, forever.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Why is it whenever we calmly, quietly like something, someone tries to turn it up to 11 and ruins it? (Canada is strangely the world's largest consumer per capita of Kraft Dinner/Boxed Mac'n'Cheese. I struggle to imagine a single Canadian who'll consume this product more than maybe once on a bet.)

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

A few days ago I heard: "God is the name of the blanket we throw over The Mystery to give it shape" And I have the distinct impression this is going to be something I repeat from time to time for the rest of my life that best articulates my preferred flavour of agnosticism.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I say this as a one-time David Soknacki fan. This photo has powerful David Socknacki vibes. Some candidates for municipal government just put out painfully uncool vibes when trying to walk around and 'be normal.'

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I get him to put some product in my hair at the end. I want to see what he thinks I'm going to do. So far he pretty consistently gives me, "Aging Middle Eastern Dictator Who Seized Power in an Idealistic Coup but Whose Values are as Corrupted as His Greying Coif." (I'll comb it normal tomorrow.)

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I got a haircut this morning. My new regular barber is Iranian. At the end of every visit he asks me if I want my eyebrows trimmed. No one has ever asked me that before. Is it a Persian thing, or am I getting to that age where it's becoming an issue, or have my eyebrows always needed maintenance?

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Reposted by Geoff Micks

Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This fresco depicts Cerberus, guardian of the underworld with Hercules left, who subdued him, and Mercury right. It was buried in a tomb for 2,000 years and only uncovered in 2023, which makes its vibrancy even more remarkable. 🕰️C1stBC-2ndAD 🏛️Tomb of Cerberus, Giugliano #FrescoFriday

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I'm a happily married homeowner with a cool job who regularly travels for work and play, and I've written five novels. Twenty-year-old me thinks I've got it all figured out. Boy, do I have news for that guy...

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I was raised going to a barbershop where you waited your turn and talked with the other guys in the shop. There was a real culture to it. It took time, but that's okay. To this day, I don't like making an appointment. I like just walking in, but that's not how the world works anymore. Ah, well.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I've been a moderator myself, albeit in business conferences where most don't want to look silly in front of their peers. I feel a small portion of your pain. The general public is capable of some silly stuff, but an audience Q&A should be a forum for, well, audience Q&A. Weird folks see movies too.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

This is my current take on the whole conversation. What does 'Associate Member' mean? There is no answer yet. We're making it up as we go along. Hopefully mutually beneficial outcomes and diversifying economic and political alliances among like-minded peoples. The details will come in time.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I don't go to a lot of audience Q&A screenings, but when I do, I want the non-journalism unhinged stuff. There are media tours to give the canned answers. Let genuine fans who care enough to come out take their unfiltered swing. The people on stage have media training. They can handle themselves.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Have we gotten to the point where we're far enough from Nickelback in their prime that we can listen to them 'ironically'? (Really just nostalgically for the time in our lives when it was so mainstream it wasn't cool to be a fan while also knowing every word to every song...)

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I am still experimenting with when to leave for work in the mornings to arrive on time. Today I left ten minutes earlier than usual and arrived fifteen minutes earlier. That's how much traffic ramps up on a minute-by-minute basis in Toronto as you get closer to 9 am.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

As someone who still listens to terrestrial radio in the car, it has been fascinating watching Rock stations just admit there's not enough 'new' mass-appeal Rock anymore to justify having a whole station, so now anything people like that can broadly be called Rock of the last five decades is kosher.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

What's your Malaga connection? (I ask because we've established southwestern Ontario and Nova Scotia as common touchpoints already.) I spent a week there for work and play 10+ years ago. I can still recall its streets in detail if I close my eyes. I wrote it into two of my novels.

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Do you ever get a parking spot so good you wish you were on a more serious errand?

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Geoff Micks @faceintheblue.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

(I couldn't make it fit in the character-limit, but Roger's wife, James Ellis Deakins, is a script supervisor in her own right and an equal partner in both the podcast and Roger's body of work.)

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