iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ol’ Split Oar says— A man needs a hobby. I’m getting into birding. You wouldn’t believe how birders come running for a rarity. Working up a fake Red-throated Loon for the lake from an old decoy and gonna take photos.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Ol’ Split Oar says—I set up a bar at the lodge. Stumps for stools and all that rustic crap. Problem is, so far I’m the best customer. The wife would’ve been even better for business. I named a drink after her: The Drowned Lady.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A friend said, “It’s all over when they stop wiping your ass.” I'm not agreeing or disagreeing. I'll leave that to you.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Funny how people in a relationship start behaving more alike over time. Psychologists call it “behavioral synchrony.” Carla has started using ornate vocabulary that sounds a little odd out of her mouth. And my dishwashing is deteriorating towards “Costa Rican clean.”

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Carla lived for a long time in a traditional Costa Rican house—cinder block, no glass, no hot water at the sink. And stingy with the dish soap. When she came here, she washed dishes the same way. What I called “Costa Rican clean.” Yet now I’m doing a bit of that myself.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

An Updike interview line I read as a youth: “The hardest thing I do each day is climb the stairs to my writing room. And the second hardest thing I do is climb back down.” That job, I thought. I want that job.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

One time in high school I described a friend as having taken so much acid that his chromosomes looked like paisleys. Dad didn't believe I'd made up the line.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

An acquaintance once told me, “You seem like a guy who’s figured out that women are too much trouble.” He gave me a look. “Some people are too smart for their own good.”

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Couple of articles about raccoons this past year. One found drunk in a bathroom, another smoking crack or something. I’m thinking of pulling a stunt like that. Get my name in the goddamn papers.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Puget Sound beach walk. Tide falling. Crow perched on the ruins of a sand castle. Some kid learned about life.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Sometime during college I started a mock epic called Ballad of a Hippy. I was born at a Rainbow Gathering, Jupiter was aligned with Mars, My mama saved the afterbirth, And put it up in jars.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Clarke and I used to work on sailboats down at a marina on the Sound. Sanding and varnishing teak on our knees or butts. One day wanting the knee pads, I pointed and said, “Toss me those French love boots.”

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Thousands of Jimothy rookie cards were handed out at a Mariners game. Including one stupid “gold card.” Some girl just sold hers on eBay for $21,000. Insane! I used to babysit Jimothy. Cute kid, but inside he’s nothing special. I’m 10x wiser—where’s my damn card? — Gogu

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Man’s life has three phases and they proceed in order: fiction, nonfiction, and reference. — Gogu. Actually I came up with that line about 20 years ago, but I’m letting the raccoon take credit.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Ol’ Split Oar says, “We get folks at the lodge kinked dollar-sign shaped. It takes days for them to straighten out. That’s why we strongly recommend at least a one-week stay.”

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

At the heart of almost every successful business is a crime—Gogu

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Knew a woman who kept two giant snakes on bunk beds in the basement. One day, the upper bunk snake clamped the top of her head in its jaws. “You just have to wait for it to realize you’re not food and let go,” she explained. “I stood for an hour, blood dripping down my face.” I keep fish.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

My father forty years ago noting my attitude toward politics quoted a supposed Greek saying, “We don’t say a man who ignores politics minds his own business. Rather we say that man has no business here.”

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

January is my least favorite month. Cold, dark, long. So I celebrate a summer birthday—exactly six months later. Pisses Clarke off: his birthday is the next day.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Clarke used to work at a cheese shop. The owner hired young women for the counter. Clarke called them the cheese maidens. They used to complain of getting Taleggio butt.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

We got a Sears pool table when I was a kid. Dad bought a slim paperback by Willie Mosconi, the pool champion. One line stuck with me. “You know the guy. He’s a good shot maker--but then he has to be.” I’ve remembered it because I’m that guy. Never had much of a plan.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Even though I write crime novels, I don’t like cooking with tomato sauce because it always ends up looking like I murdered someone on my stove.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

The meek shall inherit the earth—just not that layer at the top— Gogu.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I admire Nelson Algren’s whores’ chatter. A mentally ill prostitute in a New Orleans bordello saying to no one, “I can fly like a bird. But why did I fly in here?”

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

It’s the funniest thing: the motor noise when my girlfriend vacuums the carpet is less irritating than when I do it.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

My father worked for the Office of Weights and Measures in D.C. A friend muttered,“You never had a chance,” as he passed by my fridge with its 3 timers, hygrometer, and my beer temp probe.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Ol’ Split Oar says, Up here in the mountains at Warm Lake the water comes to folks as a shock. But it isn’t called Warm Lake for the temp—it’s called that for the Memories. That’s what I tell the folks. In 2004 wife drowned in it, drunk.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Okay I have to admit Jimothy is cuter than me. He’s not marriageable material though. —Gogu

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Excuses I’ve gotten for not reading my book from friends who bought it: “This seems like a great summer beach read!” —said to me in winter “This seems like a great read for a cozy winter afternoon!” —said to me in summer

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Years ago in Idaho mini-marts near the mountains, by the register you’d see thin paperbacks of droll country wisdom written by people with folksy pen names like Doc Wood or Still Spry. I came up with one while up there: Ol’ Split Oar.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Ol’ Split Oar says, The lodge used to get a lot of business out of our rowboats. Now they’re puddled with algae. It’s all plastic kayaks now. You don’t propose to a woman in a kayak. You want a rowboat.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Ol’ Split Oar offers bits like, “Ain’t much wood in a hollow log.” Or, “East west, home is best. Besides, where else you gonna stay?”

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I asked my physical therapist if he read books. “Not anymore. I used to read fantasy.” A few seconds later he added, “I started a book on Stoicism but that was a couple of years ago.”

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Gogu here. Okay, Ballard has a viral raccoon named Jimothy. When’s my turn? I was working this neighborhood when Jimothy was just a screech in the night.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Having recently discovered she was a significant beneficiary of his will, she asked if she could start calling him “uncle.”

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

My dad used to wear clip-on ties to the lab. After a while a colleague noticed. “Reiner,” he said. “You’re living a lie.” Immediately, my dad switched to tying a bowtie each morning—they grew increasingly floral during the 70s.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Young S asked Clarke for life advice. “Don’t take up collecting,” he said.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Going for a walk with a friend after 9/11 and quoting the Auden poem from memory: “Sitting in a bar on 42nd Street, at the end of a low dishonest decade.” My friend turned. “That’s right, that’s exactly what that decade was.” Then he halted. “Oh wait. They’re all like that.”

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Everything happens for a reason. Basic physics. — Gogu

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

I told an acquaintance I missed his group Thanksgivings. “Don’t do them anymore,” he said. “Ha. Bunch of freeloaders.” They still have a cheese knife I left there.

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Joe & Gogu @joereiner.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

You know a man by his trash — Gogu

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