In the Know #67: (Re)Connection

Last month I was fortunate enough to spend my birthday in the mountains of British Columbia, which is one of my favorite places on earth. We traveled up to Golden as a family, and stayed with old friends who have made their life there. Towards the end of our trip I went on a 3-day traverse of the Dogtooth Range with two close friends, starting at the top of Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, and walking 40km north over the mountains, camping in the alpine each night. We encountered all sorts of weather, from rain, snow, and hail on day 1, to beautiful sunny skies on day 2, and a bit of cold mountain gray to start day 3. It was a special trip, totally off the grid, with no defined trail to guide us — only a destination on a map to reach at the end of each day. Spending time with friends in this way felt like going back in time — both because I have known those two since I was 18 years old, and also because of the lack of distractions and sense of presence we all had, which now feels like such a luxury. It was a clear reminder of the importance of doing (and planning) these types of adventures, reconnecting with friends, and with my own wildness. Here’s a quick video with some of the best photos from the trip in case you want to check them out.

For this month, I’ve got a few recommendations as usual. If anything resonates with you, please let me know. This newsletter is mostly about connection, so I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time,

Jamie

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🌊 My favorite autobiography that I’m re-reading — Barbarian Days, by William Finnegan

I like to buy books at airports. It feels like there’s a strong element of fate involved in the process, which helps shape the trip itself, as well as the weeks/months that follow. I had just finished Tai Pan before our trip to BC and needed a change of pace from Asian historical fiction, so I was curious to see what fate (aka Green Apple Books) had in store for me. I first read Barbarian Days about 10 years ago — initially on Kindle when it first came out, and then as an audiobook with K on our long road trip when we moved from Toronto to San Francisco. For those unfamiliar, it’s a Pulitzer Prize winning autobiography by New Yorker writer William Finnegan, told through the lens of his lifelong pursuit of surfing. From growing up in SoCal and Hawaii, to discovering uncharted breaks in Asia and the South Pacific in the 70’s, and onto San Francisco and New York, it’s beautifully written and engaging even if you’re not a surfer. What I love most is the mindset he conveys of being dedicated to this craft, the beauty, danger, and individual character of the waves themselves, and the sense of adventure that pervaded his life. I’m currently midway through the chapter on San Francisco, which focuses on his experiences surfing big waves at Ocean Beach. It’s a place I’ve been hesitant to surf myself — it’s always spooked me and I’ve never had a good session there. Re-reading the book, I think a lot of my fear and apprehension come from how intimidating he paints it to be when the waves get big. With my shoulder healed and now living closer to OB myself, I’m planning to get back in the water there this fall and see how it goes. Highly recommended for anyone with a love of waves, or needing a dose of adventure.

PS — If you don’t have the time or desire to dive into the full book, here’s his original New Yorker essay about the Ocean Beach surf scene in the 80’s, upon which the San Francisco chapter was based. It’s more in depth and a great read on its own: Playing Doc’s Games Part 1 & Part 2.

📚 Book I like to keep close by — Consolations, by David Whyte

I love daily readers that you can dip into and set down as part of a regular practice. Consolations is a collection of fifty-two short, ~500 word essays, each on a single, everyday word. David Whyte is a poet, and while these are essays, they carry the cadence and depth of poetry. I love to read one if I have a few minutes alone with my coffee in the morning, or just before bed. The essays themselves have such depth that I often find myself re-reading sentences, even when I’ve read them many times before. There are of course a few favorites I keep coming back to — the most memorable being Courage, Destiny, and Genius. Pick it up if you’re looking to create a little space for reflection in your day.

PS — I loved David Whyte’s 2-part conversation with Rick Rubin’s on his Tetragrammaton podcast (November 2024). At ~2 hours per episode, they’re long, but they made for beautiful, peaceful listening on my morning commutes: Part 1 & Part 2.

📊 Finance app we’ve been loving — Copilot

Even though I lead finance at my company, budgeting at home was something I always found tedious, because it felt like I was bringing my work home with me. But we wanted to get a handle on where we were spending our money, so I asked around for recommendations, and Copilot seemed like the best option. Both K and I are both using it most days now. By linking all your bank and credit accounts, you basically get real time updates on all your transactions and account balances, and the automatic spend categorization seems to work quite well, especially after a bit of prompting. It’s a subscription only product ($95/year) with a 30-day free trial, and totally worth it in my opinion. The only caveat is that it’s available only on iOS. Give it a try if you want to better understand how and where you’re spending your money.

🌊 Poem that touched me — Fear, by Kahlil Gibran (h/t Joe Hudson on X)

It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.

Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that's where the river will know
it's not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.

❝ Quote that helps me put things in perspective —

"One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful."
~Sigmund Freud