On the topic of thestrals, this continues the theme of “mundanization” of magic found in the last book. The first books are all wide eyed wonder at magic: carriages that pull themselves, a majestic feast that magically appears on the tables. Now we pull the curtains back and realize that those are the results ofContinue reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Chapter 10”
Author Archives: Bryan Guido Hassin
Follow-up On Facebook
To follow up on my recent post about considering leaving facebook, I have decided not to leave but to change/refine my rules of engagement. Broadly this means only visiting facebook intentionally for a limited scope of reasons. Specifically, for each of the use cases I laid out in the previous post, this is my currentContinue reading “Follow-up On Facebook”
RIP Max the Golden Retriever
Tonight we lost Max, our English Cream Golden Retriever of nine and a half years. We adopted Max in 2010. Back then he was an energetic three year old with a penchant for counter cruising and eating things he wasn’t supposed to. He had more than a little separation anxiety from having been abandoned byContinue reading “RIP Max the Golden Retriever”
Leaving Facebook
I’m considering deleting my facebook account and seeking advice on a tech stack to replace its various functions in my life. Facebook provides a valuable service but unfortunately its business model is not aligned with the value it provides. It makes decision after decision that I disagree with ethically and it has been weaponized asContinue reading “Leaving Facebook”
Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker Review
Tonight we attended the first showing of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker and boy do I have some thoughts. My TL;DR non-spoiler review is that the film isn’t terrible but it’s very disappointing. It was mostly a OK film but then a couple of key decisions ruined it for me. In hindsight,Continue reading “Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker Review”
So Proud of Katie!
Tuesday I had the enormous privilege of attending Katie’s public PhD dissertation defense. What an incredible moment it was as my wife stood before her colleagues and presented her research findings, the culmination of her last six years of work and the reason for our cross-country move to North Carolina! To be clear, Katie’s dissertationContinue reading “So Proud of Katie!”
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 4
Can we talk about how OP Hermione is? She’s the smartest (IQ) of the Power Trio by far and then this scene (when Harry arrives at 12 Grimmauld Place and Hermione anticipates how he must be feeling / how to talk him down from his lashing out) demonstrates how she has the highest EQ asContinue reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 4”
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 2
As we are winding down for bed each night, we read a little bit with our toddler. Currently we are making our way through the Harry Potter series and just finished book 4 / started book 5. Book 5 / Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is where my online Harry Potter bookContinue reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 2”
Guest Post: Memo to Expecting Parents
This is a guest blog post from Katie, an amazing mother, partner, friend, and scientist: To my expecting friends, Congratulations on this exciting, terrifying and amazing path you are traversing! Here are a few musings that may be worth exactly what you are paying for them, but they are things I was thankful others preparedContinue reading “Guest Post: Memo to Expecting Parents”
Congratulations On Retirement, Mom!
I had the great honor yesterday to deliver some brief remarks at my mother’s retirement from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. As a curator of post-Apollo human spaceflight, Mom has had one of the coolest jobs in the world and I am incredibly proud of her. The party was a lot of funContinue reading “Congratulations On Retirement, Mom!”