Not My First Rodeo?

The Author With His Newborn Son | Courtesy B. Maschal Private Collection

As I cross over the one week mark of being a new dad (again), there have been lot of firsts. My daughter’s birth was anything but traditional. I also never had the experience of bringing her home from the hospital. So, when her little brother was born, it was technically not my first rodeo, but in many ways it certainly might as well be.Continue reading

Dad Bod

The Author Stands Pensively on a Massive Log in the Snow | Courtesy of the B. Maschal Private Collection

If bebe Breinholt’s expected date of arrival is any sort of accurate indication, I have one month to 6ish weeks to dial in my dad bod. When I mention “dad bod,” I’m not referring to the colloquial pooch and muffin-top versionContinue reading

February 2024 Playlist

We are squarely into the back third of winter. Sunset is now after 5PM. February is here, and it is leap year. Some jams for us to collectively enjoy during the next 29 days of February-

Learning From the Newbs

The Author, After Completing Some January BK Miles

With January, comes new year’s resolutions. I applaud all humans who have chosen a fitness goal to tackle in 2024. True to the cliche, the gyms were full to the brim for the first week of January (as determined by the very unscientific method of my personal observations). I typically only use the gym to change and shower, since my preferred workout is a lunchtime run of the Central Park Drive loop (which incidentally had been my M.O. long before this article was published, and I can tell you that it is not as nearly as much of a power move as they try to make it seem).Continue reading

2023 Recap in Photos from Jake’s iPhone

Dec. 2023 Party Cam Archives | Photo Cred: Michelle Santucci

2023 was a helluva year. It brought two pretty huge life events for me. One of those was actually a loss-of-life event, when we said goodbye to our little pooch, Lola. I only knew her for the second half of her nearly 16 years of life. But in that relatively short time, she definitely became one of my best friends. I started several times to write about her passing on Jake.News, but was never able to complete a draft suitable for publishing. However, Continue reading

A Brush With Royalty

A well documented peril of modern architecture is the fatal effects of plate glass on songbirds. It is super sad to me. There is a new building on the north side of Central Park that was recently profiled by the NY Times as being an exceptionally prolific killer. It is one of those things that I just have to try not to think about, because otherwise I get very upset, especially knowing that there is nothing that I can do about it.Continue reading

Top Tracks of 2023

As much as people say “IDGAF about your stupid Spotify ‘wrapped!'”, I personally fall squarely in the opposite camp. I love to see what people are listening to. I’m oftentimes surprised what I learn about my friends based on what they are listening to. For example, I found out this year that one of my friends was a closet Swifty! When I asked him about it, he was like “yeah I had her on repeat for like a month or so until I realized how mid her music is.” Ooookay, amigo, hehe. No shade on Swifties, or Taylor, for that matter. From what I can tell, she is a pretty decent person and obviously extremely talented. Just not my cup of tea, personally. Anyway, I feel like there must be others out there who enjoy learning what music other people like, as much as I do! Sooooo, these are mathematically the top 100 tracks that I listened to the most on Spotify over the course of 2023. Many of them are on my running playlists. So if it seems a bit skewed toward the EDM end of the spectrum, that’s why. Enjoy! Send me yours, too!