Hey folks,

A couple things on my mind...

1. How I Prep For Talks: I give 3-4 talks in a busy week, and each slide deck follows generally the same process: 1) Figure out what I'm going to say 2) Dictate/drop in writing/youtube transcripts/provide context to Claude 3) Claude and I co-create a coherent outline for the talk 4) I drop that outline into Gamma. 5) I edit it like Google Slides till I'm happy. I think I recommended Gamma a year ago and it's still the best IMO for building beautiful slide decks with AI. One of the few remaining AI companies I pay other than Claude.

2. Jesse Welles: Have any of you been listening to this guy? I found him on YouTube Shorts maybe a year ago and he's a prolific songwriter. I like his general vibe, and in addition to writing great songs about nature, I'd say he's upholding the century-long (or more) tradition of criticizing the establishment with folk music. I think generally having songwriters and artists acting as a gadfly conscience for our leaders on either or both sides keeps everything nicely in check.

3. Summer Swim Club: This might be irrelevant for many of you, but you should just real quick check on Google Maps and see if your local town has a swim club. In northern KY where we live, every town has a swim club that was built in the 1950s and hasn't been updated since. Ours is cheap to join, and is the primary hub of our summer. Most afternoons post naps, Chandler packs up the kids and heads over around 3/4pm, then I will jog there around 5/6pm, we pack a dinner, and just hang with our friends and play until bedtime. We all get to socialize, play, the house stays clean, and I think it technically counts as a bath for the kids right? I couldn't imagine summer without it.

That's it for this week! Hit reply and tell me about your swim club situation - I'm genuinely curious if this is just a Midwest thing or if these exist everywhere.

Best,

​
Blake

P.S. Last week I asked if I should change anything in the newsletter format, and got some great feedback! One thing in particular folks asked for was a little more context on our family. (Many of you found us via our Family Framework Dashboard on Instagram.) If that's you, you can check out this video I made like 5 years ago sharing our story regarding entrepreneurship x family. (It's a little cheesy / out of date but it definitely gives our main story.) You can also follow along with our family by checking out Chandler's Instagram.