welcome to the dump

worth the price of admission.

hi.

like many of my peers, i too have decided to plunge headlong into the world of personalized email newsletters.

i call mine brain dump because i cant imagine charging people for the garbage that falls out of my head. and much like real world garbage dumps, occasionally one may find a nugget of value, caked in shit and painfully incorrect syntax, buried deep among the trash heaps and worn mattresses that line the pathways of my mind.

so here we are. i thought the best way to start this thing would be with an FAQ.

then, who knows?

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who are you again?

my name is mike isaac, it is very nice to meet you. i am a 34-year-old writer living in san francisco, the land of software and broken dreams.

you might know me from twitter, where i am largely unfiltered and terrible. maybe youve read my writing on technology for the new york times, where i am a staff writer and my work makes me sound slightly more like the grown adult male that i am.

perhaps you’re waiting to buy my forthcoming book on Uber, due out later in 2019, and want to stay tuned here for any updates on release and speaking engagements i may have later in the year. (bless your heart for this.)

or maybe you dont know me at all, and decided to take a leap of faith by subscribing to this newsletter. god help those of you in this category.

whatever the case, welcome to my brain dump. i hope you find as much pleasure in peering into my fast-deteriorating mind as i imagine i will in sharing it with you.

mike, why in god’s name are you doing this?

why do anything? isn’t it a better use of my time than scrolling through twitter and hate-faving bad twetes?

really though, i figure a newsletter is a good place to collect the thoughts that are too long to fit in a tweet, yet arent quite right for expanding upon in a big fancy newspaper article. i also tend to never shutup on twitter, so maybe rather than tweeting all day, collecting all those 280-character misfires and plopping them here is a better way to gather my thinking in a more cohesive way.

i like the idea of having the space to expand upon some of the thoughts and themes i write about for the Times, but that don’t always make it onto the page.

i read a lot of people way smarter than me, so i can probably link to their stuff too and maybe you’ll learn neat things from it.

i love music. expect recommendations and probably some concert flashbacks that trickle out through whatever brain cells i didnt kill in my twenties.

also i have to sell my book when it comes out. i hear newsletters are a good way to do that, but also to keep you abreast of any talks i give, book fairs or events i go to or any other news related to the release of the work. after more than a year of reporting and writing, i am equal parts excited and terrified to show it to you all.

lastly, since i am highly susceptible to peer pressure, and all the kids are getting their own newsletters these days, i gotta hop on the train while i can.

okay, well at least you’re honest. how is this going to work?

for real, i have no clue. its is truly a wonder i can feed and clothe myself, much less start a newsletter.

is it going to cost anything?

i mean, maybe at some point? not right now.

maybe it works out and i build the hottest newsletter west of the mississippi! or maybe i do two posts and then forget all about this ill-fated experiment. but no, no money to begin with.

how frequently will you post?

ill set a realistic goal of once a week, just so i dont immediately disappoint myself. but if i really get into this thing, you may get more than that. be careful what you wish for.

alright, well, i guess lets do this thing.

great. im glad youre here, truly.

ill end with a photo of my face — which might just be the author photo that will appear on my book jacket — just so you dont think i look like the cartoon bear avatar up in the corner.

let us embark on this journey, my friend. we will live by the post and die by the post — but we will do it together.