A Look Back - February 2026
In hindsight, looking back on February, it’s amazing how much travel both Jenn and I did. I’m only a few days removed from the month, and I had already forgotten that I started the month out going to Philadelphia and New York. I had just gotten back from NYC a few weeks prior and was back out there again for a big offsite and some meetings in our old stomping grounds. When I arrived in Philadelphia, they were a little less than a week removed from a massive blizzard. I only had two hours from the time I landed to my first meeting. I had a Philly Cheesesteak from Pat’s delivered to the W Philadelphia and made my way out to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to go back and see the Rocky statue. The main one was placed back in its old spot at the top of the steps, and they still had the other one off to the side. A few days later, I took the train to New York and had a few great meals (one at our old favorite Wall Street) and saw one more Broadway show, Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York.
It was quite a change coming back home from temperatures in the teens to the seventies. Jenn set up a great Valentine's arts-and-crafts activity where we cut out hearts for Elle and wrote what we loved about her on them, then taped them to her door. Every day for the two weeks between when we made them and Valentine’s Day, Elle would say “hearts” as we walked by them.
For the next two weeks, Jenn had meetings in the Bay Area. Instead of staying in San Jose like I have been most weeks, I stayed with Jenn first at The Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay and then at The Jay in San Francisco. While we were up north, Elle stayed with her Grandpa, and Joan (for the first time), while Frasier went to Bone Adventure. Jenn handled being away from Elle far better than I thought she would, and it was really nice for the two of us to have a few nights together. I rented a car both weeks and commuted to and from Jenn’s hotels to work, and we met for dinner several nights. We were able to go to two phenomenal restaurants in San Francisco, 7 Adams and Nightbird. Both were great, but for us, Nightbird was one of those unforgettable meals that we will be dreaming about for a long time.
Between the travel up to the Bay Area, we celebrated Valentine’s Day in Riverside with all of Elle’s aunts and uncles and cousins. And the following weekend, we celebrated Frasier’s 7th birthday (where has the time gone). Looking at the photo of him and Elle under the birthday banner that Jenn put up, and how much has changed since we took the same picture last year, is remarkable. Outside of those two big milestones, much of our weekends were spent walking to the park, taking Elle and Frasier to Balboa, and starting to look at houses in Orange County to find our next landing spot. It was a very busy February, and it’s not looking like March will be any less busy.
TV WE WATCHED
It may seem like we didn’t watch a ton of TV in February, but in reality, we watched more than we have in a few months, just in a few shows. We watched almost all of A Knight of Seven Kingdoms, which is some of the best Game of Thrones content since the original show. We’re nearly caught up on the fourth season of Industry, which sadly isn’t hitting the same highs as it was in the third season. The show that I think will be hard to beat as the best show of 2026 will be The Pitt. Although the “wow” factor of the first season may be fading, the cast and storylines are top-notch. I am constantly telling Jenn after an episode, “Where did the hour go?”
On the flip side, the three most disappointing shows of the year so far are the cringy third season of Shrinking, the very bland fourth season of Bridgerton, and the great concept but poor execution of Wonder Man.
BOOKS I READ (OR LISTENED TO)
What an eclectic collection of books I read in February. I’m pretty sure if you put four random books Joel would read into any LLM, it wouldn’t come up with this list. I started the month off by reading the classic Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I’ve never read Dickens, and I’ve only heard great things about Great Expectations. I thought the book was very enjoyable and quite easy to follow for a classic. The worst book of the month (and hopefully year) was the dreadful Starter Villain. I’m assuming I bought this book on a sale a few years ago, but I decided it was time to finally read it, and I wish I hadn’t. No redeeming qualities, characters were wafer-thin, the plot made zero sense, and the outcome was even more disappointing.
I decided to go in a very different direction after that book, and so I read Chloe Dalton’s Raising Hare. I’ve read a few “COVID” books, my favorite being Tom Lake, but this one probably captures the choices we all made during 2020 & 2021 in a very elegant way. This is part-memoir, part-animal non-fiction, and I think it tends to go more on the understanding of a hare as an animal/species than I was hoping. Still really enjoyed the book, though. The best book of the month was The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni. I believe my mom recommended this one a few years ago, and I finally read it, and it was great. I loved the book's structure and how it weaved together two generations: those who were in the Vietnam War draft era and those directly after it.
MOVIES WE WATCHED
You can tell by the string of movies this month that I was gearing up for the Oscars. I’m still a few movies behind (Hamnet, F1, Marty Supreme, The Secret Agent), but I was able to watch a few more this month. We also had a better month of our weekend movie nights, which included:
Big Night - Joel’s Pick
The Age of Innocence - Jenn’s Pick (Did Not Finish)
Blue Moon - Joel’s Pick
Is This Thing On? - Jenn’s Pick
I was so excited for Blue Moon, it is from one of my favorite directors (Linklater), starring one of my favorite actors (Hawke), about one of my favorite topics (theater), and yet I just found myself rather muted on the entire movie.
The movie that really knocked my socks off this month was Bugonia. I loved this movie. I am shocked by how much I enjoyed it and how crazy I thought it was. It’s not my usual fare but the acting and story were fantastic.
GAMES I'VE BEEN PLAYING
Of everything, I probably played the least amount of video games in January. Between traveling up and back to San Jose, a busy work month, and spending time with the family I only had a handful of time to play both Madden and Ghost of Yotei.
2026 GOAL TRACKING
Goal #1: Read 50 Books: I’ve read 8 books and am on track to hit my goal of 50 books this year!!!
Goal #2: 12 Monthly Recaps: 2 for 12!
