Jessý Potato

So when you see international headlines like this: take the sensationalism with a grain of salt. The volcano is not "huge" and the entirety of Iceland was not evacuated 😂

#volcano #iceland #science

New eruption in Iceland alert! It's exciting and the situation with the air quality and instability of the growing fissure has kept us on our toes.

That said, the eruption is very localized, not affecting infrastructure, and will most likely be short-lived. So just enjoy watching new earth be born!

Here's more of Gary loving his wall of hexagons.

The scratching post is an old, repurposed post that he outgrew.

The steps are new but donated IKEA shelves.

The hexes were the only thing handmade from scratch.

A cat play wall installation of hexagonal shelves with holes that form a maze, a wood table to match, and a scratching post.

Wanted to show off this amazing installation I had put in on my dining room wall for Gary the Cat.

I conceptualized the idea, and my friends at OlaVera designed, built, and installed it. They specialize in sustainable, bespoke furniture.

The table, with cat hidey-holes, is thrifted wood and metal.

Hey #bluesky friends and followers! Sorry I've been MIA. I've been dealing with some health issues, but I'm slowly feeling better.

Not too much geology news here in Iceland anyway, and the midnight sun is keeping the northern lights at bay. But hopefully we can talk volcanoes and aurora again soon!

Number of Sunshine hours (sólskinsstundafjöldi) are the number of non-cloudy hours per month. (tbh, I can't find a definition of the word that accurately explains if this is between sunrise-sunset or a full 24 hours).

Chart showing the average temperature and number of sunshine hours per month during summer (May-August). The chart is color-coded by deviation from 1991-2020 mean (or for years prior to 2020, whatever mean Veðurstofan used then).

What's one thing you're obsessed with? Mine is to be able to accurately complain (or not) about Reykjavík summer weather, with the use of real data.

Behold: new May 2025 data. Not only the warmest May on record ever, but the largest deviation from the mean since I started my records in 2018.

Back home and participating in the season's sport

#stormchasing #oklahoma

Is it maybe a large boulder the size of a small boulder?

My cat Ásgeir helped me study for my Icelandic test

Just finished taking my Icelandic test for citizenship. I was definitely very stressed.

It's so funny what your brain blanks on in high stress situations versus what you fall back on. I just kept talking about eldgos and kötturinn minn.

Here, Ásgeir helped me study last night.

The lupine are blooming extra early this season due to unseasonably sunny & warm weather all spring. I checked my records, and the last time they bloomed in May was 2020.

So, if you're planning to come to photograph Iceland's beautiful invasive flower, you need to come now.

Pix from today's walk 📸

It was a shock to learn that two of my siblings, who are quite a bit younger than I am, have no recollection of September 11th. I was shocked, I tell you.

Hydrothermal lakes at Nesjavellir

(Actually not) Hot springs at Nesjavellir

Horses in a green pasture

Soaking in the sun and geothermal pools

Absolutely gorgeous weekend here in Iceland. I did everything in my power to maximize my time in the sun with some quintessential Icelandic activities.

Hiking in Nesjavellir 🏔️
Lunch at Hestaland 🐎
Soaking at Krauma Spa ☀️

Bongó! 🤩

Yes, my list is saved to drafts as we speak 😂

Not STEVE but Chinese rocket

Last night across parts of western interior North America, a huge white streak was visible across the sky as the aurora put on a show.

Most of us thought it was the phenomenon known as STEVE.

It was instead a new type of methane and liquid oxygen rocket launched by China. Whoa.

Pic from a friend.

Glad they're brightening your day!

How Does Bluesky Algorithm Work? Pro Growth Tips for 2025 How does Bluesky Work? This is your crash course to starting scratch on Bluesky with tips and resources the pros use.

There is no feed called "Home." There are 3 main feeds: Discover, Following, & Custom. The feed opened last when you close the app is what opens first when you restart.

The Discover feed runs on an algorithm and is how users gain followers thru algorithm promotion.

fedica.com/blog/how-doe...

That was from last year. They are already starting to bud now, which is quite early. Hopefully the good weather holds. :)

Hi! Bluesky has two feeds: one with of accounts you follow (no algorithm) and a "Discover" feed, which is absolutely how I found almost all of my followers, given I do not know many people on this site personally. That feed uses key words, image prediction, and similar accounts to populate.

Picture of people relaxing in a geothermal spring next to a lake in a grassy, flowery valley in Iceland

Picture of friends hiking in a geothermal river valley in Iceland

Sunset in a field of purple lupine

Champaign cheers to the midnight sun in a hot tub next to a glass house and the Icelandic coast

I've noticed a percipitous drop in engagement on Bluesky. I work in marketing when I'm not writing about rocks, so I know that social media algorithms reward daily posts and ritual human sacrifice, but I just don't have that in me.

Anyway, summer's here (briefly?) in Iceland, so please enjoy. ☀️

Also: since we have no active lava here in Iceland to shock and awe you, please praise Pele for this amazing display happening at Kīlauea 🤩😍

✨Yay Geology✨ *jazz hands*

Video of Episode 22 of active Hawaii volcano:

AI photo of me working in the Icelandic countryside, with mountains, river, and hot pot all nearby

One of the wonderful things culturally about living in Iceland is how companies (usually) support taking advantage of great weather here. Working remotely from a summer cabin, taking meetings outside, logging off early to hike or ski depending on the season. It's very beneficial to mental health!

Screengrab from Instagram from Iceland Review saying "New May Temperate Record Set in Iceland" at 26.3°C (505°F). Which seems not ideal.

Screengrab from a meme video of a weather man in Texas showing a heat index temperature map, where it erroneously says the heat index in Mckinney is 101105°F and he dead pans the camera saying "Everyone in Mckinney is dead" lol

We've had some interesting earthquakes over the past week here in Iceland, but the biggest news here isn't the geology, it's the weather.

Absolutely gorgeous (record setting) sunshine across Iceland recently. Although maybe not as warm as reported 😂

Reminds me of the Mckinney heat index meme:

No, left that company years ago. But yeah, I had to move here the hard way too, definitely envious of the people whose employers will facilitate the whole move and visa.

a man in a green shirt is sitting on a couch with a bag in his mouth and the words `` inhale '' above him . Alt: a man in a green shirt is sitting on a couch with a bag in his mouth and the words `` inhale '' above him .

Something I do miss about "the other site" is the network effect of millions of users being able to generate content and make trending topics easily discoverable.

Like, when another social media site is down, there would be a huge number of posts meme-ing and updating.

Anyway, TikTok is down.

Help a girl out and give this a click at least!

Maybe learning about the exponential growth in river cruising isn't your cup of tea (I can understand that 😂), but this podcast has everything, from industry leaders, influencers, new destinations, new market players, etc. Something for everyone!

#traveltechnology #rivercruise #podcasts | Kaptio ⚓ Set sail on the Travel Trends podcast! Kaptio are super excited to be on board as the official sponsor of the River Cruise chapter of season five of the Travel Trends Podcast. 🗺️ This journey thr...

I don't always share stuff about my day job, but I love travel, I love this podcast, and I was able to get my founder on as a featured guest.

The travel trends podcast, hosted by Dan Christian (former CMO at industry giant TTC), is the biggest B2B travel podcast out there.

tinyurl.com/3dmxmn5e

I wish my jobs would support me to study Icelandic. At my first job here, the CEO looked me in the eyes, and said with his whole chest, in front of my entire team, that I would never be promoted if I didn't speak Icelandic but that it wasn't necessary for me to learn in my role, so he wouldn't help.

New discovery: Gary the Cat does not like the sound of large cruise ship horns. Here he is, all ten kilos of him, cowering next to me last night. #icelandproblems