ABOUT ME
I like learning how things actually work.
I’m Niko. I’m finishing a biochemistry degree now, but I left school for a few years, went to sea as a merchant mariner, and later worked construction on water-treatment plants before ending up back in a lab.
I’ve always liked being around people who really know how to do something. I ask a lot of questions, I read too much, I play guitar, and I’m very easy to talk into going somewhere if there’s something interesting to see. This site is mostly a place to give that habit a name.
WHAT FOLLOWS
It’s basically an excuse to follow things.
What Follows is the name I gave this habit. There isn’t a grand program. If somebody knows how to do something I don’t, I’m usually interested.
That might mean a machinist showing me a tool, somebody gutting fish on a dock, a lab tech explaining the fix that never made it into the manual, or someone teaching me a regional game I’ve never heard of. It might be a factory, a kitchen, a card table, a boat, a workshop, a church basement, or somebody’s garage.
Sometimes I write about what I find. Sometimes it gives me an idea for something useful. Sometimes I just learn a new thing and have a better afternoon than I would have otherwise. That’s enough.
I'M USUALLY INTERESTED IN
Things I’ll probably say yes to.
- a craft, job, or game I haven’t seen before
- somewhere people still do something the old way
- a machine that has a personality
- a recipe or technique people argue about
- regional games, sports, dances, and customs
- weird fixes that everybody swears by
- back rooms, machine rooms, docks, shops, and kitchens
- anything introduced with “come here, I’ll show you”
FIELDWORK
Show me the thing.
One of my favorite sentences is “come here, I’ll show you.” If you do something interesting, know somebody I should meet, or have a place you think I’d get a kick out of seeing, send me a message. I’m not especially hard to persuade.
CONTACT
Say hello.
Email, call, or text. No pitch necessary. “You should come see this” is a perfectly good message.