Programming note: Season 2 starts today
Windshield washer fluid, breaks, and a schedule
It turns out planning a newsletter can be like managing a vehicle. This came to me this morning after I opened the side door of the van and put two plastic jugs on the floor behind the driver’s seat, by my youngest son’s feet.
“Do you know what that is?” I asked.
“No,” he said.
Nice, I thought. I like to teach when I can.
I closed his door before opening and climbing through the driver’s door.
“Wait,” he said. “Do you mean the purple liquid?”
I said I did, and he said he still didn’t know.
“Windshield wiper fluid,” I answered, then explained what it was for. I’d just bought it at a gas station after we’d dropped his mom off at work. The indicator had come on when I started the engine at home.
I turned on the engine and sat warming my hands while deciding whether to refill the wiper fluid before we drove home. On the one freezing hand, the roads were dirty and the snow was blowing. On the other freezing hand, it wasn’t a long drive, we still had some fluid in the system, and, with the wind, it was really damn cold outside. It was a tradeoff.
You see, that’s kind of how I felt coming into the end of 2024 with this newsletter. I didn’t have far to go before I knew I’d be able to stop for a bit and get my bearings, but I wasn’t sure if I’d make it there if I didn’t stop to take care of something else first.
Back then, it was my health, and I chose to stop for a couple weeks. This morning, I gambled that I had enough wiper fluid in the system and left for home. There was enough, barely.
It’s with these and similar thoughts in mind as I plan the next few months of the newsletter.
The newsletter begins its second “season” today, with each week’s posts making up an “episode”. This was how I thought and occasionally wrote about it last season (September to December), but this season it will be more explicit.
Also different this season, I’m planning two one-week-long breaks, as you’ll see below. As I found out last season, I can’t just keeping going every week without break, can’t just keep driving. I need to stop, take stop, recharge, buy windshield wiper fluid.
Season 2 Schedule
Ep. 1: Jan. 7 to 10
Ep. 2: Jan. 13 to 17
Ep. 3: Jan. 20 to 24
Ep. 4: Jan 27 to 31
Ep. 5: Feb. 3 to 7
Break: Feb. 10 to 14
Ep. 6: Feb. 17 to 21
Ep. 7: Feb. 24 to 28
Ep. 8: Mar. 3 to 7
Ep. 9: Mar. 10 to 14
Ep. 10: Mar. 17 to 21
Break: Mar. 24 to 28
Ep. 11: Mar. 31 to Apr. 4
Ep. 12: Apr. 7 to 11 (Final episode of season)
Between season hiatus: Apr. 12 to May 4
Each episode will include:
Five Crime Research Update tip sheets, published Monday to Friday.
Two Five Studies About tip sheets, aimed to be published Tuesdays and Thursdays.
There’s one final difference between last season and this season, and that’s that the paid daily Crime Research Update posts will be unlocked for free subscribers three weeks after they’re first published for paid subscribers, where there was only a single week between initial publication and unlocking last season. I’ve made the change because while I want everyone to benefit from the CRU posts, paying subscribers are paying, in part, for the benefit of getting things significantly before free subscribers. One week just isn’t that significant.
Season 3 is currently scheduled to begin Monday, May 5.