Every Friday
They're calling it cuffing season
Happy Friday crew. We hope your week was filled with less screen time and at least one patio. We’re in the trenches trying to sort out halloween costumes. Any and all suggestions are very much appreciated.
Cuffing season is in full swing & just know if you found yourself fighting for your life on the apps as soon as October rolled around, we’re with you in spirit. Good luck out there and don’t call your ex.
Thanks for being here — let’s get into it:
“Care and Quality are internal and external aspects of the same thing.”
– Robert M. Pirsig
“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”
– Henry David Thoreau
Top of Mind
On employee turnover, (Zach)
“In my time on the team, I’ve watched the entire team turn over twice”
I recently sat with a newly hired forward deployed technology brother for a coffee chat. You could tell from the way he talked about the role, the team, and the company that he has an insatiable desire for the job. There was nowhere on earth that he’d rather be; he’d finally summited the main questline of growing up, doing well in school, and getting a great job. In contrast, that same week my mentor had moved onto a new company after 10 years and another friend on the team had freshly tendered their resignation.
The juxtaposition of this moment has me reflecting quite a lot this week on change in a workplace setting. Particularly, on the people who fill the majority of our days and are sat beside you one day, and gone the next. It is sometimes bittersweet and other times its a blessing when colleagues leave; but it always leaves me left wondering what the next move will be for me. For now though I remain and watch the revolving door spin.
EagleEye, (Anduril)
“The idea of an AI partner embedded in your display has been imagined for decades. EagleEye is the first time it’s real.”
You need to watch this video of Anduril’s new HUD system, EagleEye. Mind blowing stuff. As the number of less-than-desirable products to sap your brain power and general mental well-being feels like it increases every day, seeing a release like this punches even harder. Pure, real world, badass engineering.
Things Worth Remembering: How to Save All the Lonely People, (The Free Press)
“If there is sort of a sadness for people—I don’t know what, under 45 or something?—it has to do with pleasure and achievement and entertainment. And a kind of emptiness at the heart of what they thought was going on.”
David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech This Is Water has had a lasting impact on me (Jack) throughout my life. Around the time it was shown to me, years ago in high school English class, I remember then watching the film on Wallace, The End of the Tour, not fully comprehending all of the ideas being communicated at the time. Revisiting them, and remembering "This Is Water”, they are most definitely worth remembering.
Could this article be my sign to finally try to bite off Infinite Jest?
ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition
I’ve (Jack) always struggled more than I would like to listen to audio only podcasts, something not quite engaging enough about them for me to really sink my teeth into. Unsure if this format will work, but I was interested to see this development from Spotify.
If California is serious about Abundance, this is a great opportunity to prove its mettle. Breaking ground in 2026 - which is very real given the shovel ready nature of CA Forever - would be a huge boon to attracting industrial companies to the Golden State.
If you’re in the AI-skeptic camp and can’t help but wonder whether the $500B+ going into AI infrastructure will really deliver — or just hollow out towns the way the manufacturing bust did across the Midwest — this is a refreshing read. Coy points out that “a boom that ends badly for investors often works out just fine for the public.”
Best of Substack this Week
This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart
Arco Lamp (Zach)
The furniture shopping has not stopped in my life as I stare down the last two weeks of single living prior to the girlfriend move-in. Up next is an Arco Lamp. We’ve purchased a replica, because the original Castiglioni Arco Lamp is ludicrously priced. However, it is beautiful and we’re so excited to set it up.
Imogene and Willie Garage Sale (James, Ian, Jack)
Nashville crew, it’s that time again: Imogene and Willie’s annual garage sale is this weekend. The line gets going early (we’re talking 5am early) — it’s the best sale of the year if you’re on the market for good denim and the trucker hat you haven’t wanted to fork over $60 for. See you there!
It’s Not That Deep, Randy
Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.
The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.
We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.
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posting Friday morning?! they thought it could never be done
Thanks for the shout, genuinely enjoy seeing these on Fridays!