Tim (TJ) LaFave Jr
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tjlafave.com
Tim (TJ) LaFave Jr
@tjlafave.com
220 followers 84 following 460 posts
Physicist. Electrical engineer. Educator. Inventor. Technical writer. Poet. Fiction writer. Mentor. Photographer.
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Reposted by Tim (TJ) LaFave Jr
brucespringsteen.net
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 5:02 PM
tjlafave.com
Arriving in Chicago for college in 1992, my parents took a wrong turn on the southside.

I learned more about my parents from their reactions.

We arrived at Illinois Tech--my home for the next four years.

Subscribe at somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com/p/arrival

#writing #writingcommunity #booksky
January 28, 2026 at 5:11 PM
tjlafave.com
First City

Leaving everything you know and realizing distance isn’t measured in miles.

Backseat.

Highway.

A city rises where the future begins to feel real.

The opening of
Clarity: Emergent Phenomenon
→ somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com

#memoir
#prose
#autobiography
#college
#writing
January 28, 2026 at 1:33 AM
tjlafave.com
I'm genuinely proud to see even more friends, family, former classmates, and colleagues speaking up against this abusive white house administration the last couple days.

Continued . . .

#speakup #proudofyou #writing #UnitedStates #America
January 27, 2026 at 5:58 PM
tjlafave.com
Zeus, who's almost four months old, loves sleeping next to me by the window as I work.

Zeus and Athena were born October 1, 2025.

#cats #Catsky
January 27, 2026 at 4:10 PM
tjlafave.com
I've been having MOMENTS OF CLARITY about my life and writing them down online as a scaffold of my autobiography.

I'm on my way to college.

Have a listen to Moment 312: First City.

Subscribe and support:
somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com

#writing #writingcommunity #booksky #personalessay
January 27, 2026 at 2:39 PM
tjlafave.com
CLARITY. My online autobiography.

Part 5: Emergent Phenomenon.

It's punchier. Sharper. Tighter. Deeper.

College begins. I left the cornfields for Chicago.

Moment 312. Appropriate.

Have a listen.
Subscribe:

somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com

#writing #writingcommunity #booksky #personalessay
January 27, 2026 at 3:44 AM
tjlafave.com
CLARITY. My online autobiography continues today with part 5: Emergent Phenomenon.

Have a listen to Moment 312.

somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com

#writing #writingcommunity #booksky #personalessay
January 26, 2026 at 4:50 PM
tjlafave.com
On a brief break from my online autobiography, I came across some old photos I took in the late 80s, early 90s in my rural bedroom.

Have a look.

My story continues with college years in Chicago on Monday.

#booksky #writing #writingcommunity

somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com/p/peek-in-my...
January 20, 2026 at 11:51 PM
tjlafave.com
The newest members of our house.

ZEUS and ATHENA were adopted tonight and they're acclimating beautifully.

About 3.5 months old.

This video was within minutes of their arrival after a 30 min car rise.

We played with them for a couple hours.

#cats #catsofbluesky #kittens #10lives #petadoption
January 19, 2026 at 4:57 AM
tjlafave.com
Best wishes throughout the new year.

#nye #2026 #booksky 🧪
#newyear
January 3, 2026 at 12:01 AM
tjlafave.com
I played a game on my Timex Sinclair 1000 for the 1st time since ~1985.

Video: 2×.

Viewed on VIZIO flat screen (CH3)

Total onboard memory: 1k.

Many trials/errors getting it to work using android phone as audio source to LOAD the game on the EAR port.

#computers #vintagetech #1980s #GenX #mylife
December 31, 2025 at 7:16 AM
tjlafave.com
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Here's a sidebar post in my continuing daily autobiography you may like.

Be sure to subscribe for more at
somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com/p/merry-chri...

#writing #writingcommunity #booksky
December 25, 2025 at 3:03 PM
tjlafave.com
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas.

May your heart be light.

Here's a quick video I did of our home tonight for you.

Enjoy.

#Christmas #holidays #happyholidays
December 23, 2025 at 3:38 AM
tjlafave.com
Got a buck? I just watched this one across the street from our house.

#BuffaloNY #deer
December 20, 2025 at 9:07 PM
tjlafave.com
It was 1992.

I was 17.

I just graduated from high school with an admission to a top tier engineering university in hand to study physics, and I let the world into my personal world for the first time.

somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com/p/post-cresc...
#writing #booksky #writingcommunity #physics 🧪
Post Crescent Section B
CLARITY: ATOMIC ELEMENTS: Moment Three Hundred Ten
somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com
December 20, 2025 at 7:29 PM
tjlafave.com
High School Graduation

"I look forward so much to your Moments. It is an excellent way to document our lives. . .I was wondering if there are any students at my district who would benefit from communicating with you about next steps?"

lnkd.in/eBcpkCN7
#writingcommunity #writing #booksky
December 17, 2025 at 1:07 AM
tjlafave.com
ANNOUNCEMENT: Title & Cover Art

Vol. 5, titled, CLARITY: EMERGENT PHENOMENON, constitutes my four years in Chicago as an undergrad physics student.

See the cover art and read about "emergent phenomenon" here:
somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com/.../a-previe...

#writing #writingCommunity #booksky 🧪
December 11, 2025 at 9:15 PM
tjlafave.com
Many students were Student of the Week.

I was nominated by the English Dept. for writing a novel and having poems published by predatory companies.

As you can see, I was in Weyauwega, a WI town with a funny name
somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com/p/student-of...
#booksky
#writing #writingcommunity
December 4, 2025 at 3:22 PM
tjlafave.com
As a teen in Nowhere, WI, one of my respites involved tea, PBS, comfy clothes, and emerging thunderstorms.

I'm about to graduate from high school and get into college on my own.

Subscribe for daily reminders.

somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com/p/tea-tv-and...

#writing #writingcommunity #booksky
December 3, 2025 at 4:23 AM
tjlafave.com
I started Christmas decorating today with this 16 ft lighted tree I made with a flagpole, creativity, and skill. 😎

How does it look?

#Christmas #decorations #homeowner
December 2, 2025 at 12:12 AM
tjlafave.com
I had written drafts for two novels in high school. Merged them into a full sci-fi novel late nights.

I typed revisions on an Apple IIGS during Accounting class. Printed them on a dot matrix printer.

SOL SURVIVOR
somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com/p/sol-survivor

#booksky #writing #writingcommunity
My bedroom desk filled with handwritten notes for two novels titled Nemesis Probe and Sol Survivor shown on folders. A 1980s troll doll is shown. A red 7-segment display digital alarm clock indicated 10:35.
December 1, 2025 at 11:04 PM
tjlafave.com
We replaced the floor from our foyer to the kitchen.

It was originally a sheet of 1970s linoleum when we bought the house.
I'll miter and tap in some baseboards and toe molding to cap it all off.

So many odd shapes to cut and fit on this 4-day DIY project.

#diy #homeImprovement #homeowner #home
November 27, 2025 at 4:32 AM
tjlafave.com
What was the most elaborate (or dangerous) special effect you made in high school for a project?

Mine? Exploding capacitors as a visual/audio way to show a "brain boosting" tech.

Poor Mike. 😬

somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com/p/banging-br...

#writing #writingcommunity #booksky 🧪 #specialeffects
November 18, 2025 at 3:50 PM
tjlafave.com
Our lives are more than mere chapters in a book.

Some events demand much more than a simple page-turn.

Life is more like a book series.

Point of No Return

Read and subscribe for more:
somethingaboutcoffee.substack.com/p/point-of-n...

#booksky #writing #writingcommunity #MyLife #teenagers #genx
November 13, 2025 at 2:50 PM