Finished reading: The Highly Sensitive Person by E. Aron š An insight into a personality type that might generally be labelled as shy. I see many links between HSP and Autism. The book’s best work is done early; the final third lost me. The interminable fixation on a review of one’s childhood was overdone.
Iām a Blogger? Iām a Blogger.
I donāt consider myself to be a ābloggerā. Yet if I think about it, Iāve had some kind of blog actively running for large portions of my life. Just off the top of my head, Iāve had Blogger, Movable Type, Wordpress, Blot and Micro.blog. On the private side of the equation Iāve also got years worth of entries stored away in Day One.
Unfortunately some of those posts are lost to the annals of time - which I am sad about.
But based on the evidence of use, I am a ābloggerā.
Can we have a Blog-only Search Engine?
Search Engines and SEO Spam - Initial Charge:
What I think I want is a search engine that only gave me results from small, independent weblogs.
More often than not I just want to find information from a normal person thatās writing about something because they care deeply about it. And thatās very difficult to find in search engines today.
I want the same thing that Mike Rockwell at Initial Charge wants: a search engine focused on nerds who blog about stuff they love. Topics could be far and wide: sport, IT, doll collecting… I don’t care about the topic, but I want to be able to find stuff only from people who are passionate about the topic - not trying to sell something.
Subscription Services
It’s that time of year when many are making lists and undertaking audits of their subscription services.
I had an old list in Dynalist that was almost complete. I’ve updated it and moved it into Craft, where I will attempt to maintain it over time.
Facebookās Role in Capitol Attacks
Instead of using technology and starting to flag downright criminal behavior, the company hums, and haws. They donāt need an oversight committee ā they need a moral compass.
Am I being silly to suggest that Facebook and Purdue Pharma have much in common?
Deleting Social Media
Colin Devroe is quitting social media:
I also spend an inordinate amount of time scrolling tweets, clicking links, reading threads, and darting between subjects like a kitten chasing a laser.
I love this analogy.
I think the cumulative effect on my brain since 2006 has been that my ability to focus has been effected. Not that I canāt focus. I can sit down and get into flow on a programming project more often than not. But when Iām still, when Iām idle, when I feel like I could be bored at any moment I grab my phone and scroll through Twitter which sends my mind into overdrive on a million topics, timelines, thoughts, and emotions.
I donāt think this is good for the human brain. I know it isnāt good for my brain.
My only social media now is Twitter, and that is curated to deliver NBL basketball and little else. I deleted Facebook and Instagram ages ago, and do not miss it.
Focus is a superpower. Best not to give it away easily.
It’s been cool to see a whole bunch of development happening on and around the micro.blog platform over the past few weeks. May the momentum continue!
Cribbage night @tinyroofnail
I’m on a The Wallflowers music kick tonight. Listened to the new album. Now back on the classic Bringing Down the Horse - released in 1996. I remember buying the CD and this album is embedded deep in my memories. š¶
Self-Reflection
Today has been one of thought and self-reflection.
There are many parts of my self that Iām not entirely happy with. Are we ever happy with ourselves? Probably not. Nevertheless, making an effort to do better must be a form of self-improvement in its own right.
My effort ties in neatly with a new year, but this hasnāt anything to do with New Yearās Resolutions. This is more about me trying to become a better version of myself, irrespective of the time of year. The helpful thing about early January is that Iām not working, which frees up time for self-reflection.
Today I have done some brainstorming. I pulled out my (almost unused) Theme System journal and transitioned my thinking into a theme for the upcoming season ā because a year is too long.
I hope that applying focus to my theme will lead to self-improvement. Iām trying to confront my weaknesses head on and deal with them. What weaknesses? Letās just say that being the son of a father who had mental health challenges, and being the father of a son with autism, mental health is an issue I deal with on the daily.1
I canāt change who I was yesterday, but I can strive to be a better version of myself tomorrow. Hopefully this time of introspection and thought will lead to personal growth. The good thing is that it certainly canāt make the situation worse.
When I was a young boy who didnāt want to fall asleep, I would listen to talkback radio: specifically 6PR 882 AM. The evening shift featured Perth radio legend Graham Maybury. I even called in to the show a couple of times, as a kid, such was my devotion. Most nights, at midnight when the show came to an end and I had stayed awake listening, Maybury would play the song, One Day at a Time. This song helped soothe my mind. Now, 30 years on, I think it still holds value.
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Mental health still has many stigmas associated with it, so if this makes you think less of me, read it as such: being the son of a father who had diabetes, and being the father of a son with diabetes, diabetes is an issue I deal with on the daily. Problem solved. ↩︎
I’m well out of practice in dealing with people in a group social setting. An opportunity for improvement.
Fantastic Mr. Fox, 2009 - ā ā ā Ā½
It's only been on my watch list for a decade, and finally I've seen a typically enjoyable Wes Anderson movie with its delightful art direction and distinctive stable of actors. A lovely movie.
The most epic Jenga game Iāve played. Considering Benji, who just turned 6, was one of the three players ā and he didnāt lose ā makes it that much more impressive.
Return & Recycle Apple Gear
I tried to return a bunch of old iPads and MacBooks to Apple today. I got $50 for one old iPad. Potentially could have gotten more but the others I’d forgotten to charge and couldn’t be bothered about it, so I returned them for $0. They wouldn’t take the Macs in-store but coming home, I’ve discovered I can get $110 each for two 2013 MacBook Pros. Two older machines are recyclable only. To my mind, it’s all free money!
Climbing through the Roof
I’ve been climbing and crawling around my roof space today running ethernet and installing security cameras. It was hot in the roof - after a few minutes I would emerge drenched in sweat. I would estimate it was around 60Āŗ up there.
A few hours after finishing I’ve realised that I’m not as young as I once was. I got an inkling of that in the roof when climbing through rafters and making sure I only stepped on the beams - and not the gyprock ceiling - my hips and legs weren’t loving it. Now the general soreness is setting in. I wonder how I’m going to pull up tomorrow. Probably not well.
The photo is one I took from the deepest recesses of my roof. We had to get cable from that corner to the other end of the house. Then do that same thing another 3 times. We got the job done. I owe a huge thanks to my mate Daz - without him I couldn’t have done it. What a legend.
I keep playing around with themes on micro.blog, but I ultimately always seem to return to Marfa. The only problem with it is the way that comments/replies are rendered. Will that element of the template ever be improved? @help
Configuring my Stream Deck
This post was originally written in August 2021 for Hemispheric News; subscribe at the Patreon site One Prime Plus to receive this monthly newsletter and other benefits that are linked to the Hemispheric Views podcast.
Sitting in my OmniFocus task list, and my SkedPal task list, both for two long, has been one item:
I have been intending to give myself two hours to do some new stuff with my Stream Deck that has been sitting in front of me for about a year.
After an initial foray upon purchase, it has mostly sat unloved and unused. Plugged in and active, but I would forget it is there, and never use any of its little buttons.
No more! Clearly if I wasnāt using it, I hadnāt configured it appropriately for my workflow. Hence, the project assignment to review it. Despite that project I let it sit idle. Defer, defer, defer.
Now, today, I made progress. New buttons have been configured. The test will be seeing if I stick with it. I crafted some buttons for OmniFocus to apply various stages of kanban process to my tasks, as per this example from Omni Automation. Perhaps this will both establish a use for the Stream Deck and rebuild my love of OmniFocus which Iāve found to be on the wane in recent times (another story for another day).
On other screens, I have some nice buttons setup to construct my desktop in ways for different podcasting setups. Unfortunately, I forget to use these, and I even forget what exactly they do and how I have them configured. If I were to start today, they would trigger a Bunch script - but I donāt think they do that at the moment!
The best way I have found to leverage the Stream Deck is in partnership with Keyboard Maestro. Having a script in KM is the best and easiest way to build automations which can be triggered via a button press. Donāt use the native/developer created integration though. The KM-link plugin that is available through the Stream Deck app store (for free) is a much more versatile option.
So, enough reading, letās look at some pictures of my current bizarro eternal work-in-progress Stream Deck.
- This is my default page. It needs work. The IFTTT button isn’t connected anymore. I never use Pomodoros but I have a button for them. Sigh. The happy calendar is good, though. It is a calendar reminder system that changes colour and has a countdown timer as the meeting draws near. I got this from TJ Luoma over at the Mac Power Users forum.
- My āmediaā folder has some music controls and playlist icons. I need one for my Favourites mix. Half the Zoom stuff doesnāt work properly. I gave up bothering to connect my dSLR as a webcam.
- My podcasts setup page. Maybe I did use Bunch!
- My OmniFocus kanban management page that Iāve set up over the last couple of days. Right as Iām considering switching from OmniFocus to Things. Nice one, Andrew.
Looking at these pages, itās quite clear I need to dedicate more time to my Stream Deck. It remains an under-utilised asset.
Do any readers own a Stream Deck? Do you have any great ideas about how to use it? Let me know in the Discord chat room, because any inspiration is helpful.
A bookmarklet to post a link to micro.blog: Micro.blog Posting Bookmarklet ā Colin Devroe. This link has been posted with said bookmark. @cdevroe
Iām decommissioning our Apple MacBook Pro (Late 2013). Its had a good life, albeit the last two have been hard as my kid doesnāt show the same care and respect for it as I do. I thank it for its service.
The irony of it being super hot and wanting to jump in the pool, but knowing the UV is extreme and I will burn in 10 minutes. Consideringā¦ How does this compare with your situation @gaby?
Another day of heat in Perth. Currently 38.5ĀŗC. To truly experience it I’m sitting outside, under a patio with a fan. This is the fourth consecutive day over 100ĀŗF. I feel sorry for our plants; by yesterday evening a number of them had burnt and dried out leaves. š„µ
Could somebody explain to me why the local council doesn’t offer an extra bin run after Christmas? We have an alternating weekly cycle for recycling and general rubbish. I think they should both be collected following Christmas. As it is I’m going to be backlogged for a month.