I’ve spent a little time updating my homepage on the web
Can anybody recommend a reasonable monitor to be connected to a MacBook Air for business use? i.e. gaming performance not required.
Of course my kid’s ancient hand-me-down iPad Air dies 2 months before Christmas and his birthday. The family hand-me-down process is complicated by the A14X iPad Pro not yet existing.
TheBrain v12 beta is looking quite amazing. This might be the answer to all my recent explorations for a capture/note-taking application.
A Day in the Life #adayinthelife Willagee, Western Australia, 7:22am. Me making school lunches while wearing my Christmas Grinch pyjamas. I’ve made genuine friends through blogging. This has had a positive influence on my life.
Currently reading: Just Money by Royce Kurmelovs 📚
Family Getaway - Four Elements Farm Stay
We spent a few days at Four Elements Farm Stay in the South-West of Western Australia. I relaxed into it quite quickly.
The owner of the Farmstay, Pete, offered daily activities for the kids in the morning and the evening. While the ride in the ATV would have been enough, catching marron in the dam was even better.
These photos don’t do justice to the size of this bonfire. It was pumping out some serious heat. Necessary farm activities can be fun, as well.
The funniest moment was when we went catching tadpoles (and some baby marron). In the slippery mud, little Benjamin had a suction event. He landed on his butt. Bad news for Dad, who had to carry him a long way home on his shoulders. Showers needed!
The last day was an opportunity for cart racing. For those who have listened to Episode 3 of Hemispheric Views, this was very “A Race for Bill!”
Buying an iMac late last year must go down as one of my best ever computer purchasing decisions. I freakin' love this thing, and timing it for the year of working from home has been perfect.
Outliners & Daily Notes
I’ve been considering whether my current DEVONthink daily note is the best system for rapid note taking. Of course there’s nothing wrong with it, other than it being super-basic.
DEVONthink Pros
- Wikilinking (automatic and manual) to other notes.
- Integrated into broader DEVONthink Search/See Also system.
- No-nonsense, no futzing with formatting.
DEVONthink Cons
- No genuine Markdown editing support.
- No outlining support
- Just a plain text document.
I’ve been looking at Dynalist and Workflowy. Yet both cost money and feel kind of clunky - like my hands are flippers. That’s because they are web apps living in the Wild West of UIs - no operating system standards holding them to account.
I still have OmniOutliner Pro, which I’ve toyed with once again. Maybe if I keep the OmniOutliner file simple and focused enough, it will do the job. I’ve paid for the software. It’s available on macOS and iOS.
I think the last time I tried using OmniOutliner, I over-engineered my outline with columns, formatting, etc. If I keep it simple it may work better.
Of course, that also means I lose the integrated DevonThink search.
Continuous CRIMPing1, that’s the name of my game.
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CRIMP stands for a make-believe malady called compulsive-reactive information management purchasing. Symptoms include: never being satisfied with your current system of information management; continuously being on the look-out for something newer and better; purchasing every new PIM program you learn about; and secretly hoping you won’t find the perfect PIM, because then you’d have to stop looking for a better one. ↩︎
The Hemispheric Views podcast has hit the big time, scoring a guest appearance by the one and only @macgenie. @Burk, @martinfeld and I were honoured to chat with her about micro.blog’s upcoming Day in the Life of… photoshoot, old things in our house and streaming media.
Containers for Change
Over the past two years my wife has been working at Containers for Change. This is a not-for-profit organisation enabled by the Western Australian Government and funded by the private sector.
When she started it was a start-up organisation working out of a tiny shared office with big plans to get a container deposit scheme (i.e. return drink bottles and cans for cash) up and running across our State.
A week ago, the scheme launched. It features over 200 locations across the entire State where the public can go to drop off their recyclables. It is supporting new jobs. It is providing another income source for families where every dollar counts. It is reducing landfill and facilitating responsible recycling.
As part of the executive team, Hannah has built and managed an amazing team of people. Now, her journey is coming to an end as she moves onto a new challenge. I know she is sad about it and that this has been the highlight of all her career experiences to date.
As her husband, I’m guilty of not giving enough recognition for the job she has done. But I will write here that she has been amazing. I love her and I’m incredibly proud of what she has accomplished.
Who else can say they were able to put a 5.5 metre tall swan, constructed of steel and 10,000 recyclable bottles into the middle of a Perth pedestrian square? That’s an amazing accomplishment, but it’s only the most visible accomplishment of 2 years of hard work and other less visible achievements.
Today I took our two boys to recycle of first batch of containers. They were so proud to be dropping the containers onto the conveyor belt and see them be whisked away and converted into cash.
Social enterprise, delivering economic and environmental benefits. Lots of winners; no losers. That’s the way to do business.
An important breaking news update coming in from Cardboard TV Network. Headlines include Deadpool v Coronavirus. Tune in to find put more.
My brother casually mentioned to me that he had been building up a second brain using the PARA methodology in Notion, supported by Readwise and Instapaper. Does he not realise that I’m the geek of the family? He’s getting close to stepping on my turf.