Bad Days in History

A couple of weeks ago, while browsing through the book selection at my local Barnes & Noble (yes, they still exist!), I ran across a type of daily reading that I’ve never considered before: Bad Days in History: A Gleefully Grim Chronicle of Misfortune, Mayhem, and Misery for Every Day of the Year. My normal choice for daily reading is generally either a devotional, or some kind of thought-provoking or inspirational reading, so I picked the book up with the intent of a quick glance… but definitely not a purchase.

My Software Stack is (Mostly) Old Too

After reading My software stack is old by Manu (Manuel Moreale), I became curious about the age of the software I use day in and day out as well. So, I spent a few minutes making a note of what tools I use daily, and found that I have an interesting mix of tools from basically two distinct time periods.

I’m writing this post presently in Obsidian (2020), which replaced Evernote (2000) a few years ago, and is the newest software I use daily. I’ll then be publishing to my website via Hugo (2013).

Monthly Notes 2024.05

Wow, it’s already been a month since I last posted here (or, well, nearly a month - I’m rounding up slightly).

As you’ll notice if you’ve followed my blog within the past half-year, previously I was attempting to do one post a week, my “Weekly Notes” series. That started to fall apart in April, and in May completely collapsed. Why? Probably for a few reasons. First of all, I realized that I often only have one or two really interesting things to mention a week, and that doesn’t feel like a good post at times. Secondly, there are weeks when I’ve been busy enough with work that I really don’t want to write on the weekends about what I’ve been up to, as it boils down to “work, and related topics I won’t discuss publicly”. And third, if I’m going to write, I want something interesting for at least friends and family to skim, if not the broader internet.

Weekly Notes 2024.17 & 2024.18

• Once again, this is a combined post! I didn’t have much occurring during the week of 2024.17 noteworthy, outside of work.
• This past weekend, when I would have normally posted my weekly notes, I was busy working to finish off some projects that were piling up both at home and in the office. So I held off, instead of forcing myself to write.
• This week was shortened for me; the first 3 days were in-office, then I was traveling to visit family (more on that ahead). The trip itself was long, but I finished off a re-listen to a book I was working on, so the time flew by relatively quickly.
• My primary reason for traveling? This weekend, I had the joyful privilege of attending the wedding of two of my cousins! My cousins (brothers), Seth & Josh, married sisters (Katie & Gloria), on the same day, in a joint ceremony. It was great to be able to celebrate with them, and congratulate them as each couple begins their new journeys in life together!
• Today (Sunday) also included a special event: Lori, the director of the choir at the church I was raised in, retired after 33 years, and many former choir members (including myself), joined in to surprise her, and celebrate her service in song during the Divine Service, and again afterwards at a potluck. 🙂

Read

• Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead by Laszlo Bock

Listened To

• The Talk Show With John Gruber: 399: ‘I decapitated the MacBook Air’, With Federico Viticci

Weekly Notes 2024.16

• At this point, I should just summarize every week this Spring with “work is very busy, and I haven’t done much besides that of note.” 😂 (Of course, that’s boring reading though, so I won’t do that.)
• I continued my meal planning this week, which included running across a tasty and easy Chili recipe. I was tempted to make it again next week, but I probably should have some diversity in my meals.
• As you’ll see in my Read section (below), I went on a kick reading how others use OmniFocus, and I pulled a few ideas from Scotty Jackson’s article that I’ve implemented into my own system.
• This weekend, I removed my /now page from my website. It was a fun idea, but I found updating it tedious, especially when I’m busy. And a /now page that doesn’t get updated isn’t particularly useful…
• I also spent some time playing Voxel Tycoon, a game that I’ve played on and off for a few months. Something about this type of strategy game can be very fun for me.

Read

• Productivity In Three Dimensions of OmniFocus
• On Managing Life
• Omnifocus My Way

Listened To

• ATP Insider: Computing Origin Stories
• Mac Power Users: 740: “From The Beatles to The Libertines,” with Lee Garrett

Watched

• The Beekeeper (2024)

Weekly Notes 2024.15

• The past week was pretty busy at work, with a combination of meetings, project kickoffs, and Spring beta testing/troubleshooting. And this weekend, as I publish this update, I’ve been crunching on a project as well, so I don’t feel like taking much time to write…
• I did, however, make a bit of a change to something personally though… For the first time in years, I designed a weekly menu, and actually roughly stuck with it. This got me both purchasing a few foods I am not used to at the store, and also being a bit more conscious of exactly what I was eating day to day.
• Speaking of changes… During the week, for some reason, I got very annoyed at Todoist and am back on OmniFocus. I’m not sure if it’s a coping mechanism for when I feel overwhelmed, or if there are features of OmniFocus I was missing in Todoist… 🤷‍♂️
• I’m also strongly considering changing the format/content of these posts. I enjoy having a short outline of what I’ve done, interesting things, etc, but the time commitment to write it up discourages me if I’m at all busy. And there are times of my life when I am, in fact, pretty busy. Perhaps I’ll switch to just notable podcasts vs every podcast I listened to?

Listened To

• Issues, Etc.: 1033: The Teaching of Limited Atonement - Dr. Jordan Cooper
• Mac Power Users: 739: Checking in on Freeform

Watched

• Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)

Weekly Notes 2024.13 & 2024.14

• The last week in March (Holy Week), I was traveling for both work and to visit family, and didn’t take the time to write up my weekly notes. So this post is going to include two weeks.
• On the Wednesday of Holy Week, I was in the office for a few hours, then headed to Ohio to visit family, and to do some heads-down remote work. I’ve found that for certain projects, I really need to have dedicated time away from the office to focus if I want to complete the work in a reasonable amount of time…
• Thursday through Sunday were a mix of church services for Holy Week (which included some of my absolute favorite hymns), along with a fair amount of remote work, in an attempt to finish the aforementioned project.
• Monday started early with some travel for work, followed by a late afternoon/early evening trip back to Illinois. Then, Tuesday through Friday were back in the office for a fairly busy week of work.
• Thankfully, this weekend I’ve had some downtime, which have included some reading, some catching up on chores and projects around the house, and a little gaming.
• Speaking of gaming… I’ve enjoyed playing RuneScape over the years, and on Saturday (4/6) I finished the 2024 April Fools event, which brought Benchsitting as a new skill to the game.