• A Full Month of Posts

    03 Feb 2021 » 1 min read about Blog & Site Meta

    Back in December I mentioned how my writing on the blog over the last few years had been decreasing, and that I missed sitting down to write here. I was determined to do better than the 51 posts I wrote in 2020. I noticed today that I am on track to do just that. For…

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  • Mickey Mouse’s Finances

    02 Feb 2021 » 2 min read

    It is established fact that I rarely make it through a book or article without some kind of interruption or distraction. Usually these are mundane interruptions: chores have to be done; dinner has to be cooked; children have to be put to bed. But sometimes, they make for delightful distractions. Take last night, for instance.…

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  • The Day the Snow Days Died

    01 Feb 2021 » 3 min read

    We are witnessing the beginning of the end of snow days and it has nothing to do with climate change. We had enough snow yesterday (and more projected for today, although it has yet to arrive) that schools are closed. Of course, the public schools here were already closed for on-site students. Distance-learning is the…

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  • Notes with Obsidian: My Initial Impressions

    31 Jan 2021 » 8 min read about Technology & Gadgets

    Now that I have been using Obsidian fairly exhaustively for the last 5 days, I think I’ve got enough experience with it to share my initial impressions. I mentioned earlier that Obsidian was the notetaking tool I’ve been looking for all my life. That begs the question: what is it that I’ve been looking for…

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  • Winter Moon

    30 Jan 2021 » 1 min read about Reading & Books

    It has been cold here the last several days, and we are expecting snow Sunday and Monday. I’ve spent much of the day really getting to know Obsidian, and I’ll have more to say about it next week. In the meantime, here is a picture of the winter moon early yesterday morning when I went…

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  • Plotting Software, Pantsing Stories

    30 Jan 2021 » 5 min read

    I just completed a demo1 for software that me and my team have been working on for nearly a year. It isn’t quite done yet—we still have a few months of work left, but it feels good to get to the point where you have something to show. Indeed, it’s not that different from getting…

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  • One More Note on (Obsidian) Notes

    28 Jan 2021 » 1 min read about tech

    Okay, okay, you’ve convinced me. I’ve been playing around with Obsidian (h/t to Matt Banks for initially bringing it to my attention) for a couple of days now. I think it is the notes system that I have been looking for all my life! I’m still getting used to some of the ins-and-outs, but I…

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  • The Curse of Instantaneous Gratification

    27 Jan 2021 » 3 min read

    In yesterday’s Washington Post, I read the obituary of Junior Mance, a jazz pianist who died on January 17 at the age of 92. I’d never heard of Mance, but his obituary was interesting (as obituaries often are) and it occurred to me that I could sample some of his music. I searched for Junior Mance on…

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  • How I Work, January 2021 Edition

    26 Jan 2021 » 9 min read about Technology & Gadgets

    Way back in February 2014, I was interviewed as part of LifeHacker’s “How I Work” series. Nearly 7 years have passed since that interview. A lot has changed, both in the tools I use, and the way I think about productivity, so I thought it was about time I brought that interview up to date. Here, then, is…

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  • Quality Control

    25 Jan 2021 » 4 min read

    This morning I wrote a post and when I finished, I decided to set it aside, and maybe come back to it another time. The reason: it was a stinker. I’d say that 99 out of 100 times, when I write a post for the blog, it feels right to me and goes up without much…

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