Tangible Life
Pouring One Out for Pocket
Great write up from Jarrod that details his read-later journey. Most of us geeks have one that started with Instapaper and then forked off in many different directions.
But when I got a Kobo a few years ago, I settled on Pocket since you can read your saved items on the e-reader.
I also use a Kobo device for reading books. I thought I’d leverage the Pocket integration, but decided against it. It has allowed me to focus my mind on longer reading experiences merely by device context swapping.
Summer Experiments
Entering the summer months has brought about unique states of mind across the indieweb blog community. I began running my own experiment after seeing posts from Manu that linked to posts from Kevin and Luke. We all have unique motivations for these experiments, which makes the theme more fascinating to see from different perspectives. Most of these experiments fall squarely into the familiar territory of doing without. What makes these a departure, from my view, is that they weren’t planned far in advance or part of a larger year-long effort.
Work and life have been busy, so I didn’t post about my first experiment until now. It’s no secret to readers of this site that I enjoy brewing and drinking coffee. I’ve written about my ritualistic romance with the process. Sometime in April, I started to question whether my coffee-making and consumption patterns were aligned with the joy I get from them. I wasn’t losing sleep—I always enjoy making and drinking coffee—but it started to feel like I was making excuses to do it several times a day. I began to wonder if it was becoming the wrong kind of escape. Rather than a refreshing breath, walk, or moment of contemplation, I’d sometimes turn on the kettle out of muscle memory, without any thoughtfulness. I was going through the motions because the idea of my ritual was an escape.
That recognition led to my current experiment. Minus three exception days, since sometime in May I’ve had only one cup of coffee each morning. By reducing to one cup, I’ve appreciated it more. I’ve reconnected with why I love making coffee. It has returned to a more intentional ritual. The few days I’ve had more than one cup weren’t absentminded—they were intentional too, and for that reason, I don’t consider them a violation. It wasn’t about reducing caffeine or breaking an unhealthy habit. I just wanted to renew the purpose of the ritual.
I don’t have a predefined plan for how long I’ll run this experiment. I’ll deviate when it feels right. I’ve toyed with the idea of trying tea in the afternoon, mainly because I’ve read about its mental benefits. It hasn’t gone beyond a fleeting thought, but if I do experiment with tea, you’ll hear about it here. Since my coffee reduction experiment wasn’t as structured as the ones I linked above, I’m not sure when I’ll start the next one. I like Manu’s current one—putting space between him and his phone. I may try a variation, since I’ve weakly returned to using my phone before bed instead of reading. While I don’t use social media, scrolling the YouTube homepage and feeling compelled to watch semi-interesting videos without intention feels shallow.
Take Two
This post is my entry for June’s IndieWeb Carnival, hosted by Nick Simson.
Another great and reflective theme for the IndieWeb Carnival. While I don’t subscribe to regrets, there are several things I might try differently if I could go back in time.
I’ve been fortunate to have a great career path and work with great people, but it was never the career I envisioned. That’s because I don’t think I had a clear vision rooted in something I was passionate about. It wasn’t until I matured in both career and life that I realized a career as a designer (more specifically, an architect) would have been fulfilling. I’ve cared about all types of design my entire life, but never connected how deeply architecture resonates with me. One “take two” would absolutely be to focus my formal education on design and pursue a career as an architect.
Also, as I’ve written about before, this blog is a bit of a “take two” for my online writing. Consolidating my writing just this one blog (vs. three separate ones) has been a great feeling. Sometimes a second take isn’t due to a mistake made during the first take. Sometimes the second take is about gaining new perspective by trying something again or doing it differently.
This post would become longer than I have time to write if I listed out all the “takes” on life that have evolved into second, third or fiftieth iterations to the current perspective I embrace today. One of the beautiful things about being human is you have the opportunity to grow and evolve in any multitude of ways, so long as your outlook is that not all change is bad and you reserve yourself the right to always “take two” your thinking on any stance at any time.
Renewal
This post is my entry for April’s IndieWeb Carnival being hosted by Jamie Thingelstad.
In typical fashion, I’ve waited until the very end of the month to participate in the IndieWeb Carnival. I missed the last two months and have a partially formed post for February’s topic that I’ll eventually get out the door. Somewhat ironically, the reason I haven’t posted much lately has to do with renewal, and the reason I’m posting now is another form of renewal.
Over the past few months, I’ve navigated a new step in my career. While I’m still at the same company, in the same data analytics space, it’s a new role building a new team—yet still tied to my previous team and department. It’s unique and exciting and has brought various emotions and thoughts on how to succeed by leveraging the past as a catalyst for the future. Renewal shows up not only in my new role but in how a fresh start can sharpen focus and energize the next leg of the journey. If you’re feeling stuck, sometimes renewal can clear the path—more so than changing course or reverting to something that once worked (though those can be right moves depending on the context).
As I’ve taken this step, I find my thinking renewed. I’m updating perspectives from a new vantage point. Unsurprisingly, this renewal extends beyond work into other areas of life and topics that spark my urge to write. While I’ve never lacked ideas, this renewed mindset feels like a creative catalyst. As always, time is the most limited resource—but it’s less about making more and more about focusing on what matters most.
One Line at a Time
I’d read this post by Derek Sivers back in 2022 and thought it was a great suggestion on how to write. When I’d attempted to utilize it in whatever Markdown writing app I was using at the time, it didn’t work. The parser didn’t support the new line method and I’d get a line break after each sentence, which wasn’t what I wanted. I’ve since moved to iA Writer and it does support writing this way. It struck me that I should give it a go again and here we are.
Each sentence of this post I’ve written and then hit the return key before starting the next sentence. Many apps, iA Writer included, let you put focus on the sentence you are currently typing and the rest of the paragraph fades away to a light gray. In many ways, it accomplishes the same thing that Derek is suggesting, but you can use both and nothing breaks. I don’t know if I’ll continue writing this way, but it’s a cool experiment and I want to see if my sentences benefit from the approach.
HeyDingus Now Runs on iCloud
I recently made the same swap on Blot and it was seamless. It is great to have the site’s folders hosted via the iCloud integration because I can keep those folders downloaded on my devices; something you can’t do with the Dropbox integration in Files.
Thanks to David and the Blot team for not giving up on this one.
YLW (Jan 2025)
Monthly follow up from my Year of Living Without 2025. January was no soda.
Just a very quick update that the year is off to a great start when it comes to doing without. I haven’t consumed any soda since our family Christmas Eve dinner. I haven’t used any devices in the bathroom. I started my February without theme early and have been intermittent fasting (16:8 format) since we returned from a family cruise on January 11th.
I’ll be writing more about fasting and how it provides a framework in my life, but I can confirm that having monthly themes for doing without in 2025 feels great.
2025 Uses Update
I went ahead and updated my Uses page for the first time since I added it in 2024. That page also encompasses my App Defaults, so I won’t need to publish those updates separately.
Here’s the recap:
- No changes to Furniture, Hardware and Coffee sections.
Software Changes
- Stopped using Arc Browser; returned to Safari.
- Stopped using Oku for book tracking; using mymind for tracking and Apple Notes for book notes.
- Stopped using Raindrop for bookmarks; using mymind.
- Stopped using Apple Podcasts; returned to Castro.
- Stopped using 1Password for Families (after 8 years); moved to Apple Passwords.
- Added Shareshot for iOS/iPadOS screenshots.
- Now using Forever ✱ Notes framework in Apple Notes for note taking.
That’s a lot less change than I’d normally go through in a year, which was intentional. I’ve been focusing on only changing something that’s not working, vs. change for the sake of change. The things I’m using are working well and the changes have all been refinement or cost savings.
Friction is a feature
This post is my entry for January’s IndieWeb Carnival being hosted by V.H. Belvadi.
This is a great theme to kick off the year. I read V.H.’s post and was honored to have my Intentional Web Manifesto quoted as an example of people promoting the right kinds of friction on the internet. Since I think I’ve covered that topic best as I’m equipped for the time being, I’ll focus on a different form of friction for this month’s theme post.
I’ve come to embrace the mantra of friction is a feature. Not only is it a feature of the human existence, but it’s a feature in the same vein as the amusing “Feature or Bug” memes regarding functionality of apps, devices, etc. Friction is a feature is such a simple and pure reframing of a term that therapy talk and life shaped around removal of all inconvenience have weaponized as the enemy of an optimized life. I call bullshit!
Friction is what refines us in the same way that a smooth edge on a beautiful piece of furniture had the splinters and sharpness massaged away with sandpaper and movement. Friction means doing hard things to get good at doing hard things. Friction means not shying away from conversations and people that stretch you. Friction transforms energy from form to form, and the idea that we should remove all of the friction from our lives leaves us small, empty, and unnecessarily fragile. We lack, ironically, what that sandpaper has… grit.
Friction is a feature is what has led me to do several years of “living without” experiments in my life. Life is going to inevitably throw some friction at you at the most inopportune time. While it may be unfortunate, the most unfortunate thing is when someone has allowed the grit muscles in their brain, body, and spirit to atrophy to the degree that any unexpected friction feels insurmountable. If you look at the people in your life that seem to take life in stride, my bet is on those same people having an attitude that friction isn’t the enemy.
Humans need friction, as a feature.