Tangible Life
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.
Tangible Tangible
Tangible Life now has tangible (aka physical) goods. I’ve been evaluating print-on-demand platforms for a bit and finally pulled the trigger on one. I have a couple of designs with a limited set of products for each and I’ll add to it slowly as I have designs I feel are worthwhile to offer.
Here’s the link to the store, which I’ll get around to adding to the top nav someday. If you order something in the next 2 weeks, it’s 25% off as an initial promotion the platform offers.
Shoot me an email with your thoughts on the initial design offerings, or with any questions you may have on how/why I’m doing this. I’m always happy to hear from folks.
Year of Living Without 2025
As mentioned in a recent post, 2024 wasn’t a year of living without for me. I took a different approach that I simply didn’t excute on, and rather than regret it, I learned that monthly exercises that can then pivot to multi-month habits is the way to go for my personality. With that in mind, I’m defining the first three months of 2025, but with a twist. Each thing I do without during that month, I’ll attempt to continue doing without in the months that follow. I’m starting with three in this format, because there are some things I want to periodically do without, but these I’d be totally fine to be be without for the foreseeable future or permanently.
- January: No soda.
- February: 16 hour fasting.
- March: No phone in bed.
The one that I’ll carry through to 2025 that I failed at building as a consistent habit in 2024 is no devices in the bathroom. That begins today and I’ll attempt to go the entire year without.
Belief
This post is my entry for December’s IndieWeb Carnival being hosted by Zinzy.
One of Zinzy’s suggested prompts for this month’s theme was:
What is something you can’t know, but that you believe?
I think this is a fascinating way of framing it, because so much of the structures that frame belief exist in a religious context. Many of those transpose knowing with belief to the point that it is foundational that if you say you believe, you automatically have a basis in knowledge or knowing. I think that’s one of the fundamental things that has turned me off to religion over my lifetime, but I’ve never lost my belief in spiritual divinity.
The sciences are rooted in things that are known, or seeking to be known. To balance those concrete yet always evolving through discovery facts and constants, there is belief in those things that are not yet proven or still yet to be fully understood or appreciated. An example for framing purposes would be, there is no physical artifact in our human body that is our soul, yet there is a commonly held belief that something exists within us that makes us more than merely the sum of our parts. Our bones, our organs, and tissue are physical and scientific in what they perform. Our spirit or soul is that which cannot be extracted or donated to science when our human body inevitably and ultimately fails the test of immortality. Yet that spirit transcends the physical form and becomes unbound from the containment that was once so precious.
I believe that our spirit, or soul if you prefer that term, is the energy that we feel but cannot measure through tools or telemetry. It is that which we do not know, but feel. Some people are more in touch with these energy forms because they exist all around us. My wife and I often say to each other, “The world is always telling you things, so long as you’re willing to and actually listen.” Whether it is a physical reminder like touching a tree or seeing lightning do things that can’t be explained, or sitting in traffic and suddenly seeing a message in the form of a license plate that could only have been intended for you if only because you had to be there at that moment to receive it.
Many religions or belief constructs (philosophies) have these concepts embedded throughout. I read things not because I’m seeking to believe in them, such as various ideals from different religions. I read them because I see them as perspectives which to better understand the greater energy that cannot be defined. An analogy that may feel completely out of context would be crime investigation. All witnesses and connections to those witnesses are interviewed and evaluated. Each of those represents a perspective, where the events transpired to all of them, but not everyone experienced it the same way or with the same interpretation of what was occurring. A good detective assumes nothing, but listens to every input to assess and sort out what it means to the understanding being sought.
I have a saying that is framed in my home office that isn’t there for aesthetic or aspirational purposes. It’s there because it is my approach to life and it feels fitting to mention it here in closing. It reads:
Have a mind that is open to anything and attached to nothing.