Tangible Life
Using | Fellow Opus
I’m sure I’ll have more to share in my Year in Coffee 2023 post, but the quick update is that I found myself in need of a new grinder. The grinder that I’d been using for 6+ years started to have some critical failure indications, so rather than waiting until it burst into flames or finding metal shavings in my grounds, I pulled the trigger on a replacement.
The timing couldn’t have better, since Fellow just released a new conical burr grinder called the Opus. It is a unique entry in that it does grinds fine enough for espresso all the way up to coarse enough for cold brew. This versatility is exactly what I found myself looking for, since I make drinks in that full range and greatly prefer freshly ground beans for all of them. I also had a 20% coupon code that made the expenditure a little easier to justify as well. While I didn’t want to spend on any coffee gear, the increase in functionality and needing another 6 years of reliability in my setup made the decision clear.
The product page speaks for itself, and there are tons of great video reviews on YouTube that get into the nitty gritty details of the grinder’s pros/cons. I can say it looks great on the countertop next to the Fellow EKG kettle I use. The Fellow design language is one I appreciate for it’s understated, minimalist aesthetic.
Fellow Opus grinder
YLW (Jan 2023)
Monthly follow up from my Year of Living Without. January was grayscale mode on my phone (and Apple Watch).
Grayscale mode on the phone has been an interesting experiment. As many others in various writings and Reddit posts have commented, it does take a bit of time before your brain gets “tricked” into what it is visually processing. Once the light bulb goes off, though, it’s pretty jarring how much those saturated and vivid hues really do pull one into the retina beauty that is your smartphone screen.
Steve Jobs, when demoing the Mac’s Aqua UI for the first time said, “We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.” That’s a pretty good way to describe how you’ll see the colors on iOS’s screen of icons when you toggle the color back on after not having it for several days. The colors are gorgeously rendered and talented designers have done a great job creating icons that beg to be tapped.
I wrote more about the tech aspects of my experiment over on my tech & coffee blog, including how I toggled the color on for obvious necessities like photo viewing/editing and a turn-based variant of the game Wordle that my wife and I play. These little tech tweaks made it seamless to have color enabled when I needed it, and automatically disabled when I didn’t. It’s one removal of friction that made the experiment “stick” for me.
Speaking of sticking, it is now February and I haven’t turned color mode back on as a default. I turn it back on occasionally, to view a photo or product or do some quick CSS code behavior confirmation. Sometimes, I do it to simply remind myself how jarring it is to see the vibrancy of the default UI as the rest of the world around me does. I realize that grayscale mode as a default isn’t for everyone. I recognize (and have been reminded by those that love me for me) that this self-imposed removal of color is a bit odd. I’m okay with that, since what I find odd, or rather uncomfortable (bordering on disgusting), is the normalization we’ve leaned into as a society that life happens on the other side of a “lickable” piece of glass.
Declutter Challenge (Jan 2023) — Part 2
Here’s the daily log for the second half of January’s declutter challenge. The only space I didn’t hit (that would have really helped hit the daily goal numbers) was the garage. I won’t be tracking on a daily basis, but the effort will continue into February and March. Considering this the “Declutter Quarter”.
- January 15 - I cleared out more read-later app articles and deleted old notes from the Notes app I no longer needed.
- January 16 - Not much in the way of decluttering, but had an amazing breakfast with my dad this day.
- January 17 - Got rid of an old outdoor camera system and threw out 20 old door and window sensors that were prone to fault. Decluttered and secure.
- January 18 - Went through my cords bin in the office closet and eliminated a bunch of micro USB and other port types I don’t have many of around the house.
- January 19 - Today is the day that my wife’s side of the closet collapsed. It wasn’t her fault. The shelves weren’t installed properly, but now they are. This connects to decluttering because she weeded out a portion of her clothes she no longer felt value in keeping.
- January 20 - I’ve fallen off in the last several years when it comes to pruning my text messages. I just let them fall to the bottom of a list I never scroll through. Today I went back and deleted hundreds of old text convos I no longer needed to have in an endless scroll in Messages.
- January 21 - Not much decluttering today.
- January 22 - Threw out several boxes from Christmas decorations that were getting organized into the garage for 11 month storage.
- January 23 - Deleted 100 shortcuts from the Shortcuts app that I no longer use.
- January 24 - Another cord cleanse. Not 24 cords discarded, but what I have left is what I actually need.
- January 25 - Last of the electronic declutter. More cords (yes, I know… WTF) and two old alarm units that I don’t think anyone will buy.
- January 26 - Not much decluttering this day, but did organize so that things have their place in the office closet.
- January 27 - Deleted tons of files no longer needed from my cloud storage and phone.
- January 28 - Cleared my podcasts queue out. There were many back episodes of shows that I didn’t need to keep around since if I was going to listen to them, I would have by now.
- January 29 - Busy Sunday with the kids, so no decluttering of note.
- January 30 - Sold off a pair of kids shoes that were still in great shape, but that was it.
- January 31 - While I had plans to end the month super strong, I had a busier than expected day at work and didn’t end up throwing away 31 items from the garage. Good thing this game isn’t limited to a single month.
Automating Grayscale Mode
In January, I experimented with using the grayscale color filter as the primary mode on my iPhone. I’ve written about the experience but I wanted to expand on the tech angle of how I made the process much easier with the use of two iOS features; Personal Automations in Shortcuts and the triple-click side button Accessibility shortcut.
Here’s a visual on the setup via the Personal Automation in Shortcuts. The example shows the automation for the photo editing app Darkroom, but you can create it with the same flow for any app. By using toggle in the Set Color Filter action, you avoid having to set a separate explicit “turn on” and “turn off” for the opening vs. closing the app. This is a single automation that covers both events.
Personal Automation UI
Now on to the failsafe method that can be used for any ad-hoc enable and disable of grayscale mode. This is useful for when you’re on a website and need full color or for when the Shortcuts automation doesn’t behave properly for a given application (that does happen, but infrequently).
Here’s the settings for that:
Triple-tap setting UI
In iOS, the Color Filter setting defaults to Grayscale. There are other options, but unless you have changed it in the past, the above items should all set or unset the grayscale mode. If you see a different behavior in what color profile gets toggled, just search Color Filter in Settings and tap into the menu to check that Grayscale is the option selected.
I didn’t realize until writing this post that when you take screenshots or screen capture recordings, the color profile is ignored. That’s handy, since when sending screenshots to other people, it may confuse them if they are in black and white if they aren’t in the know about your choice to use grayscale mode.
While I’d argue it could be a conversation starter, that’s better in person when someone notices that your screen lacks the vibrance that your life may not (if you’re using grayscale mode for the same reasons I am).
Declutter Challenge (Jan 2023) - Part 1
I’m already not one that’s prone to clutter, but with a large household consisting of my wife, 6 kids, an English Mastiff, a cat and me… things build up.
I decided that in addition to my Year Without challenge, I’d use the month of January to also do a declutter challenge. I’m using the method detailed by The Minimalists that can be summarized as succinctly as you eliminate the number of things that matches the numerical day of the month, for an entire month. While gamification is great, I didn’t want to set things aside to sandbag, so if I have more things to get rid of than the day of the month, so be it. Below is a log of the first 15 days:
- January 1 - I cleaned out an entire sock drawer in our master closet dresser. Also go rid of Christmas pajamas that we used for our yearly family photo, but that didn’t fit great after a wash and we knew they wouldn’t get added into normal rotation. Total haul was two 8 gallon trash bags of unneeded stuff.
- January 2 - I’m a firm believer that digital clutter shares much of the same anxiety inducing qualities of physical clutter, albeit not the same trappings of a home overflowing with “stuff”. Today I went through the App Library on my iPhone and deleted 11 apps that I either no longer used, no longer needed, had never used or simply didn’t want to have such frictionless access to via the computer that’s always with me.
- January 3 - Today was my first day back to work after the holidays. Due to a fractured ankle back at the beginning of October, most of my work from my home office had been from my knockoff Eames lounger so that I could keep my foot elevated. Since I’m back to being able to stand for longer periods, I spent portions of today gutting the closet in the office and discarded two trash bags worth of things I no longer need. A few items got listed on Mercari to sell off vs. donate or discard.
- January 4 - Discarded more items from the home office (another small trash bag full). Also cleared out my entire newsletter queue in Mailbrew. Feels light and great to have both physical and digital clutter removed. First day back at the standing desk is tomorrow!
- January 5 - By some purest measurement, I failed the declutter challenge yesterday because I didn’t rid myself of 5 physical nor digital objects that I can remember. I’m okay with that, because what I did rid myself of was the crushing mental weight of not having my home working environment the way I find most productive. Working at the standing desk yesterday was so freeing after the last 3 months of ankle issues. Yesterday was also an amazing evening with my lovely older daughters and wife seeing Hamilton for the first time as a live show. What an amazing day all around.
- January 6 - Another day of failed declutter challenge, but not feeling bad about it. Between work in the morning and a trip to celebrate a family birthday out of town, our day was pretty packed. I did manage to clear the anxiety of having not sent any newsletter update in some time. Yesterday was just a heads up on the platform change, but next week the letters start flying again and I’m super excited about all the changes in my process.
- January 7 - Went through my coffee kitchen cabinet and rid myself of tools, mugs and other related goods I no longer need or use. Removed well over seven items. Also deleted over 600 pics from my Apple Photo Library that were one-time use images or screenshots that served no purpose and were just backed up for no reason other than they existed.
- January 8 - While I discarded a few items (a Corkcicle tumbler, a book, etc.) I don’t know if I hit 8 things or not. I’m okay with it since I know progress is progress.
- January 9 - I discarded 10 edible items which I decided I couldn’t in good conscience consume the entire container. Sometimes we check a box, but 9 or more things is 9 or more things.
- January 10 - Donated a couple of ankle injury items (scooter/leg crutch) to a contact. Listing a laptop for sale that’s no longer used. While it isn’t ridding ourselves of items, all the indoor Christmas decorations were put away today, which as the space feeling fresh. Also cleared a ton of articles out of my read-later app that are either no longer relevant to me or were read and never archived.
- January 11 - Discarded the original set of key caps from my Keychron K6. So however many keys that is, it’s more than 11.
- January 12 - I uninstalled a ton of apps on my iPad today. Also did another pass at mechanical keyboard key caps and discarded ones that are part of my current set, but that don’t fit my keyboard layout.
- January 13 - Busy day, don’t believe any items of relevance were discarded.
- January 14 - spent some time deleting a ton of bookmarks that were things I no longer needed in Raindrop. The count was over 100.
- January 15 - I cleared out more read-later app articles and deleted old notes from the Apple Notes app I no longer needed. There’s so much digital cruft that gets left behind simply because it doesn’t occupy more than hard drive or cloud storage “space”.
Year in Coffee 2022
While most parts of my coffee routine remained the same in 2022, it’s nice to take inventory and comment on what’s working and how my gear and process has evolved over the span of a year.
Gear
The only “new gear” I acquired in 2022 was a larger filter basket for my Picopresso (more on that below) and a Hario coffee scale. I’d had a cheap Amazon kitchen scale for a long time that I didn’t enjoy much, and in 2021 I bought a minimal matte black scale on Alibaba that ended up only working for a few months. When it was time to buy a replacement, I decided to go for something that could be a long-term solution, even if it was slightly more expensive upfront. I make multiple cups of coffee each day, so having items that are reliable and enjoyable to use are important to the ritual.
Other gear purchases were not necessarily new, but replacements or backups for items I already had. My Fellow Stagg EKG stopped working, and after some trial and error with a replacement base only, I ended up ordering a full replacement of the matte black model I’ve had for several years. While I am disappointed that the original stopped working, it’s a great product that I’m satisfied with the usage I’ve gotten out of it, considering the fact that I use it 3-5 times daily for years without issue.
The mug that I’ve used at home for many years now has a neat backstory. My wife called into a radio morning show contest 8 or so years ago, and won a Starbucks coffee basket prize. Being that she’s not a coffee drinker, the basket came to me and I’ve been using the limited edition mug ever since. It’s a great shape, size and features a nice mosaic tile print in various grays and browns. It was part of an 8 design collection that Starbucks did as a limited run many years ago. My variant is labeled as the ‘07/08’ edition from that collection.
For my birthday last year, Isa managed to find two more of the exact mug via secondhand online marketplaces. I was surprised gifts of both “backups”, plus a cake and shortbread cookies modeled after the mug design. We’re not big “gifters”, but it was a gesture of love towards not only me, but a ritual she knows is so core to my routine and inner peace. If the original (or OG, as it has been coined) mug ever meets an untimely fate, I have two replacements ready for service. The rule of good backups is upheld… one is none.
Brew Methods
My “daily driver” brew method is still a V60 pour-over. When making more than one cup when we have company, I swap out to the Chemex. I still use the Aeropress occasionally at home, but it’s become my main mode of brewing while traveling. It’s so easy to pack it and a hand grinder for a hotel stay and only need to source hot water to have a consistently great cup when not in the comforts of home.
In 2021, I purchased a Wacaco Picopresso. While it is accurately advertised as a great portable/travel espresso maker, I use it primarily at home as I don’t have a full-size espresso machine. I really enjoy espresso done well, but the sacrifice of counter space isn’t a trade off I’m ready to make for something larger, even at the “prosumer” machine scale. I’ve been experimenting with different recipes using the Picopresso this past year, and I’ve dialed it in and can consistently make a double shot and something akin to a cortado or cortadito that I enjoy a lot. The key to making great espresso with the Picopresso is the grind size. I’ve found that the no-name conical burr grinder I’ve had for years just doesn’t get fine enough for proper espresso. Rather than invest in something like a Fellow Ode for this gap, I’ve taken the simple approach of having the darker roast beans I buy from a local roaster specifically for espresso at their “espresso fine” setting. The trade-off here is obviously that I’ve ground the entire bag and sacrifice some fresh ground flavor profile and freshness, but it’s the best solution for me right now.
Beans
I suspended my YES PLZ beans subscription in 2021, solely due to cost. I found that there was a local Orlando roaster (Foxtail) with a satellite location on my way to and from gymnastics with the twins. I’m able to get equal freshness of roast, but way more beans for the money with Foxtail. I like several of their single origin varieties, but have to admit that I miss the amazing sourcing and blend that Tonx and Sumi come up with over at YES PLZ. The other advantage is that they have two great dark roast options that I can have ground for espresso as mentioned above. I’ll stick with Foxtail for cost reasons, but do want to have more variety here and there in 2023. I’ll likely buy a few ad hoc bags from YES PLZ to satisfy that itch.
The Last Cup of 2022
As part of this yearly retrospective, I’ll share what my last cup of the year was. I enjoyed a cortadito made with Winter Solstice beans (a dark roast with cinnamon flavor notes that’s a seasonal offering at Foxtail). I don’t have a milk steamer/frother, so I heat up the half-and-half and sugar separately to high temp, stir to a sweet and smooth mixture and then add it to the double shot immediately after pulling with the Picopresso. It was spectacular.
Year of Living Without
After reading Manu’s great post about his newest year without experiment and the original inspiration from Leo Babuta, I’m ready to embark on my own.
I’ll take the month-at-a-time approach and am only thinking through what the first 6 months of 2023 will attempt. As I get closer to the mid-point of the year, I’ll evaluate what I should eliminate for the last half. I’m planning to write about each month as it concludes with a short retrospective on how it felt and if I succeeded.
Here’s my list for January - June:
- January - Phone in grayscale mode only.
- February - No sweets.
- March - Only water or coffee to drink; coffee must be black, no dairy, no sweeteners.
- April -
No Apple Watch.No devices in bathroom. - May - No podcasts or audiobooks.
- June - No email newsletters.
Should be interesting! Email me if you have questions or want to discuss.
So Long Social Media
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no stranger to distancing myself from social media platforms. Over the past few years, I’ve written about my thoughts on social. I’ve archived my Instagram account at 500 posts. I haven’t had a Facebook account for over 10 years. Don’t have LinkedIn. Don’t have TikTok. I stopped using Reddit actively a couple years back as well.
Twitter was my hold out. While my posting had dwindled, and I started pruning my timeline back to just the most recent 30 days of tweets, I had no plans to leave it. Then Mr. Musk came and took a shit in the swimming pool.
In some ways, I’m glad he did. Not because I think it is good for the platform, or the world… but because I think it’s exactly what I needed to draw a solid line between me and any social media platform. I have no desire to check out Mastodon. I’m not looking for an outlet or place to occupy my time in a similar way. I’m just done. The time that I’ll get back, I’ll invest in more writing, reading or non-social media forms of leisure. My attention span will thank me. My brain will thank me.
I’m not deleting the accounts. I don’t like the idea of anyone having my usernames after I’ve had them for so long. I may auto-post when I write something to draw interested folks to my writing. I may not… I haven’t really decided. I just know I won’t be logging in, reading any tweets, or posting my own with my own two hands anymore.
I may find a way to use one of my sites for short posts or quick thoughts, but more than likely I’ll just journal them and see which ones turn into something worth writing about in more than a couple hundred characters.
To those I met on the platform, I am truly grateful for the interesting conversations we’ve had. I hope they have a path to continue via email, text or phone calls.
Another year of living without
Manu with another perfectly-timed post for the way I’m thinking of late…
This resonates:
And what is causing all these problems is the internet. Now, I don’t plan to go a year without internet since that’s impossible considering the work I do but I do plan to go a year without consuming internet related entertainment. So no mindless browsing out of boredom, no YouTube videos, no random scrolling on Reddit.
I’ve been creating some systems to deal with this, but Manu’s approach is more simple and therefore likely better.
I’m using the awesome Mailbrew to create digests of internet content I still want to consume that get delivered as “brews” or newsletters on a weekly or monthly basis. I’ve uninstalled the Youtube app from my phone and am using an app called one sec to put a barrier between apps/websites and my compulsion to view/open them.
I’ll write up a full post on my tactics and plans for 2023, but intentionality in what I consume, lessening that consumption and repurposing that time for better things is the central theme.
Better Connections
Great post from Carl Barenbrug that hits very close to my overall feelings on the topic of connectedness (or lack thereof).
We struggle to find worthwhile connections and conversations with those we can learn from and engage meaningfully with. It’s difficult to know why exactly. There’s probably many reasons—work, personal commitments, not knowing where to find them, or too afraid to even seek them out.
I’d make an argument that most of the reasons stem from an oversupply issue. The oversupply of “connection opportunities” has completely eroded the ability to spark, fertilize, incubate and hatch what is a strong connection. Social media, endless scroll and the collective “phone screen as life’s viewfinder” are all to blame.
I’m leaning into older and slower methods. Regular, scheduled and valued phone calls. Long-form letters in the modern convenience of emails. Investing in another human is something that should bring mutual value and growth for both parties.
Twitter/Instagram/etc will make you feel like you can reap dividends by investing time in tiny bits that are equivalent to mere pennies. I’ve come to the conclusion those methods are nothing more than wishing wells.
Ashes Cannon
File this under “things I need now for my Death Kit Gift to those left behind”:
Duckin’ Autocorrect with Ken Kocienda
Joanna Stern interivews the inventor of iPhone autocorrect, Ken Kocienda.
Couldn’t help but notice that Ken is using the gorgeously designed Opal webcam.
Brew Method Psychology
Brew methods sketch
Tommy Siegel with a great illustration.
Whether you agree or disagree with what these may say about you, they’re hilarious.
Does a Toddler Need an NFT?
Article from NY Times (soft paywall):
Does your toddler need an NFT? Zigazoo says yes. The app’s mission is to “empower kids to shape the very landscape and infrastructure of NFTs and Web3,” to help them “express themselves through art and practice essential financial literacy skills” and to allow them to grow into “tomorrow’s digital citizens.”
No. Fuck. This.
Severance Office Dance Party
Roxana Hadadi writing at Vulture:
The morning was devoted to the dance number, which Tillman estimates took about 10 takes. “Many years in theater definitely prepared me to be able to dance and be open, because I needed to get information from them and that information was in their dance,” he says. The MDR space, which is Gagné’s favorite set inside Lumon for its contrasting tones and geometric lines, comes alive in shades of purple, blue, and pink as Tillman winds across the floor, doing a ʼ60s-style Mod dance with Helly, soldier-marching with Mark, and getting down with Irv. (Among the takes that didn’t make the final cut were “the Bump with Mark and a little Snake with John Turturro,” Tillman says.)
Easily my favorite scene in the show’s spectacular first season.
Paper App 10 Year Reflections
𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐘 created a lovely ode to Paper app in this Twitter thread.
Paper app icon—We leaned on what we felt was most unique about the app—it’s expressive ink and book-like navigation.
Paper has long been one of my favorite iPad apps. I use it. My children use it. I’ve created things there that have blown my mind at being able to create so easily. The app icon is a thing of beauty.
Thanks for sharing these reflections with the world, Andy.
Eastern vs. Western Views of Happiness
Excellent article over at The School of Life:
Some of the reason why this continues to feel unreal is that we simply can’t imagine that success, great wealth and a palace wouldn’t in the end do the trick. And that in turn is because too few people who have been blessed with such accoutrements have ever given us an honest account of what it felt like to have them.
Minimalist tendencies lean into eastern sensibilities.
Write plain text files
Derek Sivers makes some excellent points throughout this piece, but two stuck out to me:
You will outlive these companies. Your writing should outlive you. Depending on companies is not an option.
Damn.
Reliable, flexible, portable, independent, and long-lasting. Plain text files will be readable by future generations, hundreds of years from now.
These qualities should be evaluation criteria for more than just writing.
5 Ways to Simplify Your Life
Leo Babauta always has gems to share, but the following really resonated with me:
This is the benefit of living a simple life, this slowness and spaciousness, but it can also be a path to the simple life. Slow down to simplify.
One of my 2022 themes is moving to more “slow apps” that don’t have the goal of engagement or stealing focus. I think I will stretch until I can fit “slow life” into the theme.
Project Milestone
Fascinating project. I could see this becoming the norm, especially with the cost of lumber skyrocketing.
In the city of Eindhoven (The Netherlands) five 3D-printed concrete houses will be built. The project is the world’s first commercial housing project based on 3D-concrete printing. The houses will all be occupied, they will meet all modern comfort requirements, and they will be purchased and let out by a real estate company.
Confessions of a Brain Surgeon
An amazing interview with neurosurgeon Henry Marsh on Big Ideas with Paul Barclay.
Hearing this episode made Marsh’s Do No Harm a no-brainer purchase for me. I wonder what part of my brain makes an intentionally cringe-worthy pun unavoidable.
Disconnect
Derek Sivers writing on his blog:
That lack of interruption is a great ingredient for flow.
Every business wants you get you addicted to their infinite updates, pings, chats, messages, and news. But if what you want out of life is to create, then those things are the first to go.
While the post is from 2016, the need to disconnect for the reasons Derek outlines are more attractive than ever.
What Is This Thing Called Design?
Khoi Vinh posted this on Subtraction in 2018. It is an even more cogent primer today than it was then.
Sometimes you need to explain what design is to people who don’t understand it, but need to.
This group of people is growing exponentially.
The end result is no longer just a “good looking” or “user friendly” interface; the goal is now to create a satisfying if not delightful overall experience for users.
The design process for so many things, especially digital interfaces, has become as much about how it works as how it “looks”. One may be a designer by title or trade, but make no mistake, it has evolved to being an engineer of the user’s experience with the product.
The eight secrets to a (fairly) fulfilled life
Oliver Burkeman distills brilliantly in his final “This column will change your life” submission at The Guardian. The entire article is a must read, but these are the high points for me:
The capacity to tolerate minor discomfort is a superpower.
My grandfather never stated in terms of “pain”. Always in terms of “discomfort”.
The future will never provide the reassurance you seek from it.
It’s freeing to grasp that no amount of fretting will ever alter this truth. It’s still useful to make plans. But do that with the awareness that a plan is only ever a present-moment statement of intent, not a lasso thrown around the future to bring it under control.
Go with the flow…
When stumped by a life choice, choose “enlargement” over happiness.
Finding things to make you temporarily happy is easy. Growth is hard, but utlimately the most rewarding to achieve.