I read a recent post by Matt Birchler talking about his experiment with going back to Apple’s stock calendar. It sparked in me thoughts about my recent switch (well a few months ago) and I thought I would share my experiences. Not that my lowly blog needs to lend credence to the amazing Matt Birchler, but it is often helpful to see more than one person pointing to the same things.
I love to try new things. To push the limits of where I am settled and see if new technology can help me out. This usually revolves around phones and for a long time I was, a phrase I coined, a phonehobo. I just moved around all over the place and never had a home. The constant release of Android phones in the early 2010s meant that there was no shortage of new things to try and the constant promise of the new one being the best.
I take loads of notes. Like a serious amount, that at some points it seems a bit unhealthy. I enjoy writing everything down for later use, and over the years it has proven invaluable numerous times. I like the process of doing it, I like to remember things, so I read them back, and I use them in personal and work related projects on a daily basis. This isn’t a post to polish my ego or anything.
You know that horrible experience when you first buy a car, and then you see loads of the same one coming in the opposite direction all the time. It’s a known human cognitive bias, the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon, I know it’s false, but I am experiencing it with vertical things at the minute and I can’t work out where it is going.
It started on Saturday when I was running (donate to London For Lucie by the way!
Charles Chen discussing he’s outlook that Mastodon is Rewinding the Clock on Social Media:
On the consume side, that means that your home feed has no Algorithm (big-A “Algorithm”). This can be disorienting at first when coming from X and FB. Practically, it means that you see only what you want to see and only see it linearly. You never wonder, “why am I seeing this and how do I make it go away?
I have just realised that between last week’s update and this one I only wrote, one blog post. I am certain that some weeks have been even worse, but seeing it so easily makes me want to get my ass into gear and publish more. Perhaps you will see more before next week’s post? Don’t hold your breath!
If I can be allowed to start at the end of the week and work backwards, I watched Arsenal destroy Man United yesterday and there are not many better feelings than this.
Matt Birchler on letting the internet run out:
In a world where we all struggle with how much we use our devices (let’s be real, we mean our phones), I think it’s kinda nice to have some places that just give up and tell us, “my dude, you’ve read it all, go do something else.”
I read this and nodded along, like most posts Matt publishes because it’s easy to agree with things you know to be true.
I am sure he will forgive me, but I always read thingsThisWeek by Maique and like the idea of small updates of the things I have been up to. So without further fuss, here’s mine.
This week was ups and downs as usual. Filled full of some working and some days off due to bank holidays and skilfully timed annual leave. I spent a lot of it trying to relax, failing, and also trying to run a little more.
After months of carrying around my notebook constantly. Through thick and thin, whatever the occasion. Do you know what killed it? Summer. My field notes and everyday inspiration cover doesn’t really fit with my baggy summer shorts, and that kind of sucks.
Months on end, this thing stuck with me. Containing all my notes, thoughts, blog post ideas and most importantly all the things I have to do. Now it’s just on my desk at work and comes out every now and again if I have a meeting.
I’ve always liked the idea of a digital garden, even tried to set one up a few times, but never really managed to make one stick. Well, perhaps that’s not strictly true, I do have one in Apple notes, but it’s not a published one.
The appeal comes from my note-taking itself. I write them obsessively, about anything and everything. They evolve all the time. Get overwritten, rewritten and added too as much as new ones sprout up, and that is perhaps what I would like my blog to be.