July 2023

In the center the new computer screen is visible, showing the desktops of two Macs. On the left the new Laptop for work and right my old iMac. The desk is freshly cleaned. In the background is a green wall. And a plant on the left side of the desk.

My new desk setup is ready for work next week. Got a new monitor (LG UltraWide 49WQ95C-W). I need to replace the old iMac at some point for now it will live under the desk (it does not support the resolution of the new screen). But for now I can use it with the PIP support of the screen.

 
Zoomed-in picture of the observation tower in the festival area. There are some human on top of the tower. The tower is cladded with posters of past Citroën 2CV meetings.

Spent the day yesterday at the 24th World Meeting of 2CV. They had a observation tower in the middle of the festival area.

 

I wanted to code today but now it is noon and I only worked on my PKM stuff. At least I have now some better atomic notes and a better understanding of some of my thoughts.

 

I love how he writes about his experience of the birth of his first daughter. Perhaps it is also because it was quite similar to my own experiences.

I knew what water breaking was. But I didn’t know what it meant. Is the baby coming out now?
Again, there was a major expectations-reality gap. I had pictured the day of my first child’s birth being impossibly frenetic and emotional and intense. But there we were, eating animal crackers and gummies from the treats-you-can-eat-while-in-labor bag, hanging out and chatting like any other day.

It felt so strange going into the hospital, but not come out of it in the morning as a father.

⤑ 10 Thoughts From the Fourth Trimester — Wait But Why.

/link

Found to further automation which were not working anymore due to moving the Dropbox folder the other day.

A good reminder to document your automations!

/automation

A good article but also a bit sad.

Edward Lewis, however, is at least honest about what he does. “You don't make anything,” Vivian notes, and he agrees; “You don’t build anything,” she continues, and he concurs with that as well. And perhaps that’s why David Zaslav is earning a concerning reputation so far. He’s out here carrying on like a mogul, but based on his performance to date, he’s only good at breaking things.

⤑ How Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav Became Public Enemy Numbe… (via Daring Fireball: GQ Shits the Bed).

/link

I love this post from Manu. So many wonderful quotes.

I am not a speaker and chances are you're not one either. And yet you're probably speaking with other people constantly in your life without giving it a second thought.

⤑ I am not a writer – Manu.

/link
Zoomed-in selfie of me in the forest. I wear a “cowboy” inspired hat and sunglasses. At the bottom part of my orange polo shirt is visible. In the background you see the sun flooded forest. It is a light forest with a lot of grass at the bottom.

Picture from my walk yesterday. I’ve tried my fathers hat on. Part of me likes it but I also feel very self conscious about it.

 

Woke up to a nice summer storm – I’m looking forward to the lower temperatures.

 

@V_ it’s very strange hearing about the heat waves when we are in the middle of a cold snap in the southern hemisphere. Hope you’re getting through it!

by herself on

@herself I would not yet call it an heat wave (at least not in my part of the world). Just regular summer. It is more that I personally prefer the temperature between 20-25 degrees Celsius instead of 25-30. I hope you get some more warmth back soon.

by V_ on

@V_ thanks 😊 —I agree that low to mid 20s is a sweet spot for us too. That’s our current summer temps here in Wellington though we do sometimes get up around the 30s. Our sun is really “burny” though and even around 20 it can few quite intense.

by herself on

After two nights in the forest, I’m glad to be back home. I’m so sore and tired right now. But happy I was able to experience this with my daughter. Also proud she dared to try it (it was her first time sleeping outside in the forest).

/adventure /father-daughter

@V_ Woohoo!

by jarrod on

Is this really the only way to make urls inside my page content absolute in Hugo?

<description>{{ (replaceRE "<img (.*?)src=\"" (printf "%s%s" "<img $1 src=\"" .Permalink) .Content) | html }}</description>
/coding /hugo

Cleaning up my notes for the On Writing Well by William Zinsser. And found this quote again (from page 111):

Finally, don’t strain to find synonyms for “he said.” Don’t make your man assert, aver and expostulate just to avoid repeating ‘he said," and please–please!–don’t write “he smiled” or he grinned." I’ve never heard anybody smile. The reader’s eye slips over “he said” anyway, so it’s not worth a lot of fuss. If you crave variety, choose synonyms that catch the shifting nature of the conversation. “He pointed out, “he explained,” “he replied,” he added”–these all carry a particular meaning. But don’t use “he added” if the man is merely averring and not putting a postscript on what he just said.

I love how he can say so much with so little, and I’ve learned a new word as well: aver (State or assert to be the case).

/quote /writing
A bottle of Tannenliebe propped up inside on off my black boots. The boots stand on grass.

Found a new beverage in my holidays. Its called Tannenliebe.

It tastes like a bottle of confer forests and is quite refreshing.

 

@V_ sounds interesting. I’ll keep an eye out here in Poland. We sometimes get some interesting drinks from Germany.

by ChrisJWilson on

An iPhone prop up on a desk in front there is an apple wireless keyboard.

I experimented with a new writing setup while abroad last week. An old apple keyboard with the iPhone.

Works well but the Grammarly Keyboard does not like the external input device.

 

@V_ Fantastic! What did you write using that setup? Looks like email open on the phone.

by MitchW on

@MitchW I think I was writing my morning page at the time. I generally write most of my notes in the mail app.

by V_ on

This are the seven reasons mentioned by Max in his post:

  1. I don’t have time
  2. I don’t have anything interesting to say
  3. I gotta fix [X] on my site first
  4. Others have already written about this
  5. The moment for this has passed
  6. I can’t get it to sound right
  7. Nobody’s going to read it anyway

I release quite a bit with this article - not wit hall of the seven reasons, I mostly feel five and seven at the moment.

I think if you actually want to write though, it’s more a lack of routine than a lack of time itself.
A beautiful thing about blogs is that they’re asynchronous. You can just write things and put them out there, and even if they don’t hit a nerve immediately, people can discover them in their own time.

⤑ 7 Reasons why I don’t write.

/link

@V_ I feel number 2 and 4 at any given time. Maybe 7 a bit. But one should probably write for themself first and foremost and let it follow from there. Easier said than done, of course. I will have a look at the whole article from Max later. Thanks for the tip!

by jeldo on

@jeldo Yep writing for myself is the solution for number seven. But depending on my mental form of the day it is easier said than done. Regarding number two, I try to not judge my content by the criterium if it is interesting for others. When I write for myself then it should not matter whether it is interesting for others. It is sort of a catch 22 with number seven.

by V_ on

@V_ even if they don’t hit a nerve immediately, people can discover them in their own time. Being on tumblr for over a decade, I can attest to this. It’s especially fun when you see how someone has changed over time as a result.

by oddevan on

@V_ That's so true, now that you say it.

by jeldo on

I was looking for a new bag pack today but could not yet find the perfect solution. Does anybody have recommendations? Should be decent looking (not a hiking model). For regular day to day activity, and sometimes weekend travel. Ideal with two compartments and space for a book and laptop.

 

@V_ One of the models I was looking at was this one: www.cabaia.com/products/...

by V_ on

@V_ You may wish to check out Ethnotek if you haven't already. I have a Raja (I saw someone else with one); I've used it for day-to-day and it's ideal for short/weekend travel (with handy separate laptop compartment - easy to remove at airport security)

by jasraj on

@V_ I love my Evergoods CHZ22 because every element has been well-considered for daily use and built to be durable. You may also like the backpacks by Bellroy, another company that takes design seriously.

by pgkr on

⤑ The four types of software in the future.

I loved this post, it gives a different perspective onto my chosen craft. Especially also this question:

The Louis Vuitton of software is becoming more of a real thing. As software continues to get easier to build at scale, and with everyone being able to it, the age-old question arises…what happens to the craft?

/link
Close shot off the outside pen with ten guinea pigs in the shade of the building.

It had a flock(?) of guinea pigs at our hotel. I think there were also young ones in there as some were so small. They were looking so cute. Hanging in there in the shade.

 

@V_ I think it should be called a haufen. A haufen of cuteness. 🥰

by jeldo on

@jeldo that sounds about right :-D I especially liked the sound they made together. It was so long ago that I last heard one of them. But when you take a haufen it sounds amazing.

by V_ on

Close up of myself on top of an horse. Picture was taken inside the forest.

Back from my holidays. I’ve tried something new this time. First time horse riding.

 

It is way too hot and humid here. I should not complain about the weather but five degrees less would also work.

 

It still hurts. Stumbled over my feet this morning and my ankle and knee are not happy. Nothing is broken and swollen as far as I can see. And I can still walk just with pain.

 

Having good API documentation is so much worth. Todays fail: The apple speech framework. Which does not document that you need to enabled either Siri or Dictation on the device for it to work.

/coding
Picture towards the sky showing hundreds of gallons just released.

Once again we started the festivities for the end of school year with releasing hundreds of ballons.

 

Spent yesterday way too much time on making my code “nice” without any new functionality.

/coding

Got space back by moving my dropbox folder to an external drive – not sure if that was a good idea. The drive is so slow :-(.

/computer

I’m in search of disk space today :-( Only 3 GB free at the moment, and the computer is unusable.

 

I tried something new today to fight my migraines. Took a short walk first thing in the morning – instead of sitting at the computer. Looks promising so far.