: 🎮 I pre-ordered “Super Mario Wonder” tonight after my daughter reminded me it is coming out soon. I …

: 📚 I started reading John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath today. I have been curious about it for a …

: 📚 I finished reading Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 last night and stayed up too late thinking about it. …

: I have been having a lot of fun playing Knotwords lately. It a fun and sometimes challenging reverse …

: 🎮 PICO-8 is so cool I have known about the PICO-8 fantasy console for a while, due to finding a PICO-8 item in Celeste, …

: I just ordered my wife an iPhone 15. I am not happy that I had to pay in full, rather than use Apple …

: We all had a great time at Grounds for Sculpture today.

: The past couple days here in New Jersey have been full of glorious early fall weather. 🌞

: I tried Apple News+ crosswords Apple News+ crosswords have an excellent UI. Interacting with the grid and clues is fluid and …

: 📚 Last month I read Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara. It is another 20th century classic …

: I retrieved my 3-year-old iPhone 12 mini from the Apple Store this afternoon and set it up (along …

: I forgot that I shouldn't get an Apple Store repair with a beta OS installed Last night I went to the Apple Store to get a new battery for my iPhone 12 mini. Normally that …

: I will watch the Apple iPhone announcement/informercial today, but I am not overly excited about it. …

: ⌨️ I love my (lamentably discontinued) Planck-EZ, but was amazed when I discovered that ZSA released …

: 📚 Catch-22 is witty, surreal, and really keeps you on your toes as you read it.

: 📺 I just subscribed to Paramount+ for the year. I got hooked on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds this …

: 📚 I am tabling It for now. Three chapters in, I’m not sure I like it. I just borrowed Catch-22 from …

: 📚 I started reading Stephen King’s It. I know it’s popular. I know it’s long. I’m not yet sure that …

: 📚 Just finished reading Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham. Loved it!

: It turns out waking up before you want to is a great way to get to sleep before you want to. Thanks, …

: Today I am grateful for my daughter, who knocks on my home office door each afternoon after getting …

: Goodbye, Planck EZ I was sad to receive an email today from the manufacturer of my favorite keyboard, the Planck EZ, …

: Boston is a great city to visit in the spring.

: This morning my son and I took a emergency trip to the optician. It turns out six-year-old boys do …

: Currently reading: Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh 📚

: I’ve had my Nintendo Switch for about 5 years. My kids started playing it six months ago, and they …

: I just signed up for GitHub Copilot. I am hoping it makes me a more efficient Python and PowerShell …

: Finished reading: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green 📚 This book was way better than I thought it …

: Finished reading: The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff 📚 I liked this book but lost …

: Today I learned (from the Bing bot, and thanks to my kids’ curiosity) that there are approximately …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: Boston by Boston. I’m trying something retro for a rare weekend gym day.

: Currently reading: The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt 📚

: I decided to finally go all in on using my Planck EZ keyboard at work. I am still trying to get …

: My friends from high school would never believe that I attended religious services twice this week. …

: 🎵 Today seems like a good day to listen to a ton of Lana Del Rey.

: I followed a bunch of (semi-famous, mostly tech) podcasters I listen to in Mastodon and it totally …

: Finished reading: Constance by Matthew Fitzsimmons 📚 It was an OK sci-fi thriller. The writing was …

: I have been enjoying playing chess puzzles and correspondence chess at lichess lately. It is free …

: I joined Club TWiT this evening. Leo’s pleas finally wore me down. I look forward to seeing how …

: Is Dilbert over now? It seems so weird. I remember 20 years ago when Dilbert comic store part of …

: I had begun to think that my tolerance for hot, spicy food was very high, but the Peruvian chicken …

: On the most recent Accidental Tech Podcast, I’m pretty sure Marco Arment mentioned that he …

: I'm tuning out most AI think-pieces for a while I have gone from excited about AI to unnerved by it. At this point, I am limiting my exposure to the …

: Currently reading: Constance by Matthew Fitzsimmons 📚 It’s a thriller with a sci-fi premise. I …

: 🎵 I’m just playing the hits today.

: Finished reading: American Girls by Nancy Jo Sales 📚 I abandoned this book pretty early on. …

: I’m really enjoying the Super Bowl. It’s a great game! I don’t really care who wins.

: Finished reading: Fairy Tale by Stephen King 📚 I enjoyed it but wished it was 100 pages (or more) …

: Bing it with AI I love how people are interested in Bing again. I don’t think I know anyone who uses it other …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: Dog Problems by The Format. It’s a classic combination of feel-good …

: I still have a Google Voice number and at this point I don’t know why.

: Public service announcement: If you cut your finger in the kitchen, like I did last night, those …

: Ice Cubes, the Mastodon client, has been getting better at a rapid rate. There are updates every …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: In The Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. It’s an indie …

: Tom Brady Retires: The Revised Edition This “track changes” article by Ben Shpigel of The New York Times is wonderfully snarky: …

: 🎵 Today’s listen, Groundhog Day The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording), composed by …

: I find the Magic Trackpad (which is connected to my Mac mini) to be very janky compared to my wired …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: Come Get Your Wife by Elle King. Much of it is fun, “angry …

: Paid Search Engines A couple new, paid (or optionally paid) search engines have caught my attention recently: Kagi and …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: John Coltrane and John Hartman I just learned about this album this week. As …

: 📺 I’m watching The Last of Us. Love it.

: 🎵 Today's listen: Heaven or Las Vegas 🎵 Today’s listen: Heaven or Las Vegas by Cocteau Twins. This is purported to be one of the …

: 📺 Television Is Better Without Video Games Ian Bogost’s essay comparing the TV adaptation of The Last Of Us to its video game forbear was …

: My daughter performed in front of a couple hundred people in her elementary school talent show …

: Want to read: You Are a Badass® by Jen Sincero 📚 Thanks, @greghiggins.

: 🎵 Today’s listen: To Venus and Back by Tori Amos. I haven’t listened to this album in …

: 📺 I finished watching His Dark Materials season 3 last night. I found the last season to be a …

: If you stop doing something, you get worse at it. Last fall, I stopped writing for myself every day. …

: 🎵 Radio Paradise One thing that has been making me happy lately is Radio Paradise, which is an Internet radio …

: I have been playing more chess lately, and I have never played worse, I think. It is a humbling game …

: Currently reading: American Girls by Nancy Jo Sales 📚

: Currently reading: Fairy Tale by Stephen King 📚

: I’m happy Tapbots’s Ivory Mastodon client is out. My love for its predecessor, Tweetbot, …

: I have been happy to sit out the whole Twitter implosion, though I am beyond tired of hearing about …

: 📺 I have been watching Obi-Wan while at the gym because it is relatively mindless. And wow is it …

: HBOmax keeps canceling shows and, in unprecedented fashion, wiping them from its catalog. It’s …

: Hades II is in development! This is unexpectedly good news. (It feels wrong to use a Roman numeral …

: The New York Times iPad app got a dark mode recently (I noticed it yesterday), after a million years …

: We plan to visit my mom for Christmas again this year. It has been several years since we could, due …

: Today I’m taking my family to Boston for a short trip. We are excited. My wife and I went to college …

: My son and I are sick for the second time since school started. No one liked wearing a facemask last …

: For the first time in about 15 years I am no long a customer of Verizon Wireless. My family is …

: Upgrade+ from Best Buy sounds incredible. It is tempting me to buy a MacBook that I really can’t …

: Python 3.11 I have been looking forward to the Python 3.11 release all month and it is finally here. It wasn’t …

: Tonight I signed up for wireless service through Tello. I will test it alongside Verizon Wireless …

: 🎵 Taylor Swift Releases 7 New Songs Just Hours After New Album Midnights: Listen. Taylor Swift is …

: Here’s a game for a Big Data nerd like me: Is it Pokemon or Big Data?. Very (ok, somewhat) …

: I received a small windfall today in the form of a prepaid virtual prepaid card, which is quite …

: I hate it how I can no longer call a doctor’s office and get ahold of a person. The online …

: 🎵 Who else is looking forward to Taylor Swift’s new album? My daughter and I are anxiously awaiting …

: It amuses me that the tech pundits seem to hate Apple’s latest iPad and iPad Pro updates.

: The Excel gods have not been smiling on me this evening. I can’t get two different worksheets …

: Did you know you that, in Windows 10’s File Explorer, you can easily copy a file’s full …

: I think that widescreen 16:9 presentation slides look worse than 3:2 ones. Text gets too wide to …

: The once and future lawnmowing man My monthly “don’t have a lawn that embarrasses me” budget has increased dramatically over the past …

: It is stupefying to me that Apple’s new low-end iPad supports the first-generation Apple …

: 📚 Greenlights I read Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey last night. I picked it because it was the first …

: I started using https://hckrnews.com to browse Hacker News in a less redundant way. It collects the …

: I finally changed over my personal email address to use iCloud. That will save me $20/year on my …

: Blah I stopped writing blog posts a couple months ago for no reason whatsoever. It has been very hard to …

: I have some light reading tonight: Polars User Guide. I basically hate Pandas’s API and hope …

: 📺 I finished watching Slow Horses Season 1 tonight. I loved it and can’t wait for Season 2. …

: I’m uninstalling Visual Studio from my work computer. It feels weird to do it, but I …

: Is there no good and fast way to create an ETL job in Python? I love using PETL to read, transform, and validate datasets. Its API is simple and straightforward …

: Chess is just poker now The chess cheating scandal du jour is puzzling and fascinating. Matteo Wong’s article in The …

: Long-running data feeds are a real thing after all Over the weekend I wrote a SQL Server stored procedure and some user-defined functions it relies on …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: Autofiction by (The London) Suede. It’s really good! They went “punk” after 30 …

: I wrote a SQL script that queried, cleaned, and loaded data into a table. It failed after 9 hours of …

: I am still learning new T-SQL operators. Today I discovered CROSS APPLY, which is for joining to a …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: Asphalt Meadows by Death Cab for Cutie. I’m excited to hear new music from one of …

: Tableau is a very powerful data visualization tool. The more I use it, though, the weirder it is to …

: I coded and tested an update to one of my iOS apps tonight. It has been too long since I touched …

: My son lost his first tooth today! It happened while he was at school, eating an apple. His teacher …

: iOS 16 is very nice! I am enjoying the new Lock Screens and how they tie to the system Focus …

: My idea to eat healthier on my vacation was poorly conceived. 😅

: Whitefield, New Hampshire, band concert. My father-in-law is playing a song he arranged and my kids …

: It is my family’s annual drive off to vacation day. We are all excited. I will be driving pretty …

: I am supposed to be packing my tech gear for my vacation, so of course I am updating all my Linux …

: Yesterday I wiped my old iPad, which was running iPadOS 16 developer beta 3, and reinstalled iOS …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: Gold by Sister Sparrow. Apple Music labels it an “Alternative” album, but it is …

: My writing as a child: Why use a small word when a big word will do? My writing as an adult: Why …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: firstborn by Nicolle Gaylon. It is a veteran country songwriter’s first album. It …

: The Music app on the most recent iPadOS 16 developer’s beta crashes a lot. I regret installing the …

: I don’t need a better notes app. I need to take better notes.

: I want to install Linux on an old PC that I have. After looking at all sorts of reviews and videos …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: Emotional Creature by Beach Bunny. I loved this emo-pop band’s debut LP, …

: Standard Ebooks In my quest to fill my new Kobo with some good things to read, I quickly found Project Gutenberg, …

: Back to converting e-Books with Calibre I bought the Kobo Clara HD thinking that I could side-load ePubs on it without converting them. …

: Google Fonts I don’t always like Google’s products or business practices, but some of its offerings are great. …

: Lexend: Change the way the world reads When installing fonts on my new Kobo e-reader, I came across a font that I had never heard of …

: First impressions of the Kobo Clara HD e-reader I got my Kobo this afternoon, set it up, and started noodling with it. My library card needs to be …

: ChromeOS Flex Today I learned about ChromeOS Flex, which is an easy way to install Chrome OS on any computer: Try …

: Rubik’s Cube I taught my daughter how to visualize and calculate volume using one of my Rubrik’s Cubes tonight. …

: JSON with my son To my surprise, my son1 asked me to teach him how to use JSON in Python today. His grandfather …

: Impulse purchase: Kobo Clara HD e-reader I just impulse-purchased a Kobo Clara HD. I hope it wasn’t a bad decision. I need an e-book reader …

: 🎧 An update on the Sony WH-1000M4 A little while ago, I bemoaned that the Sony WH-1000M4 headphones were disappointing to me. I’m …

: 🎵 Today’s listen, Stop the Clocks by Oasis. It is a greatest hits album that is supposedly curated …

: I am excited to teach my daughter division by unit fractions this evening. I have been telling her …

: 📺 I very much enjoyed Stranger Things season 4. After I finished it, I re-watched seasons 1 and 2 …

: I don’t use Drafts anymore even though it used to be my all-time favorite iOS app. It became way …

: Learning with VS Code on Chromebooks My son needs a Chromebook for school and a computer to run Visual Studio Code in. I kind of want to …

: 🎮 Today’s listen: The London Suede and Similar Artists Station on Apple Music. This is probably a …

: Pilcrows and silcrows I have been writing and editing documentation all week—so much so that I have been dreaming about …

: PeaZip At work, I rely on compression to keep my hard drive from filling up with huge data files that I …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: I Miss Britpop. Because I do.

: Everything takes longer to do than I expect A miser knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. I feel that way sometimes about the …

: The beautiful, overwhelming vastness of the universe The first public image from the James Webb telescope was made public today, and it is amazing. From …

: Common Table Expressions Early in my career, I ended up working on Microsoft SQL Server projects as a software developer and …

: Azure Data Studio One thing I learned today is that Microsoft essentially made a fork of Visual Studio Code and …

: Oh, Schiit My Schiit Magni 3 amplifier is acting up again. Tonight it is ground loop hum. Before tonight, it …

: I was delighted to learn this evening that I could install the excellent, open-source database …

: 🎮 Ori and the Will of the Wisps Over this past week I played through Ori and the Will of the Wisps on the Nintendo Switch. It is a …

: ETL with Python I have been experimenting with writing ETL (extract, transform, load) scripts in Python for work. …

: Dependence Day On Independence Day, we Americans celebrate throwing off the yoke of tyranny of the British Crown …

: 📺 Stranger Things season 4 really clicked for me. Sure, it has some clumsy bits and didn’t …

: Summer computer science I started teaching my son Python turtle graphics this week. He’s only 5, but he is absolutely mad …

: Summer math It took a few days of cajoling, but I somehow convinced my daughter to study math with me over the …

: I have been resting and collecting thoughts long enough. I plan to start writing blog posts again! I …

: I have not felt like I have anything to say lately. It has been a weird, intellectually empty …

: I am afraid I am becoming a workaholic. I keep returning to work or work-related stuff in the …

: Today was my son’s preschool graduation. The whole family went to his very cute graduation ceremony …

: I watched Apple’s WWDC keynote this afternoon. I am most excited about the new MacBooks because I …

: Ask Micro.blog: Can anyone recommend a good PC game controller for young children? I think my kids' …

: My son, the programmer Today I showed my son how to do a couple things in Python for the first time. We only spent about …

: My current Python project I have been burning the midnight oil over the past week writing a data validator program—basically a …

: Today was my son’s first playdate, which has been long delayed due to COVID. We met our son’s …

: Enable Recycle Bin on mapped network drives My favorite tech discovery of the week was this one: an old TechNet post titled “Enable Recycle Bin …

: I did my first workout at my new gym tonight. I am happy I did, and am proud to say that it was not …

: Robocopy Much to my surprise, I have been relying heavily on a very old Windows app, Robocopy, at work the …

: I joined a gym 💪 I joined a gym today. It has been 12 years since I last had a gym membership. Getting to the gym has …

: I’m setting up a web server for my five-year-old son to play with on an old Raspberry Pi that fell …

: Windows PC setup is still a pain I set up an old MacBook Pro for my son a little while ago, which I finally gave to him today. I set …

: Today was the first 90º+ day of the year for us in Central New Jersey. I took my family out for ice …

: 🎧 Sony WH-1000M4 headphones are just OK and that sucks Listening to the AirPods Max for five minutes in an Apple Store ruined me for other noise-canceling …

: Thinking about my next role at work I spent nearly all of my writing time this evening drafting a job description for the Senior Data …

: I am trying the no-case lifestyle again with my iPhone 12 mini. I am pretty sure my case is the …

: Generating dummy data with Python Today I learned a good way to generate dummy data for use in the data analysis training I am going …

: I am starting to write a job description for what will be (I hope) my next job—or at least my next …

: I finally caught COVID My blogging interlude this month has been brought to you by COVID-19. For a long time I didn’t know …

: My seasonal allergies have been worse this week than they have been in years. I can’t think …

: Working Late Because I seem to get far less done in the daytime hours than I think I should, I found myself …

: Ah (Choo!), Spring I did bit enjoy being in an allergy-induced brain fog all day. My son’s allergies are much worse …

: I’m writing my self-evaluation tonight for work. I’ve blown past the suggested length, but hope it …

: Annual Reviews Are a Terrible Way to Evaluate Employees Of course, on the weekend I have to write my annual self-evaluation essay for work, I read this …

: Crypto is winning, and Bitcoin diehards are furious about it. Elizabeth Lopatto’s account of the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami Beach is a rollicking and …

: 🎮 Knotwords: A New Word Game From Zach Gage and Jack Schlesinger Today I found out about a new game by Zach Gage and Jack Schlesinger, who created one of my favorite …

: Henry Winkler Breaks the Curse of Stardom Yesterday, The New York Times published a very well-written profile of actor Henry Winkler written …

: All billionaires are oligarchs Leo Laporte, on this week’s MacBreak Weekly podcast, said that he is going to start calling Elon …

: When I used Mac OS 8 Seeing Mac OS 8 emulated in a web browser today brings back some pleasant memories of my years as a …

: 📺 I rewatched all of Barry over the past week, and watched the first episode of season 3 tonight. So …

: Elon Musk acquires Twitter for roughly $44 billion Douglas MacMillan, Faiz Siddiqu, Rachel Lerman, and Taylor Telford reported today in The Washington …

: Feeling old Playing basketball with my kids this weekend and moving a bunch of unwieldy deck planks around my …

: I realize now that I’m writing my blog for my children. A body of work—even a body of an …

: Jazz music is tolerated by my children To my amazement, my kids seem to like jazz. By “like”, I mean don’t seem to mind, which I will …

: Prepping my old MacBook Pro for my son My five-year-old son is really into coding. He doesn’t know how to do anything yet, but he wants to …

: A keynote address This morning, my presentation group and I presented our InsurTech webinar for a third time. This …

: 📺 Netflix canceled my daughter’s favorite show, The Baby-Sitters Club. I haven’t broken the news to …

: A hastily built presentation is better than nothing Last year I told myself that if I have the opportunity to present to somebody, I will always create …

: 📺 I started rewatching Barry in preparation for the season 3 premiere. It seems impossible that the …

: A Python Refactoring Day I have spent practically all day coding, coding, coding. I am adding features to, and (more than …

: Chateau Picard When I was a kid, I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation. One thing that I remember is that …

: Be excellent to each other Tonight I had deep conversations with my wife and (later on) with my half-sister. They were …

: 🎵 Betwixt When I was in college at Brandeis University, a friend of a friend1 was in a band. A cool band. He …

: I’m giving OneNote an honest try this time I am giving Microsoft OneNote a try again at work. This is surprising to me. I’m a plaintext lover …

: 🎙 The Most Thorough Case Against Crypto I’ve Heard The best podcast episode I listened to today was the April 5th episode of The Ezra Klein Show: Dan …

: 📺 Friday Night Baseball I watched about an hour of Apple TV+’s Friday Night Baseball last night. The picture quality was …

: My daughter is turning 10 next month, and we are finally getting her some “older-kid” gifts. I just …

: I am wondering if a wireless CarPlay adapter would be worth it. It seems intriguing, but maybe …

: My wife and I just ran lines with my daughter for a skit she is working on for her acting class. It …

: 📺 Why does the premiere of Apple’s Friday Night Baseball have to coincide with the season finale of …

: Refactoring Python I completed my Python program this morning, but could not resist refactoring it this evening. I cut …

: Python for data validation I spent a good chunk of time today creating a data validation program using Python. Python is a …

: The reward for doing good work At the start of my career I learned an important lesson: The reward for doing good work is always …

: 🎮 Children of Morta Over the past week, I played through Children of Morta on my Nintendo Switch. It is a Roguelike game …

: My wife and I hired a cleaning service for the first time since the COVID pandemic started. Of …

: I can’t seem to read books lately. It’s hard for me to even watch TV shows. I wonder if my attention …

: 📺 Bill Hader Created a Killer to Cope Rebecca Keegan wrote an entertaining and informative profile of Barry star and co-creator Bill Hader …

: Hot Sauce I have watched enough episodes of Hot Ones on YouTube to pique my interest in hot sauces. So far I …

: Try telling Memento Mori to a five-year-old My five-year-old son just realized that he, and everyone he knows, will die someday. It has lead to …

: 🎙 Draft of the Ages The best podcast episode I listened to today was the 400th episode of Upgrade: It’s episode …

: 📺 Rick Beato on YouTube One thing I have gotten into lately is watching videos on YouTube in which musicians talk about …

: Will Smith hits Chris Rock over joke about Jada Pinkett Smith at Oscars I’m super glad my wife and I didn’t bother to watch this nonsense last night. 🙄

: 🎵 Do you really want to cry today? Watch this video: “Hurt” by Johnny Cash. I dare you. Everything about Cash’s performance is …

: 🎵 FTHC by Frank Turner One of my favorite artists from the last few years, Frank Turner, has a new album out: FTHC.1 It—at …

: 🎙 Tim’s Back! On Substack! The best podcast episode I listened to today was the unexpected return of an old favorite: Tim …

: I learned today that one of my cousins died. Before this I didn’t even know he existed. I am not …

: 🎙 How WordPress and Tumblr are keeping the internet weird, with Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg The best podcast episode I listened to today is this interview of Matt Mullenweg on Decoder with …

: One thing that I learned about this year in chess that I never thought about is this: For …

: I have not been doing much writing lately. I looked over a white paper I started writing in the …

: 📺 I love Severence on Apple TV+. It is a strange, darkly comic, slow burn of a suspense story. I …

: 🎮 Classic Mac games I used to enjoy During my freshman year in college, my friend Saul and I played a Pong-inspired game on his Mac …

: Is increased productivity worth the increase in stress? I think about productivity a lot. I wrote up my productivity system about nine years ago. I created …

: 🎮 I played through through Celeste this week. I really enjoyed the challenge until the last couple …

: Plaintext Sports I found out about plaintextsports.com from a Daring Fireball post. The site’s Twitter account …

: One of my old websites is #2 on Hacker News right now.

: A Groggy Senate Approves Making Daylight Saving Time Permanent Luke Broadwater and Amelia Nierenberg report in The New York Times: After losing an hour of sleep …

: ⚾️ I’m watching the Red Sox/Twins opening Spring Training game. I’m happy that baseball is back! …

: 🍀 We are having a St. Patrick’s Day dinner tonight. I put the corned beef in the slow cooker and got …

: All I know is that I don’t want to create a paper maché volcano I want to help my daughter do a science fair project and create a fancy 3-fold poster for her …

: 🏈 Tom Brady Barely Left and Now is Back Kevin Draper reports for The New York Times that Tom Brady is rescinding his retirement announcement …

: Book Fair My daughter had a book fair at school today. She was so thrilled about it that she told me about it …

: ScratchJr My son is starting to get interested in ScratchJr on his iPad. It is a visual programming …

: I got a chance to try Universal Control tonight. It is pretty cool! I think it will come in handy …

: I have not had much interesting to say lately. I have been doing boring things like preparing my …

: Judging by the weather—wind, cold, snow, sleet, hail, and rain—it is the last gasp of winter here in …

: Chess.com isn’t just for blitz games I play chess on Chess.com, thanks to a challenge request from Andrew Canion a while back. We play “1 …

: ⚾️ Apple’s big baseball deal, detailed Jason Snell, on Six Colors, shared some interesting information about Apple’s Major League Baseball …

: 🎮 I bought 992 games today from Itch.io: the Bundle for Ukraine. Now my backlog is over 1,000. 😅 I …

: 🎮 New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is one of the disappointments in my Nintendo Switch collection. I had …

: Thinking about the new Apple products Since watching the Apple announcement today and learning about the Mac Studio, I have never been …

: Looking forward to Apple’s product announcements tomorrow I am excited to see what new Macs Apple announces tomorrow. I would love for there to be a new …

: I am thankful for sun, warm weather, and my home office loudspeakers this morning. It’s going to be …

: 🍴 My wife and I ordered Indian food tonight. That may be a non-event to most people, but for us it …

: My day blew up, but everything is OK My wife was in a car collision this morning. She was uninjured but was understandably shaken up. I …

: Advice for giving effective presentations I gave a coworker some advice for giving effective presentations today. I told her some things worth …

: 🇺🇦 I stand with Ukraine and my heart breaks for them My little corner of Micro.blog has not had much to say about the invasion of Ukraine. This is …

: Sentence outlines, or How I accidentally learned to write a long thesis project essay Recently, I converted all of my (very old) academic writing from outdated document formats (WordStar …

: M.L.B. Cancels Games, Delaying Start of Season James Wagner reports for The New York Times: Major League Baseball canceled the first two series of …

: Priorities I have been doing fairly well at work this month, but I feel kind of terrible about it. I feel like …

: The Poet The poet often sits upon the edge of reason, testing the waters of both sides with both his …

: On a break I have been taking a brief, unplanned blogging break. I overloaded my brain last week with too much …

: I wasted a ton of time tonight trying to convert some old Apple sample code from an obsolete version …

: A big success is made up of many smaller ones. A coworker reminded me of that today, and I really …

: The Thin Veneer of Modernity Modernity is a thin veneer over thousands of years of baser and humbler human history. Almost …

: The Tower of Babel When I first started work as a systems analyst I knew nothing about business and nothing specific …

: Today was my son’s fifth birthday. We had two family parties for him this weekend and all had a …

: Grounds for Sculpture My son turns five tomorrow. As part of our celebration for him, we all took a trip to Grounds for …

: 🎵 I love the album All Mirrors by Angel Olsen. Everything about it is stunning.

: 🎵 A new album from an old favorite of mine dropped today: Lucifer on the Sofa by Spoon. A …

: Knock-off Laser Toner Tonight I performed some surgery on my color laser printer’s empty toner cartridges and installed …

: My soon-to-be-five-year-old son is typing…something…into Swift Playgrounds and thinking he is …

: 📺 The Book of Boba Fett I am sitting down to watch the final episode in the weakest Disney+ series I have watched so far: …

: Maybe I’m lying to myself, but it’s working Last month I started a new, private ritual. Every morning, before I start work or before cleaning up …

: How I manage my work emails now At my job, we use Webex and Jabber and Microsoft Office 365 for messaging and collaboration, but …

: Everybody wishes to be seen and heard At some point, everyone wishes to be seen and heard. Giving people the attention and consideration …

: Recent wins I tend to minimize good things that happen to me, but am trying to change that. To that end, here is …

: Memory selects the wrong things The worst part of memory is its selectiveness. I can remember, in excruciating detail, every …

: Strong punctuation preferences One thing I never planned for in adulthood is developing a strong preference for trailing …

: Moonlighting as a terribly inefficient coder One of the bad parts of moonlighting as a programmer1 is that, at the time of day I can code, I am …

: Tom Brady Announced His Retirement Today Tom Brady finally retired today. For most of my adult life, I was a football fan. The whole time, my …

: Things I am learning from playing chess, part 2 You aren’t the best. You’re not even close. And that’s OK. I love chess now, but I am not very good …

: I have discovered that past me was also me, at least on the page I have been converting my high school essays from their borked Word .doc format to Markdown, to …

: Things I am learning from playing chess, part 1 Take your time I have played most of my chess games against the bots found on Chess.com. When …

: Things are going pretty well The last two days I have been busy doing work for people and myself, busy achieving things, and have …

: FancyZones, Microsoft’s tiling window manager for Windows Last week I started using FancyZones, one of Microsoft’s PowerToys for Windows, on my work computer. …

: Converting my old school papers to Markdown Last night I started converting the essays I wrote in high school from the old Microsoft Word .doc …

: Preserve your writing with open, simple file formats Last night when I fished a high school essay out of my archives, I was dismayed to find that all my …

: The Writing Life When I find myself struggling to be creative or productive, I always think of a story I read in …

: On having nothing to say I have been having trouble lately coming up with something to say each day on my blog. I am feeling …

: My son can play a reasonable game of chess for a four-year-old. I have to explain to him how to get …

: I got a raise today. It’s off-schedule—a total surprise. I feel it is uncouth to take a victory lap, …

: 🎮 Steamworld Dig Earlier this week I played through Steamworld Dig on the Nintendo Switch. I bought it for a song …

: How Old is Your Brain? Back in 2006, I bought a Nintendo DS and was fanatical about the game Brain Age: Train Your Brain in …

: My son plays chess now, too I taught my four-year-old son how to play chess a couple days ago. It was his idea. He was curious …

: I am grateful that I have meaningful work to do today. I hope I can get it all done.

: VBA will never die I spent all day coding in VBA for work. I’m creating Excel templates for data submissions. These …

: Chess against humans Correspondence chess Several days ago, @canion challenged me to a game of chess—basically …

: Long division I’m pretty sure I re-learned long division tonight as I helped my daughter through her homework …

: ⌨️ Having trouble adapting to the Planck keyboard I have been thinking that my goal to replace my work keyboard with the Planck EZ Glow—a 40-key …

: We lost power for the second night in a week. I’m not sure what’s going on. My kids do not think it …

: Another office setup revision Late tonight I reconfigured my desk setup for the umpteenth time. The main reason is that my last …

: I am grateful to the Micro.blog team and community for the (relatively) new plugins system. The …

: A miracle Digital media is a miracle. It is infinitely reproducible with no loss of quality. The internet and …

: Chess Thanks to all the checkers games I have been playing with my kids, my mind has turned to the other, …

: web3 I advised a colleague today to research web3, because I think it may be the most interesting …

: Double Commander I am on a mission to replace Far Manager, which is a Windows file manager that I really love, and …

: Since I started intermittent fasting a few days ago, hunger feels less like a had headache and more …

: 🎬 Nobody Nobody is a surprisingly good action movie. It nails everything there is to nail about the action …

: Checkers My kids are really into playing checkers since winter break. I have played a lot of games with my …

: I should never have bought my daughter an iPad with only 32 GB of storage on it. I never imagined she would use it as a camera and fill it with photos and videos. iCloud Photo …

: I have a big, scary pile of “important” papers in my office that I have started scanning and …

: The Republic Last night I started reading Plato’s Republic again. I have been unsuccessful finding a good book to …

: Work day two of my 16:8 (or no breakfast) fasting regimen has been a greater success than yesterday. …

: Still no snow where I live.

: Intermittent fasting I started 16:8 intermittent fasting a couple days ago. It basically means I skip breakfast, then eat …

: An Omicron snow day The Omicron wave has been a source of concern for my family and my town. School systems north of us …

: 🎉 Happy fifth anniversary to the Micro.blog community! I am very grateful that it exists.

: “That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.” —Christopher …

: I saw my best friend for the first time since the pandemic started (since February 2020 really). It …

: 🎮 My Nintendo Switch game haul and backlog If it weren’t for the SwitchUp YouTube channel, I would have played little more than Breath of the …

: 🎬 After days of trying, we finally got the whole family together to watch a movie today. We picked …

: The audience wants you to succeed I don’t get nervous speaking in front of people. I never have. The main reason is that I firmly …

: Christmas is about family My feelings about Christmas are complicated. There are numerous legitimate reasons why, which I …

: Now that my vacation has started, my mind has turned off. I am sinking into a few days of family …

: Last day of work in 2021 My employer has always been generous with holiday time at the end of the year. We always get extra …

: Finally back to iOS programming again I am working on one of my iOS apps for the first time in about half a year. For many different …

: My article on Big Data and data call projects was published in my company’s newsletter today. I am …

: ⌨️ I got my warranty replacement Planck EZ today. Everything on it works, and it came with clicks …

: 🎬 No Time To Die I watched the most recent Bond film, No Time to Die, last night. I have seen every Bond film at this …

: I brought the family to a drive-through holdiday lights extravaganza this evening. It was a little …

: Today was one of those days where everything went wrong. First, my wife decided to keep our oldest child home from school, out of extreme caution related to …

: I may have a problem when it comes to AirPods Last night I misplaced my AirPods. I didn’t realize it until this morning, when I always take them …

: I completed my final presentation of the year Today my group and I presented on InsurTech to for an industry group’s free training day webinar. It …

: 🎮 Shantae and the Seven Sirens Over the past week I played through Shantae and the Seven Sirens, which is one of the many games I …

: My data analysis bot Today I spent the majority of my work day creating a massive Excel template. Tomorrow I will code …

: I am presenting my InsurTech slides to a new audience on Wednesday after about a month away from the …

: One last thing about the Apple TV today It puzzles me why the optimal settings for HDR and framerate are not selected by default. I always …

: The top of the new Apple TV 4K remote looks just like the iPod click wheel. Unfortunately, it does …

: Now that my media- and backup server appears to be running stably, I’m turning my attention to …

: Why do I even bother running a home file server? Over the past year, my TrueNAS Core server has been bugging me every few months about one of my boot …

: I shared the article I wrote to one of my mentors today. He said he loved it and that he would help …

: Maybe It's Just a Product Nobody Wants I love how Matt Birchler compares crypto to BitTorrent in his latest blog post, “Maybe It’s …

: My first adjustable desk ended up non-adjustable I received a motorized sit/stand desk today for my kids to use in the family room. I assembled the …

: Some days I feel like a hero just because I got dinner on the table and my kids’ homework completed.

: 🎮 Gris Earlier this week I played (twice!) through Gris. It is a beautiful platformer that represents a …

: 📺 I watched the first few episodes of Hawkeye on Disney+, and that was only because I was on my iPad …

: My wife and I had parent-teacher conferences with my daughter’s teachers. My daughter is doing great …

: 🎵 I’m enjoying “The Weeknd Essentials” playlist while I work this morning. I have learned to …

: I wonder what specifically happened this week to make “web3” a topic on every tech news site and …

: ⌨️ My expensive Planck EZ keyboard with the broken LEDs is being replaced with a new one. The …

: My main (or only) contribution to gift-giving for my kids this holiday season My main (or only) contribution to gift-giving for my kids this holiday season was a biggie: I bought …

: Feeling dispirited I had a couple dispiriting meetings toward the end of the week that killed the enthusiasm I had for …

: A Hanukkah COVID exposure scare In the middle of our Hanukkah celebration tonight my wife got a text that informed us that our son …

: The elliptical machine and the treadmill stand proudly in my basement like dusty monuments from a …

: Tonight I fell asleep in my chair in front of my whole family. I have officially become my dad. 😅

: Success Today, after almost two months of not having any usable time work on it, I finished coding the …

: Final revision Today I made my final revision to the article I wrote for my company newsletter. It is an article …

: ⌨️ I have been walking through the troubleshooting steps that ZSA customer support sent me, but …

: I am starting to miss coding in Swift every day. I must get back to it.

: 🎮 I bought myself a ton of Nintendo Switch games that were on sale for Black Friday and Cyber …

: Hanukkah is a great holiday, but does it have to be eight nights in a row? It’s night three and I am …

: I swapped the keyswitches on my Planck EZ and now the per-key LED lighting does not work at all. I …

: I will be driving most of the day. Thanksgiving is over and now I am looking forward to Hanukkah, …

: Stephen Sondheim Stephen Sondheim died today. The world has lost a titan. My wife and I were lucky enough to see him …

: I finished the article I was writing last night just in time for Thanksgiving. I am relieved and …

: Trying to land the plane Right now I am trying to finish the article I am writing for my company newsletter. At turns I love …

: My day was actually really good. My mom and I had a nice time together on the long car ride from her …

: I am driving to Connecticut tonight to pick up my mom and bring her back tomorrow for Thanksgiving. …

: My car cat The oddest thing happened to me today. My neighbor texted me this morning saying that she heard a …

: My wife and I went grocery shopping together (without the kids), for the first time since my …

: This is my handiwork for the night. Most of the kids’ Hanukkah presents are wrapped. 😮‍💨

: Writing to move forward…in my career After a week away from it, I finally sat down and wrote a little bit more of my article for my …

: A rebuilding year A real “rebuilding year” is when a sports team is broken down and reassembled, basically from …

: 🎵 I have listened to Adele’s new album, 30, about five times today. I’m into it!

: The Stevenote My wife teaches a public speaking course, and from time to time we talk about what examples of …

: I don’t journal anymore, and I think…”what am I hiding from myself?”

: 🎵 I can’t wait to listen to Adele’s upcoming album, 30, which is coming out on the 19th. I have been …

: My wife and I brought her car into the dealer tonight because its passenger-side-mirror …

: 🎮 Shantae I started playing Shantae on the Game Boy Color last night, and was blown away by its ambition and …

: I gave my presentation today. It went very well. It was all I achieved today, though. As soon as it …

: My next presentation for work is tomorrow morning. I am really looking forward to it. I think I …

: 🎮 I beat Metroid Zero Mission tonight. It is a fun game, and much better than the original game …

: How I try not to be rude when accidentally talking over someone at work When I cut somebody off in an online meeting, I now apologize to the person I spoke over and say …

: Why do Americans work so hard? Two reasons: Culture. The Puritan work ethic is one of the foundations of our culture, and has been …

: Instant Pot beef stew update My Instant Pot beef stew came out very well. I didn’t use a recipe; otherwise I would share it. I …

: Instant Pot beef stew I’m attempting to cook a beef stew in the Instant Pot right now. I’m not sure if it will …

: 🎵 Red (Taylor’s Version) One thing I didn’t expect when listening to Taylor Swift’s honest-to-goodness money-grab …

: 🎮 I am enjoying my retro handheld very much. Yesterday I played through Super Mario Land for the …

: I don’t know what I want for Hanukkah or Christmas. I feel like I’m letting down the people in my …

: I learned that I can actually do something about my awful, monolithic office furniture setup I have a corner desk that is connected to a second, straight desk, which looks really cool, but is a …

: Genius In college, one of my humanities professors, Prof. Klein, told me that genius is being able to look …

: Sharing presentations One fun thing I did with my daughter tonight is to compare the slide decks we are developing. I’m …

: Time to bail I have been writing for an hour and forty five minutes tonight and have come up with, maybe, one …

: One of my coworkers called me today and, before talking about business, he praised me for my …

: 🎵 Cool jazz This is my music find of the week. I asked my Amazon Echo speaker to play “cool music” while I was …

: Writing for three hours at night sure makes me hungry. It’s nearly 11 PM. Do I risk eating a snack …

: Inflation and stock market highs One of the disheartening but more interesting things you learn in business school is that most of …

: 📺 The Americans My wife and I started watching The Americans this weekend. We stumbled upon it when browsing Amazon …

: Why I have been playing so many video games lately Looking back on last week, I played a lot of video games. A lot more than usual actually. It’s a …

: 🎮 I finally beat Metroid Dread! I thought it would be impossible, but I persevered. What a cool …

: My daughter got her first COVID-19 vaccine today. I am grateful that she will be fully vaccinated …

: 🎵 Best of You Do I like Foo Fighters now? Today I’m loving when their tracks come up on my randomized Apple Music …

: 🎮 25 years late to Pokémon My retro handheld, perhaps understandably but not by design, has become a dedicated Pokémon machine. …

: 🎮 Giving Up on Raven Beak I may never beat Metroid Dread’s final boss, Raven Beak. I’m just not fast enough on the controller, …

: The New Jersey governor’s election is certainly a nail-biter! Maybe Phil Murphy will pull out …

: New Jersey Polls If, after enjoying double-digit leads in Monmouth University and Fairleigh Dickinson polls last …

: I’m working on an article for my company newsletter right now, and it feels like I am just pushing …

: Election Day It is Election Day today in New Jersey. Everyone in my family voted early, by mail (as it should …

: Sen. Manchin says he's not ready to back Biden's $1.75 trillion budget package Barbara Sprunt reports for NPR today: Sen. Joe Manchin has announced he cannot yet support the …

: I carved a happy jack o’lantern this Halloween.

: Double chocolate cupcakes for Halloween.

: 🎃 Lots to do today for Halloween! We’re making cupcakes (my kids can’t eat much candy due to …

: You are not how others perceive you In America, we could all unite politically, but only if we all decided to be Republicans. That is …

: A vaccination, blood test, and an MRI all in one 24-hour period was too much for me. 😮‍💨

: Today I watched some videos from Great Art Explained on YouTube. The videos on Van Gogh’s The Starry …

: I just got my Moderna booster shot. They are in such demand that CVS called me and asked me to come …

: I have completed the New York Times crossword puzzle every day for years, but for some reason I …

: 🎵 I listened to Lana Del Ray’s new album, Blue Banisters today, plus a new single by Beach Bunny, …

: On the divine right of kings One thing I certainly do not believe in is the divine right of kings. When considering why this is, …

: Sex education, but not the TV show this time The latest controversy in my area is another type of fight between conservative parent activist …

: I have been working all evening on my InsurTech presentation and totally blew through my …

: I'm voting by mail from now on I mailed in my request for a mail-in ballot for all future elections. (My state has an off-year …

: My daughter’s iPad wont take system updates because over a third of its storage space is taken …

: 🎮 I have been loving the new Metroid game and it has been kicking my ass. 😂 It is the toughest and …

: I was so tired this afternoon that i couldn’t talk good (er…) and stuff at my last …

: 💉💪 I scheduled my COVID-19 booster shot appointment. I hope to be able to vaccinate my kids soon, …

: Saying something old, but saying it better I have thought so many Big Thoughts about the InsurTech presentation I am working on that I have …

: 🎮 Starting out with retro gaming I spent some time today trying to set up my new Retro handheld gaming system. I flashed ArkOS on it …

: A Cluttered Life: Middle-Class Abundance This video from University of California Television hit close to home (literally) for me: Follow a …

: The new MacBook Pros…wow! Today’s new MacBook Pro models are the first in a very long time that seem too …

: 🎮 I ordered a retro handheld 😅 I was very excited early this month for the release of Metroid Dread so I watched a bunch of videos …

: Working on my slide deck, in the zone I have been diligently working on my InsurTech webinar slide deck this evening. I was so locked in …

: Popularism I learned about something new today from three separate podcasts I listened to, and a New York Times …

: Breaking things down I have tons of different “extra-curricular” projects right now, mostly for my job, but also to …

: An InsurTech webinar Tonight I started preparing a slide deck for a presentation on the topic of InsurTech that I, and a …

: Cake day It’s my birthday today. My in-laws bought me dinner and my wife baked and decorated a delicious …

: I fixed my office ergonomics and ruined everything else A few weeks ago, prompted by a flare-up or RSI pain in my wrists and forearms, I moved my keyboard …

: 📺 Sex Education My wife and I have been watching Sex Education season three. True to its title, the show actually …

: In Praise of Folly One of the more memorable books I read in college was assigned to me in comparative literature …

: ⌨️ Keybr I have been practicing typing on Colemak-DH on my Planck keyboard regularly all week, after a two …

: ISO 2145 I never knew there was an ISO standard for numbering document sections. I kind of love it and kind …

: 🎮 Metroid Dread is really fun. I spent a couple hours on it last night. It is really fun. It is …

: 🎮 Metroid Dread My copy of Metroid Dread was just delivered. I am so excited to play it, but I’m not sure when I’ll …

: A boring dystopia One of my favorite subreddit names is “a boring dystopia”. It is certainly not one of my favorite …

: Breakthrough! After hours of struggle last night on an automation project I am doing for work, I had a …

: Why did I let that in? This morning, I just had to click on a news story about somebody’s kid who tragically died of COVID. …

: Tough conversations My daughter learned about slavery and the Civil War today in school. We talked about both—mostly …

: Don’t mistake domain-specific knowledge for intellect. While you’re at it, don’t compare yourself to …

: Gratitude Today, to thank my in-laws for all the help they give to my family (which is a lot), I cooked them a …

: You are not your work I have two seemingly conflicting ideas in my mind right now: You are what you do. You are not your …

: The story is less important than the telling Today I listened to a lecture that Stephen Fry gave to Nokia Bell Labs a few years ago. He told …

: Perfectionism, or why I blog now One reason I decided to publish something (even something short, as long as it is creative) to a …

: Sense memory Every year, when the air starts to get chilly, I flash back to this sense memory: I am four years …

: Material obsessions I have two collections that I love but cannot justify: high-end headphones (each is sub-$500, but …

: ⌨️ I got back to practicing Colemak-DH typing this evening. I am still not great at it, but I …

: What do people actually do at work all day? I have worked from home for more than half of my career. I’m no stranger to working in an office, …

: I am nearing 2,000 posts on my micro.blog, which is about 1,950 more posts than I have made on any …

: A Chemical Hunger I have been fascinated by this anonymously published paper/series of articles about the obesity …

: I’m not great at weekends. Today I did too many chores, then did way too little of anything, and ended up eating too much ice …

: ⌨️ An update on my Colemak-DH experiment I have temporarily stopped practicing on, or changing to, the ColeMak-DH keyboard layout. I haven’t …

: Yesterday at work I was asked to give a status update on my team’s status call, which is a Webex. I …

: I played too much Scott Pilgrim vs. the World this week, and have been rewarded with wrist pain in …

: The tree service my wife and I hired accidentally severed the internet connection cable outside my …

: 🎮 “First you were ve-gone, but now you will be gone.” On a whim this weekend I purchased the beat ‘em up game Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World for the Nintendo …

: Writing for other people I have been busily writing a bunch of stuff for other people this week. First there were work papers …

: Two of my wife’s students went home today because they came to school with COVID. We’re doing great. …

: “He who buys what he does not need steals from himself."—Swedish proverb.

: The conservative mindset I characterize the mindset of American conservatives—specifically the ones who are blasé or …

: Parenting is indeed a verb I have been emotionally exhausted from all the deep conversations I’ve been having with my daughter …

: I do this every day On Thursday I embarked on an ambitious project related to my job. I am writing a white paper based …

: 📺 I, for one, thought that yesterday’s divisive Coach Beard dark-night-of-the-soul episode of Ted …

: The importance of a classical education Viewing this wonderful lecture on the importance of a classical education made me wonder if I had, …

: Move slow and fix things.

: Grace is accepting others’ limitations. Humility is accepting your own.

: Incremental improvement I think all the products Apple announced this week are great. I am tired of hearing that some people …

: I have been working at a more measured pace to increase accuracy at work. Hope no one notices in a …

: Wisdom is neither quickness nor intellect. It is seeing the world how it really is.

: I learned yet another horrible thing today that I wished weren’t true According to the superintendent of schools, some parents in my town are sending their children to …

: What I am dealing with now that school is back in session My daughter has been in school three days so far this school year. Every school day, our entire …

: I need laundry folding TV I can’t clean my office because I’m too busy to do anything with it all day, even though I am …

: Pasta party On Saturday, my nine-year-old daughter hosted a pasta party for the family that she had been …

: A good skill to know in case society collapses I got my first job when I was sixteen. I was a dishwasher at a restaurant for about half of summer. …

: ⌨️ Chording I have just started to use my new Planck keyboard for work for a short, short time each day. It has …

: ⌨️ Shifting One challenge with the Planck that I did not anticipate is that I have trouble hitting the (little) …

: ⌨️ Chunking I have been typing more and more each day with the Colemak-DH layout on my new Planck keyboard. I …

: Lost sleep Tomorrow is my daughter’s first day of school—in-person school—since March 2020. Thinking about the …

: Another humbling thought We are all replaceable. That is written into our biology. Our social and economic structures reflect …

: Humbling thoughts You don’t have to be smart to be right. Just because you are smart doesn’t mean you’re right.

: Rosh Hashanah L’Shana tova for all those who celebrate. Let’s hope for a better year ahead.

: Bias doesn’t make sense. That’s why it is bias. When I was in business school, back in the early aughts, I did a team presentation project on the …

: Teaching YA Lit in High School English Class In the 1990s, the old guard of educators—mainly white men like Harold Bloom—decried the decline and …

: I am proud of my wife today After getting very upset at our daughter’s elementary school’s plan for lax COVID safety protocols …

: I didn’t get everything I wanted to do done this week. I’m OK with that. Life intervened. Stressful …

: I am trying a new keyboard layout, Colemak DH, and have switched around keys and reprogrammed the …

: COVID mask mandate temperature exceptions make a mask requirements a joke My daughter’s elementary school will not require masks if the outside temperature is 75°F or over. …

: Vulnerability Vulnerability is a new ideal masculine trait. Being open, honest about, and comfortable with your …

: The philosopher next door When I was in college, I longed not to be learned but to be wise. I was learning rapidly, and …

: I have a voice but nothing to say I can write. I always could. In high school, I wrote cogently and forcefully, like someone who read …

: Full Decaf My caffeine experiment is almost at its end. For the past week, I have only drunk decaffeinated …

: Oryx, Wally, and Planck Today I started flashing custom layouts to my new Planck EZ keyboard. It runs QMK firmware, but the …

: What do you do? I help people. I always used to dread meeting new people. They always asked “what do you do?” And what I do (for …

: 📺 Ted Lasso Season 2 Isn’t In A Slump, It’s Headed For A Breakdown: This is a great …

: We stayed at the beach until it got dark tonight, which was a first for us. We like to go at dinner …

: Work has become stressful again. I don’t have enough time to do everything I have to do—not …

: Colemak I have started to learn the Colemak keyboard layout on my new ortholinear keyboard. Colemak is a …

: A COVID vaccine for under-12 kids cannot come soon enough. It looks like Pfizer is a few months …

: My birthday present arrived a couple months early: a Planck EZ 40% ortholinear keyboard. Please …

: The reason we should study literature In college, I studied literature. What I learned about literature is that history, religion, and …

: It doesn’t matter if it’s good. It matters that it’s yours. When I was in high school, I was a guitar teacher. I was probably a terrible guitar teacher, but it …

: Controls To err is human. To forgive, divine. But to have a good chance to detect and correct mistakes, you …

: Drip, drip, drip After over twenty years as a coffee drinker, I am now the owner of a drip coffee maker for the first …

: Quarter Decaf Last night I told my wife I was going to go entirely to decaffeinated coffee starting today. After …

: Presenting Today I, along with a small team, gave the biggest presentation I’ve done in years: a webinar for my …

: 📚 Dubliners I read James Joyce’s classic short story collection, Dubliners, while I was on my vacation. I read …

: Background music and Endel Sometimes when I’m working, I want music playing, but I don’t really know what I want to listen to, …

: Today is my first day back at work after my vacation. I have found that, now that I consume less …

: After thinking about it quite a bit (too much really) I ordered a 4-pack of Apple AirTags. I think …

: My wife and I are unpacking and cleaning house after our time away from home. I always need this …

: My day will be all about packing and driving, and a visiting my mom for a little while, too.

: Half-decaf I have been lowering my caffeine intake over the past month or so. While I don’t drink that much …

: I am at the point I my vacation where I am contemplating how I can be a better person after I return …

: I am not able to attend Micro.camp due to vacation travel-related reasons. I wish everyone the best. …

: This afternoon at Burns Lake in Whitefield, New Hampshire.

: Lake Winnipesaukee is a fun, low-key place. We spent an afternoon there with some old friends …

: I’m driving to Lake Winnipesaukee today. We are going to see one of my wife’s college friends who we …

: Lies I tell myself, vacation edition One of the lies I told myself when I packed for vacation is that I would spend more time writing and …

: Today’s activity was blueberry picking at a nearby farm. My kids really loved it. We have a ton of …

: We found a new lunch spot today at Moore Resevoir, and had a conversation about the Connecticut …

: We spent the afternoon at Echo Lake in Franconia State Park. It is a great place for the kids to …

: Here is a view of “our lake” in New Hampshire. We spent the afternoon there a couple days ago. The …

: Monuments to a Loser, or the Second Lost Cause One frequent and inescapable sight on the rural roads of New Hampshire is the Trump campaign sign. …

: The Old Man of the Mountain My family’s plans for a picnic lunch and an afternoon of swimming at Echo Lake, in Franconia State …

: Beaver Brook Falls Today I drove the family to a tiny park in northern New Hampshire that consisted of a picnic area, a …

: It’s day three of my vacation and my sleep schedule is already completely messed up. 😬

: A low-key day in Littleton, NH After a sunny, exciting day at the fair, today was overcast, cool, and low-key. We took the kids to …

: The North Haverhill Fair My family and I very much enjoyed the North Haverhill fair today. We had perfect weather, and I …

: ⌨️ Somebody please tell me I don’t need a $245 ortholinear 40% keyboard! 😱

: My vacation starts today. My family is going to the North Haverhill fair in New Hampshire. We always …

: 📚 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man I read James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man this week. I approached it in nearly …

: Procrastination Procrastination is just a fancy word for avoidance. Socially, it is acceptable to procrastinate. …

: Who here wouldn’t want to buy a “I’m really big on Micro.blog” T-shirt? 😀

: My wife took this picture while I was working today. I missed a beautiful day at the lake. …

: One syllable An exchange between myself and my wife, about someone else we know: Her: It’s hard to say no to her. …

: Back to Feedly (for now) I have given up on Reeder 5’s native RSS feed handling with sync via iCloud. I had expected my …

: The Work-ation It’s a uniquely American thing, I have read, to work while on vacation. I have had to, as recently …

: The Lie I missed David Rothkopf’s article, “We Still Won’t Admit Why So Many People Believe the Big Lie” on …

: Apple to Pull 'iDOS 2' DOS Emulator From App Store I am neither surprised or disappointed by Apple’s impending pull of “iDOS 2” from the App Store. The …

: The Cleveland Guardians I like the new name of Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team. I think the team’s old name, the …

: Tonight I learned my son has a LinkedIn profile. What’s more, he works for Microsoft. My son is four …

: My family is at the county fair this evening. It is a little hot but we are having a fun time. The …

: I’m going to be driving most of the day tomorrow, so, via Ulysses, I’m scheduling tomorrow’s blog …

: Playdate Panic’s bright yellow pocket game system, the Playdate, looks cheerful and cute. I want one, plus …

: What Lies Beneath Ted Lasso Elizabeth Nelson wrote the best, most accurate take on Ted Lasso (the character) that I have ever …

: The double-entry bookkeeping system and the tyranny of spreadsheets If there is one thing I would like my kids to learn from me, it is that one of the greatest, most …

: Call a spade a spade When I was a kid writing essays for school, I always peppered my writing with big, fancy words in …

: My new grill was delivered today, but it arrived damaged and I had to refuse it. No grilled …

: Love is an action you must repeat ceaselessly. I read this quote years ago in a novel called The Gargoyle that fundamentally changed my life: Love …

: You are the story you tell to yourself. Make it a good one.

: Today we are going to a family birthday party, then restocking the fridge for a week’s worth of …

: Failure is a great teacher, but it is not the only teacher. It is popular now to lionize failure. Both fictional stories (thematically) and nonfictional …

: The Coddling of the American Mind I think about education a lot, not only because I have kids, but also because my wife is a high …

: The Steam Deck The Steam Deck looks fantastic. It’s like a Nintendo Switch for Steam games. Considering I wrestled …

: 📚 Going back to the classics I have been having a lot of trouble finding books that excite me lately. Over the past month, I read …

: Winget I decided to upgrade my Windows laptop to Windows 11 yesterday. It was an awful slog, replete with …

: Too Smart I enjoyed reading Morgan Housel’s blog post on the Collaborate Fund blog. The ideas in the post are …

: The nuclear option, or how I gave up completely (on my music library) 🎵 💣 💥 I have been an Apple Music subscriber from the service’s very first day. I was an iTunes Match …

: You Really Need to Quit Twitter I saw this article by Caitlin Flanagan on Om Malik’s blog. It’s a …

: Preference vs. duty What you would prefer to do isn’t the same as what you would be willing to do. I think that …

: The cake I made for my wife today came out tasty but a little messy. I am wildly inconsistent when …

: After ten years of service, my gas grill rusted out to such an extent that it is unusable. I thought …

: Pfizer says it's time for a Covid booster; FDA and CDC say not so fast Maggie Fox of CNN reports: Hours after Pfizer issued its statement, the FDA and Centers for Disease …

: Transloader: A remote control downloader for iOS and macOS I learned about the app Transloader thanks to a MacStories article that popped up in my RSS feed …

: I have a bunch of half-finished blog posts lying around, but not enough time to spruce any of them …

: Just be yourself...or not When I was in fourth grade, my family moved to the town across the river. The move was not …

: The hourglass Life experience has a definite shape to it. Time isn’t a straight line. It’s a funnel. Well, really, …

: What does America mean to me? I find myself thinking this, on the fifth of July, after enduring with fusillade after fusillade of …

: What I’m looking for in an open source project repo When the Micro.blog client apps were open-sourced, I reviewed the Github repos for the two I use …

: Reading the news is a waste of time On Thursday I configured NextDNS to block (for my personal devices only) news.google.com. Google …

: Some of my neighbors appear to have town-sized budgets for their Independence Day fireworks …

: On open-sourcing the Micro.blog client apps This week @manton open-sourced the iOS and macOS Micro.blog apps. I think that is a great move in …

: My carpal tunnel flared up so much today that I won’t be writing a proper blog post. 😕

: On bullies, or why I have character I often joke with people that I am not as nice as my wife is. It’s a self-deprecating remark, but I …

: The Cut I have recently finished crafting a slideshow, and writing a talk to go with it, that is the best …

: De-camped One of the difficulties my family has had due to the pandemic is finding a suitable summer camp …

: I keep eyeing the AirPods Max listing on Amazon. The price is dropping below $500 now. They don’t …

: I cleaned out my closet today, which is both exhilarating and depressing. So many clothes to get rid …

: We visited the beach tonight and really enjoyed it. Sunset is my favorite time there.

: Trying to change my mindset My work week has overflowed with head-desk moments, turnarounds, and setbacks. It has been …

: All speech is persuasive speech My wife teaches speech, debate, and dramatic arts to high school students. I love it when she asks …

: “Real artists ship”; or, at what point did I lose my nerve? “Real artists ship.” Steve Jobs said that to motivate the Macintosh team in 1983. It’s a statement …

: I just had to reboot my iPad due to some wonkiness. I wonder when iOS/iPadOS 15 developer beta 2 …

: 📺 My wife and I watched the first episode of Hacks tonight and thought it was a hoot. The writing is …

: 🎧 I turned on the crazy hi-res audio settings on my Mac tonight. I want to justify why I have an …

: Why do we begin emails with “Dear so-and-so”? I write a lot of email at work. Almost every one I write starts with “Hi, <name>.” It seems …

: I finally got a Prime Day Deal, but it was from Best Buy I picked up a Product (RED) Apple Watch 6 at Best Buy for my wife for a great price. Her Apple Watch …

: Ted Lasso Season 2: Is it going to be…too cute? Ted Lasso season 2 has unexpectedly huge shoes to fill. I have not been heartened by either of the …

: The bad guy thinks he’s the good guy One of the best lessons that literature has taught me is that the bad guy thinks he’s the good guy. …

: I think this is the best Father’s Day I have ever had. I think the work I put into being a better …

: As of right now, I am very glad that, twelve months ago, I bought the extra temples for my …

: I don’t think my Father’s Day post made it to the M.B. timeline for some reason. Here it is.

: Problems and questions: a Father’s Day post I am teaching my daughter how to solve problems. Math problems. I find or think up challenging math …

: Father's Day Blanket I already know that one of my Father’s Day presents is a nice warm L.L. Bean blanket. …

: It looks like someone stole my credit card info again. Fortunately, I was able to lock the account …

: This is me showing up Seth Godin says that everyone should have a blog. Moreover, everyone who has a blog should blog …

: I hit a technical snag at work that is absolutely killing me right now. The first step in fixing it, …

: The UIKit Date Picker 😠 Last night I became unreasonably upset that UIKit does not let me use an inline date picker (the …

: One of my heart’s dull aches is my memory of driving up the Maine coastline with my parents every …

: Pipeline Investigation Upends Idea That Bitcoin Is Untraceable Nicole Perlroth, Erin Griffith and Katie Benner report, in The New York Times, on how the Justice …

: I wish I could be more methodical at work, but my stupid, whimsical mood is hard to overcome. I get …

: We are going (in person) to a (real) birthday party today, for the first time in…oh, never mind. …

: I’m installing the Xcode 13 beta on my new Mac mini and I’m installing iOS 15 developer …

: 🎬 My wife and I had only time enough to watch the opening number in In the Heights so far. We …

: This is turning out to be a terrible year for Apple device spending for my family. I had to buy my …

: I had forgotten that Apple said Siri will operate on-device starting in iOS 15. Tom’s Guide says it …

: 🎬 I can’t get enough articles about the In the Heights movie. Vulture has a fascinating one about …

: Many People Have a Vivid ‘Mind’s Eye,’ While Others Have None at All I have been following stories about aphantasia with interest because I am 99% sure I have it. Carl …

: 📺 I am looking forward to watching Loki tonight or later this week. Truth be told, it is the Disney+ …

: I have been listening to Apple Music’s “Made for Spatial Audio” tracks all morning with my external …

: I am appreciating the lossless tracks on Apple Music. I probably don’t have the ears to actually …

: You can change the Windows 10 mouse cursor color?! I discovered today that Windows 10 lets you change your mouse cursor’s color as well as its size. …

: 🔥 Climate change 🔥 My region’s climate has changed significantly in my lifetime, and, seemingly to me, more quickly …

: Oh, cool: Apple Music’s lossless audio quality tier is now live. Check out iOS Settings > Music …

: Huh. No new hardware was announced at WWDC. I can’t wait to hear hot takes about that all this week …

: I’m looking forward to watching WWDC while thinking about the last virtual conference I attended, …

: 🎬 My daughter and I watched Raya and the Last Dragon this afternoon, partly because it is too hot to …

: 🎬 I rewatched Wall-E today with my daughter and enjoyed it even more than the first time I saw it.

: I have one hour to work on important stuff right now, and here I am, looking at my Micro.blog …

: It’s my third day of attending a virtual conference. I have seen too many presentations in a row, …

: I am feeling much better about the slide deck I am creating for a data calls talk that I and my team …

: We had a one-second power outage in my neighborhood two nights in a row, after 11:00 PM. I can’t …

: I have been attending a virtual conference most of the day today. Technically, today is the …

: Boycott all the sports press conferences! I am sympathetic to Naomi Osaka’s mental health-based arguments for skipping press events during the …

: 🎮 I started another run at Hollow Knight after quite a while away from it. I have missed a step or …

: ‘60s pop like The Four Seasons sounds great from the tiny, terrible, mono Amazon Echo speaker in my …

: I’m spending this rainy morning listening to jazz and reading The New Yorker.

: Burnout: Modern Affliction or Human Condition? I enjoyed Jill Lepore’s recent article on burnout in The New Yorker: Burnout is a combat …

: 🎮 I have been very much into playing Good Sudoku again lately. I am trying to master its Pro level, …

: Today was a good day because I got to spend all morning outside with my kids, and because the family …

: Republicans Block Independent Commission on Jan. 6 Riot. It’s shameful. I don’t think we need an …

: Micro Camp sounds like it will be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I’ll be traveling during it, so I …

: I am on Zyrtec, so I don’t get many allergy symptoms anymore, but I think this is the longest and …

: I have the day off to spend with the kids today. 😀

: The washing machine is installed and running an empty load as a test. After that, it will be deluged …

: I am waiting for a new washing machine to be delivered to my house. Let’s just say that my family …

: I don’t drink that much coffee each day, but I missed my afternoon caffeine dose yesterday and felt …

: 🎵 I love the new Bleachers single “Stop Making this Hurt.”

: I just learned that I get Friday off as a “bonus holiday” before Memorial Day. Now my schedule is in …

: I actually achieved all my objectives at work this week. I am still floored by that! 😅

: It is starting to get hot outside and it is not even June yet.

: Apple support came through for me again this evening. I brought in my iPad Air 4, which appeared to …

: Plasticity of Mind, or Lack Thereof This week, I programmed for many, many hours. Often when I do this, while I wait for builds to …

: Lossless Music Discussion on ATP Podcast The latest episode of Accidental Tech Podcast has a great discussion about lossless music, which is …

: I am a little too excited to be getting Office 365 installed on my work laptop tomorrow. I have been …

: I am going to try to not do any programming today. It has been a huge part of my job lately, and I …

: This morning I decided to add one more feature to the app I’m developing for work. Twelve hours of …

: Google wants to build a useful quantum computer by 2029. If it does, I’m sure it will cancel the …

: I look forward to reading the 2021 M1 iMac reviews later, even though I will likely never buy that …

: WebEx has virtual backgrounds?! A software update at work pushed out the virtual backgrounds feature for WebEx. Since my home …

: I’m up late coding. I have been up late coding many nights in a row now. I’m trying to get some of …

: I did not have to wait long for the Apple Music announcement to drop.

: Apple Music can release its rumored lossless tier any minute now. I’m waiting with my best …

: Debugged! Phew! I finally fixed a bug that bedeviled me for days. (Well, nights, because it is in my hobby …

: My daughter and I made some flower cookies to celebrate the lovely spring day.

: Is a higher-quality Apple Music tier on the way? I hope so. I am a sucker for lossless codecs, even though I probably can’t hear the difference …

: Apple is Poised to Lose its Antitrust Battle I think that Apple is going to lose whatever antitrust cases are eventually brought against it in …

: I have been using SQL for 25 years and I just learned today that SELECT [...] FROM Table1, Table2 is …

: I unblocked Reddit.com earlier this week because the domain keeps coming up in tech question-related …

: ⌨️ Durgod Zeus Engine Upgrade To my complete surprise, I discovered today that Durgod released an update to their keyboard …

: Report: Apple’s M2 chips may launch as soon as July 2021 Napier Lopez reports in The Next Web: Apple only just released its new iMacs featuring the …

: I am very conservative about cities re-opening too soon, considering the pandemic has not ended. But …

: 🎵 I’m going to lean into my New Jersey-ness today and listen to a ton of Bruce Springsteen. First …

: I did really well at my presentation today. Practicing over and over definitely paid off. The talk I …

: Microsoft is changing the default Office font and wants your help to pick a new one Per Tom Warren In The Verge: Microsoft is changing its default Office font next year and wants …

: I’m rehearsing for an online presentation to my entire company later this morning. I feel good about …

: 🎵 I think it is cool that Counting Crows is releasing a new album next month. It has been seven …

: I’ve been coding a lot over the past week. I’m coding right now. I’m taking the …

: Laughably, for no good reason, seeing a bunch of bad takes on new Apple products last week sapped my …

: The Sequence 🎮 Yesterday I decided to re-play a game I loved a few years ago called [The Sequence]. It is a puzzle …

: Fez 🎮 I am delighted that I discovered a video game that is new to the Nintendo Switch, but not at all new …

: The shooting likely lasted one or two minutes. I am unsettled today by yet another mass shooting in my country. It seems like not a day goes by …

: iPhone 13 mini could be the last 'mini' iPhone, says Kuo Stephen Warwick reports in iMore: Kuo says that next year Apple will drop the 5.4-inch model and …

: My First NuGet Package Last night, I published my first NuGet package: TodoTxt.Library. It is a code library meant to help …

: I filed my taxes and now I can spend my after-work time on more productive things again.

: Microsoft announces Surface Laptop 4 with choice of Intel or AMD processors Tom Warren’s article on The Verge caught my eye: Microsoft is refreshing its Surface lineup with …

: Siri Reveals Apple Event Planned for Tuesday, April 20 I’m assuming that somebody’s job, every day, is to wake up in the morning and ask Siri “When is the …

: I spent some time tonight working on my tax filing, and some time learning how to create and publish …

: I never would have predicted that in 2021 I would be using a text-mode file manager from the 1990s, …

: Tonight I published a huge update to the website for my first iOS app: SwiftoDo. What was once a one …

: I have been up way too late for the past three nights, because I am working on a website. I bet a …

: James Hoffman’s AeroPress video Last year when I was looking for something soothing to watch on YouTube, I came across James …

: Linux on the M1 Mac Mini The Linux kernel is gaining Apple M1 support. I have been wondering if, years from now, I can move …

: Relearning how to type without arrow keys Yesterday I turned off the tap layer on my Anne Pro 2 keyboard which is basically only for using Fn, …

: I both wish that I could give up coffee and that I could drink twelve cups of it a day. 🤷‍♂️

: My (first) failed attempt to flash QMK on my mechanical keyboard I wasted an hour last night trying to install QMK firmware on my work computer’s mechanical …

: 🎵 I’m listening to Gaslighter by The Chicks again today. It is one of my favorite albums of 2020. …

: Today I discovered that there is an open-source community creating a modern GUI file manager for …

: We are getting ready to go to the zoo today. It will be our first post-pandemic outing as a family …

: Today I made the mistake to look up someone I knew while I was in high school. I was reading an …

: Apple Arcade just got a huge update of new games, including some mobile classics As reported by Andrew Webster in The Verge: Apple’s gaming subscription service just got a massive …

: Fully vaccinated people may travel, CDC says As reported by Lena H. Sun and Lori Aratani in The Washington Post: Federal health officials gave …

: ⚾️ For the first time in over a year I have a baseball game on in the background as I work. I hope …

: Today I was very happy to find a command line todo.txt app that works on Windows.

: 📺 The Sopranos My wife and I started watching The Sopranos a few days ago, and we are hooked. Both of us watched …

: After a few evenings of work, I completed an update of my Simple Call Blocker app and submitted it …

: 🎵 I’m enjoying the new album, Obviously, by Lake Street Dive. I think, though, that if I heard …

: After a few days of work, I just published my new, Hugo-based website for one of my iOS apps: Simple …

: OpenAI’s text-generating system GPT-3 is now spewing out 4.5 billion words a day James Vincent reports in The Verge: The best-known AI text-generator is OpenAI’s GPT-3, which the …

: One inexplicable thing I discovered today was that the git repo for one of my iOS apps did not have …

: I am putting the finishing touches on the website I am rebuilding with Hugo. I hope to go live with …

: Today was mostly about family time and the Passover Seder. It was a great day.

: There is no perfect template—just pick one I stayed up late last night drafting a new, Hugo-driven version of one of my websites. I went from …

: The organizational rabbit hole This is a short, short version of what happened to me over the past week when I decided to get …

: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier 📺 I watched episode one of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier this week. It’s a show about two MCU …

: The menu key I was thinking about creating a training presentation to help my coworkers with keyboards shortcuts, …

: 🎵 “Canada’s Country”: I’ve been enjoying this laid-back playlist while I work. Honestly, I didn’t …

: People on LinkedIn still use a lot of #hashtags non-ironically. Who are they tagging content for?

: Does anybody know if scheduled posts, posted from Ulysses, show up in the timeline? I think my 1:00 …

: 🎬 Zach Snyder’s Justice League I was not I initially interested at all in the Snyder Cut of Justice League but I ended up watching …

: Alt+F4 I have been using AutoHotKey for many years, and I never thought until today to map Windows+Q to …

: Intel invests $20 billion into new factories, will produce chips for other companies Chiam Gartenberg reports in The Verge: At the company’s “Engineering the Future” announcement …

: Seven mass shootings in seven days Josh Berlinger of CNN reports today that the Colorado attack is the 7th mass shooting in 7 days in …

: 🎧 on, and getting into the ⌨️ zone now. Maybe I shouldn’t have stayed up till 1:30 last night, but …

: Ulysses and Micro.blog It is amazing that Ulysses supports posting to Micro.blog now. I love the functionality, and its …

: I have been feeling behind at work, even though I am probably no more behind in my work than anyone …

: Regular Expressions App for macOS I was bummed to find out that my favorite regular expressions editor for the Mac, Oyster, completely …

: I deleted my LastPass account today. I have switched over to Bitwarden and love it.

: CDC Says Schools Can Now Space Students 3 Feet Apart, Rather Than 6 As Anya Kamenetz, Cory Turner, and Allison Aubrey report on the NPR website today: The Centers for …

: 🎵 I’m currently listening to Chemtrails over the Country Club by Lana Del Ray for the first time. I …

: Friday is time for Inbox Zero I have been an Inbox Zero guy since the early 2000s. Now I can’t keep up with my email; it comes in …

: I am investing some time trying to see if I could implement a Johnny Decimal system for my files at …

: Apple's new iPad Pro leaks ahead of rumored event Corinne Reichert and Stephen Shankland report in CNET: Apple will launch a series of new iPads in …

: Effective Presentations When it comes to creating effective PowerPoint presentations for work, my reach still exceeds my …

: 🎵 The Hold Steady’s latest album, Open Door Policy, is growing on me. I know reviewers love it, …

: Apple discontinues original HomePod, will focus on mini Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch reports: Apple has discontinued its original HomePod after four …

: The COVID-versary I guess, based on the occurrence of a President Biden speech, that this week marks the one-year …

: There was a brush fire yesterday not too far from where I live. Brush fires are incredibly rare …

: I’m probably being a climate-change alarmist right now, but I think we have never had such frequent …

: I have been well this week, but not in the blogging mood. I am working on gaining momentum now on …

: I am grateful that the weather has changed from snowy and blustery to warm and calm. I have been …

: 🎵 I loved all of the “Playlists from Visionary Women” that were front-and-center on Apple Music for …

: Aeterna Noctis This game looks 100% like a Hollow Knight rip-off, but maybe it will be the best Hollow Knight …

: 🎬 I watched Frozen 2 again with my family today. We still could not really understand some of the …

: I really wanted an iMac Pro at one point. I was most excited about its cooling system, of all …

: 'This Is The Reality Of Black Girls': Inauguration Poet Says She Was Tailed By Guard Matthew S. Schwartz reports for NPR: To millions of people around the world, the young poet Amanda …

: Mermaid 🧜‍♀️ for flowcharts Tonight I learned about Mermaid, which is a plaintext markup language and renderer for creating …

: I realized today that part of my job is writing a short, really boring book about how I do my job. …

: Ulysses invited me back into their beta testing program, and now I can test direct publishing to …

: I’m setting up a new Celeron based mini PC. It came with Windows 10 Professional on it, which …

: 📺 Gen: Lock I watched Gen:lock over the past week. I was disappointed that it introduced a premise-breaking plot …

: Jay-Z sells majority stake in Tidal music streaming service to Jack Dorsey's Square Per Mark Sweeney in The Guardian: “Why would a music streaming company and a financial services …

: The first time I heard the term “NFT” was yesterday, and I’m already sick of it.

: I am grateful I received my COVID vaccine, but yesterday’s second dose has really knocked me for a …

: Google to Stop Selling Ads Based on Your Specific Web Browsing Sam Schechner and Keach Hagey report in The Wall Street Journal: Google plans to stop selling ads …

: Neera Tanden is Biden’s first Cabinet-level nominee to withdraw Ella Nilson at vox.com reports: But much of Tanden’s résumé was overshadowed by her proliferous …

: Today i will receive my second COVID-19 vaccine. I am excited to be so close to finished with the …

: Microsoft OneDrive iOS Files Integration 🙄 I just looked at the latest release notes (see picture). So that’s why I couldn’t save my files to …

: Having tons of meetings all the time is kind of killing my impulse to micro-blog. Perhaps it is …

: Programming has got me pulling my hair out today. There seems to be no good way to do the simple …

: Spotify’s new lossless tier isn’t enough to make me switch, but I would pay Apple more …

: I have come to the conclusion that the best way to automate moving data around in Excel and …

: The “projects” listed on my Hugo-based website are hyperlinks when I run it via hugo server but are …

: I created a landing page for myself I updated my home page/landing page using Hugo: mjdescy.me. I definitely don’t have the hang …

: Mo Willems and The Storytime All-Stars Present: Don't Let The Pigeon Do Storytime! 📺 My wife and i accidentally found the Mo Willems special, “Mo Willems and The Storytime All-Stars …

: 🎬 I enjoyed Pixar’s Soul quite a bit.

: I installed Hugo a fifth time tonight. (Is this a record?) My network is being stupidly slow, and …

: It’s amazing how little I paid attention to the lyrics of OK Computer in the 1990s. It is way …

: Apple reportedly plans March 16 event with new iPad Pro, iPad mini and AirTags. This is just a rumor …

: As if I didn’t already have enough to worry about, my county—which administered my first …

: Microsoft Excel Power Query—Who know all it could do? This week, I have been watching educational videos on YouTube about Excel Power Query. My wife …

: I think we got a foot of snow today! It’s not as fun for us, though, now that school is …

: Bravely Default is a classic RPG series designed for lapsed fans I’m a lapsed fan of RPGs in general. I wish I had time to play them. The demo of Bravely …

: I migrated from LastPass to Bitwarden’s $10/year plan last night. Bitwarden is equally …

: New Model M Is an American-Made Keyboard That Puts a Spring Back in Your Typing I don’t want this, but it does resemble my first (or maybe second) PC keyboard. I didn’t …

: I have been writing good meeting agendas for work lately so I don’t have to think so hard at …

: Sennheiser says it’s open to selling its consumer audio business. This could be bad news for …

: Living at the Office Seth Godin: …many people are working from home–which is very stressful, because what it really …

: Do any micro.bloggers trust Bitwarden as their password vault? I’m a longtime LastPass user looking …

: Trust Trust relies on three things: Competence—can you do something well? Benevolence—are you doing good? …

: Trying to learn Hugo I have been slowly teaching myself Hugo tonight. I haven’t gotten to the fun part yet, I …

: Covid Vaccines for Kids Are Coming, but Not for Many Months I wonder about when my kids can get Covid vaccines every day. What the New York Times reports today …

: Much to my surprise, Marco Arment is in the exact same quandary I am in regarding dealing with a web …

: 📺 After a long work day, I finally caught up on “WandaVision.” It is weirdly delightful. I like to …

: For some reason, I really do not want to install homebrew, npm, or Hugo on my new Mac mini. I have …

: Websites moved to Linode...mostly complete I transferred all my websites, other than my hosted micro.blog of course, to a single Linode …

: My webhost got hacked and is going out of business. I can migrate my blog here, but I will need some …

: I have been building tiny bots in Automation Anywhere this morning. It has taken me a little bit of …

: Boston Red Sox's Dustin Pedroia announces retirement from MLB Joon Lee of ESPN reports: Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who hasn’t played …

: I found myself reading the Wikipedia entry for Groundhog Day this morning. I doubt I have time to …

: NYU researchers find no evidence of anti-conservative bias on social media Kim Lyons reports in The Verge: “The contention that social media as an industry censors …

: The winter storm in New Jersey today is more likely than not to delay my COVID vaccine appointment. …

: I really like the simplicity of the Keysmith app, but I can’t find any use for it.

: 📺 Fullmetal Alchemist While I have been working a ton lately, I can’t work every second of the day. I have been watching …

: 📺 Little Voice My wife and I recently discovered the Apple TV+ show “Little Voice” and very much enjoy it. It is …

: I have been super, super, super busy today, and it just won’t stop. It looks like I’ll be working a …

: The Business of Influenece with MKBHD I found this fairly long interview on The Verge with Marques Brownlee (MKBHD on YouTube) to be very …

: My name got mentioned three times on the all-team call at work today, which is three times more than …

: I don’t really want to criticize TapBots for making TweetBot version 6 a subscription app. I would …

: The Covid-19 Vaccines Are Amazing. Let’s Quickly Get Them into People’s Arms. Jason Kottke’s blog post offers some great advice that we all should heed: So what can you do about …

: I wrote a support email to Ulysses last week inquiring about micro.blog support. I got a response …

: I can’t believe that Tom Brady is going back to the Super Bowl. Then again, it seems like the …

: New iPhone Day After dithering on it for several weeks, I finally ordered a blue iPhone 12 mini late Friday night. …

: Children's books to read next The following children’s books are on the docket for me to read aloud to my daughter: A …

: I have never watched an inauguration before, and don’t plan to today, though the rest of my family …

: This is old news, but I just discovered it this week. If you use Arq for backup on the Mac, you can …

: Note to self: just use rsync to sync files. Stop avoiding the terminal!

: I’m doing the usual Monday morning brain boot-up sequence right now. I hear the hard drive platters …

: Today, I read the second-to-last chapter of A Little Princess to my daughter, and chose the next …

: 2021 MacBook Pro will ditch the Touch Bar and bring back MagSafe, say reports. I don’t know …

: COVID vaccine rollout in New Jersey is disorganized and haphazard. After a few days of nail-biting …

: My cheap plastic iPhone 7 Plus case broke and now I want a new phone. 😠😳😢😅

: A noisy server that I once again love I spent about two hours last night trying to figure out if I can move my FreeNAS server, which …

: Impeached twice. Not a good look. Let’s hope for the sake of the country that this is a …

: I haven’t had my M1 Mac mini for very long, and have only done a little Xcode work on it thus …

: I have been very busy automating processes at work. I just got access to Automation Anywhere, which …

: The House of Representatives is voting for impeachment along party lines so far, which is …

: SteerMouse On my M1 Mac mini, KensingtonWorks software somehow disables double-clicking on my Kensington …

: Record low flu cases show how COVID-19 is more contagious and 'less forgiving,' experts say This article in USA Today confirms my suspicions that all the anti-COVID measures would drastically …

: 🎵 I’m trying out PlexAmp again, and am listening to Herbie Hancock’s “Gershwin’s World” (in ALAC) …

: My thought of the day, as I do my house tidying: Systems of human behavior break down when people …

: I have been writing Amazon product reviews thousands of words long this evening, on products as …

: Barry Season 3 Delay Has Allowed Season 4 Scripts to be Finished Ahead of Schedule Per Ethan Anderton on SlashFilm, quoting Bill Hader: “Right when the lockdown happened in March, we …

: I made the mistake today of turning off my home media server (HP N54L) for a few minutes to see how …

: Music for Programming is definitely not for me, but I love the all-text site design.

: Why did I get a webcam again? 😂 I just got a Logitech C920 webcam to use for video calls at work. Testing it out has shown me that …

: Pelosi, Schumer Join Chorus Of Calls For Invocation Of 25th Amendment Against Trump. I cosign. Swear …

: When “American Carnage” is the Tone at the Top I was having a pretty good day yesterday, full of minor but meaningful personal and professional …

: I realized today that in, ACL, a scripting language I use at work, I have been using a mixture of …

: It appears that the M1 Mac Mini I ordered is going to spend 8 hours today riding around on a …

: Neil Young and Jimmy Iovine sold part or all of their music catalog publishing rights to Hipgnosis. …

: I posted my “Publish to Micro.blog” Scriptable script on the Automators forum to help share it with …

: I published a Scriptable script that lets you publish text posts to Micro.blog from any iOS text …

: I have been using the Magnet app on my Mac for years now, and I still can’t remember any of the …

: I am working on a Scriptable script to publish to Micro.blog via iOS share sheets, so I don’t …

: I submitted a small but vital bugfix to one of my iOS apps this evening. It feels good. 😀

: I created a Siri Shortcut to send my daughter a “Word of the Day” email (which is based …

: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposes national lockdown on England to combat new Covid …

: Microsoft planning ‘sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows. I use Windows for work at least 8 hours …

: Google workers announce plans to unionize. This is, potentially, a great development. I am curious …

: Chipotle launches cauliflower rice nationwide as consumers cut grains from their diets. This is a …

: Making pound cake in a bread machine does not result in the softest, most perfectly baked cake. Next …

: If Sen. Josh Hawley follows through with his objection to the electoral college results, he deserves …

: I am making poundcake in my new bread machine today just to see if it will work. 👨‍🍳

: I’m back to late-night debugging: a nasty bug has gotten worse, not better, since I started …

: I’ve gotten to the point with my cooking that I always think that I have no idea what I am doing, …

: My pinboard.in subscription is lapsing in two weeks. I think I will let it expire. I have been a …

: 🎬 Wonder Woman: 1984 was all kinds of just OK. I mostly enjoyed the set pieces but through the whole …

: 🎮 Ori and the Will of the Wisps is Great I got a chance to play a few hours of Ori and the Will of the Wisps over the past couple days, and …

: Merry Christmas I have been busy with family most of the time the past few days, mostly doing Christmas-y things. I …

: His Dark Materials Renewed for a Third Season on HBO and BBC “His Dark Materials” is another “limited” series that has been reviewed for …

: How can there be no emoji for “idiot?" 🤯

: Ted Lasso Likely to End After Season 3 Per Russ Burlingame on ComicBook.com: “Ted Lasso is a three-season show. After the third …

: Last night I started playing Ori and the Will of the Wisps on the Switch. I only had about 15 …

: I like Reeder 5, but I have been dissatisfied with feed syncing over iCloud for the past few days. …

: Netflix and Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate agree to dismiss lawsuit over Sherlock Holmes’ emotions From Adi Robertson in The Verge: The Enola Holmes case hinged on Sherlock Holmes’ complicated …

: I am taking a Robotic Process Automation online course for work today. Maybe, after I complete it, I …

: Switch games to play next year I took advantage of the Nintendo eShop sales this week to buy a bunch of games, at varying …

: I started getting emails that frontline medical workers in my area have already received the …

: Boba Fett show heading to Disney Plus in 2021 From Julia Alexander in The Verge: The show, The Book of Boba Fett, was not included as an …

: I was right to be concerned about snow removal, because our snow plow guy just quit and passed us …

: Eric Lander, who is a genius brimming with charisma, is probably the best Armchair Expert podcast …

: 🎮 I am happy to see that Hades is getting some “game of the year” nods, from Polygon and …

: I woke up to a decent amount of snowfall, which totally surprised me. I am unsure how we are going …

: I finally got an Apple TV+ free trial. 😎

: The snowstorm started and my kids are excited.

: Chris Welch’s AirPods Max review asks the question “Apple still doesn’t offer a lossless …

: The local news is predicting 6-8 inches of snow today in my area. Dark Sky is predicting about an …

: Got the new iPad 4 and bought Reeder 5 to use on it!

: A robotic kitchen for rich people is kind of a cool idea, I guess, but the setup looks pretty scary. …

: I am eagerly awaiting for the shipment of a new iPad Air 4 today.

: Live: Here Are the Electoral College Results, By State. Why on earth would I want to track this …

: I took a required course in ethics this morning, and wish I could have just watched a few episodes …

: Taylor Swift to Release New Album, ‘Evermore,’ Tonight. 👀 I guess if there’s no new Bleachers …

: First impressions of the Apple AirPods Max are starting to trickle in. I am looking forward to …

: Democrats Want To Bring Earmarks Back As Way To Break Gridlock In Congress Per Susan Davis on NPR: When earmarks were a regular feature of congressional business, Rep. …

: Apple announces $549 AirPods Max noise-canceling headphones, coming December 15th. Wow. Apple’s “December surprise” actually happened: By moving into the premium …

: When I was a kid, I was fascinated by Chuck Yeager and by test pilots in general. I did not know he …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “Everything Will Change” by The Postal Service. It’s the …

: It could just be end-of-the-year malaise, but I have given up on Inbox Zero. I will probably just …

: I would have thought that Bob Dylan’s entire song catalog, which he sold to Universal Music …

: I’ve become so accustomed to global warming that I now expect December temperatures to be …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “My Woman” by Angel Olsen. I am a huge fan of her newer album, “All Mirrors”, so I …

: After about eight years of service, the right-click button on my trackball just stopped registering …

: I enrolled in the Apple Small Business program today. I am grateful for it, even though I am among …

: Puerto Rico: Iconic Arecibo Observatory telescope collapses. I’m sad to see this observatory …

: Trump Has Discussed With Advisers Pardons for His 3 Eldest Children and Giuliani. Yep, nothing to …

: The podcast landscape is changing apace. Spotify seems to be doing well with its exclusive podcasts …

: Apple Names App of the Year Winners. I guess this is important. I haven’t bought an app for …

: 🎵 Some good news for fans like me: The Hold Steady Announce New Album, Share New Song.

: I have blocked reddit.com at the DNS level because I can’t stop wasting time there. 😒 Now that …

: WTF Happened in 1971? I heard about this site, which is full of scary economic charts, on TWIT. …

: 🎵 I found a new Bleachers single today, featuring Bruce Springsteen. I was hoping for a new album …

: I probably shouldn’t have baked this tonight, but I’m glad I did.

: The Taylor Swift “folklore: the long pond studio sessions” film on Disney+ is phenomenal.

: I’m happy my work week is over, and I’m looking forward to desserts tomorrow.

: This metal monolith in Red Rocks is quite an expensive, and bland-looking, prank.

: I’m weirdly not into Thanksgiving this year. I don’t even want to bake a pie (I love …

: Elon Musk is now world’s second-richest person, as net worth has grown more than $100 billion this year That Elon Musk’s wealth grew by $100 billion this year is super alarming to me.

: Jeopardy! will start filming new episodes with Ken Jennings as interim host Who else but Ken Jennings could possibly take the helm?.

: I Lived Through A Stupid Coup. America Is Having One Now Indi Samarajiva compares Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his loss of the election with a coup …

: iJustine’s M1 Macs review video is absolutely hilarious.

: I find, the more I work with git, the less good I seem to be at it! Yes, this seems to be the …

: ‘Reach Out to Trump Supporters,’ They Said. I Tried. Wajahat Ali, writing an op-ed in the New York Times, has given up on Trump supporters: We cannot …

: This article has something interesting to say about Ron Howard’s films, but I disagree with …

: John Gruber’s suggestion of a progressive, tax-bracket-like system for Apple’s App Store …

: Apple’s biggest App Store critics are not impressed with its new fee cut for small developers Nick Statt in The Verge reports: Epic Games and Spotify, united in their fight against Apple, each …

: New York City to Close Public Schools Again as Virus Cases Rise Eliza Shapiro reports in The New York Times: New York City’s entire public school system will …

: The Rise and Fall of Getting Things Done I very much enjoyed Cal Newport’s rumination on Getting Things Done (GTD), and Merlyn …

: Gruber’ s review of the M1 Macs is the only one I plan to read closely. I want an M1-based Mac Mini …

: I don’t know if it is my imagination, or just my desire for a new computer, but Xcode 12 seems …

: I have updated my very old MacBook Pro to Big Sur, and am pleased that it actually works and is …

: This is pretty great, isn’t it?

: It seems really weird to me that Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine Has to Be Stored at -80°C. How unfortunate. …

: I’m looking forward to watching the next episode of “The Mandalorian.” It is my …

: None of the Trump flags (huge flags!) in my neighborhood have been taken down yet. All but one of …

: I still don’t fully understand how iOS apps will run on the Mac without a touchscreen. I am very …

: I updated my late 2013 MacBook Pro to the Big Sur release candidate this afternoon. It was an …

: Ooh! An Apple Silicon Mac Mini. I am excited to see that!

: I very much enjoyed the “His Dark Materials” season 2 premiere last night. I also hope …

: Pfizer’s Early Data Shows Vaccine Is More Than 90% Effective As reported in the New York Times (and elsewhere): The company said that the analysis found that …

: Alex Trebek has died. It certainly is the end of an era.

: My wife and I watched the Biden-Harris acceptance speeches with our daughter, who has never seen …

: I was at first surprised that Trump gained voters across the board since 2016. But then I recalled …

: I am puzzling a lot of things out right now, and trying to focus on physical and mental health.

: I wonder if Apple silicon Macs will have good/better/best processor options like the Intel ones …

: I can’t believe that the Red Sox re-hired Alex Cora.

: If I were more of a gamer, I would be more excited about the new Xbox and PlayStation reviews …

: News outlets started calling the presidential race for Joe Biden this morning. In no sense should it …

: I am wondering if a new, faster Mac would make me more excited about coding in Xcode again. Xcode …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “All Mirrors” by Angel Olsen. I love this album. It has the sort …

: iOS 14.2 is here. I’m still hoping Apple will fix some of the glitches I’ve been …

: I hope the orthopedic I’m going to today helps me fix the stoop in my back after I stand up. (I …

: A pot of chicken soup is bubbling on the stove, and some bread is in the oven. I’m looking …

: I’m trying to get back into the swing of things this morning. I’ve been working at night to make up …

: My mood improves when I am near my headphones and my music collection. They have gotten me through …

: Nothing that will happen today will astonish me, I’m afraid.

: New Jersey made it easy for me to vote by mail this year, but I usually visit Vote Save America for …

: I am trying to think of what to do tomorrow night, instead of watching (incomplete) election night …

: OK. I just wrote a link post. Now, time to concentrate on work again.

: Raspberry Pi 400 The always interesting Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced a new “desktop PC” form …

: It’s dreary inside my mind right now, The dank weather isn’t helping. 🌧

: 🎮 I played the Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity demo for about an hour and a half and left it …

: Breath of the Wild prequel gets Nintendo Switch demo Per Patricia Hernandez in Polygon: The surprise Nintendo Direct at the end of October ended with …

: N.J’s Largest City Shuts Down Again as Virus Cases Surge Per Tracey Tully and Kevin Armstrong in the New York Times: Newark required nonessential businesses …

: I am taking online workplace harassment training, and I have to say, the acting in the demonstration …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” by R.E.M. I kind of forgot about this …

: I am trying out the new Microsoft Edge for my work-related web browsing. I know that is based on …

: 🎵 A new Bruce Springsteen album is always welcome. I can’t get over how he keeps putting out …

: I think I am really into headphones again, after a six month retreat into speakers. Luckily for me, …

: 🎮 After about 20 runs, I finally beat Hades tonight. What a fun game.

: My most frequently visited web page this past month has been Wired’s guide how to solve a …

: I have a car. Whenever a new car comes out, I don’t read all the reviews and imagine what it …

: iOS and iPad OS 14.1 dropped today. I hope they clear up the screen freezing on my iPads. 🤞

: The Real Divide in America Is Between Political Junkies and Everyone Else Per Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan in the New York Times: For partisans, politics is a …

: Doctors May Have Found Secretive New Organs in the Center of Your Head Per Katherine J. Wu in the New York Times: A team of researchers in the Netherlands has discovered …

: I’m puzzling over if it makes any sense for me to upgrade from Reeder 4 to Reeder 5. Maybe I …

: As Local News Dies, a Pay-for-Play Network Rises in Its Place From Davey Alba and Jack Nicas in the New York Times: Maine Business Daily is part of a …

: Apollo for Reddit is an app that I install and uninstall on a weekly basis.

: Holmdel Park

: Hades is a fun game. I finally made it to Elysium (the third area) tonight. 😅

: I have a new nephew today! 👶🏻

: Postal worker in N.J. faces charges for dumping bundles of mail, including nearly 100 election ballots From NJ.com: A U.S. Postal Service mail carrier has been charged by federal authorities for …

: Up Spell looks pretty fun, but, in my opinion, most of these “spell as many words as you …

: Why in the world are these (stupid) debates not being filmed remotely?

: My hi-fi pet peeve is the “record needle popping and scratching” track on lots of modern …

: 🎵 I’m listening to Ben Kweller and flashing back to the early aughts.

: Holmdel Park

: Holmdel Park

: I’m glad I didn’t waste my evening watching the presidential debate.

: Coding, coding, coding…🤖🤖🤖

: I am baking a carrot loaf cake for a family dinner tomorrow. I don’t know what got into me. I …

: I often think, before I go to bed, about the music I plan to listen to at work the next morning. …

: I have been coding too much (at the day job) to think about writing (microblogging, journaling) this …

: I didn’t realize that Amazon was having a hardware event today. Am I the only one who has been …

: The lovely blue sky above Thompson Park today

: It is sad that Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. She was a a towering judicial figure, but it was selfish of …

: We woke up to slipper weather this morning! I love this time of year.

: I made matzoh balls tonight and chopped veggies so I can make matzoh ball soup in time for dinner …

: Rubik's Cube After reading this article about Erno Rubik, inventor of the Rubik’s Cube, I ordered myself a …

: 🎮 To see if I should buy the “Super Mario 3D All-Stars” game for the Nintendo Switch, I …

: I am looking at pictures of trees and wondering which park my family and I should go to on Saturday.

: With their iPad Air and their Apple One offerings, Apple is continuing its strategy of offering too …

: I can’t save money with Apple One, because I am not interested in most of the bundled services.

: Pixelmator Photo Adds ML Super Resolution Powered by Apple’s Neural Engine and Split-Screen Preview …

: The new iPad Air looks very, very compelling. It leaves me with no reason to want an iPad Pro …

: Apple’s iPhone 12 lineup won’t have high-refresh 120Hz displays, says analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. People …

: 🎵 I am very late to the “lofi hip hop radio - beats to relax/study to” craze, but I am …

: Feds proudly announce seizure of ‘counterfeit Apple AirPods’ that are actually OnePlus Buds. Well, …

: The turkey chili I made to repay my father-in-law for fixing our kitchen sink today was a really big …

: I am trying to find ways to make PowerShell/Windows Terminal more useful. I’m not an admin, so …

: Holmdel Park

: Holmdel Park

: My mantra for today is “I have been overthinking things.”

: Zoom completely failed today for my daughter’s classroom. The teachers' stream had distorted …

: My favorite internet search thus far today was: “calming music that is not annoying.” …

: Silly me. I thought my (real) work was a basically done for the week and I would have an easy day …

: I am trying to find ways to make PowerShell/Windows Terminal more useful. I’m not an admin, so …

: The stress level at my house is extremely high. The first week back at school sure is fun. 😳 …

: I am grateful that I don’t have to experience directly the California wildfires. If things had …

: ☕️ I am enjoying a freshly steeped cup of Yorkshire Gold (loose leaf) tea.

: I slept through a little earthquake this morning that was centered only a mile or two from hy house.

: I should take photos of my kids every day. I don’t know why I don’t, but I should.

: Because it is back to school time, my mind has once again turned to collecting new recipes to try …

: Thompson Park

: 📚 I am enjoying Dan Moren’s latest book, The Aleph Extraction.

: I decided I wanted a universal snippet on my Mac to use to insert the date in the format I want it …

: There are thousands of COVID-19 cases at colleges and universities in the news this week. What …

: I gave myself a haircut today. It seems that it takes longer to do the less often I do it. It has …

: How can it be that the teapot emoji hasn’t existed until this year and that Apple …

: I’m thrilled and relieved to discover this morning that the reason my desktop stereo stopped …

: My AnyList subscription is expiring soon. I am strongly considering switching to Paprika 3 for my …

: Lord & Taylor is closing all its stores. Pier One closed all their stores earlier this year. …

: I am wrapping up a huge project at work today and tomorrow. It feels good.

: School is starting today for my wife, who is a teacher, and for my daughter, who is a student in a …

: Nintendo bringing Super Mario 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy to Switch. This is great news for me, because …

: After about a month I am still playing several games of Good Sudoku by Zack Gage every day. I …

: At this point in the pandemic, I am still limiting grocery store trips to once per week, but I …

: I am pretty sure that I need scissors to open my new scissors. 🤦‍♂️

: As Apple pundits debate whether or not a new product announcement looms in the near future, I am …

: Amazon’s Alexa has been a pretty lackluster addition to my household. It gets our …

: Tonight I assembled a desk that my wife bought, so she could work from home more easily.

: Now that it is September, it is finally time for me to upgrade my iPhone to the developer beta. I …

: It amuses me that Gruber and Moltz are recommending “Ted Lasso” on “The Talk …

: Prepping pancakes to surprise the kids in the morning.

: I have been enjoying Apple Music’s new iOS 14 beta feature for infinite playback of similar …

: If I am lucky, this week will be a return to normal working hours and stress levels. If I am not …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “The Third Gleam” by The Avett Brothers. I had no idea this …

: This article, about the uselessness of blockchain for just about anything, really tickled me. I have …

: Kamala Harris Goes Beyond the White Pantsuit Come on, New York Times. This type of article is sexist and demeaning. What is Joe Biden wearing? …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “Gimme Fiction” by Spoon. I remember not liking this record as …

: Coronavirus is in the air. Here’s how to get it out. Brian Resnick’s article on Vox summarizes some of the issues we are all facing in the …

: Stormy weather. I am glad I’m inside.

: We’re having a morning thunderstorm right now. The sky is black. The barometric pressure is …

: I spent some time tonight editing vacation photos, mainly because I was too tired to do any …

: I basically figure that I am old and anxiety-ridden now, because my big, exciting delivery from …

: 🎵 There’s a new EP by Norah Jones.

: “Apple Music 1” is not nearly as fun to say as Beats 1.

: I very much enjoyed listening to Antony Johnson’s interview of Dan Moren on the Writing and …

: 📺 I finally watched “Picard” this week. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I thought the ending …

: I am reading on the porch, during a steady, soothing rain, after a large meal with my family. It is …

: The Good Sudoku game has really grown on me. Despite some early bugs, which were quickly fixed, and …

: We are getting a ton of rain today in New Hampshire. I enjoy the rain when I am out in the woods a …

: If I had a NY Times crossword micro blog, my posts would consist solely of the puzzle date and …

: I am on vacation with my family, enjoying simpler things like walking outside.

: I was amazed this week to learn that my Game Boy Advance, which is nearly 18 years old still holds a …

: Apparently, iPhone 12 price leaks are suggesting expensive prices in line with what we have today …

: I am astounded by the sheer number of keyboard shortcuts I have memorized, and how I can keep them …

: The best tech thing I did all week was to create a PowerShell script that opens the most recently …

: My work computer is generating data extracts in Excel via a PowerShell script, and I’m afraid …

: I’m working really, really hard this week. (Sigh.) I’m hoping for a chance to take a …

: 🎵 Orville Peck has a really cool voice.

: I just noticed that the analog clock widget in the latest iPadOS beta does not display the correct …

: Two of my independently hosted WordPress sites were down for several days last week due, I presume, …

: 🎧 My speakers and headphones sound so clear and exciting again now that I’ve got my equipment …

: My favorite piece of Schiit came back to me in the mail today. Now that my Magni 3 Heresy is …

: I spent some time today preparing for my family’s vacation—about a week ahead of time. …

: Hmm…I don’t mind them myself, but I think the swears on Taylor Swift’s new album …

: The Fn key on iPadOS 14 Developer Beta 2 I noticed something strange on the latest iPadOS developer beta. The Fn key on my Apple Magic …

: My daughter is going to freak out when I tell her that a surprise Taylor Swift album dropped today. …

: Someone needs to inform The New York Times that black text on a white background, even in dark mode, …

: John Gruber’s Return and Enter Are Two Different Keys has got me thinking about all sorts of …

: Work this week and next are shaping up to be an absolutely epic grind for me. After today I expect …

: NextDNS I decided to retire my pi-hole install yesterday, in large part to reduce the pain points I was …

: Thunderbolt 3 Dock I finally got my work laptop connected to a Thunderbolt dock that charges it, drives my peripherals, …

: 🎵 I am really enjoying the new album by “The Chicks”. That band wasn’t on my radar …

: Cable management in my office is kind of a nightmare. I am now having crazy thoughts of buying …

: Podcast Mentorship Myke Hurley’s Podcast Mentorship program is a really good idea: TL;DR: I want to mentor …

: 📺 I rewatched the first episode of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” last night to gauge how …

: 🎵 I’m trying something different tonight: a K-Pop playlist of BLACKPINK. I think I like it. At …

: We are getting a ton of tall, wobbly pine trees taken down in our backyard today, because they are …

: I am still struggling to get my app rewrite done in UIKit. Next year, for real this time, I’m …

: Oh, nice! It’s iPadOS 14 beta 2 time.

: I tried Apple News again to see if the experience is any better on the iPadOS 14 beta. Sadly, for …

: 📚 I finished reading another novel to my daughter tonight, the fourth Emily Windsnap book. My …

: 📺 I bought Axiom Verge for the Nintendo Switch tonight and really like it so far. It is giving me …

: I have been listening to thunderous fireworks for about an hour now from my home. I thought all the …

: I have been using Xcode for so long and I just now realized that Control+Command+Left/Right Arrow …

: I am back to tracking my food intake—because, well, reasons (haha)—with the Keto app. I am not on a …

: My buy-and-hold strategy with flip-flops finally paid off tonight, in that I threw out my worn-out …

: ⌨️ Oh, cool, my new Anne Pro 2 keyboard supports Bluetooth, and here I am, clicking away, …

: Does Xcode 12 beta 1 crash less than Xcode 11.5?

: 📚 Based on the prologue I read last night, which was a lot of fun, I think the next novel I’m …

: iPadOS 14 beta 1 is great so far! My day one experience with iPadOS 14 beta 1 is astounding. It is fast and stable. All my third party …

: Well, my Schiit Magni Heresy just got fried. 😢 While listening to it over headphones, it made a …

: I decided to install the iPadOS 14 beta on my iPad Pro. Let’s see how it goes!

: I just had my butt saved by Microsoft Outlook’s “did you forget to attach a file to this …

: Right now, my family is in a weird state of (1) seeing each other more often again without PPE, and …

: One cool thing about the Anne Pro 2 ⌨️ is its tap layer. It does not have arrow keys, but the …

: I love mechanical keyboards, and I treated myself this week to an Anne Pro 2, which is a 60% board …

: The iHeartRadio ads that are now intercut into the “Slate Political Gabfest” podcast are …

: When iOS 14 comes out, will there be a third party app that basically is Mail.app from iOS 12? I …

: Hmm… I don’t think my MacBook has enough disk space for a new partition to install the …

: 😷 My first reusable facemask I got my way-too-expensive, but hopefully useful for a long, long while, reusable facemask from Tom …

: I have been coding quite a bit at night lately. The visible UI of my app rewrite is nearly complete, …

: The best WWDC takeaway for me is that all of my hardware—even my 7-year-old MacBook Pro—is still …

: Apple vs. Hey I have tried to avoid most of the talk about the Apple vs. Hey kerfuffle about in-app purchasing …

: CloudFlare's 1.1.1.1 for Families Both of my kids now are on iPads all the time, and I started to worry about them running into porn …

: It’s certainly a hot day when I have to turn on my office air conditioner before noon. …

: I’m working my “day job” now because time no longer has any meaning.

: Re-opening is beginning now in my state. I don’t plan to go out any more than I have been for …

: The recent buzz about ARM-based Macs maybe being announced at this year’s WWDC is pretty …

: 🎵 I have been enjoying the Breaking Singer/Songwriter playlist on Apple Music quite a bit today.

: WHO: Data suggests it's "very rare" for coronavirus to spread through asymptomatics Axios reports: Contact tracing data from around the globe suggests that while there are instances …

: Programming Style I code in C# at work and in Swift in my home life. Each language has a default indentation style, …

: 🎵 10,000 Maniacs Tonight I’m taking a trip down memory lane with 10,000 Maniacs. “MTV Unplugged” was a …

: I’m grilling and enjoy the day, which is a nice respite for me, because the last few days were …

: Wondering tonight… What is an effective way to counter a bad-faith argument? Do you call out the …

: I can’t think of a NYC mayor more hapless than Bill DeBlasio. I don’t know enough about …

: Obsessing about scores The credit card companies have trained me very well to be really, really concerned about my credit …

: It’s day two of me learning new keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Excel (on Windows). There are …

: Cop Shows This article by Constance Grady on Vox argues something I have been thinking a lot about …

: Maybe—and I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here—but maybe Mark Zuckerberg …

: Upgrade Episode 300 I enjoyed episode 300 of Upgrade, which was part victory lap and part looking forward to the future. …

: Oh, so Microsoft Office does have a command palette! It’s accessible via Alt-Q. I knew that …

: The Alt key in Office One of my personal projects this week is to train myself to use the Alt key-based keyboard shortcuts …

: Wegmans was twice as crowded as usual tonight because everyone brought their spouse to the store. It …

: I wish AutoHotKey didn't have its own programming language I wrote an AutoHotKey function today to paste decoded URL-encoded strings, which I have to do quite …

: My wife and I watched Jerry Seinfeld’s “23 Hours to Kill" Netflix special tonight and …

: I found a Visual Studio Code extension for todo.txt today. I am happy. I don’t think any …

: I’m not 100% sure about this, but I am finding that I prefer tabs over spaces for code …

:  Another head-desk moment tonight I have spent many hours over the past week trying to do something that can’t really be done: …

: I have been self-editing an awful, awful lot lately. I think it’s due to the mixed up …

: All work weeks should begin on Tuesday. 😎

: I finished reading all the Kenzie-Gennaro books by Dennis Lehane last night. I’m going to try …

: This is a test post from iA Writer This is a test post from iA Writer on iOS. It is cool that iA added MicroPub support. 😀 I had some …

: My state (New Jersey) announced today that school is closed for the remainder of the school year. …

: I am reading a lot more lately, basically to try to tamp down the level of stress and existential …

: My son’s preschool announced today that it is closing for the remainder of the academic year. …

: I just set up a “Windows" style keyboard (it’s a Razer BlackWidow Lite) with my Mac for a …

: Well, my wife and I gave me a haircut this afternoon, and now I know exactly what I will look like …

: I still haven’t attempted to cut my own hair during this “social isolation” …

: Is the Virus on My Clothes? My Shoes? My Hair? My Newspaper? My wife and I area asking ourselves …

: Right now, I’m thankful for my good BlueTooth headphones, a Radiohead playlist on Apple Music, …

: The new iPhone SE looks like a great option for me if I break my current phone, which is a …

: Just wondering, does anyone use the “menu” key on the bottom right of their computer …

: I find myself listening to fewer podcasts, but more podcast ads (I don’t skip them as often), …

: I learned this morning that lawn services are up and running my neighborhood. I guess they are …

: I spent more time tricking out my Visual Studio Code install today. I installed the Local History …

: I kind of wish I had COBOL skills to help out my state right now. Why can’t the state …

: I created an even more useful Excel VBA module that lets you resize the currently selected chart to …

: I created an Excel VBA module for resizing the active chart to a (hard-coded) standard size. This …

: The March 2020 Visual Studio Code update just came out. Microsoft and the community are adding …

: I don’t know what took me so long to think to do this, but today I coded a VBA module with …

: Arq Backup 6 was released Arq Backup 6 was just released. It is really compelling software if you want to “roll your …

: Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race. It is amazing that I didn’t get a New York Times news …

: This story about Wisconsin’s primary election is very upsetting. It is yet another symptom of …

: Neutron stars are so strange. I was recently trying to explain them to my daughter, who just got …

: Pixelmator Photo, my photo editing app of choice on iOS, dropped a new version with more great …

: 🎵 I am enjoying “Future Nostalga” by Dua Lipa.

: 📚 Most of my “social isolation” reading has been the Kenzie-Gennaro series of detective …

: It looks like I’m not the only person who moved to Apple Books recently. Bradley Changers at 9to5Mac …

: Sort of by accident, and mostly because it is the default choice, I have switched my ebook reading …

: Corona beer halts production during coronavirus pandemic. This is so stupid, but I get it.

: I am not super thrilled about the articles and online advice entreating us to make our own …

: Well, I just (and finally) submitted my household’s census form. It was really quick and easy. …

: Adam Schlesinger Dies of Coronavirus Complications at 52. This sucks. Fountains of Wayne is one of …

: In a way, I’m happy that Apple is acquiring Dark Sky, because it is a great weather service, …

: I haven’t been microblogging lately because I just don’t know what to say anymore.

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “I Miss Britpop.” So do I, Apple Music, so do I.

: I am currently rebuilding my macOS Photos library, which is something I never wanted to do. …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships” by The 1975. I must …

: I am starting to enjoy drinking Yorkshire gold tea (loose leaf) with a dollop of heavy cream and a …

: WestWorld season 3 keeps looking better and better. I wonder if it will be its final season. There …

: Good(?) Old Games When I bought the Nintendo Switch, I thought a lot more of my time playing it would be spent playing …

: Andrew Yang joins CNN as a political commentator. Is that the best he could do?

: 🎵 Today’s listen: The “Andrew Bird Essentials” playlist on Apple Music. I …

: I’m working overtime, late at night, after a long day at work. I was on the phone about 7 …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “Honeymoon” by Beach Bunny. I’m a big fan of the lead …

: I bought “Frozen II” for the kids to watch today, because it was not a school day. …

: It is going to be a long, long, long work week for me, I’m afraid.

: I got bookshelf speakers today, set them up in my office, and absolutely love them. Of course, now I …

: The President’s decision to expand his power post-trial has stunned Washington. Has it, …

: “The French Dispatch” appears, from its initial trailer, to be the most “Wes …

: Should I stop trying to keep all my original photos on my MacBook Pro? Uh-oh. Apple Photos started saying my full-resolution photos will no longer fit on my Mac. I have 80 …

: I just learned the specs of my new, upcoming work laptop. For the first time since 2000, I think, it …

: Google’s head of HR is stepping down, but that won’t fix the company’s internal problems Shirin Ghaffary at Recode reports that Google’s head of HR, Eileen Naughton, is stepping down. …

: One thing I started doing recently with my almost-8-year-old daughter is saying “I’m …

: I’m interested in the New Hampshire primary results, but what I am really thinking about …

: Michael Bennet Drops Out of the 2020 Presidential Race I thought that I kept up with politics pretty closely, but I don’t think I even realized this …

: Andrew Yang Ends His Presidential Campaign Andrew Yang dropped out of the presidential race tonight. He certainly stayed on brand when …

: 🎵 I like the new Nada Surf album.

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “Out of Time” by R.E.M. This is one of the foundational albums …

: App Review approved my app update within an hour of my submission of it tonight. That is a new speed …

: My daughter got a ukulele and is starting lessons. I just ordered one for myself so I can play with …

: Now I’m a crank who hates the new Google Maps icon.

: Tech pundits' election security advice is well-meaning, but backwards There is a lot of confusion surrounding election security, and how voting machines should work. …

: 🎧 I haven’t been listening to all my awesome headphones nearly as much for the past week, …

: I wonder if/when Mitt Romney will be booted out of the Republican Party.

: Rejoice! The bottom toolbar of the iOS mail app is changing back to its prior, more sensible layout …

: ⚾️ The Mookie Betts trade, which was rumored for months, is still disappointing enough to me to …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “Old Dominion” (2019) by Old Dominion. This is a pleasant …

: I am looking forward to the upcoming Hamilton movie. I like that it is just the filmed stage …

: My third (third!) 12.0" 2017 iPad Pro is starting to exhibit backlight bleed on the bottom …

: Jeremy Egner, of the New York Times, interviewed show runner Michael Schur about “The Good …

: Today’s listen (#2): “Songbook” by Frank Turner. Disc 1 is basically a Frank …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “WestWorld: Season 2 (Music from the HBO Series)” by Ramin …

: The iPad Awkwardly Turns 10 John Gruber does not like the iPad multitasking interface: The iPad at 10 is, to me, a grave …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “Manic” by Halsey. Overall, I like it. But, after one listen, I …

: This afternoon my cable internet provider’s tech support told me there is something wrong with …

: Reading this article about an article about an article about TV streaming service subscriber counts …

: I have been giving my ears a multi-day rest from headphone listening, because I have had terrible …

: Google’s ads just look like search results now. This is yet another bad move by Google. I’m …

: My internet connection has been on and off sporadically today. It’s day #2 with a new cable …

: I’m cancelling FIOS over the phone now. Where I live, I have two ISPs to choose from, and …

: 📺 Cool! “Star Trek: Picard” is getting some good reviews, like this one.

: This morning amounted to a last-minute doctor appointment and a trip to the pharmacy. Winter colds …

: ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ Is Now the Worst-Reviewed ‘Star Wars’ Movie Per Matt Golderberg at Collider: Now, the final Rotten Tomatoes tally has come in, and it looks …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “Kiwanuka” by Michael Kiwanuka. With its mix of soul, Afrobeat, …

: 🎵 "Gotta Get Up" in "Russion Doll" I was thinking of “Russian Doll” and put on “Gotta Get Up” by Harry Nillson. …

: 📺 The Morning Show is actually pretty good I was sick all weekend and, consequently, watched way more TV than usual. I watched most of the …

: I am giving up on Marvin 3 (an iOS ePub reader) once again. The app cannot remember my place in the …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “Free Yourself Up” by Lake Street Dive, which is a fun, …

: I’m all for dropping “Fox” from 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight studios, now …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “69 Love Songs” by The Magnetic Fields. This is an amazing …

: Maybe this version of Xcode (11.3.1) will be good. 😅

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “Immunity” by Clairo. It’s studio-produced lounge pop from …

: I wish that Corbin Smith’s article “Red Sox manager Alex Cora’s firing and Houston …

: 🎵 Today’s album: “Heard it in a Past Life” by Maggie Rogers. It’s a decent …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: “1989” by Ryan Adams. It’s a melancholy, largely acoustic …

: Cory Booker dropped his presidential bid. I really like Booker, though I was never convinced that …

: Joker’s Oscar Nominations Are a Joke Dan Kois, on Slate, rips into “Joker”, which today was nominated for a surprising 11 …

: 🎵 Today's listen: ["Reveal" by R.E.M.](https://music.apple.com/us/album/reveal/1445846667) This album is probably known as one of R.E.M.’s lesser efforts. When it came out in 2001, I …

: 📺 “Russian Doll" is a really trippy take on the Groundhog Day-type plot. It has managed to get …

: I’m working overtime now because life is unfair sometimes.

: My iPhone 7 Plus has—for a second time, due to a battery swap over a year ago—gotten to the point in …

: 🎵 Today’s album: “The King is Dead” by The Decemberists. It’s acoustic, …

: 🎵 Today’s album, “Cut & Stitch” by Petrol Girls. It’s fun, furious, …

: ❓Do any micro-bloggers use reusable grocery bags? I’m trying to find something suitable for huge …

: 🎵 Today’s album: “Diatom Ribbons” by Kris Davis Kris Davis is a jazz pianist, …

: I need to start thinking of exercise as an excuse to watch TV rather than as punishment for eating …

: 🤫 Don’t mind me, I’m just testing new 🎧 today. 🎵😃🎵

: As with the original Segway, my thoughts on this new product are: “why would anybody want …

: 🎵 In lieu of music this morning, I’m listening to the folks at The Incomparable overanalyze …

: This article about ChromeOS’s shortcomings made me wonder just how much better the web would …

: 🎵 Today’s album: “Two Hands” by Big Thief. I saw this album on the top of Bob …

: I forgot this guy was even running for president.

: 🎧 Does tremolo that ping-pongs between the left and right channels bother everybody who listens …

: 🎵 I can’t decide on an album to listen to this morning. I wish there was a playlist for …

: This list of the 50 best shows on Netflix cheats a bit by actually recommending 100 series. The …

: I want to start coding every night once again. I kind of fell out of the habit last year due to …

: When Christmas Day and New Years Day fall on Wednesdays, the end of the year feels like a series of …

: I am not planning to look back and reflect on 2019. Instead I will look forward to the future.

: 🎬 I really enjoyed Rise of the Skywalker. Sure, it contains fan service, but, honestly, all sequels …

: 🎵 Album of the day: Better Oblivion Community Center’s eponymous debut. B.O.C.C. is the duo of …

: When I read articles about the obesity rate in the United States, like this one, I’m surprised …

: I’m really looking forward to latkes all of a sudden.

: 🎵 Album of the Day: “Designer” by Aldous Harding. It is a quiet, intimate, folksy album …

: Obamacare Insurance Mandate Is Struck Down by Federal Appeals Court Abby Goodnotes reports in the New York Times: A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down a …

: Pop mastermind Jack Antonoff is N.J.’s artist of the decade Bobby Oliver posted a profile of one of my favorite current musicians (songwriter, producer, …

: I bought my ticket to “Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker” and can’t wait until …

: The Miseducation of the American Boy Peggy Orenstein’s article in The Atlantic exploring the sorry state of musculinity, as …

: 🎵 Album of the day: “U.F.O.F.” by Big Thief. I found it on several “best of …

: I’m releasing updates of two of my apps this week, with very minor updates. I have found it …

: NPR Music Staff Picks: The Best Albums Of 2019 If I were smart, I would listen to every album on this massive list-of-lists, over the next few …

: LogMeIn is being acquired by a private equity firm. I hope this doesn’t make LastPass, which …

: 🎵 Today’s album: “So” by Peter Gabriel. It’s a masterpiece. I kind of forgot …

: Maybe I am unplugged from things because of my age or something, but it seems to me that hardly …

: I have reached the time of year in which my hands are so dry that fingerprint sensors no longer work …

: I really like this video in which audiophile YouTuber DMS describes all the jargon you need to know …

: 📺 “Watchmen”, which ended last night (spoilers ahead if you read the linked article) is …

: The reviews for “Frozen II” might be lackluster, but I really liked it, and think that …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: Hawksley Workman’s “For Him and the Girls”. The …

: The real problem with robocalls, contrary to what is in The Verge today, is that they have …

: Van Halen’s “1984” is a great album and still holds up today, I think, even with …

: Plex is a great music player on iOS. I’m playing lossless tracks (from my old CD rips) stored …

: I’m spending some time pruning my music collection, which I barely listen to anymore, but is …

: FreeNAS Plans - 2020 and Beyond! It looks like FreeNAS is, eventually, going to run on top of Debian Linux, not just FreeBSD. VP of …

: Social media is a scam. Who knew? Davey Alba reports in the New York Times: […The] report …

: Our dishwasher broke over the weekend. I washed dishes for hours Saturday and Sunday, and we are …

: The rumor that Apple’s 2021 iPhone will have no ports disturbs me for one big reason: CarPlay. …

: If AirPlay 2 really is cracked, and will work soon in shareport-sync on Linux, that is pretty …

: 🎵 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Today I learned that the Beatles' “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” is widely reviled. From the …

: Peak TV is exhausting to me. I recognize about half of the titles on this best-of-2019 list, and I …

: 🎵 I’m changing pace today with a classic rock album: “The Kids are Alright” by The …

: 🎵 I’m taking the “COMPLEX Best Alternative R&B Artists” playlist on Apple …

: JDS Labs Element II I have been eyeing the JDS Labs Element II desktop DAC/amp for about a week now. It looks great (I …

: 🎵 House music, which is not normally my thing, sounds much more exciting with my more bass-heavy …

: 🎵 Green, by R.E.M. I spent most of my workday listening to music today, and really enjoyed it. One album I revisited, …

: 📺 “Watchmen” is still fantastic. I’m going to miss it once season one is …

: Today is day one for my diet, once again. Thanksgiving turned from a one meal deviance to a …

: I’m not a big Black Friday shopper, but I did pick up a bunch (too many) Nintendo Switch games …

: The gingerbread looks good to me. I’m excited to try some tomorrow.

: Prepping to make gingerbread later

: Baking snickerdoodles

: Lin-Manuel Miranda isn't the Lee Scoresby we remember from _His Dark Materials_, but he isn't meant to be. Lin-Manuel Miranda is both (1) the primary reason I got interested in the “His Dark …

: We changed my son’s crib into a toddler bed today, and he hasn’t gotten out of it yet! …

: I don’t mind that Apple removed user reviews from the Apple Store website. Honestly, those …

: AirPlay and an audiophile DAC/Amp on Ubuntu I did a little audio geekery this evening. I set up shairport-sync on the little Ubuntu server that …

: Why do I keep wanting to buy new audio equipment (DACs and amps, mostly, now that I have so many …

: I canceled my Apple Arcade subscription. It was…not for me, which surprised me, to be honest. …

: 🎵 I am enjoying the album “All Mirrors” by Angel Olsen.

: I was doing pretty well with the New York Times crossword puzzles this week—until this morning, that …

: 📺 I watched Bears from Disneynature tonight with my kids. The photography is just incredible, and it …

: One thing holding me back from ordering more Amazon Echo Show devices, for other rooms in my house, …

: I wish there was a social club for people who want to go to concerts that aren’t too loud for …

: I can’t wait until the day that Google announces that Android is canceled. That has to be …

: Google is shutting down its Cloud Print feature in 2020. Never rely on Google to keep anything …

: I’m doing some work out of order today because I just discovered something that will make …

: Tonight was another night when the Apple two-factor authentication popup started alerting me over …

: 🎵 I love “Dream Boy” by Beach Bunny. It’s such a fun song, and everything about it …

: The Kids Who Love ‘Frozen’ and the Parents Who Love Them My daughter is a little like the kids in this light article by Kevin Noble Maillard: What’s the …

: Disney+ Nature Movies I am going to start trying to get my kids to watch the nature documentary-style movies on Disney+ …

: I’m pushing a small bug fix update out for one of my apps, and re-thinking my git branching …

: I got over my last cold-turned-sinus-infection late last week, and I am already coming down with the …

: I am updating my FreeNAS box right now, not because I need to keep it current (it’s working …

: My personal life today consisted of no news, then bad news, then good news, all on different fronts. …

: I am happy that I have subscribed to the “Poem-a-Day” email series from Poets.org. Each …

: The Mister Rogers No One Saw Jeanne Marie Laskas’s article in The New York Times is absolutely wonderful: “If you make him …

: I started my day by putting “do something great" at the top of my task list. The greatest thing …

: The credit card my wife and I use the most got compromised again yesterday. It happens about once …

: I have to do required ethics training today for one of my audit certifications. Unfortunately, …

: I hope to start to get more meaningful programming work done this week. I have been sick or on …

: There’s nothing like an unscheduled play date in a few hours to get me to clean up the messy …

: Democrats should not move to the left or the right to win in future elections. They should move to …

: The amount of family disruption that has started since our 2-year-old son discovered he can boss …

: Thoughts on Apple Arcade So far, I have found Apple Arcade to be overwhelming, in terms of number of games available, and …

: The Wonderful world of Chinese Hi-Fi I enjoyed this article about Chi-Fi from at The Verge: The factories that make the drivers don’t …

: I voted in my town’s local election this evening. It worries me, in a way that it hadn’t …

: I am not sure why, but I keep thinking lately that I need to read poetry by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

: I had to reboot my iPad (iPadOS 13.2) to get the Files app to show me the same files on iCloud Drive …

: Call me crazy, but the last thing I want to read is “How Trump Reshaped the Presidency in …

: I think the clock change today actually allowed my family to catch up on a little sleep today. …

: I have a cold. 🤒😤

: I made it through Halloween without eating any candy! I did eat a little homemade brownie, but I …

: I both (1) don’t want everything to be partisan, and (2) don’t understand why two …

: Foul weather, though not as foul as expected, canceled my daughter’s Halloween parade this …

: Teal Pumpkins Make Halloween Less Tricky For Kids With Food Allergies [Tove Danovich writes about the Teal Pumpkin project on NPR.org](Teal Pumpkins Make Halloween Less …

: Twitter Will Ban All Political Ads, C.E.O. Dorsey Says Kate Conger of the New York Times reports: Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s chief executive, said on …

: I ordered an Apple Watch Series 3 for my wife last night. I hope she loves it. I wonder if we will …

: 🎵 R.E.M.’s Monster is an underrated album, though it certainly is very much of its moment (the …

: I am currently baffled that Apple’s NSDataDetector will not identify the “tel:” …

: The Secret Ingredient That Improves Meat Every Time is mayonnaise. Nope. No, no, no! I think …

: My wife really wants an Apple Watch. I can’t believe it. She is eyeing the Series 3 (the lower …

: Sony to shut down PlayStation Vue in January 2020 Samit Sarkar reports about the impending closure on Polygon: “Unfortunately, the highly competitive …

: 🎵 Peter Buck and Mike Mills (of R.E.M. fame) are in a supergroup that only performs original songs …

: Maybe macOS 10.15.1 will stop Xcode edit windows form tearing and revealing snapshots “The Matrix” …

: Peter Luger Used to Sizzle. Now It Sputters. I hate to admit it, but I love reading a good pan of an expensive restauarant. Case in point, …

: Once again, WinSCP is making me happy. It would be even nicer if I could drag from one instance of …

: 🎮 I got the Xbox Wireless Controller that I ordered today, after a weekend of telling myself I will …

: 📺 I remain excited for the “His Dark Materials” series. The last preview I saw made me …

: Apple introduces AirPods Pro Dan Moren, on Six Colors, reports: Boasting a new design with flexible ear tips, the AirPods Pro …

: 🎮 “Hollow Knight” kicked my ass this evening. I tried to beat The Trial of the Fool for …

: The Curious Design of Mail’s Message Action Toolbar in iOS 13 John Gruber took note of the terrible UI decisions Apple made on its iOS Mail app. The new toolbar …

: 🎮 I just used the last of my birthday money to purchase an Xbox wireless controller, which I can use …

: 🎮 I started a third playthrough of Hollow Knight last night. I am eagerly awaiting its announced …

: My commit history, in my apps and in my life (if that is a thing), is a mess.

: 📺 I watched the premiere episode of “Watchmen” a couple days ago and am still a little …

: I noticed that Lucas/"AppleProgramming" is posting new tutorial videos to YouTube, after a …

: 📺 I got to watch it a bit late, but I was please that “The Good Place” returned to form …

: Tech podcasts have been a huge bummer to listen to lately. Tech used to be fun (for the most part), …

: ⚾️ MLB At Bat has been crashing on me every time I try to watch a World Series game this morning. 🙁

: 🎵 I have been listening to all the singles and EPs from Us the Duo while working the past couple …

: I noticed a big price drop on the Chord Mojo, a highly rated headphone DAC/amp combo. I have …

: 🎵 There’s a new, remastered version of “Jollification” by The Lightning Seeds out …

: Things don’t look too good for “Sunnyside”, which looks to be cancelled in all but …

: At some point, Apple Music started supporting a lot more terrestrial and online radio stations. …

: I don’t know what to say re: everything at the moment. 🤷‍♂️

: Beats announces Solo Pro on-ear headphones with noise cancellation Chris Welsh from The Verge reports: Beats is today introducing the Solo Pro, a $299.95 set of …

: 🎵 How did I not know there was a new Avett Brother’s album?

: I have learned that my 2013 rMBP is too old to be compatible with Catalina’s Sidecar feature. …

: Apple Releases macOS Catalina With Find My, Screen Time, and No More iTunes My Catalina upgrade was a headache. Here is a bullet list of my woes: The install process stalled …

: The local high today is predicted to be 93º. I really miss fall, which is a season we used to have …

: 🎵 I discovered new albums by “The New Pornographers” and “Belle & …

: Apple's New Map, Expansion #5: Northeast U.S. Apple Maps is significantly better in my part of the world (New Jersey) than it was a couple days …

: I should start a “Why did I even read this article?!” link blog.

: 📺 I am excited that “The Good Place” is returning tonight. This season will be its last. I hope they …

: I long for the days where the tech podcasts I listen to are less politically charged than the …

: I know the iOS 13 beta season was rough, but iOS 13.0 (non-beta) was not so bad for me. I think the …

: Nancy Pelosi Announces Formal Impeachment Inquiry of Trump. (Sigh.) Finally.

: I just learned that to replace the busted blender jar and lid in my kitchen will cost $175 + tax. …

: How to Boil the Perfect Egg I am 100% on board for a new food column in the New York Times by J. Kenji López-Alt: Years ago, in …

: I hope that today wasn’t the last day this year that my family will visit the beach.

: 🎮 I will probably hold off on trying Apple Arcade until it is available on Apple TV. I prefer gaming …

: I am giving Icro 2.0 a serious go right now, and I am very impressed.

: Cooking updates: Homemade chicken soup is still delicious, even after three weekly iterations. As a …

: Web browsers I use, ranked in the order of how much I like them Safari: This is the only browser I use on Apple’s platforms. It is fast, has just enough …

: For non-work browsing on Windows, I’m switching back to FireFox.

: Doctor’s offices seem to be asking for coinsurance payments up front lately rather than sending me a …

: I just kicked Calendars 5 off my phone. iOS 13’s Calendar, NotePlan, and Drafts’s …

: I really like the new watch faces that come with watchOS 6.

: I’m upgrading my iPhone 7 to iOS 13.0. 🤞 I am debating whether to jump on the iPadOS 13.1 beta for …

: Cooler autumn weather means roasted chicken, chicken soup, and home-baked bread for my family. I’ve …

: 🎵 Amazon Music HD I have the premium headphones and DACs that would make Amazon Music HD, it’s new hidef tier, …

: 🎮 I wonder why no one is saying much about “Oceanhorn 2” in regards to Apple Arcade. I …

: watchOS 6: The Birchtree Review Matt Birchler posted his review of watchOS 6 today: watchOS 6 is not a massive update to the …

: 📺 I didn’t think I would like “Good Omens” but I definitely do. It is funny and I …

: I think it is funny that many video game and tech sites are expressing surprise today that Apple …

: My pie was good but the crust did not meet my standards. I absolutely nailed the Apple filling, …

: Looks OK so far. It will be difficult to wait till after dinner to try my Apple crumb pie. I think I …

: Today, I am trying to make the first pie I have made in a very long time.

: I wish there was something like RSS for Apple Music. I want “show me everything new by these …

: Why don't I just use an IDE for everything? I have been working on a PowerShell and SQL-heavy project at work for about a week now. To …

: I have noticed that, since the Apple Card was released, the other credit card companies that I have …

: HBO’s His Dark Materials adaptation will premiere on November 4th Per Chaim Gartenberg of The Verge: After months of teasers and trailers, HBO has finally announced …

: I expect to be getting a new, very powerful Windows 10 laptop soon. I plan to install Visual Studio, …

: It looks like somebody at TidBits forgot to replace the boilerplate text in one of their RSS feed …

: Apple Watch Series 5 has an always-on display and comes in titanium or ceramic finishes Per Brian Seifert of The Verge: The big new feature this year is an always-on display option so you …

: Why is Amazon Cloud Drive turning off all third-party app access? Is that service being folded? …

: I will try to watch the Apple keynote later and get a hint of what my next iPhone will be, next …

: I feel really good about the work-related code I wrote today for loading a database (via T-SQL and …

: As great as git is, every six months or so I find a way to completely mess up one of my …

: I’m digging through documentation into the SQL Server bulk copy command (BCP) this morning, so …

: Tonight, I’m fixing more bugs that I wish my app did not have. 😬

: We took the kids to the park, and later ate lunch outside, to take advantage of today’s lovely …

: I picked up “Dead Cells” for the Nintendo Switch this evening, and had a blast going …

: 🎵 Try to Remember I love the richness of Jerry Orbach’s baritone on this recording of “Try to …

: Howard Schultz, Former Starbucks Chief, Won’t Run for President in 2020 From Matt Stevens of the New York Times: In a letter to supporters, Mr. Schultz said he had …

: I have spent a ton of time this evening and last with Xcode’s memory graph afeature nd in …

: Apple Music launches on the web Chaim Gartenberg of The Verge brings some exciting and long overdue news from Apple: Apple Music is …

: I RMA’d my daughter’s ChromeBook yesterday. There was about one week left before the …

: I baked and ate some desserts over the holiday weekend, and now my keto-adapted body is, once-again, …

: John Sundell (@johnsundell) is (still) killing it with Swift by Sundell. I love his new, statically …

: The Apple Tile-like Device Per Joe Rossignol and Steve Moser in MacRumors: Apple is developing a Tile-like accessory that will …

: Of course, on the day before school starts for my daughter, her $500 ChromeBook dies due to battery …

: I’d like to extend a hearty thank you to whoever invented Safari Reader Mode. I miss it so …

: I do not think my apps will be updated in time for iOS 13. Fortunately, it appears that iOS 13 will …

: I don’t want to wear my Apple Watch to sleep. I did so with a FitBit for a couple years and …

: Getting back into the school day routine It’s my wife’s first day back at school (she’s a teacher) and Thursday is my …

: I find classical music to be far more joyous when heard in person rather than on a recording.

: I signed up for Disney+ using the promotional rate I learned about on the “TV Talk Machine" …

: My grocery store has rolled out its enormous Halloween candy display. It is still August.

: The terrible thing about being a programmer is that you regularly run into periods of incompetence …

: 🎮 I should probably stop playing “Breath of the Wild” (I’m in the middle of my second play-through) …

: 🎵 I am very much enjoying NPR’s New Music Friday playlist today. It helps to have two Lana Del …

: Deaths From Red-Light Running At A 10-Year High, AAA Study Finds Per Bobby Allyn of NPR: Deaths caused by motorists running red lights has risen to a 10-year-high, …

: 🎵 I am immune to the charms of “Baby Shark.”

: Democratic Candidates Jostle, and Gripe, as Debates Winnow the Field Reid J. Epstein’s article in the New York Times captures, pretty well, the frustrations of the …

: As a fan and user of Apple Mail on iOS, I am not looking forward to the iOS 13 release. There have …

: The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter Per Brian X. Chen of the New York Times: I’m neither a Luddite nor a cheapskate. But after testing …

: I am trying to get back into drinking tea. For today: oolong.

: I have no appointments on my calendar today. I’m suspicious. It’s almost too good to be …

: My mind feels cluttered today. I am very busy but not very productive. I’m getting something done, …

: Apple Music Introduces ‘New Music Daily’ Playlist From Ryan Christoffel at MacStories: What was formerly known as Best of the Week has been changed …

: Zero (the fasting app for iOS) mjdescy.me

: Zero I am a big fan of the Zero app, which is a tracker for intermittent fasting. It is free, attractive, …

: Five Years Later, It’s Time To Admit We Overreacted About Apple Putting A Free U2 Album On Our Phones Culture critic Steven Hyden argues that U2’s Song’s of Innocence was unfairly maligned. …

: Ransomware Attacks Are Testing Resolve of Cities Across America mjdescy.me

: Ransomware Attacks Are Testing Resolve of Cities Across America I read this article in the New York Times with interest, because I am an information security …

: What the heck is Eck talking about? ⚾️ Red Sox broadcasts have been somewhat incomprehensible to me since Dennis Eckersley started doing …

: The Keto Diet Is Popular, but Is It Good for You? mjdescy.me

: The Keto Diet Is Popular, but Is It Good for You? As a ketogenic dieter, Anahad O'Connor's article about ketogenic diets is pretty balanced, but his …

: All my WordPress sites stopped working via XML-RPC, so I cannot publish to them with Ulysses or …

: Opting out of forced arbitration for the Apple Card took me literally 5 seconds over iMessage.

: Ubuntu Linux on my Toshiba Satellite Laptop I was finally brave enough to install Ubuntu Linux on the laptop sitting in my home office that …

: I must be old. I am more excited about getting a new pair of eyeglasses this fall than learning …

: Thoughts on Apple Card I got the Apple Card about a week ago, and just started using it this weekend. Here are some initial …

: Sabbaday Falls

: We got back from vacation last night after midnight. Today has been a busy day of unpacking and …

: My vacation ends tomorrow. My family had a lot of fun and some relaxing days in the mountains, but …

: What Makes a Red Sky at Night (and at Morning) This article by XKCD creator Randall Munroe amused me. My dad used to always say “Red sky at night, …

: Paradoxically, my children appear both to eat constantly and consume no food all day long.

: Another Baseball Mystery: Why Do Players Seem to Live Longer? I think the answer to the mystery is found the final paragraph of Nicholas Bakalar’s story: …

: It’s amazing how much faster LTE is after 10:00 PM.

: Can Britain’s Top Bookseller Save Barnes & Noble? David Segal’s article poses the question. I hope the answer is yes. Barnes & Noble has …

: Nicolas Cage on his legacy, his philosophy of acting and his metaphorical — and literal — search for the Holy Grail. I really enjoyed this profile of Nicholas Cage, by David Marchese. I wanted to know why Cage, …

: The best part of vacation packing this year is not having to find a place for a massive stroller in …

: Monmouth County Fair

: Facebook to Add Its Name to Instagram, WhatsApp From Alex Health in The Information: In a big shift, Facebook plans to signal its control of …

: 🎵 The New Pornographers are releasing a new album on September 27 (via Jazz Monroe of Pitchfork). I …

: iPhone Home Screen I am trying something new with Apple organization: Three apps in the home row instead of four, and …

: Peanut allergies My wife and I learned today that my two-year-old son has severe peanut allergies. My daughter does …

: After Decades of Music, Tanglewood Talks Seeing this article, by Michael Cooper, today, a couple days before I leave on vacation, made me …

: Monmouth County Fair

: A giant of Broadway theatre has died: Hal Prince, Giant of Broadway and Reaper of Tonys, Dies at 91 …

: Monmouth County Fair

: Monmouth County Fair

: Sleater-Kinney Asked St. Vincent for a Creative Spark. The Trio Blew Up. From what I have heard of Sleater-Kinney’s new album, “The Center Won’t …

: I wish TidBITS posted more content, because their site loads so damn fast.

: G&T

: I am wondering right now whether a gin-and-tonic is in my near future or my far future.

: Where Did It Go Wrong for Beto? Mimi Swartz, for the New York Times, ponders something I have been wondering about, too. The once …

: Oh, another big data breach. Just wondering, does anybody pay for their own credit monitoring? I …

: My wife and I worked on packing clothes for our vacation—starting Saturday. We are really ahead of …

: Monmouth County Fair

: The Monmouth County (New Jersey) Fair

: Sony’s latest RX100 camera finally gets a mic jack Via The Verge: Sony may have only released the RX100 VI last year, but the company is already back …

: I upgraded my hosted micro.blog’s Photos page to the new, built-in one that @manton released …

: I am thankful for Panic’s Transmit app today, as it tears through terabytes of file moving on …

: I use git almost every day, and I still have to look up commands and workarounds to error messages …

: My family and I enjoyed the local county fair this weekend. We went right after it opened for the …

: The “Bat out of Hell” Broadway musical is oddly fascinating to me. I actually love how …

: I got my first iTunes “Uploaded with warnings” message for my Mac app tonight. It was …

: 🎵 It’s a bright and cheery “Country Caffeine” afternoon for me, as I close out my …

: I started the most important part of packing for my vacation: syncing some TV shows to my iPad via …

: I wish I had purchased my first pair of (good) open-back headphones about 8 years ago, when I …

: The $60 Gadget That’s Changing Electronic Music I enjoyed reading this article from the New York Times: Estrada was playing a Pocket Operator, a …

: Faxing in 2019 😠 I just had to re-send a fax to my health insurer because the prior fax, sent last week by a third …

: Panic’s Nova code editor, which is entering private beta soon, looks incredible. I wish I were …

: I was thrilled to re-learn today that WinSCP can connect to SharePoint sites via WebDAV. I know …

: I updated my iPad Air 2 to iPadOS 13 Developer Beta 4, which is the only device I have that I can …

: I don’t think the person who put a hard-coded limit on Excel file path names, one that is way …

: I may finally set up a RetroPie “for the kids”. 😀🕹

: I had a plumber repair my bathroom faucet today, and I am starting to question the intelligence of …

: In 2020 Democratic Fund-Raising, Five Candidates Stand Out I think that every bit of this article from the New York Times illustrates what is wrong with the …

: Sometimes I think I should run for office so I can share my political opinions endlessly and, just …

: Like a true nerd, I am drafting a technical document for work using five Markdown tabs in a Sublime …

: I think another Amazon Prime Day will pass me by without enticing me to purchase anything.

: I’m proud of myself for teaching myself so much of Microsoft Powershell this week. I really get it …

: I don’t know what’s better: (1) having an email address that is not tied to Gmail, or …

: My summer project is to get into drinking fizzy water…which is not particularly ambitious. 😃

: I added some “pages” to my Micro.blog I fleshed out my hosted Micro.blog with a few new …

: Just fixing bugs on one of my iOS apps tonight while my work PC chugs away generating analytical …

: I just upgraded my Mac’s external display from a large but mostly awful 28"4K TN panel …

: I’m super happy that I did not install the iOS and iPadOS betas on any of my devices yet, …

: Potential uses for a Raspberry Pi 4 Once I figure out how to fit them on my shelf, I will probably pick up at least one Raspberry Pi 4. …

: Raspberry Pi 4 I’m excited about the newly announced Raspberry Pi 4, especially about the news that it will …

: I set up a new email address at my own domain, and now I’m deleting almost every email from my …

: Facebook may have too many users for its cryptocurrency to fail — even if you don’t trust it From Vox: Facebook doesn’t have much consumer trust. But it does have a hell of a lot of consumers. …

: 🎵 I was happy to discover today that NPR has added curated playlists to Apple Music. It will be …

: SwiftUI for My Apps SwiftUI is definitely the way forward for development on all Apple platforms, and I am excited about …

: My wife and I baked a cake for her mother’s birthday. It was really good!

: 🎵 Somehow I made it from Beats 1 to Robyn Hitchcock’s “Chronology”, which is a fun …

: 🎵 It’s a Beats 1 morning for me. I don’t often listen to Beats 1, but today I had no …

: Thompson Park

: Thompson Park

: Marlu Lake

: Turtles at Marlu Lake

: Marlu Lake

: One of the bat houses I saw today. For some reason, I thought they were really cool.

: 🎵 Texas 25 is a great pop (ahem, blue-eyed soul) album. The band reworked eight of their hits, and …

: Ocean Grove, New Jersey

: My MacBook Pro came back to me with a brand new top case and all its data intact. It looks great. I …

: Ocean Grove, New Jersey

: My Apple Support Laptop Limbo Is Ending (I Hope) Today FedEx just sent me a text saying I have a delivery scheduled today, which can only mean that my …

: Ocean Grove, New Jersey

: Ocean Grove, New Jersey

: 🎵 “What’s Up Danger?” by Blackway and Black Caviar. (I’m starting my day in …

: I took my 2013 MacBook Pro to the Apple Store yesterday to get a new battery. It’s quite an …

: Answers to the most common questions about SwiftUI Answers to the most common questions about SwiftUI: SwiftUI is not compatible with earlier versions …

: 🎧 Listening to ATP’s WWDC live show at the top of my work day.

: iOS 13 Sherlocks Simple Call Blocker My Simple Call Blocker app won’t be that useful once iOS natively allows users to block all …

: It looks like the iPad Air 2 is not supported by iOS 13, at least based on the beta downloads …

: I’m looking forward to watching the WWDC keynote and state of the union later today. I am …

: Thompson Park

: Thompson Park

: Marlu Lake

: As I feared, my 2013 Macbook Pro has a swollen battery. Cycle count is low, but battery life has …

: Marlu Lake

: Thompson Park

: Soaring

: Thompson Park

: I’m going to try using Fork instead of SourceTree for my Mac Git client. SourceTree is great, …

: Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 Today, Bose announced its long-awaited successor to its flagship headphones, the QuietComfort 35 II. …

: I got to the end of “Hollow Knight” last night. There are still some (impossible) bosses …

: We took the kids to the splash park today. They had a blast.

: We watched turtle races today at the Staten Island Zoo. It was silly and fun. The kids there got …

: I wrote 1,800 words for a new headphone review (it’s not complete yet, unfortunately), and …

: I wish there was a definitive test for “is this a cold, or is it allergies?”

: The new MacBook Pros Apple’s new pro laptops sound fast, but until they get an entirely new keyboard design, I am …

: 📺 “Westworld” season 3 looks fascinating. I’m excited, as always, to see where …

: I am not sure I’m interested in seeing Toy Story 4. (The final trailer dropped today.) I …

: The Game of Thrones Finale I thought the “Game of Thrones” finale was a fitting end to the show. Like the rest of …

: This accessory may not be supported I thought that iOS 12.3 made my headphone DAC/amp not work anymore. Luckily, switching to a new …

: I don’t expect to read about Micro.blog or the IndieWeb in The New Yorker, but when I do I am happy …

: There is nothing quite like silencing 100 compiler warnings in Xcode when you think a “right …

: I have not watched nearly enough baseball this spring. I have followed my team, the Boston Red Sox, …

: Game of Thrones Season 8 has become yet another thing for everyone to be angry about I did not hate the latest “Game of Thrones” episode. I actually liked it, thought it was …

: Bye bye Homebridge support for Nest I noticed an email from Google in my Spam folder this evening (copied, by someone else, here) …

: I may have just done the last commit for SwiftoDo Desktop version 4.0. 🤞

: After being professionally-speaking, out to sea for about a week, I am now taking a different tack. …

: My FreeNAS server is back from the dead! My FreeNAS server is back from the dead. After it stopped working and wouldn’t boot, I needed …

: FreeNAS Server - I should not have tempted fate The same week I wrote a blog post about how great my FreeNAS server is, it has decided to die, or at …

: Now that the new trailer is out, I can conclude that the next Spider-Man movie looks delightful.

: 🎵 I’m listening to Aja on my V-Moda Crossfade 2 🎧 tonight. Steely Dan isn’t always my …

: Let’s not talk about the $150-off sale on Hifiman Sundara headphones, OK?

: Much to my surprise, I think I prefer the Razer Orange switches on this keyboard (pictured) to the …

: I am using MarsEdit more and more for microblogging. I like it being “write-only”, as …

: Maybe writing a todo.txt app with a task list and a text editor mode is not the best idea. So…my new SwiftoDo Desktop app for the Mac would be 100% complete right now, if I …

: 🎵 I never get sick of Lana Del Ray, especially when a song of hers shows up in my “Chill …

: I think AppKit will be around for a long, long time.

: My Hobby: Moving Files Around I have found that my home server hobby is more a “moving files around” hobby. I have reached this …

: This week, Apple Music’s recommendations for me are completely ruined by all the …

: Since I started dogfooding my new Mac app, I have found a few new bugs that I never noticed before. …

: After months of development, it feels nice to be testing my newly updated (completely rewritten) Mac …

: 🎮 The biggest lie I told myself this week is “I will not play ‘Hollow Knight’ for …

: I think I need some time late in the evening to listen to music with my really nice headphones and …

: Hadestown 🎵 I’m giving “Hadestown” a first listen tonight. I never heard of the show until …

: After seeing “Game of Thrones” and “Avengers: Endgame” over the past two …

: Initial impressions of Reeder 4 for iOS I’m trying to get my mind around Reeder 4 for iOS. It looks great, has a very nice article view and …

:

: I normally wouldn’t post pictures with family members in them on my blog, but I’ll make an exception …

: Monmouth Battlefield State Park

: Carole Cadwalladr: Facebook's role in Brexit -- and the threat to democracy I listened to this TED Talk yesterday, via the TED podcast. Carole Cadwalladr’s message was …

: Monmouth Battlefield State Park

: 🎵 Nancy Wilson, who I have known about forever but have never really listened to, is awesome.

: Holmdel Park on a cloudy day

: Longstreet Farm

: Longstreet Farm

: As much as I love Auto Layout, I also, in equal measure, hate it, too—mostly when I can’t …

: I took my son, in the stroller, on a long, long walk through a local park on Sunday, while my wife …

: I did not ever expect to see giant ray-, octopus, and squid-shaped kites, but now they haunt my …

: The Notre Dame fire, or, upsetting things are upsetting The burning of Notre Dame shook me to my core yesterday. The images and videos made me so upset that …

: I have been in a weird state lately in which I am not excited about any company’s recently …

: Thanks to the couple of warm-weather days we had this week, I discovered that I need to replace not …

: 🎵 Temporary, by Feathermerchants

: Temporary, by Feathermerchants I was poking around my iTunes library, found an old album I loved from senior year of high school, …

: I just purchased my ticket to “Avengers: Endgame”. I got a Monday night showing, because …

: Journal 2019-04-07

: Journal 2019-04-07 This weekend was great. On Saturday, my wife and I took the kids to the Staten Island Zoo. One of my …

: My (Former) Hobby: Home Media Streaming

: My (Former) Hobby: Home Media Streaming For someone who is, now, only marginally interested in television and movies, I have spent a lot of …

: ⚾️ My hot take on the Red Sox vs. Diamondbacks game: 😢🤷‍♂️😤

: Ulysses, I can’t quit you. If only I knew how to to publish from you to micro.blog.

: 🎵 The new Sara Bareilles album is really good.

: Classic Margarita My favorite warm weather alcoholic drink is the classic margarita—but not just any margarita. It has …

: Iced Tea My favorite non-alcoholic warm weather drink is iced tea—but not just any iced tea. It has to be …

: ⚾️ Dennis Eckersley uses the word “cheese” an awful lot when he is calling a game. 🧀

: I finally deleted my Facebook account today. I had deactivated it a long time ago, but I decided …

: Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand I could have written this article from Ars Technica, because I don’t trust Google to stick …

: ⚾️ It is very early in the season, but it has been difficult watching the Red Sox lose so many …

: Why do my children love Daniel Tiger so much, and why does it cause so many problems?

: Thanks to it being April Fool’s Day, I can save some time by not reading the news today. That …

: There is a forest fire in New Jersey, very far away from where I live, but it has been smoky and …

: I submitted Simple Call Blocker to App Review tonight. The update is practically nothing, but it …

: My wife and I watched another (very old) episode of the Great British Bake-off tonight. It’s a …

: One of my minor projects of the week was, essentially, moving terabytes worth of media files around …

: The Swift 5.0 Migration I started updating my apps to Swift 5.0 today. It has been a pretty easy migration for me, so far, …

: My thoughts on Apple Card, written in the Apple style of trying not to say “the" before the …

: Apple Card Apple announced Apple Card at its event on Monday. Details are incomplete, but its announcement …

: Today I learned that you can delete files older than 30 days from the Recycle Bin in Windows 10.

: I am a little baffled that the most exciting announcement from Apple’s event today is a credit …

: Unlike most iPad users, I can write apps for the platform, and know an awful lot about iOS APIs. …

: I brought my iPad Pro with the LCD backlight bleeding problem to the Genius Bar tonight, and they …

: 📺 I am super late to it, but I may just like “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” even more than …

: Journal 2019-03-20

: Journal 2019-03-20 I have been working pretty steadily on finishing version 4.0 of SwiftoDo Desktop. I feel pretty good …

: I had no idea that MLB has to ship tons and tons of dirt to make “safe”, regulation …

: Sign me up for these new AirPods. My AirPods' batteries are almost toast. They last about 30 minutes …

: I have one more feature to create for my huge SwiftoDo Desktop update. After coding that, plus …

: I’m trying something new on the big blog: occasional longform journal entries. Journal …

: Journal 2019-03-15 I am going to try to post a journal entry now and then, because I have been neglecting my blog, and …

: iPad Pro Backlight Bleed As of today, my second 2017 iPad Pro has also developed backlight bleed on the bottom edge of the …

: I don’t know anybody who objects to Daylight Savings Time, as a thing. Everybody I talk to …

: I’m coding and listening to Guster. I think about the one live Guster show I saw in Boston …

: I love Lin-Manuel Miranda, and am excited to see his guest spot on “Brooklyn 99" someday (I …

: Friday evening now means homemade chicken soup and (not homemade) challah for dinner at my house!

: I had thought that more Americans used LED light bulbs than this New York Times article reports. I’m …

: One of my favorite podcast hosting teams is the Political Gabfest’s combo of Emily Bazelon, …

: I made a last-minute decision to go see Captain Marvel tonight. I hope I like it. 🤞

: I miss listening to “Marketplace” on my commute home. Now that I work from home, I …

: I’m listening to Counting Crows after listening to an episode of the “Underwater …

: I felt really good about the data analysis work I performed this morning, until I discovered that …

: I just bought my first app in a long, long time: iA Writer. I hope it will be useful at work, …

: The more news stories and gadget blog entries about foldable phones trickles in, the more I think …

: Yesterday was a rough day. I was ejected from an exclusive online club for no reason, and had a …

: I have been spending so much time in the past couple weeks working on my new macOS app that I have …

: I moved my work computer and all its peripherals yesterday, and have not been able to put them back …

: But how will we pay for it? Suggested answers for progressive presidential candidates to the question “but how can we pay …

: I think writing the preferences UI for my new Mac App is taking ten times the amount of time that …

: I enjoy listening to Tim Goodman’s TV Talk Machine a lot more than I enjoy actually watching …

: I am wondering today if anybody else has as many problems as I do getting Microsoft One Drive to …

: Hollow Knight developers announce a full sequel, Silksong I’m pretty sure I’ll buy Hollow Knight: Silksong as soon as it comes out. Hollow Knight …

: Trump Declares A National Emergency Per the New York Times: In a televised announcement in the Rose Garden, Mr. Trump said he was …

: Yesterday was my son’s second birthday. The family had a great time celebrating him last …

: “Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.” There is actually a Wikipedia …

: School was canceled due to snow, so it is a full house today. It didn’t actually snow until about …

: VFEmail hacked and all US data destroyed In 2001 I paid $14.99 for a lifetime account at VFEmail. I used it as my primary email host for a …

: US iPhone users spent, on average, $79 on apps last year, up 36% from 2017 Per TechCrunch: As is typical, much of that increase can be attributed to mobile gaming, which …

: Amazon Acquires Eero John Gruber’s take is dead on. For privacy reasons, there is no way I’ll buy an Eero …

: I keep thinking that I should use my iCloud email address for “personal” email, and my Gmail address …

: My daughter was moved to a higher math class on Monday and is doing well so far. I am so proud of …

: 🎵 While I’ve been working this morning, I have been listening to Apple Music’s …

: I miss Katie Floyd’s presence on the “Mac Power Users” podcast, but I really enjoy …

: At every meal now, my almost-two-year-old son cries out “Hey Siri! Play ‘Uptown …

: Parenting tip: I wholeheartedly recommend putting your baby to sleep at their bedtime, rather than …

: I didn't exactly *forget* about the Responder Chain, but... I had to look up Apple’s documentation on the Responder Chain once again tonight. …

: For a few hours today, Overcast’s podcast recommendation engine thought I could speak fluent …

: I will be very surprised if iOS 13 does not contain a system dark mode, and all the new system …

: Does OneDrive work very poorly with iOS Files integration, or is it just my experience?

: FE File Explorer I hope that iOS 13 brings a Files app update that will add direct access to file shares. Until then, …

: 🎵 It’s an “Automatic for the People” day for me. That amazing R.E.M. album has …

: Stuck in a loop Sometimes, as a developer, I get stuck. This week, I have been stuck by some kind of endless loop or …

: I both downloaded Night Owl and created an Automator application to toggle Dark Mode on my Mac. I …

: I love WNYC’s American Standards. I put it on every evening when I put my son to bed, and he …

: The Spotify/Gimlet deal portends more of the same to come Spotify’s reported offer to buy Gimlet Media for an estimated $200 milliion makes me think …

: I want to link blog, it all my thoughts lately about articles I have read have been: “this is …

: I am neck-deep in Access and VBA coding at work, now that I am back from our annual training …

: By some miracle, I was able to fly home from Chicago yesterday, in the middle of the polar vortex. …

: I’m looking forward to this (-24°F) soon. 🙄

: I am happy to learn that I am not the only person who has to charge their AirPods all the time now. …

: Marc Marin’s interview with Aaron Sorkin was really good.

: While packing for my business trip tonight, I spent far more time looking for the pill pack I always …

: Where I have been the past week I have been working very hard on the next version of SwiftoDo Desktop for the past week or so. And …

: Thinking about music and distraction I think I enjoy music because I can listen to it while doing creative endeavors, such as writing or …

: 🎵 One of the joys of an “all you can eat” music subscription is that I never miss new albums …

: Who picks the colors for municipal gymnasiums? (It looks more drab and greener in real life.)

: I have noticed that, since December, Amazon has pretty much completely stopped shipping to my house …

: I am happy that the Exponent podcast is back now. Fortunately for me, its hiatus was short and not a …

: After Her Brexit Deal Is Crushed in Parliament, Theresa May Faces a No-Confidence Vote The bad Brexit news continues. The whole situation is baffling, like so much else that has happened …

: I spent half the morning researching how to evaluate the results of attribute sample testing—once …

: I’m happy that Dialog is out of beta today. It’s great to have a real, out-of-beta …

: I helped my daughter with her homework, in which she had to draw a bunch of random things. I tried …

: My 2013 MacBook Pro, which I mostly use in clamshell mode connected to a big display, keeps dying …

: I have been playing “Breath of the Wild” way too much lately, but mostly late at night …

: After many years of avoiding it, my wife and I are seeing “Stomp” tonight. Ot was part …

: My new version of SwiftoDo Desktop is shaping up nicely so far.

: 🎵 I am a sucker for reverb on a well-produced track. Case in point: “Rill Rill” by Sleigh Bells.

: The New York Times identified today a “trend” that I first was a part of 15 years ago, …

: I am unreasonably excited to be receiving New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe tomorrow.

: Every January 2nd, I spend some time archiving the prior year’s emails and files on my …

: I need to get back into the blogging game. I have been coding in all the “free time” I …

: I just traded in my 15-year old car, bought a new one, and drive it home. Of course, it is so dark …

: I just finished packing the car for our Christmas trip. Now…to find my children! 😀

: Tonight’s cookie bake was sugar cookies. My daughter helped roll out and cut them. She chose the …

: Coding again, after a couple days of uncertainty I spent the past few nights on hold with my Todo.txt app rewrite because I thought the changes I …

: I am thinking about whether I should merge my WordPress blog into my (hosted) micro.blog. I’m …

: I am not optimistic about Elon Musk's latest boring publicity stunt If Elon Musk’s Boring Company can somehow bring down the costs of digging tunnels, that would …

: I got a new toy this week: a large, Marshall Bluetooth speaker. I’m evaluating as best I can, …

: I do not understand why the repair brush in Apple Photos is available only on the Mac and not on the …

: My kids seem not to notice that Mozart is playing in the house. I consider that a win.

: I really enjoyed this profile of Donald Knuth, a towering figure in computer science whose name was …

: I am already baking cookies for Christmas. Tonight: chocolate chip.

: I have been coding, rather than microblogging, furiously over the past few days. I have started to …

: My daughter has been complimenting my cooking profusely this week, which is as mystifying as it is …

: I upgraded my home server to FreeNAS 11.2. I simply deleted my old, highly customized jail, and …

: S-Town Redux I started listening to “S-Town” again this evening. JOHN DESPISES HIS ALABAMA TOWN AND DECIDES TO …

: I can’t remember the last time I used BitTorrent. Probably a few years back to download a …

: 🎵 I’m re-listening to Adrian Legg’s “Guitars and Other Cathedrals” today. …

: Just once, I want to write release notes that simply state: “all your wildest dreams came …

: Who knew? A female computer scientist invented the word processor! I never knew that Evelyn Berezin, who died on Saturday, invented the word processor, but I am …

: Mulling over the FreeNAS 11.2 Upgrade I have been debating updating or not updating my home server to FreeNAS 11.2. It is a big update for …

: Why You Start Things You’ll Never Finish One solution: Start fewer things: There’s a “predisposition of humans to underestimate the time it …

: Celebrities should stop posting things to Twitter. (Except for Lin-Manuel Miranda.)

: I just did my first ECG on the Apple Watch Series 4. (The update enabling it just came out …

: 🎵 The Grammy Awards are really, really stupid. Still, you should listen to some Brandi Carlile, who …

: Cool. The new heart monitoring and ECG features are hitting the Apple Watch Series 4 today.

: Siri Shortcuts is suggesting I call our favorite pizza place right now. Things have gone horribly …

: My wife and I paid off our newer car today, which feels great after 3 years of monthly payments. Of …

: The best news I will hear today came pretty early: “The Good Place” Renewed for Season 4 …

: I envy people whose voicemail boxes are full.

: 🎵 River of Dreams I’m not a huge Billy Joel fan, though I do have all his albums and respect him as an artist. I …

: My home cooking tip to add a vegetable and a sauce to stovetop chicken breasts One of my simple kitchen techniques to spruce up skinless, boneless chicken breasts is to throw a …

: I bought my wife the iPhone XR tonight at the Apple Store. She and I had fun setting it up. If it …

: My Micro 4/3 Camera is all kitted out I have just about every accessory I would imagine I would need for my (still) new Olympus OM-D EM10 …

: Kodex: An iOS code/text editor I just discovered I just discovered a versatile code (and text) editor for iOS called Kodex. It is a free app with …

: I’m fixing minor UI bugs in one of my apps this week. I’m doing necessary work, but the …

: Removing Dropbox, and Finding a Replacement for Editorial on iOS I’m working on retiring Dropbox from all my systems. For personal files, I am all in on …

: Am I the only one who thinks that Facebook’s commercials for its video chat gadget, the …

: There are actually some good Black Friday deals on Master & Dynamics and Bose QC 35 headphones …

: Here is my obligatory Thanksgiving turkey photo.

: I just got up. Time to start cooking!

: The NY style crumb cake I baked this evening looks so amateurish that I dubbed it …

: I think I need Apple’s “Screen Time” feature only for The Legend of Zelda: Breath …

: Most of my cooking and cleaning plans today were derailed when my kitchen sink detached from the …

: 🎵 I have enjoyed Regina Spektor’s Remember Us To Life for the past two years. Her evocative …

: I am working only one day this week. I wish every week was like this one!

: After a nice lunch with my family, I will say that I am thankful for the little Italian market and …

: I don’t really like how Mastodon posts are now in the auto-generated Discover sections for …

: I am happy that I was able to cook homemade chicken soup for my family this evening.

: I can’t believe we got a couple inches of snow on the ground today.

: I am disappointed in the current slate of Broadway musicals. I thought last year was particularly …

: Do any Micro.bloggers have any suggestions for a good iOS guided meditation app for beginners? There …

: I’m happy that the Accidental Tech Podcast hosts got invited to the Apple Mac and iPad event, and …

: 🎵 I’m listening to a bunch of different versions of what is probably the greatest Bossa nova …

: Chrome (on Windows 10) does not take that long to load, but it takes long enough for me to forget …

: I voted!

: My favorite line from @gruber’s 2018 MacBook Air review: The Esc key works perfectly. I am …

: 🎵 I thought to myself this morning: “Why don’t I just play all my songs on shuffle?”

: My employer is changing its email retention policy to discourage employees from keeping email …

: I am excited to go vote today. My wife and I made a voting plan and everything. Thankfully it is not …

: 🎮 I have been playing a lot of Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey the past couple weeks. I …

: I bought a “fast” lens for my micro 4/3 camera to take pictures of my kids indoors, where the light …

: No one told my kids that Daylight Saving Time has ended. 😴

: VoteSaveAmerica’s voting guide is very well done. I was able to quickly learn about the …

: I have not been looking at polls, because I don’t want to drive myself crazy, but I am really …

: Halloween with the wife and kids was fun. It was unusually warm and we didn’t have many …

: This article, about an actor’s family finding an apartment as they move to NYC, is kind of …

: Oh, now Lana Del Ray and Jack Antonoff are on stage. This is the best Apple event in many years.

: Is anyone else hearing the distorted Halloween echo whenever Tim Cook is speaking at the Apple iPad …

: 🎵 How have I never listened to “The Last Waltz” before? I guess because I thought it …

: Both my kids fell in love with the book, song, and music video (!) for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom this …

: Fall

: 🎵 I do not listen to nearly enough Neko Case. For the first time in forever, I just spun up her 2002 …

: 🎵 I’m trying to listen to the Original Broadway Cast recording of “Pretty Woman: the …

: Now that the World Series is over, maybe I can watch less TV and do more exercise again in the …

: ⚾️ What a Series! I’m really going to miss baseball this winter.

: I really enjoyed reading John Gruber’s iPhone XR review this morning. I am thinking of waiting …

: A new Chromebook I just ordered a new Chromebook for my daughter, based on Wirecutter’s recommendation. It was …

: 🎵 Norah Jones has a new single out, which she wrote with Jeff Tweedy (who plays guitar on the …

: “How is The Good Place so Good?" This is relevant to my interests.

: Wondering if the AnyList Apple Watch app is any good now I’m debating whether I should pay for AnyList Pro again, just to use the Apple Watch app. I …

: ⚾️ 106 wins for the Red Sox! That’s a franchise record. I can’t believe it, at least compared to how …

: ⚾️ The last two Red Sox/Indians games felt like playoff baseball: close games, extra innings, …

: SwiftoDo Development Notes, September 2018 Files integrationIn late August I released a version of SwiftoDo that added sync support for any …

: 📺 I think I need to re-watch “The Good Place”. (It’s available on Netflix.) And, …

: 🎵 Today’s listen: Fine Young Cannibals' The Raw and the Cooked on my V-Moda Crossfade 2 🎧.

: 🎵 I don’t always listen to “Josie and the Pussycats” but when I do, it’s Kay Hanley singing.

: A sunflower in the backyard. My daughter loves these, but we don’t admire them often enough.

: 🎮 Transistor I finished the game Transistor last night. I played it on my iPad Pro with a MFi controller. It was …

: 🎵 Vocal Jazz with the V-Moda Crossfade Wireless 2 Today felt like a good day to listen to a long vocal jazz playlist through my V Moda Crossfade …

: Alas, no SwiftoDo update submission to the App Store today Today I was planning to submit to the App Store the current build of SwiftoDo, which I have been …

: Altec Lansing M650 iPod Speaker Dock After enjoying the Philips Revolution speaker dock for a while, I started to look for a better …

: Philips Revolution Motorized Portable Speaker Dock for iPhone/iPod The iPod had a monumental impact on how people listened to music. Not only did it turn people onto …

: Harman Kardon Soundsticks II Speaker System In my mid 20s, I decided to move from boring (but nice) suburban Connecticut back to the Boston area …

: Altec Lansing Computer Speakers Over winter break, during my sophomore year in college, I bought my first new computer: a beige Dell …

: My first computer speakers I got my first computer when I was in seventh grade. It was an IBM AT/XT that we upgraded several …

: Sony CFD-510 Boombox A week before I left for college I bought a Sony boombox to use as a bookshelf stereo. It had …

: My first speaker system My parents bought me my first CD player at the JC Penney Outlet. It was a damaged, open-box, no-name …

: Speakers over the years I love music, and I love headphones, but, oddly enough, I have no special love for speakers. The …

: SwiftoDo Development Notes, July 2018 I took a break from SwiftoDo development to build a new app, Simple Call Blocker, which I posted …

: Introducing: Simple Call Blocker Recently I released a new iOS app: Simple Call Blocker. It is a free utility that lets you block …

: 🎵 Tonight I’m working overtime and listening to The Hold Steady, which almost makes it all right.

: On Internet Trolls “DON’T FEED THE TROLLS, AND OTHER HIDEOUS LIES” is a great article by “Film Crit …

: 🎵 I’m back to my wired OPPO PM-3 & HA-2 SE headphones stack today, listening to Foreverland, by …

: Re-committing to Pinboard, after many months away I’m re-committing to Pinboard, after a year or more away from it. I’m happy with what I am doing …

: A git commit somehow disappeared, eradicating all my app code and obliterating at least one …

: Thomas Finch’s iOS 7+ Icon Generator is a nice, little utility. It takes a square app icon and …

: I have been wrestling all day with an Access query with a ton of parameters that causes a crash when …

: A Hardware Keyboard Shortcuts Tip for Drafts 5 Drafts 5 is a great app for capturing thoughts, drafting notes, and capturing tasks, and quickly …

: What would make me upgrade my Series 1 Apple Watch I love the Apple Watch. I didn’t always, though. When I first tried on a Series 0, a couple …

: Here is a wrapper class to hide implementation details in Microsoft Access VBA projects: …

: This VBA class helps you work with temporary tables in Access VBA projects: …

: I decided to make use of GitHub Gists again. My first gist in several years is LoggedInUserName.bas: …

: 🎙 I am a sucker for an Upgrade draft episode: The WWDC keynote Draft 2018

: All weekends should be 3 days long…if not 5! 😀

: 📺 I’m enjoying the “remix” version of “Arrested Development” season 4 …

: 🎵 First listen: Mean Girls (Original Broadway Cast) Mean Girls (Original Broadway Cast) is up for the Tony for best musical this year, and I think it …

: 🎧 Headphones review: Sony MDR-1AM2/B.

: “Recess” and “Good Bones”, or selling the world to my children There’s more beauty in this world than you can guess Recently, with the help of someone on …

: I’m still testing and fixing things in my dev build of SwiftoDo 2.12.0. It feels weird to have …

: 🎵 Carry On On this bad and sad news day, remember: If you’re lost and alone Or you’re sinking like …

: 🎵 Frozen: The Broadway Musical Listening to the cast recording of “Frozen: The Broadway Musical” for the first time is …

: While I think I want a Nintendo Switch, I’m trying to make due for now with what I already have—an …

: The calm before the WWDC storm WWDC is in a little more than two weeks. As a hobbyist developer, I don’t go to big, expensive …

: The cast of Solo certainly is appealing, even if the movie itself may be largely inconsequential. To …

: 🎵 Frightened Rabbit singer commits suicide 😥 (My original title was just an expletive.) Body confirmed as missing Frightened Rabbit singer - BBC …

: 🎵 Okkervil River's back catalog Listening to Okkervil River’s new album, In the Rainbow Rain, today gave me an excuse to dive, …

: 🎵 Groundhog Day the Musical Groundhog Day is my second favorite Broadway musical of last year (closely behind “Dear Evan …

: 📚 Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline Earlier this year, I completed reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. It was the first novel that …

: Premature Optimization In programming, there has long been a warning in computer science to avoid premature optimization. …

: My slide into audiophile territory, Part 3 This is the third in a series of posts about my realization that I have become an audiophile. The …

: SwiftoDo Development Notes, April 2018 Weekly updates to SwiftoDo came to an end in early April, but work on SwiftoDo has continued apace. …

: I miss Caesar salad It seems to me that massive outbreaks of food borne illness are becoming more and more common. That …

: 🎬 Batman Ninja is easily one of the weirdest movies I have seen—and that includes actual anime. I am …

: 📚 How We Got To Now I recently finished reading Steen Johnson’s How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern …

: 1Blocker X I picked up 1Blocker X based on this review from John Voorhies on MacStores. The first thing you …

: I got to be reminded today just how long VBA takes to run when used inside SQL Queries in Microsoft …

: AirPods batteries drain much faster on phone calls I thought my AirPods batteries were already aging out of their useful life span, due to quick …

: 🎧 I had a lot of fun testing out the V-Moda Crossfade 2 headphones last night. My review is on …

: 🎵 Frank Turner is—all at once—literate, angry, cynical, hurt, sad, and tender on Love Ire & Song …

: I am coding VBA and ripping CDs like it’s the year 2000 today.

: 🎵 Taking a trip down memory lane with Guster’s Keep It Together this evening, on my MacBook …

: 📚 At long last, I have finished reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It (the last chapter …

: 🎵 “Space Gun” by Guided by Voices sounds just as good and just as vital as their old …

: 🎵 I’m really digging Bleachers' “Gone Now” right now. I like everything that Jack …

: 🎵 I re-listened to The Decemberists' I’ll Be Your Girl today, and was surprised that all the …

: 🎵 Max Richter's "Sleep" I am unreasonably excited to learn about Max Richter’s 8 1/2 hour album “Sleep”. …

: 🎭 Last night my wife and I saw “Motown: The Musical”. We enjoyed it but thought it was too sanitized …

: 🎙 I missed Om Malik’s spot-on take on Facebook from February, before the Cambridge Analytics …

: 🎬 Rewatching “The Last Jedi” I am enjoying “The Last Jedi” a lot more on the second viewing. I didn’t like it when I first saw it …

: 🎵 I’m trying to form an opinion of The Decemberists' new album, “I’ll Be Your …

: 🎙 “The Menu Bar” is a surprisingly good podcast. Episode 8 shifts drastically from …

: I am making Excel hurt today.

: 📽️ Justice League 🎬 I saw “Justice League” last night and really enjoyed it. I had very low expectations, …

: My slide into audiophile territory, Part 2 This is the second in a series of posts about my realization that I have become an audiophile. The …

: 🎵 I have become a huge Lana Del Rey fan recently. I can’t get enough of her lushly produced …

: SwiftoDo Development Notes, March 2018 Today I released the ninth update to SwiftoDo in about ten weeks. What is driving all these small …

: 🎵 “If I had my time again” is my favorite song from Tim Minchin’s “Groundhog …

: 🚀 I finally installed Rocket on my Mac. It’s a lot nicer to use than Character Viewer …

: 🎙 This week’s episode had me Googling for ‘longest episode of “The Talk Show” with John Gruber …

: A/B/C testing: August and Everything After, in 24-bit, 96kHz FLAC vs. 16-bit, 44.1kHz ALAC vs. 256 kbps AAC I’m listening tonight to a “hi-res” 24-bit, 96kHz lossless version of …

: 🎵 If you like The Weakerthans as much as I do, you will find this interview with their singer, John …

: We had an enormous house party today. It was a lot of fun, but boy are we wiped out! 🎈

: 🎬 I saw “Thor: Ragnarok” today and thoroughly enjoyed it. The “Thor” and “Captain …

: Another SwiftoDo update will come at the end of next week, as long as I can get the timing right …

: Adding my Nest thermostat to HomeKit via HomeBridge has made my life a little better. I do have a …

: My slide into audiophile territory, Part 1 This is the first in a series of posts about my realization that I have become an audiophile. …

: 🎙 It’s Monday morning, so I am listening to “This Week in Tech”.

: Strategies to increase diversity on Micro.blog Jean McDonald, Community Manager of Micro.blog, posted an essay today entitled “Diversity and …

: SwiftoDo 2.7.2 is now available in the App Store. It adds the ability to drag tasks to new …

: Replacing “Keyboard-” with the keyboard emoji (⌨️) solves a minor problem I have in the …

: SwiftoDo Developer Notes, February 2018 SwiftoDo is a passion project for me. I love working on it, but, due to work and family obligations, …

: I have finally switched over from Drafts 4 to Drafts 5 (beta) as my daily driver. Its such a cool …

: My wife inspired me to cook apple & sweet potato mash for my son this evening.

: I’m on hour 7 of writing data database loading routines. Writing queries in Access is uniquely …

: 🎵 In high school and college, I used to measure how long it took me to write a paper by the number …

: UITableView moveRow(at: IndexPath, to: IndexPath) works differently when …

: 🎙 I have fallen 15 episodes behind in my “Security Now” listening. I do like the …

: After reading all the reviews, (like this one) I really want two HomePods with AirPlay 2 working. …

: Today at work I thought: “I wish I was better at Awk”. The last time I thought that was …

: On my lunch break I submitted a new build of SwiftoDo to the App Store. My release philosophy has …

: Work today is more about juggling priorities than anything else: data mining, sampling, database …

: I have been enjoying the Roughly app’s complication (on the bottom, in the picture) for the …

: Fact: Decaf coffee does not count as real coffee!

: Goal #1 for the week: Reduce coffee consumption to one cup per day. But…does decaf count? …

: 🏈 My Super Bowl menu: sirloin steak, caramelized onions, garden salad, French bread with brie or …

: 🏈 I am excited about the Super Bowl but I am feeling very conflicted about football in general now. …

: Ain’t Misbehavin' at NJPAC was absolutely wonderful tonight. The performers were excellent and …

: I’m not sure what the biggest headache was for me today: my actual migraine, or my trip to …

: I realized recently that Google’s killing of Google Reader made me never trust them again as a …

: SwiftoDo 2.7.1 is now available in the App Store. It includes minor updates and bug fixes.

: Based on my podcast listening for the week, I’ve concluded (and I’m being half serious …

: I’ve got a couple releases lined up for my iOS app, and need to think about a total rewrite …

: I’m thoroughly enjoying Matt Birchler’s “HomePod Testing” playlist on Apple …

: I spent my evening figuring out how to transfer an 18-year-old domain name and several personal …

: The program I wrote yesterday has been running, with no output whatsoever, for over 12 hours now, …

: It looks like I will be working overtime this week. Things are crazy. I think I am involved in …

: I’m coding something new for work today, mostly because ACL can’t read my enormous data …

: Every font on all my devices somehow looks different to me today. What the heck happened to my eyes?

: Today was unexpectedly full of proposal work for me. I think I need to help revamp how we write …

: The New York Times crossword puzzle app and, of course, Micro.blog, have now taken over the time I …

: I really liked this back-to-basics post by John Sundell about type composition in Swift. I think …

: SwiftoDo 2.7.0 is now available in the App Store. It vastly improves the loading speed for huge task …

: 60° F and 20 MPH winds have made it both too warm and too cold for a proper Winterfest for us today.

: I submitted SwiftoDo 2.7.0 to the App Store earlier today, and tonight I made enough bug fixes and …

: I am too busy coding tonight to order a HomePod. The audiophile part of me really wants one, though. …

: I did some complicated sampling today. ACL’s new APPEND command made short work of combining 4 …

: I diagnosed and fixed a memory leak in my iOS app using Instruments and Xcode’s memory …

: 📚 I resumed reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln last night. It’s …

: I’m back to Access database work today. It looks like I will have to do even more Access work …

: I’m heading home after two good, productive, and ultimately exhausting days in Baltimore. It will be …

: We had a nice team dinner at Aldo’s in Baltimore last night. They have the best limoncello …

: I was not thrilled that today’s New York Times mini crossword’s first word contained numbers. I …

: People on Reddit are bitching tonight about Apple’s “bug fixes and improvements” …

: I’m heading out for a team dinner. Maybe I should loosen my belt now rather than later. 😀

: Oh, thank goodness for ☕️. I’ve got 15 minutes to down another cup before I head over to the office. …

: Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is nice. I’m glad I recognize the area in which I’m …

: I’m on my first Amtrak ride in about five years. I forgot how much lateral motion there is as …

: I’m all packed for my business trip to training in Baltimore. It’s been a while since …

: We had a fun weekend, full of seeing actual people, either at our home or theirs. I should remember …

: Am I the only one who kept thinking “Jake Jortles”* during the Pats/Jags game tonight? 🏈 …

: Cleaning the house for a 2-hour play date is very intense and takes about 3 hours!

: I drew and colored this under the expert tutelage of my 5-year-old daughter, just before we played …

: This afternoon’s docket for my family includes lunch with the in-laws and a rare visit to the …

: Is it awful that I kind of want a HomePod? When I first watched the product announcement, my …

: I made another change to SwiftoDo to help a user with an abnormally large task list load their file …

: Good news! I can hear as well as I ought to at my age. I just hear a ringing that isn’t there: …

: For some reason I am really nervous about my ENT appointment today. Hearing tests are nerve wracking …

: I brought my daughter out to the school bus today, which I don’t normally do, due to my work …

: I pulled a bunch of samples in ACL today for work, and have to do it again tomorrow. I caught up on …

: Unpopular opinion: Calendars 5 is better than Fantastical. I have had both on my iOS devices for …

: I’m adding some very basic URL handling support to SwiftoDo tonight, based on a user request. …

: SwiftoDo 2.6.3 is now available in the App Store 📱. It fixes a couple bugs and improves scrolling …

: Eye Round Roast Recipe Notes At my local grocery store, eye round roasts are relatively cheap and plentiful in the cold …

: I resubmitted SwiftoDo 2.6.3 to the App Store after several more days of testing. It looks good to …

: Slate pushed a redesign today. I used to love Slate, but I’m afraid I aged out of its target …

: Chicken Sausage and Escarole Soup Recipe Notes This is a hearty, pasta-free soup, fit for a winter meal. Lots of vegetables, sausage (either …

: My wife’s and daughter’s strawberry swirl mini muffins turned out nicely, but bedtime had to be …

: It’s a speed run in our kitchen tonight. My wife and daughter are rushing to make mini muffin …

: Micro Monday: The “🙌 likes” that @eli shares are a nice addition to my usual RSS feeds.

: It’s a quiet workday. I am coding and debugging in C# once again, at least until more audit …

: We had a good friend over for dinner tonight, which we don’t do as often as we should. It was …

: This eye round roast came out magnificently, too. Am I starting a food blog now? (Is that annoying?)

: My chicken sausage escarole soup came out so delicious that I’m thinking of posting my recipe. Do …

: What a clinic the Patriots ran against the Titans tonight. 🏈

: The Crayola Experience was…OK, I guess. My daughter said she liked it. The rest of the day was a lot …

: It’s a road trip day for me and my family. Picking the driving music 🎵 is the hardest part. We …

: In my 20s I only drank Manhattans straight up. Now, deep into my 30s, I prefer them on the rocks—but …

: Every few days I have to talk myself out of buying another pair of headphones. I don’t need …

: The budget I was working on is complete, and soup I made on my lunch break is cooling in the …

: I think it is really cool how many people are hacking away at projects to integrate their sites with …

: I feel like I’ve been editing and formatting this Excel budget spreadsheet since the beginning …

: When I woke up today, the TestFlight version of the app I’ve been working on all week …

: I submitted a new SwiftoDo build to the App Store for a “Bug Fixes and Performance …

: The performance enhancements I coded for SwiftoDo this week required me to replace some clean, …

: 📚 Ready Player One I just finished Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. It was light and enjoyable the whole way through. …

: The dining room is looking better now, too. I can’t believe we didn’t put anything up on that wall …

: Plaintext Productivity: Still productive after all these years I am still using the Plaintext Productivity system that I wrote about in 2013. It is a productivity …

: For Micro Monday, I want to recommend @gio. I love his photos of New Jersey locales. I’m from …

: I posted some photos I took in my son’s room. I hope he likes flowers. (He’s a baby.)

: I am righting the ship, compared to this morning. I scrapped my C# solution and started fresh. I …

: I am getting that sinking feeling again that I have overthought everything. I get this a lot while …

: Instant Pot Salsa Chicken Recipe I’m posting this for the benefit of Traci on Micro.blog. This is a simple, lazy recipe for the …

: I am lazily cooking salsa chicken thighs for either lunch or dinner.

: Tonight I made my first commit to SwiftoDo since mid-December. I fell behind on development last …

: My wife and I took our 5 year old daughter to “Disney on Ice” this afternoon. She loved …

: I don’t even wish I was actually this good at solving The New York Times Mini Crossword Puzzle.

: 📺 My prediction for “The Good Place” series finale (which hopefully will be several …

: Here are my top three divergent punctuation preferences, compared to everybody I have ever worked …

: It happened slowly, but preferred music playback device size and wire count have gone up for me over …

: 📺 My wife and I are really enjoying “The Great British Bake Off”, “The Marvelous …

: Dear Apple Music: Just because I listened to Sixpence Non The Richer’s cover of “There …

: So far the snowfall hasn’t been so bad—only a few inches so far. It is windy, though, and very cold. …

: Picking a great writing font One thing to do when you’re supposed to be writing is to fuss about your writing environment. Not …

: I hope I set up mirroring to GitHub correctly. It is a geeky feature, for sure, but I’m not …

: We are bracing for a blizzard tonight, which is expected to snow us in all day tomorrow. School is …

: It looks like I will be doing some C# coding for work this month. That stuff is more interesting …

: I like TweetBot a lot more than I like Twitter.

: It must be January 2, because I just created a literal “Laundry List” in Reminders.

: It’s back to work for me today, and I a digging out of my email inbox. Sometime later I will …

: Things I wish I could stop doing, but probably can’t The beginning of the year is a time for setting goals. I have set some goals, and may post them here …

: I cooked a New Years Day feast for my family today. I ate so much I feel food drunk right now. …

: Reading people’s New Years Day posts has been both electrifying and chilling. 2017 was a tough …

: We are at my neighbors' house for a simulated 7:30 PM ball drop. Fun NYE party!

: My daughter’s cookie decorating skills are advancing! I’m so proud of her. 😀🍪

: Top posts of 2017 I started this blog in the summer, and since then I have published 30 posts, including this one. As …

: I don’t love how en-dashes (–) and em-dashes (—) look identical in Ulysses. I know it is …

: It was a really close game!

: I’m demoting TweetBot to page 3 of Spingboard. I’m not sure how long that will last.

: 🎬 This article is the best thing I’ve ever read about Star Wars.

: 📚 “Ready Player One” looks promising. I’m one chapter in, and it’s fun.

: The 2017 news cycle has worn me out. I am looking for something purely escapist to read. I’m …

: I am vacillating between being lazy and productive today. It is a vacation day, so I shouldn’t be …

: 🎬 I am finally seeing “The Last Jedi” tonight. Hope it is good!

: After an eventful trip to see family, we are back at home. Today is a rebuilding day: unpacking, …

: And when they say that all is lost All is not lost, all is not lost And when they say that all is …

: Merry Christmas everyone!

: We are heading off to see family for Christmas today.

: I made banana bread, too.

: I baked Snickerdoodles for the family today. They are really, really good!

: I bought Castro 2 this week because I like the design and it was on sale for a pittance. I am not …

: I made a batch of Christmas cookies tonight with my daughter. Such fun! She pressed chocolate chips …

: A long lunch with the family was a great way to complete my work week.

: So much of all programming, and really all work in general, is developing a common vocabulary, and …

: I am up too late. What exactly is happening right now? 🙃

: According to Dark Sky, a Christmas morning snowstorm may interfere with my holday travel plans. I am …

: I’m relieved to have finished all my billable work for the week already. It was a tough week, …

: I wonder how many people still have to use VBA for Excel and Access automation at work, like I do. …

: Micro Blog I started a micro blog at mjdescy.micro.blog this week. It is not to replace this blog, but to …

: I spent some time this evening starting to code something new for work in C#: a tool for comparing …

: Twitter is abuzz about UIKit, perhaps, going to the Mac late next year. We’ll see. I would …

: It’s the last work week of the year, and the busiest I’ve had in about six months. I had …

: I’m happy to join the micro.blog community today!

: Drafts for iOS Drafts is a tinkerer’s DIY dream of a text editor. It nails the basics, and allows you to customize …

: What I want is Twitter that isn’t Twitter I love Twitter. So much information and commentary is shared there, so quickly, that it is a vital …

: Ghost, a leaner, faster, WordPress alternative I learned about the Ghost blogging platform today. It looks awesome, especially with its simplified …

: Back to RSS and the Indie Web At the end of last year, I quit using RSS. It was a big step for me. I had been using RSS …

: Ulysses, a peerless writing tool I love Ulysses. This post on the Ulysses blog illustrates its value proposition. It is a …

: Interesting Updates to the Essential Phone The Essential Phone has been making some interesting moves in the market lately. Essential dropped …

: What makes you love or hate a smartphone? I wonder this, as smartphones are maturing into what may be their final form: bezel-less slabs of …

: Thoughts on Android and iOS UI evolution One of the Essential Phone’s core features is that it runs stock Android, rather than a flashy but …

: Jannis Hermann’s blog post: The iPad as main computer for programming Jannis Hermann’s blog post about developing full time on the iPad Pro is fantastic. I’ve heard about …

: SwiftoDo Development Notes, October 2017 As an iOS developer, my job is never done, even though my app, SwiftoDo, is internally simple and …

: The Essential Phone Early last month, I had the opportunity to acquire my first Android phone since the 2009 Motorola …

: Contexts in Getting Things Done and todo.txt One of the great insights of the Getting Things Done (GTD) system is that tasks not only have …

: Three ways to create nested projects in todo.txt The todo.txt format does not support nested projects, which is something outline-based formats such …

: Comparing todo.txt and TaskPaper formats I am a huge fan of managing my tasks using plaintext files. I mostly use todo.txt, but I have …

: Deciding Whether to Upgrade to the iPhone X Last year, prior to Apple’s announcement of the iPhone 7, I had hoped for the “all-screen” design …

: Sublime Text 3.0 Officially Released Sublime Text, my text editor of choice on Windows, Linux, and sometimes on the Mac, released version …

: New A List Apart wants you! I am a fan of the open web, and also a fan of people asking their audiences directly to pay to …

: The iPhone home button There is news today that Apple’s next-generation iPhone—the rumored high-end one—is not only …

: Programming on the iPad It seems that many programmers who are actually programming on iPads are writing code that runs …

: Setting up a new iPad Setting up a new iPad is an opportunity to start over with a clean slate, and fix whatever problems …

: Choosing an iPad Pro Case and Stand Having given up on a keyboard case, I felt adrift in subpar options for an iPad stand and case. I …

: Software subscriptions I just spent $30 on an annual subscription to Ulysses, my favorite writing app (it is not quite a …

: Choosing an iPad Pro Keyboard iPads are great for writing, but if you are a touch typist, you need an external keyboard to have a …

: If the 12.9" iPad Pro is a computer, is it no longer a decent tablet? Choosing between iPad Pro sizes There’s a definite trade-off between size and portability when …

: Starting a blog in 2017 Why did I start a blog in 2017, when nobody reads blogs anymore? Simple: I want to own my content. I …

: Upgrading to the iPad Pro, generation 2 When iOS 11 and the new iPad Pro were announced at this year’s WWDC, I was very excited and …

: Coding something new Somewhat to my surprise, I have started coding a new text editor for iOS. I usually have no ideas …

: Hello First posts are often hopeful paeans to blogging, and promises to post regularly. This isn’t …