The Marginalian:
Loneliness is the fundamental condition of life — we are born by another, but born alone; die around others (if we are lucky and loved), but die alone; we spend our lives islanded in our one and only human experience — in these particular bodies and minds and circumstances drawn from the cosmic lottery — amid the immense ocean of time and chance teeming with all possible experience.
See also “Walt Whitman.”
Via LD Stephens:
It’s great to have a place to share your thoughts. A place you can go back to when you want to remember something you had written or thought about before. A place you can refer people to when they have questions you’ve answered in the past. A place to be you. So, get a blog, and put all the things there.
After Monday’s quick (read:impulsive) setup of my OWC dock, I was briefly possessed by an idea that would allow me to send the dock back to Amazon for a refund, and that made me smack my forehead due to what I perceived as an oversight.
Having set up the dock with my desktop Mac first, I tried plugging my older M1 iPad Pro into it. It worked great, and I was excited to get this rig up and running, buoyed by the successful first run.
I plugged my MacBook Air into it next, which also worked well… mind you, I had the keyboard and trackpad plugged in via USB (lightning and USB-C, respectively, on the device end). I didn’t bother unpairing the peripherals from the Mac Studio, because I knew that the cabled interface would take priority. But at some point, I realized that, after I disconnected the cables, the keyboard and trackpad were still working … with the laptop.
That was the forehead-smack moment. I did in fact know that this worked; I have an iMac in my office from the previous occupant, and at some point it suggested that it could share its keyboard and mouse with my laptop or iPad (I can’t remember which). But it worked, and it was, at the time, to my mind, a good example of what makes Apple’s ecosystem interesting.
The feature is called Universal Control and it works pretty great. And I thought for a moment: I don’t need a dock. I just need the HDMI-to-USB C Anker cable I ordered with the dock. I could just as easily plug and unplug the display, and use the peripherals wirelessly. I don’t like the cables coming out of the backs of the devices anyway.
But then I tried to log into my Mac Studio; I plugged the dock into the Mac and the display lit up with macOS’s login panel, but neither the keyboard nor trackpad were recognized. And I realized that the feature works great–when you’re logged into two devices with the same iCloud account. But the Studio had logged me out.
And I also realized that the benefit of the Thunderbolt cable that connects the dock and the Macs/iPad provides power to the iPad, which is always a challenge with using it as a docked device: there’s one and only one port. So anything that involves a monitor and a lengthy sit on your ass in front of it will also need power. So you need a hub of some kind, and Thunderbolt fits that bill nicely (cheaper powered hubs are, of course, available).
So that’s a lengthy summary of days one and two with the dock; I’m looking forward to having next week off work so I can fart around with it a bit more.
I think a preview of future posts will involve the iPad: it was really nice running it on a 32” 4k display with a keyboard and trackpad. I was doing this the other day at work and I really was digging it. I do hit a productivity wall the with the iPad, though, and when it’s time for a computer, it’s time for a computer.
Should hit last year’s numbers by the weekend.
Previously: Rowing for 2 Million: A Look Back at Season Two
I make these so often they barely merit a post, but they are good. I made them this morning.
One of the features I was missing in a Mac OS utility was the ability to trigger commands without mousing, but still interacting via the GUI. The utility I used to rely on for this was MaxMenus by Proteron software, which is no longer (I see that I purchased it in October of 2002 for about thirty bucks).
I would create menus/palettes with commands to common actions, and I’d trigger the menu to pop up with a keystroke or mouse click (I can’t remember… It might have been hot corners).
When I first tried Pieoneer, it was in the spirit of replacing Max Menus. I used it solely as an app switcher, which is not this app’s marquee feature. If you only have a few apps running at any given time, you might be able to live with Pieoneer as your app switcher. But it’s not better than the default macOS app switcher. Or Launchbar, for that matter. It is cool if you prefer moused-based navigation, though.
There is an app-specific mode, however, called Controller, wherein you can assign commands to a radial menu that is specific to the active app (the one you’re using). The defaults include Safari and Finder, and they’re both examples of how you can use Pieoneer to great effect. In Safari, you can open up the sidebar, tab overview, and more. It’s great for exposing features in the application for which you often forget the keyboard shortcut.
I do think that my long-standing setup, which generally features Launchbar to do almost everything, is muscle memory and I’m not going to stop using it. Launchbar launches apps, starts web searches, organizes files, and navigates just about everywhere. It’s a piece of infrastructure that I absolutely rely on. It’s simple to start using but has true depth.
Maybe Pieoneer is a mouse-driven version of Launchbar?
One of the features of Logitech’s excellent MX Master mice is the LogiOptions software, which I was loathe to install but find useful in setting up custom commands for the mouse. One of my favorite buttons on the mouse is the thumb button, which was programmed by default to show Mission Control on the Mac. I like Mission Control to some degree, but I often find the tiles to be too small to be useful when I’m running a bunch of apps (which I usually am).
I set up Pieoneer to show the Launcher feature when I shift-click the thumb button, and to show the application-specific controller menu when I click the thumb button without a modifier key.
Here’s this week’s list of things to check out. It’s been a long extended winter, and I hope everyone is seeing the promise of greener days ahead. This weekend has certainly not been an indicator of green things to come.
Aaron and I stopped at Bagliani’s on the way home from his Rutgers visit last Saturday, and in addition to a big salami (the cashier described it unfavorably as “extra slimy”), we got his favorite cheese, an asiago with black pepper, and this camembert-ish bleu cheese. I like a little stank on my cheese. We’re having spritzes and cheese as I type this.
Rhonda and I alighted for Bellview Winery today, having reservations about getting a good seat and decent service because of a spring fling event. (I can’t begrudge the business for participating in revenue-driving activities, but they’re a drag for us regulars.) Because of the weather, ti wasn’t crowded, but we were not able to avail ourselves of anting more tasty than some janky buffalo chicken tater tots. We prefer wine and salami with our wine to teenager food. Ahem.
Anyway, we got a bottle of rosé and a growler fill of their Hyacinth. It’s a dry white, less sweet than the Perseus, but lots of pear and melon.
The MacBook Air has been a good choice for anyone needing a Mac for regular productivity for over a decade now. It’s the default for most needs. This one I’m rocking has 512 GB internal storage and, of course, 16 GB RAM. It does it all. This pic is a good example of the Midnight color in bare light.
There’s probably not much to say about the M4 that’s interesting here, but I’ll endeavor to in the future. Having experimented with a KVM switch so that I could run Aaron’s old Alienware PC for a while and switch between it and my Mac Studio, I realized that the M4 Air would be a fine machine for me for all of my needs. To that end, I ordered a dock to keep here at home so that I can dock whatever machine, iPad included, and use it with my Magic Trackpad and keyboard.
More on that later for sure.
I was listening to a recent episode of the Mindpump podcast, and the hosts were interviewing a caller. She was talking about being in great shape but feeling like she needed a new goal. The answer surprised me: you don’t always have to have goals.
They weren’t saying goals are bad, or counter-productive, or anything like that. To the contrary, they lauded her progress and hard work. But, the suggestion was… at some point, you just have to stop and enjoy it.
Host Adam Schafer started off by asking why she felt like she needed to see a nutritionist. What led to the nutritionist and setting goals? She responded that she liked the little challenges, and cited some examples. She likes something to “shoot for.”
Schafer advised, “I’m going to say something you’re probably not going to like…I’d go in the opposite direction… I can tell you’re already good… you’re fit and healthy… if everything has to be attached to something you’re chasing…. Can you just enjoy the process? You’re the client I’d push back on.”
“Can you start to intuitively eat and intuitively train?”
The Best Fitness Routine (It’s Nearly Impossible) | Mind Pump 2569
Here’s this week’s list of things to check out. It was kinda crazy weather in southern New Jersey last week: warm and humid for a couple of days, windy and cold others. Spring comes in fits and starts.
Aaron has professed an interest in working in a professional kitchen since he was a child. He wanted to be a pizza chef for the longest time, and this directed him to applying to our local county technical high school for their culinary program. After four years of cooking in school for a significant portion of the day, and a couple of college tours, he’s thinking food science might be a better direction.
I remember Joey’s teachers in preschool (preschool!) professing concern that Joey, when asked, didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. It had been many years between my graduation from college in 1997 and not knowing the answer to that question myself, but I remembered the feeling well.
One of the inherent inflexibilities in the county vocational school experience at Aaron’s school is that you can’t switch programs if you change your mind. This is not generally a restriction that one will encounter in “real life.” But it ultimately doesn’t matter. If you went to high school and took welding, auto shop, computer programming, or culinary arts classes, and learned from that that your chosen path might consequently veer to the right or left, you learned something valuable that many other people don’t get a chance to. If you learned how to fix cars in high school but became a lawyer professionally, then you possess a skill that is likely beneficial–and rare in your circle.
Anyway, we went on a campus-specific tour for accepted students Saturday, and it was a blast to stomp around the Douglass/Cook Campus and see the animals, classrooms, and more.
Aaron and I hit the Happy Lamb for hot pot following his Rutgers tour yesterday. We intended to try a soup dumpling joint in the same plaza, but it was packed. This was a familiar experience to our Delaware adventure, but we both agreed this place was a notch above.
Remember your first Mac? Mine was a Color Classic 2 running System 6. I had a succession of Mac after that and experienced every release from that Mac to Sequoia.
Infinite Mac lets you boot and play around in the Mac operating system of your choice, and even includes a couple of NeXT releases.
I am thoroughly happy with the state of macOS these days, but I have an unbridled affection for the old days, too (including Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and 10.6 Snow Leopard). The Mac has always been a fun platform to just play around on. And in the days before persistent internet connections, it was very much so. I could go on, but I miss the tear off Application Palette in Mac OS 9, Themes, and Window Tab. Lots of fun at this cool project.
Seth Godin:
Starting from the place that we’re all imperfect makes it easy to find empathy, for others and ourselves.
We are all goofballs
The Finder sidebar on my Mac Studio has long shown a laggy to throttled iCloud sync icon, suggesting that something was not syncing correctly. I do use iCloud to sync documents (and photos) between my devices, but I don’t notice any such behavior on any other devices, and in terms of being able to find what I’m looking for, I always can. So new files sync fine, and changes to documents sync fine, too. I even leave some OmniOutliner documents open on multiple computers and I’ve never run into an issue.
I checked with ChatGPT about this after seeing if possibly it was network related (it’s not, as far as I can tell). I eventually asked it for some terminal commands to help me diagnose the problem, and it suggested tryin the bctrl command. Which I did.
After trying ChatGPT’s first suggestion, I read the usage output and went with just brctl status. This revealed a list of files:
I went into the Finder and found each offending file and deleted them (they would then materialize in the same directory). It must have been one particular file that was causing the issue, because after deleting it, the output from brctl was clean. Well, almost.
There were “unclean items” being reported as well, and the progress wheel in the Finder was still stuck. The brctl output was less verbose about the location of these files, but it did share truncated file name information. I used Finder Search to figure out which files were the culprit. So I ditched those files and whoosh no more stuck progress wheel.
One of the nice things about the Concept2 rowing setup is the PM5 computer and its ability to record your workout data. You can use this as seriously or casually as you like.
My first round with a Concept2 rower found me using my dad’s Model D with the older PM3 computer. This computer kept your rowing data: stroke rate, power, distance, split times, and all that–but it didn’t sync with your iPhone over Bluetooth. I didn’t mind one bit at the time; I’d keep my basic stats in a markdown file, appended via a Drafts action. I rowed for maybe a year, not very intensely, just kinda steady state for a half hour, around a 2:30 split. I still have the log file that I wrote to, and I have data from March 2015 through January of 2016. That’s around when I got into lifting weights.
Fast forward to 2023, when I decided to start rowing again. I had the same Concept2 Model D from my dad, and I started pulling again. I used the same Drafts action to log my stats.
And then we got another rower.
Rhonda had seen me make some impressive gains (as in losing weight) over a short stretch of time, from January 2023 through April of 2023. (Looking back at Apple Health, it was 30 pounds.) She suggested that we get another one so she could join me. I was happy to oblige, and the newer models available at the time came with the upgraded PM5 computer. I started using it when she wasn’t rowing with me, and it eventually became my machine.
So my seasons, such as they are, are calculated from May 1st of each year through April 30th, coinciding with my first usage of the PM5. 2023-2024 was my first season, and I rowed just over two million meters.
I looked at the app on my phone recently and realized that this year, season two, is almost up, and I’m pretty close to hitting two million meters again. After some quick math, I think I’ll make it with room to spare.
I had been wondering about this, because my seasons correspond with my switch to my new job, which I started last April 29th. I continued to row each morning before work, but I did have to cut back my time a little, and row earlier in the morning. At my Vineland gig, I was able to row later in the am and often rowed longer than I do now (although not entirely). I’ve also ratcheted the intensity down a bit; I no longer row like a demon driven, but like someone trying to maintain fitness.
I guess that’s a way of saying, weight-wise, I hit the bottom. I’ve written about it before, and I’d say that the only way from here is to maintain. Or (gulp) go up. Which actually I have a little, I guess owing to more generous consumption on the weekends, and hopefully all of the pushups I’ve been doing. I’m inclined to eat more of my meal when we’re out, depending upon what it is and how good it is, and I enjoy more cheese and crackers at the winery, I suppose.
It’s hard to see but the cinnamon pear jelly is irresistible
So two million meters… that’s like 1200 miles. I could have rowed to and from Miami.
Jonathan Malesic, the author of The End of Burnout, told me that work defines many people. “We just can’t imagine that a person is worth something if we aren’t working,” Malesic said. “You’re anxious about your worth. And the only way you know how to prove it is you’re working all the time. As soon as you’re not, your value is in question.”
Why You Should Work Like Its the 90s
Go down to your local basketball courts and yell at all the non-NBA players who are playing basketball.
Jason Snell, Waxing Ecstatic About NaNoWriMo
This is nothing new, but I found it delightful after hearing about it on Upgrade. You answer 25ish questions about how you pronounce words or specify a regionalism (“soda” vs “pop,” for example), and the quiz guesses where you’re from. Fun.
One of my favorite questions asked about “dinner” vs “supper.” I wanted to choose multiple responses; ultimately I went with them meaning the same thing, but another choice was that I didn’t use the word “supper,” which is absolutely true. My paternal grandparents were the only people I knew who used that word instead of “dinner,” but I had heard it plenty of times and it was equivalent in usage.
