We’ve been making jaunts to Wildwood during our annual Ocean City vacation for years. Wildwood is the closest approximation of the canonical Jersey Shore in parts southerly. It’s a baudy, ribald place compared to more Disney-esque Ocean City or Stone Harbor. For a 14-yer-old, it’s a revelation; to young parents, a hive of scum and villainy.
Crane Games
Pizza
There are a few things to say about Wildwood. First: pizza. Pizza is a big deal down here. The king in Ocean City in Manco & Manco, which fumbles off the tongue of local pizza cognoscenti. It was, and perhaps always shall be, Mack and Manco. Due to a family squabble, there’s Mack’s in Wildwood, and Manco in ocean city.
Sam’s Mushroom
There’s a famous/infamous pizza reviewer who I won’t comment on other than to say that he weighed in. And he really liked Sam’s in Wildwood. We’ve tried it both before and after Dave’s seal of approval and I will say I considered it fine but quotidian before the big review, but enjoy it more now. It’s got a more crusty, firm undercarriage. I did have Manco earlier this week and I liked it more, though.
Fries
Wildwood and of Ocean City both have great French fry spots. We always hit the curlys in wildwood on the boardwalk near Morey’s because there’s a bar there and we can always get a Tonewood on draft. They serially have the Parkway to Paradise which we really like every time we have it. Back to Curly’s-They’re a thicker-cut fry than I prefer, but they’re good and have a sheen of historicity. (For the record, I like the hand-cut fries at the Promenade.)
Curly’s and a Beer
The Local Flavor
Wildwood is a bawdier affair than Ocean City. I naturally gravitated towards it from the ages of 13-20ish, but the ideal of the boardwalk as a cozy family place always took root. Think vape shops, lousy pizza, and barkers.
Oh, Wildwood
Somers Point
We did manage to squeeze in another pint at the Somers Point Brewing Company. It has nothing to do with Wildwood but there it is.
The date itself did not occur in OCNJ; the vacation prompted us to alight for Atlantic City, which is a town with a vibrant dining scene. (I’ve never been one for casinos.) We did our own surf n’ turf at the Knife and Fork, ordering a ribeye and the lobster thermidor, and split them. The waitress caught onto our design and the kitchen helpfully divided the steak into two serving dishes. It’s a small thing, but not to have to ask for it was classy.
We skipped dessert but ended up at a local brewery for a quick pint. Great night.
Tonight Rhonda and I dine in AC at the excellent Knife and Fork. We’ve been doing a date nite on vacation for a while.
I woke up early today and decided to sit on the beach and watch the sun come up. I took a few pictures using both my phone and the E-M10 Mark IV. I was surprised by how many people had the same idea. You can conceive of a compressed version of reality that comports with your experience, but there are always people living meaningful lives that differ just subtly from your own.
This kid is off to college in the fall. I can’t see anything materially that is causing him any hesitation, but the liminal space between senior graduation and moving away to a university is dense. I’m very proud and happy to be able to be supportive in all of the ways that I have been. I loved this picture I snuck last night.
Joe’s girlfriend joined us for several nites but went home last night. She is a hard-working kid and just plugged right into the OCNJ vibe, with the fun, food, and family. It’s a very nice thing, watching your kids pair-bond.
Do we hope to capture these moments… these ephemera… to avoid forgetting them? In the hopes that we’ll see them again one day and remember them fondly? To think that we are, somehow, casting the shadow of our mortality just a bit longer than its natural demarcation?
We’ve been stomping around Ocean City for the past few days, which is always a summertime treat.
There’s a cool music store that sells mostly guitars (and basses and some ukes) that also has a selection of records. Aaron was keen to check out both, so in we stopped. I spied this used ES-335 in a case up against and wall and was curious to pop it open for a look-see, but I restrained myself. Aaron really likes the Fender Acoustisonic that we saw on the wall. That’s a perfect guitar to take to college. They had a well-loved Les Paul 1960s reissue, too, which we did ogle, but which I didn’t photograph, sadly.
I spied this cool paperback of Tropic of Cancer at the Bookateria Two yesterday. In the same vein, I purchased a paperback of a Lawrence Durrell novel.
Shrivers is a total tourist trap but hey–still good salt water taffy. The eighties continue their comeback with these Nerds-flavored taffies.
There’s an IT’SUGAR on the boardwalk, and I love how they lean into the eat-the-fucking-sugar angle and have so many fun throwbacks. They sell candy cigarettes and full-size Chico Sticks.
We like to pretend there’s a final form of the self called Expert. That you graduate, shake some spectral hand, get your little paper, and ascend to the mountaintop.
But here’s the truth — expertise is not a tombstone you plant in the soil of your mind. It is motion. It is hunger. It is an action verb.
It’s been hot. Then not so hot. Rhonda and I disagree on the historical heat level around these times. She swears its hotter than ever, while I recall thick SJ humidity and gnats from my childhood. We have reason to be suspicious of consciousnesses.
My recent addition/substitution of swimming in the morning has been thwarted by chilly overnight temps. Committing to a full 30 minutes in zone 2 has been a nice return to grinding out some meters on the Concept2.
Speaking of swimming, I’m posting this from Ocean City, New Jersey. Pool, ocean: lots of swim time to be enjoyed.
OCNJ
We’ve been spending a week or two in Ocean City, New Jersey, since 2009. That’s 16 years! We’re here now, and said vacation will explain my dearth of posting. Morning walks, breakfast treks, pool swims, and slices of ‘roni await. See you on the other side.
Sturgeon Moon Last Night
Glass
Glass is a photo-centric social media service; it’s paid, so the noise is low. There are enthusiastic photogs sharing pics and commenting on others. I like to open the app, widen my own field of vision, and let the images speak for themselves.
Glass
Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie
Rhonda and I split a waffle cone of this last night and it was awesome. Kohr Bros will be had, too, and soon.
Ben and Jerry’s on the OCNJ Boardwalk
William Painter
In April 2019, I got my first pair of William Painter sunglasses: “The Hook,” which feature titanium rails and an integrated bottle opener. They’re expensive but they do last. Beach time means sunglasses.
I purchased my first “real” digital camera back in 2013. It was an Olympus E-PL5, which I’d read a review of on Shawn Blanc’s website. I eventually got the pancake lens, too, which I cherish.
I’ve been shopping for a replacement for a while, something employing traditional meatspace dials for adjusting aperture and shutter speed. I still enjoy the shots I get from the E-PL5, but can’t for the lfe of me figure out how to readily get into either aperture or shutter speed settings using the camera’s control wheel. It’s baffling. And, I’d say, something an enthusiast would absolutely want ready access to.
Fast forward 11 years and I decided to stick with a 4/3 mirrorless because of the lens. I shopped OM/Olympus and Panasonic, but this was a fire sale.
I was planning on getting something on the next step up,notably the OM5, but I read a few reviews that made things sound like the E-M5 is, for my usage, the same camera minus weather sealing. And that’s not something I need.
So the Panasonic lens is on the new camera, and I’ve enjoyed the small collection of shots I’ve taken today. I’m looking forward to taking lots of pics in Ocean City next week.
Aaron had an overnight orientation last night; retrieved him and a friend this afternoon from Rutgers. He had a nice time it seems! I think these toe dips are helpful to anxious parents too. It’s really dawning on both of us that he’ll be away so very soon.
I did a little research and found John and Molly’s as a possible stop on the way home. It was a good mid-journey break. They have really good mussels.
Only shake cocktails with fruit juice in them. It’s a simple but more or less binding rule. Certain international super spies occasionally break it cough James Bond with his ‘special Martini’ cough tosser. However, it will serve the rest of us well. When you break them down, there are essentially two kinds of cocktail. Aromatic cocktails contain only alcoholic ingredients. Sour cocktails that contain citrus fruit (or occasionally other fruits, cream, egg, coffee, etc).
The former kind (which are often dry, aromatic and occasionally bitter) should be stirred with ice, which results in even dilution and a smoother texture. The latter kind (which are often tangy, fruity and occasionally creamy) require shaking, which results in more amalgamation, more dilution and a slightly altered texture.
I am increasingly likely to ask for my cocktail made in a specific way because, despite the parsimony of the fundamentals, many bartenders don’t know them.
This week was hot–really hot–but turned August mild this weekend. I still managed a nice swim yesterday in lieu of rowing (which I did Friday). Meditated on the deck, too. We cooked in a fair bit this weekend, which is easy, cheap, and fun. Last night was hot dogs, no joke. Chicken drums on the grill tonight. We’re gonna run out for corn in a bit.
I’m pretty excited to go on vacation to OCNJ next week. This week will be a straight run through a desperate productivity tunnel for sure. Our meal plan is set for the week.
Hoping you are finding joy and meaning each day. I have four things for you this afternoon; thanks for reading!
Glasstown Brewing Millville Lager
Millville Lager
Glasstown Brewery brews a “Fisherman’s Friend,” which is maybe a Yuengling clone: It’s light, a little sweet, and uninspired. It’s a beer made to appeal to a different crowd. Reading the description of their Millville Lager, I assumed that we were looking at a Bud or Coors clone to pull in a less selective drinker.
Not true.
I didn’t drain a can myself, but Rhonda and I both took a sip from the can designated to steam Friday’s steamed crabs. It’s very thin and light, but it boasts a tight hop bite. I’m thinking 3pm on the deck in Ocean City next week.
Bellview Winery’s Cheese and Peach Amaretto Plate
Rhonda and I have been heartbroken since the beloved Brie platter disappeared. The DiBruno Bros Brie has a nice stank to it. We get other nummies, though, and today this was the one.
MailMaven
I’ve been using MailMaven since it came out in public beta. After running out the generous trial period, I decided to pull the trigger and subscribe. We’ll see if it sticks, but I really like it. It’s an email application with strong opinions. I have observations.
Field Notes
I used to carry a Moleskine everywhere with me when I was a school psychologist. I still used digital everything but I needed paper notes for interviewing students (which was my favorite part of doing evaluations). To some degree, I still do, and these are perfect. I tend to keep mine in a Stuff Sheath in the winter, but they’re bulky with shorts.
On May 1st, Joe Kissel delighted Mac nerds who have specific email requirements by announcing the launch of MailMaven, a power-user-focused email application for the Mac that extends SmallCubed’s dedication to managing email on the Mac.
I’ve been test driving MailMaven since the public beta release; today, I plunked down the digital equivalent of 45 USD for a license after a generous trial period. I have a 67% increase next year to look forward to should I choose to continue to use MailMaven. I’ve enjoyed the beta so much that I wanted to go for it.
Smart Folders
The first feature I look for in an email client is Smart Folders: they are how I set up my email clients in my own particular preference, which I’ve written about before. A quick summary of how I manage email:
A folder showing today’s inbox contents;
A folder showing yesterday’s inbox;
A folder showing this week’s inbox ;
A folder showing last week’s inbox.
Once a message is archived or moved to another folder, it’s not something I see unless I search for it. I try to keep these folders pruned so older messages don’t pile up. It’s aspirational.
MailMaven supports Smart Folders. For my use case, I can create account-specific smart folders that fit the bill, so this checks off the Smart Folders Box for me. It too supports compound rules, so I am able to combine my iCloud and personal Gmail accounts into “home” smart folders, and then a separate set for work. I like it.
Smart Folders
Review
MailMaven’s Review feature set is unique. It’s a list of enhanced saved searches, including all of your unread messages, and then a menu of recent emails, organized into received today, yesterday, this week, etc. As with project tagging, these are monolithic smart folders that don’t make any distinction between accounts. You can certainly create your own smart folders to fit your use case.
A clever twist in the Review section of MailMaven’s feature set is the eponymous “review” folder. You can tag messages for review at a later date you specify, and even organize messages by those for which you are awaiting a reply.
You can set a review date to a message in MailMaven; you pick a date, which supports natural language, so you can assign a review date and it will appear in the Review pane. Here, a Smart Folder like setup presents your email grouped by Today, tomorrow, past due, future, and more. It’s ambitious–and evidently in progress.
Tagging
MailMaven offers tagging as well. I can set keywords and flags to messages, which isn’t terribly new in the world of email. An interesting feature, though is its integration with OmniFocus and Things. MailMaven will read your projects from either (or both) apps and allows you to tag messages with a project. This doesn’t write any data to OmniFocus, in my case, but you can view your email correspondence by project, which can come in handy. My gripe about this right now is that, in MailMaven, all of the projects are in a list, and if you have a lot of projects, it’s not easy to scan, and I can’t tell what order they appear in. I’m looking forward to this feature’s evolution.
MailMaven/OmniFocus Integration
Whereas apps like Spark and MailMate will send a message to OmniFocus, MailMaven takes a more Outlook-like approach to project management. Once enabled in the Tags section of MailMaven’s settings, MailMaven will import the names of your OmniFocus projects. Associating a message or messages will then be tagged with the project name. You can then review your email in MailMaven organized by project, which is a tremendous affordance.
Tagging Pane
I like this feature (and find myself using it daily) but wonder about its direction. I review projects in OmniFocus, so I like everything associated with the project to be in OmniFocus or at least linked using notes and HookMark. So this is a different style of interaction. However, when I need to find an email associated with a project, I have found myself browsing in the project view instead of searching reactively.
Notifications and Focus Modes
MailMaven doesn’t currently support macOS’s Focus Modes; I was hoping it would, as Mimestream and Spark both allow me to use a monolithic email client but filter notifications for for work and home, as appropriate to where I am and what time it is. This isn’t on their roadmap for the app, either, although it’s a popular feature request.
Performance
I can’t be picky with a beta version, but MailMaven feels pretty slow compared to MailMate, Mimestream, and Mail. MailMate and Mimestream are focused in a way MailMaven isn’t, to be fair: the former is IMAP only, while Mimestream is (currently) a Gmail client, while MailMaven supports multiple protocols. MailMaven is, however, more expensive (after the first year) for new subscribers than either of those applications, so as the app develops, I’m hoping to see that it can be multi-protocol and fast.
Search
MailMaven opens a separate window for search, which isn’t expected behavior, but it has its merits. I don’t like it as much as I like search in MailMate, but it is a more directive version of search and so is friendlier to newer users. It’s much slower than MailMate in my usage, but it’s also capable of trawling multiple accounts, and also not restricted to a local mailbox in the way that MailMate works. MailMaven has cues in the UI to help you focus your search.
Search
Conversation Panel
In the same way that MailMaven’s search happens in a second window, there is a Conversation Panel that shows your conversation threads. This is perfect for users like me, who prefer to see a straight list of messages organized by when they hit my inbox, rather than comb through a threaded list.
On larger displays, you can simply leave this window open, which is how I discovered the feature: I plugged my laptop into a 27” display at my desk at work, and I toggled it open by accident. In a situation such as this, there’s enough screen real estate to leave it open all the time, and I just love being able to glance up and see the thread. And at home, on my 32” Samsung, there’s plenty of room for both the main application window and the Conversation Panel.
Conversation Panel
This does not work as well on a MacBook. On a 13” inch display, you want every bit of screen real estate available for the app proper. I attribute my long laptop-only existence to why it took me so long to go back to using apps in windowed mode on the Mac, and why the iPad never seriously bothered me for its lack of Macness.
In the spirit of writing is thinking, I like a desktop set up hands down.
Clicking on a message will show you the conversation history, but you needn’t cruft up your main application window with this if you don’t need it. I’ve always resisted threaded views because they complicate the messages list. So while I might switch to the conversation view in MailMate, for example, to find a message, I never keep that layout. MailMaven’s Conversation Panel obviates this decision entirely.
MailMaven supports two viewing modes: “Snippets” and Table View. The Snippets view looks like Mail or many other mail applications: A list of messages, with a preview (you can set the number of lines from zero to 4) in a central column, with the message itself appearing in the right pane. It’s fine, and conventional, but it’s not my preferred view.
Table view arranges your mail messages as a tight list in the main viewing pane, and shows a preview below this list. This look, too, should be familiar to anyone who grew up using an email application before the days when computer displays were widescreen.
Snippits ViewTable View
My particular preference in MailMate is to turn off the preview pane completely (two-pane view) so that I can only see the table list of messages. Because I use smart folders so heavily, this makes the day’s email obligation look shorter. MailMaven, as of version one, will not support turning off the preview pane (I emailed SmallCubed, and they said that they are planning a feature in a future version, but not version one). This is due to the fact that the messages controls are attached to the message window, which makes sense.
Favorites
Favorites in MailMaven is a genius idea, but the one I understood last. You can add any inbox, folder, tag collection, Smart Folder, to Favorites and create your own email dashboard. Once I realized how useful this feature would be, I populated it with:
My. Three email accounts’ inboxes
Home and Work Today folders
Anything I’ve flagged for followup
Preferred Projects
Today and Tomorrow’s Review folders
I live in this pane, even though its utility was lost on me at first. I generally work out of my Today Smart Mailbox in MailMate, but like Mail, the default behavior there is to show your account with discoverable subdirectories. In truth, I don’t usually need to see that arborescent list as I work; I’m usually looking at today’s input, and I search if I need anything else. This favorites setup allows me to switch between today’s mail for both work and home accounts, see my most-used flag, and a few other views that I can use throughout the day. It’s pretty exciting.
MailMate Favorites View
The Final Word
MailMaven is an ambitious and opinionated email application. Version one of MailMaven doesn’t sport every feature that SmallCubed is planning. What hurts right now for me is the lack of more robust OmniFocus support and support for Hookmark. But the fundamental rethinking of an email application, in a landscape rife with free alternatives, is heartening and inspirational. For power users, it’s a must-try app. And a Mac-assed one at that.
Is the $200 Yamaha the best guitar? No, probably not. Is it a great guitar? Emphatically, yes. An impeccable piece of Japanese engineering. I’ve owned $2,000 guitars, played friends’ $4,000 guitars, and the $200 Yamaha gives them all a run for their money every time. Good entry-level acoustic guitars from Martin and Taylor exist in the $500 range and they’re great purchases you won’t regret, but it’s not until the $1500 range that you start getting the material quality bumps those guitars deserve. But once you have a $1500 guitar, you start to baby it and hide it away in the case to protect it from scratches and bumps, from air of the wrong humidity, and from snoopy kids with clumsy hands. This is not a problem with the $200 Yamaha.
I have two Yamahas, and my acoustic might have been $300 when I got it back in 1995. It’s pretty beat up and I play it all the time. More to the point, it’s always out: I’m looking at it now.
Now, a game I truly hated? Perfection. Which, ironically, I played all the time. Striving for… Perfection. I mean, it’s in the name. It should’ve been called baby’s first anxiety attack. You know this game. You’ve got 60 seconds to jam shapes into a board, or the thing explodes in your face. What kind of sick game is that?
The sequel was Superfection, which offered a more soothing palette but was every bit as unnerving.
