The Art Of Not Asking Why

I noticed a couple of headers in my now.org file that were missing asterisks in front of them, so they were not considered as headers. For example:

** TODO clean bedroom was just TODO clean bedroom

which means it was not a header. Not sure what caused it and why it happened.

In terms of gaming, I’m making good progress with my new Theilo Mira.

Yesterday, I learned that Bottles, a front-end for Wine on Linux, does not have access to folders that it needs (like the games folder, for example) because it only comes as a Flatpak package, and Flatpak is restricted by design (this being among several links that explain this).

To work around this issue, I was recommended to use Flatseal. It’s effortless to use and allows me to access one folder at a time. After a couple of minutes, I could run the new STALKER on my Linux computer without any issues.

Next, I wonder if I can trick Photoshop (even though I have it on my Mac) to work on Linux as my second allowed machine, just for the hell of it.

I finished Rogue Protocol: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells 📚 and felt like I’ve had enough of Murderbot for a bit. Not sure where I heard about the series, but I picked up Open Season by C. J. Box 📚. It’s a very different experience; I like it so far.

A lot of heavy stuff has been going on in the last two weeks.

I’ve been surrounded a lot by issues of health and mortality (no deaths though, thankfully) that had me kick some family projects into higher gear. You know, the kind of stuff you start doing when your parents get old and you need to start taking care of things you haven’t before.

Meanwhile, my two partners and I are looking at new apartments in the city.

I’m reminded yet again of NYC’s ridiculous requirements.

Stuff like making 40 or 50 times the rent in an annual income and the amount of stupid little space you get in return. There are broker’s fees, which are usually the amount of the rent, so when you move in, you pay three times the rent (the rent for the month, a security deposit, and the broker’s fee). Some also want you to pay a month in advance, which can make it four times the rent just to move in, and that’s before you get movers and pay for the furniture you need, etc.

Fortunately, we are financially stable enough to move, but this just makes me realize how ridiculous the whole thing is.

There are a couple of other things that keep me occupied. I’ve been talking to many people close to me, listening to concerns and worries, and sometimes sharing mine.

I’m doing well, but I wish I could take a couple of weeks off from work to concentrate on everything in my personal life. Even though I have vacation days, it’s not really something I can do right now. Maybe I should explain that I have a lot going on. I’m not sure if that’s a good idea.

I’ve been using my new System76 thelio mira b4-n3-NE since Friday, and I wanted to write a couple of lines about it.

The tech-specs:

Operating System: Linux Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS with full disk-encryption

Processor: 6.0 GHz Core i9-14900K (24 Cores - 32 Threads 8P+16E)
Memory: 64 GB DDR5 4800 MHz (2x32)
Storage: 2 TB PCIe4 M.2 SSD
Graphics: 16 GB NVIDIA Geforce RTX 4080 Super
GPU Cooling: 120mm GPU Cool Air Intake Fan

The purpose of this desktop is mostly gaming and AI image generation, which I enjoy as a hobby.

I placed the order on Monday, 2024-12-16, and received it last Thursday, 2025-01-09. There was a longer delay because System76, as their helpful Representative told me via email, was very busy for the holidays. Apparently, many folks enjoy their Linux computers from this company, and I can definitely see the appeal.

I am currently able to play World of Warships and Helldivers 2 on this computer. This goes to show that, although both games are Windows-exclusive, I can enjoy them without Windows. Helldivers 2 is certainly benefiting from the RTX 4080 while running on max graphics settings.

After a firmware update¹, Stable Diffusion (for AI generation) runs like butter for 1024x1024 images, and I can now handle three times the resolution. I can also use Flux now and upscale images up to four times their size, which was not possible on my older desktop².

There were (and are) a couple of issues, however.

When I first powered it up, Thelio made a loud rattling sound, which any person who has ever built a computer recognizes immediately: a fan blade hitting something inside. I powered it off and found out that powering it up without the case (because of the way the power button is wired) is not easy. As a matter of fact, I gave up on powering up the computer without the case after more than half an hour of checking the manual, pictures, and YouTube videos.

There is an internal button somewhere on the board, but I couldn’t locate it. Instead, I tested each fan with my fingers until I found the problem: a side bracket had clamps holding onto the GPU’s side, and one pressed directly on the fan. Not good. Fortunately, it was easy to unscrew the clamp and re-screw it one notch wider. The sound is gone now. Nevertheless, I opened a ticket with support asking also for the location of the internal power button that I still can’t find.

At high usage, there’s a somewhat weaker rattling sound that seems to come from the fan at the bottom, right under the PSU. I will take care of this soon.

I’m also still getting used to Cosmic’s (Pop-OS’s Desktop environment) window tiling. It’s one of the features it’s known for, and overall, it seems like a very good idea, but I still find it confusing. Some windows will snap into tabs (for example, my browser and Signal will show in one window at the corner with a tab for each), while others snap neatly next to each other. It’s also annoying that Cosmic doesn’t remember the location of windows, so if I maximize one on purpose or by mistake, the window will tile to a different place on the screen when I resize it. These annoyances will go away though as I learn to use it better.

Overall, I am surprised with how quiet this computer is next to the old one and how amazingly buttery HellDivers 2 is… it’s spoiling me for sure. I can’t wait to explore more games and AI image generation on it. It is power effective and goes to hibernation when not in usage, which means I don’t need to turn it off when I go away; this makes it easier to use it as a server for IvokeAI, for example, or something else.

Footnotes

¹ : Pop-OS comes with firmware updates, which is a nice thing to have next to the traditional apt-upgrade you’d find in other Debian distros (of course, you can also still run apt with all its variants)

² : For those curious, I currently use InvokeAI. I’ve used ComfyUI before, which is where you can really do amazing things with images (and movie clips!) with AI, but it takes a lot of tinkering, which I don’t want to do at this point.

Inwood Farm, in Inwood, Manhattan.

A nice and cozy place right next to Inwood Park, with good food options, a cafe bar, and a drinks bar.

Yesterday, I finally rolled over my new Thelio Mira Custom to my apartment. The box was too big for the cart, as you can see below, so I had to take my time:

I spent time yesterday setting it up, which included a fix I will expand on once I have more time. There’s a lot to write about. For now, World of Warships (which is a game I have a love-hate relationship with) works fine; I’m going to try some Helldivers 2 later on.

Was curious to see what this former NYC chief urban designer had to say about New York and urban planning in general. It was fascinating stuff:

Alexandros Washburn is knowledgeable and well-spoken, so I went down a rabbit hole and listened to more of his earlier stuff about NYC. It’s a long lecture, mostly about the history of Manhattan and why things are the way they are. I couldn’t listen to the whole thing (I got to work today too), but I found out he has a couple of books to, here’s one of them.

Good stuff. I love it when days start with a good learning experience such as this.

Thought to check on news. “🎺 said this!” And “🎺 said that!” Half the time he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, the other half he denies what he said last time. Don’t care. Back under my rock i go.

There is certain quiet in snow that is hard to describe. Even in the city, sounds are more muffled. They too prefer to stay warm under a heavy blanket

Ann misses the time when appliances were durable over smart:

Ann Aguirre (@annaguirre.bsky.social) bsky.app

I know this is an “angry man yells at cloud” kind of thing, but the idea that “kids today” find the notion that washing machines can last over a decade and that fixing them is something you can do yourself with tools, time and knowledge completely alien is crazy to me.

…I spoke to soon. It’s 3:00 in the morning now. Probably halfway the food, halfway family-related worries. Hope to get some more sleep before a busy Monday.

My sleep has gotten better recently. I still have 5-hours nights where I’m tired all day, but it happens less. With more sleep, my routine of waking up at 5:30-6:30 every morning returned, and I enjoy it plenty. Is this an age thing or a morning/night person thing?

Someone on my Micro.blog feed watched Perfect Days a couple of weeks ago, and I don’t remember who. It seemed like a movie I’d enjoy, and I did - so thank you, whoever watched it, it was a good recommendation. Review’s coming up.

Finally I get to try this Christmas gift. Mmm.

2024 brought two good things into my life toward its end: a new role/promotion at work, and a new amazing person. I don’t like contributing things to luck, though this is a convenient way to explain happenstance. Some things come to you as if the “universe” was listening in one day in the shower (where all deep thoughts happen, as we all know) and gave you a head nod.

I hope you all had a good year and looking forward to a new one!

On my Mac, I’ve been slowly making improvements to my writing environment, both physical and software. It was not intended initially, but this is sort of “part 2” of the post I wrote about my Mac’s menu bar. There are five overall components, and I’ll try to summarize each below.

Emacs

I’ve been using Emacs since 2018, with a journal entry titled “does this work?” which is very appropriate when you finish installing Emacs for the first time.

In terms of writing for my blog, as I do with this post you’re reading now, I rely on Emacs to convert my post to Markdown (and HTML where Markdown falls short, like in the case of footnotes I sometimes use) and basic spell checking among many other writing “hacks” that are usually achieved by other independent Mac apps. A few quick examples: typing out shortcuts like “mb” will automatically expand to “Micro.blog” or Ctrl t, which in Emacs runs the command transpose-chars, to fix one of the most common typos (from “tyop” to “typo”), among other full automations and scripts I won’t get into here. Emacs has won me over time and time again when I compare it to other writing applications; in my mind, It’s the best writing and note-keeping tool ever created.

Micro.blog (app)

Last Friday I said I was finally satisfied with Micro.blog macOS app. Since my blog is hosted on Micro.blog, it only makes sense to use the official app, but I tried to use it several times in the past and ended up uninstalling it because it did not work as smoothly for me as the Micro.blog’s web interface. Now it seems it’s finally better.

The app handles Grammarly (coming up below) better than the web interface. “Scheduling” a post from the past runs better than it does on the web interface too. And while drafts are still not saved automatically (something I’ve asked for many times), I can at least save them quickly with ⌘ s, and the app is safer than a browser tab you’re likely to close by mistake and lose your work. The macOS app also asks you if you want to save your post when you’re about to close it.

The app also has a built-in preview option that shows you what your markdown post looks like. It gets updated as you type, which is a nice touch. Another thing worth mentioning: the app can also be used to reply to comments, I now use it whenever I get notifications on my iPhone (which are mirrored on my Mac’s screen) to reply quickly by clicking on “Mentions.”

A few things are still missing, and I hope these will be corrected in the future. The upload page only copies the AI description for images when you click on a particular image on the website and click on “Copy HTML” from there, which is cumbersome; I believe copying the HTML code with the AI-created caption should be the default¹. As if @Manton read my mind, the latest update of the Micro.blog has a dedicated “copy HTML” from images in the app, with the AI description included.

Grammarly

Grammarly doesn’t need an introduction among writers and proofreaders. I mentioned it on this blog several times, most recently when discussing my Mac’s menu items, but not in depth. I’ve tested several AI grammar tools, and Grammarly is hard to beat.

Grammarly’s markings on texts with its newly integrated AI summaries options augment my writing in a way that “all or nothing” tools like Apple Intelligence or Chat GPT can’t do. It’s a premium tool that isn’t cheap, though.

PopClip

I talked about PopClip, so I won’t expand much here. It is more of a reading tool than a writing one, but in terms of the latter, PopClip has Urban Dictionary available with a click if I’m not sure about a slang term. There’s also the macOS dictionary (Emacs has a built-in dictionary). PopClip is an amazing tool that doesn’t cost too much and is worth every cent if you ask me.

Standing Desk

I got my Standing Desk in 2020. It’s more of a writing enhancement than a tool, and in my case, it’s what allows me to be productive and keep writing instead of getting too antsy. I enjoy typing standing in the early morning with my coffee; this is usually when the best writing takes place.

At first glance, a manual elevated desk like mine doesn’t seem like much, but if you read the post linked above, you’ll see I’ve put quite a bit of research into it. The fact that it doesn’t raise on a hinge, the way it supports my ultra-wide screen, and the size of the keyboard tray that fits exactly at the top of my desk without blocking my drawers—all of these things took patience and time.

Footnotes

¹ : I understand, though disagree, with folks who want nothing to do with AI on their blog. It’s good that Micro.blog offers one central place to turn all AI features off. I believe that some functions, however, like having alt descriptions for images created for photos by default, is one of the good use cases for AI. You can always change the description if you’d like, after all.

I picked up The Walls Have Eyes by Petra Molnar 📚 and gave it up after two days. I was curious about the tech, but she barely touched it; this is mostly political. On the other hand, I finished reading Artificial Condition by Martha Wells 📚. Do I want to pick up the third one..? Probably.