It’s time to do some updating/house cleaning.
The theme I use, TinyTheme, is a couple of versions behind. I also wanted to add a kudos button, which seem to need me to re-build my blog (which usually causes issues, especially with my Movies page). There are a few weird CSS things I need to fix. So, if things seem a bit broken soon - you’ve been warned…
So emacs plus (through homebrew on macOS) keeps giving me this error: Invalid function: org-element-with-disabled-cache.
Does anyone know what this is about, and why it’s happening? No issue with Emacs on Linux (same config) or when I had emacsformacos (same config)
I hope it doesn’t surprise anyone that I love a good checklist. After all, checklists are what got me started down the path of Emacs about 7 years ago. I love a good checklist. It tells me what I need to do, in what order, and allows me to get back on track after I get distracted. A good checklist can really make a day go right, and it’s a good idea to start the work day with one.
My new morning checklist is still a work in progress, but here is what it looks like:
[ ] VPN > RMD work computer
[ ] Outlook:
[ ] Meetings > org-mode "MEETING"
[ ] Pins > org-mode "Email"
[ ] Emails > pin or add to org-mode "Email:" (don't reply, we want to finish this checklist)
[ ] org-mode Agenda
[ ] MEETING (todos) > projects
[ ] choose personal projects (choose one personal project first!)
[ ] choose an afternoon work project
[ ] Journelly
It is still a work in progress: a good checklist is a result of trial and error over many repetitions, but the core is there.
First, if I work from home, I want to remind myself to VPN in and use my work PC rather than my Mac (RMD is remote desktop, which is my preferred method for connecting to my work PC). This has a couple of benefits, but a few of the main ones: URLs open natively in Edge, my default browser on the PC, leaving my personal side of things on my Mac with Safari. Outlook and Teams also work as expected on Windows better than on the Mac. Then, of course, there are various admin tools I need to run from inside our network.
Then, in Outlook, the checklist prevents me from replying to emails. This is important (you’d see I have a reminder for myself there not to reply) because I can’t get dragged into replying in the morning. There are too many emails in my inbox, and I need to prioritize what I do when. I tend to pin emails I want to get back to later in the day. In the morning, I add those pins to org-mode using my email template, and I pin new emails I need to get back to (which, in turn, will also end up in org-mode).
Then it’s time for my agenda in org-mode. The agenda is the meat of my day, where the projects I’m supposed to work on are laid out. Before I get to the projects themselves though, I go through my meetings that I copied into org-mode and look for TODO items, which need to be turned into projects or assigned to someone else.
The next step is particularly important to me these days, amid the endless work: find and prioritize a personal project. This can be anything, from calling back a doctor to working on a new checklist, like the one above. The afternoon work project is usually a bigger undertaking. I get back to it after my midday nap and exercise, which I try to do every day if I can. This hour to an hour and a half of “me time” is what keeps me healthy physically and mentally; I should probably expand on that soon.
Finally, a favorite of mine nowadays is to go into Journelly, where I keep my journal in an org file, and reflect on the choices I’ve made for the personal project and the work project. It allows me to mentally prepare for work.
With the checklist done, I start working on my agenda in org-mode. I usually go through the TODOs I’ve listed for myself in order, clock in, and get them done. Most of my work these days involves contacting others and following up, so I add notes on what was said and by whom in the task, clock out, and move on (unless something gets done of course).
I’ve been doing this for about a week, and it’s been working quite nicely. I hope to keep going and see what more changes need to be implemented.
I thought it would be fun to buy a small pack of stress balls for Nat and me. I like to keep my hands busy in meetings and when I talk to someone. Man what a crappy quality. And they smell. And I don’t like the glitter and the stuff inside. Where are the good ones? Can’t find any.
Managed to get Diablo 4 to install and run on my Linux Desktop running Kubuntu. It was actually quite easy with Bottles, using a Proton launcher made especially for that game. I’m not sure exactly what goes into creating those launchers, but glad it works.
Thelma, 2024 - ★★★
June Squibb and Richard Roundtree made this movie nice. They had a certain chemistry between them that worked out nice, and both actors played the roles well (especially Squibb, in my opinion). The rest... ehh...
The parents were too much (maybe on purpose, but it just felt artificail) and the grandson (Fred Hechinger) just didn't feel right in that role.
It's an overall "feel good" kind of movie with some solemn sadness sprinkled on top. It's good, not amazing, a bit over the top to make it more interesting, and overall OK.
A new Emacs annoyance: org-capture: Capture abort: Invalid function: org-element-with-disabled-cache when I try to use org-capture. Fails the first time, works the second. Where did it come from and how do I get rid of it…?
Harp is org-mode medical app for Android
There’s the app for health-related records Irreal mentioned the other day, Harp. It’s an org-mode-centered app for Android (soon to be iOS though), which looks pretty basic at this point. You can create several profiles (for different people), and each one has a medical journal and documentation attached, along with some graphs as you accumulate data.
It’s a good idea to have an org-mode-based health app, with all the information you need available to you quickly, protected behind encryption. The issue specific to me is that even though I have a personal Android phone, it’s my iPhone that has my medical apps (part of the Epic suite), as this is the phone I usually carry around with me. These apps already have all my health records, doctors, appointment etc.
I’ve been playing with it a bit, and I think it’s mostly the idea of having my health records saved in org mode that makes sense, especially with the denote file convention system. My Android is also where I have signal, which I can use to share medical records with people close to me, so there’s that. It’s not ideal to carry around two phones, but I think I want to experiment for a bit.
A proper weekend & birthday plans
What does it mean to dedicate time to personal events and people, especially when working to no end? Here’s my answer.
Non-helpful UI by Microsoft strikes again.
I know everyone likes to hate the new design of an app when it first launches. My problem here: this is a Windows logo, not RDP. It’s confusing. People are searching for a remote desktop, not to install Windows on their Macs.
I think I found what crashed my Emacs on macOS
My Emacs crashed on my Mac, and after attempting different things, I believe I found the reason: large images in org files - dimension, not file size.
I’ve been reading The Cunning Man by William Robertson Davies. Interesting it doesn’t show on Micro.blog so I added it…
I Saw the TV Glow, 2024 - ★★★★
I can already tell it's one of those movies I need to watch more than once. I don't think I can give it an honest review, not just yet, because there's still so much I'm digesting - and I love it when movies do that to me, when they make me think about identity and question reality as I know it.
The movie should be called The Pink Opaque (not really a spoiler) as the common thread that connects the main characters and identities. What is the Pink Opaque? I'd say you need to watch to understand, but it's more likely you'd finish watching the movie asking this question. I feel this question is part of the point, at least for me.
What I've learned is that for transpeople, gender identity is gender and identity. It's not just about gender, but also about their identity as a person. As a being. And questioning it can happen when you're a kid, when you reach puberty, or when you're a 40 year old working for some local arcade and have a family, or... it can never happen. Maybe everything will always just fit out of sync or a bit odd. For some, the disturbance in their identity might mean their life as they know it is unbearable, while to others, it's "fine, everything is fine," at least for while, and yet, for others, it's just a minor annoyance. From that perspective, in a sense, we are all trans beings - somewhere on the spectrum between two absolutes that were never meant to be absolutes. The binary of gender is illusion. And while I'm personally comfortable with my gender (or I think I do? Hmm), it doesn't mean I don't question my identity, and part of my identity is my gender, which means I'm not comfortable with my gender...?
That's the sort of whirlpool of though I'm in right now, and that's just one layer of this movie, which is why I should watch it again at some point. Good stuff.
Yeah… I don’t think I’m going anywhere.
Not much to say today, so I went to my old blog to grab an old post and bring it here. The merge I’m talking about is still, in many ways, incomplete, and that desire to write documents has not diminished.
Going out quickly before the snow buries us here in NYC. How much does a shoe cobbler charge to fix a heel of a flat shoe where you live?
Doctorow on POSSE and AI usage
Cory Doctorow reflects on his blogging experience and advocates for embracing technology like AI, despite its controversial origins
I love how Microsoft makes its products less and less useful.
In Teams chats, there used to be a tab for the chat itself, and then Shared for files (it used to be called Files, which makes more sense, but whatever).
Now we have Chat, Recap, Attendance, Breakout Rooms, Q&A, and Meeting Whiteboard, none of which are removable.
I’m glad I have an Ultra Wide screen, because my project layout in Excel is all the way to the right, shoved out of view, while the default tabs above are empty and useless.
At Gregory’s for some coffee after a quick doctor appointment. Working from coffee shops is fun, though it’s not always doable.
About living in Madhattan
A year ago, we moved to this apartment. Time to reflect and assure you all that I’m crazy.