A few things that kept me occupied this month:

  • Playing around with TinyTheme
  • Denote public information notes
  • Pushing my comfort zones

TinyTheme: I can see why so many folks like TinyTheme. It’s slick and good as is, but at the same time, it’s built thoughtfully and makes customization easier. The best part yet: Matt is very responsive and helpful, and when I got stuck, I got an answer and learned new things at the same time. I like how my single CSS sheet for TinyTheme looks like, whereas in my current theme, I have several hacks scattered about. The new theme will be ready for prime time soon!

Denote: Going ahead with switching from TiddlyWiki to org-mode notes is a good idea. It’s all about laziness at the end. GitLab renders org files just fine, but there are a few hiccups in how Denote creates links: GitLab doesn’t understand Denote’s linking syntax. I reached out to Prot for help, and he created a function that converts Denote links back to org-mode links. This is almost working, but the resorting links contain absolute paths (which lead to a folder on my computer) and not the relative link needed on GitLab.

I enjoy “talking” to Prot back and forth in video recordings. I’m learning a great deal. I said it once, and I’ll say it again, if you’re an Emacs user, Prot is worth every single penny for his coaching. Give it a try!

Comfort Zone Stretching: This will come as a shock to y’all, but I can be a bit grumpy and prefer the company of my warm coffee over strangers. Realizing this is all good and fine but it won’t do much to expand my circle of friends, I’m trying to say no a bit less to social hangouts.

I had a great time in Long Branch NJ last weekend (this is where I took this picture) with my partner and a couple of friends, and it might have been the first time I saw snow on the beech first hand.

More of this stretching is happening in baby steps. It comes back to the little conversation with @Anne about dating apps recently: it’s up to us humans to get out there and develop the skills we’ve had for centuries but neglected in favor of our phones. We’ll see how this goes.