The Art Of Not Asking Why

I was looking into trying out the whole 100 days to offload business. Everyone’s doing it, I have a blog, so I should do it, right?

I like the idea behind 100 days to offload (let’s call it 100dtol). The goal is to get people who always want to blog to just freaking do it already. In 100dtol’s own words: “Tell us about your dog, your cat, your fish tank, or whatever hobbies you have. Someone will find it interesting. Just. Write.” This is a good way to start writing, get into the habit, and hopefully keep at it.

But I’m not starting out. I’ve been writing in one capacity or another for the last 20 years or so. It’s a way of life at this point: I have to blog. I don’t know how not to write. The need to write the words you are now reading seems to make time for itself, no matter how and where.

You know something else? I’m also not that good at it. Sure, I’m better today than I was 5 years ago, but I’m just better at it than I once was. That’s all.

As someone who constantly has thoughts floating around in his head, figuring out which thoughts to catch, tame, and then let out to the world is a big part of the process. My way of writing doesn’t fit into the “just write” bracket anymore. This post you’re reading right now? It started out as an outline. Here, have a look:

This does not include editing (at least a few hours if not a day later), checking for errors, publishing, reading the live post, and cringing at the typos that somehow made it through. Oh no, there’s no “just write” anymore. I’m past that. it’s gone baby, I’m hooked. I’m a writing addict.

So with all due respect to 100dtol, which I do have, it’s not for me. And that’s fine.

I have a couple of things to say about writing 📝. More than a couple of things, actually, that’s the problem. If I start venting right now, I’ll be at it for about an hour, and it won’t make much sense. I need to break it down.

Good morning, ☕ from me and Allo

Time to leave the apartment to shop for some groceries and stretch my legs. This cold had me stuck in the apartment for two days..!

Wednesday afternoon. I wake up refreshed from a 10-minute nap. It’s cold outside, but the sun’s shining through my window unto the bed. I enjoy the warmth a minute longer before I get up to sit at the computer and keep working.

I fight feelings of guilt and worry. The way I’m conditioned to work - the way most of us are - is the usual 9 to 5 an hour for lunch. Even at the peak of COVID, I used to come to the office every morning, since I was a part of an IT team in a hospital.

I’m worried they’d think I’m lazy. I’m worried someone will call me with an emergency and I won’t be near my phone. I’m scared of making a bad impression in my new role.

I know it’s not true. Many of my co-workers are remote, even with COVID regulations easing off. We have office days ( which I find useful for focus and equipment I don’t have at home), but the office is mostly empty. The kind of work I do nowadays is through a web portal or a VPN connection. The meetings are all on Zoom, with screen sharing and colorful backgrounds. I sync my projects through OneDrive, my bookmarks through Microsoft Edge, and my comments through ServiceNow.

Mostly there are benefits. I’m able to work in “chunks,” which makes more sense for the project-oriented nature of my work. I’m able to use Emacs and run shell scripts I build at home. I can take care of apartment issues and get groceries delivered instead of worrying about those later. I can do my exercises between meetings and do a quick round of Doom to get my energy pumping. This all means I have more time and energy for my projects at work.

This new work-life balance means I have my work phone with me at all times. I am not required to be available 24/7, but it’s good to have a finger on the pulse so I can jump in and get involved as needed. My co-workers know they can message me anytime and I’ll get back to them sooner than later; the other day I received a message around 10 PM for a quick correction after which I went to bed.

My day starts at around 8 after I wake up and have my coffee. I go over emails, various ticket queues, and Slack, looking for urgent issues. Then I write a bit in my journal, take a shower, and start working on my projects. By this point, most people are around to chat after the morning rush eased off a bit. Likewise, in terms of meetings, the day ends somewhere after 3 PM. I usually eat a late lunch and work into the evening on solo tasks. This is also a good time to write emails and follow-ups for the next day.

This experience is new, a combined result of COVID and changing positions at work. As I noted at the beginning, I’m still getting used to it. I wish the guilty feelings would go away. It’s not easy to let a habit go, one that goes back years, even decades at this point.

For some, this way of mixing personal life with work is bad for balance. I get that. However, to me, it seems this new way is benefiting me and my job. I get more time for myself because I can adjust my time slots to fit my needs. In turn, I feel more productive and I don’t mind working outside of work hours, even on weekends. Since what I do for work is similar to what I do for fun (writing about technology, asking people questions, learning to edit video content, etc.) it’s even easier to go back and forth between the two.

From LastPass to KeePassXC - a quick import/export guide. Recycled and refreshed from my old blog, now on the wiki

I updated my About page. I added a blurb about this website, mentioned my wiki, and cleaned up a little. But what I actually want to talk about is the “give me money” part.

First off, I don’t blog for money. I don’t write articles on my wiki for money, and I don’t plan to charge for video content (which is something I’m trying to do more of) either. While I put time and effort into everything I mentioned, I’m not interested in money in exchange.

What is more valuable to me, and has been throughout my technology quest for the last 8 years or so, is information. I love sharing what I know and I enjoy getting information from others. When you read something I wrote, you can comment and share your thoughts. Information in the form of interaction.

That said, money can express gratitude. Tipping. It’s even called gratuity. I have Liberapay and Ko-fi pages on the About page. Here’s the idea:

If you enjoy what you read, visit my sites often, and find them useful, you can express gratitude beyond simple interaction (I always love hearing from other folks on topics I’m passionate about, don’t you?). Leave me a tip. This is not sponsorship.

A tip does not mean I’m going to adjust my writing to someone’s liking because they tipped me. That would be payment, which I refuse to receive. Please don’t subscribe for a monthly donation either. That’s not a tip, that’s trusting me to have something worthwhile to say every month. I can assure you, I don’t. Thankfully, I do not need financial support. Please donate to other organizations and people who need this money more than I do. If at one point I will work on a project that needs support, I will let you know.

I tried to stick with Stripe and options that can leave you anonymous. PayPal, for example, will reveal your email address. I don’t need to know who you are if you don’t want to tell me.

…And that’s about it. I’ll step off my soap box now. Enjoy your stay!

I’ve made a couple of changes to my Wiki, and CaptainLog is overdue for an update. Since I’m trying to push myself to do more videos (to get practice doing them and to get over the issue of showing my face), I thought I’ll try to do just that.

It’s quick and potentially pretty boring, but hey, it’s something. I’m probably aware of the issues you’d notice right away. Other than that, video embedding with PeerTube works great and uploading the video was faster and easier than it will be on YouTube.

Well, here it is.

Hello @eludom@fosstodon.org this is JTR from Micro.blog, you should see this as JTR at my domain. And while I’m at it, I’ll experiment on some other willing folks who do not know they are willing yet: @joel@fosstodon.org @adamsdesk@fosstodon.org @jack@baty.social

Cleaning my RSS subscriptions. I forgot how nice it is to read personal blogs.