It's been a while in the making, but I finally finished the move to Ghost [https://ghost.org] this past week. Earlier this year, I started to have a couple of issues with Kirby. And since I was a couple of versions behind, the thought of paying for another license and updating was feeling like a chore. When we added Ghost to People-First Jobs, I started to consider the idea of using a hosted service again. While using Digital Ocean was a good learning experience, I don't have a lot of time or i…
If you’ve read any of the newsletters I’ve sent in 2020, you know I have a lot of great things to say about Drew Coffman. He’s an awful smart chap, and seems to have that magical touch with whatever he makes (videos, podcasts, websites…). But he said something a few weeks back [https://twitter.com/DrewCoffman/status/1263944528005754881] that sat wrong with me. > A real bummer about not attending a church is that when you tell that to Christians they assume you’re a burnout. > What if you just…d…
A few years back, on a trip to see the Wildbit team in Philly, I had the chance to meet Jeff Sheldon in person. I believe it was at that time that he shared the beginnings of an idea for a paper-based productivity tool. Months and months later, Jeff finally shared that idea with the world. I’ve had the chance to try a few different versions of the cards he designed during those months, and I can say they were good from the start. If you like paper, and you enjoy uncomplicated ways to manage you…
On the theme of music, I loved this overview of the life and times of Weird Al. > As his name suggested, Weird Al’s comedy operated right at the hot spot of my childhood agonies: weirdness versus normalcy, insider versus outsider. What a Weird Al parody did was enact a tiny revolution. It took the whole glamorous architecture of American mainstream cool — Michael Jackson’s otherworldly moves, Madonna’s sexual taboos — and extracted all of the coolness. Into that void, Weird Al inserted the leas…
I've returned to using an iPad after a period of about five years. I don’t have any kind of a full-fledged review, but I do have a collection of thoughts that have come to mind in my usage. The keyboard I went inexpensive on this purchase, grabbing the base model of the new iPad. That means the Magic Keyboard was not an option. Instead, I purchased a Smart Keyboard and a Pencil. While most people in my circles are raving about the Magic Keyboard, I’ll say I like the cheaper option. When I fir…
When it comes to my pen & paper tools, I came to appreciate a blank canvas over the years. My preference is for a nice grid paper that lets me sketch out a layout that works for me. I’ve shared a few of these over the years. So when it comes time to get a new notebook, the Confidant from Baron Fig is usually my choice. I love the build quality and overall design of these notebooks. However, I have a slew of lesser quality notebooks, and I was determined at the start of the year to make use…
Switching gears here, I enjoyed this interview on the Crossway blog. They talk to Dane Ortlund, author of Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers [https://www.crossway.org/books/gentle-and-lowly-hcj/]. The post resonated with me because I’m the kind of person who needs constant reminders of God’s love and affection for his children. I’m the kind of Christian who finds it far too easy to envision God as a stern heavenly father who is constantly correcting his flock (guess…
Well, that escalated quickly. I went from disinterested when I first heard about Roam from Drew Coffman, to mildly curious when I saw a lot of chatter about it, to pretty sold on the idea. I’ve been using it consistently for a little over two weeks and I can see it’s likely a better tool for creating a Zettelkasten than any other product I've explored. But one aspect that has caught my attention is the community using the tool. It reminds me a little of the hype of Slack in its early days, or m…