What's your favorite Navidrome client for macOS? Navibeat looks pretty good.

I don't intend to self-host my email, but if I did, this might work: Stalwart Mail & Collaboration Server

It's a close call between my frustration with tangled cables and my hatred of Bluetooth.

I had a 7:00 AM appointment at the dentist. That's one way to start the day, I guess. At least my teeth are clean.

I may write more about it later, but I've been all-in with Bear recently and I can't tell you how calming it has been. It's the anti-Obsidian and that's a good thing.

My little SSG CMS has changed the way I feel about writing on this blog. I'm sure it's a reaction to Text File Fatigue. I've hit a wall with looking at everything I read and write via Emacs. I'm bored with it, so writing in this clean, simple little web UI is refreshing.

Speaking of subscriptions, subscription fatigue has a been a thing with me for a while. My rule now is that unless you're providing me with infrastructure, storage, or some other service that has ongoing costs for you, I'm not paying a subscription fee. An app that I download once and then just does what it does, all by itself, should not require a monthly payment from me. LLMs have gotten so good at creating useful, personal tools that the first thing I think when I see that an app has an unnecessary subscription is, "I guess I'll just make my own."

I'm back on my Mac and all-in with Bear again right now. Working on an Alfred workflow for daily notes and logging. So refreshing!

Well, it looks like I may have a use for that "extra" Xteink X4 I bought: Snail — The screen you can read in the sun. (via Espresso Shots 9-27-26)

Some of you may be disappointed to hear it, but I vibe-coded a CMS for this blog.

The tension between writing things easily using a computer vs writing them in one of my lovely notebooks never subsides and it is crazy-making.

Maybe there could be a document format that displays the author's (human-written) text, but has a hidden AI-generated version or summary. Sort of like how "Alt" text works for images. I'm so tired of reading LLM output, but future readers (and machines) could benefit from the tedious, exhaustive details. Just keep it out of my way until then.

I'm not sure if "Reduce & Simplify" means Emacs with a browser and file manager on Linux, or macOS with the default apps. I am fully on Linux now, but I keep side-eyeing the MacBook Air as if it will somehow rescue me.

Honestly, I'm burning out on computers and software. I'm addicted to farting around with things. I spent the weekend installing and using Lotus Agenda from, like, 1990. For a minute I considered trying to use it exclusively as my task/project manager for a month. I mean, it's cool and retro, but seriously? It's a terrible idea that swallowed a good bit of my weekend.

Today I woke up and dreaded opening Emacs. My whole life has been in Emacs for years and today I thought maybe I no longer wanted it there. I'm typing this in Emacs in a Markdown file created using a key binding that created, placed, and formatted the file. All in Emacs. I'll deploy this post the same way. Then I'll check my RSS feeds, Email, and Mastodon...all in Emacs. Then I'll review my tasks for the week. Also in Emacs. If I leave Emacs I'm screwed. At least for a while. Although, I wouldn't miss the incessant tinkering, the complex configuration, or the frustration with using it on different machines.

OK, now it's 10:20 am and I am sitting at my Mac after updating to macOS 27.2 developer beta and running all of my brew/mo/topgrade updates. Everything works except all the little scripts I made on Linux with no consideration of macOS. I've uninstalled everything I think I can live without. The MiniStack with both external drives has been formatted for Linux and is attached to the Beelink, so I've only got 500GB to work with. Emacs is working. It's really nice to use Apple Mail (never thought I'd say that) and BBEdit and I even opened Day One. I have some thinking to do.

Thankfully, my afternoon is booked so I won't be able to completely nuke my whole setup. I hope by the time I return that I've come to my senses and will switch back to the Linux machine and stop this nonsense. It's either that or I finish checking out on Apple.com with the M6 Mac Mini pre-order that I put in my cart this morning.

On most days I start a new daily note here, first thing in the morning, just in case there's something I want to write. I usually end up writing a sentence or two and that's it. Is it even worth the trouble?

Why am I always in such a hurry even though I'm not actually going anywhere?

Came pretty close this morning to setting up a Gemini server. That's not something I need right now. If I were to set one up, I'd probably start with Brennan's Creating a Blog in Gemini://

Are we ever going to tire of navel-gazing about algorithms and attention and "kids these days!". I hope so, because I'm tired of it.

Definitely going to buy one of these printers: OpenPrinter

I have ordered a Fitbit Air so I guess Google gets all my data now.

My goal is to only pay a monthly fee for services that provide something that I actually consume.

I would quit all social media, Mastodon included, except that it makes me feel unseen. I don't mind being alone, but I don't enjoy being invisible. On the other hand, maybe being invisible is better than being angry and distracted all the time.

It's my wife's birthday, so today will be spent doing everything and anything she wants to do, because I love her.

Spending nearly all day away from computers is good for me.

Using an LLM lets me over-complicate my workflow at unprecedented speeds.

I opened Obsidian this morning. Why? I dunno, really. Sometimes I just want to launch an app and see what it does without remembering bindings or updating packages or generally futzing the way I do with Emacs. Obsidian always makes a good first impression, but it quickly falls apart when I try to do the things that I've already dialed in with Emacs. I waste an hour or two and then forget about Obsidian for another few months.