Wow, so much has happened since #6. Where do I begin? Should I try to recap my travels to Portland or to Atlanta for WordCamp or FinCon? Should I summarize all of the progress we’ve made on the addition to our home? Should I write about my recent upgrade to an M4 MacBook Pro? Or, do I focus on the updates that have come to the ActivityPub plugin that has me rethinking how I use my personal website (yet again)?
How about all of it?!
I’ve posted a few photos from Portland, though I have many more photos that I’ve taken on film that I just haven’t developed yet. This weekend I went to do exactly that and hit a roadblock. It would help if I had fresh chemicals around!
I’ve also commented on what happened at WordCamp and wrote some key takeaways from FinCon. So I won’t rehash any of that.
Instead, I’ll focus on the reminder that traveling (in general) and going to events has a positive impact on your outlook, your network, and your business. Not all of them can be directly measured or are reflected on the bottom row a spreadsheet – but you can feel them as you move forward. You may face a challenge and end up thinking of a company or person you met at an event that can help. In short; go to events.
The addition is moving along quickly now. This sort of project seems to be one where the beginning parts; planning, drawing, documenting, etc. are the slow parts. Then, once the work begins, it is difficult to keep up with.
Working from home affords me the ability to jog outside once or twice a day to snap a photo or two of the progress. I’m very happy that I’m not the one doing the work this time.
I know snags are inevitable. In fact, the forecast at the end of this week already looks like it will slow down progress some. But that is how these sorts of things go.
The new lighter, faster 14″ M4 Pro MacBook Pro is really a delight to use. I hit a snag or two when upgrading the software that was Intel-only to their Apple Silicon counterparts (especially Adobe) but other than just a few hiccups — the upgrade/migration process is so easy.
My previous MacBook Pro was no slouch but this one is a screamer. Building projects, running local LLMs, or just having literally every single app open doesn’t seem to phase it. Using it as a laptop, something I was never able to do with my previous computer, is also really fun. I can actually get a lot of work done and the battery life is great!
My last bit of equipment upgrading is going to be a Thunderbolt dock and at least one external SSD. I need my port situation to be a bit cleaner and I’m hoping a dock will free me up to just have a single wire running into the laptop. And, as of today, I’m not backing up using Time Machine so I cannot delay getting a new SSD.
The social media landscape is a mess! Part of me loves the messiness. It is an interesting time and lots of people are experimenting with many things. New platforms, new ideas, new ways of sharing. Gone are the days of only one or two social networks thriving.
But another part of me is frustrated. I don’t really know what I want to do with my personal blog as it relates to the social web. I have the ActivityPub plugin installed, and it works well to distribute my posts onto the fediverse as a first class citizen. But it isn’t (and likely never will be) perfect.
If you’re at all interested in your website joining the fediverse, I recommend giving the plugin a try and learning how it works. This isn’t cross-posting. It makes your website “an ActivityPub endpoint” so that the account is your website (and/or its authors). It is very cool and interesting.
The reason the ActivityPub plugin has me rethinking my personal blog use, is that I can begin to see a future where all of my favorites, boosts, quote posts, etc. live here on my website – rather than my Mastodon account. But for that I’d want to restructure my site’s design a bit (and likely my RSS feed). Of course, if I explore this at all I’ll write about it.
Regardless of how this phase of the social web shakes out I know I’ll be publishing here on my blog.
An edition of Diversions wouldn’t be complete without some links:
- Christoph Rauscher’s newsletter – I like how Christoph publishes his newsletter. Lovely.
- Live at Delia’s Third Happening – Site Nonsite live album recording.
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- Vault – By Commercial Type.
- Rex Brasher Field Notes – Lovely little film about Brasher’s work as well.
- Rachel Binx’s website – Go take a look.
- Apple Pay Plates – This is me buying Crocs or fanny packs.