Asides
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Finished my first ever Sherlock Holmes book — The Hound of Baskervilles. A fun read. The attention to detail is hilarious. I will likely read another in a few months. Recommendations welcome. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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I haven’t been blogging as much. Spending a lot of free time fishing. And that is totally OK.
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Midway through a biography of Leonardo Da Vinci and I’m convinced if he were alive today he wouldn’t have a GitHub account. All local private repos. All unfinished. All brilliant.
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Whenever a beta is released for a major piece of my software stack I’m tempted to update. I factor in what I’m working on and whether or not it would effect my productivity. If it would, I don’t update. If not, I roll with it and report bugs as I can.
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Demoed the React app I’ve been working on to our team today. It worked! Pretty excited about what we’re making with this. Fun project. Looking forward, though, to someone taking it off my hands soon. (Could it be you?)
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The bear I mentioned. Turns out (after closer inspection and research) it is likely a ~400lb male black bear. At one point, I was about 10′ from him.
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🔉 Listening to this week’s Micro Monday. My ears were burning! 🙂
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Finished Watchers by Dean Koontz. ⭐⭐⭐ – Odd. Seemed like two stories in one and oversimplified narrative. But, it had a few tense moments.
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TIL that Windows 10 has a “Game Bar” (intended for gamers) that makes it really easy to record my screen.
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Humans have set foot on the Moon, nearly eradicated Polio, measured supernovae of distant stars… yet the traffic lane merge baffles them.
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Pixlr – A free photo editor. Nice to have in a pinch. Played around with it. Works great. /via Jeremy Keith.
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WWDC is just around the corner. I usually write up my wish list and predictions but this year I’m just going to stick with my questions.
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Yesterday’s catch. Went for a hike with my nephews and I needed to keep my cool Uncle status intact so I caught this snapping turtle. Photo credit: Ethan.
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I’m giving Microsoft’s new Chromium-based Edge Insider browser a week of being my default. Immediately miss Firefox’s Containers feature. It may be a feature I simply can’t live without.
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For the record, I would buy a foldable device.
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My happy place lately. Learning to fish is more nuanced than first glance but I’ve been enjoying every frustrating lesson.
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Indie web question: Any recommendations for a better WordPress plugin for sending webmentions? I’m using the Webmention plugin but it doesn’t seem to send a comprehensive webmention. See this. Or, am I doing something incorrectly?
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I love watching YouTube videos to learn from people that have thousands of hours more experience than I do. I often find it isn’t what they are saying or explaining that I learn from the most – it is from watching what they are doing.
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Apple’s position in this Spotify spat doesn’t seem very secure. They immediately attack Spotify’s character rather than the specific accusations? I was hoping this would move the needle. I don’t think it is going to unless Apple is forced.
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Teams that build products for multiple platforms (web, iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux) should consider switching their browsers/platform choice each year if possible. It can be eye opening.
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I’m contemplating a move back to Mac within the next year or so (solely dependent on what Apple hardware and software happens in 2019). But I’d feel like I’m abandoning Windows right when things are improving so much. Inner turmoil.
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I’ll have more to say soon, but we’re accepting requests for invites to Unmark – an open source to-do app for bookmarks. We’re slowly sending out invitations and are looking for people that collect/share a lot of links and willing to provide feedback.
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Shopping for fishing gear. 🎣
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I’ve been giving Brave a try. I converted some Bitcoin into BAT (Brave’s Attention Token) so that I can “tip” various sites. Interesting model though I can see why the ad replacement technique is controversial (if not downright criminal?). Looking forward to seeing where this evolves.
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There are several single posts in my blog’s archive that get well over 1,000 hits per month. I wish all of these people became subscribers or said just hello.
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In 2017 I was grateful to receive a guided tour of Scranton Craftsmen – an interesting steel and concrete fabrication business. I learned a lot.
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Teams are sleeping on the Sixers.
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If I were to make a thing would you like to sign up for a thing? I need beta testers. If you’d like to help send an email to colin [at] cdevroe.com
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I remember when software didn’t require an internet connection.
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I think I’m starting to miss Mac.
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Lately it seems I start my workday with intentions to make progress on a task that I may not actually get to work on at all. I hope to buck this trend next week.
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Super impressed with Notion so far. I’ve imported my Simplenotes, Trello Boards, spreadsheets, and Pinterest. One tool for all of this. Consider using this link to sign up as I’ll get credit.
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TIL Mark Hamill signs his tweets Mar🐪
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I’m pretty amazed that the Apple Watch business is already larger than the iPod ever was. However, I do think Series 4 or 5 will need to be another leapfrog product to stay ahead of other watches.
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Taking an axe to my subscriptions, follows, etc. Going to start 2019 relatively fresh.
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I would be willing to forgo any new software or hardware in 2019 if all efforts were devoted to increasing speed, battery life, and interoperability of everything we already have.
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I’m very thankful when app updates have real release notes.
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On a social media break through the end of the year.
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So many celebrities are starting podcasts. And many of them seem to be therapy sessions for both host and guest. Og podcasters, stick with it. They will suck up a lot of the ad oxygen for a bit but the fad will pass.
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Finished Outbreak by Robin Cook. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good: Fast paced, easy read, female heroine. Meh: Predictable, love subplot, a few overt racist terms.
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I don’t have analytics on my blog. So I don’t know if one topic or post has done better than another. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I blog for me.
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1Password gave me a 1-year subscription that I was able to give away for free. This is such a nice way for paid services to spread to people that may never give them a try. Go beyond gifting and enable giving.
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New music Friday kinda bleh this week. That Billie Eilish joint for Apple tho 👌
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I was informed by a friend on Facebook that the book I just finished, Flatland, is available as a movie on YouTube. And it’s trippy.
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Finished Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott. ⭐⭐⭐ A clear commentary on social, political, and spiritual topics. Aside from that I enjoyed how deep the author explained the world they created.
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I’ve been very happy hosting my blog on a WordPress Droplet on Digital Ocean since April. I’d like to move The Watercolor Gallery now. Does anyone know if I should use the same Droplet or better to create a new one?
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Trello’s emoji autocomplete prioritizes :thumbsup: before :thumbsdown: (even though not alphabetically correct) due to its higher usage. In Microsoft Teams they don’t. Sometimes it is the small things that make a huge difference in software UX design.
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Slow internet is somehow worse than no internet.
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The new Sticky Notes app on Windows 10 is actually very nice.
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Is there a good Windows 10 email client that allows you to keep notes for yourself on each email thread?