I am now using three different blogging tools. Each uniquely suited for it intended use. Status.lol is for short, pithy updates. Micro.blog is for short and slightly long posts. Blot is ideal for longer form writing.

Been reading Peanut Jones to the kids. Been a while since both kids have been really into a book every single night. Rob Biddulph is a staple in our family since we found his book Blown Away on holiday in Cyprus 6 years ago.

🥶 You know shit has hit the fan when you read the words ‘Polar Vortex’, ‘Frostbite’, ‘Frostnip(?)’ and -30°C. I don’t even know what that means. What does -30°C even mean Steve?

Moving to Substack

It did pain me to do it but I moved my In Abeyance newsletter over to Substack from Buttondown. My main reason for the move is the constant spam that I was getting and having to manage.

I get the value of something like Substack now.

They have also managed to add some pretty nice features to the newsletter itself. Having the ability to start a discussion thread with everyone subscribed (and that is connected to the app) is an awesome feature. It’s a discussion thread and newsletter manager all wrapped into one.

Another great little feature is how the software generates these little thumbnails that you can share:

So if you’re interested in the built environment and want something concise and punchy, subscribe at Stet.Substack.com.

One of the joys of Twitter imploding is the plethora of apps being developed for Mastodon. My new favourite (probably because the icon is so cute) is Mammoth. Designing the Mammoth Icon shows what it takes to create a great icon.

Shovelled my first bit of snow yesterday. It was a token gesture (there really wasn’t that much snow, but thought I would do my civic duty). Winter will be over in a month and then we get to unlocking season. Kids still haven’t had a chance to use their ski sleds.

Actions Calendar 2023

This one is a little late but there is a story there.

I knew I needed to have something ready to go for this year. A way to track my No-S Diet and also how often I worked on all things Stet.Build. The aim being to rebuild habits that I developed several years ago and that have no fallen away from me because relocating your life to a whole new country is major disruption.

I did most of the design work, but then lost steam when I bought a bunch of calendars from Muji. My thought process was that I won’t need this particular calendar anymore. The Muji ones were more than enough. And yet I found out that they were not enough. They allow me to see the month, but this Actions Calendar gives me so much more information and appreciation of my goals across 12 months.

Available in 2 printer friendly configurations. The Letter edition (for all the North Americans) and the A4 edition (for the rest of the world?). I’ve included a small ‘manual’ in there to describe the design decisions behind the calendar.

I’m also using Gumroad to distribute all things digital come from the site.

Download 2023 Actions Calendar ➔

📷 I stumbled on this video that was talking about trying to come up with a cheaper version of an every day camera. I’ve been on the hunt for something like this for a while. My original thinking has been that it should be a brand new camera body…but actually I was thinking about this in the wrong way. See my issue was a question of form factor.

While my Sony NEX-6 camera is ok (no Wi-Fi and a decade old sensor), I had some decent lenses but they are big. That bulk ultimately meant that I haven’t used the camera as much as I would have liked. So I decided to buy a cheap-ish pancake lens and see if this develops into a habit

So I ended up buying Toot! This little detail highlighting interactions is wonderful. If you replied and if you got replies. I honestly can’t wait to see what the developer community creates in the social space over the coming years.

I was wrong. The best Mastodon app, by a country mile is a web app. Elk is the way. For the the Micro.bloggers out there it has preferences to hide boosts, favourites and follower count. And the fact that it’s a web app, means features are added regularly.

By far one of the funnest app icon selection ever. Ice Cubes for Mastodon kills it in this aspect. A little choppy on the scrolling on the iPad though - hopefully will be sorted in an update.

The only aspect of Twitter I ‘miss’ is the feature to have a link in the text get supplemented with a thumbnail/link extracting the most prominent image from the link. It’s not always perfect but when it gets the combination right it’s a nice feature.

Finally the new Mac mini is out. After going on nearly 3 years without a Mac, can’t wait to be back.

🖋️ I received my Sailor pen today. Greedily I tore the box open, expecting to see a gleaming ivory pen. Instead I was presented with the orange version. Clearly an error at the factory (it was labelled Ivory on the cardboard sleeve). Will likely push everything back another month.

Six

Every year now I am reminded of when I rediscovered my love for writing on the web again. On the web I write about the things that might be mundane for others but are important to me. Capturing my zeitgeist.

Sometimes what I write resonates with other. Most of the time it doesn’t. Those that do, I take as a cherry on the top of an ice cream masterpiece. It’s nice, but not the main treat.1

I work through certain things. I write about ideas across various topics that are important to me. I keep adding to the list and I keep posting away. Now starting my 6th year it’s just as exciting to write online as it’s ever been.

  1. If I learn something from the interaction then it’s more than a cherry, it’s a chocolate flake as well. Thankfully on Micro.blog I tend not to get any bad or annoying interactions. [return]

It’s really nice to see a bunch of people I would usually not follow on Twitter making their way over to Mastodon. Still wondering where to put everyone. Feedbin, Micro.blog or dedicated app. The first is best for reading. The second and third is great for replying and interacting.

The new Sony Walkman music player looks amazing. Digital music has somewhat ruined my appreciation of albums. Maybe a dedicated player would help me on the road to recovery - music was always such a big part of my life, much less so for the last decade.

Some weird-ass sculptures here in Toronto. Ah-thank-you. I’m here all week.

A short walk to the bakery this afternoon. Sun outside. Snow on the ground. No need for the snow boots, my trusty Timberland Chelsea boots are more than up to the task. It’s taken me years but I’m edging closer to a wardrobe that covers most things.

It’s been soo damn long that something in the theatre space has gotten through to me, but this Elephant and Piggie play is right up my alley. The Mo Willems books have been a revalation. Zane does the reading, with Ryan following intently along. And they both can’t stop laughing.

I’ve never watch a game of ‘football’ in my life, but this acapella NFL theme has certainly piqued my interest - with a song like that, what follows is bound to be epic right.

I have been eying up my grail pen, the Ivory Sailor Pro Gear Classic, for years now. My black Sailor Pro Gear Slim has served me well for nearly a decade, but I needed a companion that offered a ‘bigger’ experience.

I finally pulled the trigger on one of these. I originally thought these were standard models, but seems Sailor has pulled production on these (maybe ready for a re-release with the new logo - total speculation on my side).

With this purchase, I think I’m pretty much done on the expensive pen side of things. I have the pens that give me the full range of experience I am looking for. Should arrive next week…

The running joke is that I have had harder summers in Denmark than what is currently passing for winter in Canada. The scary thing of course is that things are going to get much, much worse before it gets any better. Global warming is here to stay and it won’t matter how much we individually try. We’re going to need to technology ourselves out of this hole.

First proper week on my No S-diet. The hardest part for me has always been the evenings. Specifically seconds or snacking after dinner. This has now been replaced with a tea ritual and plenty of water. It’s also super important to have some simple go to meals ready to be heated or cooked.

Fantastic trailer of the new Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy movie, You People. Loved the music, love the comedic tones. What the hell does Eddie Murphy do to continue to look that young? Someone please, please tell me.

Since I arrived in Canada, I have heard whispers. Wait for winter to set in. Starts around the end of November and goes through till April. Except this year is clearly very different. Rather than snow we have rain. Climate change is a real bitch and its only going to get worse.

Saw an elderly gentleman, walking down the street. Fedora, raincoat, long umbrella. Saw litter on the ground and picked it up, threw it in the trash and continued his stroll. Taking pride in his neighbourhood.

Planning & Recording

This winter break has been about letting my mind wander around. For the majority of 2022, it has been working on overdrive. My energy levels were mostly depleted and I was just mentally tired. It take a good week for a lot of the residue to leave your mind and for you to begin letting ideas and thoughts back in.

In order to quiet down a number of voices in my head I was able to write my hopes and aspirations for some of my key areas of interest. Some are physical items, some are trying to learn new skills. Part of the reason for being so specific is to focus the mind from distraction as the year goes on. The other part is to strike things off as I go forward as a reminder of what was achieved.

Whenever you’re feeling a little blue…then you should definitely spend 2 minutes watching Mufasa getting pumped. A happier video you would be hard pressed to find.

Falling In & Out of Habits

Falling out of habits is very easy. Falling back into the habit is harder.

  1. Micro habits are the start of establishing macro habits.
  2. Stacking these habits is an important trick to use at the start.
  3. Making habits discoverable to carry out the habit is the last piece of the domino.
  4. Establishing a time and a place.

Journaling and Writing

This is an important way of settling my mind. In 2022 I fell out of the habit, jumping back sporadically. So I’ve decided to stack, time and place. Stack the habit when I make my coffee in the morning and tea in the evening. My journal and pen are located in my kitchen drawer.

Reading

I completely fell off the wagon. Part of this is the habit, but equally part of this was having a stack of books that I could jump into. I made a list of books that I have bought that I would like to get stuck into at some point this year. 9 -12 I own and about 3 would be new.

Kindle is now located next to my bed. The aim is to read for 30 minutes a day.

Writing

Writing for Stet.Build every day is the other activity that settles my mind. This break I was able to map out Season 5 of In Abeyance while also looking to starting work on volume 2 of the Built Environment Compendium.

The writing will be a daily morning activity, with the achievable aim of writing 100 words. This is the most productive hour of my day.

Designing

I’ve found that what little energy I have in the evenings has generally been squandered on aimless internet-ing and the occasional show. The one activity that I have been able to carry out (on those occasions where I could yank myself away from the internet), has been designing. Books. Websites. Whatever.

It was inevitable really. Once a virus gets in the house, its hard to avoid it. Zane gave it to Yasmine and Ryan. I was the last one standing…pfff not anymore.

So I finally broke down and got myself one of these @kaa. I have no idea what to do with it at this stage. Maybe a link to all my places on the internet?

This year I have been preparing myself for the coming year by writing about all the things. Turns out I have around 14 different channels in my life (outside work). This all contributes to much clutter of the mind. Each channel asks for a certain amount of time and space in my mind.

I have only found one way to being able to quiet the sound, which is by writing about each of the channels and letting my mind wonder around in this channel. One of the unexpected benefits of this approach is that the brain starts to make connections previously that had not been previously made.