“Lastly, if there’s anything I can convince you of: you should build a personal site, you should obsess over it, you should meticulously document it, and you should have quite a bit of fun doing so. (It’s worth it.)”
– Justin Duke
Text Is Best
While migrating old web articles I have published in/out of databases, there are standard formats that should be universal or compatible with others. The issue I am having is that when exporting old data from a .json formatted document, I run into a long string of data objects that are not readable. Other examples or .xml data that is difficult to convert as well.
All of that to say I am having difficulty migrating old writing into my Archives due to incompatible file formats. This is why I prefer .txt files that are easily readable and future-proofed. Meaning, the file will be compatible for generations after I am gone. But noooo…we have to use .json and .xml with no easy way to convert them.
So now I have to parse each article, cut/paste into the Archives one-by-one manually. There are 374 of these. Damn.
Systems Diagnostic Check 3.3
It is March 3 (3.3) and time for a check-in to see how I am responding to my own goals for the year so far. This year it is in a language I can understand, such as considering my body, mind, and soul as a personal operating system. So, how did I do last month? It isn’t going well.
“Version 2024″ type”: “node” “request”: “launch 2024.03.03”, “name”: “Launch Program”,”skipFiles”: “<nodeinternals>/“, “program”: “${workspaceFolder}\app.js”
Bug #1: Lack of physical fitness. To maximize system performance, I need to focus on the overall health of the personal operating system, and that is to stay physically fit. As of February 19th, I am no longer working, and that means I am no longer working outdoors and staying fit. And due to costs, I have dropped the Apple One Fitness+ plan as well. Two fails. Time to access the walking and yoga sub-routines. These should both be done daily. Yoga in the morning to stretch out, and purposeful walking for cardio. I may have to subscribe to a gym membership soon for inspiration and weight lifting.
Bug #2: Nutrition is a crucial component to all of this because I have not eaten well the last quarter of 2023. I should be mindful and seek healthier food options. But this hasn’t happened yet either. Some cooked meals at home, but mostly eat out. I think we are waiting on something to happen here that will assist in a lifestyle change. Frustrating.
Bug #3: Smoking pipe tobacco and drinking alcohol is inserting bad code into my system. I have not worked towards debugging those substances to enhance my personal system performance. In fact, these nasty bugs may be multiplying.
Each month, and the corresponding day, I will run a systems diagnostic and report on either the overall performance or list any bugs that may still need to be addressed.
Inputs
Other applications will be used to maintain the mental health of my personal operating system, such as:
Reading
Creative writing
Journaling
Meditation
Overall, these benchmarks for analyzing and evaluating overall performance will help maintain my personal operating system for years to come.
The next systems diagnostic check is scheduled for April 4 (4/4) and hopefully with better results.
Update On iPhone Experiment
I must have thought this was a good idea a year ago because I took the time to write it down and then promptly ignore it.
A few days ago I wrote that this was the time to minimize my iPhone usage as an experiment for a day and…it mostly worked.
Instead of a phone, I brought the Kindle to catch up on my reading while I waited to get a haircut. It was pleasant. Not so pleasant was the other people queued up had their phones out and watching videos, or talking loudly into them. How very annoying. I don’t do this even with my phone on me. Rude.
I encountered two setbacks during this experiment: I needed to send Nikki off via courier, but didn’t have the shipping label, nor access to the email with the label on it so I had to go back home, retrieve the phone and try again. Success, but annoyed.
The next time the phone was turned on was during Snappy Hour so I can keep my daily streak and keep my 365/2024 photo project going. I knew this going in and that was supposed to be my one exception.
Overall, I did not miss the phone nor feel compelled to reach for it out of muscle memory and that encourages me to try again soon, maybe try three days instead of one. And then five and then…
Memex
A better part of the day was spent looking for .xml files that contain my old blog posts. I managed to find posts from 2006-2010 and then migrate those to another website as a semi-permanent record. 2010-2023 coming as soon as I import them into the new archive database. I am missing five years worth from 2001-2005 due to the fact that I lost the 3.5″ floppy disk during a move and never copied or backed it up anywhere else.
💻
Ideally, I’d love to have everything in one place on this current website here but, the current server configuration would shit the bed and I don’t want to deal with that mess right now.
The Archives can be found by clicking the Archives link in the menu above this article or here: https://cjdarchives.website
Yeesh.
Just going through a few back up hard drives and re-discovering some past writings. I need to sort and get them all into one place instead of scattered. Yeesh, what a nightmare I’ve created.
Archived
This website has been relegated as a repository from all of my previous published articles from 2006-2023. I am missing five years worth from 2001-2005 due to the fact that I lost the 3.5″ floppy disk during a move and never copied or backed it up anywhere else. Damn. I need to do better at this.
The new website can be found at chrisdenbow.website
While you are here, take a look around inside the archives. Eventually I will have category and tag searches for finding specific articles.
Minimal iPhone Experiment
Apple has built-in software into their devices that allows you to track how much usage they get during a determined period of time and it is simply called ScreenTime. I noticed my screen time using the iPhone this past week was pretty high and I wondered what can I do about this. I’m addicted to my phone and you are too probably. I am going to do something I have wanted to try for a long time- put the iPhone in my desk drawer and leave it alone for a few days.
My Apple Watch has cellular capability to make/receive calls and text (just like Dick Tracy from the 1940’s!) check the mail, remind me to take my meds, take voice notes, listen to music and podcasts through my AirPods, record workouts, navigate while driving or walking, etc.
The only thing I would miss out on is taking photos, especially since I am on a 1-photo-a-day project with a specific camera. I may have to fire that phone up only ONCE a day just for this. The rest of the time I can carry a small camera with me.
Speaking of carrying things with me, instead of the iPhone I will bring a long a notebook, pen, e-reader, camera and wallet. Now, I know what you are thinking and…you’re right. Those are more cumbersome to carry than that large iPhone. But that isn’t the only goal, to minimize my everyday carry. The idea is to start weaning myself of the device dependency, remember?
I want to be present and engaged by my surroundings and people. Instead of watching a mindless show and scrolling on my phone, I can just find a better show to absorb without distraction. I’ll be able to read more books. I will do everything I should be doing when I am not otherwise having a phone in my face.
We went out for dinner tonight and it was difficult to hear her across the table because of the family of five sitting across the restaurant with their music, videos and games blaring as they ignore each other. Uh-uh, not me. No way.
This isn’t for everyone, I am doing this as an experiment if you recall. I don’t believe the general public could last one hour without their screens sucking their souls out. Nor do I make judgements. But I do recommend giving it a go, just to see if you can. Try it for an hour then increase it if you make it that far.
I hope I can make it that far.
Issues
Having multiple accounts should be nice and simple but leave it to me to complicate matters. Despite documenting all credentials and passwords, toggling back and forth has been frustrating. Yes, I blame myself, not .
Time Machine
“My camera is a Time Machine. A camera can be able to stop the world, in that we stop the world and then investigate what is there, carefully.”
-Hiroshi Sugimoto
Experiment
I want to do an experiment soon to see if I can go without my iPhone for one day. I think we are too dependent on this damned thing. I’ll set up some alternatives that I use daily and then monitor the data with Apple Screentime.
Process
In the early days in the life of this website, I never had a writing workflow. Each post was dumped from my brain to the keyboard with a shrug and a push of a button to send. Over time, I picked up tools such as converting all-in to the Apple ecosystem and accompanying software that manifested into a more thoughtful and organized work path.
First things first, I need ideas. These come from various input/output sources, such as reading frequently, or having multiple creative outlets. From here, ideas formulate and sometimes appear after connecting a string of previously consumed inputs/outputs to connect the dots. These go into a file on my personal database, Grey Matter. I’ll let them percolate in my brain for a bit, do some research, check sources and relax. Now I have something to write about.
These ideas generate from multiple inputs such as a book I am reading, RSS feeds from other’s personal websites, X, formerly known as Twitter, Substack, et al. Once I see an article I’d like to return to I will send it to Matter to read it later and delete the rest. Inside Matter, I will return to a saved article, highlight the interesting bits and add my notes and initial thoughts into the marginalia.
Now it is time to sit down to the MacBook Pro, open up the Ulysses writing software and draft an outline. That’s the skeleton of the article, so it’s time to flesh it out. Here’s where everything from the inputs, the outputs and my thoughts just start flowing into this massive article, not caring about grammar, spelling or formatting yet. Eventually, there are words and paragraphs that need to be paired down and culled. Inside Ulysses there are helpful tools that checks for grammatical mistakes, typos, punctuation, etc., and prompts me to make the needed changes before publishing the draft to my website.
Image 1: time to edit that down – Image 2: time to edit those mistakes
Now that the draft is in, it’s time to format and design of the article because it is a mixture of design, photography, etc. To get an over-all visual I run a new branch in Git that runs a new file with metadata such as title, author, date.
—
title: ${title}
date: “${date}”
type: ${type}
tags:
notoc: true
cover: cover.jpg
coversocial: social.jpg
path: /blog/${path}/
description: write description here
—
write content here
—
Afterward, the header image is added — always in black and white to maintain consistency and an overall clean look. Colors can be too distracting, I think.
Once the article is ready to post, I ensure whether to distribute as an article, to my newsletter subscribers and always out to RSS.
According to Ulysses, this article will take you almost two minutes to consume on your device, less if you are scanning, so you can hurry and go check your social feeds (lol.)
I was enjoying this playlist while editing this article: