You may think that actually physically dying from mere stress is impossible, but I might prove y’all wrong yet!

Choose Boring Technology by Dan McKinley is a great example of a kind of thought I enjoy. Boredom (in technology but I suspect also otherwise) is almost always a good thing.

A while ago on another blog of mine and while still using Evernote for all my notes I wrote an article about the benefits of using apps that are boring to you by now:

In most cases all of us have certain apps already in place for certain use cases. The idea here is to keep using the app and asking yourself if whatever is missing, is actually missing and then think about a change you actually would like to introduce to the current productivity system as a refactoring.

MicroMonday

This week’s MicroMonday goes to @val, who happens to live in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

She’s a great follow, if you like

  • slice of life type posts (with lots of photos)
  • interesting languages
  • (depending on where you’re from and what you have been exposed to) foreign cultures
Task Management

Two promising new apps:

Sometime is an app for recurring tasks and reminders that seems to be what I have (ab)used Due for. I just started using it, but the idea is great.

TeuxDeux is a pretty, minimalistic todo list manager. This year I cut down hard on what I’d call “metawork”, that is work to organize other work and abandoned my heavier task-management systems I had set up in Things or OmniFocus. I’m still using their free trial, but I love their clean design and can see myself using this going forward. I love their approach of doing business and I think that their Instagram is actually funny.

I wonder if there are people who feel excluded, because my no-frills daily dog pics do not include an alt text… is this something I should consider? I’d like to make this little habit of mine more interesting in the new year, I think. Maybe this could be part of it?

Christmas is just hard on me. Every year I feel I have to steel myself, get ready for battle. I am not alone in this. I wonder what a calm and relaxed Christmas even would look like.

In any case: I’m trying to stay empathetic (or sympathetic if I can’t put myself in the other’s shoes), forgiving and try to get skillfully through the hell that is the last part of the year. As best as I can, I try to not make it about me and my introvert tendencies. This time is a gift for others.

But between us: I’m already looking forward to January, tbh.

I wonder if Albums will ever come out with its desktop version. Would be an instabuy for me.

It’s just the best feeling strolling to our small city’s center, the dog is in a good mood, I’m in a good mood. People are laughing. Walks like this are just the best. I don’t even mind the cold. 🐶

SideProject

Good that my side project is done in typescript. Since learning and using PHP everyday for my current job I really have forgotten a lot…

Walked with the dog 2km on a winter trail half an hour from home. Started around 15:30, it was already dark. My headlamp stopped working almost immediately. Thanks to the little flashlight on my phone, Napu and I were still able to walk the trail.

I don’t know why, but there is just something so comforting listening to TotalPartyKill’s Dark Sun campaign. The og actual play D&D podcast party that started in 2014 is still one of my favorites.

MicroMonday

For this week’s MicroMonday, I recommend that you follow writer and Buddhist @patrickrhone. I have followed him a long time and he still manages to remind me to be mindful, to stay grounded and at the same time connected to the modern world.