I learned to read at a later age than most. For me that came around 8 years old, when I picked up basic books and began to understand the core concepts of reading from my mother. At 9 I was fully in it, so to speak, and reading books on my own. I have vivid memories of reading books under the sheets at night with a flashlight, staying up hours past my bedtime, wanting to just read one more page. That desire, to see where the story would go, along with a voracious appetitive to learn more, continued on for a period.
At one point my brother got a hold of a large volume of Mark Twain’s published writings, all bound in a single book. By memory, and of course that’s a faulty thing to trust. The book was around 2,000 pages. Once my brother finished with it, I picked up the task and devoured the book. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court was one such tale that stuck in my mind and inspired a similar book of my own decades later.
That desire to read continued. My mom found some reading software for elementary kids, and we bought it for our family computer. I spent countless hours clicking through the pages, reading tales of The Jungle Book, Little Women, and dozens more that escape me now. Those stories of wonder captured me; allowing a young kid to get lost in the worlds of someone else’s imagination.
Then something happened. It’s not that I stopped reading, but the habits of consuming information changed. Much of my reading got taken up by school work demands; things that I could find some interest in, but not the same level of joy. With few exceptions, The Hatchet being one; I didn’t enjoy reading something as a requirement. The moment I was told to consume something, I no longer wanted to do that; at the same time my brothers and I tinkered with the computer. At some point we understood the possibilities it offered and explored the world of America Online (I feel old). Once we realized we could get games, and explore the internet, the joy of reading took a back seat. There were, however, e a few standout examples of books that still held sway in my early teenage years; such as the many late nights reading Lord of the Rings under the covers.
Fast forward into my early twenties, and something shifted again. I was diving into my career, trying to understand the needs of building software, all that comes with it. My primary work, designing websites and software, required many hours of computer time, with a butt in the seat moving pixels on a screen. While my eyes and mouse stayed busy in building designs, my mind would often wander. That provided a place for something to fill the gap. At that time I discovered Audible. Growing up, we’d occasionally grab Books on Tape from the library; but the format didn’t have the same appeal anymore. Audible though, that recaptured my imagination. I started to grab books, mostly business or self-help, and poured through them. From there it was a natural expansion into biographies and history books; at some point I also made the shift back into fiction. Over the next decade I often found time to listen to a great book, and in many cases podcasts, while also working.
Now, at 33 years old, I’ve come full circle. There’s been, as with anything, some ebbs and flows, but on the whole I’m enjoying reading. My habit is costly, but fun. Sometimes offsetting with library holds helps, but more often than not I’m too excited and want to buy it right away, without waiting.
There’s a realization that struck me a few years back; namely that I cannot read all that I want to read in this lifetime, it’s just not possible. Instead, I have to be selective and put the time into books that matter to me. Sometimes those are religious books, other times self-help or business, other times great biographies or histories, or one of the many fiction categories I’ve grown to love. I have to content myself with knowing that the things I want to read will always be greater than the things I have read. It’s with that knowledge that I still buy more books than I can handle. You could say I’ve reached a place of acceptance, where I’m aware of that limitation, but find joy in the possible, in what I might read, could read.
That then, has evolved into a hobby I’ve been pursuing since 2019; trying to write the stories I want to read. This trip is new to me, and requires so much learning in every possible way, but at the end of the day I like to sit down and make characters do things that are fun and interesting, and hopefully surprising.
Books represent so much possibility. Often it can be the culmination of countless hours, or years, of thought and effort poured into a particular topic; that then becomes available for any of us to open and read.
Reading is a verb I like to apply to any form of books; audio, ebook, or physical copies. I don’t distinguish much, and personally I spend about 90% of my reading time through audio formats.
And so it continues. I look forward to seeing what types of adventures I can find for the coming years, what books pull me in and take me to new places, and what stories I can write to do the same for others. This reading thing is such a wonder, and I sometimes wonder if my delayed entry into the practice, starting my reading at 8 years old, helped to propel me forward. By the time I could read, I wanted nothing more than to do just that.
This has been a long time coming. Years ago someone asked me to compare the Roost versus Nexstand. I ignored the request, and went about my life. Since then I’ve had numerous occasions where the comparison came up. Since I have often worked in coffee shops, co-working spaces, or client onsite, there are opportunities for other folks to see my laptop stand.
If I had to guess, there have probably been as many as 10 times, but no less than 5, where someone asked what I was using for a laptop stand. In each of those cases I told them the name, and sometimes steered them toward buying Nexstand.
Until now. I’ve always used the Roost, and loved it. Recently, I purchased the Nexstand for a second laptop, and tried it out. In the future I plan to write a full review of the two, and compare in detail. However, I can give a quick summary.
If you’re truly short on cash, go with Nexstand. It does what you expect, and will put your laptop at the proper level for ergonomic reasons. Those should not be ignored. I can’t use a laptop for days on end without a stand, external mouse and keyboard.
If you have a little more money, and like something nicer, go with the Roost. The Roost stand, for almost twice the price, has small siliconish (maybe rubber) bits that grip the table top surface, and cradle your laptop. They’re not necessary, since there is nothing wrong with plastic, but they make a difference. You feel like you’re buying something that will take good care of your device. In addition, the Roost is smaller when folded up, probably 30% less volume.
TL;DR – Nexstand is fine, if you have more money and want something nicer, go with Roost.
I’ve been exploring a number of writing methods for fiction over the past year. My learning has been part doing, and part knowledge input. This has included diving into anumberof non-fiction books, tons ofgreat podcasts, articles, courses, and more. In addition, I’ve continued to read works of fiction. All of this input has led to an output, to the tune of a thousand words per day (six days a week).
Right now I’m working on the cover for a book, as well as pushing through another book. There’s so much to learn, and I enjoy this part of trying to figure out what it takes to get a book out.
Since September 2019 I’ve been engaged in the process of daily writing. This writing has been for offline projects, which someday will see the light online. It’s been long enough, so this is an update on a few fronts.
Work – 2020 was a crazy year for many of us, and despite all the chaos around I was able to get work done with a number of amazing colleagues. I’ve been busy with projects at XWP. There’s a lot I could write about there, but at a high level I’m support on projects as a Senior Product Designer, as well as a Senior Product Owner. I’m loving it! Thankful each day for an opportunity to work with a great company.
Fiction – Each day, six days a week, I sit down to write fiction or edit my fiction. I’ve now written manuscripts for four novels, a half dozen short stories, and am partway into writing a fifth novel. All of this has been a length learning process, but one which I’ve enjoyed along the way. I’m now at the point where I need to take my learnings and ship something, and that’s my goal for Q1 of 2021, to publish my first novel. Here’s to hoping for a great update in the near future on that front.
In September, 2019 I began writing a novel. One thousand words per day, six days per week. By Thanksgiving the manuscript was complete. The next day I started a second novel, and completed the manuscript this week.
I stuck to a plan suggested by Stephen King in On Writing, and have found it works well for me.
The process has been a joy for the past six months. No matter what’s going on in my life I know I’ll sit down by the end of the day and write a thousand words. Most days this takes me about twenty minutes.
Yesterday I picked up the first novel and started editing it. This was the first time I’d read it since November. For the editing process I exported from Ulysses > PDF > Apple Books, and began reading on my iPad Mini. Using a stylus I was able to cut out paragraphs, add a few notes here and there, and start reading. It was a lot of fun! Most of what I wrote needs to be removed or changed entirely, but there’s a nugget of a story that I’m coming to love.
To keep up with the original plan I also started writing a third book that I’ve been thinking about for a few months.
This is partially why I’ve been so silent here for the past few months, I’ve been investing a little time each day into larger projects, all of which I hope to share some day.
Bloomberg today shared a report that Apple may be considering opening up third party apps as the default options on the iPhone.
This would be a welcome change. There are a number of instances where I switch between the default Apple app and a competitor:
Pandora vs Apple Music vs Shopify
Google Maps vs Apple Maps
Gmail vs Apple Mail
Chrome (even though it has Safari rendering engine) vs Safari
Being able to set these as defaults connected to Siri, would be amazing. One simple example is pulling up an address and having it default to Google Maps.
This is of course all hearsay until Apple announces it, but I would welcome the change.
Writing for me has become a creative outflow to process my thoughts. Sometimes it means taking the time to write something out in order to better understand a thing and process it. At other times it means spending that time to write out the thing I wish I could read, that I wish someone else had written. Or, it means writing the thing I hope someone else hasn’t thought to read yet.
In the last few months I’ve picked up writing with a new interest. This has been writing of a more personal nature, which has been the reason for less writing here.
Writing has also become far more interesting when I have something I really want to share!
When it makes sense I’ll likely share more details.
I’ve found that looking forward to writing each day brings a sense of interest and fulfillment on a personal level, it’s a way for my brain to process and push out some of the thoughts that may hover around throughout the day.
My process for buying a new product is, from an outsider’s perspective, rather slow and uncertain. I often spend months thinking about a product and trying to figure out the best way to incorporate it into my personal or work life. My new office chair was no exception.
For six months I researched chair options, read reviews, watched videos, and scoured sites where various office chairs were highlighted.
Long story short, I landed on the Capisco Chair by HÅG. I may write about it more later, but I wanted to give a quick review of my experience one week in.
The first full day in the chair was a bit challenging. My legs and butt had to adjust to seeing in a chair in a more active upright position. Normally I slouch, or pull a foot up to sit under, and switch between a bunch of non conventional seating options. By the end of the first and second day I was sore and tired of sitting.
However, as the week progressed I found it got a bit easier to sit.
This chair forces you to sit straight up, and also means you’re sitting more directly on your butt. I basically can’t slouch anymore.
This is probably the first time in the three years of working from home that I’ve actually spent a week sitting with a decent ergonomic posture. For me that’s a good thing.
I’m hoping to write more about this as time progresses, especially since I found few detailed reviews on this chair during my own research.
I had a lovely chat today with Brian from WPSessions.com. While chatting we got on the topic of knowledge sharing, as that’s a large part of what he does each day.
One thing that strikes me, time and again, is how much insight each of us have on specific areas of interest. Over a lifetime we’ve learned things that have proven valuable in both our personal and professional lives. Those things eventually become so ingrained that they feel completely natural, and obvious.
However, for those who are starting out their journeys, these things are not obvious at all. I’ll use an example I’m more familiar with. Over the last decade I’ve spent a lot of time doing design of one type or another. As a part of that I’ve developed a number of frameworks or processes for how I get stuff done. That’s become second nature to me, as a result of learned habits, tons of reading, and watching how others do things.
When I try to break that down to share with someone else, it’s tempting to skip too many steps, and not actually be helpful.
What is often more helpful (I believe this was something I picked up from the Calm book), is sharing insights from something you’ve recently learned, as opposed to something you’ve known and graduated from years ago.
For anyone interested I’ll be sharing some insights on the design process I follow for some of the work I’ve been doing on WooCommerce. You can watch the talk for free at WooSesh, or read a similar article I posted on the topic.
TL;DR: My top recommendation for a sketching and drawing app is Linea Sketch. You can stop right now and download it, it’s worth every dollar. If you’re curious about my reasoning, or know that you have specific needs for the type of work you do, then read on and you can learn a bit more about my recommendations and see which app is the best match for you. I’m not paid by anyone to write these reviews. I’ve tried almost every drawing app out there because I use them weekly as part of my work. It’s partially fun to know what’s available, and partially fun to check every year and see if there’s a new app that’s going to be better. You can see some of my previous sketches on Dribbble, if you’re curious about what I actually create with these apps.
Over the last few years I’ve been writing about the best drawing apps for the iPad. You can read the two previous entries from 2017 and 2018.
For me these apps fit into a few categories, depending on what I’m in the mood for.
For my work as a Product Designer, I spend time designing software, and as part of that I’ll do a lot of the initial concept work on the iPad. I’ve found that I’m able to think better when I’m starting something with a pencil in hand (even if it’s an Apple Pencil), versus manipulating a mouse or a trackpad on a screen. So, for the purpose of this post I’ll be sharing about my favorite apps specific to creating initial designs for software.
If you want to learn more about my process as a Product Designer, I wrote twoposts walking through that.
The criteria being, how do these apps help me in my work. The one exception to this is when I create illustrations. The apps I use are sometimes the same, but the tools I’ll need are different. If you’re an illustrator, then my recommendation would change to use Procreate, as it’s become my favorite app for that. The apps I use do have some crossover between product design and illustration, but this review is just focused on the design side of things.
This is an amazing app for creating low fidelity sketches and designs. As I’ll share below, I only started using Procreate a few months ago because Linea Sketch wasn’t working with the beta of iPadOS. If I hadn’t been forced away from Linea, I’d still be using it exclusively for my work. Now that it’s been updated to work on iPadOS, I’ll be curious to see over the coming weeks if it still remains my top choice.
There are a few slight negatives with this app, which I’ll touch on now, but the positives usually outweigh the negatives. The two negatives are: the app only contains five layers per artboard, and you can’t increase the canvas size beyond the default size of your iPad screen size. With the type of work I do these issues can be annoying. There are times where it’d be nice to have up to 10 layers, as it allows you to be a bit more messy, and a bit less destructive. By destructive I mean, the moment you have to combine two layers to make room for another, you lose the separation that your artwork had. Sometimes you need that still, and you have no choice but to make a duplicate of the entire artwork, or just combine layers.
Having the canvas size limited to the size of your device means you’ll need to plan your brush size at the beginning. For example, if your design is of some software with a single screen interface, working with a larger brush size isn’t a problem. It will look great on the device, and you’ll have plenty of room to add details such as components and controls to the design. However if you decide you want to add more screens, such as additional pages for the software, or alternate states, you quickly run out of screen real estate in Linea. This means you need to resize the drawings you’ve done, losing fidelity and quality in the process. Also, by resizing you’re changing the width of the lines in your artwork, which will look strange when you try to find a new brush size to match them. These aren’t deal breakers, but they’re annoying enough times that I’ll hesitate now when deciding which app to start drawing with. If I think I have a lot of screens to create for my design, I’ll probably prefer Procreate because I can have more layers, and the canvas can be larger.
With that said, there’s a LOT to like about this app. If those two concerns aren’t an issue for you, I’d absolutely use it for your design work. The color palettes are helpful, the brushes are amazing, and the layer system is simple to understand and useful 90% of the time.
My one bonus wishlist item would be a watercolor brush, but that’s just being nitpicky. Adding a nice watercolor background to the screens I’m making helps them looking nicer when I’m sharing them around.
One thing that Linea does better then the others is something that’s a bit intangible. It’s delightful to use. The interface is simple, but obvious. While Procreate is unobtrusive, it’s not clear how everything works, and takes a while to learn. Linea is just simple enough that you can start drawing right away, and your iPad screen isn’t crowded with a bunch of unnecessary interface options or an interface that just feels too big (like Paper).
That extra layer of delight is what draws me to the app. I get this feeling when I open it, a feeling of “it’s time to create now, your canvas awaits”, that I don’t get with any other app.
In addition rotating artwork, selecting artwork, cutting and copying, duplicating, resizing, all work really well. Except for one bug I’ve encountered (where duplicated art is blurry, but copy+pasted art is not), I really like the tools for manipulating my drawings.
If you’re a developer, designer, product manager, or team lead, and you’re looking for a great iPad App to create some simple sketches and low fidelity designs, then use Linea Sketch. Full stop. If you have some extra time to learn Procreate, and know you’ll need additional layers and larger canvases, then I’d include it as your secondary option as a backup.
In the past I would have recommended Paper, but I’m hesitant to recommend it because Linea is just better in almost every regard (the one exception being the beautiful lines that Paper brushes create).
So, I personally use all three apps that I’m talking about today. Now that I can finally install Linea again, I’ll likely use it the majority of the time, Procreate will be a minority when I want larger canvases, and Paper 53 will be for those few times I’m still feeling nostalgic, or have an idea I want to make without the trouble of tweaking any settings (which is rare).
This is one of the most advanced pieces of software I’ve ever used on the iPad. It’s amazing in its breadth, especially since its simple interface hides a lot of complexity and power.
Its extra feature that gives me delight is the always on screen recording. I can export a video of my work when I’m done, and see the sped up process from start to finish of the whole drawing. Note: if you keep changing canvas sizes, like I do, you’ll probably find this feature less useful overall. Still, it’s been a delight to play with a few times.
Before this Summer I had only tried Procreate a few times, and mostly for illustration work. However, because I’d signed up for the iPadOS beta, my previous favorite entry (Linea Sketch) wasn’t working, so I had to switch to a new app. This forced me to learn more about Procreate, and actually come to appreciate the extra features it offers.
First and foremost this app is designed for illustration more than the design work I do. However, at the end of the day, it also does that well enough that I used it for several months with few complaints. I’m able to use layers, cut and paste, rotate, resize, etc. This did take a bit to learn, but is fine now. The part that was the most challenging for me, somewhat surprisingly so, was finding a few brushes that I liked. Procreate is known for its abundance of brushes within the app, as well as third party brushes you can purchase. It took me a while to finally get a few brushes that felt simple and flowed well without looking blurry.
So, in the brushes department the abundance of options available is actually its downfall, at least for my purposes.
The one other negative for me is the flow for cutting out part of the image, then moving it deleting it. This process feels slow and less intuitive than Linea or Paper. It’s fine, but it feels clunky and took a little while to get used to.
You’ve probably noticed I like to start with the negatives. That’s so I can get them out of the way. At the end of the day all of these apps really are pretty great though! So, on the positive sides the canvas resizing is probably my favorite feature. The fact that I can start prototyping, and expand my canvas as needed, is a huge deal. It means I don’t have to plan ahead with my brush sizes (as I do with other apps).
Layers also work really well with Procreate, and are such a valuable part of designing something, as they help with working non destructively while drawing on top of existing artwork.
Overall it’s sufficient enough that I can get my work done. Several parts of the interface feel clunky, and even choosing colors isn’t as ideal as I’d like. However, the canvas resizing, layers, and brushes (when I could finally find a few that worked for me) are good.
From an illustration perspective Procreate has become my favorite app, I trust the power of what I can create with it, and having more than just a single or a few layers is a big deal.
Overall I’d consider Procreate a great tool to have if larger canvas sizes are important, and you’re willing to put the time in to get comfortable with brushes. Also, be ready to watch a tutorial or two online about how to do basic things like copy+paste, work with layers, etc.
Above is an example of some work I made with Paper. Really love some of the beautiful designs I’ve been able to do. The downfall (as I’ll share below) is it can be a bit tedious to create something like this, because of its lack of layers and resizing/mirroring/rotating.
This app is extremely simple, and I used to love that. With one exception you can’t layer your artwork, you can’t rotate artwork or resize it, you can’t change the canvas size, and until recently you were extremely limited on brush sizes (that’s been resolved now, which I’m super happy with).
In addition the actual interface is far too large. The toolbar for brushes (at least on an iPad Pro) could be half its, freeing up needed space to actually show the canvas (this is one thing by the way that Linea Sketch solves perfectly, better than Procreate or Paper).
Despite these negatives, Paper has one thing going for it that has occasionally pulled me back. The actual work I create is almost always something I’m proud of. The brush options available are amazing. The watercolor is useful. The marker and pen lay down some of the most beautiful lines I’ve seen on an iPad App. I can’t quite figure out what it is, but something about the way the “ink” transfers to the screen makes it feel real and organic. It’s almost like it has a slight roughness and texture to it. This used to be my favorite app, and I rated as my top choice in the past.
Each app I rate has something it does for delight, and those intangibles really do add up in product design. With Linea is the beautiful toolbars, with Procreate its the screen recording, and with Paper its the lovely brushes.
If you want to just jump into an app and do some quick sketching, and know you won’t be able to tinker or change much, then Paper is amazing. Sometimes I’ve used that limitation to force myself to start sketching out a concept, knowing I couldn’t tinker or change things too much along the way. It’s the app that I started with, and it still has some of my favorite drawings in it.
If the team behind Paper could introduce true layers, and find a way to shrink the UI, I could see myself being pulled back into it. Resizing and rotating would help a lot as well.
A note on layers: I learned a while back that you can use faux layers, where the pen tool will draw on top of the artwork, and the marker tool will draw underneath. However, it’s destructive in that you can’t separate the layers later.
Additional notes
I’ve used almost every drawing app on the iPad, and will cycle through and recheck the most popular ones about once a year. Other than the three listed above, I just haven’t been able to get into any of the other apps. I’ve tried, multiple times, and not without a lot of energy. I wanted to like other apps, but so far none of them have been useful enough to make part of my design workflow.
Notes by Apple – This is an app that wants to be useful for drawing and sketching, but it’s just not good enough. I have tried it many times, but I don’t waste my time anymore. I just go with Linea Sketch.
Affinity Designer – This is a really powerful app, and I suspect it could replace Illustrator someday for me as desktop class software for graphic design. However, it’s not a drawing app, it’s an app for full on vector art and graphic design. For drawing and low fidelity sketching (which is my whole focus right in this article) I wouldn’t use it.
Adobe Illustrator Draw – This is one of those apps that I wanted to like. But it’s just not good enough for the things I need. Which is funny because I’m a huge fan of Adobe Illustrator for the Mac, I’ve used that for 15 years, and still use it for illustration and graphic design. But for the iPad it’s not good enough.
Concepts – This is an app with a great idea. Vector drawing, with a huge artboard. However, the brush navigation tool is weird. I’ve spent a long time trying to learn and navigate the app, but every time I just get frustrated and walk away. In addition, drawing feels clunky and slow, and the brushes don’t flow onto the page like the other apps. I think it’s because the app is vector, rendering your lines takes a few milliseconds longer than the other apps.
Adobe Fresco – I haven’t tried this one yet, but I’ve been keeping an eye on it and will give it a full review once it’s released. The thing that has my attention is the fresco ink, which stays wet and malleable. That’s new for an iPad app, and could make it worth using when it comes to illustration work, or even shading in screens for product design.
I believe inside all of us exists a desire to create. Most of the time we’re merely consumers, passively or actively. For those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to make time and space, we have an opportunity to use our abilities to add something to the world.
The more I slow down and pause on my desire to consume content from other people, the more my mind kicks around ideas for me to make and build things.
Whether it’s creating related to my work (being a product designer), building something physically, writing, baking, crafting, or a million other things; there exists this space where I want to get lost in the craft of making something. It’s exhausting, rewarding, and always challenging.
I shared some brief thoughts on buying a GORUCK GR2 previously. Having just taking a week long trip with it, I have a bit more to share.
For my trip I spent 2 days traveling, and six days in the hotel. Because I knew I could wash my clothes, I packed pretty lightly in that regard. That meant bringing swim trunks, shorts, and pants for bottoms. For tops I brought four t-shirts, a light sweater, and a light rain jacket. I wore the pants and shoes while traveling, and also packed sandals.
The shirts were easy to wash, along with underwear and socks.
The rest of my stuff in the bag was toiletries, laptop and iPad gear, and a few other minor things.
The bag worked well to fit it all, but still doesn’t quite feel like the perfect match. For one I also packed a GORUCK 10L bullet, which doesn’t pack down very well. That meant the overall weight of the bag included roughly eight pounds of backpacks.
While I love the look of the GORUCK Bullets, I can’t quite bring myself to like how their larger bags look or feel while traveling.
I intend to keep experimenting. Maybe I’ll find a much smaller EDC backpack for when I arrive, and keep the GR2 for the travel.
With the way flights work these days, having to fit a roller bag on the plane is getting more and more stressful. Having a single backpack means I can easily fit it overheard, or squeeze it into the area under my feet.
The more I think about it, the more I want to keep traveling with just a 15L Bullet. It would mean bringing a smaller laptop (15 inch MacBooks are too large), and possibly skipping the iPad altogether.
With the recent news about Automattic acquiring Tumblr, it’s got me thinking again on where and how I like sharing my thoughts online.
On Twitter I am happy to retweet, share links, and write short thoughts.
In times past I used Facebook for personal messages to friends and for posting pictures. I’ve mostly stopped now though, and will generally only post a few times a year to update family and friends that I rarely connect with.
On Instagram I posted faithfully for several years, sharing image updates of my family.
Now I’ve increasingly been looking for a place I can own, easily create content, and share for public and private consumption.
I’ve tried Tumblr, Path, WordPress, and the sites mentioned above. There’s no perfect solution for everything I want.
I’m inclined to try two WordPress sites. One for public, and another password protected for family and friends.
So far posting on the WordPress app on my phone feels the closest to what I’ve come to expect from a good social networking app.
Amidst all the chaos of life, it’s important to remember that kids really do grow up incredibly fast.
My son is six, and my daughter is two. I love watching them interact together as they hang. Even with the age difference they love being around each other.
I’m reminded that they have an opportunity to become closer to each other than almost any other humans, and the value of having a living sibling means so much throughout life. It’s fun to watch them, and to hear their laughter and play. They also fight a lot, but it’s starting to get balanced out.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to consume data that’s more ephemeral in nature. Headlines and social media sites are one of the worst ways to do this. My ideal would be a weekly cycle with a brush if articles that inform me on things that are happening around the world. The challenge is there’s a lot of news I just don’t want to hear. News that is negative, and which I have no way of resolving fits in that category.
I just signed up for Wired, $10 for a year for print and web. Looking forward to seeing if that is an improvement.
Some random thoughts on my experiences working remotely recently.
Most of the time I work from home, in an actual office room. We built this house a year ago, and I made sure to have a room set aside for work.
Recently though I’ve been having a hard time just being in my office. I think I’ve figured out what’s wrong. Having an office at home can be tricky. You spend most of your time there, and you’re alone. The environment matters a lot.
I’ve realized there’s a few things I need to fix to make the place more inviting. First, it needs to be brighter. Second, it’s time to put some things up on the wall. I listened to an interview recently by Tim Ferriss with Seth Godin. Seth mentioned that his absolute favorite place to work is his office. It has his artifacts and memorabilia from decades of work and living.
The place I go to work needs to be the most inviting place, a location that beckons creativity and interest.
I have a few tasks on my plate for that, and will update when there’s more to say.
After much debate I finally settled on buying the GORUCK GR2 34L in black. My goal has been to find one bag I could travel with, one that would fit my electronic gear, clothes, and other travel stuff.
I sold my GR1 21L and swapped up for the GR2. So far I’m not quite sure if it meets my needs.
Several folks online mentioned using a Bullet 10L or 15L to put inside of the 34L as a packing cube. I tried that, but it doesn’t leave much extra room. In fact, all of the zipper pouches inside the GR2 seem not as useful for what I prefer, since I put everything in packing cubes. I’d almost prefer if the GR2 only had two large areas, but without smaller zipper areas.
Since I want to travel with just one bag, but also want a smaller bag for EDC, I was hoping the Bullet would fit inside the GR2.
Travel gear
So far it all technically works, but not with enough room to really feel comfortable. I’m now debating whether to just buy a duffle bag for travel and keep my Bullet 15L with me at the same time, so just two bagging it.
Will share an update as I figure this out.
For context I travel with the following work gear:
15-Inch MacBook Pro + cords + roost stand + Magic Keyboard + Magic Mouse + mousepad + leather sleeve
12.9″ iPad Pro
Small kit bag – For all the non MBP cords
Sony bluetooth noise cancelling headphones
Fieldnotes Steno notebook
Optional: DSLR and accompanying lenses
Sometimes I scrap all the laptop accessories, but then I often regret it because they help me get into the flow of work with a real mouse and unattached keyboard with the monitor at an ergonomic height.
Pictured below:
While it’s more to carry, I definitely prefer when I can have my full setup with me. It allows me to mimic my home office, minus the larger external monitor.
Earlier today I was following up on a ticket from a colleague. He asked some clarifying questions on what was needed for the design. At first I thought of responding directly to the question with a written answer.
However, experience has taught me that a sketch often helps me with understanding the question better, helping me to clarify my answer, and often changing my own answer in the process.
The same thing happened today.
As I started to answer his question, and was sketching out a solution, I realize the answer I was about to write wasn’t actually correct, or wasn’t as easy as I thought.
Earlier today I was following up on a design related task. After writing up the paragraph response, I decided to take five minutes and sketch up a drawing of what I wrote. I then included that.
In the work I’ve done with design and development teams over the years I’ve found that a sketch will always help to clarify the conversation.
Sometimes my sketches are wrong, but usually they move the conversation forward by conveying meaning in a way that can more quickly bring about understanding.
