Personal blog about software development, productivity, and technology
Join me as I reflect on my website and contemplate the path forward. In this brief teaser, get a glimpse of the upcoming changes as I re-evaluate my writing cadence, explore innovative content creation methods, and consider a much-needed redesign.
This article explores the use of ChatGPT and Whisper for blog writing. Learn the importance of grounding the model to ensure accuracy and avoid false information. I leverage Whisper's speech recognition system to provide text on the topic. By utilizing ChatGPT and making minor adjustments, read how I successfully generate a blog post.
Learn about Excalidraw's embedded scene feature, which allows you to save diagrams as PNG or SVG files while retaining the ability to modify them within Excalidraw. In this post, we'll explore how the embedded scene feature works, its benefits, and some potential gotchas to watch out for.
Read how I've organized and shared my Plex media library for my kids. I've restricted the library to age-appropriate content using Common Sense Media and labels. The process is automated with the flexibility for manual overrides.
Read about how I got my Chromecast devices (i.e., Google Nest Minis) to work with AirPlay and play audio streams.
Check out how I automatically maintain a Twitter list of all my following so that I can get daily summaries in Readwise Reader.
iOS applications for the most part end up being an entry point based on intent. Sometimes these tasks are isolated to a webpage (in the form of an application) and have no native iOS application. Read how we can turn a webpage into a basic iOS application to reduce friction and improve focus to handle intents.
Read about how I got my non-HomeKit devices working in HomeKit using Homebridge. This makes it easy to use Siri (via an Apple Watch) to control my smart devices.
Sometimes, you need a notification to do something when you tap on it like opening an app or running a shortcut. Unfortunately, the native 'Show Notification' in iOS Shortcuts is non-actionable and therefore lacking. Read about how to take advantage of actionable notifications in iOS Shortcuts.
Read about my journey in manual/passive data collection (in the manner of Quantified Self), and why I'm stopping measuring some things. Be intentional and measure what you want to be managed, the act of measuring isn't always free.
When working with branches, often you are focusing on a specific part of the codebase. Sometimes, a commit in a string of commits can cause failures elsewhere. Check out my script on bisecting the current branch and catch the commit that introduced the error.
The text you are looking for isn't in the current revision anymore, and so you'll have to dig through the Git history somehow, looking for when it was removed/introduced. Read about how I approached this from a CLI perspective, using a script to simplify these searches for me.
I really like how Raindrop.io handles highlights and bookmarking in general. As of the time of writing, there isn't any official solution to import Raindrop.io highlights into Readwise. Check out my script that bridges this gap until an official integration exists.
Read about my improvised solution that lets me enjoy having a smart speaker outside on my backyard patio for family and friends to enjoy.
Read how to use domain names instead for your containers during development. You'll have an easier time remembering the container names instead of their ports.
If you use two fonts in Google Docs often (i.e., like using mono fonts for code keywords) then read my approach to toggling between two fonts quickly using AppleScript on MacOS.
A post about releasing my new Ruby gem github_contributions! This is a tool that I've been using to track my GitHub contributions.
Read about how I use Habitica to help motivate my son (age 5) to complete his at-home physiotherapy.
If you have a gaming PC and are not taking advantage of Steam Remote Play, then you are missing out on some comfy gaming. Read about what Steam Remote Play is if you aren't familiar with it, as well as some additional tips to make the most of it.
Set up a hyper key and global hotkeys to quickly perform actions regardless of where you are. This will save you keystrokes and/or time spent moving the mouse cursor.
I tried Apple Watch's Walkie Talkie feature and found it pretty much useless compared to just calling someone. Read to find out the reasons behind my opinion, and why calling on the Apple Watch is just better overall.
Read about my document storage journey to understand the reasons why I'm moving from Evernote to Google Drive and ditching my Doxie Go for Genius Scan (a mobile scanner application). Included are steps for exporting out of Evernote and into Google Drive.
A quick tip - when working with a code base that has sleep/delays in it, where you want to stub them out.
A beginner in Rails might find themselves testing a model and not seeing the attributes reflecting the changes they would expect to see. Read about why this problem happens and how you can resolve it by reloading the model.
Read my opinion on using Active Support without Rails in Ruby-only projects. I think the benefits outweigh the cost. Active Support is a Ruby on Rails component that primarily extends the Ruby language providing, a richer experience to developers.
Read how I use cron to keep the RescueTime Application running. I was frustrated at RescueTime crashing and not recording data for a whole week.
I automated seven manual steps to mirror my iPhone to QuickTime using AppleScript. Read about some of the challenges I encountered and see the finalized script being trigged by Alfred.
If you're not one to exercise but you like to play games or watch shows/movies, make it a point to not sit still. Get a stationary bike, an inexpensive treadmill, or other types of exercise equipment and bundle what you want to do with physical activity.
In this post, I present two ways to wrap a shell command and keep its original name. This allows you to run additional statements before and after the execution of a command that you don't own.
In 2016, I made a New Year's resolution to blog about something of substance every month. In this post, I'll reflect on this five-year journey.
URL Schemes provide powerful ways to integrate applications together in the Apple Ecosystem. Notion, unfortunately, doesn't allow these URL Scheme links, as they are not 'valid' URLs. We can work around this by using a URL shortener to do some redirection.
Notion has recently released iOS widgets, however, they are limited in functionality. In this article, I present my custom Notion iOS widget that has a unique set of features. This widget is built using iOS Shortcuts, the Scriptable application, and a notion-py server.
Guided Access is a great feature in iOS that limits the device to only show a single application with customizable restrictions. The ease of enabling/disabling a Guided Access session, opens up a lot of easy use cases that you might want to try it.
Read how I orchestrate my daily review that consists of multiple applications using iOS Shortcuts. I create a notification-based workflow as a workaround to Shortcut's time limit when switching between applications.
In this post I revisit the topic of content consumption, adding new criteria to my selection process. I also discuss using a new tool (spoiler...it's Notion) to hold the content.
In this post, I demonstrate how to communicate work meetings to my family while working from home. I use a combination of software and hardware to accomplish an informative and automated solution that provides information about my availability to my family.
This is the fourth (and final) installment of a multi-part series on improving your home office. In this article, we talk about the miscellaneous aspects of your home office that I have not covered (lighting, organization, climate, and personalizations).
This is the third of a multi-part series on improving your home office. In this part, we talk about the input and output aspects of your home office (monitor, mouse/keyboard, audio, and video).
This is the second of a multi-part series on improving your home office. In this part, we talk about the physical aspects of your home office (space, desk, and chair).
Due to COVID-19 (Coronavirus), self-isolation brought on a wave of new people working from home, with varying states of home offices. This is the first of a multi-part series on improving your home office. In this part, we focus on evaluating your current setup.
Read about how I moved away from RSS Feeds to emails to consume content. I take advantage of newsletters and IFTTT to ensure that everything moved over to email.
There is a strong test culture for Rubyist using Rails. Caching can be rewarding in performance, yet can introduce cache complexities. Read about how I approach testing low-level caching.
I made the decision to consolidate all my Notion related projects into a single repository. The goal is to increase cohesion to allow the tools to better interact with each other. Read more about how I did it and why.
I want to present well-known tests that you can take to learn more about yourself from a personality perspective. For one hour of your time, you'll likely come away with a renewed and deeper understanding of who you are.
Learn how to quickly open Notion pages on your iOS device. See how I work around dynamic page links (e.g., current day/week) to open the correct pages from my Notion Weekly Template.
Introducing DCDC: a way to work with multiple Docker Compose projects locally with consistent service URLs, internal and external to the Docker network.
Building off of my previous Notion work using notion-py, I continue to adjust Notion to fit my needs. In this article, I want to explain how I've been taking my integrations with Notion to the next level.
I want to share how I integrate my Weekly Notion Setup with Google Assistant. It provides a ubiquitous way to interact with Notion. In particular, this solution opens up new ways to add notes and tasks in Notion via voice commands.
I want to share how I integrate my Weekly Notion Setup with Alfred. It provides a seamless interaction so that I minimize context switching.
My note taking, tasks, and self-organization tools and systems have evolved over the years, and I'm feeling pretty confident that Notion is a keeper. It has this incredible range of flexibility that allows you to mould it to fit your needs. I want to showcase how I use Notion to organize and manage my week.