The feed of updates to Tangible Life
[!info] Series Note This post is my entry for July’s IndieWeb Carnival being hosted by Joe Crawford . Joe prompts: I invite you to consider what masks and cosplay mean and how they interact with identity, for you. For effectively my entire life, I’ve been said to be a bit of a chameleon. I don’t dress up in costumes or attend events or conventions for people that enjoy that lifestyle. I just put…
This post is my late entry for June’s IndieWeb Carnival being hosted by Alex Hsu . As June came and went, I’d thought a few times about what to write for this theme. Sometimes I love an IndieWeb Carnival theme in concept, but I just don’t have anything that really fits . Sure enough, on July 16th, the exact description of a “ no way!?” moment happened to me. During the day, my wife suggested we…
A year or two ago, I had this thought… What if I changed my placeholder Google Voice phone number to something cooler? The one I had was a 213 area code, but it ended in 5359. I realized that there was a slim chance that 788-5359 might be available in a random area code. When I typed in 788-5359, the one that popped up as available just so happened to be in the 786 area code. Now while I’m a born…
This post is my entry for May’s IndieWeb Carnival being hosted by Juhis . Dear Typesetting, While this love letter is to you, many folks reading this may not know you as well as I do, so I’ll start with a bit of explanation… Typesetting is the traditional craft of manually assembling individual metal or wood letters, punctuation marks, and spacing blocks to form words, paragraphs, and pages for…
This is an update post based on my 4-week experiment to reduce or shift my smartphone usage patterns. Week 3 was a bit frustrating. Not because I used my phone more; I was back to normal working from home and commutes, etc. usage. I just have struggled to use the pocket notebook. I’m not sure if my brain is just not wired to pull it out and start writing or if it’s that my ideas happen when I’m…
Thanks to Carl for this balance after the previous random list challenge. The sound of birds chirping. A great local diner. Seeing children play with one another effortlessly. Classic 90s hip-hop. A well-designed workspace. An unanticipated hug from my wife. New white sneakers. Crispy bacon. Reading a book in nature. The sound of waves hitting the shore and nothing else.
This is an update post based on my 4-week experiment to reduce or shift my smartphone usage patterns. Week 2 of this experiement was way less in the way of change. I traveled for work for a few days in the middle of last week. That offset one type of normal usage (Apple Maps for navigation) for another (watching Slow Horses on the plane and in the hotel room). Not being at home throws off my…
This is an update post based on my 4-week experiment to reduce or shift my smartphone usage patterns. During week one, I made tons of small adjustments. They all have contributed to less overall usage, but also shifts in how I use the phone and what pulls at my attention when I do. Blocking Apps Using Blank Spaces app , but not for the minimal list homescreen launcher feature. I’ve used this in…
How can I turn down a great blogger challenge!? Andrea , Manu and Carl have inspried me. Emails after I’ve decided not to buy something because I “ forgot something” in my cart. Soul-sucking complainers. Entitlement. 2 minute and 30 seconds music tracks being the norm. Hallmark holidays. Email addresses in email signatures. Drivers that turn hazards on when it starts to rain. All modern cars…
I enjoy reading on my Kobo Sage a lot. Before the Sage, I had the Libra H2O . That device went to my wife when she gifted me the Sage. The ability to carry around a huge stack of books on one thin device is so convenient. I still enjoy physical books, but outside of books I read in my home office, my reading occurs on the Kobo. Make it minimal The only thing I didn’t enjoy about the Kobo device…
Inspired by Kevin’s and Manu’s joint experiment, I’m going to run my own for the same timeframe. I won’t post Screen Time weekly reports, because well, they suck and I don’t feel like manually backing out the time spent in Maps during my commuting to schools for drop-offs, pickups, etc. I’ll review them to see if they offer anything insightful. I will share weekly updates on how I feel the tactics…
This post is my entry for February’s IndieWeb Carnival being hosted by Zachary Kai . I had to think about this one more than most IndieWeb Carnival topics. Most of my interests have almost default assumptions of intersection. The person that likes writing in Markdown, drinking pour-over coffee, and is into design and typography is almost an archetype in the world of IndieWeb. Stereotypical…
Derek Thompson, writing on his blog : Thinking benefits from a similar principle of “ time under tension.” It is the ability to sit patiently with a group of barely connected or disconnected ideas that allows a thinker to braid them together into something that is combinatorially new. This entire expanded essay is excellent. It covers several topics that often get covered separately (decline of…
This post is my entry for January’s IndieWeb Carnival being hosted by Jeremiah . January seems like a great time to have the theme of Meaning of Life for the carnival. After spending time reflecting as one calendar cycle completes and another inevitably begins, my brain is in a good place to have some thoughts on this topic. From conversations had, read and overheard, I’d say the vast majority of…
Once again, inspired by Carl , I’ll aim for the following this year: IN intention action listening writing reading simplifying removing creating OUT excuses algorithims adding inconsistency imposter syndrome
I updated my Uses page to capture changes since early 2025. The page still encompasses my current App Defaults as well. Recap of changes: Furniture & Accessories I haven’t used the Ugmonk Analog Weekly Kit almost at all. Considering removing it from use, or repurposing another way. Swapped out the leather deskmat for a new felt one. I liked the leather, but the smooth texture showed dust and…
While I abandoned monthly updates on my 2025 items , here’s the recap: No soda: Success. Haven’t had soda since 12/24/24. 16:8 fasting: Mixed; inconsistently practiced this in 2025. No phone in bed : Failed miserably. Read at night for a couple of months, then stopped completely and fell into YouTube videos before bed. Then read a ton during a week in Puerto Rico over Thanksgiving. Then came home…