Done this year (20180101Mo - 0106Sa)

[mdlbear]

So. First set of notes for 2018. I note, with mild amazement, that this is my seventh post this year. The probability of my keeping up that pace is pretty low, but I do intend to write more, and there will definitely be more than one a week going forward.

I'm also making big changes in my work habits (see Friday's Meta post in search of a keyword), and smaller but significant ones in the way I work. (Part of that is just because I can, now that I have a command-line posting client that works almost the way I want it to. It's a kludge at the moment, but that's fixable.) Come to think of it, I'm not making changes to my work habits as trying to get back to having them in the first place.

I'm not off to a great start -- I seem to have launched into writing this morning rather than practicing guitar first -- but it takes time to form habits and one can hope.

Lots and lots of links this week, and an estimate of how many boxes we have in the garage. (TL;DR: too many.)

Notes & links:

0101Mo
  & awake 3am (briefly), 5am; bathroom; cat cuddle until 6
  * up 6am; W=200; 
  @ Don Marti: some more random links
    Firefox 57 delays requests to tracking domains - mayhemer's blog 
    Docker, Inc is Dead
    Applying Open Practices — Kubernetes – Mozilla Open Innovation – Medium
    Google Maps’s Moat
  : C watched the Rose Parade re-run on KTLA.
  * used charm to archive all my posts.  Doesn't work very well.  Using charm -z only
    retrieves the first 4500 posts -- apparently there's a limit to the size of the list
    it can retrieve, and it doesn't know how to go past that (although, fortunately, it
    starts with the first post).  In interactive mode, you can use the s command to
    specify the start date; it then retrieves posts one-by-one instead of in batches of
    100.  You can specify an end date, but it appears to be ignored (possibly because it's
    looking for an exact match.  And the "ID" header is just an index, and has no relation
    to the post's URL. This is all, ultimately, fixable.
    -> the right thing would be to go back and store them all in git, one commit each,
       with the subject as the first line of the commit message.  Of course, one would
       then have the newer ones duplicating entries in Private, and the differences in
       filenames and metadata.
    -> of course, the real right thing would be to rip charm apart and make a
       command-line program that does the right thing.
  @ jdevelop/hslj: Haskell API for livejournal
  : Email from Amex re:
    ? C $50 AX Human Rights Watch -> transaction failed.  No idea why. -> fraud check.
  * Called Mom to wish her a happy new year.
  @ posted mdlbear | River: Onward to 2018
    
0102Tu
  * awake 5ish; dozed
  * Up 6:05; W=200;
  @ About > Press Releases > 2018-1-2 New Name | Chemical Heritage Foundation
    changing name to Science History Institute on 2/1
  @ Getting started with Kubernetes | Opensource.com
    The Illustrated Children's Guide to Kubernetes
  @ How to use PostgreSQL to streamline Python code | Opensource.com
  @ Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine: Laurie Wallmark, April Chu
    Labor of Lovelace: A Children’s Introduction to a Programming Giant | CHF
  @ Happy New Year- Welcome to Linux Journal 2.0! | Linux Journal YAY! [LWN]
  @ Replacing x86 firmware with Linux and Go [LWN.net] available for x230 (pretty
    much only at this point)
  @ SPDX License List | Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX) [LWN]
    -> worthwhile tagging everything that goes up to github
       Using SPDX | Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX)
  * leave by noon for appointment.
  * N: bring Rosie in for service.  Klein Honda Everett
  * 2pm Allergy clinic Dr Wanner.  3901 Hoyt Ave Everett  Founders Building lower level 
      2 hour appointment; no antihistamines for 2 days prior.
      -> 95% certain I'm not allergic; needs an amoxicillin challenge to be sure.
  * after appointment:   meet N at Klein Honda.  10611 Evergreen Way, Everett, WA 98204
  : on the way home I mentioned Elm, a language that compiles into Javascript, as
    something that I found interesting recently.  N asked me to explain, since she had no
    idea what "compiles" means.  So I explained the difference between compilers and
    interpreters, and she said that that's the first time anyone had explained how
    programming languages work in a way that made sense to her.  She said,
    " you're a better teacher than you think you are " -- which I allowed was likely.
  % 9pm sleepy
  * down 10:30
  
0103We 42nd Anniversary
  * up 5:30; W=201.4;
  @ Microsoft and GitHub team up to take Git virtual file system to macOS, Linux
  @ k88hudson/git-flight-rules: Flight rules for git when things go wrong
  @ emacs-news –
    @ Yes, Eshell is my main shell : emacs
    @ ch11ng/exwm: Emacs X Window Manager
      Home · ch11ng/exwm Wiki
    @ GNU Hyperbole - The Everyday Hypertextual Information Manager
    @ Introducing Elfeed, an Emacs Web Feed Reader « null program
  @ Mozilla releases tools and data for speech recognition [LWN.net]
  @ Announcing sources.debian.org [LWN.net]
  @ Federation in social networks [LWN.net]
  @ Reflecting on Haskell in 2017
    @ Making Movie Monad by David Lettier Haskell in the browser!
      faylang/fay: A proper subset of Haskell that compiles to JavaScript
    @ I Haskell a Git - Vaibhav Sagar reading and writing git blobs, in Haskell.
    @ Intero for Emacs Complete interactive development program for Haskell
  @ Scala on Android
  @ Android - HaskellWiki
  * Measurements around garage and shed.
    7' between propane tanks and vent; tank fence is ~3' deep
    10' gravel strip behind garage.
    Garage:  All measurements in terms of 1.5 ft^3 book boxes
    	     30 Shelves 3*5*2 boxes
    	     54 3 Rows btw workbench and shelves 3*6
	     54 4*3 + 4*5 + 22,
	     29 Books 5*2,8 in back,
	     20 Glenn etc
      	     21 Luggage 3 shelves*8’ (8' is 6-7 boxes)
	     ==
	     208 = 35 stacks 6 high, or 42 * 5 high -> 63 ft^2.
	     That doesn't include the bike, treadmill, power chair, tablesaw; workbench.
    -> we should get at least a 6*8 shed, preferably 8*8	     
  * pick up amoxicillin at Rite-Aid
  * Singing lesson.
  : C and V made hot-and-sour soup, and reorganized the snack (etc.) cabinet.
    * I made some snow pea beef because I'd said that I would, but as it turned out nobody
      but me was interested in it.
  * Down 10:45

0104Th
  * up 6:30; W=200.4; 
  @ Disney's FROZEN "Let It Go" + The Beatles "Let It Be" (MASHUP COVER VIDEO) by
    Steamfaerie - YouTube (thnidu)  Brilliant!
  & take advantage of the morning's leak to swap the sheets.
  * 2pm C freeland clinic for plumbing re-install
  * Celebrated our 42nd by going out with Naomi to Toby's.
  @ ​Major Linux redesign in the works to deal with Intel security flaw | ZDNet 
    ​How Linux is dealing with Meltdown and Spectre | ZDNet
    Report: All Intel Processors Made in the Last Decade Might Have a Massive Security
    Flaw [Updated] And just about everything else, too.  Access to kernel memory from
    user space using speculative execution.
  % 10:15ish sleepy

0105Fr Twelfth Night
  & awake 3:30; (not the cat this time) lay in bed but did not get back to sleep
  * up 5:30ish;
  * 8am:  start with 15 minutes of guitar. -> that worked.  Standard noodles, plus extra
    work on Gentle Arms of Eden because I keep fluffing the D-C transition.  Better.
  * 9:15 posted mdlbear | Meta post in search of a keyword - first block writing.
  * B1S2 (9:30) meta:  review/revise project list; post.
  * B1S3 have "make post" use .draft to find the entry if name not given.
  % I don't appear to have had a second coffee this morning.
    -> this is not necessarily a bad thing.
  * make sure there's enough money in the household account to cover everything including
    about $2k for Rosie.  N.B.  mortgage comes out of the Union Bank account.
  * B2S1 guitar.  Went into the bedroom and used Plink.
  * B2S2 more work on blogging/entry.make.  Add $PFX.  
  * go pick up Rosie. (moved from Th due to C's 2pm appointment yesterday)
    (TTTO "Go Tell Aunt Rosie", of course)
  & TJ's and Ivar's on the way back.
  % yawned a couple of times on the ferry.
  % 9:40 very sleepy.
  * down 10pm

0106Sa
  * Up 5:45; W=201.4;
  * 8:10 B1S1 guitar: Gentle Arms of Eden, QV, Riverheart.
  * 8:30 B1S2 install mod_musicindex on nova.  See projects:SysAdmin
    Started by editing the version on cygnus, and kept wondering why it wasn't working.
  * 10:30 B1S3 - :30 sidetracked looking at various patreon pages and the project list
    (of course, the 2-block schedule really only applies to Monday and Wednesday)
    SysAdmin: moved ljupdate to Honu/opt (from emacs); added Honu/local/emacs
  : Looks like Whitewood's backup disk is hosed.  It was making noises, and now can
    neither be mounted nor unmounted.
  @ The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (ysabetwordsmith)
  * 4:17 B2S2 guitar, about 25 minutes.  (B2S1 dropped)
  @ George Peckham's Vocal Master Class - YouTube (via our music teacher, Nancy Nolan)
    B2S3, such as it was, consisted mainly of tracking down and watching this video
  @ Internet protocols are changing | APNIC Blog [LWN]
  @ HarfBuzz brings professional typography to the desktop [LWN.net]
    Google Fonts 
    The League of Moveable Type
  @ The strange story of “Extended Random” – A Few Thoughts on Cryptographic
    Engineering [LWN]
  @ Goodbye, net neutrality—Ajit Pai’s FCC votes to allow blocking and throttling
  * made up menu and shopping list
  * move schedule, projects, goals, etc. to must.do
  * down 11

Comments

[danceswithlife]

Some people feel satisfaction when they follow a schedule of items with a from-thru fixed time, but another possibility is to have a check list of things to do in a day, and tick off each one when done, rather than do them at a specific time. Since both guitar and writing are creative efforts you want to include in your day, it may be that doing both is just as good as doing them at specific times. That leaves open the possibility of falling into a creative effort when your inclination guides you that way. YMMD.

[mdlbear]

Thanks; good suggestion. I do, in fact, have a list of projects, but it's huge; I want to manage my time better and avoid choice paralysis.

It's true that it's difficult to schedule creativity, but there are a lot of potential projects to choose from. Not all involve real creativity; mostly it's a matter of showing up in front of the keyboard and getting started.

[danceswithlife]

Not to presume, since we don't know each other well, but I believe you will, with the help of those who care about you, continue to make progress and become more content with your efforts. It might take a few tries (or a lot of tries--it takes me a lot of tries), but it's doable, and what you want feels right to you.
--Lola

[callibr8]

Indeterminately determined. Also, beginning the day with a brief post puts me in mind of Julia Cameron and "The Artist's Way" and the "morning pages" exercise.