Eight days with AirPods

AirPods

I’ve been using AirPods for about eight days. Feels great without the cord, and sounds good across lots of podcasts, music, and video. They stay in while smashing tickets, eating a meal, washing dishes, taking a walk, or riding a bus. I’ve also worn them successfully while lying in bed for a short period of time. They won’t stay in if I fall asleep, which I expected.

I’m usually around a power source, so I haven’t thought of battery life in depth. However, air travel is in my future,1 and I plan to leave my Sony MDR-7506 headphones at home to free up space in my backpack.

Looking at Apple’s product page, I haven’t used Siri with them yet. Perhaps I need to find some podcast episodes for very simple ideas. Suggestions welcome!2

A few times, I mentioned to Amy that wearing them makes me think of something from an episode of Black Mirror. Pretty trippy.

Overall, I dig them! 👍🏾

See also from my colleague, Paul Ciano — A Geek’s Best Friend: AirPods (Part 1), and Part 2.

  1. Team meetup! ↩
  2. I think there’s a few from Back To Work or Mac Power Users. ↩

Closed my Media Temple account

During my sabbatical last year, I completed one project where the end result was to close my Media Temple account. (It was a good run!) Going forward, I would be saving $22 per year. 💵

I haven’t thought about this very much since I completed the move, which is probably a good thing. 😎

  1. Disclosure: I’m a Community Guardian at Automattic, parent company of WordPress.com. I also use WordPress.com for my personal sites. ↩
  2. I didn’t realize Shaun Inman suspended sales and support for Fever and Mint in December 2016. ↩
  3. This is my personal FastMail referral link. ↩

My year in music – Last.fm

Last.fm published my listening report for 2017! I like it. A few thoughts:

  • The drop occurred during my sabbatical (February–April).
  • I rarely ❤️ tracks in the Last.fm app.
  • Listening Clock — 4:00–5:00 pm might be the period of time when I’m in the groove at work. 🕓🕔
  • Biggest Day — “You listened to 225 tracks on 20 June 2017.” This…seems wrong. I’ll consider cleaning this up by hand; I can delete scrobbles, mainly ones that occur at the same time.

I also appreciated the ability to download images of the various data modules. For posterity:

Broke my Kindle Keyboard

It lasted for about 2,388 days. I don’t know the exact date it arrived, but I added an entry in Day One after I broke it on April 6th, 2017 (during my sabbatical).

Annoyed with myself for breaking the screen of my Kindle. I rolled a bit on it.

While it isn’t cracked, per se, two thirds of the screen no longer update.

It’s been fun! 😁

bv-011418-001.jpg

AirPods, where are you?

Apple AirPods

I misplaced my AirPods for several hours. It was rough, especially since I bought them less than four days ago. 😁

Last night, I placed them in my messenger bag. I had ventured out to visit a friend, and requested a pickup from Lyft1 to get home. After I got home, I couldn’t find my AirPods. Neither could my friend, or the Lyft driver.

After four or five times looking through my “empty” messenger bag, I realized there were exterior side pockets. I rarely use them; my stainless steel water bottle won’t fit.

Conclusion: The AirPods case can fit in those exterior side pockets. 😊

P.S. I wrote this post on January 22nd, and changed the date to reflect the day this happened.

  1. Referral link. I earn $10 in ride credit if you use it for your first ride in Los Angeles. ↩

The Value of Privacy

Great post by Bruce Schneier from May 2006. I found a few highlights in my Instapaper account. Here’s one:

For if we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness. We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that — either now or in the uncertain future — patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. We lose our individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable.

 

TIL (Things 3) – Filter list by multiple tags

When viewing a list on all platforms (Mac, iPad, or iPhone), you can filter by more than one tag.

  • Mac: Press and hold Command (⌘), then click your desired tags.
  • iPhone: Filter by tag, select one tag, then return the same menu for the ability to check more tags.

The “Using Tags” support page by Cultured Code gave a handy example:

It’s useful […] if you want to see all your 🏷 Work to-dos that are also🏷 Important.

For Todoist, see “Filter for tasks by label“. As for Wunderlist, no joy.

The Hate Debate

Listened to a podcast episode titled, “The Hate Debate” (via Radiolab Presents: More Perfect by WNYC Studios). It was published on November 5th, 2017.

Should you be able to say and do whatever you want online? And if not, who should police this? More Perfect hosts a debate about online hate speech, fake news and whether the First Amendment needs an update for the digital age.

Definitely worth a listen.

Official runtime is about 36 minutes, and a bit less if you use Overcast with Smart Speed active. 😉

See also: Freedom of Speech at WordPress.com

Rad comeback on Ghost Valley 1

Tonight, Amy and I were playing Super Mario Kart on my Super NES Classic. Thanks to the Rewind feature, I recorded the end of a super close race with my iPhone.

I’m Koopa Troopa (top), and Amy is Toad (bottom). We joke often by saying, “Neck and neck!” This time, it was true. 😌

Sabbatical after five years at Automattic

On my five-year Automattic anniversary (February 3rd, 2017), I started my three-month paid sabbatical. (Such a rad benefit!)

It was strange not signing into work. Some preparation and unforeseen events kept me preoccupied, but overall, it was quite enjoyable.

Many thanks to Automattic for the opportunity, and all my teammates for handling things!

Now, I’ll share some notes and highlights because midnight (PST) is soon. 😊

Mind map

Months before it started, I created a mind map with MindNode of all the things I might want to do. I reviewed it from time to time, and it was easy to add new ideas.

I knew I wouldn’t get to it all, but at least I had no excuse to be bored.

Jury duty

I spent about four days in jury selection. While I was being questioned, I told the attorney I was a Happiness Engineer. I…was dismissed. 😆

Move

On the second day of jury duty, I got a phone call from our landlord. They had to move back into their house, which meant we had to be gone in two months.

Amy found a place fairly quickly (not far from where we were), so we didn’t need those two months, and the move went smoothly. Mad props to her!

KonMari Method

Since we were moving, and we had a few weeks, I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo, then reduced my stuff by a lot. I have more to do, but ridding myself of clothes I no longer wear or like (for example) made the move much easier.

To Be Continued

A bit more to come about my sabbatical over the coming days. Stay tuned!