This is the post I was headed for last night before I got distracted by "the work." (That's sarcasm, btw.)

Anyway, I saw this post over at the Mac Power Users forum about the "optimization/procrastination trap," and I wanted to comment on it. I lurk in that forum, and anything I have to say about that post belongs in the marmot, not in Sparky's salon.

I watched the video at 1.5x speed because it's about that much longer than it probably needs to be. But it's a good piece, nonetheless.

I've seen this same phenomenon in photography, and exhibited some of it myself. People switch from brand to brand, format to format, each supposedly offering that special "secret ingredient," that will finally unlock their true artistic potential. Finally allow them to achieve their vision, if only they weren't hamstrung by the lack of depth of field control, excessive noise, tardy autofocus, insufficient dynamic range, a bad grip or the failure to retain value on the resale market!

I've stuck with Olympus and the four-thirds sensor format (micro four-thirds is the same sensor format, just a different flange distance) for almost 16 years now. Having said that, I've bought an absurd number of cameras. Part of that is because Olympus offered more or better features in succeeding generations, and I have this conditioned or habituated response to crave the newest or latest thing. But I've never felt that it was the format that was holding me back from being a better photographer.

I've always known it was about "doing the work." Someone mentioned the other day that "the cure for GAS is to get out there and take pictures!" And that's true.

But I do genuinely like the artifacts, the devices themselves. I irrationally want to buy another E-M1X because I think that body is just so frickin' amazing and I irrationally worry that the one I already own might not work one day. So much for my Buddhist "non-attachment." Well, maybe so, because buying the ventless LG dryer was, in part, an effort to scratch a spending itch that was more in line with "doing my best," than acquiring another camera. (You can only shoot with one at a time. Though it seems I'm now carrying two these days. Three, if you count the phone.)

Anyway, the gent in the video repeatedly makes the point that the point is "do the work." And, as I mentioned last night, I've lately been wondering what this old retired guy's "work" is supposed to be these days.

It's been much the same thing with software. Especially in the realm of PKM. In the early days of micro-computing, word processors were the new hotness. WordStar, Word Perfect, Word. I was a FullWrite guy for a while. Same thing with outliners. I think Arrange by Common Knowledge was the equal of Tinderbox in the pre-OS X days, superior in some ways.

But Arrange started out as a $495 app, that failed in the marketplace and was taken over and became a $49.95 app to manage web content. A truly early "PKM" app as that term is understood today ("Collect all the things.") It was way more than that, but it failed.

Tinderbox survived. And though I played with Circus Ponies', and Aqua Minds' skeuomorphic offerings (So pretty! So cool!), it was blogging that kept me wedded to Tinderbox. HTML output.

As with cameras, I have a kind of fascination for the applications themselves, what they can do, how they're designed. I looked at Obsidian, and LogSeq and Roam, apologies if I spelled any of those wrong. What saved me was the hype, and the learning curve. I'm skeptical of anything that gets a lot of buzz. And I'm too old, and too tired, to try to learn all the stuff the cool kids are doing. I'm not a cool kid anymore, and nobody's going to think I'm better looking or want to have sex with me because I'm using the hippest, coolest zettelkasten on the block. (I feel as though I should be wearing a beret and smoking an unfiltered camel when I even type that. Though that's more of a French thing.)

I once stuck my head in on emacs and ran screaming from the Terminal. And I think I'd have to wear crocs or something. I'm not sure. Thoughts, Jack? 😜

"Do your best, the rest isn't up to you." In order to "do your best," you kind of have to have some idea of what it is you're supposedly "doing." Mostly, these days, I'm blogging. I may get more involved in meat-space, but I'm not sure how that's going to work out.

So, here I am in my Battlestar Galactica t-shirt, Eddie Bauer shorts, Smart Wool socks and Skechers slippers (with memory-foam insoles! (To save my aching feet.)), banging away in the marmot, a Tinderbox document that's over a decade old.

What is "the work," Rogers?

I guess it's to "see what I think."

Maybe, if that's interesting, some of you might come along for the ride. And I'd like to "see what you think," as we go along.

So, if you don't have one, get a blog and drop me a note.

That is all. I've already violated my new "practice." I have my daily review to do. Should've done that before I did this!

("That's why it's called 'practice.'")

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 05:51 Saturday, 16 March 2024