Tech
Personal Tech Stack - 2023
I thought I would run down all the changes to my personal tech stack this year so that next year I can look back and see what stuck and what I ditched. Hardware Changes NAS to Mac Mini I’d been using a QNAP NAS for about 5 years, mostly for...
Bored with technology
Apple had their big iPhone event last week with several new product launches. Nothing came out that had me jonesing for new tech, and this got me thinking about my excitement around technology in general. My first foray into smart phones was a Palm Treo. This was before wifi, so...Moving from Pocket to Notion - a better read it later solution
I’ve been using Pocket as a read-it-later solution for many years. I was even paying for the service for a few years, but stopped as the benefit of permanently stored articles didn’t justify the cost for me. The service was bought by Mozilla a few years ago, and at the...The Cost of Tinkering
I’ve been using Backpackit now for a few weeks, on their highest plan. I went that route for project management for my own projects, not Butter Label stuff. The newly redesigned Backpackit is really great. But for some time now, I’ve also been playing with making my own using ExpressionEngine....RSS my way
I’ve been using RSS/Atom feeds for quite awhile now. You don’t have to school me on how great they can be. But one thing I’ve always disliked was that it seems difficult to get the information to me in ways I can utilize well. I ran across the Google Reader...My first del.icio.us
After more than two years, I am still using Del.icio.us bookmarks. Amazing. There has been no other website that has held my attention as long, not has any other retained it’s usefulness as long. One of the things that keeps this so useful is the ability to get at the...Think City
This is a great article on electric cars, stirling engines, and the (possible)future of the automobile. Covering a Norwegian companies desire to create an almost Web2.0 style automobile, the article also touches on green energy from batteries. This kind of article gets me excited, partly because the modern car hasn’t...Nokia Media Transfer Suite for Macs
It’s fairly obvious if you meet me, that I have a mobile phone fetish. I’m not able to meet the stringent demands this sort of fetish has, financially speaking. There are just too many handsets released, too often. Couple that with the high price of switch carriers, and it’s an...NetNewsWire 3
Well, yesterday seemed like a big day for updates. Apple updated their Macbook Pro line, NetNewsWire 3 was released, Camino 1.5 came out, and a few others I’m too lazy to go Google for. While I may have to wait on the Macbook Pro, I grabbed me some updated software...NetNewsWire 3.0d46 sneak-peek
Brent Simmons has released a sneak-peak of the upcoming NetNewsWire 3, a news reader for the Mac. I’m a die-hard NNW user and fan, so this is big news. Problem is, it’s not even Alpha software. It’s “danger”, as in 3.0d46, the “d” being for danger. I’m not quite ready...More more does not make me happy
The latest installment of iTunes, version 7, is a fairly big upgrade considering all the new features, and for the most part I’m quite happy with it (crashing has stopped for now). There is a new feature I wanted to mention here today though, that also touches on something that...Best Computer Upgrade…
Lifehacker ran a post today, based on a post from Slate magazine, about what the best computer upgrade would be. Both agree that a larger screen is it, and I have to concur. About six months ago I upgraded from a 19” Dell monitor to a beautiful 20” widescreen Dell...The “Smart Phone” and My Day
I suffer from gadget envy. I do, really. It started early on, when a friend and I would disassemble tape recorders to see how they worked (I still have no idea). More recently in my life, I’ve found blogs such as Gizmodo and Engadget, both of which fill my ever...Keeping Track of What You Say
I love Flickr. I use it fairly often, and I really like the site as a whole. It’s a wonderful way to share photos with friends, family, and the world at large. The creators have done a bang-up job of keeping the site useable with the flood of users it’s...Camping
Camp trip to Los Olivos
Headed up north to Los Padres National Forest just above Los Olivos for some camping and wine tasting. The views were amazing and we captured some great sunset photos. We stayed at Camp Figueroa, a new spot for us. Nestled near the top of the mountains, it was a crazy,...
Los Padres National Forest
Took a short, Level 1 camping overnight to Los Padres. Just me and The Eagle.Lake Cachuma
For the past few years we’ve been camping at Rivernook Campground for Thanksgiving. We broke tradition in 2021 and chose Lake Cachuma. It is a great campground, with really wide camping spaces, lots of sunshine and not too crowded. This is glamping at it’s best. The campground is pretty large,...Disconnecting
We had a chance to go camping last weekend, and we took it. Last Friday, we packed up the little Honda Civic with clothes, toys, food, beverages, and anything else that came to mind, and left town for Sequoia National Park. After a five plus hour drive, we hit our...Dev
Setting Up FreshRSS through Tailscale
I spent a decent chunk of my weekend doing some consolidation of systems and reworked my VPN usage a bit. Earlier this year I found Tailscale and have fallen in love with how easy it is to use across my devices. I’d also been using Mullvad VPN for a few...Minor Changes
Those of you reading the site in Internet Explorer, 20% according to Mint, can now see the site as it was intended to be seen. I had run across a few hacks to make transparent PNG files (that’s an image format for the web) work in INternet Explorer 5.5+, but...Site Traffic For the Year
I’m no pro-blogger. I never set out to be, and I still have no aspirations toward that goal. I do, however, enjoy seeing the minimal traffic I do get. So as the year winds down, and my traffic seems to be on an upswing, I’d like to thank you. Thanks...Life
Ownership in the Rental Age
There’s been a slow change in how I feel about ownership this past year. I’ll chalk this up to age, but there’s probably more external forces at play than I care to admit. It’s been on my mind often lately, so I felt it was time to write down a...
Where did all the spare time go?
Yes, it has been several months since I last posted to the site. Part of this was just life getting stupid busy, part of this was technical glitches. Busy life + technical glitches = lack of desire to fix technical glitches. Such is life. I have been reading though, working...
Finding those peaceful moments
I’m an early riser, typically up between 5 or 5:30 AM weekdays and sometimes even on weekends. I like giving myself time in the morning to relax and wake up slowly. It’s one of the few peaceful moments during my day where I am alone with nothing demanding my attention....Every day is a gift
People, life, sunsets… It rained here today, which was unexpected but wonderful. Towards the end of my day, I debated plunking down on the couch to watch tv or go for a walk on the beach and see the sunset. The sunset won and I’m so glad it did. There...Giving Thanks
Thanksgiving 2013 It is Thanksgiving today, so it seems a good time to think about the things I’m thankful for this year. My life has changed massively since this time last year. A year ago I was in an emotional tailspin, unsure what was to become of me and my...My body gets all hyper and excited
Me: What time did you get up today? (Saturday) The Boy: 6 am Me: Wow. Why do you get up so early on Saturday, but during the week I can hardly get you out of bed at 7:15? The Boy: During the week, the bed is so comfortable I just...I am me
I love pants, but prefer shorts. I hate socks, love shoes, but wear flip-flops. I hate loud noises, but crank the music whenever possible. I hate nosiness, but am drawn to watch others. I hate pink, but love it’s vibrance. I like iced tea, love hot tea, but am drawn...Functionality
It occurred to me in the shower this morning how much this word means to me. It makes up almost all my thoughts on things, in one way or another. I critique things based on how functional they are. I drive a Scion xB, because of it’s functionality. I see...Do Your Homework
I received an email today, from a Yahoo! email address, asking if I’d like to purchase the kellysims.com domain. Here is the email below: Hi, I own the .COM version of your domain name kellysims.info and I am wanting to sell it. I was wondering if you would be interested...Photos
Intuit Dome
A shot of the $1.8B Intuit Dome going up a few miles from our home. This adds to Sofi Stadium and the Kia Forum, all along the same street here. Traffic is bonkers now, I can’t wait until this is finished.
Sandy Cup
Bought this awesome coffee mug from my long-time friend @luxuryluke. Also picked up a couple of his rad t-shirts. Well done good friend! Find them at his shop here: https://creamco.studio
A spot of tea and a blog post
Self Checkout is Your Only Option
We stopped in to Michaels the other day and when we hit checkout I was floored that they’ve removed all cashiers and only have self checkout. Unless you are paying with cash, in which case an employee has to come up and help you check out. So weird.
Nutwood
This shop always has a ton of mannequins outside and it makes me laugh every time I see them. It looks like a crowd waiting to get in the store, minus all their heads.
Sunset
Caught this coming out to run errands after work tonight. Spectacular colors.
My new Mini Timbuk2 Bag
Needed a new day bag that could hold the ipad. After searching around, I ended up back at my fav bag company Timbuk2. Here’s the new bag next to my current full-size bag.
Biggest egg roll I've ever seen
Catching the sunset in San Pedro
Fathers Day
Spent a wonderful afternoon in Manhattan Beach with the boy, having lunch at Simmzy’s and walking the pier.
Summer is coming
I can feel it in the air, and so can the boys.
Macbook Cord Holder, Double Use
It’s the little things in life that make me happy. This little cord holder was nice when wrapping up the power brick, but now I’ve found another nice use. I kept losing the cord behind the desk when disconnecting, so now I secure it to my laptop stand. It works...
Griffith Park Fire
Was able to see the fire today from across the southbay. More on this here.Listening
Let’s Get Found, Please
I’m very sad this evening. As I sit here, I’m working on several projects on the laptop. The television was running silently in the background, and I decided I needed some musical uplifting. I’ve been very out of touch to my usual listening haunts lately, specifically KCRW and my Friday...Family
The best hamburgers
Stop, look around, and realize that there are people who love you. Appreciate this for what it is, not what it might be.Writing
Thoughts on blogging, past and present
I’m taking a different, more measured approach to how I blog these days. I thought it would be good to jot these thoughts down here, mostly for me but also for anyone who is on the fence about starting a blog. I’ve been posting my thoughts online in various formats...
Rekindling my Journaling with the Day One App
I’ve been off-and-on journaling for many years. Like most things I do in my free time, I tend to wax and wane on passion for the task. I’ve revisited my Day One app the past month and I am finding it incredibly enjoyable to jot down thoughts again. It’s incredibly...Resurrecting the blog
Several months ago I got the itch to start posting here again. It has been many years since I had anything resembling a personal blog. Blogging is different than social media, it takes more effort to maintain. And like exercise or a hobby, if you don’t keep at it it...Cobwebs, Butter and Tumbling
Cobwebs are forming. That’s what happens when you leave something sit for too long. Spiders know these things. Spiders have some sort of litmus test for usage I think. Or maybe they’re just impatient, like me. They’ve descended upon this blog here in full force. I actually thought once, about...Reading
Email Newsletters are Better Than You Think (Mostly)
I admit that I was late to the newsletter frenzy back in 2020. Getting interesting reading topics delivered to my email seemed counter to how I like to read that I held off for a while. I’m now a convert and actually appreciate the focused spot it has in my...Children of Time
I’ve been working to get myself back into the reading habit for months. I’d saved 5-10 books into a want to read list but before Children of Time, I just hadn’t jumped into any of them. I’m happy to say, I finished Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky this past...Responsive Web Design
I got my copy of RSW by Ethan Marcotte a few days ago and finished it up last night. If you make websites, buy this book. Really. This book is a wonderful resource, and written with enough humor to keep it fun. And did I mention robots? SOLD. In addition...Links
Builder Brain
Great article by Charlie Warzel over at The Atlantic on builder vs maintainer mentality. Touches on Web3 and much of the tech bro mentality that makes me cringe. I’m sympathetic to the notion that we need big thinkers and dreamers. I’m reminded of the classic Steve Jobs and Henry Ford...Ephemera
Ephemera No. 4
It’s been some time since I last posted. My days have been filled with two jobs, my day job doing strategy for our ecommerce clients and my night/weekend job doing a home remodel. The latter has been taking a lot out of me physically. I’ve taken on all sorts of...
Ephemera No. 3
We spent the weekend getting the house back in order after spending the past 10+ days in Covid quarantine. I got pretty sick on November 1, and spent the better part of 5 days in a heavy flu-like state. My fiance caught it as well and thankfully did not get...
Ephemera No. 2
September was a slog, and quite possibly the worst month in many years. Family passed, friends lost their jobs and my fiancé was bitten by a dog and had a scary few days in the hospital. There were a few bright spots there, but I’m just glad to see October...
Ephemera No. 1
Because this is my personal site, it’s basically in near constant flux. I adjust things over time to see what I think works best for me. I’ve decided to adjust how I handle links here. I originally played with a weekly link list, and then moved to a separate section...Friday Links - plugins, pizza, maps and more
Gathering some interesting linkage I ran across the past week. I stopped using Google Maps years ago, along with most of their other apps. Apple Maps was rough for awhile, but it has improved dramatically in the past year. This xkcd comic made me laugh. Call it being lazy, but...Watching
I'm a rewatcher
I enjoy movies quite a bit. I like some shows, but in general I lean towards movies for most of my media enjoyment. I prefer the encapsulated story lines versus an ongoing, spread-out story that may end up taking 15 seasons to finalize. A movie has a definite ending. I...Long Way Up
Rewatching Long Way Up this week. As summer rolls in, the itch to get out and explore nature gets stronger. I love this show.Travel
Maui
7 days in Maui was just the right amount of vacation time to relax and cut off from regular life. This was my second trip to Hawaii and my fiancé’s first, but both of our first time in Maui. It’s a gorgeous island, it seems there are photo opportunities everywhere...
Hello Portland!
Took a trip up to Portland, Oregon last weekend for my niece’s wedding. I could not stop commenting on how green the city is. There are trees everywhere! It’s a beautiful city, with the Willamette river running right through the city center. A walk through Washington park rose garden A...Los Angeles
Bus Bros. at Brouwerij West
Stopped in at Brouwerij West in San Pedro this Saturday to check out the Bus Bros. and get some fine beers. Gorgeous day in LA and some really amazing buses on display.Work
Learning to Share at Work
In my day job, I have to know a lot of things about a lot of things in order to provide clients with the best solutions for their business. My history, both in work and in play, helps with this. I’ve done design, front end development, CMS architecture, worked with...
The Mountains are Calling
I’m on video calls daily for work. Typically 2-6 per day, most weekdays. Ever since the lockdown, I’ve gotten used to these and find that I quite like them now versus the old conference calls where you couldn’t see anyone. I feel that our client relationships are a bit stronger...Music
