What I did in week six, 2023

In continuation to week five, here are the things I was interested in week six, 2023:

  • 🐍 A few weeks ago, I had the top case of my MacBook replaced because the battery was defective. I took the opportunity to completely reinstall the system. Most of it is now up and running, but Python 3 was still missing. Python is a programming language that even I understand to some extent, but the installation is an absolute mess. This time I first installed pyenv via Homebrew and then Python. Maybe then the handling of the different versions won't slip through my fingers quite so quickly.

xkcd comic Python Environment

  • βœ… From time to time, I try to replace certain apps with Apple's own and see if they are now so good that I can do without third-party apps. A few weeks ago, I tried this with task management. I've been a Things user since day one, managing both my work and personal tasks. Later, it became too confusing and I wanted to separate work and private tasks. I then used OmniFocus for work and Things for my private life. Unfortunately, the Siri integration via the Apple Watch didn't work well, especially because Siri doesn't understand English terms, like "Things" on German-language systems. Therefore, Siri never understood to which app I want to add a task to. That's why I gave up on Things a few years ago and used Apple's Reminders app for my private tasks. Thanks to smart lists, tags etc. I thought that I could possibly also manage my professional tasks with Reminders. But two weeks later I realised that this is not yet an option for me. The filter options for the smart lists are too limited, because you can't, for example, include one list and exclude another. Since I don't like the beta of OmniFocus 4 at all so far, I shifted my professional tasks to Things. I like the app a lot and I think I'm happy with the solution again for now.
  • πŸ“Ί Started watching Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Season 2 and Slow Horses (2022).
  • πŸ“Ί Continued watching Bad Sisters (2022) - β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜†
  • 🍿 Watched Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). It's not really a bad movie but I did not really like it that much - β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜†β˜†
  • πŸŽ™ Walking the dog and listened to podcasts:
  • πŸ‘¨β€πŸ’» So, I've been doing a bit of catching up with Launched (@launched) by Charlie Chapman. I really do enjoy his podcast. Especially the episode with Rafa Conde was so much fun. The "advertisement" worked, instabought the pro version of Handmirror and if you use your MacBook with different monitor setups, be sure to check out HiDock as well (pssst, it's free!)
  • πŸ‘¨β€πŸ’» If you use Chrome or Firefox check out StreetPass for Mastodon.
  • πŸ–Ό I was fascinated by the Midjourney pictures in my local Mastodon timeline.
  • 🍺 I don't even know why, but at the beginning of the year I resolved not to eat any meat as cold cuts for a month. In addition, I wanted to completely abstain from alcohol for a month. Both worked out well. I'm sticking to meatless dinners and I've also stopped drinking a delicious pale ale or something else during the week. I think that can't hurt in the end. Since this has worked so well, I have come up with two new things for February: no sweets, chocolate, cakes or similar foods with a lot of added sugar. And additionally, no coffee. I had real withdrawal symptoms for the first two or three days (headache, fatigue, slight aching limbs). It's so hard for me to do without a delicious coffee in the morning. But well, there are only a good two weeks left. I don't know yet what nonsense I'll come up with for next month. πŸ€¦β€β™‚οΈ