Today, a chapter was closed in my personal work history. Today, I checked out the latest version of our C++ codebase and set up building and running of it using Cmake.

So?

What this means is that I quit having Xcode open and running the application at all times. Xcode must by far be the software development tool I have been using the longest at work, even beating out version control systems and perhaps even my usage of Zsh if one really wants to go wide with what consists a software development tool.

Other editors and IDE:s never even come close. Eclipse does keep hanging around in my tool chest and has been in there for a very long time, but it only comes out when necessary because some old codebase is already set up and running there. It is a sort of frozen setup for those particular projects. (Sometimes, I even break out my previous work laptop and open my Eclipse setup there. I have hopefully done that for the last time, but I have thought so several times before.) Xcode, on the other hand, was always running.

I did some amount of debugging as well, from time to time, and it will be interesting to see if I replace that with something else or simply push that over to the main developers of the C++ code. Or perhaps I will take the time to figure out debugging in Visual studio code or some other craziness …

Anyway, milestone: passed. A good start to the work year, now that I think about it. Apart from that, it was not the nimblest of days mentally. But hey, I was late into my first cup of coffee as well. And I did remember how to log in to various things and find stuff I was working on before the holiday.

Hey …

This also means I use no single piece of Mac-only software to do my job. Not that I actually want to work on any other platform, but it is a little bit exciting to know that it would now be straightforward to switch if the urge struck.

Time passes in strange ways. Was it just yesterday 2020 started? What happened to this autumn? The blink of an eye, and all that.

Well, looking through this site I just found a way to make 2023 feel very distant: realizing that I wrote over 200 posts that year.

It felt like a whole lot longer than a year since I did all that writing. 2022 felt about right. But no, it was last year.

One part of me wonders how I could fit that in with everything else going on all the time. Another part of me takes it as proof of how little time it actually has to take to write a post. It can be squeeze in at so many points during even the busiest of days.

It would be natural to think "well, then perhaps I should do it again. Why not, when it was such a good thing to do?" In fact, I almost thought that myself writing this. But no, I do not believe that. I believe the enriching thing to do would be to find some other creative thing to pour moments like that into.

Perhaps something I have done before?

Perhaps something new?

Perhaps a series of different things over time?

I think the last option appeals the most to me. I am pretty good at keeping things going over time, but limiting something to a given period is not something I try often if at all. What would happen if I picked something and tried to do it daily for, say, a month? Or even a week? On the same relaxed level as I do with writing, or like I did playing with the PO-33.

Systems thinking

Somewhat related, I have become a lot more … relaxed about my systems for keeping track of things, weekly reviews and things like that. I think this is mainly good - I am getting what I need to done, I do go through my notes, and I do not feel that I lose things I want or need to act on. In short, the system is paying off in that I simply use it and do not constantly tinker or maintain it.

I am trying a little bit to get more into the habit of creating separate text files for distinct topics - a certain podcast episode, some idea I am thinking about - a very low-intensity effort I think would be good for building more on my thoughts and ideas. Baldur Bjarnason wrote something relatively recently about how many "productivity" systems really are about acting, checking things off of lists, tracking what is going on, capturing next steps and so on. But few are about thinking, working with ideas, letting them build up, gathering thoughts on a topic over time and watching them merge and evolve. This kind of thing actually excites me a lot more than the productivity side - I do want to be good at productivity too, but what I would really like is to delve deeper into thoughts and ideas, so that the things I create (and think, for that matter) can be more than just quick reactions to the latest input.

More long article or book, less reply toot.

Better inputs

I have started adding my first filters to Mastodon, to try and keep random outrage-inspiring energy form entering my feed, even unfollowing some non-aquaintances who I realized carry a high risk of posting smart things about negative events which I really neither want to capture my mind, nor can do much about. I aim to follow or stumble onto as few negativity providers as possible, especially since it is clear any actually important thing will still reach me. Just because it is a reasonable thing to be outraged about does not mean I need it right then and there. Plus, so many things are not important a day or a week later.

Previously, I admitted my mastodonian ignorance as to how people enthusiastic about Bluesky could ignore the risk of the service following in the footsteps of Twitter toward … being a garbage dump.

The answer was just as obvious as I should have expected it to be, and just the kind of glaringly obvious that is so easy to miss when your mind is coming at it from the wrong angle.

I was listening to the latest episode of Modermodemet where Bluesky was discussed - in positive terms - and right at the end they addressed and answered my question head on:

No, of course they do not expect Bluesky to remain good. But they will enjoy the good while it lasts.

Wow, what a magical mindset of detachedness and finding joy in the present. Of course. People are just starting to migrate off of Twitter, that was not so hard once we got started, we can easily do it again when needed. It makes complete sense.

Kicking the tires, I have set up both Bluesky and Threads accounts for Kodsnack, and I was surprised about how joyless I felt even though the process in both cases was as easy as could be.

Threads was easiest to pin down: it feels like a text version of Instagram, timeline algorithmically pre-flooded with crap. All I could think of was looking up a few accounts I already follow on Mastodon. Then I realized that for one, the Kodsnack account is not personal and has nothing to do with those accounts, and for another that I already follow those accounts on Mastodon.

Bluesky on the other hand, feels nice and calm in itself. It feels like a older version of Twitter to a fault, polished, calm, and rather well thought out. It made me think that a second social network of the same type is a lot less valuable and a lot harder to feel invested in than the first. In my case, I have Mastodon as my first, so what do I want with Bluesky? I think the thing to do - apart from of course posting Kodsnack news and commentary - would be to follow different people and topics. Try to build something different and see how it works out. But, and this is a big but, I do not need more things to read. I read too many updates already, the last thing I need is a more active Mastodon.

So, interesting options to explore. But it was fun to connect the Bluesky account to my own domain, and I am sure it will all come in handy at some point.

Somehow.

Still, my reading and focus remains with Mastodon.

People are yelling past each other about Bluesky on Mastodon.

It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking you are arguing with someone when in reality you are just talking past each other, pushing on completely different things which do not intersect at all.

The pro-Bluesky people talk about how the onboarding experience and various other technical and user experience things are so much better. They sometimes say that Mastodon has missed its shot, has chosen the wrong way to support itself, and sometimes that Bluesky feels like "old Twitter" in a positive way.

The Mastodon people, in turn, talk about how strange it feels to be so enthusiastic about another venture-funded social service with no clear business model. Why would we want to abandon Mastodon for another one of those, when we are still living through just how wrong those things can go? The fact that Bluesky is not yet there provides little comfort. Also, do we need everyone to be on Mastodon? Do we need to rank social services and which ones people prefer?

The really interesting part about these types of … discussions … is of course whether people on each side realize what is going on, and whether they even hope to get a point across to the other side. I guess the blueskiers are hoping to catch the users who left Twitter for Mastodon and just did not feel at home? Perhaps? The mastodons explaining why they like Mastodon I can relate to, but they still are mostly talking past the blueskiers' points. Each side can easily read the other, go "yes, but", and repeat their own points again.

Same procedure as every year. Sigh.

I am firmly in the Mastodon camp, in case that was hard to guess. Had I not had Mastodon or something similarly decentralized to move to after Twitter, I am not sure I would have gone to a new service at all.

I might still add more services to see what they are like, but why would I like to make my primary home on a venture-controlled service again now that I have taken the step out to the open web version? It would be a bit like giving up this little website and setting up a account on wordpress.com instead. Probably a great move for many, especially if they have not had a site before, but for me it just holds no appeal.

The saying "quantity has a quality all of its own" definitely holds true for running as well.

A large part for me is that I have learned that it sometimes takes me a while to really get into a flow. The most extreme case I can remember is a time I went for a 21 kilometer run and did not feel like I really got myself in order until about the halfway mark. That is the extreme case, but five kilometers is not unusual at all.

About two weeks ago, inspired by a friend who is in a really good running flow, I made a point to make myself run ten kilometers instead of my recent regular of seven or eight. I have kept it up since then, and even on the second and third runs it felt like I had broken through a barrier to higher speed and better flow.

I think much of that is down to those few extra kilometers. On days where it takes me five kilometers to find my flow, the majority of a seven kilometer run will be the boring non-flow slog. But now that I extend it by just three kilometers, I get at least half the run in the flow zone, where I feel better, enjoy myself more, and I suspect also run a little faster and better. All those positive things build on each other, plus the added distance adds that nice little glow of good physical tiredness afterward.

I feel better all day, all through the week even, thanks to those few extra kilometers.

Three kilometers to a better person.

Not a bad deal.