Writing
- I don’t know if I’ll stick with the magic mouse, opt for my familiar Logitech MX Anywhere 3 or dig out my Magic Trackpad. I also think I’m going to go for a larger keyboard with a number pad.
- Migration assistant worked well importing my settings and apps from the Time Machine drive of my personal MacBook. All of the Windows stuff I’m going to have to use on a VM will be what work dictates, but the Mac side is mine to customize. I didn’t have any problem changing my Setapp subscription to include a second machine.
- The weirdest bug was a mysterious photo import that kept trying to add duplicate photos to my library and wouldn’t allow me to kill the Photos app. Just as soon as I’d force quit it, it would open right back again. It persisted through reboots and various ways of ending the process. I was finally able to use a keyboard combo to repair the library and after a while the mystery import subsided.
- Getting a VM installed is an ongoing process. I couldn’t use my personal Parallels subscription and my personal license for VMWare Fusion wouldn’t work either. My commercial license is currently help up in procurement. I’m trying to get a Windows VHDX (virtual hard drive) file to work with UTM. I built one VM but it wouldn’t let me join our on-prem AD so I’m now on take two.
- Performance wise, the iMac isn’t noticeably snappier than my M2 MacBook Air. Of course I have two big-ass displays to use now, so that is an improvement.
- Limit your file sizes: While Obsidian is capable of handling large text files, having too many or very large files can slow down the app. Try to limit your notes to a reasonable size, and split up longer notes into smaller ones if possible.
- Reduce the number of plugins: While plugins can add a lot of functionality to Obsidian, they can also slow it down if you have too many running at once. Try disabling any non-essential plugins to see if that improves performance.
- Clear Cache: Sometimes the application cache gets clogged up and causes performance issues. Go into your iPhone settings > General > iPhone Storage > Obsidian and then tap on ‘Offload App’. This will delete the app but keep all its documents and data. Then reinstall Obsidian from App Store.
- Avoid complex queries: If you’re using Dataview or similar plugins, try to avoid overly complex queries that might be putting a strain on the app.
- Close background apps: Other apps running in the background could be affecting Obsidian’s performance. Close any unnecessary apps before launching Obsidian.
- Update iOS & App: Make sure both your operating system and your app are updated to their latest versions as performance improvements are often part of updates.
- Contact Support: If none of these tips help, it may be worth reaching out to Obsidian’s support team directly for assistance with this issue.
- Using heavier memory plugins like Dataview and Metabind
- Enabling the backlinks core plugin on mobile
- Enabling the graph view core plugin on mobile
- Having the vault also be in iCloud on mobile
- Backing up your vault, and reinstalling Obsidian on mobile if your current install of the application was pre 17.0.”
- Omnivore clips 15 - Omnivore is my preferred method of importing web content The majority of the notes this week come from two writers I follow, Matt Birchler and Jarrod Blundy, and their posts are imported automatically.
- Blog posts 21 - I wrote twenty-one different posts this week. I write in Obsidian more often than not. I save my drafts in my vault, using file properties to track the topic and published URL.
- Daily notes 7 - I start and end every day with my daily note.. I use the Periodic Notescommunity plugin.
- Receipt 1 - Since Obsidian serves as my Evernote replacement, I figured out how to email content into my vault to save stuff like receipts.
- Work People 8 - Whenever I have an interaction with someone at work (I’m in IT at a small university), I make a reference note using a template. I find this invaluable for tracking different tech issues.
- Personal Notes 2 - these are notes not related to work or technical areas. I made one note on how to get free Paramount Plus and another on how to stop my car from spying on me.
- Tech Notes 6 - Most of these notes are clips from emails and web pages covering various tech topics like blogging, web design and miscellaneous Apple related content.
- Bookmarks 8 - I have an automated workflowto import my Raindrop.io bookmarks.
- Restaurants 2 - I like to track the places I eat out using a template that includes a link to their website, map, information on the cuisine and my rating. It’s especially helpful when traveling because it cuts down on the hassle of finding a place if I already know somewhere good in the area.
- First thing in the morning on my MacBook Air to start my daily note where I record what time I woke up and run a couple of shortcuts to add the day’s weather and my calendar events
- As soon as I get to work, I open Obsidian on my PC and leave it open all day to record meeting notes, people notes and notes on things I will reference later. I use u\kepano’s templates from the vault he shared on GitHub
- on my iPhone, I record where I eat lunch and link it to a restaurant template and file class I configured with the Metadata Menu plugin.
- During the evening, I record what I watch on TV using the Media DB plugin
- Before I go to bed, I have a nightly checklist in Things 3 that involves me clearing my Obsidian inbox and internally bookmarking anything I need to read later. I also use this time to make a quick three-bullet gratitude list as part of my daily note.
- I have a workflow for sending emails to Obsidian and I clear that folder out each night too.
- I check to see if Omnivore, my Read Later Service has any imported pages or highlights I need to file.
- The last thing I check is whether I need to import any bookmarks I’ve made that day in Raindrop.io. This can be automated but I prefer to do it manually to make sure I correctly file and/or link web pages to any current MOCs
- Restart your computer. Seriously. This solves many, many problems. Do this even if you don’t think it will help.
- Answer all the questions you are asked truthfully. Don’t say you restarted you computer if you actually didn’t.
- Remember that the person on the other end of the phone almost always wants to solve your problem too. They are not the cause of your problem. Technology is complicated and finnicky and sometimes things don’t work. That’s the price we pay to live in the 21st century.
- Obey the Golden Rule. Talk to the person on the other end of the phone like you would want to be spoken to.
- If you are calling because you got an error message, know what the error message said and be able to relay that information to tech support. Don’t just say “I got an error
- Be prepared to tell tech support what you were doing when the problem occurred. (e.g., What program were you using? What other programs were open? Did the computer make any sounds?)
- If this is a reoccurring problem, how long has it been happening and what was your reason for not reporting it sooner? (Did you have a solution to the problem that no longer works?)
- Can you reproduce the issue or is it intermittent? If you can reproduce the issue, know what exact steps you took before the problem surfaced. (Keep in mind that intermittent problems are among the most difficult to resolve because of the difficulty in determining if the issue is fixed)
- What have you tried on you own to solve the problem? (Not that you have to solve your own issue, but it doesn’t hurt to Google it. It might be something simple that can save you a call.)
- Be familiar enough with the tools you use to know what operating system your computer uses and (especially if you are on a corporate network) what the name of your computer is.
- Do your best within your abilities to describe the issue. It’s not cute to use language like ‘thingy” or “doohickey”. If you don’t have the IT vocabulary to explain an issue, there’s nothing you can do about that. Just use plain language and you’ll be moving towards a solution.
- If you are having a problem with something online, try to know if your computer is wireless (bonus points if you know the name of the Wi-Fi network) or if it is connected to a network through a cable.
Geeking out on a New M3 Mac after Being Strapped to an Aging Dell for the Last Year and Half
After using an i3 5th gen. Dell AIO for the past year and a half at work, my new M3, 24-inch iMac with 24GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive was delivered today. As with most new installs that are highly customized, there were some ups and downs and decisions to make.
It felt so good today to be able to use Raycast and all my comfortable keyboard shortcuts. I look forward to being able to craft Keyboard Maestro macros and Hazel workflows to simplify and streamline some of my work processes. I’ll be able to better integrate Things 3 task management and I’ll be able to quit using my iPhone as my iCloud conduit. All in all, I’m really happy to have this new tool. My boss did me a solid by letting me order an iMac and I’m grateful he believed my assertion that I could be more productive on a Mac.
On the Appalachian Trail, there are Trail Angels who provide what’s called trail magic to hikers in the form of shelter, showers, rides to town and most importantly FOOD! When I thru hiked in 2013 I came across these organic apples and generic root beers in the Pennsylvania woods. #mbapr
How come no one ever told me about The FreePrints App which works with Google Photos and Apple’s Photos and gives you up to 85 4x6 prints a month for $1.99 shipping and handling? I read about it today in Jeremy Caplan’s Wondertools newsletter.
Using #Obsidian on an iPhone - Troubleshooting Advice from All Over
The Beginning
When I started using Obsidian in December of 2023, I had an iPhone 11 Pro and I was using iCloud to sync. Whenever I launched the app, it would take thirty seconds to a minute to load, making it really impractical to use for quick capture. Looking for a better experience, I opted to switch to the paid Obsidian sync ($4 month). Unfortunately as I imported more notes into my vault from my previous app of choice, Evernote, it got to the point where Obsidian would not even load. It just looped into a never-ending series of crashes. The only solution I could find was to delete my files from local storage and re-download them from the cloud.
Troubleshooting
I turned to ChatGPT for help and got this:
Remember that syncing large amounts of data can take time and resources, so try not to overload it by adding too many new files at once or making lots of edits in a short space of time.
I was kind of dubious, especially of number 5, since on iOS there really isn’t anything like a background app. It doesn’t work that way. I also didn’t have any really large notes. I turned off all the plugins I didn’t absolutely need. I wasn’t sure what constituted a complex Dataview query. Most of mine seem simple enough, looking only for a single criteria, usually a tag. I was running the latest version of iOS and of the public release of Obsidian. My results weren’t that different after trying these steps so I decided to contact Obsidian support, seeing how it’s a benefit for those who pay for sync.
The Official Take
The response from support was quick and honest. The person who wrote me acknowledged the issues and said they were being addressed in an upcoming release. She also said “However, it is worth noting that depending on the size of your vault, and what plugins you are using, you may be running to out of cache memory issues on this older device (remember I was rocking a four-year old phone). Obsidian is not the most lightweight of applications. D:
Known amplifiers of this case:
Known alleviations of this case separate from above:
The Solution
I did everything tech support suggested and guess what? The problem didn’t get any better. For me and the way I use Obsidian, an iPhone 11 wasn’t going to cut it. I ordered an upgrade, to the 15 Pro Max and since then I haven’t had to resort to deleting and redownloading my files. I still have to wait awhile when I launch the app while things load and sync, but it becomes useable much more quickly. I tend to use Draftsfor quick capture since it’s so easy to move notes from there into my vault. I still have backlinks and graph view turned off and I don’t sync certain folder that have lots of attachments. I don’t really need my recipe collection on my phone anyway.
The XCOMP 10MB hard disk, which cost $3,398 in the early 1980s, would be about $11,900 in today’s dollars. The first computer I owned was an IBM 486/33sx with a 140MB, hard drive. I bought it at Circuit City in 1993. What was yours?
For creative people, there are few things more important than the formative experiences that shaped them. For me, a lot of that shaping took place in front of a record player in my bedroom - My Musical Memories
Clipboard Fusion - Clipboard sharing between Windows and iOS - a solution - There are plenty of Mac/iOS clipboard sharing solutions but not so much for Windows. I found an app I love and it runs on my PC, my phone and has an encrypted web version.
One of the things I love about #IndieWeb life is the global community. I live in a small city in the southern US where we have plenty of problems, but also a few bright spots. One of my goals is to be up front about all of that with the people I meet online. So I wrote about The Southern Problem
The dilemma I had with street photography was whether my enjoyment of the finished product was worth the chance of getting yelled at by folks who didn’t want their picture taken. I eventually found a solution #photography
My #Obsidian Week - Breaking Down the Notes I Created by Area and Workflow
This week I created 61 new notes in Obsidian. Some of them were original content - things I wrote. Some of them were automated. Others were the results of using templates. The breakdown looks like this:
I spent my high scool years doing farm work so my opinion of the modern cult of cleanliness is colored a bit by my experience. Talking Dirty
How many times a day do you open #Obsidian? When do your record data? When do you reference data? What are your habits?
I have Obsidian in the dock on my iPhone and MacBook Air and in the taskbar of the Windows machine I use at work. Obsidian is always within reach for reference but I have some habitual times I open it to record certain data.
Not All Boomers - the story of a recent visit with my 77-year old Dad that unfortunately exemplified a bunch of Boomer stereotypes in a very uncomfortable 30-minute span.
How to Talk to Tech Support - I Beg You to Use These Techniques to Get Your Issues Solved Quickly and Efficiently While Keeping Your Cool and Getting Back to Work! #technology
I started working in IT support right after Windows 95 was released. I’ve worked in manufacturing health care, banking and insurance, but primarily in K-12 and higher education. In some way or another, I’ve always been involved in end-user support. Currently I have a relatively low stress job at a well-run private university where the relationship between the IT department and the faculty, staff and students is pretty good.
Almost every adult in 2024 has experienced technical difficulties that required them to call tech support, whether it’s the help desk at your job, your Internet service provider or the manufacturer of your cell phone. I’m not immune to this. I switched ISPs last year and my new setup didn’t work when I followed the directions. It was frustrating, but I wanted to solve the problem, so I called.
I promise you that if you follow the steps below, your technology problems will get solved faster and with better results than if you don’t. And, trust me, I’m sure you’ve dealt with some incompetent or mean or unfriendly tech support folks in the past. I get it. That’s out of your control. What is in your control is how you react. Don’t act aggrieved or victimized. Be solution oriented and things will work out better.
Look, I understand technology is frustrating. Trust me. I do. My whole professional life has been spent fixing things that aren’t working as expected. But don’t be angry at the person who is there to help you. There’s no need to tell them how many years you’ve been using a computer or what high-speed tech job your kid has. Just work together, get the problem solved and then you can get back to work.
At the end of the street where I’ve lived for thirty years stands an unassuming blue building housing Zorba’s Gyro on a Spit, a restaurant I’ve frequented for even longer. An ode to my favorite diner, a comforting home away from home, a place where I watch everybody but me grow up.
This Week's Bookmarks - Subscriptions worth paying for, book summaries online, unofficial holidays, a rare bird, best small town in every state, 50 historical photos, things that don't work
Six Subscriptions Actually Worth Paying for, According to Reddit | Lifehacker - The article discusses different subscription services that Reddit users recommend as being worthwhile based on the value they provide: airport pre-check membership which allows faster security screening at airports. An air filter subscription service ensures the right sized filters are delivered regularly. A subscription to Cook’s Illustrated magazine is recommended for recipes tested by experts. The Great Courses is mentioned for lifelong learning opportunities across different topics. A national parks pass provides access to national parks and other federal recreational lands. Dropout.tv is a comedy streaming service with original shows
BookPecker.com: 14509 books summarized in 5 bullet points - Discover your next read! Browse bullet point summaries of thousands of books, find books smilar to those you own, and add new items to your reading list.
Laugh: By looking up your birthday on this list of unofficial holidays.
This Bird Is Half Male, Half Female, and Completely Stunning - The New York Times (nytimes.com) - This honeycreeper was first observed in October 2021 on a small farm in Villamaría, in western Colombia, and soon became a regular visitor. It appeared to be a bilateral gynandromorph: female on one side and male on the other. (video)
The Most Charming Small Towns in Each U.S. State - AFAR - Consider these 51 beautiful places found across the country—including Puerto Rico—for your next trip
50+ Must-See Moments In History (historydefined.net) - Here are 50 must-see historical moments – significant events that have shaped our world. From wars and revolutions to scientific discoveries and technological innovations, these are some of the most important moments in human progress. (photos)
Things that don’t work (dynomight.net) - A somewhat controversial list of things people use that don’t actually do what they are intended for. Among the first items is acupuncture and multivitamins.
My Daily Note in #Obsidian - Byte Sized Chunks for Customizing Every Element, Plugin Recommendations and Links
I love a good shared Obsidian Daily Note post. My own daily note is an amalgamation of elements I’ve gleaned from other people. I’ve discovered some useful plugins as a result. The data I capture is valuable to me. The way I capture it is automated to an extent and easier to enter as a result of what I’ve learned. I’m going to offer the same to you, in hope that you’ll find something useful. I use the community plugin, Periodic Notes and not the Daily Note core plugin.
The first thing I do on my computer in the morning is start my daily note. I record the beginning of the day data using the tools that follow.
Properties
---
title: Daily Note Template
url:
tags:
- dailynotes
- journaling
creation date: <% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %>
modification date: <% tp.file.last_modified_date("YYYY-MM-DD") %>
Author: amerpie
status:
wake time:
---
My properties (YAML frontmatter) use Templater snippets for the creation date and modification date. Templater is one of the most useful plugins in the Obsidian universe and has plenty of other uses. The status: property is one I use to delineate whether the day is a work day, at home day or a travel day. The wake time property is where I record what time I get up each morning. You could enter anything you want to track in properties, such as your weight or the distance of your morning run/walk. You can use the Dataview community plugin to quantify that information later.
My H1 Heading
I use another Templater snippet for the H! heading. Instead of rendering the date as YYYY-MM-DD, it displays the format as Friday, March 29th 2024, giving me a little more information when I refer back to it later.
<% tp.date.now("dddd, MMMM Do YYYY", 0, tp.file.title, "YYYY-MM-DD") %>
The Quick Add Button
The next element on my Daily Note uses the Buttons community plugin to access the actions I have set up via Quick Add.. Not only do these actions let me make entries under the appropriate heading on my daily note, they also serve as shortcuts to other notes I create frequently, namely my people notes, meeting notes and page formats I use for specific types of blog posts. Mike Schmitz does a great tutorial on setting this up over at The Sweet Setup.
Button Syntax
Button
name Add entry
type command
action QuickAdd: Run QuickAdd
color default
Quick Add Entries
The Task of the Day
I prefer to use the dedicated task manager Things 3 to manage my tasks. I do however list my primary task of the day at the top of my daily note. This is the one thing I want to get done that day if everything else falls by the wayside. I create this task using a hotkey to run an iOS shortcut crafted with Carlo Zottman’s excellent Actions for Obsidian. . This requires me to create a placeholder in my template styled like this.
%%new-tasks-here%%
Morning Weather
Once again, I use Actions for Obsidian and an iOS shortcut to add the morning weather to my daily note. I use a button added to the ribbon bar via the Commander community plugin to launch this shortcut. I use this placeholder:
**Morning Weather** - %%Weather%%
Appointments
I add the appointments from my default calendar with this shortcut. The placeholder is formatted like this:
## 📅Appointments
%%Appointments%% <br>
Daily Quote and Previous/Next Days Entries
Templater has syntax to add a daily quote to your notes and I use it with joy. I live quotes and collect them in my my vault. In fact, I have a Github repository where you can download over 500 notes of markdown formatted quotes divided by the author/speaker.
Syntax
<%tp.web.daily_quote()%>
Previous day: [[<% fileDate = moment(tp.file.title, 'YYYY-MM-DD').subtract(1, 'd').format('YYYY-MM-DD') %>|Yesterday]]
Next day: [[<% fileDate = moment(tp.file.title, 'YYYY-MM-DD').add(1, 'd').format('YYYY-MM-DD') %>|Tomorrow]]
Result
Headers for Running Entries
My notes main body consists of three main sections. I use headers for these and the headers serve as placeholders for the quick add button I mentioned above. I add to the note throughout the day and add finishing touches at night as part of my end of the day routine.
Notes Created Today and Notes Modified Today
I have two Dataview queries in my Daily Note template. I have them formatted as callouts so that I can fold them up when I don’t need to see the information and therefore don’t have to do a lot of scrolling around.
The first callout shows me the notes created on the same date the daily note was created.
[!abstract]Today's New Notes ```dataview LIST WHERE creation-date = this.creation-date ```
The second callout shows me the notes modified on the date the daily note was created.
[!abstract]Today's Modified Notes ```dataview LIST WHERE modification-date = this.modification-date ```
They appear like this in the note.
Final Touches
As I mentioned, I use Things 3 for task management. There’s a plugin for Things 3 which appends a log to your note when you complete tasks, Things 3 Logbook. This is a useful record of different tasks I accomplish each day. I also use the Things 3 Today community plugin to display my day’s tasks in the sidebar while I make entries in my daily note.
Logbook
Today View for Things 3
The Template
---
title: Daily Note Template
url:
tags:
- dailynotes
- journaling
creation date: <% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %>
modification date: <% tp.file.last_modified_date("YYYY-MM-DD") %>
Author: Lou Plummer
status:
wake time:
---
# <% tp.date.now("dddd, MMMM Do YYYY", 0, tp.file.title, "YYYY-MM-DD") %>
```button
name Add entry
type command
action QuickAdd: Run QuickAdd
color default
%%new-tasks-here%%
**Morning Weather** - %%Weather%%
📅Appointments
%%Appointments%%
<%tp.web.daily_quote()%>
Previous day: [[<% fileDate = moment(tp.file.title, 'YYYY-MM-DD').subtract(1, 'd').format('YYYY-MM-DD') %>|Yesterday]]
Next day: [[<% fileDate = moment(tp.file.title, 'YYYY-MM-DD').add(1, 'd').format('YYYY-MM-DD') %>|Tomorrow]]
📚Learnings
✏️Journal Entries
👍Gratitude
> [!abstract]- Today's New Notes
> ```dataview
> LIST WHERE creation-date = this.creation-date
> ```
> [!abstract]- Today's Modified Notes
> ```dataview
> LIST WHERE modification-date = this.modification-date
> ```
Saw a great post today from writer @jhpot@mastodon.social about how we can screw with corporate social media by not joining the outraged chorus after events intended to provoke us. The topics of outrage and online speech motivate me to do a little self-examination. I thought I’d share
I couldn’t resist the urge to participate in the Scribbles experiment, so I decided to put my free domain from omg.lol to use (once I get all the DNS details). In honor of the heritage of the IndieWeb, my first contribution is a repost from 1997, GeoCities style - The Road Trip
How to Talk to an Actual Person at Amazon
For confusing situations, skip the forms and bots. An Amazon customer service rep will call you if you know this trick. While logged into your Amazon account, go to the Contact us page.
Choose the issue that mostly closely matches your problem, then go through the form. At the end, choose Request a phone call. Click that, enter your phone number, and you’ll see an estimated time before you receive the call. I’ve never waited more than three minutes. Have your order number handy!
📲 If you do need a phone number for Amazon Customer Service, it’s 1‑888‑280‑4331. You might want to save that in your contacts. I don’t want you to get scammed by Googling support numbers that turn out fake.
From The Current newsletter