Nels Lindahl — Functional Journal

A weblog created by Dr. Nels Lindahl featuring writings and thoughts…

Month: June 2019

  • Bidding on a new guitar pedal

    Today I spent some time looking at EarthQuaker Devices Fuzz Master General guitar pedals on eBay. I even went as far as submitting an offered for one today. My offer was declined within a matter of hours. Getting a new guitar pedal is probably not the top of the things I should be spending my time on today. For some inexplicable reason, I tend to focus in on guitar or computer technology and sort of look at it, research it, watch YouTube videos about it, and spend time wondering about when it will actually be mine. This type of effort is not entirely useful. It does occupy my time and keep me focused on something. Sure, I could just sit around and watch old episodes of The West Wing on YouTube. If you were wondering where my last round of binge watching The West Wing episodes left me, then you might be interested in finding out that it was around season 4 episode 10. That is really a time in the series where the density of writing per scene has hit a place where things are happening and you just feel like you are immersed in the political adventure. I have a lot more thoughts on that and a few thoughts on why a Northern Exposure crossover episode with The West Wing could have forever changed politics in America. Seriously, that last sentence was not meant as satire or to be ironic.

    Anyway, back to the topic it hand. Getting some type of fuzz effect guitar pedal is probably going to happen. The real decision on that front is related to buying an actual physical guitar effect pedal or taking the plunge into some type of computer processed experience. Over the years, I have avoided taking the plunge into digital effects. My entire guitar rig including guitar, pedals, and an amplifier are all analog. That is the way it seemed to need to be. My efforts to play guitar are purely for my own entertainment and based on that never needed to be streamed to my computer. The epic sounds of my guitar are really mine and mine alone to behold. That is probably the way it should be as having a hobby is really about the art of it and not the end product. I’m not entirely sure that last sentence stands out the way I had intended for it in terms of really bringing home my point. Maybe later when I am feeling a bit more creative something better will appear on the screen during my next writing session.

  • A few Saturday afternoon thoughts on life

    Somebody this morning figured out how to falsely charge one of my credit cards. I learned about this from a declined charge text alert within a few seconds of the actual event. Fraud prevention is getting pretty advanced. In this case it was tied to real time feedback. The reality of having the card number change has just barely started to set in this afternoon. I’m going to have to change a ton of online automatic payment card numbers.

  • Ugh… when is the next Google hardware event?

    Today in the middle of watching This Week in Tech (TWIT) episode 723, I started wondering when the next major Google hardware event is going to be held. Right now, I just spent some time learning about the new HP Chromebook 15 that seems to be a very compelling sub $500 dollar mobile computing option. My next piece of mobile hardware is probably going to be the Google Pixelbook 2 (or whatever they end up calling it).

  • What is a creative period and why does it happen

    Today I spent some time wondering about the nature of what exactly a creative period entails and why it happens. That is one of those things that could have been a lot more valuable a few years ago, but maybe just maybe it could prove out to be a valuable exercise today. Anyway, sometimes I go through cycles of extreme productivity and other times things just don’t happen that way. One of the really key parts of a creative period is using it to actually produce something of value. Sometimes that is the part of the process that has to be identified. Figuring out exactly what it takes to be in a creative period and knowing what to do with that opportunity are both complex things to consider. This little bit of prose feels a little stilted, but the basic point I was trying to get across is here somewhere between the lines.

  • My writing pattern used to be more consistent

    The folks over at Google have indicated that while no more tablets are forthcoming at some point a new Pixelbook will arrive. That new Pixelbook will probably be my next mobile computing device. That is exciting. For a long time (really since the first Pixelbook came out), I have wanted to get a Pixelbook. I’m not entirely sure what benefit it will have to my writing productivity. Outside of that realization and in full acceptance of it, I still want to buy a Pixelbook. Maybe that is just one of those things that will eventually happen.

    Earlier tonight I bought a copy of Ready Player One by Earnst Cline on audiobook from Google Play Books. I had no idea when the purchase was made that it was narrated by Wil Wheaton. During the first twenty minutes it has not been super distracting, but something about it is a bit distracting. It appears that Wil has narrated a lot of books. That is interesting to say the least. I’m a little bit surprised that tonight is the first time I have run into a book narrated by Wil. After another 20 minutes I have managed to start ignoring who is narrating the book and just consume the content. Listening to music probably is a better match for writing. Listening to an audiobook is typically not the best way to actively engage in writing some sweet sweet prose.

  • Listening to an audiobook and writing for a bit

    Most of the websites I host have been updated to the new server now. Only one more needs to be updated. All the links to my main website are now different, but that was inevitable at this point in the migration process. Earlier today I spent a few minutes writing down just a bit of prose that reminded me what writing prose is all about. Maybe I needed to settle back into my daily writing routine. Maybe that is something that will not work out any time soon. One thing is happening and that is related to a bit of entertainment. Tonight I’m listening to an audiobook version of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on Google Play Books. That was enough to help me sit back and relax enough to write something. Part of the process of writing is really about the act of writing and therefore is more about the creative spark in action than the creative spark on its own. That might be enough to consider for the rest of the night, but it turns out more is about to be brought forward.

    One thing that remains true is that this ASUS Chromebook Flip C101P is breaking down slowly as I keep writing. One of the things I’m curious about is when Google will start selling the next generation of the Pixelbook. That might very well be my next mobile personal computing device. I pretty much need something with a keyboard and a rather small screen. It turns out that I simply do not like to write on my ultrawide monitors. My preferences for writing seem to include using a notebook, netbook, laptop, or generally a mobile computing device with a legitimate keyboard. I tried to use a ton of different bluetooth keyboards and smartphones, but not of those combinations really worked based on my need to write for longer periods of time. Apparently, I spend a lot of time thinking and writing about my next Chromebook.

  • Writing based on a daily cadence

    For years, everyday I have sat down and hammered out a few words. Sometimes those words are purely for myself and other times they are posted online. Honestly, most of my online writing is for myself. Really only my efforts to publish academic papers should be considered truly public facing words. Contributions to the broader academy that comprises the written tradition of academic thought are about giving back to that tradition. They are about making a contribution that moves things forward. Maybe recently the mass proliferation of academic publications has made it harder and harder for those contributions to be heard and shared. Perhaps the echo of academic thought has grown smaller in recent years. More and more it is the echo of popular culture on social media that effectively brings people together at scale. Even historically most academic publications had a small, but highly dedicated following of intellectuals that were interested in having and keeping a shared understanding of the world around them based on keeping tabs on the rich tradition of what was published within the academy.

    Right now sitting next to me on my desk a copy of the Public Administration Review (PAR) needs to be read from cover to cover. For better or sometimes for the worse, the one academic journal that I have consistently read over the last 20 years is PAR. Sitting right on top of that journal are copies of Wired magazine and Data Science From Scratch by Grus. Those three publications probably reasonably encapsulate my current academic trajectory. Maybe that can help inform my daily writing cadence going forward. More likely than not, I will continue to generate highly functional journal entries and occasionally sit down to write long form articles. During the moments where being reasonable seems easy I might acknowledge that more of my time needs to be spent writing academic articles, but that is always easier to dream about than to actually muddle through. Hammering the keyboard to produce some prose is almost always going to be about either what has my attention at the moment or what I’m passionate about. It is a rare confluence of events where stream of consciousness writing ends up being academically publishable.

  • A few Sunday thoughts about websites

    Well I have been working to migrate all the websites I host to a new server and hosting plan. That has been a true adventure. Tonight, for the first time my primary website is fully SSL certificate enabled. So that use of technology turned out well enough. On the other hand, my ASUS Chromebook flip is struggling these days to keep up with my development needs. It is missing a few number keys and a few other keys have stopped working. That is a real pain due to the need to keep the virtual keyboard onscreen. About one third of my screen right now is a virtual keyboard and most of my writing effort is still being done with my keyboard. My honest guess here is that this type of failure is related to my efforts last year to write a million words in the same year. That type of workload was a little bit more than this device was ready to handle. This ASUS Chromebook Flip C101P has been a workhorse. The first time I wrote about the C101P was on December 30, 2017. That is a pretty good run for a laptop computer in my care. My usage pattern is a little bit extreme. I’m probably an outlier in terms of overall keyboard usage on any of my portable computers.

  • My digital routine explained

    Whoa — this is a hard one to dig into. I started to whiteboard out my digital routine and think about what types of content I’m consuming. This was a good exercise to help me think about what I’m consuming and why those content types are a part of my life.  

    1. Google Pixel 3 XL – Google News 
    2. Google Pixel 3 XL – New York Times (app) 
    3. Desktop/Phone – Pandora internet radio 
    4. YouTube creators 
    5. Podcast from The Verge (Nilay Patel) 
    6. Podcast Tomorrow from Josh Topolsky 
    7. Netflix  

    It turns out that my digital routine is really grounded in about 7 things that I consume online.  

    What albums did I listen to today?

    Halt and Catch Fire – Original Television Series Soundtrack – B Side – Vinyl (2016) 

    Warren Zevon – The Envoy – Vinyl