---
title: "Dispatch #4 (June 2023)"
date: 2023-06-01T23:20:01-04:00
draft: false
tags:
- dispatch
references:
- title: "A Brief History & Ethos of the Digital Garden"
  url: https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history
  date: 2023-04-30T18:47:58Z
  file: maggieappleton-com-n6xsqa.txt
- title: "What’s in a Word? Building a Verbose Party Game | Viget"
  url: https://www.viget.com/articles/whats-in-a-word-building-a-verbose-party-game/
  date: 2023-05-26T16:33:41Z
  file: www-viget-com-yrczde.txt
- title: "Why Have a Values Plan? – Anna Havron"
  url: https://www.annahavron.com/blog/why-have-a-values-plan
  date: 2023-05-28T19:58:40Z
  file: www-annahavron-com-8hj07z.txt
- title: "Turning Obsidian into My Perfect Writing App – The Sweet Setup"
  url: https://thesweetsetup.com/turning-obsidian-into-my-perfect-writing-app/
  date: 2023-06-02T03:52:56Z
  file: thesweetsetup-com-x9nbdv.txt
---

We spent Memorial Day weekend at Lake Norman, but it was like 55° and rainy the whole time. I've been loving the mild weather for the most part, but I was definitely looking forward to some kayaking and dock jumping.

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We finished off the closet project -- building the second unit was a lot quicker than the first, since I really just had to scale up the existing plans. Then it was a matter of adding the connecting rod and shelf. I think it turned out great, though I'd like to improve at building drawers. Here are some before and after shots (courtesy of Claire):

<div class="image-set">
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  {{<thumbnail IMG_6174 "200x" />}}
  {{<thumbnail IMG_6593 "200x" />}}
  {{<thumbnail IMG_6594 "200x" />}}
</div>

Other life updates: we had a big work retreat at the beginning of the month at the [Tides Inn][1], which was incredible. I celebrated 15 years (15!) with the company, and received a [scooter][2] as a gift. This thing is rad -- I've been really happy with the e-bike, but it's nice to have a smaller option for quick trips to the office or corner store.

We signed up for the local [JCC][3] since they have the best/only outdoor pool in the area. As a bonus, they have a nice gym, and I managed to get ~4 workouts in over the month. Hope to keep that up, though June's pretty packed. I didn't manage to fit in any long bike rides, but I did get a trailer hitch installed on the car, which was a bit of a process. Now I just need to select and purchase a bike rack and a whole new series of adventures should be unlocked.

I read [_Building a Second Brain_][4], a book about digital note-taking systems. It inspired me to try out a couple different <abbr title="personal knowledge management">PKM</abbr> apps. I was initially drawn to [Logseq][5], but the editing experience was a little rough and it didn't seem to support adding PDFs and images to notes. I've settled on [Obsidian][6], which checks a lot of boxes even though I'm not a huge fan of Electron apps. I set up a [web clipper][7] tool so that I can quickly send links from Brave to Obsidian. I also started keeping [public notes][8], inspired by some [digital gardening][9] stuff I've been reading.

I didn't write any Go, but I did start a [notes page][10] about it and have a decent idea for a starter project. I need to make some actual progress here this month.

Final thought: when I was younger, I'd engage in a lot of "what if" thinking, imagining myself living totally different lives. This tendency decreased as I got older and built a life I was increasingly happy with, but never entirely went away. But since Nev came along, it's really the end of that -- she's so awesome, and any timeline where she doesn't exist exactly as she is right now just doesn't have any draw.

[1]: https://www.tidesinn.com/
[2]: https://www.segway.com/ninebot-kickscooter-max/
[3]: https://www.jewishforgood.org/
[4]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/building-a-second-brain-a-proven-method-to-organize-your-digital-life-and-unlock-your-creative-potential-tiago-forte/18265370?ean=9781982167387
[5]: https://logseq.com/
[6]: https://obsidian.md/
[7]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/obsidian-web/edoacekkjanmingkbkgjndndibhkegad
[8]: /notes/
[9]: https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history
[10]: /notes/golang/

This month:

* Adventure: this month is pretty adventure-packed between [Running of the Bulls][11], canoe camping, a long weekend in Beaufort, a cruise with Claire's family, and heading up to DC to meet our new niece
* Project: build a simple towel rack for the bathroom and publish an article on [testing][12] on my company's website
* Skill: gonna stick with Go and actually write some code

[11]: https://bullcityrunning.com/our-races/running-of-the-bulls-8k/
[12]: /notes/good-tests

Reading:

* Fiction: [_Rapt_][13], Winifred Gallagher
* Non-fiction: [_The Last Graduate_][14], Naomi Novik

[13]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/rapt-attention-and-the-focused-life-winifred-gallagher/7485226?ean=9780143116905
[14]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-last-graduate-naomi-novik/15537202?ean=9780593128886

Links:

* [What’s in a Word? Building a Verbose Party Game | Viget][15] -- write-up of the [Pointless Weekend][16] game I helped build in March
* [Why Have a Values Plan? – Anna Havron][17]
* [Turning Obsidian into My Perfect Writing App – The Sweet Setup][18]

[15]: https://www.viget.com/articles/whats-in-a-word-building-a-verbose-party-game/
[16]: /journal/dispatch-2-april-2023/
[17]: https://www.annahavron.com/blog/why-have-a-values-plan
[18]: https://thesweetsetup.com/turning-obsidian-into-my-perfect-writing-app/
