On this day, 12 years ago...
I launched in addition to my photoblog (From 10 to 300mm), my “personal” blog which ran under Too Much Latte for many years. Then I set up the whole thing from my phone while in the bus to a concert in Levi/Finland. I remember that being a rather fiddly thing then, and I don’t think that the Wordpress admin was even responsive. Somehow I got it done though. Today curiosity drew me to archive.
Ha! Even though accident, this was a first in a while. I haven’t had this score neither this, nor last year. If ever come to think about it. My average is much lower.
It didn’t took nearly as long as I initially thought but just finished reading: The Shadow Rising: Book Four of ‘The Wheel of Time’ by Robert Jordan. I think I should read something else for a change, but then again really would like to see how the story continues. So… 📚
Trying to Find a Plain-Text Task-Management System... again
Every now and then I get bored/frustrated with Pen/Paper task-management and start to look into some plain-text alternatives. The last few days were dedicated to that. I used Taskpaper successfully in the past, as well as Orgmode which was great, possibly the best, but getting the Agenda to come out the way I wanted turned out more hassle than I cared for. So what I’m doing now is trying to set up a system in Obsidian.
Kaweco Steel EF vs Premium EF Nib - A quick Comparrison
Over time I have become rather peculiar about my preferred fountain pen(s), nib-sizes, ink colour and paper and after much experimentation have come to like EF-nibs and plain black ink, if possible on MD-paper best. It’s been a long ride to figure those out, but that’s where I am at the moment. I like things to be consistent and black-ink guarantees that most of the time with limited variations of course.
I should be doing something different but instead listening to audiobooks and also got an idea how to improve the header of the blog. I still have to think about this a bit before I implement it but liking it so far.
I prefer to use cartridges with my pocket pens and since I can’t buy them anywhere near locally I tend to batch order my ink. I like this black, as it is not too black and these should last me a while.
The Books I Read in 2021
Compared to the previous years, 2021 had not been a good year for reading. It is possible that I overdid it in the previous year but for a few months I didn’t read all that much. Surely the pandemic must have had something to do with that. Half-way through the year though I managed to re-establish the habit and from there on things went upwards and I read on a daily basis, both in audio and paper/digital formats.
After finishing book 3 of the series I naturally started to the read the 4th book: The Shadow Rising: Book Four of ‘The Wheel of Time’ by Robert Jordan. So far it is as great as the previous ones. Since this is a very long book I sense it will be a while until I finish it. 📚
I'm almost there
I think I might be (almost) done with the re-design of the Blog’s theme, at least for now. At the moment it is a mashup of the Micro-Blogs own Simple-Theme, Pure’s CSS and Obsidian’s Things themes’ colour-scheme and multiple bits of code from the Tufte-Theme such as the summaries in the timeline and the and the category-links on the posts (update: that I just added, because you know: I’m almost there 🙈).
Finished reading: The Dragon Reborn: Book Three of ‘The Wheel of Time’ by Robert Jordan. Another great book in the series. While I think that I will continue right away with the next book in the series, I may still squeeze in something shorter in between. 📚
New Pen Day
It's the first one this year! I have been waiting for the pen to arrive and today my new Kaweco Student Demonstrator arrived, and it is gorgeous. I have currently equipped it with the Kaweco Premium EF Nib and it writes and feels wonderfully in the hand. I have come to like to Demonstrator pens as they are rather neutral and don't imply any colour. I always want to make sure that ink and pen match and the neutral colour makes the pen flexible.
We have visited an actual Café. This was a first in longer than I can remember. Related: first Dirty Chai as well. Will go well-caffeinated through the rest of the day I guess. ☕️
New Year, New Journal Setup
I’m using the Bullet Journal Method for task-management now in the third year and aside two attempts of trying digital solutions such as orgmode and Todoist (each in turn lasted exactly a month), have stuck to and enjoyed working with it every day since. At the same time I have started journaling and haven’t missed a single day of doing so, aside, again, each a 30 day stint with org-journal, Day One and recently an even shorter attempt of using Obsidian.
For Christmas a picture of our youngest, rather mischievous, family member doing just what he’s not supposed to. Which seems to be fair, seems to be his favourite occupation.
Merry Christmas or whatever festivus you prefer.
Performing with the Oulu All Stars Big Band feat. Jarkko Martikainen
On Saturday, 18th of December 2021 at 19 o’clock we will perform with the Big Band feat. Jarkko Martikainen the “Pieni joulu-uudistus“ program at the Karjasillan church. It’s going to be a nice program with all kinds of Christmas tunes. The past rehearsals went well, and the saxophone section has a lot of doublings in there (I’m on the un-usual Baritone seat, also play clarinet and tenor here), which is a fun thing to do.
This Years' Gingerbread House
While I was off on a rehearsal the other day my wife and the kids finished this years Gingerbread House(s). It’s as awesome as always.
Two books that I read lately
A few weeks ago I started to read Robert Jordans “The Wheel of Time” and in the meanwhile I have finished the first book, the “Eye of the World”, in the series. It’s a great book and I enjoyed it a lot. Needless to say that I plan to continue the series, which, with 12/13 books to go, is no small task. I still refrain from watching the series on Amazon though, as from my understanding the first season is more or less based on the first three books and I don’t want to spoil the series for me.
Weeknotes #14
Looking back at the weeks since my last Weeknotes it is safe to say that at the least on this blog plenty of things have happened, even if that that might not be obvious on first sight. So, maybe I’ll start with the blog Blog While I have found again interest in building the blog as my main social platform, I still struggle to publish anything meaningful. Then again, who cares.
The Return of the Baritone
I haven’t played the baritone sax for at the least 15 years and had some fun today working on it in preparation for an upcoming project. In fact I had so much fun, I could imagine spending more time with the instrument. Here are three choruses on a rather well-known standard. https://videopress.com/v/R3xxEqR2?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata
The other day we went to see the Lumo Light Festival and watched this beautiful installation. It was a fun light show.