Moon Memo: Minimal, and she fell
Hello from the Oregon Human Society, where I just brought Jade to see my office. "It's smaller than I expect," they said, and they are right. We are all crammed into a space too small for what our department accomplishes. Volunteers and training and safety and people and culture.
It seems that today is prep for next week, as usual. Clean up the area. Get everything in place. Next week is getting the calendars and other things updated. It's also about getting it released to everyone.
Earlier this week was my first big training. 3 hours to set up a room for a 2 hour training. I love my supervisor's eye for detail, but it was also A Lot. My body definitely felt it. It's wild to be at the ends of my physical abilities with stuff that would have been simple in my 20s. But here we are.
Later today I'm going to pet some dogs. I'm going to probably get sent a copy of a document to create from scratch in 10 minutes. Going to play on the new laptop.
Minimum Viable Computer
What does it mean to fall out of love with a company? Does it feel foolish? Does it feel shameful?
I'm not going to get into the current nonsense Apple is doing. How it's treating it's developers and customers with disdain, as cattle to exploit. How they are cozying up to Trump in a bid for profits. How they pretend at privacy but are also starting to show how user data can be exploited for profit.
Sabina always makes fun of me for being an Apple fan girl. And maybe she's right. Maybe I should start figuring out how to loosen the tendrils a little bit. Maybe it's time to find a different way to get basic computing done.
The other issue is that my Macbook is an amazing tool for creation, but also an incredible way to spend hours watching youtube videos when I'm trying to write. What would it mean to have a quieter machine.
So with my signing bonus from the new job I bought a 6 year old laptop, and have turned it into what I'm calling my minimum computer. Here are some notes for setting it up.
These are my ideas for a minimum viable computer.
Some things to think Consider:
Dedicated writing tool.
Reduction in dopamine hits. No RSS. No YouTube. No social media. No way to feed the boredom bullshit.
Plugged in, but not fucking around.
The making part of my life, not the consumption part of my life.
Cross platform tools mean you can work anywhere.
Sync or swim. Simple sync that is encrypted and that you pay for is best practices.
Software
Ubuntu Linux so I can have one NON APPLE device. It's time to move away from profit orientation operating systems, and to something less crappy and crufty. Windows has too much AI nonsense. Ubuntu is pretty user friendly, so it renders invisible after a little while.
Writing app:
Obsidian. God I love Obsidian. Obsidian is cross platform. It's a text editor that can be mega simple if you want it to be, but also has some powerful tools that make it very customizable. It also has a REALLY excellent syncing program that makes it so all your notes are available anywhere, but are also saved locally if you want them to be.
File over app.
Plaintext/Markdown.
Nothing propriety for your most important files.
I already have over 5000 quotes, ideas, kernels, etc. in Obsidian, and can choose a random file when I'm feeling stuck and need something to write about.
Syncs across devices so that when I'm done with writing on there, I can do the formatting and sharing and other things back on the desktop laptop.
Questions, answered:
Wike is a Wikipedia app that lets you access Wikipedia from a dedicated app, which allows me to have it as a storehouse of knowledge and inspiration. I'm a big believer in Wikipedia. "[Wikipedia](https://zettelkasten.sorenbjornstad.com/#Wikipedia) brought a ground-breaking approach to creating things to the world: absolutely anyone can contribute, and it'll all work out in the end."
But what if I need a specific question answered quickly? What if I need to know the current bird species found in Portland without breaking my writing flow? I'm using Perplexity AI as a simple Q&A tool. It's not a creation AI. It's purely a search engine. Yes, I know that the ethics of AI are complex, but so is using any search engine, and I sometimes need to know something without opening a browser and ending up on youtube for 4 hours.
Both of these answer questions, and allow for a LITTLE BIT of dicking around, but aren't an open firehose for dopamine hits.
Browser:
Sometimes you need a browser for emergencies. But I don't want a working browser to firehouse the internet at me.
So I am using Firefox, but using Simple Blocker Extension. This will block Firefox from accessing any website except the ones that you give permission for. The only white listed app is an email client so I can send myself files if needed. That's IT.
And that's it. An editor, some ways to get answers to questions, and a browser if I need it. No RSS. No video programs. No chat apps. No games.
Why no communication apps/RSS Readers?
We all already have a terrifyingly powerful communication device in your pocket. With all the distractions in the world. What if you had one device that was just for writing? That when you grabbed your writing back, you could go somewhere and just write? With none of the other things like RSS and the general Internet out there. Where if you have questions you can get them answered, but which is NOT for sitting around and reading or watching youtube videos? What if you did that?
This is all I want, really. When I grab my writing bag, I can just go somewhere, drink coffee, and write a newsletter, or some poems, or something else. I can have it sync to the home or work computer. And that is all.
Tools won't save us. But they'll help us if we choose to keep them small.
First Impressions
She is sleep and small and tough as nails. She can survive a drop from 20 feet. She arrived in a box wrapped in bubble tape. She has a few dents, but is in better shape than I expected, with a battery that was barely used. She gets about 8 hours on a charge. More than enough for a writing day.
Setting her up was very simple. Everything I wanted was already on the Ubuntu app store, so just download and set up.
Obsidian blows my mind. Once it's set up and syncing it works and acts the same regardless of what system you use.
The keyboard is a joy to type on.
I'm writing this last part on her.
She fits in my Writing Bag with larger notebook, a pen caddy, and a book...nothing else to distract me.
Set my phone to airplane mode. Play ambient music. Pull out the blackbook, and type. It's that easy.
Get the best equipment when it's not the best equipment, and let yourself happily do the bits of work without distraction.
I've been trying to set up a dedicated typing machine for a while. The raspberry pi was too small and underpowered. The Neo was too fragile, and didn't survive a cup of coffee. The iPad has too many distractions. My MacBook is the same problem.
This is a full sized laptop with a great keyboard, syncing text editor, answers to questions, and no way to watch video, all for about 140 bucks. I could probably do more with this thing, but why would I?
And then she fell.
Jade was picking me up from work. I was stepping away from the office, and turned quickly to go down the stairs. And my feet went out from under me. And I fell. Hard. Hit my head against the banister. Shattered my glass frames (the lenses were alright). Split my eyelid. Blood everywhere.
My boss and coworkers helped me. Jade helped me. I woke up with morning with an horrible black eye. Tweaked finger. I’m ok.
Went to urgent care. Everyone was very nice.
So I fell down a half flight of stairs. No fun. No good. No big deal.
Outro
I was going to write more, but this got away from me. Guess I'll save those things for next week.
My friend Erin and I had coffee on Monday, and talked about her concept of Trans women as being a community of desire. We are defined by our desires. I've been carrying that with me a lot this week. I desire a better world. I desire the ability to keep writing. I desire a smaller, quieter world. I'm glad to share that world with you, dear friends.
Love you to bits.
Misha Moon