Timer set for 30 minutes. I'll go through the fixed events during the day: at 18:30 there will be a real estate visit to the airbnb apartment because the property is being sold. I'll need to clean up before this time. After lunch seems ideal, because I haven't prepared food for the week, so I'll go to the supermarket then prepare a meal, so it will be better to stick close to home. I better hang around the neighborhood during the first leg of the day.

What should I work on today? I'm torn between a new project or extending the old ones. The new project is unrelated to design. In the last few days I've been sensing that I should tend to what already exists, in doing this I give more time for the new project to consolidate. I feel the need to give the new project a code name, because I don't yet want to reveal what it is, let's call it "Arete". Arete helps in the realization of other projects, so it would be good to have an MVP as soon as possible, for my own use at first. I'll put my efforts here at least until I have something that works for me, and Method of Action design games will be extended/improved one by one according to their own schedule.

What would I need to get project Arete to the MVP stage? It is a massive undertaking but I already have something advanced. I'll not plan the work route now, I'll wait until I'm sitting down at the library. I like the way things came together, if I am able to release new versions of the existing games, the technical abilities gained will help Arete, and Arete feeds back into the games because it's akin to a productivity tool.

Does anything of the blog need to be addressed? I'd like to change the homepage, but that can be left for another day. Nothing too pressing is felt. I'm collecting an important number of "debt" items, as one does creative work one also generates maintenance work, I should not let the list grow too long, otherwise I'll get overwhelmed and address the maintenance debt only when it causes pain (a sure sign that it was overdue). Since I have a working blog now, I'd like to begin importing/translating some articles from my former online presence, as to populate with new content (new in English, at least).

Let us prepare the day.

Work session 1 (2 hours, 20 min)

I will continue working on project Arete and see where this takes me. When I don't know where I'm going, I write about it afterwards, not before.

***

System updates delayed starting work. I decided to finally click the "Install updates" that were pending, and when the Mac restarted it said it would take 40 minutes to finish. These kinds of updates are insanity, but I'm not sure it can even be solved. You can't tweak the engine of a flying airplane. I always feel this dichotomy: frustration as a user, and sympathy for the developers' thankless job.

I read a couple of pages of To Kill a Mockingbird in those 40 minutes. Harper Lee is indeed a master of her craft, the narrative transports you there.

After the restart I faced a considerably large codebase, and I felt resistance extending it. It feels the foundations are not solid enough, and that anything I build on top of it might go to waste. It's not bad, but sometimes the restrictive nature of the architecture is intuited. It manifests in hesitance: there's too many unknowns ahead for me to make foundational decisions. So I decided to use the work session to explore up ahead.

When I go hiking I usually carry a large backpack so that I can sleep on the open. I enjoy hiking through untrailed areas with no specific destination, the thrill of exploration is offset by many dead ends and retracing of hiked footsteps. With time I've learned when exploring challenging terrain, it's best to leave the backpack behind and scout the area for the best route. Then I go back for the backpack, knowing what to expect ahead. This happens in design and in development too.

In this exploration I think I found a way of simplifying the architecture drastically, it's still too early to tell, I need to explore even more ahead to make sure it's not a dead end, but its very promising.

Work session 2 (1h, 20min)

I have come to the airbnb apartment on the bike, this time it took me 34:39 door to door, shaving off 5 minutes from my previous trip. Beginner gains are always encouraging but it's best not to extrapolate from them (I'd quickly end up travelling in time to the past if I did this). I have 1h 30min until the real estate visit takes place, but I saw there was a presentation about the trees at Retiro within an hour, I'll try to catch the presentation. I'll clean up while the Mexico - Sweden World Cup Match is in the background.

***

I went to Retiro to the presentation and the director of the park was explaining a multi-year plan for the park. It was interesting to watch, it was endearing to see people asking why they had cut down such and such tree and the director knowing exactly what tree they were speaking about, and the reason it was cut.

I'll call off the third work session as it's 22:00 and quite exhausted. There's still laundry to do and food to cook for the week.

Debt

  • Put blog templates in linked files
  • Launch plackup upon server start
  • Create build step for blog javascript and css minification
  • Historical about page
  • Create archive pages for blog
  • Serve everything on https
  • Make blog footer sticky