Well, with my upcoming downtime, it’s time to dust off the Hacking with macOS Swift course that I almost completed back in July, and see if the project I had in mind has any chance of actually going anywhere…

I’m not sure how many companies need short-term contract technical writers, but I may put effort into finding out next year. I feel like I’m sort of done with full-time work, even remotely, unless it’s a truly exceptional opportunity. (Never say never.)

I would say I am bidding a fond farewell to Linode, but the truth is I bid a fond farewell to them nearly a year ago, and I am bidding a Bye, Felicia to Akamai.

An unexpected thing from earlier today: the financial advisor asked if I was going to look for new work or just retire early, in a way that suggested he thought “retire early” was, you know, actually plausible. I plan to keep working, but that seems very encouraging, somehow.

Between the time I booked my first call with a financial advisor at Betterment and the time the call happened (this morning), I was informed my job would be ending on December 8th due to the company ending remote work. So the call was—not quite what I originally planned.

Somehow I have found myself at a drag show held at a community center at an RV park in rural-ish Florida, and I feel like I have stepped into an episode of “Somebody Somewhere”

I’m doing a little bit of cursory spot-checking, and my general feeling that restaurant food was often cheaper back in Silicon Valley than it is in Tampa and Orlando may actually be correct.

Debating between “try and line up another job in tech writing before current job ends” and “take a break and work on other things”. I think I really want the latter, but there’s always the worry that if one does take a break, getting back on the hamster wheel will be that much tougher.

Currently reading: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree 📚

My timing with finally switching to Betterment “Premium,” so I can talk to a financial advisor, earlier this month seems rather ironic now. Topic of the first call: so what financial strategies do you recommend for unemployment?

I have been informed that the C-level execs at my company refuse to give me an exception to keep working remotely, so within two months I must start coming into the office. Given that I now live ~2400 miles from said office, this is a challenge.

Cleaned up my passwords in iCloud Keychain finally; I’ve been using 1Password for years, but let Safari save passwords inconsistently. I’m considering moving back to iCloud only, but remain unsure how wise that is.

I’ve been using Arc for months, but I’m taking macOS Sonoma as an excuse to go back to Safari for a while. I suspect I’ll find I still prefer Arc’s spaces to Safari’s tab groups, but…

Hooray! It’s time for “what fresh hell awaits me transferring a phone number between two phones” day! (It has never gone smoothly, and it is not going smoothly now, either.)

I am literally years overdue for a haircut, but I have long hair and don’t want a barber who just does Generic Man Cut. My test may be “give me the hair of Trent Crimm”; if they don’t respond “The Independent”, they’re not the right stylist

I’m letting my iPhone 12 Pro live out its last week caseless, trying out the leather sleeve I bought as an experiment. My two thoughts after less than a day: first, these phones look really good without cases. Second, I hope titanium is less of a fingerprint magnet.

So far I have not ordered a case for the new phone, but have ordered a sleeve. I’ll see how long I really hold out on that…

Good: the Audioengine HD3s are clearly better speakers than the Studio Display. Less good: I don’t know if they have better bass. (Really wish I hadn’t given up my Audyssey media speakers, which punched way above their weight class.)

Predictably I gave in and ordered an iPhone 15 Pro, and a USB-A to C cable for CarPlay.

And I have bought a new Apple Watch, my first in stainless steel. This has shaped up to be an expensive week even before a new phone. (Contemplating an iPhone 15 Pro, not Max, in “natural” titanium. But, maybe not until another paycheck.)

After poking at cheap-but-not-too computer speakers, I’m getting Audioengine HD3s—mostly good reviews and a decent headphone amp. I was tempted by the iconically weird Harman Kardon Soundsticks, but putting all the inputs and controls on the subwoofer is bafflingly inconvenient.

I decided to move my big-for-computer-speakers Vanatoo Ones from my desk into my bedroom and added a Wiim streamer, and it’s great. And the Studio Display has solid speakers for a monitor. But after a month…I think I want better computer speakers again.

Incidentally, is it just me, or is it a lot nicer to use the web interface for Micro.blog on the iPad than either the official app or Gluon? They’re great phone apps, but…just great phone apps.

Back in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was born in Dallas, lived briefly in upstate New York, and grew up in Tampa Bay, but NorCal—and the Pacific Northwest at large—feels like home. I don’t know if I can afford to return here when the time comes, but Sacramento, or further up the coast…

Apparently I not only signed up for the “T2” waitlist, yet another attempt to make a new Twitter, but incredibly, T2 has survived long enough for me to get an invite. I think it’ll probably fall into the same bucket for me as Post and Threads: “I’m not actually there.”