Years ago I installed Alfred on my laptop, but never really took the time to learn how to best use it. Consequently, I didn’t use it much and never really saw the need for such a tool. I recently got a new laptop and decided to research some new apps on Reddit and saw that Alfred was still mentioned a lot as a “must-have” for many people. I noticed there was also a newer, similar search and app launcher named Raycast that was getting mentioned a lot and, in fact, seemed to be more popular than the older Alfred.

But, I decided to give Alfred a shot again since I had some familiarity with it and didn’t feel like I gave it a fair shake years ago. And even though it’s been around a very long time, there are still a lot of people who swear by it, claiming it’s the first thing they install on any new computer they get. But after downloading it and using it for a bit my experience was similar to when I tried it before: cool, but a little underwhelming. I didn’t see many benefits over the built-in Spotlight search and app launcher. It seemed like much of the useful functionality was locked up in the Powerpack, which you had to pay for. I’m not against paying for great software, but before I moved forward and bought Alfred, I thought I’d give Raycast a shot.

I downloaded and installed Raycast and at first wasn’t that impressed. I thought it was great that most of the features were available in the free version, which includes things like clipboard history, snippets, and extensions. The free version of Alfred doesn’t include any of that. But navigating through the search results felt a little clunky, at least when compared to Alfred. I stuck with it and after a day or so, it clicked started to become second nature.

I don’t want to do a complete tutorial or review of Raycast because there are a bunch of those online already (e.g., The Basics). Instead I figured I’d point out a few of the simple things I’m using it for on a daily basis.

I have a few Quicklinks configured to open some frequently-used folders (e.g., Downloads, Documents) with a hotkey and to also search frequently-used websites like Amazon, Wikipedia, IMDB, etc. I created a hotkey to open Raycast’s clipboard history viewer, which is a lot more helpful than I thought it would be (I’d never used a clipboard manager before). I also have a hotkey to toggle Raycast’s floating notes window, which again is really useful for jotting down quick, temporary notes.

I have a few Snippets created, but the one I use the most is for my e-mail address. If you’re not familiar with Snippets, they automatically replace a short keyword you type with some other text. For example, you could set things up so when you type @e it will replace those two characters with your full e-mail address. You can create Snippets for anything that’s hard or annoying to type and it’ll same you some keystrokes.

Lastly, I installed a few helpful Extensions: Brew, Goodreads, Obsidian, and System Monitor are the ones I use the most. I’m also using many of the built-in Extensions like System Settings and Window Management. Extensions are free and easy to install and it seems like new ones are being built all the time.

I’ve been using Raycast nearly every day for a couple months and I really like it. It has definitely made a lot of things easier and includes functionality you find in like 10 separate apps. If you have a Mac and want to make your life a little easier, check it out.

I don’t think a video can be more in my wheelhouse than this one. A few years old, but just perfect.

A recent Van Neistat video about perfectionism got me thinking about how how I fall into that trap sometimes, specifically with this blog. I haven’t thought about it too much, but maybe it’s not even about reaching perfection, but simply trying to avoid embarrassment.

Before social media took over the world, having a blog was a lot more useful than it is now. For example, when we moved from Minnesota to California I wanted a way to stay in touch with family and friends in a way that didn’t include writing the same basic e-mail over and over. So I started a blog and posted some pictures, sharing short anecdotes about what we were up to. I don’t think I ever had more than a couple family members actually read anything, but it served its purpose and I learned some things about web development. I didn’t worry about creating anything great – it was simply used as a record of what was going on. Now that social media has kind of filled this need, you gotta wonder why anyone these days wants to have a blog. I mean, there are still great blogs out there – I visit kottke, Swiss Miss, Daring Fireball, and others frequently. But for nobodies like me, what’s the point?

Here’s why I do it:

1. It’s fun to work on
2. It’s nice to have a personal hub of sorts (e.g., for posting links to social media accounts or to create long-form posts about trips or projects, etc.)
3. It helps improve my thinking and, hopefully, my writing (though this might be up for debate)

Spending a few hours trying to fix a CSS problem I barely understand, while maybe strange for some, for me is an enjoyable way to spend an evening. The same goes for experimenting with different typefaces and layouts as well as learning enough Liquid to get the tags page in alphabetical order. I also like having a place to post interesting links or long-form writing, that I control 100%.

This is all well and good, but with a web site like this you quickly hit an issue: you need raw material (aka “content”) to actually make the site work. So you need to write stuff, which is where most of the problems surface.

As mentioned above, I’m definitely not doing this for “the views.” It’s basically a personal journal, written exclusively by me, and pretty much only for me. It just so happens to have a more “interesting-to-work-on” presentation layer. However, it’s also different than a journal because I know for certain no one will ever read my journal. And while it’s unlikely anyone will ever read this blog, it’s not impossible.

The point I’m trying to get to here is that there’s zero pressure to write anything decent with a private journal; as a result, it’s way easier. I can sit down and churn out a bunch of random, messy thoughts and it doesn’t matter – I can be more creative and take more risks with what I write about. When it comes to blogging, though, I put a certain amount of pressure on myself to create things that are more insightful and/or polished. (Or, at the very least, not complete shit.) I start spiraling in this negative headspace, doubting everything and ultimately wondering what I’m even doing. The internal hit, “Stop this, you’re embarassing yourself” is on endless repeat.

Is this a rational voice editing my life and saving me from endless embarrassment? Or is it the “cowardice of perfectionism” preventing me from starting? What about Steven Pressfield’s Resistance, which is something I should ignore and power through? I’m not sure, but I know it has a chilling effect and tends to prevent me from trying things, not only on this silly blog, but sometimes also out in the real world.

One glimmer of hope here is that as you get older you realize, for better or worse, that everyone is obsessed with their own situations and the importance you’re placing on what others think is generally misguided. While I do feel that striving to create awesome things is worthwhile, there’s also certain contexts where Neistat’s “good enough” is a worthy goal.

How does this relate to this blog? Well, I’m trying to create more and not get so caught up in whether or not any of it is worthwhile. Simply put, creating a web site and writing stuff for it makes me feel good. I’m creating this for my future self, as I always enjoy looking back on the things I’ve written, even if they are somewhat cringe-worthy. This is a reminder to that future self, when he’s doubting everything, to lower the bar and treat this more as a messy, informal “weblog” rather than something that needs to be perfect.

In the middle of February I decided I finally wanted to start learning Swift so I could someday create macOS and/or iOS apps. I went to the Swift subreddit and started poking around, trying to figure out the best place to start. The free 100 days of Swift online course was on the top of the recommended list for noobs so that’s what I started.

As I write this I’m currently on day 23 of the course and so far it’s been a lot of fun. The first 15 days were a crash-course in the basics of the Swift language. I wouldn’t call myself a developer, but over the years I’ve written quite a few Python, Ruby, Bash, and Powershell scripts so I’m familiar with programming constructs like variables, arrays, conditionals, loops, functions, classes, etc. While the concepts in the first couple weeks weren’t all new, there were a few things that were, such as protocols, extensions, optionals, and, to some degree, closures. And since I’m 100% new to Swift, all the implementation details were something I had to learn. At any rate, those first couple weeks were a nice way to get started and get back in the programming mindset.

I was honestly a little worried about the switch to SwiftUI, which is the newest user interface framework for Swift. All of the programming I’ve ever really done (except web sites) has been on console apps (i.e, command-line programs) so I don’t have experience creating full-blown GUIs. It’s been really fun, though, learning how SwiftUI works. I’m only a few lessons in, however, so just scratching the surface at this point. I’ve come across some questions and answers on Stack Exchange that tell me there’s a lot of complexity lurking around the corner. But, I’m doing this for fun so will take it slow and enjoy the trip. Definitely more to come on this as I progress through the course.

Kottke posted a video on Dutch street design, which can be filed under “one more thing Americans can’t seem to figure out.”

Related: this article from Business Insider concludes that, contrary to many people’s preconceptions, “complete streets” are actually good for business.

I’ve read every study and report I could find that looked specifically at the economics of bike lanes since 1984 — 32 research articles, to be exact. The results show that making streets friendlier for bikes — and sidewalks friendlier for pedestrians — is actually good for business. The rise of “complete streets” and “road diets,” as urban planners call them, has been a huge boon to businesses in cities.