Taming the Terminal

A few days ago, on a forum post, I saw mention of a podcast series called “Taming the Terminal.”

It turns out this is yet another example of why the open internet is awesome.

With the help of ChatGPT, I have been feeling more confident about writing code and working in the Terminal, so I figured I would check out this podcast to learn more about it.

What I’m Learning

I am only a few episodes in and am learning a lot!

For the first time, I have some amount of understanding about what the Terminal app is and what it does. In the past, I have just copied and pasted commands that I found online. Now, I can at least decipher some of those commands I have used in the past.

The podcast has also given me a new way to look at some of the invisible things that the OS does behind the scenes that I have never really thought about before, like organizing files and maintaining permissions for those files. I now understand why repairing disk permissions is a thing!

Why the Open Web is Cool

It turns out that this series is from 2013!

If this was a Twitter thread or Facebook post, it would have long been “lost” to history or at least more difficult to access. However, since this is a website and podcast, it is so much more resilient, searchable, and shareable for anyone on the internet to find and learn from. Even a decade later!

I look forward to eventually working through all 40 episodes, but I wanted to take a second to share my appreciation here.

In the meantime, I would love to hear about how you use the Terminal to improve your computing experience; let me know in the comments!

Year of Execution

An inviting pathway meanders through a lush forest at sunrise, with the early morning light casting a warm, golden glow over the verdant surroundings. The path symbolizes a journey of personal growth and the pursuit of goals, enveloped in the tranquility and beauty of nature, embodying optimism and inspiration for a new beginning.

Coincidentally, right at the start of the pandemic lockdowns in my area, I declared 2020 the Year of Healthy Habits. While there were plenty of health-related events going on at the time, not a ton of them were being generated by me.

I mostly spent the time trying not to freak myself out, supporting my wife, who was basically working 24/7 at our local hospital, and being (essentially) the sole caregiver to a kindergartener. So, the Year of Healthy Habits didn’t quite have the impact I had hoped.

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FoodNoms

This is a digital graphic featuring an app icon set against a wavy brown and white abstract background. The app icon is bright orange with the image of a bar chart that transitions into a fork on the right side, symbolizing a focus on food, nutrition, or dining metrics.

Growing up, I was a jock who was secretly a nerd. I played sports year-round and even conned my way into having an independent study gym class my senior year.

That level of physical activity plus a teenage metabolism meant that there would be no consequences for having a three-course cheesecake meal at The Cheesecake Factory with my friends.

Unfortunately, after my athletic career ended and my metabolism changed, my eating habits didn’t, and I gained approximately 50 pounds over the next 15-ish years.

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My Updated Brain Dump Processor for Drafts

Illustration of a human head in profile against a light background, exploding with a vibrant, abstract array of shapes and objects. Colorful lines, swirls, clouds, and various symbols, like music notes, a pencil, and a light bulb, suggest a burst of creativity or brainstorming. The style is whimsical and highly detailed, using a blue, red, and yellow palette.

One of my first YouTube videos and first automations that included Drafts was about getting tasks into my task manager, which at the time was OmniFocus.

Over the years, this process has evolved to include JavaScript and Things 3; I’m happy to share the most recent version here today.

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Automating ‘This Evening’ Repeating Tasks in Things 3

Screenshot of a user interface for automation setup, with options to trigger actions at a specified time or by script. The focus is on an AppleScript code snippet, partially redacted, which interacts with the "Things3" application. It includes logic to handle tasks, involving tokens and URLs for updates, with conditions based on task properties such as whether a tag's name is "evening" or if a task is a project. The script is designed to automate task management based on time of day.

One of the most common issues I see fellow Things users complain about on the Things Sub-Reddit is the frustrating experience with repeating tasks and the evening section of the Today view.

I always forget that this is an issue for people because I automated a solution long ago. Let me show you how.

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