Things I Use

This is the stuff that I use on a daily basis. It’s the foundation of my work in both this vault & my actual work. There are numerous external links to the items mentioned here, but I do not earn any money from them or am sponsored by anyone. I just thought it would be useful to include.

Analog

I believe that every solid analog setup must begin with a good backpack. I have a few, but my number one is my Oakley Peak Rc 18L. I bought it second hand, so I obtained it for a reasonable price. I don’t think I would ever be able to justify such an absurd cost for a backpack that I beat up every day.

I write a lot both digitally & on paper. Whenever I’m on the go or want to flesh out an idea better, I use my Traveler’s Notebook Regular size. I imported mine from Japan before the whole tariff situation. Other things I use it for are brain-dumping, appointment tracking & miscellaneous planning, & work log. For pencils, I use my rOtring 600 with 2B lead. For pens, I’m really enjoying Pilot’s Frixion line up. It seems they have highlighters too. I’ll give them a shot if I ever see them. ^0c4aec

Perhaps it’s silly to include, but given the use that I have given it so far & will continue to give it, I have no choice. I have a black 40oz Owala FreeSip® Water Bottle bottle that I carry with me everywhere I go. I broke the lid so I have a white one (they didn’t have any more black ones in stock) & it doesn’t look the best but it works. Drinking sufficient water has always been a problem for me, so carrying a bottle is nonnegotiable.

Technology

Workstations

I have both a laptop & a PC setup. My laptop is a ThinkPad T14 Gen3 & my PC is a build I bought off a coworker. I’d be lying if I said that I remember the specs. All I know is that it’s overkill for my use cases. Both devices are running Arch Linux. I use GNU Stow with Git to deploy my configuration. I have one repo with two folders, one for my laptop & one for my desktop. It’s simple & great.

My keyboard is the MoErgo’s Go60. I have pretty bad Carpal tunnel. A vertically tented keyboard with low actuation point switches has done wonders for me. One of the features that I value most is the ability to disable Bluetooth firmware-level. I work in RF-sensitive spaces at times & being able to disable that functionality is crucial.

Software

My most used application is Obsidian. Not only is this website’s content created there, but most of my writing is created there. All my ideas make their way into this vault at some point. I have a couple of plugins, but nothing that doesn’t affect the open nature of my notes. I would like to shout out my spell checker of choice, Harper. I use the plugin extensively & derive much value from it.

I also get a lot of use out of Zotero, where I read papers & PDFs. You might be guessing that I make a lot of use out of the Zotero Integration plugin , & you would be correct to think that.

My preferred browser is Firefox, but lately I have been using Helium Browser more than anything. My search engine is Kagi, although I’m looking to at some point try out Uruky.

Deep in my heart lies a love for Emacs that I can’t deny, but the truth of the matter is that for me, anything bigger than a simple text editor will not be used effectively. Maybe if there were easier ways to deploy it & if I could do so on mobile things would be different… Well, they wouldn’t be because the problem still stands. I use Neovim with a very, very small amount of plugins. It would behoove me to look over said list & reduce it even more. In all honesty, I might be better off switching to Vim!