This has meant that I’ve tried to get into the habit of searching my own notes first, but that doesn’t always happen, especially when I’m already in a web browser window it’s easy to open a new tab and search.

However that has now changed.

Enter Omnisearch

By installing this plugin in Obsidian, turning on the built in HTTP server, then installing the Omnisearch Companion, Tampermonkey, and the userscript for both Google and DuckDuckGo (the two search engines I tend to use, but Kagi and Bing are also supported) I can now search in the search engine and see my notes appear at the side of those results. SO. AWESOME.

I draw on a couple of principles from GTD, and from Inbox Zero. They are:

1. Process it once (GTD/Inbox Zero)
2. If it takes less than two minutes, do it now (GTD)

Here’s how that looks:

• I check email two or three times a day, typically once in the morning, just after lunch and late afternoon. While I feel that still to frequent, it keeps others around me happy. Checking it any less and they start to notice, checking it more frequently and they also don’t notice.
• I go through the list of emails, if the FROM persons name or email address, or the subject line tells me there is nothing in this email for me, I don’t even open it (newsletters, automated updates etc). This doesn’t mean I don’t read all newsletters or all updates, I just don’t read those that can’t grab me in that moment.
• Those I need to read (co-workers, clients, personal friends) and those from above that made it through that filter, I read. I’m fully there for that email.
• However, if that email loses me, like many newsletters, gone.
• If there is an action required of me, for example I need to do something, or check if others have done something, I create either a task in the appropriate system (SugarCRM, Reminders, Jira, Git) or a meeting (SugarCRM, Calendar).
• If there is something I need to refer back to, I copy it to the appropriate system (my Zettelkasten, Confluence, SugarCRM, or client/project folder)
• If it requires a reply, I reply. This takes less than two minutes. If it will take more than two minutes, it was taken care of by an earlier step, if not I go back to that prior step.

It’s important to remember that email clients are not task management systems, scheduling systems or knowledge systems. In the same way that a carpenter uses the right tool for the job, as knowledge workers we too should use the right tool for the job.

Sometimes, as in this case, the tool is the methodology, not so much the actual tools used. The tools I use can be completely different to the tools another will use. It’s the process, the methodology that matters.

Investing the time to clarify how we process a thing pays off over time.

Because I was able to clone the git repo to my local, and that repo was already configured/set for publishing to github pages, all I needed to do was install github pages locally, rather than Jekyll etc.

I could make changes, commit the change, push it and it would appear on the live site, but I couldn’t preview it locally with Jekyll. Hence why github pages locally installed, it contains Jekyll.

However, when trying to install github-pages I was getting this error:

	gem install github-pages
	ERROR:  While executing gem ... (Gem::FilePermissionError)
		You don't have write permissions for the /Library/Ruby/Gems/2.6.0 directory.

Using the instuctions kindly noted by Antonio Cangiano at Programming Zen¹.

Summary below (Antonio explains it in more detail)

	brew update && brew install rbenv ruby-build
	export path="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"

Add the following to .zshenv

	export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"

Added the following to .zshrc

	source $HOME/.zshenv
	eval "$(rbenv init - zsh)"

Restart the iterm2 and run the following commands

	rbenv install 2.6.5
	rbenv global 2.6.5

Restart iterm2 and run the following command

	ruby -v

You should see something like: ruby 2.6.5p114 (2019-10-01 revision 67812) [x86_64-darwin19] returned

Then run this command

	ruby -e "puts (1..100).reduce(:+)"

You should see 5050 returned

Now install github-pages

	gem install github-pages

Now when running jekyll serve in the root of the local repo, I can use a browser to view the site before issuing a git push.

1. He was getting a similar error for htmlbeautifier. His explaination contains more detail.↩︎

This post is simply so I can find it again in another couple of years, when I go to setup a new Mac.

So I’ve created a Keyboard Maestro shortcut to make them easier.

What it does is run a shell script to get the current date and time and saves that to a variable.

Then we insert by typing the HTML code to do the superscript¹ for the foot note.

We use the date-time variable to create a footnote id to go at the bottom of the document (ie fn-yyyymmddhhmmss) and a slight variation for the backlink back up to where the footnote was inserted (i.e. fnbl-yyyymmddhhmmss).

Then a line below insert an ordered list with a list item where the footnote text goes. Of course, we then move that to the bottom of the document.

If we have more than one, manually update the number used for the footnote. Because the list of footnotes at the end are in an ordered list, they will be numbered automatically.

If you’ve got a way to further automate this please let me know.

Download the macro

1. Text of footnote goes here. ↩︎

The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark

Useful site called thepunctuationguide.com details how to use the em dash and many other punctuation marks.

Andy Matuschak has/is writing about Note-writing Systems. He’s also written Exalting data, missing meaning which I found interesting.

He comments on evergreen note-writing as the basic unit of measure for knowledge work, which is a new thought for me. I’ve typically measured work in terms of revenue, hours billed, or projects completed. While those measures are important, after reading his take, perhaps if I measure evergreen notes as the fundamental unit, that, I’m thinking will improve those other measures.

Says Andy:

… Most people use notes as a bucket for storage or scratch thoughts and Note-writing practices are generally ineffective.

• Evergreen note-writing helps insight accumulate
• Evergreen note-writing helps reading efforts accumulate
• Note-writing helps writing accumulate: these notes are the fuel for the Executable strategy for writing, particularly if you Create speculative outlines while you write.

It’s certainly fueling thoughts for me…

• 20 Journaling Prompts I Swear by to Get You out of Your Head - Journaling helps get stuff out of your head
• The Ultimate Guide to Writing Online - We can all be better :)
• The Real Python Podcast - Great first episode, looking forward to the next episodes

Later,
Ben.

• 20 Journaling Prompts I Swear by to Get You out of Your Head - Journaling helps get stuff out of your head
• The Ultimate Guide to Writing Online - We can all be better :)
• The Real Python Podcast - Great first episode, looking forward to the next episodes

Later,
Ben.