My new weblog

I've set up a new weblog, as it's time to move to a custom domain and a different, more full-featured host. Please visit me at wesperdue.net/blog/. See you there!

My Current Blogging Workflow

My blogging workflow has been bugging me for some time. I used to write directly into the Blogger's editor in the web browser, but that's just begging to lose work, so I've explored a number of other options.

I've written drafts into Evernote, where I keep ongoing notes, mostly work and personal projects. They felt lost there, so that didn't work for long. I next wrote into my DevonThink journal file. That was cumbersome, since I keep that file in an encrypted disk volume for safety's sake, so that didn't work to well either. I wonder if that's one reason I don't write journal entries as often as I like.

I've drafted quick thoughts into Simplenote, and they have occasionally become blog entries. That works great for quick thoughts that need developed, but it's cumbersome for longer entries, since I use Simplenote and Notational Velocity for more ephemeral things.

I installed the MarsEdit trial a long while back, and bought it when my evaluation period was over and I wasn't anywhere near done with my evaluation. I very much like the post management and publishing aspects of MarsEdit, but I very much dislike composing text there.

I've been keeping an eye on Markdown for a very login time; I knew it would one day be important to me, but I'd not yet figured out how it fit into my workflow.

Last night when I was writing up a summary of iOS weather app evaluations for a friend in email, I realized where Markdown would fit in: as the language for draft blog posts.

I next revisited Markdown tools. I tried it first in MarsEdit, but the whole thing felt clunky. I Googled around a bit, and then tried BBEdit - another tool I'd purchased a long time back before my eval was done but after the free eval had expired and was sitting idle. BEdit makes Markdown dead simple, with its built-in preview and quick access to the Markdown to HTML conversion filter.

Here's the current workflow: Draft in whatever is handy - BBEdit if I'm at my Mac - then save in my blog posts folder as I go. SugarSync keeps track of the saved drafts as I go - so nice! When I'm happy with the post, I copy it into a new blank file in BBEdit and run conversion filter to get HTML code. I then copy the HTML and past it into a new post in MarsEdit and publish, immediately checking any links to ensure they work.

I suppose it's a bit more convoluted that it should be, but at least I'm comfortable with it, and I've picked up a new skill: composing in Markdown.

An ironic side note: to date I have used TextMate rather than BBEdit as my daily go-to text editor. I prefer TextMate's clean UI to BBEdit's cluttered interface. I'm now looking into cleaning up BBEdit's UI through its extensive customization; I'm making progress.

Update

I couldn't find a stock template I liked more, so I decided to fix this one. As I looked into the way Blogger used the various header levels, I determined that this template reserves h1 and h2 for itself, so I must start with h3 and work down from there. I updated the post on iOS weather apps and it now looks much better.

This blogging stuff is now kinda fun. I hope to now post more frequently.

Mac users and the Kindle

This past Thursday, Randy Murray wrote on Twitter:

I did not expect: Mac fanatics love Kindles. It tops the list in sales of Patrick Rhone's new book, Keeping It Straight http://t.co/CMQsQIs

I was a bit surprised at his surprise, but I saw a few others react similarly, so I was prompted to write a response.

In brief, I believe Amazon, in the third iteration of their only hardware product, has managed to capture a bit of Apple's design philosophy: the Kindle doesn't attempt to do anything except what it does well, and what it does well, it does better than any of its competition - it presents present long-form documents for reading.

All of Apple's products seem to be designed with a variant of this philosophy. The early iPods are the best example of this philosophy, and while the feature set of later iPods have grown, they've not strayed much - each feature is designed to be simple to use and to just work. They work so well that it's difficult for Apple's competitors to compete unless they take on the same philosophy, which seems to be brutally hard for most to do.

iPhones my be the pinnacle of Apple's application of this design philosophy. Though at times if feels like they can do anything, they really can't. What they do - browse the web, run apps, play music - they do better better than any other smartphone made. They handle phone calls quite well too, when good phone service is provided to them.

The Kindle is blissfully feature-light, as it is only designed to read long form documents. Those features are focused on optimizing that experience: the gorgeous, read-anywhere-there's-light display, the seemingly eternal battery life, the simple access to the best selection of ebooks, the ease of purchasing said books, the automatic bookmarking and syncing of bookmarks; I could go on and on regarding the minute details they've attended to.

The native apps Amazon makes available for other platforms enhance access to the Kindle. For instance, when I'm reading a book on my kindle and it's got a detailed and/or color picture, I grab my iPad, fire up the Kindle app, sync the book to it, and boom, there's the picure in color and a zoomable higher resolution. So nice.

Amazon's one current hardware product seems to have followed a design philosophy that Apple has perfected: they've created a product that does one thing better than any of its competition. Apple fans understand and appreciate that fact.

The best iOS Weather Apps I've Found

This is a summary of the iOS weather apps I recently reviewed, as I became unsatisfied with the weather apps I was using on my iPhone and iPad. I was talking with my good friend Hobbes today about this revisit and he requested a summary. I thought I'd take this chance to become a little familiar with MarsEdit and Markdown.

Please forgive me for not writing reviews of these apps; it's not necessary, as Ben Brooks has already done a very good job of reviewing my picks. Please see the update below for links.

There are the two best weather apps for iOS that have received a consensus among those I read and trust online and myself. Unfortunately, they have lame names and lame icons. If I could only have two, this'd be them.

The Best

iPad

Seasonality Go

• Almost perfect. On my first screen by itself.

iPhone

My-Cast Weather Radar

• I'd forgotten it had a radar until I saw its full name; I just call it My-Cast, but that's not unique in the App Store.
• It's got all the basics I need in a quick and pleasant layout.
• Not on the front screen, as there are two faster apps on the front. On the second screen by itself. My go-to weather app when I need details and can't get my iPad out.

Honorable mentions

iPad

All three of these are in a group on the third screen; i.e., I almost never use them.

Moxier WeatherCaster

• My favorite until this revisit. Good info and pretty, but it has those lame canned video loops that take space and video CPU. Needed replaced.

On my iPad, I've also got:

WeatherBug for iPad

• Not as good, and has ads.

WunderMap

• No ads that I saw, but map-heavy and info is too dense.

iPhone

Ah, here there are some other contenders. Thermo and Fahrenheit are on the front screen by themselves; My-Cast in on screen two by itself. WeatherBug is in a group on page three with the real rejects: Apple's Weather, AccuWeather, and TWC. Keep in mind that Apple's Weather was on my front screen by itself until the revisit.A

Thermo

• Gorgeous, simple, and fast. Just the temperature now and yesterday at your current location.
• On my front screen by itself.

Fahrenheit

• Current temp for home location in a badge on the icon, updated about hourly or when launched. Gorgeous icon, and the data inside is good but not great.
• On the front screen next to Thermo.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Update

I'd like to give credit to Ben Brooks for his blog posts on iOS weather apps, including this one that included My-Cast and this one that covers Seasonality Go. He also wrote a follow-up that includes a few more apps. Thanks, Ben!

It's been too long

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted.  When I look back on the last seven months, I see two things that have occupied my time: work and school.

Work hasn't really become any more difficult, it's just become more intense -– it  is taking more of my attention, I suppose.  It certainly is more fun than it ever has been. When I think about it, virtualization and RFID/asset management seem to dominate my work efforts.

School is different that last summer or fall.  Last summer my brother and I started attending Cornerstone's School of Ministry.  It's a college-level Biblical studies program, and we've enjoyed it greatly.  The teacher, Rob Dalrymple, is also involved in founding a graduate-level school, the Koinonia Graduate School of Theology.  They offer enrichment-level enrollment – discounted, non-enrolled auditing.  I was quite excited, as I was looking for something more challenging, but I'm far rom ready to commit to a graduate program.

Late last year I began attending classes at KGST as an enrichment student.  I've taken Worldviews, a survey of Psalms, Biblical interpretation, and am now finishing up New Testament.  I've tried to stay up with the reading and homework, but it's been quite challenging.  Rob has graciously allowed me to make presentations on two different projects I developed, and they were both well received. I've got about a year's worth of reading backlogged.  I am very much looking forward to taking the summer off from school and working down that reading backlog.  I will also be pondering whether to get more serious about school, i.e. pursuing a certificate in the near future. It's going to be a good summer.

Birthday present from my parents

Made in 1911. Fully restored. All original except new mainspring.
Sounds beautiful.

recently added to my iTunes

New music:
Neal Morse: Lifeline: 2-disc special edition
Dream Theater: Black Clouds and Silver Linings: 3-disk special edition
Dave Matthews Band: Big Whiskey And The GrooGrux King
Over the Rhine: Live From Nowhere, Volume Four
Stryper: Murder by Pride

Recently ripped (what took me so long?):
Boston: Boston, Don't Look Back, Third Stage, Walk On

Also recently acquired: Neal Morse: Sola Scriptura and Beyond DVD