Uses
Inspired by an endless array of similar catalogues, this page offers a list of the things I’m using regularly: the software and computing hardware I rely on; my current office setup; my personal uniform; the things I carry daily, etc.
A general unifying theme, for me, is a kind of pragmatic ‘respect for the defaults’. My recent switch from ‘vim with an incredibly small .vimrc’ to ‘vscode for most things’ was reluctant, to say the least. I think there’s a lot of value in carefully picking a small number of well-made tools — and understanding them deeply — rather than the yak-shaving and endless tweaking of a more ‘custom’ setup. This is particularly true in my own professional domain — ‘academic’ software engineering — where work is often done in a hurry, on a shoestring budget, and ‘useable research outcomes’ are the only thing that really matters.
Software
You can see a more complete config in my dotfiles repo.
Language-wise: I used to rely heavily on R/RMarkdown, then shifted to Python/Jupyter Notebooks for coordination reasons. I still use these occasionally but, as the nature of my work has changed, I’ve ended up loving the reduction in anxiety offered by Clojure & Clojurescript.
My current default new-project stack is: the luminus framework, with reagent/reframe for the frontend, reitit for routing & API stuff, postgres as my backend database, and heroku for hosting.
Dev
- VSCode for text editing (& most of life), with:
- iTerm2 for terminal emulation, with:
- Chromium for webdev.
- Clojure & ClojureScript for painless, lispy hacking, with:
- Babashka for scripting.
- Fira Code for font ligatures (everywhere they’re supported).
Productivity
- Toggl for time tracking, with:
- timery for actually using toggl, because toggl’s default interface is terrible.
- Omnifocus for task management.
- Fantastical for calendaring, with:
- calendly for scheduling.
- RescueTime for tracking my device usage.
Social
- Signal for secure chat.
- Protonmail for email.
- Ivory for mastodon, with:
- masto.host for hosting my own mastodon server.
Research & Consumption
- Safari for daily browsing.
- Zotero for reference management, with:
- better bibtex for clean citation export.
- Reeder for RSS.
- Anki for spaced repetition.
- Apple Music for tunes.
- Overcast for podcasts.
Security
- ProtonVPN for VPN.
- 1Password for password management.
- GlobalProtect for connecting to work networks.
Forecasting
- Metaculus for forecasting.
- Manifold for occasional prediction-marketish-ness.
- Metaforecast for deferring to the community.
- R for (occasional) fast data analysis, with:
- the tidyverse for data wrangling,
- tidybayes for modeling.
- Guesstimate for any time I need to share my uncertainty.
Quantified Self
- Strava for tracking my runs.
- MacroFactor for tracking my food.
- exist.io for quantified self data aggregation (and custom tracking).
Miscellaneous
- Audio Hijack for audio recording.
- Parcel for package tracking.
- Bartender for menu bar management.
Hardware
Daily Carry
- Pockets:
- Apple iPhone 13 mini, 256GB, Midnight
- Apple Airpods, 3rd Generation (with MagSafe Charging Case)
- Bellroy Card Sleeve Wallet, Black
- Peak Design Everyday Case, Charcoal, for iPhone 13 Mini
- Keysmart Keychain, Black
- Topo Designs Rover ‘Tech’ Pack, Black, containing:
- Apple Macbook Air, M1, 2020, 13”, 8GB, 512GB SSD.
- Leatherman Skeletool CX, Black / Stainless Steel.
- Blunt Umbrella, Metro, Black.
- Zojirushi Thermos, 600ml/20oz, Stainless Steel.
- Rothco Shemagh, Black.
- Pelican 0915 SD Memory Card Case, containing:
- Trezor Hardware Wallet, Model T
- Sandisk Ultra Flash Drive, Dual USB/USB-C, 1TB
- Yubikey, 5C NFC
- Travel Pill Case, containing:
- L-Theanine Capsules, 100mg
- Paracetamol Tablets, 500mg
- Ibuprofen Tablets, 200mg
- Melatonin Capsules, 300mcg
- Gastro-Stop Capsules, Loperamide Hydrochloride, 2mg
- Asprin Tablets, 100mg
- Antihistamine Tablets, Cetirizine Hydrochloride, 10mg
- Maxpedition Cocoon Pouch, containing:
- Anker USB-C Charger, 735 AU Plug (Nano II 65W), 3-Ports
- Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger to USB-C Cable
- Apple USB-C to USB Adapter
- Apple USB-C to Lightning Cable, 1m
- Apple USB-C Charge Cable, 1m
- Sandisk Ultra Flash Drive, Dual USB/USB-C, 512GB
- Kong 737B Big D Screw Gate Carabiner, Black.
- Maxpedition Coin Purse, Black, containing:
- Australian 50 Cent Coin, 1966, Round
- Chessex Opaque Polyhedral Dice, White/Black
- RFID-Blocking Pouch.
- Glasses Case, containing:
- Sunglasses, with the same frames (& prescription) as my un-tinted glasses
- Koala Kleaner Microfibre Lens Cloth
- Apple Airtag.
- At least one:
- Moleskine Cahier Notebook, Black, Dot Grid, Large
- Pilot G2 Pen, Ultra Fine (0.38mm), Black
- Twin Tip Sharpie, Black
- Fine Tip Sharpie, Green
- Fine Tip Sharpie, Red
- Staedtler Whiteboard Marker, 2mm Bullet Tip, Black
- Koala Kleaner Microfibre Lens Cloth
Office
- Primary Setup:
- Apple Mac Mini, M2 Pro, 12-core CPU, 19-core GPU, 32GB, 1TB SSD
- Apple Airpods Max, Space Grey
- LG 4K Monitor, 31.5”, USB-C with power delivery (‘32UP550N’) (x3)
- Apple Magic Keyboard, US English, Black Keys
- Apple Magic Trackpad, Black
- Charging:
- A supply of:
- Moleskine Cahier Notebooks, Black, Dot Grid, Large,
- Blank Index Cards, 3x5, White,
- Pilot G2 Pens, Ultra Fine (0.38mm), Black,
- Twin Tip Sharpies, Black,
- Fine Tip Sharpies, Green,
- Fine Tip Sharpies, Red,
- Staedtler Whiteboard Markers, 2mm Bullet Tip, Black,
- Gorilla Tape Rolls, Travel Size, Black,
- Zip Ties, 5x300mm, Black,
- Ikea ‘Bastis’ Lint Rollers,
- Neodymium Disc Magnets, 5mm x 2mm,
- Koala Kleaner Microfibre Lens Cloths.
- Extras:
- Aranet4 CO₂ Monitor.
- MeLE Mini PC, Quieter3Q N5105, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD (running ubuntu).
- Cast Iron Kettlebell, 16kg.
- Logitech Slim Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Combo, 920-009182 MK470.
- Captains of Crush Gripper, No. 1.
- GAN 356M 3x3 Magnetic Speed Cube.
- RFID-Blocking Pouch.
Personal Uniform
In Pattern Recognition, Gibson writes, of the clothes that his protagonist wears, that they are the kind of items that “ideally seem to have come into this world without human intervention”; that
what people take for relentless minimalism is a side effect of too much exposure to the reactor-cores of fashion […] she can only tolerate things that could have been worn, to a general lack of comment, during any year between 1945 and 2000. She’s a design-free zone, a one-woman school of and whose very austerity periodically threatens to spawn its own cult.
Like most people who wear basically the same thing every day, exclusively in black, that’s pretty much the fantasy I’m trying to fulfil.
- Blundstone 663 Boots, 8.5AU/UK, Black.
- Levis 511 Slim Fit Jeans, W30/L32, Black.
- Bushwear Leather Belt (38mm), 34, Black.
- ASColour Staple T-Shirt, Medium, Black (‘5001’).
- Uniqlo Airism Boxer Briefs, Medium, Black.
- Darn Tough ‘The Standard’ Socks, Cushioned, Medium, Black (‘1657’).