Unsolicited Computer Advice Volume 1

dear jon,

we've spoken before (i believe we have) about how the computer used to have a home; a desk in the kitchen or spare room and one had to go there with intention. and while i've wanted to return to this paradigm i've had no drive to take concrete steps to make it happen.

well, recent events have conspired to return me to those times.

  1. As mentioned already, the dopamine hits from my old pixel phone were too much to bear and switching back to my pine phone become a necessity. It's not impossible to do these things on the pine phone but there are more steps and each step is slowed down significantly.
  2. the battery in my laptop suddenly died and now only works when plugged in and, as such, the only place I can really use it is at my desk.

This has left me in a position where I no longer have a computer on or near me at all times such that I can easily check something or look something up. The phone is too slow. and now there's no laptop to open the lid quickly do a thing. This has led me to 2 new thnigs that I've been doing (the second one unrelated) and have been quite enjoying

  1. I keep a small notebook and pen on me at all times. I'd already started this somewhat for grocery lists and the like but now it's just always on me so that if I think of something I wanted to do with compute (such as send you this message) I make a quick note to handle later. Things I want to check out, to search for, open tabs that need to be codified into a project, a shortcut on my desktop that i think will be helpful, an idea for a song1
  2. When I'm done with work i put my work laptop and work notebook into a drawer in a table near my desk so that i don't look at it or see it when i'm not working.

Then, as you've guessed by now, i take out my laptop after dinner when i'm done with other things i've wanted to do, plug it into my doc, and go through my notebook and do the things i wrote down. it feels like it has a home again. i can't just use it anywhere; the couch, the kitchen counter, the diningroom table, the other couch; like i used to. i could drag a charger out but it's too much work. so i use it 100% of the time at my desk. it has a dedicated place again. it has a home again.

-josh
Tue, 14 Jul 2026 05:05:34 -0700

1 this one was an interesting example to have roll off the brain-tongue because sometimes i can make a note; "don't forget to record riff-a like we discussed" and that's enough to remember. if i have an idea for a tune that i might forget then it is worth the trouble to wait for the recording app to load and record it on the phone or take the time to boot up the laptop.