Morning Coffee 134: Nov. 4th, 2024

Good morning. Was up a few hours before the sun today. Made coffee, did some admin tasks, packed backpack and gym bag, got dressed for work, picked out Rose’s school outfit, and then slowly got her dressed without having to rush. We spent quality time laughing, playing, and slowly preparing for the day. As she was eating her eggs, I was spraying, conditioning, and brushing her hair. This routine (of us all leaving the house first thing in the morning) is still new to us, and the best way I know how to handle it is to give myself a lot of extra time to make the process calm and methodical. I’m now writing you while walking to work, and everyone else in the house is on their way to school. Big week for our country. Hope everything goes as planned. As always, I hope this letter finds you well.

Table of Contents

1. New Morning Routine
2. The Lock Screen
3. Garage Sale
4. Roll the Credits

The Lock Screen Is My Home Screen

For most of the day, I interact with my watch and phone at a glance, thanks to widgets providing the information I need. Or with just a tap, I’m brought into the respective app that’s tied to the widget or complication.

The very top of my phone’s Lock Screen shows me the weather. Underneath that is the time, and underneath that is a calendar of the month, chance of rain, the temperature inside our house. The bottom left is a shortcut to write notes. Bottom right is a shortcut to add a task. Swiping left opens up the camera. Swiping right shows me a page full of widgets.

Most people don’t adjust these widgets and complications on these screens, but they’re missing the secret weapon that makes the phone so much more useful and seamless. Those widgets and complications speed up my phone usage and allow me to get in and out of the phone without hardly ever leaving the Lock Screen.

Garage Sale

I mentioned last week that I’d be selling/trading a bunch of things and turning them into one new handheld. That happened much faster than I expected. Soon after posting last week’s newsletter, I created a Garage Sale page. Most of the items on that page are already sold.

These exchanges turned into a very busy week for me. Getting packages in, shipping many packages out, and spending about four days setting up the new Retroid Pocket (RP Mini and RP 5). More on that soon. There’s a few items left on the Garage Sale page if you’re interested.

Roll the credits: On October 28th, I wrote about OmniFocus. On the October 21st, I started preparing for the party. On October 14th, I wrote about the hospital. On October 7th, I wrote about a new chapter. On September 30th, I wrote about the fourth quarter. On September 23rd, I wrote about restoring an iPhone. On September 16th, I wrote about the storm. On September 9th, I reviewed Astro Bot. On September 1st, I wrote about our picnic in the rain.