Get Yourself a Library Card
Take advantage of this amazing public service while it still exists (and fight for its continued existence)
After way too many years, I have renewed my library card.
I was missing out on too many benefits. First, and most obvious. I can check out books instead of buying them. I can even check out ebooks and read them on the Libby app on my phone. You can also check out audio books and magazines. I wish I could check out the New York Times so I don't have to pay them anymore, but newspapers are not on the list.
What *is* on the list, however, are videos. If you download the Kanopy app, you can “check out" about 4-5 movies a month from the library.
The last but perhaps coolest benefit of my local library is the ability to “check out" museum passes to local museums and nature parks. They are available on a first-come, first-served basis and allow two people to visit such local gems as Imagine Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, and Sunken Gardens.
I want to make the most of this pass now that I have it and am so grateful for the cultural opportunities it provides FOR FREE. (Because I am a local resident who contributes to the local tax base.)
Please Let Me Track You
I notice there are a handful of websites I visit in my mobile phone browser (especially the DuckDuckGo browser) that pop up every time telling me I would enjoy my experience so much more with their app.
I bet you'd like me to use the app, you stalking psycho billionaires! DuckDuckGo blocks all your attempts at tracking me! Whenever possible, you should visit these sites in a privacy-protecting browser instead of the app.
💩 Capitalist Bullshit
Getting files moved to Sync
This has been a slow, frustrating process, and I'm not even sure I'll be happy with Sync, but I'm inveseted in seeing how it works after the hours of fighting with my older laptop that does not have substantive storage space. I thought it might self destruct during this days long process. The fan got really loud and then really quiet, and I braced myself for the worst!
On top of that, the download files I got from Google inevitably contained one or more zip files that registered as “corrupted” and wouldn’t open. This felt like a plot to prevent me from moving my files.
After doing a ton of work, I had to initiate another download that resulted in five huge zip files. I opened the first three fine, but then the fourth said it was corrupted. So, I downloaded it again, and the file was still corrupted. I headed over to the interwebs to see if anyone else was having this issue. They were. One person mentioned that they were able to open one of the corrupted files in another program. So, I thought, “OK, I’ll try that.” I have several extraction programs on my computer. I tried 9 Zip, and whaddaya know… it opened right up. But Windows wouldn’t open it. Honestly, what the hell. But I got them all open. It takes forever to load them onto Sync through their desktop app for this reason: it wants to sync them to my computer even though the zip files I’m working from are on an external backup drive. So, since they’re not on my computer, Sync moves a copy to its own folder (in its desktop app) and then adds a f*cking copy to my laptop. I cannot make it not do that. *string of expletives*
So what I have to do is set the folder to only be on Sync, but I can only do that AFTER it’s already downloaded the crap to my computer. To say this is frustrating would be a vast understatement. The thing is, Sync has a folder called “Vault” which is for things you only keep online and don’t “sync” but it’s not available on the desktop app, so I have to add them to the “sync” folder first and then move them. But I can’t move them until I’ve downloaded everything because of the way Google provides my files in their zip files. *defeated groan*
It’s nice that Sync has a desktop app where I can access from my file explorer, but most of my files will be in the vault, which is not accessible that way.
The worst thing I’ve discovered about Sync is that their “web portal”, which I assumed was the main part of this service, lacks a search field. Oh dear sweet jebus. So, I have to search from the desktop app, which makes no sense.
Almost all the technology changes I've made have worked out really well, but this one I'm regretting a bit. What I really want to do is pare down my files and then search for a service that's a bit more robust. (Or go back to just external drives, but I feel my files are more secure in the cloud.)
Notion Update
I'm still loving Notion and have been trying to dive deeper into it. I subscribed to a newsletter from a guy who is an expert, and I gleen valuable tidbits from it. It seems like there's a ton you can do with it, but my business will probably never require me to be a power user. It was a great move for me, though, and I'm super happy with it.
Google reCAPTCHA
Another in Google’s many tentacles is reCAPTCHA. It has historically been easy to set up a Google reCAPTCHA instance for any website to stop spam entries in your forms. As of the end of this year, that is changing. Google has moved its reCAPTCHA service to Google Cloud. They did this a few years back with Google Maps. They are now monitoring usage and charging for usage above a certain limit. I get it, but if I’m going to pay (eventually), I don’t want to pay a billionaire.
I spent a bunch of time converting all my old style reCAPTCHA instances to the new style, but I’m not putting in my payment information because the sites I’m managing will probably not add up to 10,000 form submissions a month. There are some new, complicated rules for reCAPTCHA that will make it much more difficult for everyday web developers to use it.
There is another service I recently found, Procaptcha, that also allows up to 10,000 free submissions. It’s open source and owned by a normal guy from Scotland. I’m testing it out with a client site because it is supported by a MailChimp plugin their website uses.
Companies I Don't Buy From
These are the companies I currently will not buy from, no matter what:
Temu - clearly exploitative
Shein - same
Home Depot - racist
McDonalds - part of Palestinian BDS movement
Starbucks - union busters, part of Palestinian BDS movement
Hobby Lobby - they fight against women's reproductive rights
Chick-fil-A - they support anti-LGBT causes
Target - ended their DEI policies and relationships with Black businesses
Facebook - no more ads because of Zuckerberg's complicity with Trump administration
TikTok - who knows who owns it now
For the most part, I try not to buy from big box stores or large chains. McDonald's and Starbucks were rarities for me… mostly when I was traveling. The one exception I have made in more than a year of boycotting them is that I did stop at Starbucks in the Tampa airport while in a migraine and sleep deprivation delerium on the way back from Istanbul, but I literally could not see straight and knew exactly where that Starbucks was, and I needed black tea specifically. (And, to boot, they only had Earl Gray, which made me hate them even more.) What's weird is that I was so out of it that I forgot I stopped there until I saw my credit card bill and was annoyed at myself.
⏰️ Currently
🎈 Relishing the wonderful birthday weekend I've had.
🚂 Thinking of getting some girlfriends together to talk about money and how to prepare for the terrible economic situation that may be coming at us like a freight train.
😭 Feeling frustrated at how hard it is to maintain my weight at this age. Ugh.