Week Notes, 2025-05-18
Weekly Features from May 12th - May 18th:
The week that ended was busy, largely due to a home organizational project and an ongoing work project. These weren't necessarily creative endeavors, but they were productive. Creativity was channeled into the new-to-me camera, with so-so results.
💽 Prior to last week, my data storage at home looked like this:
- One large permanently attached external drive (LaCie d2, with a 6 TB capacity but using 1.8 TB at the most), where all my media resides
- A LaCie Rugged 500 GB drive used for Time Machine backups
- A Western Digital 1 TB drive used as a secondary photo backup for the LaCie d2, and also for other files
I replaced all but the LaCie d2, which ended up being reformatted to APFS before data was restored to it. Now, my data storage looks like this:
- LaCie d2 6 TB, formatted with APFS, now holding 1.1 TB of photos, music, videos, and Mac apps
- LaCie Rugged 500 GB SSD for Time Machine backups, and wow, does the SSD make a difference in the backup speeds!
- LaCie 2 TB spin drive for secondary photo backups
- Crucial 2 TB SSD for sensitive data, as it's a tiny drive and can be easily hidden
Moving all that data around didn't take as long as I had feared, but it still ate up a lot of my spare time.
📹 Work's big project involved Epic Video Client (EVC), and how it performs for certain doctors who were formerly using Zoom. Some doctors had complained about features missing from EVC, along with its quality of service. Epic has changed both for the better, in my opinion, so the Zoom-using doctors are being migrated to EVC. One doctor in particular has persisted with her complaints, prompting a large-scale IT investigation into all aspects of EVC. The findings from the investigation centered around improving how VPN traffic was handled, and so far, these changes have satisfied these persistent doctors. So far, so good.
🏢 Speaking of large-scale IT, there's usually an IT town hall on Friday afternoons, hosted online. On Friday 05-16, this town hall was to be hosted in the building I'd normally work from when I am onsite. These meetings last about an hour, and on that particular Friday, the meeting would have likely been cut short due to events transpiring nearby...such as a wedge tornado running through parts of St. Louis. The path was about 3-4 miles away from my work building, and also about the same distance from where L. works. Too close!
🎞️ In the creative news, I received my first roll of developed film from the Canon Canonet QL17 GIII. The results were...okay (and I may do a photo post this week). The color was captured well on the film, and there's a noticeable progression where I grasp how to properly focus with this rangefinder. The biggest issue is with exposure, as I am not sure the camera's built-in light meter works properly. It won't be a crime if it doesn't work well, as I have access to a light-meter app on my iPhone. Maybe an old-school light-meter may be in my future?
🗓️ Next weekend I will be in the Chicago area for Memorial Day. I'm not sure what I'll post while I'm visiting. The weekly notes may be delayed, or rolled into a two-week update.
❓I have decided to wait until the season ends to catch up on Doctor Who. There are only two more episodes left anyway.
Other Things to Note from The Week That Was:
📺 Watching:
- 2 Day Scenic Mount Fuji 🗻 Train Trip | Tokyo to Mount Fuji 🇯🇵; YouTube, Solo Solo Travel
- A Night in a Japanese Castle Town in Shikoku: Beautifully Renovated Hotel, YouTube, Solo Travel Japan
- Japan’s Oceanfront Hot Spring Inn with 24 Hour Free Drinks and Snacks | Inatori Ginsuiso, YouTube, It's Time to Travel🇯🇵 / 旅する時間
- Cheap Rice Cooker Ground Beef Recipe, YouTube, CHEF’S LABO
🎧 Listening:
- Why Didn’t Cannae Win The War For Hannibal?, Tides Of History
- Craig Mod: Things Become Things That Last, Spotlight On
- MNMT Recordings: ABSIS @ Mostra closing 2025 - Barcelona, Monument Podcast
- Britainology 104: Blackadder Goes Forth, Trashfuture Bonus Content Feed (Extremely Good)
- the dream awaits, Spaceman’s Transmissions
📖 Reading:
- Simon Mann, mercenary behind failed ‘wonga coup’, dies aged 72, The Guardian
- Can we still love Apple? Should we ever have?, Six Colors
- The Lunatic Fringe: An Open Letter to Anyone Who Sucks at Skateboarding, Concrete Existence
- Pepe Mujica: My Generation Made a Naive Error, Jacobin
- How The Japanese-American Basketball Leagues Built Natalie Nakase, Defector
💫 Creating:
- Brief update of my omg.lol homepage, now that the Glass icon is part of their custom set.
- Camera stuff, as mentioned earlier.
- Tagged all of my photos on Glass.
🗄Organizing:
- Fixed a longstanding iCloud tabs sync issue with the help of Apple Support.
- Sold my Timex Hodinkee watch on eBay, and will ship it out on Monday 05-19.
- The data storage stuff, as mentioned earlier.
🌾 Socializing:
- Long text discussions with family to plan for next weekend's Memorial Day visit in Chicago.
- Finalized hotel and car rental reservations for the Chicago trip.
- Side Project Cellar bottleshare on Thursday 05-15, with a visit to the Brewery for dinner instead of the monthly Trivia Contest at Side Project Pizza. Next month's contest for sure!
🧪 Testing:
- No real testing this week; the Lightmate app graduated from testing to permanent use.
🗃️ Work:
- See main section for details.
🏥 Health:
- Two afternoon walks with L. this week.
- A short hike at World Bird Sanctuary, followed by a longer hike at Shaw Nature Reserve, on Saturday 05-17.
- Shoulder rehab as scheduled on Wednesday 05-14.