Month: August 2023
Why note-taking apps don’t make us smarter
Today let’s step outside the news cycle and turn our attention toward a topic I’m deeply invested in but only rarely write about: productivity platforms. For decades now, software tools have promised to make working life easier.
Parisian Booksellers Have Lined the Seine for Centuries. Now, They’re Fighting to Stay
The booksellers whose rickety green stands dot the River Seine have been a Paris staple for hundreds of years. Through the censorship of kings and Nazi occupiers, through the Covid-19 pandemic and frequent protests, the bouquinistes have remained.
How do we fix the “Too Many Newsletters” problem?
“I subscribe to so many Substacks, and I read zero of them,” quipped Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley on one of his social accounts (I honestly can’t recall which one). This perfectly encapsulates the issue with the newsletter ecosystem.
22 years of notes
On living the dream
Yesterday this ol’ blog turned 22. Sure, it’s ignored most of the time and is a little dusty and rusty and maybe its best days are behind it, but it’s a reflection of me and my life in so many ways so it’s still special.
Not sure what about life happens to get in the way of things like writing. Yes, events, family, work, kids, etc etc. But it’s odd how I have the least amount of time to write during the years I’m going to want to remember the most.
All the stuff before, the first 8-10 years of J’s Notes, they’re not nothing but they certainly don’t reflect the life of a guy truly living a life beyond his wildest dreams. Two amazing kids, a good job, a nice house, more animals than I know what do do with, an incredible wife because, dang, y’all, I married up!
Life is good. Maybe I can just say I’m focusing on living it instead of focusing on journaling it, the memories will count. Not just mine but those of my boys, my best friend and rock and partner, my family.
It’s a good place to be. But it’s nice to make note of it once in a while.