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Weekly review: Week ending December 24, 2021

| review, weekly
  • EmacsConf:
    • I uploaded the answer videos that actually compressed to smaller files.
    • I tagged some talks on the EmacsConf wiki.
  • Emacs:
    • I wrote some code to make it easier to write about sketches.
    • I updated compile-media to handle temporary files, and I changed subed-record to use it.
    • I tried lachesis for splitting text into subtitles, but I couldn't get it to make a model and the repository didn't have prebuilt models. I made a tiny minor mode that let me use my tablet stylus to split lines, which worked out really well. I tinkered with my workflow for generating videos.
    • I added other output formats to waveform so that I could get timestamps as seconds.
    • I wrote functions to insert a blog post URL or link.
  • Cubing:
    • It looks like I'm averaging a little less than a minute on the 3x3 Rubik's cube now (Ao5: 57.01), so I upgraded to a DaYan TengYun V2 M. Feels nice.
    • I learned how to solve a Megaminx. Now I can do the beginner's method mostly without a guide!
    • We built a LEGO Mindstorms robot that could solve a Rubik's cube by following the instructions on mindcuber.com. A- enjoyed racing against it.
  • Other:
    • I cleared some backlog and then declared email bankruptcy, which was actually pretty reasonable. If there was anything super-important, someone would have contacted me again. I'm getting better at not worrying about missing out.
    • I experimented with recording a screencast, but decided that the audio was too disorganized. Maybe when I have a way of easily shuffling things around…
    • I wrote a script to toggle recording with a keyboard shortcut.
    • I automated adding my IP address to the IP-based protection.

Blog posts

Look at that! Lots more writing!

Sketches

Time
Category The other week % Last week % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Business 0.0 3.3 3.3 5.5 5.5
Discretionary - Social 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.8 0.8
Discretionary - Play 0.5 0.8 0.4 1.4 0.6
Discretionary - Productive 12.5 12.6 0.1 21.1 0.1
Discretionary - Family 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Sleep 31.4 31.1 -0.3 52.3 -0.5
Personal 9.9 9.5 -0.4 16.0 -0.6
Unpaid work 5.5 4.6 -0.9 7.7 -1.5
A- 40.2 37.6 -2.6 63.2 -4.4
View or add comments (Disqus), or e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com

Weekly review: Week ending December 17, 2021

| review, weekly
  • Writing:
    • I dusted off my workflow for including sketches in my blog posts. I also figured out how to sort my 11ty blog posts by time. I just needed iso8601-formatted times in my date field.
    • I experimented with recording a quick sketch explanation on my phone and then using the autogenerated transcript as the basis for a blog post. Recording took about 2 minutes, with some more time for editing. Not too bad, especially if I improve my workflow for editing autorecognized text.
    • I made an ikiwiki template for chapter markers.
    • I reflected on computer upgrade possibilities and decided to stick with the status quo.
    • I reflected on Emacs community maintenance.
  • Coding:
    • I wrote a home automation script to turn off lights and restore motion-sensor automations.
    • I installed aeneas on the VPS and experimented with using it to align my text with an audio file. Its times seem to agree with Google Recorder's timestamps. I wonder if I can use this (possibly with lachesis) to simplify video creation and captioning.
    • I started working on derived modes for subed.el.
  • Parenting:
    • We rebuilt the ball pump GBC module.
    • We cleared our book backlog at the library and borrowed a whole bunch more books. A- liked the Sir Cumference series and the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess series.

Blog posts

Sketches

Time
Category The other week % Last week % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Personal 7.7 9.9 2.2 16.6 3.7
A- 39.2 40.2 1.1 67.6 1.8
Unpaid work 5.3 5.5 0.2 9.3 0.4
Sleep 31.8 31.4 -0.3 52.8 -0.6
Business 0.7 0.0 -0.7 0.0 -1.1
Discretionary - Play 1.1 0.5 -0.6 0.8 -1.1
Discretionary - Productive 14.3 12.5 -1.9 20.9 -3.1
View or add comments (Disqus), or e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com

Monthly review: September 2021

| monthly, review
  • Lots of little improvements to the house. Switched to a round table. Sewed wedge-shaped placemats.
  • A- started virtual senior kindergarten.
  • A- had to deal with some stomach pain.
  • A- wanted to waltz. We watched a few waltzes, learned how to do the box step, and then had fun doing some regular two-steps.
  • A- was curious about gymnastics.
  • A- wanted to buy a newspaper.

Blog posts

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
A- 41.2 43.5 2.2 70.7 3.7
Sleep 33.6 35.1 1.4 57.0 2.4
Business 3.9 4.8 0.9 7.8 1.5
Discretionary - Play 1.1 1.7 0.7 2.8 1.1
Personal 7.0 6.7 -0.2 10.9 -0.4
Discretionary - Family 1.1 0.0 -1.1 0.0 -1.8
Unpaid work 6.4 4.6 -1.8 7.4 -3.1
Discretionary - Productive 5.7 3.7 -2.0 6.0 -3.4
View or add comments (Disqus), or e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com

Monthly review: October 2021

| monthly, review
  • I drafted the schedule for EmacsConf 2021, taking speaker availability into account.
  • I got the hang of solving the 3x3 cube without referring to a guide. Now to build up speed and learn more patterns…
  • A- wanted to practise the fish move on the Rubik's cube. We did it 144 times, using the rekenrek in place value mode to keep track of the sums after each round.
  • A- pretended she was Cat Ninja doing 3-point landings.
  • A- was able to hoop around her neck 12 times in a row.
  • A- tried different typing games.
  • A- was reading Astronaut Academy silently. I offered to read it to her, and she chose to read it herself instead. I asked her how many new words she was coming across. She told me she knew all of them.
  • I flipped through a book on teaching kids how to read. A- was able to read many of the sample sentences, although she stumbled over some of the more advanced phonics rules (ex: costly, costlier, costliest).
  • We tried out Teach Your Monster to Read. A- enjoyed playing for almost an hour. I skipped her ahead to the Champion Reader stage.
  • More stomach pain for A-.
  • A- went as a bat for Halloween. She wore the bat wings I made her out of sofa cover scraps, and I covered her leopard headband with the same fabric to make bat ears. She walked pretty far and did several trips, confidently walking to the houses and greeting people. She kept an eye out for the other kids we were going with, making sure the 2-year-old didn't go near the road. Afterwards, she sorted her candy and shared some with us.
  • I showed A- how to use the playing cards to exercise our memories by naming the cards in sequence. I named cards until I started forgetting (~7 cards), and we talked about working memory. Then I showed her how mnemonics could help us remember better by using silly stories. I used the cards to improvise a story using the major number system that I'd modified to use Numberblocks, which I'd taught her previously for memorizing digits of pi. (3 said, "Look at me!" But 5 was too busy laughing at 7, who was riding a kangaroo and chasing 4, who was dressed as a pirate…) She kept bringing me more cards to incorporate into the story, and she said the numbers whenever I paused and prompted her with our mnemonic cues. We got to 23 cards before she moved on to a different activity.
  • A- finished the Pre-reader Express course on code.org. We tried a few puzzles from Course C, but "turn left" and "turn right" were a little difficult for her to think about. We might revisit this once she's more comfortable with left, right, clockwise, and counterclockwise.
  • We played lots of math card games: Garbage (filling in a 10-frame), Make 10 (adding two numbers), and Gain and Loss (black cards add, red cards subtract). She was able to use number bonds to quickly add or subtract numbers on the rekenrek. For example, when she needed to add 8 to 17, she could add it as + 3 + 5 (add 3 beads on the second row, then add 5 beads on the third row) instead of counting the beads one by one.

Blog posts

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Discretionary - Productive 3.7 10.4 6.8 18.1 11.4
Unpaid work 4.6 5.9 1.4 10.3 2.3
Discretionary - Family 0.0 0.6 0.6 1.0 1.0
Discretionary - Social 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.4
Personal 6.7 6.8 0.0 11.8 0.1
Discretionary - Play 1.7 1.4 -0.3 2.5 -0.5
Sleep 35.1 34.7 -0.4 60.2 -0.6
A- 43.5 39.5 -3.9 68.6 -6.6
Business 4.8 0.3 -4.5 0.5 -7.5
View or add comments (Disqus), or e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com

Monthly review: November 2021

| monthly, review
  • We had our first sub-60 times on the Rubik's cube. A-'s now a little faster than I am. She was proud of buying a premium cube with her savings. She loved using the timer.
  • A- was was greatly amused by the challenge I set myself to solve Rubik's cubes and stack them on top of my head. After I did three, she wanted me to do it again, so I said I would only solve it if she could balance a Rubik's cube on her head. She was able to balance it for a few seconds at a time, practising her gross motor skills and self-regulation.
  • I got the hang of swinging the jump rope for A-. A- also figured out waist hooping.
  • A- wanted to help with knitting. After a number of knit 2 purl 2 repeats, we decided to change the pattern to knit the whole row. "Sometimes I think of it as scooping the poop," she said, working the needles. We experimented with different patterns and observed the resulting textures.
  • A- loved the Hamster Princess series and the Princess in Black series.
  • A- was curious about Pirate Fluxx.
  • We made coin sorters and coin-operated candy dispensers using LEGO.
  • W- set up some home automation.

Blog posts

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Discretionary - Productive 10.4 19.6 9.2 31.9 15.4
Personal 6.8 9.6 2.8 15.6 4.8
Business 0.3 1.0 0.6 1.6 1.1
Discretionary - Social 0.2 0.0 -0.2 0.0 -0.4
Discretionary - Family 0.6 0.2 -0.4 0.3 -0.7
Discretionary - Play 1.4 0.6 -0.8 1.0 -1.4
Unpaid work 5.9 4.2 -1.7 6.9 -2.9
Sleep 34.7 32.5 -2.2 53.0 -3.6
A- 39.5 32.3 -7.3 52.5 -12.2
View or add comments (Disqus), or e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com

Monthly review: August 2021

| monthly, review
  • I wrote a few 11ty shortcodes and Emacs commands to make sketches easier to embed into my blog posts.
  • W- finished hanging up the cabinets in the kitchen. It'll be nice to have more storage!
  • We picked lots of cherry tomatoes and jalapeno peppers from the garden.
  • The Brickloot balls arrived, so we opened a bag and started using them in our LEGO Great Ball Contraptions. I learned how to use the 9V motors, so we were able to rig up the sloped stepper, the pinwheel, the ball pump, the S-capades, and the crane module in a loop.
  • A- was able to tap the badminton shuttles 43 times in a row, starting with 7 shuttles. I was able to bounce my shuttle up in the air 20 times in a row.

Blog posts

Sketches

  • [[2021-08-05 Purrmaid %23art-hub.jpg][2021-08-05 Purrmaid #art-hub.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-05 Skeleton surprise.jpg][2021-08-05 Skeleton surprise.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-09 37 to 38 %23yearly %23review.jpg][2021-08-09 37 to 38 #yearly #review.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-17a Mama, I want to play with you %23parenting %23challenge %23play.jpg][2021-08-17a Mama, I want to play with you #parenting #challenge #play.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-18a What do I want to learn %23planning %23learning.jpg][2021-08-18a What do I want to learn #planning #learning.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-19 Brush lettering - A a %23lettering.jpg][2021-08-19 Brush lettering - A a #lettering.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-19a Playing with lettering %23lettering %23sketchnoting %23drawing.jpg][2021-08-19a Playing with lettering #lettering #sketchnoting #drawing.jpg]]
  • [[2021-08-19b Menu of activities %23parenting %23play .jpg][2021-08-19b Menu of activities #parenting #play .jpg]]

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
A- 39.3 41.2 1.9 69.3 3.2
Discretionary - Productive 4.6 5.7 1.2 9.6 1.9
Discretionary - Family 0.5 1.1 0.6 1.8 1.0
Business 3.5 3.9 0.5 6.6 0.8
Discretionary - Play 0.6 1.1 0.5 1.8 0.8
Personal 7.1 7.0 -0.1 11.7 -0.2
Unpaid work 8.3 6.4 -1.9 10.7 -3.2
Sleep 36.1 33.6 -2.5 56.5 -4.2
View or add comments (Disqus), or e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com

Weekly review: Week ending October 15, 2021

| review, weekly
  • I practiced on the 3x3 cube. My time is now around 2-3 minutes.
  • I worked on my EmacsConf talk a little more.

Blog posts

Time
Category The other week % Last week % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Sleep 32.7 37.6 5.0 63.2 8.3
A- 39.5 42.5 3.1 71.5 5.1
Unpaid work 5.3 7.1 1.8 11.9 3.0
Discretionary - Family 0.0 1.1 1.1 1.8 1.8
Discretionary - Play 1.3 1.4 0.1 2.4 0.2
Business 0.8 0.2 -0.6 0.3 -1.0
Discretionary - Social 0.6 0.0 -0.6 0.0 -1.0
Personal 8.7 6.5 -2.2 10.9 -3.7
Discretionary - Productive 11.1 3.6 -7.6 6.0 -12.7
View or add comments (Disqus), or e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com