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Joshua Whiting

joshuaw.xyz

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All posts and notes on this site, sorted by when published.


My 2024 Listening Log

[Originally Posted: 2024.03.18]
[Last Updated: 2024.03.18]

I track my music listening pretty exhaustively using last.fm, and have about six full years of history there. This is a place for me to manually highlight particular listening projects or obsessions of the moment. Not sure how retroactive I can be - weird, but I might go back roughly to the beginning of 2024 or even the end of 2023 to make sure I cover some key repeats or personally meaningful listens.

I track my music listening pretty exhaustively using last.fm, and have about six full years of history there. This is a place for me to manually highlight particular listening projects or obsessions of the moment.

Not sure how retroactive I can be - weird, but I might go back roughly to the beginning of 2024 or even the end of 2023 to make sure I cover some key repeats or personally meaningful listens.

Standalone post link: My 2024 Listening Log
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My 2024 Reading Log

[Originally Posted: 2024.03.18]
[Last Updated: 2024.03.18]

Below please find my bespoke reading log. I do still try to track my reading on Goodreads because I have a lot of old friends and colleagues there, but I want it first on my own website in my own way.

Below please find my bespoke reading log. I do still try to track my reading on Goodreads because I have a lot of old friends and colleagues there, but I want it first on my own website in my own way.

Standalone post link: My 2024 Reading Log
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Now and Next (March 15, 2024)

[Originally Posted: 2024.03.17]
[Last Updated: 2024.03.17]

Now

Now

  • bought a new-to-me car a few weeks ago and I’m really enjoying it

  • at work, keeping up with Sora collection development

  • also at work, cleaning up the catalog

  • getting ready to do a presentation at UCET+UELMA 2024: Cataloging Tips for Busy Librarians

  • still trying to establish a sustained writing and learning practice in my “thoughtgarden"

  • trying to re-establish a personal sharing and curation practice on this website

Next

  • thinking about getting some gardening going
  • thinking about going off on some kind of overlanding-ish adventure in my new car
  • building out this website again
  • reading a bunch of books, watching a bunch of movies

This page was last updated on March 17, 2024. See my prior ‘now’ updates here.


Credit for the ‘now’ page concept goes to Derek Sivers. I tend to get aspirational when I update it, so I’ve decided to embrace that by calling it ‘now and next.’

Standalone post link: Now and Next (March 15, 2024)
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Posting to my website from an Obsidian note?

[Originally Posted: 2024.03.14]
[Last Updated: 2024.03.14]

Test:

  1. If this note appears, I’ve figured out how to post a note to my website (static website run through Hugo/Github/Netlify) just by creating a note in my Obsidian vault. Cool.

Test:

  1. If this note appears, I’ve figured out how to post a note to my website (static website run through Hugo/Github/Netlify) just by creating a note in my Obsidian vault. Cool.
  1. If this note also appears, I’ve further figured out how to edit the Obsidian note to have it push an update to the website post.

  2. If this third note appears, I’ve successfully done an update via Obsidian on my phone, and I now finally have an easy way to post quick notes to my static website from my phone. Neato burrito.

I guess I’ll have to put together documentation and credits for all of this now.

Not sure why the “last updated” timestamp says tomorrow, though. Have to figure that out.

Thanks for reading!

Standalone post link: Posting to my website from an Obsidian note?
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I Can Do Whatever I Want Here

[Originally Posted: 2024.03.10]
[Last Updated: 2024.03.14]

I can
do
whatever
I
want
here

Last December I opened a fresh notebook and started with this entry. It is kind of my current thesis statement for having a website, being on the internet, trying to make stuff, etc. I haven’t followed through with these ideas so far, but I feel like putting it up on the website is a start.

I can
do
whatever
I
want
here

Last December I opened a fresh notebook and started with this entry. It is kind of my current thesis statement for having a website, being on the internet, trying to make stuff, etc. I haven’t followed through with these ideas so far, but I feel like putting it up on the website is a start.

(A text transcription follows the notebook scan images.)

I can do whatever I want here - notebook page scan

Maybe what I mean is art - notebook page scan


I can
do
whatever
I
want
here

[sketch1 - self-portrait of sorts, though no beard]


I should probably remember or remind myself that I met Gin2 because I wrote a blog about random stuff I was interested in

I’ve been so jaded but creating and sharing stuff on the internet is maybe probably still a worthwhile endeavor

notice I didn’t say “social media”
but I kind of mean social media but also not
media that can be social?
media that can build connection, understanding, community?
isn’t that all good media? digital or analog? art? do I mean art?


I think maybe what I really mean
by all of this
is
art?

Going to let that sit here and see how it feels in the coming days

creating things and sharing things

to

express myself
have fun / play around with
words
ink
pixels
code
images
video
sounds
connect with other people
make and do interesting things
learn stuff
make the world better somehow? (too much to ask)
“generalist”

art basically
or being human
in a good way
“the humanities”

[it is well]
[the evening and the morning
were the first day]
[light] [salt]
[life] [death]
[growth] [decay]
[seeds] [trees]
[air] [breath] [vacuum]
[nebula] [supernova]
[creation through destruction]34

2023-12-17 after 11:30pm


Notes


  1. Never in my life since probably kindergarten have I drawn or sketched anything that I didn’t absolutely have to (like for a math assignment or a game or something) - I decided early on that drawing or any visual “art” wasn’t my thing, wasn’t in my skillset, wasn’t for me to attempt to do. But in this notebook and in my 40s I’ve decided I can let myself try to occasionally sketch things, that there is nothing to lose and nothing to prove, that I don’t care about sharing it and I’m actually kind of happy about it. ↩︎

  2. Gin is my spouse of almost 16 years now. In 2007 I wrote a post on my random blog about going to an art exhibit. Gin was searching for information about paintings in that exhibit and my blog post came up in her search results; she started commenting on my blog and blogstalking me. We got married in 2008. ↩︎

  3. I guess my brain still sometimes thinks in scripture and poetry when I let it ↩︎

  4. Markdown might be a problem for trying to space out poems and word collections like I want to - maybe there is a way to do it in Markdown like a typewriter and respect the manual spacing? Need to research this, but not before getting this posted so I don’t lose my nerves. ↩︎

Standalone post link: I Can Do Whatever I Want Here
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Now and Next (January 28, 2024)

[Originally Posted: 2024.01.28]
[Last Updated: 2024.01.28]

Some things I’m working on and thinking about now…

Some things I’m working on and thinking about now…

Now

  • making a little progress on activating and functionalizing this website again - I’ve set up my reading and listening logs for 2024, and I have them propagating to the main ‘now’ page

  • inspired into reading kidlit and yalit again after the ALA Youth Media Awards, book talks to librarians from King’s English booksellers, and otherwise finding a lot of intriguing titles while doing collection development work for Sora

  • focusing on collection development work for Sora, and also carving out space for myself to actually do some catalog improvement work

  • laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, cooking, &c.

  • taking baby steps towards being more deliberate and thoughtful about food and shopping choices in terms of quality, variety, supporting local businesses, paying in cash at local businesses, sustainable and fair trade products, &c.

Next

  • a bunch of movies I want to see in the theaters, award nominees coming back, etc, but I haven’t gone once yet

  • Plan and prep the garden and yard for spring

  • cook a bunch of stuff

  • compile and share ‘top titles’ in the school libraries for 2023

  • research and plan my cataloging breakout for UCET/UELMA conference in March

  • get doing stuff outside - hiking, snowshoeing, or at the least yardwork and taking Luna on walks

  • honest writing


Visit the main ‘now’ page to see my growing library of dynamically generated activity logs and links to my past ‘now’ updates.

Credit for the ‘now’ page concept goes to Derek Sivers. I tend to get aspirational when I update it, so I’ve decided to embrace that by adding a ‘next’ section.

Standalone post link: Now and Next (January 28, 2024)
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Morning Birds Winter Rain Window

[Originally Posted: 2024.01.21]
[Last Updated: 2024.01.21]

Description: morning birds winter rain window - field recording

the birds this morning when I opened the bathroom window - I took a video but mainly for the sounds - forgot birds would do that in the winter morning rain, I associate this with spring - our little creekside backyard and neighborhood is a stopover for migrators - I should pay more attention

the birds this morning when I opened the bathroom window - I took a video but mainly for the sounds - forgot birds would do that in the winter morning rain, I associate this with spring - our little creekside backyard and neighborhood is a stopover for migrators - I should pay more attention

Morning Birds Winter Rain Window - still

Standalone post link: Morning Birds Winter Rain Window
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Planting Seeds on New Year's Day

[Originally Posted: 2024.01.02]
[Last Updated: 2024.01.02]

Front yard perennial pollinator native sustainable grass replacement project - Update 2024-01-01

I planted seeds as the sun set on the first evening of the new year. (Not to be overly dramatic about it or anything, this is just what happened.)

New Year’s Day 2024 Seed Planting -02

Front yard perennial pollinator native sustainable grass replacement project - Update 2024-01-01

I planted seeds as the sun set on the first evening of the new year. (Not to be overly dramatic about it or anything, this is just what happened.)

New Year’s Day 2024 Seed Planting -02

Continuing my belligerent contrarianism to neighborhood lawn and garden norms by planting pollinator-friendly native drought-resistant perennial wildflower seeds all over my front yard. The yard that I didn’t once water in 2023, and that I woodchipped over a couple of months ago. The yard where this summer I let a volunteer/“weed” yarrow grow large and bloom in the middle of the “grass” rather than mow it down. That yarrow showed me what the yard actually wanted to do, so I am helping it actualize that now. (Note to self: I should have gotten some yarrow seeds to give it companions; I wonder if I can find some today…)

I feel like I probably shouldn’t be able to do this in January, but it’s 40 degrees, the ground is bare of snow, the chips are not frozen together. It is supposed to get colder any day now, and snow significantly, so this won’t last. These are seeds that can/should be planted in fall so that they can cold stratify over the winter, then sprout in spring and summer. Seems much better to have them do this in the ground than in a moist paper towel in a freezer bag or something, since I still can.

My method is digging holes in the chips (which have started composting beneath the surface but after just a month or two aren’t there yet), filling each hole with two scoops of organic planting soil I purchased, then planting a recommended group of seeds in that soil. My thought is that I’m basically mimicking seed starters or pots, but while the seeds are stratifying the composting chips will at the same time be improving the soil under and around their immediate little soil spot. Or the composting could burn up the seeds, too, I guess.

Have no idea if this will work or at what scale, but I feel it’s worth a try. I don’t have much to lose but an afternoon’s time and the cost of some seed packets and soil. And the earth is maybe going to burn us off anyway if more people don’t start doing more stuff like this, so might as well try.

Types of seeds planted or that I will plant soon:

From seed packets purchased at Millcreek Gardens a month or two ago:

  • Showy Milkweed
  • Butterfly Flower Milkweed
  • Echinacea (Coneflowers)

From a seed packet purchased via mail from Plants of the Southwest a couple of years ago

  • Rocky Mountain Penstemon
  • Chokecherries

From paper and plastic bags of seeds I harvested from sheep ranch and national forest land around my wife’s family’s cabin in upper Weber Canyon:

  • Arrow leaf Balsamroot and/or Mules Ears Wyethia (I harvested these in the same bag)
  • some kind of lavender fleabane daisies or asters that I really like
  • shrubby cinquefoil
  • two kinds of sagebrush

New Year’s Day 2024 Seed Planting -03

New Year’s Day 2024 Seed Planting -01

New Year’s Day 2024 Seed Planting -04

Standalone post link: Planting Seeds on New Year's Day
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joshuawxyz changelog 20240101

[Originally Posted: 2024.01.01]
[Last Updated: 2024.01.01]

Cleaning up a bit to begin actively using and sharing this site in 2024.

Cleaning up a bit to begin actively using and sharing this site in 2024.

  • Home page:
    • slightly modified introductory blurb
    • created a placeholder for my unfinished “Why he/they?” essay
    • created a “Featured Note” section on the home page and populated it using a new taxonomic parameter
    • temporarily reduced numbers of ‘recent updates’ displayed so that only updates that are actually recent are displayed
    • temporarily hid gallery images until I share more recent images in future updates
    • temporarily hid the “Featured / Longer Things” links as I evaluate whether I want to feature those things going forward.
  • Updated the menu, clearing out “digital garden references”
  • Updated the header to display differently on all pages except the home page
  • Updated the title and blurb for the taxonomy tree page
  • Updated the ‘Now’ page, making it a ‘Now and Next’ page
Standalone post link: joshuawxyz changelog 20240101
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New Year's Day 2024 Website Note

[Originally Posted: 2024.01.01]
[Last Updated: 2024.01.02]

A new year, a new arbitrary occasion to start up this website again and think about sharing things and engaging with people on the internet again.

Let’s do it!

I’m going to first practice sharing daily or frequent notes and status updates exclusively here on my own website, and see how it feels.

A new year, a new arbitrary occasion to start up this website again and think about sharing things and engaging with people on the internet again.

Let’s do it!

I’m going to first practice sharing daily or frequent notes and status updates exclusively here on my own website, and see how it feels.

I’m going to continue to read and lurk and learn in some places and from some people who inspire me and are doing the types of things I want and hope to do on the internet; I’m going to try not to be parasocial or toxic about it. Maybe awkward and a little bit weird about it, though. I can’t really help that.

If my practice here feels right I’ll start engaging with more blogs/networks/platforms directly, and possibly start a syndication process.

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while - I’m just using the new year designation (not to mention the impending end of my holiday work break) as an occasion to act.

Standalone post link: New Year's Day 2024 Website Note
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Copyright 2005-2024 Joshua David Whiting. Made in Millcreek, Utah, USA. Contact me. Built with Hugo and my own WP51 theme, still a work in progress. Hosted via Github and Netlify.