For the first time in a while, I have a tangible separation between work and home. This separation has allowed me to re-evaluate life outside of work and reflect. Probably seems silly to put so much thought into the purchase of a computer, but I found it symbolic of the ongoing change. The process helped me talk about very personal things in the abstract.

While running MartianCraft, my writing was often mired by the desire to speak universal truths. Every blog post, speaking engagement, and podcast was an opportunity to sell “expertise”. Now I get to describe the world as I see it, without an agenda; Personal, and honest¹.

Moving to the Bay Area took me away from many close friends. I missed having conversations with them, and thought writing smaller pieces could spark discussion. Twitter and Slack struggle to fill the void. (because time zones that’s why²)

Moments after I published Starting Fresh, I was in multiple conversations with good friends over Twitter, Email, and iMessage. Perfect.

At the end of each week I plan to summarize the resulting conversations.

Below are some of this week’s highlights:

• My pal Matthew Bischoff asks how I removed notifications from my personal computer. The answer is simple, I don’t install the apps that would post the distracting notifications. I don’t log into social networks, I don’t even launch email. This computer is for thinking.

• Fellow Star Wars enthusiast, Jay Tamboli, understands the love for the 11” MacBook Air. He won his first at a raffle during NSConf. I’ve always been jealous of his British return key.

• Daniel Steinberg sparked an interesting conversation about my desire for more honesty with my writing. Brent Simmons later chimed in with his usual laser beam of clarity.

• Ben Brooks, surprise-surprise, is apoplectic over my choice of the lowly MacBook Air. He’d never consider a non-retina screen, but he has written some interesting thoughts about his own computing needs. Worth a read, if you haven’t already.

• Dave Smith, via iMessage, reminded me of a lovely anecdote I should’ve included in my 11” Air piece. One evening, during NSCoderNight, I casually pulled a brand new 11” MacBook Air out of my bag, removed the shrink wrap, and started using it like it was no big deal. The look on Mike Ash’s face was priceless. There’s now a persistent rumor that I have a different 11” Air for each week of the year.