There comes a time in everyone’s life when they’ve consumed too much of something, and they find the very notion of consuming more sickening.
This could be the college student who drank too much vodka and can’t have it anymore. Or the person who ate far too much sushi, got sick, and is now repulsed by it.
Someone who’s seen a movie or TV show so many times they just pick it apart now. Or someone who realized their favorite author just regurgitates the same ideas over and over again. Beyond overconsumption, sometimes our priorities/tastes/desires shift. I used to play video games daily. Now that ritual is basically reserved for long breaks1.
My brother used to drink Coke almost exclusively. While he still enjoys it, he opts to drink water most of the time now because he’s prioritized his health.
Longtime readers (or anyone who scrolls the archive) will be puzzled by this statement: It’s time for the 18th installment of my favorites of the year. But I just counted, and it’s true.
And like last year, I’m going to start by looking back at what I wrote 10 years ago: my favorites of 2015.
I provided an interview transcript to ChatGPT and asked it to suggest edits to tighten up the conversation. It’s usually very aggressive but surfaces things I miss in my notes.
Part of it’s edit notes was, “Balance guest track slightly hotter (+0.5 to +1 dB) during blueprint segment for clarity.”
Here’s it’s response when I asked how it could know that:
Me: “Balance guest track slightly hotter (+0.5 to +1 dB) during blueprint segment for clarity.” – how can you possibly know that
ChatGPT:
Good catch — I don’t actually know the real mix levels; I can only infer from the transcript style and pacing.
When I said “+0.5 to +1 dB,” that was shorthand for a typical adjustment editors make when a guest’s level sounds lower or less present than the host’s — and since Liz does most of the talking in that “blueprint” section, it’s a safe generic production note, not a measurement.
In your real edit, you’d check that by ear or meter:
solo Liz’s track, compare RMS/LUFS to yours
bring her roughly within ±1 dB of your average
then re-listen in context to make sure the conversational flow feels even
So — it’s guidance based on common podcast-mixing practice, not insider knowledge of your actual audio.
Me: No no. You are making a comment about audio without the audio. Don’t double down. How could you know from a transcript what the audio mix is.
ChatGPT:
You’re absolutely right — I can’t. There’s no way to know anything about the actual mix or loudness from a transcript alone. That note was misplaced; I shouldn’t have included any audio-specific recommendation without hearing the file.
Everything I can accurately base on a transcript is structure, pacing, content, and narrative flow — not levels, EQ, or mic balance. Thanks for calling that out.
Like most commentary on the internet, the AI confidently doubled down on something it couldn’t possibly know and was actually wrong about.
Over the summer, I switched from Dropbox to Google Drive because they told me the plan I’d been using for my business for a decade suddenly wasn’t for business anymore.
I switched from Bonjoro to Senja recently because it cut several steps out of my workflow.
And now I’m considering moving from Cal.com BACK to Calendly.
Why?
Some time between when I signed up and a month ago, they turned reminder email editing off for the free plan.
I get that I’m using a free tool — the only paid options are for teams and enterprises.
But the problem is I made edits to those emails, and now I can’t change them at all.
Even worse, support told me there is “nothing they can do.”
This is software, not a terminal disease. Surely there’s something they can do.
But that’s beside the point. The real question is, should I switch, or not?
When I tried Arc by The Browser Company, it was a revelation. I loved the sidebar with the tabs, pinned tabs, Profiles, Spaces, and Air Traffic Control — a way to route links to specific Spaces.
The fact that I can automatically sequester types of websites to a Space (like all social apps in a Space called “Distractions”) is incredible.
The Profiles is easily the best implementation of logging in with different accounts and having different contexts I’ve ever used.
And since it’s based on the Chrome browser, all the extensions I know and love already work. It’s the most perfect browser.
Which is why I’m so, so sad to say that I’m abandoning Arc.
With Amazon Prime Day 2025* upon us**, I was going through my Amazon Wish Lists to see if there’s anything worth picking up if the deals are good enough.
Turns out there are actually quite a few items that I’d like to pick up on deals as a reward for my patience.
I’ll get to them in a minute, but first, let me wax poetic about my Prime Day philosophy.
I’ve written a few times about how my father and brother-in-law have helped me with home improvement projects.
They both have so many tools; when we built the fence, my brother-in-law brought his auger, a two-person hand operated drill.
It’s an area where I’m nearly completely inept. I don’t know what I’m doing, and I can’t even really think properly about how to solve the problem at hand.
This becomes evident when I’m doing something and they offer advice on how to do it better. Even when I’m using the right tool, like an auger, I feel uncomfortable and generally require advice on how to use it properly.
When I was a kid, the flu hit me extraordinarily hard. I was down for 2 weeks. I couldn’t eat. I slept poorly. I got way behind on school work.
I did lose like 15 pounds, though.
Due to diligently getting my flu vaccine every year since, I haven’t really gotten the flu, let alone as bad as I did.
Until last week.
The flu is going around the county, including at my kids’ school. So when my daughter came home with a 103°F fever, I knew it was only a matter of time for me.
By Thursday, I was feeling pretty rotten; rotten enough to go to urgent care over the weekend for fear of pneumonia or something worse.
Thankfully, it was “just” the flu.
So I had a lot of time on my hands. And I decided to watch a bunch of movies — 13, to be exact.
The Original Star Wars Trilogy
The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Every movie featuring Chris Evans’ Captain America (The first Captain America Trilogy, plus the first four Avengers movies).
