0:00

Hello everybody and welcome

0:02

to Time and Attention.

0:05

The podcast dedicated to

0:07

helping you become a

0:09

better, more intentional human

0:11

being. I'm the reluctant

0:14

co-host of this show.

0:16

Art and Nordstrom and

0:18

I'm with my, you

0:20

are our co-host, you

0:22

are the just the

0:25

host, Chris Bailey. This

0:27

is episode number 140.

0:29

Whoa! old. Yeah, I started that

0:31

as a joke and he looked

0:33

so happy when I started saying

0:35

the intro. So you just kept

0:37

going. I committed to the bit.

0:39

Though we did edit out, well

0:41

I deleted it, the original one

0:43

because you just started laughing

0:45

halfway through. Because your

0:47

face, you're so excited. Yeah, you

0:50

always refused to do the intros.

0:52

I do. And you always refused

0:55

to be called a co-host. Yeah, it's

0:57

your, it's your podcast. I'm just

0:59

long for the ride. Is our

1:01

podcast? No one in their

1:03

right mind would think of

1:05

this as my podcast. This

1:07

is your podcast that

1:09

I'm just around for. I think

1:12

of it as our podcast. Okay.

1:14

All right. Okay, so when

1:16

we started this, you had

1:18

this, oh, expression on your face.

1:20

Yes, I did. Is that because

1:23

this podcast will be going

1:25

out on November 5th, which

1:27

is election day in America.

1:29

We are recording this ahead

1:31

of time. So we don't know. I had

1:33

no awareness of that. No, my oh

1:35

was because one of the things we're

1:37

talking about for our setups was something

1:40

I had just finished saying, oh yeah,

1:42

I ordered one of those and it

1:44

hasn't come and I ordered it like

1:46

two months ago. Oh. And it's going

1:48

to arrive in the next week. I'm

1:50

very excited. By the time this is

1:52

out, it'll be here. That took two

1:54

months. Two months. Why. I'm not

1:57

sure. It's not like it's

1:59

a special. thing. It's not. It's

2:01

basically just a piece of plastic.

2:03

Yeah. I don't know why it come. $60

2:05

for it, but it's a very nice

2:08

piece of plastic. Yes, we'll get there. We'll

2:10

get there. All right. All right. We're

2:12

getting ahead of ourselves. So this episode, you're

2:14

hosting this one. I am not, but

2:16

you really wanted to talk about this.

2:18

And I worry mine is going

2:20

to sound a little boring compared

2:22

to yours. Are you kidding? You have

2:24

three of these setups and I

2:26

have one. That

2:29

is true, but they're all simple. And

2:31

well, which is just the general

2:33

consensus of this podcast is you like

2:35

to have very elaborate setups. I

2:37

don't think mine's elaborate everything. And

2:39

I don't. I don't think mine's elaborate

2:41

actually. All right. Well, we

2:43

are talking about our physical like

2:45

tech setups and how we've set up

2:47

our workspaces, which is something you like

2:49

to think a lot about. And I

2:52

like to set it up once and

2:54

then never think about it again. Yeah.

2:56

So what particularly got you

2:58

interested in this specific idea?

3:00

Well, I'm a big tech

3:02

head. I think that's what

3:05

they're called tech heads. I don't think that's what

3:07

that's called. That's what MKBHD calls

3:09

them. Marquez Brownlee, a

3:11

famous technology. You know, he

3:13

has some clout in that space. So I will believe

3:15

him if that's what he calls it. I

3:17

can't think of a technology,

3:19

a person who covers technology

3:22

who has more clout. Joanne

3:24

Stern? Joanne Stern. I love

3:26

Joanne Stern. She should have

3:28

as much clout as MKBHD. And

3:31

the Verge? Who runs the Verge

3:33

now? Nila Patel. Yeah. He also

3:35

has a lot of clout space.

3:37

Do they have as many

3:39

followers as they're all kind

3:41

of the on Mount Rushmore

3:43

of the technology journalists, but

3:45

Marquez calls them tech heads.

3:48

So I'll follow his lead.

3:50

But so I think a

3:52

lot about the tech setup

3:54

that I have as a

3:56

big tech nerd, as somebody

3:58

who does work predominant. in the

4:00

digital realm. I try to

4:03

pull a lot of my

4:05

workflows into the analog world,

4:07

but the simple fact of

4:09

the matter is things are

4:12

more efficient when done the

4:14

digital way. And so over

4:16

time, I've carved out these

4:19

digital workflows for how I

4:21

work with different devices that

4:23

supported that, you know, we

4:26

were talking about workflows last

4:28

episode, that eliminate the friction

4:30

that we have with the

4:32

work that we do. And

4:34

so I don't want, you

4:36

know, as much as I'm

4:38

into technology, when I'm doing

4:40

work, I don't want to. You

4:42

know, work through this, this Rube Goldberg

4:44

level contraption where I have to solve

4:47

a bunch of escape room level puzzles

4:49

to get some work done. I want

4:51

to sit down and I want there

4:53

to be no friction. If I have

4:55

an idea and I sit down, I

4:57

want to just work. I just want

4:59

to get things down. You're laughing. Yeah,

5:01

because you clearly don't ever have to

5:04

deal with two-factor authentication. Oh, I

5:06

do. But like this is such a

5:08

thing. I think when you work

5:10

in an organization where you are just

5:12

like... constantly needing to two-factor authenticate to

5:15

a point where I'm like this it's

5:17

like there must be people are so tired

5:19

of this that it just gets like burdensome

5:22

because people stop giving it like

5:24

the thought it's supposed to I probably

5:26

have to do five or six two factors

5:28

a day really yeah Even when you

5:30

work for yourself. Wow, okay. Okay. I

5:32

received my comment. It doesn't go away.

5:34

Like my mail, my newsletter provider, when

5:37

I log into that, there's two factor.

5:39

Email, when I log into that. I

5:41

was wrong. Social media, because you need

5:44

it sometimes for protection. But yes, like

5:46

that's just like the epitome of a

5:48

source of friction in my head that

5:50

I'm really. Don't you set up the thing

5:52

with your iPhone? You have to open your

5:54

watch and then it has to happen. Oh,

5:57

maybe you can't do it. You

5:59

have some enterprising. kind of thing. But

6:01

most of them now when they

6:03

text you one here and we should

6:05

say that this episode might not

6:07

be very interesting to people who are

6:09

not in kind of the apple sphere.

6:12

Yeah it is pretty apple-centric but

6:14

there's a reason for that is because

6:16

they do get rid of a lot

6:18

of those friction points. Yeah especially so

6:20

my setup Yeah, it is more complicated than yours

6:23

in that I work from many places. Like

6:25

I have a home office and I have

6:27

a physical office on campus and I work

6:29

on the go often, right? If I'm taking

6:31

the train to Montreal or something. So, or

6:33

like last week I was on a plane

6:35

and I worked the entire plane ride. So

6:37

I have to have stuff for on the

6:39

go as well. And so everything needs to

6:41

sink like. lawlessly that has to

6:43

happen and we talked about this

6:46

how I had like I got

6:48

really burned during my PhD with

6:50

stuff not sinking across devices and

6:53

losing weeks of work and yeah in

6:55

word in well it was in one

6:57

drive and then parts of it were in

6:59

word yeah so oh I will never get

7:01

over that loss and anyway all that

7:03

to say like so things have to

7:06

integrate seamlessly because my text set up

7:08

is like in physically different places. So

7:10

like that's why I use Google Docs

7:12

and Overleaf because it's just a web

7:15

platform. And that's why I use Google

7:17

Drive for all of my like documents

7:19

because it just sinks reliably. But all

7:21

that to say, yeah, so like having

7:24

little friction is easier when you're in,

7:26

I think it is easier when you're

7:28

in an Apple ecosystem. It's definitely a

7:30

wild garden. And you know, people who

7:33

are also really into technology, they'll say

7:35

you can't customizeize it as much.

7:37

And that's true. They'll say it's

7:39

not as open. And that's true.

7:42

They'll say, but different people

7:44

care about these different variables.

7:46

And we care about there

7:49

being no friction. We care about

7:51

getting work done. I don't want

7:53

to customize and tinker every little

7:56

thing. I want to get things

7:58

done on my devices. but yeah

8:00

I know where you're coming from.

8:02

You definitely can but I'll say

8:04

every time I pick up Windows

8:06

so I I do have both

8:08

platforms you know we have a

8:10

joint surface laptop as well that

8:13

we both use and every time

8:15

I open that there's a lot

8:17

of Windows updates. Even if

8:19

I opened it the day before there's

8:21

a new Windows update and I have

8:23

to restart the computer. There's updates for

8:26

all kinds of things and And there's

8:28

just too much for, so I don't

8:30

want to get into a Mac versus

8:33

PC. You know, you use what you

8:35

use and sometimes you use what you

8:37

have to use. And so there is

8:40

a bit of privilege involved there too

8:42

where I work for myself, I get

8:44

to just choose what I use. You

8:46

work in a very autonomous kind

8:49

of environment. So here's

8:51

a question though for your

8:53

workplace, which is Carlton. Carlton,

8:55

University, you're a professor. What

8:57

percent of people in your

9:00

department would you say are Mac

9:02

versus PC? I don't know. It depends

9:04

on department too, because so, yeah,

9:06

if maybe half, I'm not sure. I have never

9:08

really given this a lot of thought,

9:10

because I think a lot of people

9:13

also have many devices, so like lots

9:15

of people might use an iPad, but

9:17

also like a surface. Their desktop would

9:19

be a PC, but then they might

9:21

also use an iPad for stuff. So

9:23

I think there's a lot of people

9:25

who use multiple platforms.

9:27

Do you use Linux at all? No. No. No,

9:29

I never have. And I've never seen

9:31

the need. I do a lot of

9:33

very technical work, and I've never come

9:35

across something that I wished I had

9:37

Linux for. Cool. But I'm sure I

9:39

had lost the colleagues who love Linux.

9:41

So I just am not that person.

9:44

Set-upsups. All right. You have three. I

9:46

have three, I guess. How do you feel about

9:48

having three? It feels a little excessive,

9:50

but it's happened so gradually. It just

9:53

ended up this way. So like the,

9:55

okay, so I have. There is a

9:57

reason for every element of that.

10:00

three parts. Well, debatable.

10:02

There's one element that I'm

10:04

like probably could get rid of that

10:06

at this point. So at my office

10:09

on campus, which is where I do

10:11

the majority of like my heavy technical

10:13

work, I have a Max Studio,

10:15

which is... The fancy lab. I

10:18

do have a very fancy desktop

10:20

computer. And of course I have

10:22

a desk, like a monitor that goes

10:24

with it. And so I love this

10:26

computer. I did get specs that would

10:28

be kind of future proof, so it has

10:31

a lot of power. Yes, it has a

10:33

lot of power. Yeah, but I do use

10:35

it, right? So I'm like, I did

10:37

a lot of work with a lot

10:39

of images recently, and so like for

10:41

like deep learning kind of work in

10:43

a big project that I worked on

10:46

very recently. I have projects that use

10:48

like a lot of satellite imagery data

10:50

that are pretty heavy and like computationally,

10:52

really heavy on the on the computer

10:54

to work with. So like. I do

10:56

use the compute power, but... You

10:59

use the heck out of that thing. I use

11:01

the heck out of the thing. But

11:03

that said, I do have a Mac

11:05

Studio on campus where I do a

11:07

lot of like my very heavy technical

11:09

work. So that's my, the bulk of

11:11

that setup is just like a very

11:13

nice desk from, I don't get to

11:15

pick the desk, it's the one that comes.

11:17

How much thought do you put into

11:19

your keyboard in mouse? Not much. I

11:21

did get an ergonomic assessment when

11:24

I started. So I have a

11:26

keyboard tray and stuff that's at

11:28

the right height and like, the setup

11:30

is technically correct. I know I have,

11:32

I use a track pad for a

11:34

mouse because I just cannot stand the

11:36

feeling of the old mice. Like a,

11:38

or a, no I hate it. I

11:40

hate the mouse. So. I use a

11:42

track bad mouse because and I use

11:44

the one that just comes with the

11:46

with the Mac Studio and it has

11:48

a fingerprint reader to get in and

11:50

stuff which I love so I love

11:52

this setup and at the office so

11:54

at my my work office I use I

11:57

do have noise cancelling headphones I

11:59

use this Sony, WXM

12:02

H4. Oh,

12:04

they're so bad at

12:06

naming stuff. Oh

12:08

yeah, WH -10000XM Force. Okay.

12:10

I think people just call them the

12:13

XM Force because there's so much. Whatever, those

12:15

are the Sony headphones. And they're great. They

12:17

work really well. I used to use, those

12:19

used to be my only noise -canceling headphones

12:21

and I used them all the time, but

12:23

they ended up, I moved them just to

12:26

my office for a few reasons. A, I

12:28

bike to work and I was just tired

12:30

of lugging them back and forth every single

12:32

day. And they don't connect to more than

12:34

two devices, which as we're gonna learn very

12:36

shortly, is a bit of a limit for

12:38

me because I have more than two devices. It's

12:41

more of a Bluetooth limit than a limit

12:43

on the headphones, but it is a serious limit.

12:45

But it's not a limit on the

12:47

AirPods Max. No, - If you have multiple

12:49

Apple devices. That uses, that's part of

12:51

the wall to guard and that we were

12:53

talking about. So my home headphones, which

12:55

this is where I realized - sounds

12:58

so ridiculous to have home know, but

13:00

this is these, the Sony's I had

13:02

when I was a PhD student. So

13:04

I've just had them forever. And so

13:06

when I ended up at the office

13:08

and I was lugging them back and

13:10

forth and as a graduation gift, you

13:12

bought me the AirPods Max. And so

13:14

then I ended up having these two

13:16

pairs and I didn't sell one because I

13:18

wanted to keep one at the office and

13:20

one here because I don't want to

13:22

care. But I realized what a privilege that

13:24

is. So I know that that is

13:26

very frivolous. And what a great gift.

13:29

Was a very good gift. So happy

13:31

graduation to me. I have AirPods Max

13:33

at home and I will say, I

13:35

wear them every day. I love them

13:37

so much. I think they might be

13:39

one of my favorite Apple things ever.

13:41

Even though the case objectively sucks. Let me

13:43

buy your love. Oh, that's

13:45

gross. Why did I say that?

13:47

Ew. No, you did not buy my

13:49

love. No. But you did buy me really

13:52

nice headphones that I use every single day and

13:54

love and will last a long, long time.

13:56

So the other thing that I want to highlight

13:58

with my office setup, I also have... many plants

14:00

and I love these plants. I know that's

14:02

not tech, but I had to throw out

14:04

a shout out to my beloved plants. So

14:06

that's the office set up and then my

14:09

home office I have and again this is this

14:11

is the one device where I probably don't

14:13

need this is I have an IMAC and

14:15

it used to be your IMAC and then

14:17

I somehow I fell in love with it during

14:19

the PhD. I was writing my

14:21

dissertation and I was on the

14:23

job market and I started using

14:25

your IMAC. because you had a

14:28

laptop that you were really excited

14:30

about, so I just slowly stole

14:32

your IMAC during the PhD. I

14:34

had a really bad laptop at

14:36

the time, so I will in

14:38

my defense say that my laptop

14:40

sucked and you were being nice and

14:42

let me use your IMAC and

14:44

now it's become my IMAC. I

14:47

will come to your defense a

14:49

little bit on, I think if

14:51

I were listening to this, on

14:53

some level, I might think. Man,

14:55

what a consumerist thing, like buying

14:57

all this stuff, but you do

14:59

highly technical work in your defense

15:01

for having these different tech setups.

15:03

You need a powerful tech setup

15:05

at the office when you're doing

15:08

this highly technical work with the

15:10

Max Studio. You need a powerful

15:12

setup at home and on the

15:14

go with the new Apple Silicon,

15:16

which is parallelizable. Is that a word?

15:18

Parallelizable with the different processor cores? So

15:21

it's not as though you're buying this

15:23

stuff for the sake of just consumerism.

15:25

You're actually making use of it and

15:28

there is an actual use case for

15:30

every one of these elements. You're doing

15:32

highly technical work. I'm not just buying

15:34

like, I don't have all these devices

15:37

just to use Google Docs. Those AirPods

15:39

Max though are a bit consumerist. They

15:41

were a gift. That's actually what bugs

15:43

me about them. Like they're very good

15:45

headphones, but they've become almost like a...

15:47

a status symbol in a way. I

15:49

think they're so old now that I don't

15:52

think that that maybe holds quite as much

15:54

as it would have. I hope, I don't know.

15:56

I hope so. But all that to say, and

15:58

I will say a lot of these. are like

16:00

over five years old. So like the

16:02

iMac is definitely over five years old.

16:04

But I've, we've just had it for

16:07

so long that it, we've now ended

16:09

up with it. And when I started

16:11

the new job at, when I left the

16:13

PhD, when I started my like. Professor

16:16

Job, you have like a small budget

16:18

for a new computer, and my laptop

16:20

was so toast, like after the PhD,

16:22

I think I had spilled oat milk

16:24

on it and stuff. It was like

16:26

hobbling through on crutches, like that poor,

16:28

poor computer. So yeah, I bought a

16:30

new laptop and I have like a

16:32

little MacBook Air for when I'm on

16:34

the go, and it's not particularly powerful,

16:36

but it does the job when I'm

16:38

going from place to place. And again,

16:40

a big part of this is, I

16:42

can't really when I bike. carry a

16:44

laptop to and from like I could because

16:46

it could but it gets wet or if

16:49

it gets cold or if I fall off

16:51

my bike or something and it gets damaged

16:53

like I I don't love the idea of

16:55

traveling back and forth with a laptop and

16:57

that's why I use like I like having

16:59

a desktop at both spaces that's also why

17:01

I don't love carrying headphones like noise cancelling

17:04

headphones back and forth every day. And I

17:06

do go I do work in the evenings

17:08

and in the mornings at home so I

17:10

can't Just leave stuff at one place and

17:12

not the other. You sound like somebody

17:14

who needs a waterproof backpack. Yeah,

17:17

I have a waterproof back. I also

17:19

have a, I do have a waterproof

17:21

bike bag, but it got wet once and

17:23

now I just don't trust it.

17:25

Backback recommendation? Lulu Lemon.

17:27

Makes the best my favorite backpack.

17:30

I used to be big into

17:32

the waterfield bags That beautiful materials

17:34

stuff like that made it in

17:36

in America We're Canadian, but we

17:39

like we like things like that

17:41

Blue Lemon is Canadian. Blue Lemon

17:43

Canadian, and I and it's waterproof.

17:46

Yeah, my Osprey big so I

17:48

love my Osprey backpack. I know

17:50

you love your blue lemon, but I

17:52

love my Osprey bag. It's it's been

17:55

so useful. Anyway, this is not we're

17:57

not trying to just like pitch more

17:59

products. But the one thing, I say

18:01

this thing about not wanting to lug

18:03

stuff back and forth, I mean that's

18:05

just maybe a personal thing for me

18:07

from, I've always hated having to

18:09

carry stuff back and forth between

18:12

places if I'm going between two

18:14

places a lot. And one of

18:16

those other things is also charging

18:18

cables. I have charging cables just

18:20

like. attached on every kind of

18:22

workstation. So I have a watch

18:24

charger ready for me because nothing

18:26

will make your workflow feel like

18:28

very friction full. Full of friction.

18:30

Full of friction. Full of friction.

18:33

Like having to go look for

18:35

a charger. So. Everything has

18:37

a purpose. Everything does have a purpose.

18:39

And one thing that I didn't say

18:41

is the iPhone magnet stand thing. Oh

18:43

yeah. That you can put on the

18:46

top of a monitor. The iPhone

18:48

magnet stand thing. Yeah. I know

18:50

you have it on your list,

18:52

but you'll give the real name.

18:54

But it basically allows you to

18:56

attach your phone and use that

18:58

as a webcam. And my iPhone

19:00

is the best camera I own.

19:02

So it's a great webcam and

19:04

it's what I use for teaching.

19:06

It's incredible. I love it. Yeah,

19:08

what is it actually called? The

19:11

Belkin iPhone Mount with Meg

19:13

safe for Mac notebooks. I

19:15

almost nailed it. Did you

19:18

know? Okay, this probably really

19:20

differs from your setup because

19:22

you have one workplace. It's

19:24

so simple. It is so streamlined.

19:26

But I've also put a lot of

19:28

thought into it. And so, and so

19:31

has your dad. By the way,

19:33

for those who aren't familiar,

19:35

Arden's dad, Steve, I like

19:38

to call him, is an

19:40

amazing woodworker. He can craft

19:43

these these beautiful kind of

19:45

things out of wood. He

19:48

designed a plant stand in

19:50

my office, he designed a

19:52

cable management, but he also

19:55

designed a desk for this

19:57

room in our house. are

20:00

forever home and hopefully

20:02

we don't have to

20:04

move again. And so I

20:06

thought, okay, I'm gonna have this

20:09

office for a while. I want

20:11

a beautiful desk kind of from

20:13

wall to wall on one side

20:16

of it. And so on one

20:18

wall in this room, there's a

20:20

sit-stand portion, so a part that

20:23

raises and lowers, and then there's

20:25

kind of a part in the

20:27

corner that is, I think of

20:29

it as my cockpit. So this

20:32

is where I do a lot

20:34

of virtual keynotes. I need a

20:36

professional camera. I need a professional

20:38

microphone. I need a microphone interface

20:41

that the mic can hook into.

20:43

I need a lot of AV

20:45

equipment around that. I need a

20:47

place for my iPad to go,

20:49

a place for the keyboard, that

20:51

mouse, all this kind of stuff.

20:54

But then, there's kind of

20:56

the more casual work that I

20:58

do where. I just want to

21:00

roll my chair over, I'll push

21:02

on the desk in the corner

21:05

and then roll all the way

21:07

to the other side of the

21:09

room and go to the sit-stand

21:11

portion, the analog portion of the

21:13

desk. And so I love that

21:16

hunker-down kind of cockpit in the

21:18

corner, but I also love the

21:20

analog part. And this is something

21:22

that I'd really encourage people listening

21:24

to consider. Do mostly digital work,

21:27

it's so nice to move a

21:29

few of those things into the

21:31

analog world. Maybe it's just planning

21:34

out your day in a notebook,

21:36

maybe it's brainstorming something with a

21:38

notebook, with a pen, with paper,

21:40

with a whiteboard, whatever it looks

21:43

like, bringing things into the analog.

21:45

I feel like I can process

21:47

them more deeply, think about them

21:49

deeply. So, you know, with writing

21:52

workflows that we were talking about

21:54

last episode. crafting an outline for something

21:56

is I'll print it off and then I'll sit

21:58

down at this analog portion. of the desk

22:00

that looks out over the street

22:02

and I'll watch, you know, people walking

22:05

by and then make little notes

22:07

as I as I drift off about

22:09

the ideas that I'm capturing. So

22:11

there's the analog and the

22:13

digital. Nice. Most of the

22:15

gear, as you can

22:17

imagine, is in the digital corner.

22:19

So I do have a

22:21

Sony camera in the corner and

22:23

A6400 that's hooked up with

22:26

an Elgato cam link. So if

22:28

you have an old kind

22:30

of camera sitting around that has

22:32

a video capability and that

22:34

camera is great, you can use

22:36

the cam link for that.

22:38

I'm using the microphone that I

22:40

use in that setup, but we just pull

22:42

it. I just pull the cable out and

22:44

we go down to the dining room here.

22:46

The shirt, wait, I have to look, I

22:48

can't look at it and talk into it

22:51

at the same time. The shirt

22:53

beta 87A, sorry

22:55

for all the pauses there, but that's

22:57

in the corner as well. And my

23:00

main driver, my main computer, unlike Arden,

23:02

I don't need three computers.

23:04

I don't need three computers. I've just

23:06

ended up with three computers. I

23:08

don't have three setups. I just

23:10

have old faithful here. Old

23:13

faithful. I am hoping to

23:15

drive this computer into the

23:17

ground. That is also the nice

23:20

thing about Apple stuff is they do

23:22

last a long time. They last a

23:24

long time and the resale value holds

23:26

up over time. I sold

23:28

my, I dropped oat milk

23:30

on my old computer and it

23:32

still functioned for another like

23:34

five years and also resold. Would

23:37

you sell it for? I sold it just

23:39

for the monitor because it did end

23:41

up like really dying on the

23:43

inside. But I mean, I still

23:45

got like $150 or $180 for

23:47

just the monitor. And this was

23:49

like an eight or nine -year -old

23:51

computer with water damage. So like that's,

23:53

I think, an impressive resale.

23:55

Yeah. And so if you look at

23:58

the total cost of ownership in Instead

24:00

of just the purchase price, Apple's stuff

24:02

is more money, but you also sell

24:04

it for more at the end. So

24:06

there is that compensating factor where I

24:08

think it's kind of a wash at

24:10

the end of And you don't replace

24:12

it every year or every other year.

24:14

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so I'm hoping

24:17

I'll have to replace the battery soon

24:19

and in old faithful, but whatever. I

24:21

think this is something that a lot

24:23

of people do with technology is a

24:25

lot of devices can just take a

24:27

battery replacement. So instead of replacing the

24:29

entire thing, adding to the e -waste

24:31

problem. Repair. Don't replace. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Replacing

24:35

your battery can speed it

24:37

up, it'll last longer, you'll

24:39

get more life out of

24:41

the thing. So in the

24:43

digital cockpit, we can call

24:45

it camera, microphone, as I

24:47

mentioned, I also have the

24:50

Apple Studio display in that

24:52

corner, which I quite enjoy.

24:54

I'm hoping to have that

24:56

for a long, long time

24:58

too. And this MacBook Pro

25:00

that I got in 20,

25:02

121 and I'm hoping it

25:04

lasts to 2031, though we'll

25:07

see about that. We'll check

25:09

in a bit later. And

25:11

my favorite thing, maybe

25:14

not favorite. My favorite non

25:16

-Apple thing is the CalDigit

25:18

TS4 dock. And so when

25:20

I was setting up this

25:22

office, my vision for it

25:24

was that I had one

25:26

cable that I could plug

25:28

into the laptop and out

25:30

of the laptop and that's

25:32

all I needed. You know,

25:34

so I plugged it in

25:36

and everything would connect to

25:39

it, the camera, the screen,

25:41

everything, the speakers on my

25:43

desk. And I can accomplish

25:45

this with the CalDigit TS4.

25:47

It's one cable. I think

25:49

it has like 20 ports

25:51

or something like that on

25:53

it. You need Thunderbolt on

25:55

your computer, but it might

25:57

my key light, my display,

25:59

speakers, microphone, hard drive, the.

26:01

portable backup drive that I

26:03

use, the iPhone charger that

26:05

I have, everything just connects

26:07

after that point. And so

26:09

the vision has been realized.

26:12

Hallelujah, thank you CalDigit

26:14

TS4 Docs. So that,

26:16

the laptop, the display,

26:18

the speakers that I

26:20

have are the Audio

26:22

Engine A5 Plus. Speakers,

26:24

I did a lot

26:26

of research before settling on

26:28

them. They have a beautiful

26:30

sound stage, just very rich

26:33

audio. Occasionally I'll just sit

26:35

there and bask in a

26:37

song and that's on the

26:39

analog portion of the desk

26:41

and lots of plants. Yes, lots

26:43

of plants. All the ones that can't

26:45

be around our cat are in my

26:47

office. One thing that

26:49

I'll mention for the travel

26:51

setup that if somebody doesn't have

26:53

it, you should consider it is

26:55

the privacy screen. This is the

26:58

thing that I ordered months ago

27:00

and hasn't arrived yet. Yeah, oh

27:02

yeah, yeah, that will arrive this

27:04

week. So if you have a

27:06

Mac and an iPhone, I really

27:08

recommend the Belkin iPhone mount with

27:10

MagSafe for Mac laptops. But

27:13

Kensington makes a great privacy

27:15

screen. Privacy screens, like you

27:17

have the confidential stuff that

27:20

you're doing, but also the

27:22

things that you get

27:24

self -conscious doing. And so

27:26

when I write, I'm

27:28

writing sometimes very personal things that

27:30

I'll either edit out later,

27:32

that are a rough draft, that

27:34

it changes the writing if

27:36

I know that somebody can see

27:38

that I'm writing. And I

27:40

didn't really expect that as a

27:42

benefit for the privacy screen,

27:44

but knowing that nobody can really

27:46

read what's on my screen

27:48

is a great kind of confidence

27:50

booster as well in a

27:52

way that I didn't expect. So

27:54

that as well. Nice. Yeah, that's

27:57

my gear. Very cool. That's your gear. Don't

28:00

you wish yours was as simple as mine?

28:02

No, but mine is simple because I

28:04

just show up where I need to

28:06

go and things are just there for

28:08

me. No friction. No friction. Love it.

28:10

I know it sounds ridiculous and I

28:13

don't love that it feels so excessive,

28:15

but it really is simple. You don't

28:17

need to be self-conscious. I'm

28:19

a little self-conscious. Okay. I do

28:21

use everything that I have. You're doing

28:24

technical work. And I bounce, but I

28:26

work. a lot though when you're bouncing

28:28

between like so many different offices and

28:30

you're like I'm just gonna write right

28:32

before bed or right when I get

28:34

out of bed and then I also go to

28:36

the physical office it's nice to not have

28:38

to like pack and unpack and

28:40

repack. LifeHack have 50 computers

28:42

that are all five years

28:44

old. That is what we learned

28:47

on this episode of Time

28:49

and Attention. The podcast dedicated

28:51

to helping you become a

28:54

more intentional human being. I

28:56

am Chris Arden is here.

28:59

Hello. And we hope you

29:01

have a wonderful week. We

29:03

hope we have not to let

29:05

you to spend too much money

29:08

today. Yeah. For every new

29:10

tech thing you buy, make sure

29:12

you bring a plant into

29:15

your surrounding. Yeah. It's a

29:17

very nice addition. And if

29:19

you can replace or repair

29:22

things. Yeah. and not just buy

29:24

new stuff that also limits your

29:26

impact. Buy new batteries, don't

29:28

buy new things. Get a new battery,

29:30

not a new computer. Time

29:32

and attention to RFM is

29:34

where you can find all

29:36

the corresponding show notes for the

29:39

episode. Hope you have a wonderful

29:41

week, we'll see you in a

29:43

couple Tuesdays. Bye!