Matt Langford

I decided to throw together a Kottke inspired 2024 Christmas Suggestions style of list. No real rhyme or reason, just things I love or that interest me.

I’ve categorized them based on area/location of life.

On Your Person

I’m a big EDC person and have put countless hours into research and testing of hundreds of products. If you’re an experienced EDC type, you’ll know about some classics folding knives (pocket knives) like the Sebenza (high end), Bugout (mid-range), and Cadet (budget). All are great gifts depending on budget. But that cadet is the sweet spot for gift giving.

A good pen is often overlooked and misunderstood. Don’t sleep on the Zebra F701. Or up the budget and grab a Tactile Turn Bolt Action. My personal favorite is this Spoke Design beauty.

For a wallet, the often sold out Tom Bihn Nik’s Wallet is fantastic. I’ve seen a lot of people suggesting the Chum’s wallet lately as well.

If you want to carry a quality light, a Malkoff or Zebralight are my two favorites. Avoid Olight and Nebo, in my opinion. You can do better than Fenix, but they’re not bad.

Put a SAK classic in your backpack, your desk drawer, or other places that make sense. And don’t forget an excellent pair of Roka sunglasses ($50 off with link).

In Your Office

I’m not going to suggest computers/devices here as that could go a million different directions. Instead, I’ll suggest things like this TwelveSouth desk pad, this Audio Texhnica mic for Zoom/Podcasts, and these shockingly great Moondrop wired headphones. Did you know you can turn wired headphones into some of the best Bluetooth headphones?

A postal scale and shipping tape dispenser are great for those who ship frequently. Also, use PirateShip for the best prices and experience.

If you’re going to be sitting for hours a day in a chair, it’s important to get a great one. Steelcase Leap and Amia are two of the best.

For a desk pen, a Studio Neat Mark One or Lamy Safari are excellent choices. Studio Neat’s PanoPad is a game changer for a notebook.

In Your House

I’m excited about this Anker battery/dock for our house. Gives us a central place in our home to charge phones and other devices, but also can be picked up and used elsewhere when needed (like the kitchen island). Anker also has these excellent dual USB-C charge cables that I love.

TwelveSouth has my favorite bedside dock.

This tea kettle is fantastic. We’ve used it multiple times a day for years without issue. My wife grinds her own coffee every morning with the excellent Oxo Grinder. She’s been a Chemex person for years but recently grabbed a Moccamaster.

I love my Synology router. I use a Mac Mini to power our Plex Server (I suggest a Plex Lifetime membership). For hard drive space, I use 2 of these Toshiba drives in a Sabrent dock. We have an antenna for free OTA channels.

In Your Vehicle

Grab a Leatherman for your vehicle. They’re better than the similar versions you see in random checkout lanes. And incredibly useful at times when you really need it.

If you have a compatible vehicle, the Bulletpoint Mounts are better than everything else I’ve tried.

This SAK fingernail clipper thing is so good that almost everyone in my family now has their own either in their vehicle or on their keychain. Speaking of keychains, you need an AirTag.

If you have kids, these oversized window mounted cup holders are so convenient. For trips, we use these iPad mounts.

Random

These Ryobi loppers save so much of your time and energy. The classic G-Shock is hard to beat for value. Rechargeable batteries are so convenient. You also need to organize your batteries.

The MagSafe Popsocket is a winner. Flint and Tinder jeans are my new favorite. Their Waxed Trucker Jacket keeps me warm. Flux tennis shoes are my everyday choice. As for boots, these Jim Green’s are incredible.

The Logitech MX Master 3S is suggested everywhere for good reason. Field Notes are so useful. Future proof your device charging with this insane 240W USB-C cable for an excellent price.

Apps/Services

Omnifocus 4 takes the title as my app of the year. It has a steep learning curve, but is worth diving into as a ToDo app. Features like defer dates, recur upon completion date, and custom perspectives catapult it above the rest.

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That’s a look at my recommendations for the 2024 Holidays. If you have any specific suggestions, let me know. Merry Christmas!

Originally, Tiny Theme for Micro.blog was simply a personal project for my blog. After I went live with it, I began to receive requests to make it available to others. I had no objections to people using my work in this way, so I did the necessary work to make it as useful to others as it was to me.

From day one, the response was incredibly positive. It received what I consider a high adoption rate and more and more micro.blog users installed it as their theme of choice. Support and tutorial requests started to roll in, but nothing I couldn’t handle at the time. Honestly, I enjoyed helping others accomplish their goals for their sites.

Eventually, I released another theme, Sumo, for the platform. Again, it has received positive reviews and been used by more people than I could’ve imagined. What started as a personal project morphed into an unexpected design customization hobby. While I do enjoy the work, I noticed more and more of my time was being devoted to designing and developing freely available blog themes.

At a certain point in the process, I knew I’d have to figure out a way to monetize it. This isn’t ideal, but when you’re spending hours and hours on a project, at some point it has to make financial sense. There are expenses that I incur relating to hardware, software, hosting, and of course time. I needed to at least cover some of those costs. This lead me to introducing a simple Buy Me a Coffee monetization structure. Basically, you get everything for free and if you can afford it, buy me a cup a coffee¹ from time to time.

The generosity of others has always amazed me. In this case, there have been a few who have been more than willing to help offset expenses. It’s hardly profitable, but it has enabled me to at least cover a few costs over the last year. The total amount of donations I have received over that time is $532.73.

Here is the monthly (13 months) breakdown:

As you can see, things fluctuate greatly. The peaks in the chart are always connected to helping an individual user with a larger customization issue. The minimal values are typically propped up by a few automatically recurring donations. These donations have covered the cost of my preferred coding software, design software, Micro.blog hosting, and a few cups of coffee. That’s been fantastic.

The uncovered aspect is, unfortunately, time. To be clear, this isn’t the fault of users or of the Micro.blog platform. It’s simply a byproduct of a hobby based design/development project. There aren’t many people making simple blog themes that provide large weekly cash drops. It’s the nature of the beast.

With Micro.blog being a few years old at this point, I would still consider it in its infancy. Manton and team have done an incredible job developing a platform with many strengths and possibilities, and I know they have ambitious plans for the future.

However, as someone who is simply designing a theme for the platform, I must find a way to prioritize my time and resources in a way that makes sense for me. That doesn’t mean Tiny Theme or Sumo Theme are going away. Not by any means. But it does mean, at least for a season of life, I have to redirect some of my time to more pressing matters.

First and foremost, that’s the well-being of my family. This year, our family received some very tough medical related news involving two individuals. This isn’t the place to get into specifics. But I will say that both of those individuals, after months of treatment, are rebounding beautifully and the future looks bright.

As for Micro.blog, I’m still a supporter. As for Tiny and Sumo Theme, I’ll still be maintaining and updating them. When it comes to support, I’ll still attempt to address any issues and provide tutorials when possible. You can feel confident that the themes will continue to exist and be supported. Timelines may look different. I once released support for a feature less than 5 minutes after Micro.blog announced it. I don’t know if that will happen again, but…never say never.

To wrap this whole thing up, I’d like to offer a few suggestions for the Micro.blog team to support and entice further theme/plugin development on the platform:

• Introduce a “verified” (or similar) category for plugins. If a theme (or other plugin) passes certain criteria, let it be viewed under a heading that indicates its quality.
• Provide discounts to proven developers on the higher paid plans. For example, a developer may not need to use a certain feature (like family plans) for their personal account. But to provide support and testing for others, it would be nice to have access to them.
• Add a link to each developer on individual plugin listings. Or perhaps a “follow” button.
• Communicate upcoming changes/features, when possible, to proven designers/developers beforehand.
• Find a way to further incentivize quality development. We’re a simple folk. I know a guy who developed an entire app for a company just for a chance to win a box of swag. T-shirts and notebooks and stickers and mugs and and and…are powerful stuff these days.