Reading

I’m now about 25% through Book 11 of 13 of The Last Kingdom series. I’ve enjoyed it very much and highly recommend it if you’re into historical fiction. The Netflix series of the same title is based on the novels. I’m currently on the lookout for what I’ll read after this series.

I do almost all of my reading on the current generation Kindle Paperwhite, generally acquiring books via Libby or CloudLibrary1.

3 Screens

I use a MacBook Pro at home (by itself) and at my office (docked in a 3-screen setup). Window managements was frustrating me, especially when moving back-and-forth. There are apps that can help with this (like Moom), but it’s wasn’t perfect for me. For now, I’m happen with setting windows using a single keyboard shortcut created with the excellent Keyboard Maestro app. You can read more about my keyboard shortcuts if you’re interested.

AI, LLM, and DIY

AI isn’t perfect by any means, but when used correctly, it can be powerful. At my work, we are having issues with an old (25+ year old) hot water heater. I took a couple photos of the installation and asked ChatGPT to explain the setup in detail, suggest improvements, calculate costs, and link to sources/recommendations.

It correctly identified the hot water heater brand, model, capacity, age, and warranty terms. In addition, it recognized that our setup also uses an inline recirculator. It also noted some rust near the bottom of the hot water heater. It suggested a tankless model that should work with our existing electrical and plumbing setup while meeting the usage demands of our business. It also gave price estimates for products and installation.

I’m not using it in place of a plumber, but it’s nice to go into the process with an idea of what we should look into and a ballpark estimate on the expected costs.

Photo of the Week

It’s festival season in Louisiana. We recently spent a few hours at the Plant and Herb Festival in the small town of Sunset, Louisiana.

Matt and Kalena take a selfie at a festival

  1. CloudLibrary does not have direct integration with Kindle, but it’s possible using a few apps in tandem. Unfortunately, our local library system recently switched from Libby to CloudLibrary, a horrible decision to be sure. Fortunately, I do have an out-of-town library card that allows me to use Libby as well. ↩︎