Posted on Jun 30, 2008

My Cave at The Weekly Review

I’ve always enjoyed seeing the setup of other bloggers—what their desk looks like, the software they use, how they write/design/create—so I thought it was time to do the same here. Here’s my cave:

Hardware

My setup is simple—I have a white 1.83 GHz Macbook with 1.5 GB of RAM. It’s my second Mac (the first being a used G4 tower) and it’s the best computer I have ever owned. I love the feel of the keys on the Macbook, making it a pleasure to work on.

As you can see in the image above, when I’m at my desk I use the newer Macbook-style keyboard and a wireless Might Mouse. And the desktop is marvelously displayed over the 23″ Cinema Display my wife gave me for Father’s Day. My Internet is served up by a 500 GB Time Capsule.

There is always a good notebook and pen around as well.

Atmosphere

I enjoy working in softer light—no fluorescent overheads allowed. Our office is a nice shade of yellow, and my desk lamp perfectly lights the space. The window looks out over the deck into the backyard.

Publishing

This site is powered by WordPress and is currently using a heavily modified version of Derek Punsulan’s Grid Focus theme. There are not a lot of plugins used on this site, but here are the few that makes things run smoothly:

Routine

With a full time job and a house full of younger children, most work on The Weekly Review gets done early or late in the day. Most often, I get up between 4:30 and 5:00 AM. After some quiet prayer and meditation, I put on some coffee or yerba mate and get to work. I’m a morning person, so working at this hour is not a big deal. I like thinking and typing in the quiet before the chaos and endless requests of the day begin.

Music and beverage are essential cogs in this machine.

Software

I have a love for fine software—it’s what makes being a Mac user so great. A lot of what’s written here is in regards to this software. Here’s a rundown of what I use:

Productivity

  • Mail or Fluid instance of GMail
  • iCal synced with GCal
  • Fluid instance of Highrise from 37signals
  • Things
  • Yojimbo

Web work\Blogging

  • Coda
  • Transmit
  • MarsEdit
  • Acorn
  • Dictionary.app
  • WriteRoom
  • Firefox
  • Skitch
  • Mint

Entertainment

  • iTunes w\ CoverSutra
  • Safari
  • NetNewsWire

Web Applications

  • del.icio.us
  • Dropbox
  • Flickr
  • Instapaper
  • Last.FM
  • LinkedIn
  • Nike+
  • Twitter

Working on this site has been enjoyable so far—I hope it always remains so. A good part of that enjoyment comes from the tools and the environment. The rest comes from the actual end result and from the people I’ve come to know as a byproduct of this work.

Thanks to you all for keeping this fun.