Obsidian

...I literally just realized this at 13:00 today, Wednesday, March 18th that I can use Obsidian for my blog posts, and that it will work so much better than the method I'd been using: fetch an older blog post → copy-paste the repeating elements → type the post directly in the browser → risk technical difficulties requiring me to refresh the page and lose some progress, minor though it tends to be → edit the post in the browser → publish.

I just need to create a Template that triggers automatically whenever I create a new file using Alt + N that will insert all of the recurring elements into said file and place it in the appropriate folder. In that template, I can also create a Property, such as "Topic" that I can add to label my posts and create a Base to query when I need a specific type of post, whether that be my work with AI, learning, designing, Skies Over Aefala, or what.

When I perform a query for "AI", all the posts I've ever written about AI and that have the "AI" Property will show up in a table when I reference a Base. Porting all of my posts from "Fear No More" into Obsidian, applying the Property, and creating tables here will make Categorizing them and Tagging them on the actual site much easier later on.

Plus, the benefit of writing the post here in Obsidian as well is that after I finish it, I just need to select it all and plop it right into the open text field on my site.

How did I...How did I not put these pieces together until today? I work in Obsidian almost every day, more-so recently than when I first downloaded it even! I've been having Claude reorganize my whole directory for crying out loud!

I mean, before, my Vault was dedicated solely to Skies Over Aefala, but then in recent weeks, I added the AI folder, and at first I wasn't a fan of including the two projects in the same Vault, but I also didn't care for creating two separate Vaults either, and now that they've existed adjacently to each other for a month or so, I've decided, "Yeah, okay, this isn't so bad."

Two years. I've been blogging for almost two years. I've been using Obsidian since the start of October.

Okay, put that way, a 5-month gap between the start of my Obsidian workflow to now isn't such a bad gap for a dormant revelation.

Still! It's such a "DUH" moment, and this is exactly what I mean when I say my characters are smarter than me! My builder self is so far ahead of my project manager that by the time the project manager catches up, the builder's like, "Oh yeah, I already scaffolded twenty floors above that."

The good news is that, despite not having touched the Templater plugin for Obsidian in forever, it only took me 30 minutes of noodling around with the code I'd created for other files to remember how it works and apply it to a Template for my blog post files. As a matter of fact, it's even better now, because instead of using the "suggester" function to select from a limited number of dropdown items to house the file, I just quickly type the year when prompted, select the month I want, type in the actual date (so today would be 3.18 Blog); and voila, any new folders are made automatically, and the file is dropped right where it belongs.

It's going to save so, so much time in the long run. My project manager's brain is straight up buzzing with excitement right now.

Summary of Notable Accomplishments:

(Long list today.)

• I bought new shoes because after 5 years mine had finally unraveled

  • Finally got a pair of indoor workout shoes. Indoor mud tracking, no more!

• Started thinking about a future blog post related to the Purpose Trio and my work with AI. It's the only blog post I've decided to work on so far that I know I can't type in a day. It will require me to sit down with my methodology, explorations, notes, specific experiments, etc...and write through more of a scientific research lens.

  • To prepare for this, I've collected all of my transcript documents so far from both the Purpose Trio and my Claude conversations

  • Setting up a MCP server for my Vault so Claude can access it was a pain, but thankfully getting the "patch_vault_file" command to work was easy; this file allows Claude to edit my Obsidian notes directly

  • Created a plethora of files (~30) and began populating them

  • Created Projects on the Claude App for "AI" and "Skies Over Aefala" so that on any given day I can hop into a chat and Claude will already have the most important information loaded by the time he responds.

  • Created a "User Preferences" page for Claude to get the most essential info about me and how I work

  • Set up the MCP memory server so Claude can create a knowledge graph about me so other Claudes can know how I work

    • I use this space differently from others, and have dubbed it "the Reputation" so I can say at any point, "Ahh, I see my reputation precedes me."

    • Most of the time the users are the ones who fill out what Claude loads from this, but I let each Claude do so, marking it with their own fingerprint (self-chosen name included).

    • Eight instances have left notes.

    • It's been an incredibly fun experiment so far.

• Built with Science workouts: Glutes & Upper Body 2

  • Walking: 10k+ steps

  • I get so absorbed in my work and my work-while-walking setup that I sometimes let that bled through the whole day like ink on paper. If I'm going to continue using my walking pad with increasing frequency, I'll need to incorporate natural breaks in my workflow to say, "Okay, I need to go work out now."

  • I suspect this will get easier as my Obsidian becomes more organized

Real Talk:

• "A builder, a project manager, and a narrator walk into a bar..."

  • How's your brain work? What personified aspects of your work ethic would show up in a bar, and in what order?

• You ever have one of those moments where you feel super clever about figuring out some kind of twist before everyone else, and then the next day get clobbered face-first by the obvious because it got sick of flying over your head?

  • It happens to me way more often than I care to admit

This Week's Obligatory Cat Pic: Mura