Zen Habits Offloaded

I wish I could program. I think I'll learn, because there are so many ideas I have that aren't being met (as far as I know). Also, I'd like to be able to build devices.

For example, a few ideas:

1. A minimalist cell phone that just made and received phone calls, with a phone book. No text messaging, no email, no web browsing, no calendar, no apps, no games, no camera, no downloading ringtones, no to-do list, no calculator, no stopwatch, no nothing. Also, a minimalist hardware design, and well built. Good battery life, because it doesn't do anything but calls. There are a couple of phones that come close but nothing that really matches this exactly.

2. Blogging software with no bells and whistles. You write the post in a text editor using Textile or Markdown, and post with a simple command. It gets added to your blog and creates static HTML files (no MySQL database). There are a couple of things that come close (Bloxsome, but I don't like the urls it creates or that it has the last modified text file be the top of your blog). Jekyll and Git are really what I want but it's too technical to set up -- I'd like someone to write a Mac-like interface so that it's simple to install and maintain without a lot of bells and whistles (Wordpress is overkill for simple blogging).

3. A javascript bookmarklet for distraction-free reading and video watching, like Readability and Quietube, but without their branding. I don't want the buttons at the left of the Readability pages or their logo at the bottom. Same thing with Quietube -- I don't need all their cruft and logos, just the video.

4. A minimalist replacement for iTunes, which is too bloated and feature-filled. Not just for listening to music (I use PicoPlay for this), but for managing your media library and syncing said library with your Apple TV. Songbird seems to be trying to replace iTunes for media management (still too feature-rich) but nothing can sync with the Apple TV as far as I know.

5. A lightweight install for the Mac OS X. It's a beautiful operating system but really it has way more than I need. I like things minimal and lightweight and lean. I'd like to do w/o the Dock, Spotlight, Bluetooth, printing and fax, the Dashboard, Spaces, Expose, MobilMe, and more. Also, the Finder is too bloated -- I'd like a lighter version without the clutter of Pathfinder. I should be able to pick and choose these things when I install, or have an alternate slim install.

6. A lightweight app that can pop up with a keyboard shortcut, and compose and send a Gmail email, tweet, or blog post in a flash, and then disappear. Like Quicksilver without all the extra features.

Btw, if you know of apps or devices like these, let me know in the comments!

My family and I have made it official, and now that we're telling everyone, I may as well tell my beloved readers as well: we're moving to San Francisco next summer (2010).

And we're super excited.

We haven't bought plane tickets or reserved a house or apartment, but we're definitely set on going, and we'll be living in the city.

I know the burning question is why. The reasons are manifold, but here are a few:

• Guam will always be home, but we'd like to experience more of the world, and we'd love our kids to see more than this tiny little slice of life, however wonderful it is.
• San Francisco is one of my favorite places in the world - I lived there as a teen-ager, and I fell in love with it. It's beautiful, the people are diverse and crazy and awesome, there's no shortage of things for kids and teens and adults to do, the food is great, the weather is superb, and the areas around it are varied and gorgeous, from the California coastline to the mountains to the redwoods to wine country to Oregon to the north to Disneyland to the south (I know, but we have six kids, so.).
• As a blogger, I can work anywhere in the world, and I'd love to meet online blogging friends and readers in real life from time to time.
• As homeschooling parents, my wife and I want to expose our children to more opportunities to learn from the world around them. Guam is a great place for that, but San Francisco offers more. It'll be an incredible learning experience for our kids.
• We hope to go carless, and San Francisco is a good place to do that, with muni and BART and a cycling friendly city and the ability to walk and things like Zipcar and City CarShare if we need them. Guam is a very bad place to go carless if you have kids.
• I'm veg*n, and Guam is also a bad place for that. There's exactly one veg*n restaurant on Guam, and great as it is, I'd love to be in a place with more options. I can't wait to try veg*n restaurants in S.F., or at least restaurants with more veg*n options than, you know, *salad*. Farmers Markets and natural food co-ops and leftist bookshops and such are also attractive to a person like me. We also considered Portland and Eugene, OR as options, for these same reasons, but for complicated reasons S.F. is our choice.
• We have awesome family in the Bay Area, and I can't wait to spend time with them. Seriously, other than the family I have here on Guam, the ones in S.F. are among the rockingest I have.
• My oldest daughter will be a senior in high school next school year, and being in California will help her visit and apply to colleges and even establish residency should she decide to go to college in CA.
• I really like to buy used things, when I need to buy stuff, and Guam's options are, shall we say, limited.

Again, these are just a few. I could go on all day.

I love Guam, but it's time for a change. We'll always come back to Guam. We just want some new experiences, and we can't wait.

I hope to see some of you there!

Update: Do you live in San Francisco? Please, help me out by adding some info to this wiki: Moving to San Francisco.

A breakfast I really really love, that's completely healthy (and fits my clean eating definition): chock-full oatmeal.

OK, I just invented that term, but "oatmeal" doesn't do it justice.

It ain't your instant oatmeal, for one. And it has so much more than oatmeal in it -- the oatmeal ends up being a small percentage of the meal, a conduit for more interesting flavors and textures.

It comes in many variations (and I didn't invent it). Here's the version I ate this morning:

• rolled oats, cooked on the stove (steel-cut oats, Irish oats, whole oats, anything other than instant, also works)
• blueberries
• raw almonds
• ground flaxseed
• cinnamon
• agave nectar (natural sweetener)

It's pretty quick to make, very hearty, all kinds of nutrients, not high in calories, filling, delicious.

But this is just one version. There are lots of great things you could add or substitute. I've also had things such as:

• diced apples
• raisins
• dried cranberries
• brown sugar (instead of agave)
• other nuts
• other berries, such as blackberries
• sliced bananas

Not all at the same time. And those are just the things I like. You might have a dozen other things you could add in, and it'll taste delicious. Pineapple, it just occurred, to me, would be wonderful. Coconut. Mango. Mmmm.

Let me know if you have favorite variations. Or other healthy breakfasts you love.

NOTE: THIS OFFER IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU!

In an attempt to get more donations to Guampedia (read why you should donate), I'm announcing some incentives:

1. If you donate $10 or more, you'll get a free copy of my next ebook (A Guide to Minimalism) when it comes out. I'm writing it now. Will come out soon. It'll be $10 or more in price.

2. If you donate $50 or more, you'll get a 15-minute Skype or IM talk with me, where you can ask me questions -- about personal development or blogging or whatever you like.

3. If you donate $100 or more, you'll get a 30-minute Skype talk with me (same deal as above), as well as two follow-up emails where you can ask additional questions if you like.

4. If you donate $500 or more, I'll help you with your blog for 2 weeks. This entails an initial Skype call, an analysis of your blog and recommendations, and 2 weeks of helping you craft better headlines and posts.

The Skype talks and blog consulting will have to be scheduled of course, and will be done on a first-come, first-served basis. I'm going to close it after reaching a certain limit (I haven't decided what that will be yet).

And yes, if you donate at one of the higher levels, you'll still get the free ebook if you like.

Here's how to participate: (OFFER NOW CLOSED)

• Go to Guampedia's Get Involved page and make a donation.
• If your Paypal email is different than your regular email, please make a note of that in the donation message (click "add special instructions to seller" in the Paypal donation page). If for some reason you don't note your real email here, mail it to the Guampedia contact email on the Get Involved page.
• I'll collect the emails of donors and save a list for when my ebook comes out. I'll send you a link to a free download of the ebook. I'll then delete the email list, and never use it for anything else.
• I'll contact the larger donors to work out scheduling of Skype calls and consulting.

I hope this will be incentive to get the donations that Guampedia needs. And I'd like to thank all those who donated already (yes, you'll get free ebooks), and thank all of you who plan to donate from here on. It's extremely appreciated!

- Leo
Zen Habits

I admit, I like trying out different tools. These are my latest -- fun stuff mostly.

1. Daytum. Just fun to collect and display data.

2. Pinboard. Fast, light, simple, uncluttered bookmarking.

3. Posterous. You're reading it now. Super easy blogging.

4. Distraction-free writing online. Yes, I know that's almost an oxymoron. These are WriteRoom type text web apps. I like them because they're fast and simple and available anywhere. I haven't decided between these three: MyTextFile, Writer, DarkCopy. Each have their pros and cons.

And three I might try soon that look promising:

1. Team Apart. Real simple online collaboration.

2. Twitalytic. Cool way of analyzing and sharing Twitter conversations, from Gina Trapani.

3. P2. Awesome real-time Twitter-like communication for teams on Wordpress. You have to see this to get it.

Any tools that you're loving right now?

This isn't meant to be everyone's definition of "Clean Eating". It's my definition.

So what is clean eating?

• Food consumed in its most natural state, or close to it.
• Which means nothing processed.
• Fruits and veggies, of course.
• Nuts, legumes, natural nut butters, nut oils.
• Whole grains, preferably not ground into flour.
• Lean proteins, although I don't eat meat or dairy.

This is my goal, at least. I don't do it 100% of the time. I shoot for about 90%.

This means I have treats, I eat out at restaurants, I can drink beer. Just in moderation.

It's common sense stuff, I know. But most people don't follow it. If we did, we'd all be healthy and trim.

Of course, I also try to eat in moderation. And exercise and get outdoors and have fun. Clean eating isn't the answer to everything, but it's part of the solution.

- Leo

I'm a part of a site called Guampedia.com, an online encyclopedia about Guam. At first blush, it's not a site many of my Zen Habits readers would care about -- most have barely heard of Guam, and few care about a whole encyclopedia on the topic.

But it's an important site. And it needs your help.

Here's why you should care.

Guampedia is about sharing information that's not available to the general public. It's a non-profit organization, not out to make a quick buck but out to help create an informed public. That's good no matter what the topic.

Guampedia is also helping to preserve a culture that in many ways is being subsumed by the global culture. The native people of Guam, the Chamorros, are now a minority in their own land. They are losing their language, and many of their traditional ways of doing things are dying or dead. Worse yet, the people who traditionally pass down the traditions and histories -- orally -- are the old people. And they're dying.

So Guam's culture, history, and language are in danger, and Guampedia is trying to preserve them, by capturing the oral history, by passing on the language and culture, in a way that's accessible to everyone -- to the residents of Guam, to the schoolchildren, to visitors, to those who live elsewhere and are curious.

This is a vital resource, and it's something that should be promoted.

Guampedia needs help
Unfortunately, Guampedia is a small organization (just 3 paid staff, with lots of volunteers) and relies on donations, grants, corporate sponsorship and the like to survive. And unfortunately, funds that have been promised are not coming in at the moment. They'll come in within the next couple of months, but at the moment, Guampedia is in danger of folding. They need some temporary help until they can get their funding -- and eventually become self-sufficient.

I'm asking you to help.

It would be hard for them to get the amount they need to keep their doors open from one entity. But if a lot of good-hearted people contribute small amounts ($5, $10, $25, or more if it can be afforded), then it's not so hard. The burden of helping is spread.

And this isn't a huge burden. It's actually something that should make you feel good: helping a small non-profit survive, so they can go on to do good things for the public.

I'm hoping you'll find it in your heart to help. I already have, from my pocketbook, and I'm asking my friends to join me.

Here's how:

1. Donate. Go to Guampedia's Get Involved page and make a donation -- whatever you can afford.

2. Spread the word. Share this post with your blog readers, through Twitter and Facebook and Myspace, through email. Or just share this short link to the Guampedia donation page: http://bit.ly/helpguampedia.

UPDATE: Make a donation, get a free ebook or consulting from Leo. Read more.

Thank you, my friends, for your kind and generous help. I am deeply grateful for it.

- Leo Babauta
Zen Habits