Good morning friends! The ultimate test for the Sunday Edition was whether I’d be able to pull off a post every week right through the grind of tax season. If I can get through tax season, my chances are high I can get through to the end of the year. Nearly every New Year's Resolution I undertake has to survive the grind of tax season to take hold.

Though I gushed about my Mode Envoy last weekend, I am typing this week’s Sunday Edition on the trust ZSA Planck with a set of Matt30 MT3 keycaps and the clicky Kailh Bronze switches. I don’t ever remember these switches feeling this mushy, which leads me to believe that’s something to do with the keycaps. It’s interesting how much each component of a custom keyboard plays a role in the typing feel.

My last little anecdote this week has to be a Bible verse. There is, in fact, a time for everything:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. — Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is, in fact, a time for the grind. And there is a time to reflect on that grind, celebrate that grind, and rest from that grind. The days may be long, but we can’t pretend we’re the first group of people to ever work long, hard days.

BlueJ

I did it — I took the plunge into the most expensive AI tool I could buy for the office. BlueJ is an AI tool for legal and tax research. It’s trained on primary sources (such as the Income Tax Act, Income Tax Regulations, folios, technical interpretations, and more), but also includes training from commentaries and legal precedents. The background training is updated daily, ensuring everything is recent and reflects the latest changes in legislation and budgets. And it’s safe and secure.

I’ve used the product for a total of three business days, and I’m convinced I’ve already got my money out of it. So far, I have three things I really like about BlueJ:

1. BlueJ shows its references and source material and includes those sources right inside the product, meaning I don’t have to venture into the wide web and can keep all my research right in the app. Each source can also be summarized right in the app. I’ve found myself clicking and diving deeper and deeper and deeper into a problem — far deeper than I could ever go if I had to search across the wide web. The ability to follow up on the original sources the AI tool uses is invaluable and something I found annoying about any custom tax GPT I could find.
2. BlueJ is trained to provide and format answers to a tax or legal professional, meaning it speaks the same professional language I have learned to read and write in. I know you can train custom GPTs and ask for very specific kinds of responses in all the AI bot options, but I like that this simply defaults to something I have learned and feel comfortable in over the years.
3. BlueJ has built-in options to quickly create client emails or memos based on the chat thread. Again, I fully recognize this can be done in other AI bots, but the tailoring to a tax professional right-out-of-the-box is truly nice to have. Click the “Create Memo” button, and it formats the discussion into a thread, completed within the bounds and formats of standard memos professional firms around the world have used for decades. I love that I don’t have to constantly type specifics for the output I need.

Lastly, and something I hadn’t considered before making the purchase, is the impact BlueJ has had on my colleagues. Questions they would otherwise ask me can now be asked of BlueJ, saving me the distraction and providing them a more robust answer than I could ever provide. There will always be a disclaimer that people shouldn’t blindly trust the answer an AI model provides. This remains true here. For basic questions that I can answer off the cuff, BlueJ has been stellar in its accuracy. It’s less accurate and correct on more complex questions and where more sections of the Income Tax Act apply to a situation.

Our office technology stack continues to grow, but I’m at peace with what we’re using. We don’t pay thousands every month for a CRM, thousands every month for tax software, and thousands every month for time and billing apps. Instead, we use a product we’ve built ourselves, a tax research AI tool, and standard Office/Google Workspace tools. Costs are low, functionality and familiarity is high. We are feeling in control of most situations that walk through the door right now. That feeling is priceless.

Impossibly Possible — The Fujifilm GFX100RF Review

(I hate names like that, by the way. Enough with the 8+-digit names.)

Fuji has put its best foot forward to compete with the Leica Q3, and I couldn’t be happier. It feels like this camera shouldn’t exist. First, it’s a medium format camera. In a fixed focal length variety. That is thinner than a Leica Q3 and only a tad bigger overall. And it’s somehow cheaper than a Leica Q3 as well. As of right now, the GFX100RF feels like a unicorn of a camera.

There are some interesting aspects to the camera as well, such as:

• The leaf shutter enables high-speed sync for off-camera lighting options.
• The knurled front knob for digital zoom is an interesting new idea. I’m curious if it’ll grab onto users in a new way.
• The squared lens hood makes for perhaps the sexiest looking camera on the market right now.
• The physical option to change aspect ratio seems… off to me.
• The camera is extra customizable.
• The lack of IBIS or OIS may well be the single biggest issue all naysayers are focused on.

Because the 35mm f/4 (which, if my math is correct, is the same field of view as a 28mm f/2.8 full frame lens) directly matches the field of view of my Leica Q2, so I am unlikely to be truly tempted by this. Had the GFX100RF come in a 35mm FOV variety, I would have been sorely tempted to add it as a second camera to my arsenal.

As it is, this looks like a wonderfully fun camera that keeps pushing the fixed focal length arena forward. I can’t wait to see the images this camera can produce when in the hands of the best artists online.

The Second Cup

The Seneca Keyboard — (Norbauer & Co.)

If you want to hear what this stunning keyboard sounds like, refer to this video right here. The Seneca is out-of-this-world expensive. This link should not act as an endorsement to make a purchase. This link stands more to be delighted in attention to detail and precision.

The Seneca is stunning — from the switches to the keycaps — and I want to model a future keyboard after it. You can get the keycaps right here (but unfortunately, they don’t seem to ship to Canada.)

Roller Pro Carry-On Luggage — (Peak Design)

A bit expensive and overboard for my once-every-two-year travel habit, but this certainly looks to be a premier luggage option on the market right now.

Enter Vision Pro — (Spyglass)

I wonder if we’ll look back on this first year of the Vision Pro and reflect on our collective search for the Vision Pro’s ultimate utility. The Apple Watch was first dubbed a communication device — remember all the focus on having your contacts within one tap on your wrist? — and yet, today, almost nobody uses the Watch for communication purposes. It’s now primarily a health device, among other things. Perhaps the Vision Pro will be like this — Apple pitched it as a full-fledged computer (which I guess it is?), but instead it’s just the world’s best entertainment device. Or something like that.

I’m not saying that’s what it’ll be, but perhaps. I know I want to try one, purely for entertainment purposes.

First look at Notion Mail — (A Better Computer)

I appreciate this video immensely, mainly because things seem to be oddly hush-hush surrounding Notion Mail. Many people are now in on the beta, but there’s just not much coverage of the app out there. Matt details a couple of great features in the new Notion Mail in this video. When this app officially debuts, I imagine there will be more than a few who take it for a spin. I’m likely not falling off the Superhuman train just yet, but I’m certainly going to be curious.

Happy Sunday. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I’m writing this week’s Sunday Edition in iA Writer, as my Ulysses subscription is expiring shortly, and I want to test other options. I can’t believe iA Writer is still around and being updated and an iA Writer 2 hasn’t been introduced in the meantime. Crazy talk. I spent $10 on this app 10 years ago, and I can still use the latest version today. I have not paid appropriately for this product.

There are two core reasons for sticking with Ulysses all these years:

1. I like the way Ulysses handles images for a blog post. Images are saved right in the sheet. I am scared of losing all my photo-heavy blog posts (I have them saved elsewhere, but I don’t want to go looking for them in case of an emergency.)
2. I also like the way Ulysses handles Markdown. Links are hidden behind rather than inline with the rest of your text. I find this less distracting.

Of course, if iA Writer works, so too would Obsidian, which I have been using for some long-form, deeper Bible study research recently. I’m not sure how to properly keep notes separate in an Obsidian vault, though. Another experiment for another day.

My Mode Envoy Setup

I’ve written here about the Mode Envoy, and my review of the keyboard hasn’t changed:

The reason I write about the keyboard is because I think I now understand why these keyboards can get so expensive. This sum of parts is far, far better than any previous sum of mechanical keyboard parts I’ve tried. The chassis is sturdier and truer. The switches are great for any environment. The keycaps are probably the nicest keycaps on the market right now. Subjective, I know.

Oh, how naive. I was such a mechanical keyboard toddler back then.

I’ve since changed a few elements of my Mode Envoy. It’s now more retro, more sculpted, and a lot more thunky. I love it. Everything about it, in my head, is an upgrade from the original Mode Envoy components I reviewed in January 2024.

Here’s my current load-out:

• Mode Envoy — White chassis
• Walnut accent
• No internal weight
• FR4 plate
• Hot-swap PCB
• Grey feet and mounting blocks
• GMK MTNU Granite keycaps
• Durock Silent Shrimp switches
• Mode stabilizers
• Mode foam kit

I am obsessed with the GMK MTNU profile. They have this wonderfully welcoming shape, providing you with beautiful little resting spots for your fingers. I find the size of each keycap’s “landing pad” — i.e., the area that you press down on the keycap — to be a perfect size; it’s not too big, which could cause you to accidentally actuate the key beside the one you’re trying to press, and they aren’t too small to constantly have your fingers fall off the edge of the keycap.

GMK keycaps are really high quality. I almost giggled at my initial review of Mode’s keycaps being the “best on the market” at the time. Oh, how wrong I was. This GMK plastic is soft and smooth to the touch. The makeup of the plastic even changes the tone of each actuation. I am likely ruined for buying GMK keycaps for the rest of my life now.

Lastly, Durock Silent Shrimp switches — I’ve used these almost exclusively on my mechanical keyboards for the last 12–15 months. They have a louder pop than the Boba U4 Silent Tactiles, but they are far less mushy. And the Boba’s are less mushy than the original Mode Anthracite switches I reviewed back in January 2024! These Silent Shrimp switches have a nice pop, a pleasant return, and my favourite actuation feel. They are magnificent. Someone will have to introduce me to something they think is better because I have officially arrived to the longed-for “happy zone”. I believe this switch was made for me.

This somewhat modified Mode Envoy has me looking forward to writing sessions at home. The softness of the GMK keycaps is inviting. The thunkiness of the Silent Shrimps ensures I have that slight audible feedback, but it’s not loud enough to keep the entire house up at night. And I like the way this keyboard looks as part of a white/grey/walnut setup. It fits perfectly.

Don’t quote. Make it yours and say it yourself.

Derek Sivers (on what is an increasingly enjoyable blog to read; certainly one that expands your thinking):

If I hear an idea, have considered it, and integrated it into my beliefs, it’s mine. I’ll say it succinctly in my own words, and stand behind it. Like adopting a child, I will take care of this idea and raise it as my own. If anyone wants to know the source, I’ll be happy to tell them.

I enjoy reading Sivers’ blog because it provides food for thought on various topics — family, life, wealth, and more. I don’t tend to agree with all of it, but that’s OK! I enjoy the thought-process and the great writing.

This is one of those ideas I disagree with, at least to an extent. I do think the idea of “adopting” an idea as your own and explaining it concisely, in the sense of how that idea relates to your life, does mean you can speak with a sense of ownership about the idea. I also like the concept of providing the source if someone asks.

But passing off an idea that isn’t your own as your own is disingenuous. Period.

The end-game of this concept will lead to folks coming off far more confident on a topic than they are. I can’t be the only person who senses immediately when someone gives “Reddit answers” — someone who comes off with that “gotcha” or smart-ass remark about a particular topic. Those comments have little-to-no second order thinking — they apply an assessment to the immediately visible situation, but provide no analysis for consequences of consequences. I try pretty hard to ask a reasonable follow-up question to these sorts of Reddit comments. The answer to the follow-up question almost always drifts off, a red herring is provided, and a new topic is introduced.

Immediate attribution of an idea to someone else is wrapped up at its core in one word: humility. A person willing to attribute an idea or concept to someone else always exudes humility, and this leads to a more meaningful conversation about that topic, even if in-depth facts about the topic aren’t known at the time.

There’s a lot of advice online about being confident, being true to yourself, and not letting those who disagree with you have any impact on you. These traits so often lead to difficult people. Approaching a concept or idea with humility and speaking about it in humility — these people are the ones worth having a lifelong relationship with.

The Second Cup

The iPad’s Sweet Solution — (MacStories)

I am perplexed and ashamed that I didn’t think of using Readwise Reader as a web app instead of the native app. The native app isn’t good at all.

The Eames Lounge Chair - A 20th Century Icon — (minimalgoods)

I am becoming less materialistic as life goes on — you know, cost of living, children, etc. — but this chair still ranks at the top of the bucket list. It just makes every space.

26 ChatGPT features your accounting firm needs to know about — (Jason Staats)

There are a number of awesome features discussed in this Twitter thread, and they aren’t specifically for accountants either. I have to take better advantage of projects and tasks.

Cable Keepers — (Ugmonk)

If you have a Gather set on your desk (or any metallic surface), these Cable Keepers are spectacular. They tidy up loose wires and ensure they don’t fall away from the edge of a desk.

Apple Watch has been playing a crucial role for NHL referees — (9to5Mac)

It’s pretty rare for one of my past hobbies (professions?) collides with technology. I would have loved to have a tech tool while on the ice to notify me of issues.

Happy Sunday. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.