It’s the last Sunday before Christmas! Welcome to the second last Sunday Edition of 2025. I continue to be in the middle of the most inspiring part of the year — October to December, each year without fail, is the time of year when I commit to new subscriptions, new apps, new workflows, new devices, and ultimately give most of them up by the midway mark of February. It’s embarrassing, but it’s how I work.

I think it works to be a generally positive habit, though. Where I commit to new workflows or devices or apps at the end of the year, I have a few early months to put those workflows to the test, I see if they can handle the rigour of a Canadian tax season. Certain apps — like Superhuman last year (which, admittedly, I no longer use, but only due to price; I am considering it again, of course) make it through a tax season with flying colours. Other apps, like Sunsama a few years before that, end up dying an agonizing death somewhere in that first week of March. The agonizing part is having to pay a whole month of the subscription without actually using the app.

This all said, I have a few workflows and devices brewing this year. I’ve enjoyed my time with Mimestream, but I am back to thinking Superhuman would be helpful for the onslaught of email coming my way. I’m head-deep into incorporating a reMarkable Paper Pro Move into my system (more on this soon). Furthermore, I have a current (and expensive) MyMind and Readwise “save-for-later” and “read-it-later” workflow which I’m enjoying, and for which the cost may end up being part of “doing business” this coming 2026. I actually have a lot more to say about MyMind soon. Stay tuned.

The last major aspect hanging over my head is also the most expensive one: a 32-inch 6K display. You see, I’ve tried everything now. I’ve tried two 27-inch displays side-by-side. I’ve tried two 24-inch displays side-by-side. I’ve tried Mac Virtual Display via Vision Pro. I’ve tried a single, small 14-inch MacBook Pro Display. I’ve tried a single 27-inch display.

I could wax poetic about each setup (I have many soapboxes I could stand on and shout from) but I haven’t been 100% happy with any of these options. I want to try a single 32-inch 6K display. I want enough space for three windows side-by-side — enough room for a tax return, a PDF, and an Excel sheet. I want the simplicity and focus of a single display setup. I would like to remove things from my desk.

And, of course, the 32-inch 6K display we all want stands just slightly outside the current budget. I’m not the only person wanting a Pro Display XDR for their setup. It’s a big, beautiful — incredibly beautiful — display, far beyond my needs, and certainly within my wants.

All told, this is the time of year when I try things out and see what sticks. Each year, the workflows get more engrained and entrenched, so it gets harder for new apps to supplant any successful time from the past. It’s fun. It’s expensive, sure. But it’s fun.

I need to get better at email

Another Chris Hannah article! Perhaps I’m biased towards small, independent writers like Hannah. Either way, I sympathize with Hannah on email. Email is such a mess. For a few years, I tried the multiple email address idea, wherein I would have one crummy email for shopping and other cruft, one email for personal correspondence, one for work correspondence, and another for subscriptions or newsletters.

But that bunged things up brutally. I had five different inboxes to check!

I know some friends of mine swear by Fastmail’s service right now, specifically as it relates to special alias or alternate email address creation. Perhaps Fastmail is something Hannah should consider.

So far, for me, I’ve resorted to using one email address for everything. Personal, work — whatever, everything flows through one email. I then use Sanebox to get rid of email I don’t care to see. It’s not ideal, though — I still get a bunch of filtered email in my inbox before Sanebox moves it to my “SaneBlackHole” folder. This timing issue causes my iPhone to beep and my attention to be shattered.

As I noted above, the best I’ve ever felt about email was during my half year of Superhuman usage. I thought I could move to Gmail and use an app like Mimestream or Notion Mail to remove the expensive Superhuman cost, but that hasn’t work as advertised. I’m back to thinking Superhuman may be the best of all email worlds — speed, triage, AI, and putting my attention onto important email.

Like Hannah, though, I’m still not convinced email is something that has been truly “fixed” for anyone.

Please learn how to use your computer

Ugh, this Nieman Lab article hits far, far too close to home. Which, I should be careful — I have chosen to work inside a small office environment and therefore have to wear many hats in the process. Undoubtedly, one of those hats is Joe Amditis’s aptly coined “good with computers”. I have to help fix everything that has either a cord or an internal battery.

It gets bad occasionally. Really bad. I had a problem once where an external display was just black, and we couldn’t figure out why. (I use the pronoun “we” to take some blame; theoretically, I didn’t have an SOP somewhere.) A brief look round back showed the display wasn’t plugged into the laptop.

Amditis discusses the need for this type of digital complacency to be fixed and the very real stakes in the issue. It could be something simple, like a colleague not saving something to the cloud and rather to the desktop because “I don’t know how to save things to the cloud.” This carries significant security concerns, not just lost productivity.

If there is one single hat that I wish I could jettison, it’s the “guy who is good at computers” hat. More than even the human-resources-hat, believe it or not. In 2025 (going on 2026), this isn’t just about “I’m not very good with tech”. This is very much about a willingness to put one’s head in the sand.

"The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision."

— Helen Keller

The Second Cup

Ford Has Steered Its Former EV Truck and Plant Plans in to a Ditch

Stephen Hackett has used this link post to suggest a change in his writing cadence and depth for his popular site 512Pixels.net. This is a well-written post, full of showcased thoughts and emotions on both sides of a local issue. I appreciate reading Stephen in this light and look forward to what he publishes in the months ahead.

Apple Developing iMac Pro With M5 Max Chip

This could seem like a ho-hum rumour, but it certainly has me intrigued. I can’t imagine they’d maintain the smaller 27-inch display, so I’m imagining something 32-inches or so. A 32-inch display, no cables, processing power for years, and likely a slick design (the original iMac Pro was the sexiest iMac ever made), I’m sure I’m going to have a long look at this desktop computer whenever it debuts. This with a svelte MacBook Air to accompany it would be such a great combination.

The Samsung TriFold is AWESOME!

I am more and more open to this idea of a folding phone. And the fact this phone has garnered such great reviews means it’s high time Apple releases its vision of the category.

Elopement shoot in Oregon (Round 2!)

What an incredible gallery showcasing how to break the rules and still produce a masterpiece.

Here were a few things I shared from the past week. If you want to stay on top of the list throughout the week, don’t be afraid to subscribe via RSS.

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

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