Feb 12, 2026 Thursday

The Thursday Dispatch - 12 February 2026

On using tools as tools.

I woke up this morning, thinking about work. I hate that feeling. I always try to have a semblance of work/life balance, where I try not to think about work when I’m not there and vice versa. But when things are a bit stressful, one aspect of your life can bleed into another. One thing I know is I need to have a way to track everything going on during my workday. So, I did what any detailed-obsessed person would do: I made a spreadsheet at 6:30 in the morning. It covers everything it needs to and is accessible from my phone. I’m surely going to annoy the people who work below me, but that’s okay as long as I have results.

This got me thinking about how I use my phone again. I try to use it as a tool more than I use it for escapism. The only streaming apps I have on it are YouTube and YouTube TV. The only social media I have is Mastodon. I have ways of controlling both so they don’t continuously suck me in. I try to avoid algorithms at all costs.

I’m also big on RSS. I go back and forth with how I access my RSS feeds, but I’m starting to get lured into the all-in-one feed apps. In my case, I’ve been drawn back to Reeder. What this app does is allow me to take feeds from numerous sources, in this case, Mastodon, BlueSky, YouTube, RSS Feeds, and the photo service Glass. The app treats all these services uniquely, so they all launch in the correct app when I swipe left on them. A swipe right marks it as read later. Everything is synced across devices, and I can follow as little or as much as I’d like. It’s a great app.

Little things like this are how I keep myself from doomscrolling a little less and connect myself more with life around me. My simple rule is if it doesn’t serve me in a good way, then I don’t need it on my phone.

Weekly Photo

I finally received my Tampa Bay Lightning Stadium Series jersey. This thing is pretty!

This Past Week

Weekly Links

Step aside, phone by Manuel Moreale
I left my phone at home for a week by Becca Farsace
Bad Bunny’s Incredible Super Bowl Halftime Show Planted a New Flag by E.R. Pulger

Songs in the Chaos

This is my weekly list of songs that either caught my attention or came to mind this past week. I post these throughout the week on a site called Crucial Tracks, where they’re also added to a playlist on Apple Music. Feel free to follow me on either space.