notes/s09/docs/guilty_peasures.md

7.4 KiB
Raw Permalink Blame History

This week, I decided to take a little vacation from my beloved Debian and try something... well, a little more flashy. Yep, you heard that right—I installed Pop! OS. Now, before you start judging, hear me out. I know, I know, Im a proud Debian user, the “only real Linux distro” kind of person. But even the most die-hard fans need to step out of their comfort zones every now and then, right?

So, here I am, lounging in Pop! OS land. At first, I was skeptical. I mean, Pop! OS is all about the polished GNOME desktop and automatic driver management, which—I'll admit—felt like a breath of fresh air after managing everything myself in Debian. The installation was smooth, the setup streamlined, and lets be real, I kind of nice. Weird huh?

But lets not get too carried away here. I havent gone completely off the deep end! This is just a little vacation, a brief detour before I return to my true love: Debian. Im just here to enjoy the luxury of not having to tweak every little thing to get my hardware working. Theres something oddly satisfying about having an OS thats, well, done for you. Its like someone handed me a perfectly-made sandwich, and I didnt have to do the work of making it myself.

But dont worry, Ill be back. This is just a fling. Ill pack up my things, leave Pop! OS behind, and return to the familiar world of Debian soon enough. But for now, Im just going to relax and enjoy the trip. You can call it my “guilty pleasure” for the week.


Ah, Neovim. My relationship with it is a bit like that one hobby we all pick up, spend way too much time configuring, but rarely actually use. If youve ever found yourself pouring hours into tweaking Neovim—adjusting your init.vim, installing the latest plugins, testing out new configurations—and then realized you havent actually written anything in it for the past week... well, welcome to the club.

I have spent more time configuring Neovim than actually using it to write code or take notes. The number of plugins Ive added, the tweaks Ive made to the keybindings, the custom functions Ive written... it's all impressive, right? But when I sit down to actually use the editor, Im often finding myself either distracted by new config ideas or suddenly wondering if theres a plugin out there that can make the experience even better. It's like a weird form of procrastination, where Im making the environment perfect but forgetting what its all for—writing!

Why do I do this? Maybe its because, deep down, the process of setting up Neovim feels like Im building something personal, something thats mine. It's like crafting the ultimate tool and every tweak or change gives me a little rush of satisfaction, like Im shaping my own ideal workflow. But then, when its all set up and ready to go, I realize Ive spent so much time perfecting it that Ive neglected actually using it for its intended purpose.

Its the perfect “guilty pleasure” of the tech world—fiddling with settings and configurations instead of actually getting work done. But hey, in the end, the setup is the work for some of us, and maybe thats where the true enjoyment lies. As for the writing/scripting, well, itll happen... eventually. Probably.


So, lets talk bspwm. I use it, but lets be real—its a bit... dated. Like me. I guess. Its one of those setups where, sure, it gets the job done, but theres no flashy new stuff or cutting-edge features. And honestly? I dont care. It works for me, and thats all that matters. Sure, I could spend hours upgrading to something newer, maybe get a more polished experience with a window manager that has more modern features, but at the end of the day, bspwm just does the job.

I dont need a thousand new bells and whistles to feel productive. Its simple, its minimal, and it doesnt try to be anything its not. Do I wish there were a few more updates? Maybe. Do I feel guilty about sticking with it despite its age? Absolutely not. Sometimes the tried-and-true solutions are exactly what you need, and for me, bspwm fits that bill. If it aint broke, dont fix it.

I could jump on a trendier window manager, but Id probably just end up back here anyway. So yeah, bspwm might be a little behind the times, but thats part of its charm. Its like that old reliable tool that just keeps working, even if theres a shinier new version out there.


Ah, Firefox ESR—another one of those “I know its not the latest, but Im fine with that” choices. Sure, theres a shiny new version of Firefox with all the latest features, but Firefox ESR is like the comfy old hoodie that just fits perfectly, even if its not the most fashionable thing around. Its stable, secure, and it does exactly what I need without any of the frills or frequent changes that can come with newer releases.

Ive always appreciated that Firefox ESR focuses on long-term support and security patches rather than introducing every new shiny feature that might not even matter to me. Im not running the bleeding edge of browser technology, and honestly, thats perfectly fine. Some might call it outdated, but I call it reliable.

The thing with Firefox ESR is, its stable enough that I dont have to worry about things randomly breaking every couple of weeks when a new feature gets pushed. I get all the security updates, and my workflow stays consistent. I dont need the latest JavaScript engine or experimental feature. I just want a browser that works, and for me, ESR fits that need perfectly.

Plus, lets not forget that its open-source, privacy-conscious, and gives me control over my browsing experience. What more could you really need?


Ah, GitHub Desktop—my guilty pleasure when it comes to version control. I know, I know. As someone whos supposed to be all about the terminal and the raw power of Git commands, choosing a GUI feels almost... sacrilegious. I mean, I could be out there, typing away with git commit, git push, and git pull like a true command-line warrior, but instead, Im over here, clicking away on shiny buttons and feeling all warm inside because its just so easy.

Theres something about that simplicity. I get it—using GitHub Desktop means giving up some of the flexibility and control that comes with the command line. But for my day-to-day needs, its just so convenient. Im not constantly re-learning Git commands or fumbling through the terminal trying to remember the exact flags for a pull request. Its all there, right in front of me, in a nice, easy-to-navigate GUI. Sometimes, I even get too comfortable, and I forget that I actually could be doing all of this from the terminal with more precision. But, nope, Im just gonna sit here with my clicks, totally ignoring my inner “power-user” voice thats probably judging me from deep inside.

The real guilty pleasure comes when I realize that I spend way more time enjoying the visual interface and checking my GitHub repos than I do actually writing code. Its like the tool becomes the thing Im using, rather than the project Im supposed to be working on. But hey, there are worse things to be guilty about, right? Im still committing code—just with a few less keystrokes.

So, yeah, GitHub Desktop: Im fully aware of the nerdy shame that comes with choosing it over my terminal, but Im not giving it up anytime soon. Sometimes, its just nice to take a shortcut and enjoy the smooth ride.