https://blog.ericfrisch.comEric's Blog2024-03-29T06:38:34.606484+00:00ericfrischhiddenpython-feedgenThe personal blog of Eric Frisch, focused on faith, music, and simple living.https://blog.ericfrisch.com/2023-books-music/2023 Books & Music2023-12-26T20:08:07.966859+00:00ericfrischhidden<p>As 2023 comes to a close, my feeds are full of year-end lists. I always enjoy reading these lists and sharing my own.</p>
<p>I didn't read much in 2022, so I set a goal to read 10 books this year to get back in gear. In the end, I read 11, so I'm happy to have reached that goal! I'm also still reading Norman Wirzba's collection of essays by Wendell Berry, <a href="https://www.counterpointpress.com/books/the-art-of-the-commonplace/" target="_blank"><em>The Art of the Commonplace</em></a>. I've been working through it slowly for about 18 months and should finish in early 2024. Here are the books I read in 2023:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.zondervan.com/p/praying-like-monks-living-like-fools/" target="_blank">Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools</a> - Tyler Staton</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/God-just-Approaches-silent-worship-ebook/dp/B007MCOA00/" target="_blank">God Just Is: Approaches to silent worship</a> - Curt Gardner</li>
<li><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/An-Hour-Before-Daylight/Jimmy-Carter/9780743217255" target="_blank">An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood</a> - Jimmy Carter</li>
<li><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/575653/the-midnight-library-by-matt-haig/" target="_blank">The Midnight Library</a> - Matt Haig</li>
<li><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/665644/where-the-light-fell-by-philip-yancey/" target="_blank">Where the Light Fell: A Memoir</a> - Philip Yancey</li>
<li><a href="https://www.counterpointpress.com/books/hannah-coulter/" target="_blank">Hannah Coulter</a> - Wendell Berry</li>
<li><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/600096/the-ruthless-elimination-of-hurry-by-john-mark-comer-foreword-by-john-ortberg/" target="_blank">The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry</a> - John Mark Comer</li>
<li><a href="https://crazylovebook.com/letters-to-the-church/" target="_blank">Letters to the Church</a> - Francis Chan</li>
<li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5657" target="_blank">The Practice of the Presence of God</a> - Brother Lawrence</li>
<li><a href="https://normal2nomad.com/shop/book" target="_blank">Normal to Nomad</a> - Barron Link</li>
<li><a href="https://www.ivpress.com/a-radiant-birth" target="_blank">A Radiant Birth: Advent Readings for a Bright Season</a> - ed. Fields, Willis</li>
</ul>
<p>These are in addition to my daily Bible reading. This year, I switched up my reading system and used the M'Cheyne plan (widely available online and in most Bible apps/software). It is a bit lighter than the plan from Professor Horner that I've used for several years and is designed to take the reader through the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice over a year. I followed this plan once before in 2018-2019 and have really enjoyed it for a general year-long reading system. I'm planning to use it again in 2024.</p>
<p>My <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1Fa4t0b6ehqi5w?si=qg_2cp9LTpet4nrilQTMqA&pi=u-4-4JxwCqSC-Y" target="_blank">top songs playlist</a> from Spotify is a pretty good representation of my listening in 2023. Here are a few standout artists from the past year, in no particular order:</p>
<ul>
<li>Marc Scibilia</li>
<li>Aoife O'Donovan</li>
<li>Matt Nathanson</li>
<li>Foy Vance</li>
<li>Ben Rector</li>
<li>Mat Kearney</li>
<li>Donovan Woods</li>
<li>Wild Rivers</li>
<li>Augustana</li>
<li>Green River Ordinance</li>
<li>David Nail</li>
<li>Steve Moakler</li>
<li>Patrick Droney</li>
<li>Peter Bradley Adams</li>
<li>Stephen Kellogg</li>
<li>Goldmund</li>
</ul>
<p>Some artists released new music in 2023, some were fresh discoveries, and others are long-time favorites. All of them worked together to build my soundtrack for the past year!</p>
<p>Finally, thanks to all of you for reading this blog in 2023! I'm grateful for the opportunity to write here and for everyone who took a moment to engage with my words. See you in 2024!</p>
<p>--</p>
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2023-12-26T20:08:07.966596+00:00https://blog.ericfrisch.com/tiny-christmas/Wishing you a Tiny Christmas2023-12-19T00:12:54.598009+00:00ericfrischhidden<p>Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote down some goals for 2023. I wanted to be more mindful of the media I consumed and my creative output, and it seemed like a good idea to put some guidelines in place. As the year wraps up, the status of those goals is a mixed bag. I did very well with some and fell short of others, but they helped keep me focused in the right direction overall. But one goal was still entirely undone: release a three-song EP.</p>
<p>I was a full-time musician for more than a decade and have continued to play professionally since. Despite this, there is very little evidence of my music-making online, and I haven’t recorded and released anything for public consumption since 2014. I decided to change that this year and set the goal to record and release three songs by the end of the year in any style and format that made sense. As of a couple of weeks ago, I had made no progress at all toward that goal.</p>
<p>It’s not all bad. I got to do a lot more live playing in 2023 than expected, and I’m grateful for those meaningful musical experiences. And I have some ideas and inspiration I’m working on now, which I hope will see the light of day in 2024. But none of that moved me closer to putting something of my own into the world this year.</p>
<p>Last Saturday, for some reason, I found myself humming “Auld Lang Syne” in the shower. My creative wheels started turning, and within a few minutes, I realized I could record and release a tiny holiday album. The result is the appropriately named <em>Tiny Christmas</em> EP. You can <a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6Apjw3xrIc2h7ZLYPB4W-DoH4STLcbZ7&si=q1wmtfo5BSomd0xt" target="_blank">stream it on YouTube</a> or download a copy for free <a href="https://ericfrisch.com/music" target="_blank">from my website</a>.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://efresources.s3.amazonaws.com/tinychristmas.jpg"/></p>
<p>This little album is short, simple, and imperfect. It feels exactly right for this moment in time, and it also helped me hit my goal - with four songs instead of three, no less! It came together very quickly, so I thought a little timeline of the creation process might be interesting:</p>
<ul>
<li>Saturday evening, 12/9 - had the idea, started thinking about a track list, and created the cover artwork (Yes, I made the cover before I had even decided what songs to record. I was excited to get started!)</li>
<li>Sunday, 12/10 - finalized the track list in the afternoon, sketched out the instruments that I thought I would use, and spent about two hours recording all of the acoustic instruments (udu drum, shaker, jingle bells, strumstick, acoustic guitar, mandolin, and toy piano)</li>
<li>Monday, 12/11 - spent another 90 minutes recording the electric bass and keyboard parts</li>
<li>Tuesday, 12/12 - took a night off because I had stayed up way too late the previous two nights recording and needed to sleep</li>
<li>Wednesday, 12/13 - mixed and mastered everything</li>
<li>Thursday, 12/14 - exported final mixes, created the YouTube videos, and prepped for release</li>
<li>Friday, 12/15 - woke up early, posted the songs to YouTube and my website, and shared on social media</li>
</ul>
<p>I’ve had some very kind comments about the music, and I’m glad it has been meaningful for people. Mostly, I’m just happy to have been able to have fun making something that I’m proud of. I recorded and released this record in about 10 hours with one <a href="https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=nady%20spc-15" target="_blank">$20 microphone</a>, a <a href="https://zoomcorp.com/en/us/audio-interface/audio-interfaces/ams-series/#22" target="_blank">dead-simple audio interface</a>, and GarageBand on my iPad. So, if you’ve got a creative idea, I’d encourage you to chase it! We live in a time when you can do a lot with a little.</p>
<p>If you check out Tiny Christmas and enjoy it, please consider it my little audible Christmas card for you this holiday season. Thanks for reading (and listening)!</p>
<p>--</p>
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2023-12-19T00:00:13.440315+00:00https://blog.ericfrisch.com/recovering-wonder/Recovering Wonder2023-11-27T16:39:43.747221+00:00ericfrischhidden<p>Recently, I have been reminded of the importance of wonder. Children are great at this - they marvel at the beauty, awe, and peculiarity that can be seen everywhere in the world. Perhaps we would all do well to recover some of that childlike spirit in our adult lives. Here are a few moments I’ve noticed recently:</p>
<p>I became a frequent flyer at an early age. My family moved from Ohio to North Dakota just before I started first grade, and the next five years were full of back-and-forth trips to visit our relatives during summer and holiday breaks. I can still remember what it felt like the first time I looked out the window as the plane rose through the clouds. It seemed magical, in a way - as if this was something that shouldn’t be possible for human beings.</p>
<p>I don’t fly nearly as often as an adult, but I travel occasionally for work. This summer, I was almost stranded far from home due to a delayed flight. Fortunately, I got rerouted and made it home just a few hours later than planned. Watching city lights reflected on the Great Lakes from my window seat, I felt the same sense of awe that I had all those years ago. How could it be possible that traveling to a different city more than 800 miles away from my original destination was only a minor inconvenience, a slight delay in sleeping in my own bed at the end of the day?</p>
<p>When we arrived in North Dakota, we were surprised to find that all the squirrels were black instead of the brownish-gray we were used to seeing in Ohio. I later learned that they are all the same type of squirrel and that the coloring is only a genetic variation. But as a young child, they felt almost mythical.</p>
<p>Until a couple of years ago, I had never seen a black squirrel in Ohio, but apparently, they are making their way south. After spotting them around town a few times this summer, we now have a permanent resident in the backyard. And I am still so excited to see it every day when I look out the window! It still feels like magic to me that they exist, much less that one could be here in my neighborhood.</p>
<p>Last night, I made tuna casserole for dinner. I routinely make many dishes I ate as a child, but smelling that casserole takes me back to the family dinner table and a sense of warmth and belonging that I may have taken for granted. It’s a sensory experience that is hard to capture in words, and nothing else has caused me to feel it.</p>
<p>Taking a flight, watching backyard wildlife, and making dinner are ordinary, everyday experiences. But these callbacks to my childhood have served as poignant reminders. I’m trying to be on the lookout for more of these little moments of delight and amazement. Where can you find wonder in the everyday?</p>
<p>--</p>
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2023-11-27T16:39:43.746969+00:00https://blog.ericfrisch.com/complexity-focus/Adding Complexity to Improve Focus2023-06-02T11:46:18.593792+00:00ericfrischhidden<p><img alt="" src="https://efresources.s3.amazonaws.com/gongfucha.jpg"/></p>
<p>Changing a process can be a great way to restore focus on a task or habit. Here is a recent example:</p>
<p>I wrote <a href="https://blog.ericfrisch.com/tea" target="_blank">somewhat extensively</a> about my tea practice last January. That practice hasn't changed much for several years, which is fine - it is a simple habit that has served me well. But as my interests have pivoted towards higher quality, single-origin teas, I've increasingly been turning to <a href="https://youtu.be/OZ_7sfEf9-8" target="_blank">gongfu-style</a> brewing for my daily tea fix.</p>
<p>I've had the necessary teaware to make gongfu cha for a while (it doesn't take much when you're drinking solo), but before the past couple of months, I had only done it a few times. Why? If I'm being honest, it felt too complex and time-consuming. Western brewing is simple. Throw some tea in a big cup for a few minutes and then drink it all day. Gongfu cha, on the other hand, requires careful attention to quantities, temperature, and time over many short steepings. It's a more demanding process, and the necessary time and attention felt like luxuries I didn't have.</p>
<p>Some days that is still the case. If I have back-to-back calls at work, a Yeti mug full of tea that will last the day is still a good choice. But after some convincing from the gurus over at <a href="https://reddit.com/r/tea" target="_blank">r/tea</a>, I've come to see the value in taking on the more complex process on the days when I have margin in my schedule to do it. I can't deny that the tea tastes better (a whole range of new flavors surfaces with multiple infusions). But it's more than that - the extra effort keeps me more focused on preparing and drinking tea. Because I am more invested in the process, I gain more enjoyment from it.</p>
<p>The simplest way of doing something isn't always the best.</p>
<p>If that sentence sounds almost blasphemous to you, I get it. I've been interested in minimalism for a long time and have been intentionally simplifying my life for over a decade. My default posture is that simpler = better. This experience, however, has been a good reminder that there are exceptions to every rule. If adding complexity also increases value, it just might be the way to go.</p>
<p>--</p>
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2023-06-02T11:46:18.591998+00:00https://blog.ericfrisch.com/ebb-flow/Embracing the Ebb and Flow2023-03-18T20:22:20.244214+00:00ericfrischhidden<p>I don't do anything halfway. My perfectionism virtually guarantees that I'll never cut corners on a project. On the contrary, I'm far more likely to obsess and overcomplicate my work, hobbies, and processes.</p>
<p>I don't have any illusions about this aspect of my personality. It can often be a real asset, driving me to effective and satisfying results. I'm grateful for that. Other times, it can be a liability, slowing my progress to a snail's pace and producing crippling anxiety. Those instances are harder to accept. But I've found success and stagnation to be two sides of the same, inseparable coin. Would I give up the good to avoid the bad? Most days, my answer would be no.</p>
<p>Things get more interesting when it comes to creative pursuits. If I don't have a clear direction for a project or see a decisive path forward, I tend to press pause. The result can be infrequent output, as I'm unlikely to put something into the world unless I have a baseline of confidence in it. I've found that internet creator culture sometimes emphasizes quantity over quality. Being consistent and prolific is prized. But I find myself resisting that idea - I'd rather be quiet until I sincerely believe I have something to contribute.</p>
<p>If I'm being honest, I thought I'd have published more in 2023 than I have. Late December brought the (far and away) <a href="https://blog.ericfrisch.com/start-again" target="_blank">most popular post</a> this blog has seen, and I was excited to see what momentum might be there for future entries. But I didn't have much to say. Instead, the first part of the year has been focused more on nurturing my creative inputs: I've finished four books, engaged with excellent writing and music, and enjoyed quietly recharging.</p>
<p>I'm reminding myself that all of this is okay. Creativity ebbs and flows, and both are critical to the process (at least for me). I don't doubt I'll have more to write sometime soon, and you'll find it here when I do. In the meantime, I'm embracing the current season with openness. And to those reading, consider this my encouragement to you, no matter where you are in your own creative process!</p>
<p>--</p>
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2023-03-18T20:22:20.241483+00:00https://blog.ericfrisch.com/sending-2022/Sending off 20222023-01-01T04:25:27.140033+00:00ericfrischhidden<p>I want to take a brief moment this New Year's Eve to thank everyone who has taken the time to read and engage with my words during the past year.</p>
<p>I'll admit that I had only a passing knowledge of Hacker News before this afternoon when I noticed some unusual traffic on <a href="https://blog.ericfrisch.com/start-again" target="_blank">yesterday's entry</a>. Many thanks to <a href="https://tsk.bearblog.dev" target="_blank">tsk</a> for sharing the post and to the HN community for making this the biggest day my humble blog has ever seen. At the end of a week (and year) that has been full of high highs and low lows, today has been fun.</p>
<p>2022 was a little quiet around here, but I have some specific goals I'll be pursuing in 2023 around writing and there is much more to come as the site heads into its third year. Whether today is your first visit or you've been here since the beginning, I'm grateful for you. Please feel free to hang around, and best wishes for an excellent start to 2023, wherever the new year takes you!</p>
<p>--</p>
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2022-12-31T00:00:00+00:00https://blog.ericfrisch.com/start-again/The Power of Starting Again2022-12-30T13:55:20.045414+00:00ericfrischhidden<p>There's no way around it - forming habits is tough. This is the time of year when many people will vow to make positive changes, and though I'm <a href="https://blog.ericfrisch.com/2021-goals" target="_blank">no fan of New Year's resolutions</a>, January 1 does feel like a natural reset point. We all know how easily those big, annual goals fall away, though, and it doesn't help that we constantly get in our own way.</p>
<p>My perfectionist tendencies are well established, so it's no surprise that I find lists, streaks, and other goal-based metrics helpful in forming and maintaining habits. But there is a definite dark side to this approach. When a day is missed, an item isn't checked off, or a long-running streak is broken, it can be easy to give up entirely. By focusing on the failure, large or small, good and valuable progress is ignored.</p>
<p>These days, I'm fighting that tendency with two simple words: <em>start again</em>. None of us will ever be perfect, and we can't go back in time to handle the past differently, no matter how much we want to. But if a thing was worth doing before, it is probably worth starting again, even after some time away or at a reduced frequency. 5 days a week instead of 7, 40 weeks a year instead of 52, picking up a good habit again after days, weeks, or months away - these are much better than letting a good practice die.</p>
<p>During seminary, I began to find value in beginning my morning prayers with a brief period of silent meditation. It's the kind of positive habit that was beneficial and simple to build into my daily routine... until it wasn't. I'd oversleep one morning, rush to an early morning appointment the next day, and before I knew it, I'd fallen out of my practice. I've continued in fits and starts, frustrated by my inability to keep my streak up. Our metric-based, app-enabled culture doesn't help with this, and the otherwise excellent <a href="http://www.fascinative.ca/enso.html" target="_blank">Ens<strong>ō</strong></a> timer is always happy to remind me when I miss a day and have to start over. But is meditation only helpful if it happens every single day? Of course not. It's a good practice, and that's true as often as I do it.</p>
<p>Last week, I noticed that I've completed more than 400 sessions in Ens<strong>ō</strong> since I started using the app. And while there's nothing wrong with continuing to work towards greater consistency, that's 400 meaningful experiences I would not have had if I had given up my practice because I didn't do it every day. Missing a few days or even longer isn't failing. Refusing to start again is.</p>
<p>Of course, the same principle can be applied to all kinds of habits. And yes, I'm setting some goals for 2023, though not based on daily completion. But when I inevitably suffer a setback, I'll try not to give up. Instead, I'll start again. The cumulative result is well worth it.</p>
<p>--</p>
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2022-12-30T13:55:20.042822+00:00https://blog.ericfrisch.com/2022-books-music/2022 Books & Music2022-12-22T21:46:17.091728+00:00ericfrischhidden<p>The end of 2022 is upon us, which means annual lists abound. I appreciate knowing what others are reading and listening to and am happy to share my own notes (last year's post is <a href="https://blog.ericfrisch.com/2021-books-music" target="_blank">here</a>).</p>
<p>Admittedly, I lost much of my reading momentum from 2021 this year. In addition to my <a href="https://blog.ericfrisch.com/how-i-read-the-bible/" target="_blank">regular Bible reading</a>, I ended up finishing only three books this year:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://upperroombooks.com/book/everyday-contemplative" target="_blank">Everyday Contemplative</a> - L. Roger Owens</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Through-Painted-Deserts-Light-Beauty-ebook/dp/B00B7S6BTS" target="_blank">Through Painted Deserts</a> - Donald Miller</li>
<li><a href="http://www.barclaypressbookstore.com/Bower-Lodge.html" target="_blank">Bower Lodge</a> - Paul J. Pastor</li>
</ul>
<p>I'm a little disappointed to not have finished more in 2022. But I found a lot of value in everything I did read. I moved slowly through <em>Everyday Contemplative</em> and found it very thoughtful. This was my fourth or fifth trip through Miller's memoir - it's one of my favorites, and I never tire of it. I return to the audiobook every couple of years to reignite my wanderlust and sense of wonder. I finally picked up <em>Bower Lodge</em> late in the year after seeing many glowing reviews and devoured the collection in just a few days, though I expect to return to it often. Pastor's poetry is beautiful, disarming, and often surprising. I was blessed by the book and recommend all three of these wholeheartedly.</p>
<p>I'm hoping to pick up the pace in 2023, and I'm considering setting a reading goal again to stay on target (it seemed to help in 2021). I'm already in the middle of a couple of things right now, including an <a href="https://www.counterpointpress.com/books/the-art-of-the-commonplace" target="_blank">extensive Wendell Berry collection</a> that I've been working my way through since the summer. Hopefully, there will be more to report this time next year.</p>
<p>Last year, I shared my full Spotify Wrapped playlist. I'm not going to do that this year because the playlist includes a bunch of tunes that only came up in background shuffles while I was working. But the top 5 artists on the list were clear standouts for me this year:</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://www.foyvance.com" target="_blank">Foy Vance</a> - "Signs of Life" is a really great record that felt appropriate for this season. The stunning "Live From The Highlands" versions of these tunes posted to YouTube are some of the best things I heard all year and are worth looking up.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.donovanwoods.net" target="_blank">Donovan Woods</a> - An enduring favorite of mine who continues to put out a constant stream of excellent, thoughtful music. A highlight of the year was finally seeing Donovan live for the first time (at our first "real" concert since the pandemic started, no less).</li>
<li><a href="https://www.patrickdroneymusic.com" target="_blank">Patrick Droney</a> - Soulful, guitar-driven pop-rock. Non-stop driving music in my car for the past eighteen months.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.thebandcamino.com" target="_blank">The Band CAMINO</a> - Another perennial favorite the past few years. Super catchy and fun. These guys are also one of my wife's favorites, so they get a lot of play around our house.</li>
<li><a href="https://mattnathanson.com" target="_blank">Matt Nathanson</a> - I've been a fan of Matt's for a long time, but rediscovered him a bit this year with the release of "Boston Accent," another album that feels just right for the moment. He headlined that first concert back - a great reminder of the value of live performance by outstanding artists.</li>
</ol>
<p>Of course, I listened to lots of other music, too. But this is a good sample of where my ears are these days.</p>
<p>--</p>
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2022-12-22T21:28:11.864555+00:00https://blog.ericfrisch.com/tweaking-variables/Tweaking the Variables2022-10-27T14:16:32.019572+00:00ericfrischhidden<p>Let's talk about playing the triangle. I know, I know. Just stay with me here.</p>
<p>I enjoy playing many instruments, but percussion was my entry point to being a musician and is still my biggest musical passion. Playing the drums has always "just worked" for me in a way, and I find the broader family of classical and ethnic percussion instruments endlessly fascinating. Most aspiring percussionists don't realize how much their college and professional experience will focus on the humble triangle. Are there technical snare drum passages, fancy mallet work, and bombastic timpani moments? Of course. But, especially in the orchestral world where I've spent much of my time, the bread-and-butter work of performance is often done on the triangle, tambourine, cymbals, and other less flashy instruments.</p>
<p>Percussion is all about repetition and consistency, so once I find an instrument, technique, or sound that works, I tend to stick with it forever. This is an admittedly different approach to the one I've taken with other instruments (<a href="https://blog.ericfrisch.com/finding-balance" target="_blank">guitar, for example</a>), but it has served me well. So it was disconcerting when an ongoing tendon issue in my right wrist started to affect my playing. Performance processes I had taken for granted for many years were no longer reliable. My doctor referred me to a specialist who referred me to an occupational therapist. And while I didn't hold the reactions I got when I told each of them I was there to improve my triangle playing against them, it was true. This issue has affected many activities (not all musical), but the triangle, with its rapid and precise movements, is a prime example.</p>
<p>After a fair amount of therapy, some progress has been made. There isn't any quick or easy solution to my problem, but I've learned a lot, have some new techniques that help, and have a better awareness of what's happening in my body. All good things. But triangle improvement still eluded me, which is why it was such a revelation last week when I had to quickly cover a part in a rehearsal. My triangle and beaters were still tucked away, so I grabbed whatever was already on the table. And I was absolutely shocked at how much easier it was to play. This is the problem with having such a set-in-my-ways system. I focused on the significant variable that had changed (my wrist) without thinking about how tweaking a smaller variable (the beater) could assist.</p>
<p>I've used the same inexpensive set of triangle beaters for more than ten years, and they've served me well. I never even considered making a change because, in my mind, they were working. But trying something with a bit more length and weight gave me the extra control I need right now to compensate for my wrist problem. Last week was a busy playing week for me, so I hit up our <a href="https://www.columbuspercussion.com" target="_blank">excellent local drum shop</a> the next day, bought a new set, and had much less frustration throughout the rest of the week.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://efresources.s3.amazonaws.com/trianglebeaters.jpeg"/></p>
<p>This is a very particular example, but I'll remember the broader lesson in the future. A seemingly tiny tweak can improve a process significantly, and it doesn't always have to come from the most obvious place. It's worth testing all the variables.</p>
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2022-10-27T14:16:32.017904+00:00https://blog.ericfrisch.com/kindle-test/The Kindle Test2022-08-25T19:25:28.473553+00:00ericfrischhidden<p>I recently returned from a week of vacation with my wife and in-laws. I'm a full-time remote worker these days and am constantly in front of my computer, so I was determined to make this a true getaway with as little screen time as possible. To that end, I packed only two electronic devices for the trip: my phone and my circa 2015 Kindle Paperwhite. My phone took care of communication and my limited browsing needs, while the Kindle obviously handled reading duties. But the Kindle has a quirky little web browser of its own, and it plays a decisive role in my own web projects.</p>
<p>I've been interested in minimal websites for a long time. From the venerable <a href="https://mnmlist.com" target="_blank">mnmlist</a> blog to the functionally austere <a href="https://vulfpeck.com" target="_blank">Vulfpeck</a> homepage, I'm a lover of all things text-based and lightweight. I even prefer <a href="https://text.npr.org" target="_blank">text-only NPR</a> for its simplicity. Sites like NPR's were initially designed for users with limited bandwidth due to emergencies or natural disasters, which is a noble goal in and of itself. But they are also easier to read, faster to load, and generally free of the modern web's excess baggage.</p>
<p>My own website needs are pretty basic. While plenty of other projects have come and gone, these days, I just have a <a href="https://ericfrisch.com" target="_blank">personal landing page</a>, a <a href="https://thepluggedinchurch.com" target="_blank">tribute to my old podcast</a>, and this blog. The first two are currently hosted on <a href="https://pages.github.com" target="_blank">GitHub Pages</a> and are <em>teeny-tiny</em> (as of this writing, <a href="https://ericfrisch.com" target="_blank">ericfrisch.com</a> weighs less than 50kb all-in). And it shouldn't be hard to see why <a href="https://bearblog.dev" target="_blank">Bear Blog</a> feels like an ideal home for my writing during this stage of life or why I'm a proud supporter of the project.</p>
<p>So what does this have to do with the Kindle? Much like the news sites I mentioned above, I doubt the Kindle web browser was intended to provide a superior internet experience. For me, it's primarily used for logging into wifi networks on the road. But I decided a few years ago that all my web content should look good on that limited, oft-forgotten browser. This is <strong>not</strong> because I think lots of people are viewing my sites on their Kindles (they aren't). Instead, I figure that if something looks good in an experimental browser on a tiny e-ink screen, it will likely work on any other device, too. "The Kindle Test" is my simplicity standard for web design, and that standard has served me well. In fact, Bear is so lightweight that I could actually write posts on my Kindle if I wanted to!</p>
<p>Obviously, I don't expect this standard to work for anyone else. I don't even know that it will always make sense for me. People and projects have different needs, and I benefit daily from plenty of media-heavy, feature-rich websites. This is just one area where I've benefited from applying minimalism to my life, stripping away everything unnecessary until only the essentials remain.</p>
<p><em>For more on the benefits of the minimal web, I recommend reading <a href="https://mnmlist.com/w" target="_blank">Leo</a> and <a href="https://herman.bearblog.dev/big-fat-websites" target="_blank">Herman's</a> posts on the subject.</em></p>
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2022-08-17T01:12:06.077380+00:00