This is my life stack—the tools, applications, services, and miscellaneous other things that I use to manage my life (how I manage work is kind of determined for me by my employer, so you won’t see a whole lot about that here). I used to call this the Colophon after the first one of these that I found created by John Saddington; “life stack” seems to be a more appropriate term these days.

Last Update: February 1, 2025

<aside> <img src="notion://custom_emoji/23b52f15-9844-4af2-8bf3-1b273b5a7213/17895041-f786-80e0-a96c-007a8d4a7016" alt="notion://custom_emoji/23b52f15-9844-4af2-8bf3-1b273b5a7213/17895041-f786-80e0-a96c-007a8d4a7016" width="40px" />

FTC Disclosure: The links below go to manufacturer or store sites, including but not limited to Apple, HP, Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. I do not have affiliate accounts with any store or manufacturer, and thus do not earn any money or other consideration for these referrals.

</aside>

Computing

• MacBook Air, M3 • 16 GB RAM • 512 GB storage. While a base 8/256 will do just fine for most, the higher capacity is a game-changer. It sports a Incase Hardshell Case to protect it from scratches and dings.
• Mac mini, M2 Pro • 16 GB RAM • 512 GB storage. It’s in the closet; I do everything on my MacBook Air now.
• HP ZBook Firefly 15 G8 laptop, i7 vPRO • 32 GB RAM • 512 GB SSD, a mobile workstation provided by my employer, for work (duh). Set up to only work on their VPN network. Bought a privacy screen filter to deter prying eyes when I’m working somewhere other than at home. My job is 100% remote.
• ViewSonic VX3418-2KPC 34-inch 21:9 Curved Gaming Monitor, 2560 × 1440 @ 144Hz, two DisplayPort and two HDMI inputs. I find this a lot better for productivity than two separate screens.
• Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max, 1 TB. Since my carrier now offers “anytime” upgrade, I upgrade to every new model as it’s released—always the Pro Max (because the large screen is easier on my long fingers), always the largest amount of memory they offer because of the photos and videos I’m always creating. Now sports a clear case as the bare corners were getting banged up.
• Apple iPad Pro, M2, 128 GB storage and 5G. Eventually I will eliminate this from my daily carry in favor of my MacBook Air, once it’s paid off with my carrier.
• Raspberry Pi 5 (web and database server).

Note-taking

• Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024). Even with the Paperlike screen protector on my iPad Pro, the writing experience was still “off” and it was making my hand hurt after a while. I redeemed points from my credit card to get a 64 GB Kindle Scribe with premium pen and the experience is much better. The ReMarkable series has a better feel (and color with the Pro version), but it lacks the AI summarization and recognition features of the Scribe. Plus, it’s a good e-book reader with much longer battery life than the iPad.

Mac Productivity

• For personal things, I primarily use the apps that come standard with macOS—Mail, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Maps, Photos, Music, Pages, Numbers, Keynote.
• CleanMyMac and Gemini by MacPaw to keep the MacBook maintained in tip-top shape, find and clean up junk and duplicate files, &c.
• iCloud, Google Drive, and Dropbox—iCloud I’m subscribed to; the others because it helps to have them for sharing with others.
• Wolfram Engine for all kinds of semantic data and application work.
• I use Notion mostly as a database platform for smaller amounts of data, and also to drive my web site. Just simple.