Eating the Frog: Getting Organized

Over the last few weeks or so I’ve been getting more organized and sorting out my “eat the frog” activities. That is to say I’ve been doing things that are not exactly enjoyable but are necessary.

If you haven’t come across the phrase “eat the frog” before, it means tackling the tasks that are boring or difficult before you tackle things that are more enjoyable. This way you can feel better about getting them off your to do list and address important things that you might have been putting off.

In my case I decided to learn more about online privacy, back things up and de bloat my computer. I reinstalled Windows 10 a few weeks ago (sometimes I just like to do it to clear the slate) and started watching Chris Titus videos about disabling unnecessary features and sorting out the privacy controls.

You would not believe how much the big tech corporations want to spy on all of us (maybe you would if you have read the latest news about certain social media platforms beginning with T and F). I just think privacy is a basic human right.

I want to keep this blog focused on resources for digital art but I think it is useful to talk about important things like this as well.

I can see why people go to Linux. If you want to learn more about this sort of thing I would recommend you to read Chris Titus’s blog. Other people to listen to about privacy are Rob Braxton and the Mental Outlaw. That should get you started if you want to go down the rabbit hole. Don’t blame me if you start dreaming you are in the Matrix though.

Long story short things run pretty well now on my system and I learned more about how to maintain my computer which is always good. I’m not prepared to start running my own server or anything but I work as much as I can offline and use open source program alternatives when possible.

Golden rule is I never use Google Chrome or sign in with a Microsoft Account and I always check downloaded programs with the Virus Total website just to be extra safe. You even have to be careful about what you install from the Microsoft Store. A good website to check programs on is alternativeto.net where people post reviews and you can see lists of alternate options.

Anyway I will end this article here for now. This blog is primarily an art blog but given that I work mostly with digital tools and do go online I feel these things are relevant to most people nowadays.

I will talk more about the software I like to use for planning in a future article.

Thank you for reading.