# WarrenWeb > Thinking, linking, and sharing: PKM, Family Knowledge (FKM), App Integration, AI Diabetes Coach, Technology, Music, Photography, Travel, Genealogy. Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. This file includes a bounded export of public pages first, then recent public posts. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages ### About this site URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/about-site/ Last updated: 2024-06-17T01:19:35.000Z WarrenWeb is an independent publication launched in May 2024 by Doug Warren to share interests, linked notes, and integrating apps. ### Fresh content, delivered to you If you subscribe today, you'll get access to all areas of the website. Also, you will also receive email newsletters when new content is available. ### Plus subscription With a Plus membership, you will also receive extra content and downloads such as Obsidian templates, Dataview queries, Shortcuts, Scripts, and more. ### Unique content that helps you I have extensive experience, insights, and perspectives that provides unique content that will save you time, provide tips and techniques to help you with your challenges, and offers solutions for problems you encounter every day. ### Meet people like you Join a community of other subscribers who share the same interests. ### Thank you! Your subscription makes this site possible, and allows WarrenWeb to continue to exist. I really appreciate your support. --- ### Start your own thing Enjoying the experience? Get started for free and set up your very own subscription business using [Ghost](https://ghost.org/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), the same platform that powers this website. ### Music URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/music/ Last updated: 2025-02-22T18:57:53.000Z There is a lot of music available on my site to listen with Spotify and watch related videos on YouTube. This summarizes the most important pages. Listen to my personal playlists. - [Playlists](https://blog.warrenweb.net/playlists) (8) - favorite piano, guitar, folk, pop, and country music - [Reel Tapes](https://blog.warrenweb.net/reel-tapes) (26) - playlists from 60's & 70's based on personal tape recordings from FM radio - [Discovery Mix](https://blog.warrenweb.net/discovery-mix) (29) - background music for reading, writing, or focus work - [Weekly Mix](https://blog.warrenweb.net/weekly-mix) (8) - weekly music playlists Also, playlists are available here. - [Artist Playlists](https://warrenweb.net/music/playlists/artist-playlists/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) - [Music Roundups](https://warrenweb.net/music/music-roundups/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) These are music highlights. - [Greatest Hits](https://blog.warrenweb.net/music-greatest-hits) – highlights 25 most popular music posts - [Christmas Favorites](https://warrenweb.net/music/christmas-favorites?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- 64 most popular Christmas music posts - [Calendar](https://warrenweb.net/music/music-calendar/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) – music index for current month by day, and previous quarters and years Additional music index pages are available by: - [Genre](https://warrenweb.net/music/music-roundups/music-roundup-index/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) – [Country](https://warrenweb.net/music/music-genre/country/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [Piano](https://dpw67.wordpress.com/music/music-genre/piano?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [Guitar](https://warrenweb.net/music/music-genre/guitar?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [Celtic](https://warrenweb.net/music/music-genre/celtic?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), and [Pop](https://warrenweb.net/music/music-genre/pop?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) - [Date](https://warrenweb.net/music/music-date/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) – 100 most recent music posts - [Artist](https://warrenweb.net/music/music-artist/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) – all music posts by post title, typically artist name There are over 1,600 music posts now available in my blog. Currently, there is duplication in some pages and associated menu structures, and I am trying to implement many improvements that will help organize everything better and make the site easier to discover and listen to all the great music available. In the mean time, this page can be used as a music guide to the site. Some alternate [Music Players](https://warrenweb.net/2014/09/26/music-players/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) may be used instead of *Spotify* to select highlighted artists or albums. Additional information is also available about using [Spotify](https://dpw67.wordpress.com/2014/10/17/spotify?ref=blog.warrenweb.net). ### My Playlists URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/playlist-index/ Last updated: 2024-06-08T13:13:47.000Z Listen to these music playlists. - [Playlists](https://warrenweb.net/music/playlists?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) - [Reel Tapes](https://warrenweb.net/music/reel-tapes?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) - [Discovery Mix](https://warrenweb.net/discovery-mix?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) - [Weekly Mix](https://blog.warrenweb.net/music-mix) ### My Reel Tapes URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/reel-tapes/ Last updated: 2026-05-19T13:28:11.000Z Listen to these playlists with music from the 60's and 70's that were recorded on my audio reel tapes from FM radio broadcasts that I liked. I decided to create Spotify playlists so I could listen to the music again, and share with others. And it's a lot cheaper than converting all the tapes to DVD and better quality. This brings back lots of memories for me, and I hope you enjoy them too. - [My Reel Tapes: 1](https://blog.warrenweb.net/music-my-reel-tapes-1) \- 14 songs, 58 min - [My Reel Tapes: 2](https://blog.warrenweb.net/music-playlist-tape-2) \- 15 songs, 1 hr 34 min - [My Reel Tapes: 3](https://blog.warrenweb.net/music-playlist-tape-3) \- 18 songs, 1 hr 16 min - [My Reel Tapes: 4](https://blog.warrenweb.net/music-playlist-tape-4) \- 24 songs, 1 hr 40 min All 26 playlists of my reel tapes with associated albums are available on my [Wordpress site](https://warrenweb.net/music/my-reel-tapes?ref=blog.warrenweb.net).I'm gradually migrating these earlier posts to this Ghost website as pages, so they will all eventually appear here together. In the meantime, you can still access them all if you want to listen to more of them. 93 words[](https://ghost.org/help/using-the-editor/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ### My Reel Tapes: 1 URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/music-my-reel-tapes-1/ Last updated: 2024-09-03T12:35:24.000Z I have always loved music. During the 60's and 70's, I used to edit music and create tapes with dual cassette decks. Initially I recorded music from FM radio overnight, and while listening I would select songs I liked that I wanted to keep on a new tape. I would also capture the artist, album, and track information and save that playlist with the tape. Later I graduated to two reel-to-reel tape recorders which offered much more capacity. Of course, I no longer have either the cassette or reel tape recorders, but I have boxes of cassette and reel tapes (and vinyl records and CDs too). I’ve been wanting to get them converted to DVD to load into my computer, but I was concerned that might cost a lot and might not turn out that good for some of the tapes which are so old. It’s been so long since I’ve listened to them, and thought that it would be fun and bring back lots of memories via the music I loved way back when I was much younger. Lately I realized that I could create custom Spotify playlists from my recorded tape list contents, and I’ve started doing that with a few tapes and actually the quality is much better anyway. There's no tape noises and many albums have even been remastered. Although some of the songs are not available on Spotify, most of them I have found. I intend to share them in a series on my blog along with lots of other music that I like. I hope you like this trip down memory lane. Starting right now ... #### *Tape 1* \- 14 songs, 57 min #### ### Albums Here are albums featured in this playlist. #### *Deja Vu* by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1970) - 10 songs, 36 min #### #### *All Things Must Pass (Remastered)* by George Harrison (1970) - 28 songs, 2 hr 5 min #### #### *Flowers (Remastered)* by The Rolling Stones (1967) - 12 songs, 37 min #### #### *The Very Best of Lindisfarne* by Lindisfarne (1989) - 20 songs, 1 hr 16 min #### #### *To Our Children's Children's Children (Expanded Edition)* by The Moody Blues (1969) - 1 songs, 3 min #### #### *Nursery Cryme* by Genesis (1971) - 7 songs, 39 min #### #### *A Salty Dog* by Procol Harum (1969) - 10 songs, 40 min #### #### *Asylum Choir II* by Leon Russell (1995) - 16 songs, 47 min #### #### *10 to 23* by José Feliciano (1969) - 11 songs, 42 min #### #### *If Only I Could Remember Your Name* by David Crosby (1971) - 9 songs, 37 min #### #### *Songs for Beginners* by Graham Nash (1971) - 11 songs, 32 min #### Photo credit: [Deja Vu](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000002J0L?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) @ Amazon (album cover) ### What is PKM? URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/what-is-pkm/ Last updated: 2024-09-15T21:33:45.000Z I have a PKM system for personal knowledge management that I use to *link my thinking*. This YouTube video (from 2021) describes What is PKM?, PKM Planet, PKM Archetypes, and Better Thinking so you can link your thinking (11 min). It will help you understand PKM as a way for us to make sense of the world, how we deal with the stuff of ideas, and improve our PKM efforts. [What is PKM?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2WBHyqRsxA&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) Watch it all, or use these timestamped links to specific sections of the video. - 00:00 - What is PKM - 01:54 - Dealing with the STUFF of ideas - 04:15 - Intro to the PKM Planet - 04:52 - PKM Planet Overview - 07:07 - PKM Archetypes Overview - 09:06 - So...What is PKM? - 10:31 - What's next ## What is LYT? For more information, subscribe to his [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@linkingyourthinking?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) channel (@linkingyourthinking) with almost 200K subscribers, 98 videos, and over 5M views (since 2020). [Linking Your Thinking with Nick MiloThis is an exciting time in “Personal Knowledge Management”. We now have the power to create something wonderfully meaningful—to us—and the people in our orbit. With \[\[Linking Your Thinking\]\], my prime directive is helping you get more joy out of your digital notes. You’re going to be at home here. Especially if: - You don’t want to lose thoughts - You might want to build and create things - You are an independent thinker and interested in many things And perhaps most importantly: You find thinking to be inherently valuable. So... If you’re tired of switching apps and chasing the shiny stuff—and you’re ready to regain a sense of trust and mastery with your digital notes... And you’re okay with putting in the work... Then I promise you, that you can develop your own personalized, antifragile, flexible, and future-proofed PKM system. It will be a system you can create and grow with—over decades. And it will be a system that can give you peace of mind and tremendous joy.![](https://www.youtube.com/s/desktop/992280e9/img/favicon_144x144.png)YouTube![](https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/wi0HAKdPyFVB_78_qaFizGYWjigTmnAUR_toBHM7EhUTpwQa0chRr6uqad9WkRLSk43k1f8Z=s900-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj)](https://www.youtube.com/@linkingyourthinking?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Summary Using [Ideaverse for Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ideaverse-for-obsidian) as the foundation to get started, LYT [curriculum](https://www.linkingyourthinking.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net#lyt-workshop-curriculum), sessions, exercises, and community for the deep dive, and [Obsidian Flight School](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-flight-school) to "make notes at the speed of light" has been a major transformation for me. Now I want to share my thoughts, ideas, interests, and links to benefit others. ## Next See the [LYT](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt) for more about its frameworks: - [ACE](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ace/) organization: Atlas, Calendar, Efforts - [ARC](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-ideation/) workflow: Add, Relate, Communicate ### Technology URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/technology/ Last updated: 2024-08-13T12:46:46.000Z I've spent many years learning and applying these important technologies. These topics in my technology efforts enhance my personal environment and enable development efforts. - [Primary apps](https://blog.warrenweb.net/apps): Primary apps in my environment - [Arc](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-browser): Web access and linking - [Drafts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/drafts): Capture & dictate new texts - [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian): Notes, maps, thinking - [OmniFocus](https://blog.warrenweb.net/omnifocus): Task manager, projects, action lists - [DEVONthink](https://blog.warrenweb.net/devonthink): Reference and support - Integration apps: Linking across apps - Support apps: Everyday apps - [Swift](https://blog.warrenweb.net/swift): language, frameworks, tools, features - [SwiftUI](https://blog.warrenweb.net/swiftui): user interface, layout, and components (Under construction) - [SwiftData](https://blog.warrenweb.net/swiftdata): database storage and access (Under construction) - [Platforms](https://blog.warrenweb.net/platforms): Apple computer, tablet, phone, and watch - [macOS](https://warrenweb.net/macos/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net): Apple iMac desktop, MacBook laptop (Under construction) - [iOS](https://warrenweb.net/ios/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net): Apple iPhone, iPad tablet (Under construction) - [watchOS](https://blog.warrenweb.net/watchOS): Apple Watch (Under construction) - Topics - Focus, linking, and integration across apps and devices - [Spaces](https://blog.warrenweb.net/spaces): Places to focus, link & think - [Shortcuts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/shortcuts): Workflow automation across apps - [Widgets](https://blog.warrenweb.net/widgets): Dashboard components, app glance views ### Discovery Mix URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/discovery-mix/ Last updated: 2024-09-03T16:07:55.000Z Listen to these custom playlists with music recently discovered that I liked and wanted to share. Great background for reading, writing, or focus work. ### [Discovery Mix #1](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0i0qsfF0IMjePsX7Vytx8O?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- 31 songs, 1 hr 39 min All 29 playlists of my Discovery Mix series are available on my [Wordpress site](https://warrenweb.net/music/my-reel-tapes?ref=blog.warrenweb.net). I'm gradually migrating these earlier posts to this Ghost website as pages, so they will all eventually appear here together. In the meantime, you can still access them all if you want to listen to more of them. - [Discovery Mix Playlists 4](https://dpw67.wordpress.com/music/playlists/discovery-mix/mix-1?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) – 2020 (Apr–Sep), 5 playlists, 37 hr - [Discovery Mix Playlists 3](https://dpw67.wordpress.com/music/playlists/discovery-mix/mix-1?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) – 2020 (Mar–Apr), 8 playlists, 59 hr - [Discovery Mix Playlists 2](https://dpw67.wordpress.com/music/playlists/discovery-mix/mix-1?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) – 2020 (Feb–Mar), 8 playlists, 45 hr - [Discovery Mix Playlists 1](https://dpw67.wordpress.com/music/playlists/discovery-mix/mix-1?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) – 2018 (Feb–Aug), 8 playlists, 17 hr ### Greatest Hits URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/music-greatest-hits/ Last updated: 2025-06-28T22:30:59.000Z These are the 25 most popular music posts viewed on my blog as of July 4, 2015. Enjoy listening to your favorites, find out what others like the most, or just explore new music 1. [SXSW 2015: Music Videos](https://warrenweb.net/2015/02/27/sxsw-2015-music-videos?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- SXSW (109) 2. [Stephen Bennett](https://warrenweb.net/2015/01/13/stephen-bennett?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Guitar (53) 3. [The Austin 100: A SXSW 2015 Mix](https://warrenweb.net/2015/03/03/the-austin-100-a-sxsw-2015-mix?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- SXSW (37) 4. [Ed Harris](https://warrenweb.net/2015/02/19/ed-harris?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Celtic (37) 5. [Miranda Lambert](https?warrenweb.net/2014/11/01/miranda-lambert) \- Country (28) 6. [Dixie Chicks](https://warrenweb.net/2014/10/18/dixie-chicks?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Country (26) 7. [Luke Bryan](https://warrenweb.net/2014/11/08/luke-bryan?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Country (26) 8. [Kacey Musgraves](https://warrenweb.net/2014/11/08/kacey-musgraves?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Country (24) 9. [Susan Boyle](https://warrenweb.net/2014/10/13/susan-boyle?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Pop (23) 10. [Fiona Joy: Signature Solo](https://warrenweb.net/2015/03/07/fiona-joy-signature-solo?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Piano (23) 11. [Joe Bongiorno](https://warrenweb.net/2014/11/19/joe-bongiorno?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Piano (23) 12. [Brian Crain](https://warrenweb.net/2014/11/19/brian-crain?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Piano (22) 13. [Coldplay](https://warrenweb.net/2014/10/20/coldplay?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Pop (21) 14. [Hayes Carll](https://warrenweb.net/2015/01/03/hayes-carll?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Country (21) 15. [SXSW @ The Dogwood](https://warrenweb.net/2015/03/31/five-photos-five-stories-challenge-day-two-the-dogwood?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- SXSW (20) 16. [Alan Parsons](http://warrenweb.net/2014/10/28/alan-parsons?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Rock (20) 17. [David Alan Gregoli](http://warrenweb.net/2014/10/28/david-alan-gregoli?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Guitar (20) 18. [Brandy Clark](http://warrenweb.net/2015/12/15/brandy-clark?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Country (18) 19. [The Band Perry](http://warrenweb.net/2015/02/21/the-band-perry?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Country (18) 20. [Antonio Malinconico](http://warrenweb.net/2014/09/29/antonio-malinconico?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Guitar (18) 21. [Lori McKenna](http://warrenweb.net/2015/01/03/lori-mckenna?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Country (18) 22. [Philip Wesley](http://warrenweb.net/2014/11/07/philip-wesley?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Piano (17) 23. [I'm Not Gonna Miss You](http://warrenweb.net/2015/02/22/glen-campbell-im-not-gonna-miss-you?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Country (17) 24. [George Strait](http://warrenweb.net/2014/09/20/george-strait?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Country (17) 25. [Mindy Smith](http://warrenweb.net/2014/12/02/mindy-smith?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Country (17) ### Photos URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/photos/ Last updated: 2024-06-02T19:04:18.000Z I enjoy photography, and these are some of my photos. - [Photography 101](https://warrenweb.net/photos/photography-101/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- calendar with all 21 photo blog posts for *A Photo a Day* workshop (Nov 2014) - [Favorite Photos](https://warrenweb.net/photos/favorite-photos/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- my 10 most popular photo posts - [Photos Gallery](https://warrenweb.net/photos-2/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- highlights some of my photos, including [Morning Rainbow](https://blog.warrenweb.net/2014/10/13/morning-rainbow/) - [Photo Summary](https://warrenweb.net/photos/photo-summary/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- lists all photos in reverse date order - [Photos Archive](https://warrenweb.net/photos/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- all my photo blog posts Also, we were season-ticket holders for our local AHL hockey team, and I shared some photos and videos when they won the Calder Cup: [Texas Stars: 2014 Calder Cup Champions](https://blog.warrenweb.net/2014/10/14/calder-cup/). ### Travel URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/travel/ Last updated: 2024-06-02T19:05:23.000Z We love to travel; these are selected travel posts with many photos. - [Scandinavia](https://warrenweb.net/travel/travel-scandinavia/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Denmark, Sweden, Norway (16-day Insight tour) - [Rhine Cruise](https://warrenweb.net/travel/travel-rhine-cruise/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Basel to Amsterdam (8-day Viking river cruise) - [Germany Trip](https://warrenweb.net/travel/travel-germany-trip/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Munich, Salzburg, Romantic Road, Leipzig, and Berlin (2 weeks by car) - [Popular Trips](https://warrenweb.net/travel/popular-trips/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- 5 most popular travel posts (Texas, Missouri, Arkansas) ### Writing URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/writing/ Last updated: 2025-07-08T21:44:36.000Z These are my writing efforts, featuring some stories and poetry. - [Best Stories](https://blog.warrenweb.net/writing-best-stories/) \- stories, short quotes, and thoughts about my grandchildren, children, and parents - [Poetry](https://blog.warrenweb.net/writing-poetry/) \- assignments in *Writing 201: Poetry* course (Feb 2015). - [Writing Summary](https://blog.warrenweb.net/writing-summary/) \- articles written for my blog ### Health URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/health/ Last updated: 2024-06-02T19:07:03.000Z These are some health topics. ## Diabetes I have had type 1 diabetes for over 17 years, and I'm developing apps that will help me manage it better that I also plan to release. - [Diabetes](https://warrenweb.net/diabetes/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) - [My Diabetes Meals](https://warrenweb.net/diabetes/my-diabetes-meals/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Heart I had irregular heart rhythms in 2020, consulted with an electrophysiologist (cardiologist - rhythm specialist), and he performed a cardiac ablation procedure that resolved my fast atrial heart beat (SVT, or supraventricular tachycardia). However, the premature contractions in the atrium (upper chamber) and ventricle (lower), know as PACs and PVCs still remained, so I started Flecainide (a sodium channel blocker) to help smooth those out out so they wouldn't bother me so much. - [Arrhythmia … Ablation](https://warrenweb.net/2020/09/19/arrhythmia-ablation/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) (Sep 19) - [Normal Rhythm](https://warrenweb.net/2020/10/01/normal-rhythm/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) (Oct 1) - [Flexainide … Thyroid … Potassium](https://warrenweb.net/2020/12/14/flecainide-thyroid-potassium/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) (Dec 14) ### Genealogy URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/genealogy/ Last updated: 2024-06-02T19:07:54.000Z One of my interests is genealogy. Here is some information about my family tree, genealogy websites, and what has helped my efforts. - [Family Tree](https://warrenweb.net/family-tree/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) - [WikiTree](https://warrenweb.net/wikitree/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) - [Ancestry](https://warrenweb.net/ancestry/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ### Home URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/home/ Last updated: 2024-10-18T21:17:15.000Z I hope you enjoy your visit—reading, listening, watching, learning, thinking, and linking … and come back often. These major sections reflect my efforts, interests, and experiences. - [PKM](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm): personal knowledge management and linking your thinking ([LYT](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt)). - [Technology](https://blog.warrenweb.net/technology): [Arc Browser](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-browser), [Reader](https://blog.warrenweb.net/reader), [Drafts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/drafts), [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian), [OmniFocus](https://blog.warrenweb.net/omnifocus), [Shortcuts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/shortcuts), [Swift](https://blog.warrenweb.net/swift). - [Interests](https://blog.warrenweb.net/interests): [Music](https://blog.warrenweb.net/music), [Photos](https://blog.warrenweb.net/photos), [Travel](https://blog.warrenweb.net/travel), [Writing](https://blog.warrenweb.net/writing), [Health](https://blog.warrenweb.net/health), [Genealogy](https://blog.warrenweb.net/genealogy). - [About](https://blog.warrenweb.net/about): More about me, WarrenWeb, Ghost, and help tips. ### WarrenWeb Migration URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/about-warrenweb/ Last updated: 2024-10-18T21:32:44.000Z My website started as a personal blog on Wordpress, and has now evolved into a website and blog on the Ghost platform. This provides some background and summarizes the transition. ## Personal blog (Doug Warren) Initially, I started a personal blog in September 2014, and I became involved with Wordpress and the blogger community. Mostly my focus was "sharing life experience and interests" so I simply called it *Doug Warren*, and just used https://dpw67.wordpress.com as its URL address without a specific domain. Wow, I can't believe that it's been active now for over 10 years! ## Wordpress (WarrenWeb) As my experiences and interests greatly expanded over time, it seemed appropriate to transform it from a blog with some pages into a website (with a blog). Therefore, with reorganization and enhancements, I changed the name to WarrenWeb since it became much more than just a personal blog, and I obtained a unique domain name (https://warrenweb.net). At first, the most obvious changes were the menu, structure, and organization; the sidebar initially evolved as changes were implemented, but seemed redundant on the new website. I created a new [Home](https://blog.warrenweb.net/home/) for website pages, updated major sections for [PKM](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm/), [Technology](https://blog.warrenweb.net/technology/), and [Interests](https://blog.warrenweb.net/interests/), along with my blog posts. My efforts include areas for [Music](https://blog.warrenweb.net/music/), [Photos](https://blog.warrenweb.net/photos/), [Travel](https://blog.warrenweb.net/travel/), [Writing](https://blog.warrenweb.net/writing/), [Health](https://blog.warrenweb.net/health/), and [Genealogy](https://blog.warrenweb.net/genealogy/). ## Ghost (WarrenWeb) Over the past several years, I became very busy working on my personal knowledge management (PKM) system using [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian/), as well as development efforts with [Swift](https://blog.warrenweb.net/swift/) technologies on Apple platforms. I have learned so much and discovered more. That has generated many new ideas, which I have organized and would like to share more broadly to benefit others. So now I'm migrating my website (and blog) from Wordpress to the Ghost publishing platform as I develop it further. To ensure a smooth transition, the Ghost website is now a subdomain with the blog prefix as [https://blog.warrenweb.net](https://blog.warrenweb.net/) in my current Wordpress site domain with links back to existing content. ### About URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/about/ Last updated: 2024-10-19T13:47:18.000Z This provides some information about me, my PKM system, Obsidian integration, and this WarrenWeb website. ## Introduction I'm Doug Warren, a software architect, developer, editor, and blogger from Lago Vista, Texas (near Austin), USA. I have been exploring activities that I never found time for earlier; I like to listen, read, learn, see, eat, think, link, and do. Major areas include topics about PKM, technology, music, photos, travel, writing, health, and genealogy. ## PKM system I actively participated in multiple Linking Your Thinking ([LYT) Workshops](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-workshop) led by Nick Milo and team, including a *Writing Original Works* ([WOW](https://blog.warrenweb.net/wow)) Workshop (now available as a self-paced course). [Linking your thinking](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt) has transformed my life, and I want to share information and ideas about what I have learned during my [LYT Journey](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-journey) with my personal knowledge management ([PKM](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm/)) system. ## Obsidian integration Recently, I have been actively focusing on [Obsidian Integration](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-integration/) with multiple apps in my PKM system with an emphasis on Apple platforms. ## WarrenWeb This WarrenWeb site focuses on thinking, linking, and sharing my interests, thoughts, and experiences with linked notes and app integration. See more about [WarrenWeb](https://blog.warrenweb.net/warrenweb/), the Ghost platform, and [Help](https://blog.warrenweb.net/about-help/) for support information and usage tips. Please [subscribe](https://blog.warrenweb.net/welcome/#/portal) as a paid *Plus* member, use comments in member discussions, or send me feedback with the [Contact](https://blog.warrenweb.net/contact) form. Plus subscribers also have access to [Downloads](https://blog.warrenweb.net/plus-downloads/) and my [WarrenWeb Notes](https://blog.warrenweb.net/warrenweb-notes/) digital garden. I hope you enjoy your visit and find something that helps you. Thanks for your support. ## ### Contact URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/contact/ Last updated: 2024-10-17T00:06:25.000Z Please use this form to submit feedback to me about my web site. I would like to know what you think. Let me know if something is confusing or does not work quite right. I am always seeking to make improvements so any suggestions are welcome. It would be helpful if you identified which area of the web site is associated with your feedback. That way I can understand which pages and posts you like the best, as well as favorite music, genres, artists, songs, or articles. Full name Email address **Which area of website** Choose Home PKM Technology Interests About Message Thanks for spending the time to communicate with me. I will review and respond to each one. ### Arc Browse for Me URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-browse-for-me/ Last updated: 2024-08-13T12:14:39.000Z Arc browser has several interesting features: Tidy Tabs, Instant Links, and Arc Sync. With these automatic tab groups, you can easily save them in Pinned Tabs, move selected folders to another Arc space, or copy all its tabs as Markdown links for an Obsidian note or map. ## Features - [Tidy Tabs](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc/tidy-tabs) - [Instant Links](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-instant-links) - [Arc Sync](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-sync) ## Act II You might enjoy the announcement by CEO Josh Miller that shows *A browser that browses for you*: [Meet Act II of Arc Browser](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIeJF3kL5ng&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- YouTube video (15 min). ### LYT - Linking Your Thinking URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt/ Last updated: 2024-09-14T21:01:28.000Z Nick Milo is the founder of Linking Your Thinking (LYT) and creator of the LYT Workshop, Ideaverse for Obsidian, Obsidian Flight School, How to Work a Book, videos, newsletters, and presentations. - [Linking Your Thinking](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt) (LYT) ## Obsidian Obsidian is a fantastic cross-platform app for making and linking your notes. It will enable you to create a personal PKM system to capture, organize, and share your ideas, thoughts, and knowledge. - 🗿Download [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) app ## Ideaverse for Obsidian Ideaverse for Obsidian is a space--and system--for linked digital notes. Download the zip file and open it as a new vault in Obsidian. It has 300+ notes that are linked 1000+ times. You can use this to jumpstart your own personal PKM system, which you can then use as a foundation if you choose to join a LYT Workshop. - ✨ Download [Ideaverse for Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ideaverse-for-obsidian) ## Obsidian for Beginners Learn the basics of Obsidian for Markdown notes. - [Obsidian for Beginners](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-for-beginners) ## Obsidian Flight School Enhance your Obsidian skills to enable making and linking notes at the speed of thought. - [Obsidian Flight School](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-flight-school) ## LYT Workshop Join a LYT Workshop to build your custom PKM system an immersive experience with its interactive sessions with Nick Milo and other experts, hands-on exercises, extensive curriculum, and supportive community. - [LYT Workshop](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-workshop) ## Frameworks Ideaverse for Obsidian is based on these key Linking Your Thinking frameworks for organization and workflow. - [ACE](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ace) Organization: Atlas, Calendar, Efforts - [ARC](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc) Workflow: Add, Relate, Communicate ## PKM Explore more about personal knowledge management (PKM). - [PKM](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm) \- Personal Knowledge Management ## Learn These additional resources are available, if you want to explore further. - 📖 Read about [Nick's PKM Story](https://medium.com/@nickmilo22/my-pkm-story-3763985b7a3e?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) (Medium) - 🎬 Learn Obsidian: [Obsidian for Beginners](https://warrenweb.net/obsidian-for-beginners?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) - 🚀 Master Obsidian: [Obsidian Flight School 2.5 ](https://www.linkingyourthinking.com/obsidian-flight-school?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) - 🗺 Master Knowledge: [LYT Workshop](https://linkingyourthinking.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) - 📚 Master Reading: [How to Work a Book](https://www.linkingyourthinking.com/how-to-work-a-book?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Subscribe Subscribe for more information. - 🔆 [LYT Notes Newsletter](https://www.linkingyourthinking.com/newsletter?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Free weekly creative productivity insight (every Friday) - 📺 [YouTube Channel](https://youtube.com/linkingyourthinking?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Videos (@linkingyourthinking) ## Communicate - X (Twitter) [Message](https://twitter.com/NickMilo?ref=blog.warrenweb.net): @NickMilo - 📩 Email: support@linkingyourthinking.com ## Posts ### Three Places for One PKM Vocabulary URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/three-places-for-one-pkm-vocabulary/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T22:01:31.000Z 💡 If you just want to browse the vocabulary: [https://w3id.org/pkm](https://w3id.org/pkm?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) — the hierarchy view is the fastest way in. Everything below is how I got there. ## Quick Navigation - [How The Problem Started](#how-the-problem-started) – The ACE framework, Day Clusters, and why they work - [When Multiple Tools Changed Everything](#when-multiple-tools-changed-everything) – Swift app, Python scripts, Neo4j, Claude AI - [What I Built Instead](#what-i-built-instead) – 223 terms with definitions and persistent URIs - [The Part I Didn't Expect](#the-part-i-didnt-expect) — How publishing revealed an uncontrolled publishing setup - [The Rule](#the-rule) — Every fact has exactly one canonical home - [Why Copies Are Okay](#why-the-vocabulary-is-on-the-notes-site-too) — Caches you can regenerate - [What Went Wrong](#three-things-that-went-wrong) — Typos, name collisions, and bad RDF mappings - [Still Open](#whats-still-open) — Three questions I genuinely want feedback on ## How The Problem Started The *Ideaverse* vault in Obsidian contains linked Markdown notes for my PKM system and Knowledge System Architecture (KSA). However, it got big enough that I have a naming problem, and I don't think I'm the only one. I use the ACE organization framework recommended by Nick Milo and Linking Your Thinking (LYT) that places notes into primary folder spaces based for knowledge, time, and action: - Atlas: what I *know* — concepts, topics, apps - Calendar: what happened *when* — plan, log, journal, review, memory, context - Efforts: what and how to *do* — projects, to-do's, skills, procedures, outputs Additional folders provide infrastructure before, during, and after work with notes in the ACE folders: - (Add): what's *new* (inputs), notes, sparks, ideas - x (Extras): *support* resources, templates, scripts - z (Archive): old folders and *inactive* files In the Calendar space with periodic notes for different time horizons, rather than a single note like a daily note, I built out a Day Cluster — index (hub), plan, log, journal, review, and health notes belonging to a single day — and the same shape for weeks, months, quarters, and years. ← [Return to navigation](#quick-navigation) ## When Multiple Tools Changed Everything That structure works well for me. The trouble started when the Obsidian notes in my vault stopped being the only thing touching it. I developed a Swift app (PKM Meals) for events, recipes, meals, and meal planning. Python services, scripts, and agents build daily notes from templates. Neo4j knowledge, context, and memory graphs sync with the Obsidian vault. And Claude AI reads across all of it. Each one has its own quiet idea of what a "Day Plan" is, or whether an "Effort" is the same thing as a project. Nothing breaks loudly. Things just drift, and six months later a script writes a note the app can't find. I realized that I needed more: - vocabulary: shared concept terms and definitions for "things" in my PKM system - taxonomy: structural hierarchy and associative relationships - schema: metadata property names, definitions, and usage - ontology: classes, relationships, properties, rules, logic, semantics (meaning) - knowledge graph: nodes, relationships, properties, queries, navigation, traversal - development artifacts: Python, Swift, Neo4j, and Obsidian templates & files ← [Return to navigation](#quick-navigation) ## What I Built Instead So I did the boring thing. I started writing the terms down — 223 of them, each with a definition, a scope note describing context and where it actually lives, and its relationships to the terms above and below it. Then I published the whole thing with a persistent URI namespace at a permanent web address for linked data so my tools — and anyone else — can point at a term and get a real answer about what it means: [**https://w3id.org/pkm/vocab**](https://w3id.org/pkm/vocab?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) Underneath it's SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System), which is the standard librarians and taxonomists use for exactly this. I use the SKOS Editor by Jessica Talisman to develop my PKM vocabulary, as well as Intentional Arrangement articles on her Substack. Her book "The Ontology Pipeline" will be published in the middle of September 2026. You don't need to care about that part. What matters is that every term has a stable address, so "Day Cluster" means one specific documented thing and can't quietly become two. ← [Return to navigation](#quick-navigation) ## The Part I Didn't Expect I assumed publishing was the last step. It turned out to be the step that made me figure out something I'd been avoiding: I have three websites, and I had never decided what each one is *for*. There's the vocabulary at `w3id.org/pkm` with permanent redirection to GitHub Pages which is served out of a GitHub repository. There's [notes.warrenweb.net](https://notes.warrenweb.net/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), my Obsidian Publish site. And there's this Ghost blog. Until last week the honest answer to "which one should this go on?" was whichever I opened first. That's fine when you're writing prose. It stops being fine the moment the same *fact* could live in more than one place, because then you have two copies and no rule about which one is right. Which is the exact problem the vocabulary exists to solve, one level up. I'd built a controlled vocabulary while running an uncontrolled publishing setup. ← [Return to navigation](#quick-navigation) ## The Rule So here's the rule I landed on, and it's short: > **Every fact has exactly one canonical home. Everywhere else is a link, or a cache you can regenerate.** Which gives each site one job: **The vocabulary repo is canonical for definitions.** Machine-readable, versioned, permanent URIs. If a definition is wrong, it's wrong *here* and nowhere else. Retired terms stay resolvable and point at whatever replaced them, so a link published today keeps working after I change my mind. **The notes site is canonical for thinking-in-progress.** Rationale, open questions, the things I'm still unsure about. No stability promise — it's a workbench, and it's allowed to be wrong in public. **The blog is canonical for narrative.** Dated, has an audience, says what changed and why. Like this post. ← [Return to navigation](#quick-navigation) ## Why the Vocabulary is on the Notes Site Too That rule sounds like it forbids what I actually did, so: there are now 241 notes on notes.warrenweb.net, one per term, each carrying the definition and the relationships. A copy. Isn't that the thing I just said not to do? It is a copy, and it's fine, because of the second half of the rule: it's a **cache you can regenerate**. Those 241 notes are generated from the published RDF Turtle by a script. `make notes` wipes and rewrites the whole directory. Nothing in there is hand-edited — if it were, the next run would eat it — so there's no version of the truth in there to diverge. The prose I actually care about lives one folder up, outside the blast radius. What the cache buys is the thing a static site can't do: **the vocabulary joins the link graph**. When I write "Day Cluster" in a note, Obsidian offers to link it to the term. Every term shows its backlinks. That matters enormously right now, because I'm migrating a decade of notes out of other vaults, and unlinked mentions is the mechanism that turns *moving* notes into *connecting* them. A website I have to visit in another tab can't do that. A note in the same vault can. ← [Return to navigation](#quick-navigation) ## Three Things That Went Wrong I'd rather write these down than pretend the week was clean. **A typo lived in published data for three days.** One term pointed at `https://skos.org#Concept` — a namespace that doesn't exist. I'd typed `skos:Concept` into a field and something mangled it into a hostname. Every validation check passed, because a dead link isn't a structural error. It took reading the file by hand to find, and then three attempts to fix, because twice I corrected the wrong term without noticing. The audit log is what finally showed me: every edit I'd made had landed on a neighboring concept. **Twenty term names collided with notes I already had.** `App`, `Map`, `Project`, `Taxonomy`, `Health`, `Swift`. If I'd generated those 241 notes naively, `[[App]]` would have become ambiguous — which is precisely the drift the vocabulary was built to prevent. They're named `App (Term)` now, following a convention I already used elsewhere for disambiguation and had forgotten I'd invented. **I asserted that Dublin Core terms metadata was a concept.** I'd mapped my `Source` term to `dcterms:source` and four siblings using `skos:relatedMatch`, which sounds right and isn't — that property's domain and range are both `skos:Concept`, so the mapping claims `dcterms:source` *is* a concept. It's an RDF property. `rdfs:seeAlso` says "related" with no such claim, and that's what it should have been. I filed it as a bug against the editor I was using, and it shipped as a validation warning the next morning. ← [Return to navigation](#quick-navigation) ## What's Still Open Three things I'd genuinely like other people's opinions on, and they're all naming or modelling questions rather than technical ones: 1. **Should the time periods nest or sit side by side?** Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year, and Decade are currently siblings. A Day genuinely is part of a Week — but nesting makes the tree deep and nothing inherits anything, so the depth costs navigation and buys nothing. 2. **Is "Cluster" the right word** for the dozen notes belonging to one day? It's the name I've changed my mind about most. 3. **Are Maps (MOCs) and home notes *terms* or *techniques*?** A whole layer of LYT practice is not modeled (yet) because I couldn't decide, and a vocabulary is the wrong place for a technique. The working notes are at [notes.warrenweb.net/pkm/vocab](https://notes.warrenweb.net/pkm/vocab?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) — including the open questions in more detail and a changelog of what's changed since the initial version. This is an early draft so I expect it to be wrong about things. Pick at it. That's what a version 0.1 is for. ← [Return to navigation](#quick-navigation) **Questions or Feedback?** I'd love to hear from you with comments on this Ghost post below (or email newsletter), Linking Your Thinking (LYT) community on Circle, Substack or LinkedIn comments, or as an issue on GitHub. --- <#output/post> · created 2026-08-31 · modified 2026-09-02 ### 🍴AI Diabetes Coach—Teaching Your AI Coach to Cook URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-6/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T12:04:18.000Z --- *The AI Diabetes Coach series:* *・Part 1:* [*The Transformation*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1) *・Part 2:* [*System Architecture*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-2) *・Part 3:* [*AI Prompt Engineering*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-3) *・Part 4:* [*Knowledge Graph*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-4) *・Part 5:* [*Build Your Own*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-5) ➔ **Part 6: 🍴Teaching Your AI Coach to Cook** --- My AI diabetes coach could tell me that Wednesday evening's glucose spiked to 204 mg/dL. It could identify the time, the rate of rise, and how many insulin correction units it took to bring things back down. What it couldn't tell me was why — because I hadn't told it what I ate. That's the missing link in any glucose management system. The continuous glucose monitor (CGM) captures what happened (every 5 minutes). The automated insulin pump records what I did about it. But the meal — the actual cause — lives in my head, a napkin note, or a vague Dexcom entry labeled "Dinner" with a question mark. In my case, a slice of banana bread around 9 PM turned a stable 100 mg/dL into a 200+ mg/dL overnight event. The system saw the spike. It just didn't know about the banana bread snack. Closing that loop required building something I didn't have: a structured recipe and meal database that connects what I eat to what my glucose does. Over the past few weeks I've built exactly that — starting with 3,321 recipes from my two primary sources, Plan To Eat and Diabetes Meal Plans, and building a macOS app to browse, filter, and surface the nutrition data I actually need at mealtime. Net carbs front and center. Glycemic impact visible before I pick up a fork. This is Part 6 of the AI Diabetes Coach series. It's about teaching the system to cook. ## The Missing Link My AI diabetes coach knew my glucose patterns from the *Day Diabetes* note that I automatically create for my *PKM Morning* routine to review my diabetes for the previous day. However, it does not understand what caused those glucose outcomes and connect those results to my meals, snacks, recipes, restaurants, and food choices. My PKM Health services create a Day Diabetes note in Obsidian that shows glucose summary statistics. - Daily summary: average, time in range, range (min-max) for the whole day - Period analysis: summaries for night, morning, afternoon, and evening - Hourly breakdown: event log timeline for each period. It includes an Alert Analysis with summary and details about alerts and calibrations, such as Low or High Glucose, Signal Loss, etc. This chart shows my Glucose across all daytime periods (night, morning, afternoon, evening). It also illustrates basic summary statistics with the light green area for my target time-in-range (70-180) and a marker for the daily median (125) at the 50% percentile, as well as the light blue area between the 10% and 90% percentiles. It's pretty obvious that something happened after 10 PM in the evening, whereas the rest of the day was great. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/2026-04-22-Glucose-Timeline-Chart.png) Glucose Timeline When you spot a period that needs further investigation, It helps to have a a period chart that highlights key summary statistics for each period. For example, it's very clear that the evening was unusual with the high peak glucose value, when everything looked perfect until then. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/2026-04-22-Period-Chart.png) Period Analysis It's also helpful to have a table that summarizes key statistics for each period. This shows that peak (Max) as 204 for the evening, with increasing variability (SD & CV), and range (109), and time in range dropped to only 85%. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/2026-04-22-Period-Table.png) Period Summary My meal logging is manual and inconsistent. Sometimes I have typing (or auto-correction) mistakes such as "Breakfadt Taco". At least I have the opportunity to make corrections in my Day Diabetes note (without rerunning my Health Sync automated workflow) that will recreate the Day Diabetes note. The data was there — glucose from Dexcom, insulin from Glooko, manual meal entries from my iPhone — but scattered across systems with no common thread. What I needed was the meal data structured well enough to connect cause and effect. There is adequate information included in my Day Diabetes note with the statistics, graphs, tables, and timelines that I can use by scanning its content as I do my Day Review for my health (including diabetes). But that requires more time, and there are patterns and connections that I miss doing this manually. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/2026-04-22-Meals-Insulin-Table.png) Meals & Insulin I thought there was a better way to automatically perform this analysis using Claude AI every day. I could integrate my meals, recipes, and nutrition for enhanced diabetes intelligence if I provided my Day Diabetes note with my structured diabetes data. ## Building the Recipe Database The recipe data existed — it was just scattered and disconnected. ### Recipes & Meal Plans I have two primary sources for my recipes and meal plans. - [Diabetes Meal Plans (DMP)](https://diabetesmealplans.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) is a curated library of healthy diabetes-friendly recipes, each with carefully calculated nutrition data. Every Thursday a new weekly meal plan arrives with lunch and dinner suggestions selected for low-carb glycemic control. - [Plan To Eat (PTE)](https://plantoeat.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) is my primary recipe database — a personal collection of recipes gathered from DMP, food blogs, cookbooks, and family favorites, organized into weekly meal plans with an auto-generated shopping list with all the ingredients needed from the grocery store. Neither system was designed to talk to my glucose monitor. A recipe in PTE knows the net carbs for its ingredients. My CGM records my glucose values every 5 minutes and occasional alerts or calibrations throughout each day. And my insulin pump captures my insulin doses for meals and corrections. Nothing connected them. The problem: these two systems didn't talk to each other, and neither talked to my glucose data. I knew a recipe had 12g net carbs. I didn't know whether 12g of bolognese behaved the same as 12g of banana bread. Spoiler: it doesn't. The first step was building a local cache from both libraries — 1,215 DMP recipes and 2,192 PTE recipes stored as structured JSON documents, deduplicated across both sources into roughly 3,200 unique recipes. When the same recipe appears in both DMP and PTE, the PTE version takes precedence since it reflects any personal modifications I've made. I needed a structured recipe and meal database so I could connect what I eat to what my glucose does. I developed PKM Recipe services and scripts for both DMP and PTE websites that sync cached JSON recipes with a local SwiftData SQL database for all the recipes, meals, and nutrition information that can then be integrated with my Day Diabetes structured diabetes data, Neo4j knowledge graph, and Day cluster Obsidian notes. ### PKM Recipes App From that cache, I built PKM Recipes — a native Swift app as user interface on either macOS and iOS for my PKM Services that use Python, Neo4j, Obsidian, and Claude AI. It will allow me to browse, filter, and search my recipes with nutrition data front and center. Net carbs are highlighted in every recipe row and prominently displayed in the detail view alongside total carbs, fiber, protein, fat, and sodium. The goal was simple: make the carb count visible at the point of decision needed for mealtime before the meal is plated. I started with a simple interface with a Recipe List in the sidebar and a Recipe Detail for a selected recipe. For example, this shows a Mixed Veggie Egg Scramble. As I use the app every day, I will continually make improvements based my on my actual usage and workflow requirements. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/PKMRecipes-Mixed-Veggie-Egg-Scramble---Sidebar---Header.png) Searching for "mixed veggie" returns all matching recipes. Filtering to DMP shows only the clinically curated recipes. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/PKMRecipes-Mixed-Veggie-Egg-Scramble---Sidebar-Mixed-Veggie.png) The nutrition panel shows the two numbers that matter most for dosing: net carbs for the bolus calculation, and total carbs plus fiber to understand the glycemic profile. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/PKMRecipes-Mixed-Veggie-Egg-Scramble---Nutrition.png) Nutrition Panel The recipe shows the full ingredient list. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/PKMRecipes-Mixed-Veggie-Egg-Scramble---Ingredients.png) Ingredients Step-by-step cooking instructions are included as well. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/PKMRecipes-Mixed-Veggie-Egg-Scramble---Instructions.png) Instructions See the Recipe List sidebar and complete Recipe Detail view. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/PKMRecipes---Mixed-Veggie-Egg-Scramble---Sidebar---Detail.png) PKM Recipes — full recipe detail with ingredients and instructions This is the foundation. A searchable, structured, locally-cached recipe database with accurate nutrition data — available offline, integrated into the same system that tracks my glucose. ## Closing the Loop The banana bread incident is the clearest illustration of why meal data matters. On a recent Wednesday evening, I had Creamy Spaghetti Bolognese (with Miracle Noodles) for dinner; my glucose was 103 before the meal and only 99 after 2 hours when I checked. Actually, that should have been a comfortable level — exactly where I wanted it. Low enough to feel good, stable enough to coast through the night. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/IMG_1345-Creamy-Spaghetti-Bolognese-1.jpg) Creamy Spaghetti Bolognese (with Miracle Noodles) However, for some reason, I thought maybe it might need a small boost to raise my glucose before bed and I reached for a slice of banana bread that my wife had made (without any insulin dose). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/IMG_1374-Banana-Bread-Slice-1.jpg) Banana Bread It was the wrong call. By 11 PM, glucose had climbed to 185\. By midnight it was 204\. It kept rising until 1:40 AM when I noticed it was still hovering around 190 and took a correction insulin dose that slowly brought it down through the rest of the night with additional assistance from my insulin pump to reach my 110 target (and my fasting glucose was 103 when I woke up). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/2026-04-22-Evening-Hour-Summaries.png) Evening Hour Summaries Notice how I was 100% time in range (TIR) throughout the evening until I ate the banana bread at 10:13 PM, and it was only 8% in range over the next hour from 11 PM - midnight with a max glucose of 204. However, I had initially forgotten to actually manually log that I had Banana Bread as a snack at 10:13 PM, and I hadn't taken an insulin dose, so there was only a steep glucose rise at the end of the day. The AI coach saw all of this, which was covered in the Day Diabetes Analysis that was generated automatically. It flagged the spike, tracked the corrections, noted the overnight disruption. What it couldn't do was connect the event to its cause — because banana bread wasn't in the system. There was no entry, no carb count, no glycemic context. Just a mysterious spike that looked, from the data alone, like a basal failure or a delayed dinner absorption. It highlighted that the day was excellent, except for that unknown spike late in the evening. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/Day-Diabetes-Analysis---Overall.png) Day Diabetes Analysis - Overall The Meal Analysis for Dinner in section 2 was excellent, until something happened around 11 PM with a glucose spike at 204\. Since I had failed to log the Banana Bread snack at 10:13 and took no insulin dose, the data had gaps that need further investigations because it appears unusual. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/Day-Diabetes-Analysis---Dinner.png) Day Diabetes Analysis - Meal Analysis Reviewing recurring patterns, it mentioned that I might need to review late evening since there have been several recent highs. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/Day-Diabetes-Analysis---Observations.png) Day Diabetes Analysis - Pattern Observations In section 4 on Tomorrow's Focus, it identifies that I need to investigate why this happened, and even mentions that initially it couldn't identify what the dinner was because my meal log entry was not recognized. It also suggests that I need to note any late snacks (which I failed to do). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/Day-Diabetes-Anlysis---Tomorrow-s-Focus.png) Day Diabetes Analysis - Tomorrow's Focus I realized that I never actually logged a Meal at 10:13 PM for Banana Bread with 27g carbs, along with a Note that identified it was a Snack (and a photo). And I updated my Day Diabetes notes with the missing Banana Bread entry, which really explains everything that happened. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/2026-04-22-Evening-Event-Timeline.png) Day Diabetes - Evening Event Timeline I thought that one slice of banana bread is roughly 27g of fast-absorbing carbohydrates — flour, sugar, and ripe banana, all rapid glucose. Starting from 100 mg/dL with no active insulin, that's a formula for a 100+ point rise within 60-90 minutes. I knew this in the abstract. What I didn't have, in the moment, was the number in front of me before I picked it up. I just didn't realize how much it would raise my glucose so quickly. In fact, I had estimated that a slice of Banana Bread would be about 27g carbs. However, my wife still uses the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook (red-and-white checkered ring binder) that was published in 1969 that I gave her for Christmas several years after we were married (and she's still using it!) Since she used that specific recipe, I thought I would look at it again, but there is no nutrition information on the recipe page (which I have noticed in the past). When I looked it up in the Index, and found it was page 56 in section 3 (Breads). I went to that section divider and discovered there's actually a Nutrition Analysis table for all recipes in that section right at the beginning (which I never realized for all these years). And Banana Bread has 23g carbs for their recipe, which is baked in an 8x4x2 inch loaf pan and makes 16 servings; so a serving would be 1/16 of a loaf; so how wide a slice is that—maybe 1/2 inch for an 8-inch loaf? Then I thought I would check the BHG website for their Banana Bread recipe, and I found several. There's an updated modern version (dated 2022) shows 32g carbs. However, I notice it uses a larger 9x5x3 pan and its ingredients are different amounts—sugar: 1C vs 2/3; flour: 2C vs 1 3/4; mashed banana: 1 1/2C (5 bananas) vs 1C (2-3 bananas); and 1/2C walnuts vs 1/4C nuts. There's also an air fryer version in a round cake pan making 8 servings with 29g carbs, as well as another "Classic" one that shows 15g carbs. - [Banana Bread](https://www.bhg.com/recipe/quickbreads/banana-bread?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- BHG, 2022, 32g carbs - [Air-Fryer Banana Bread](https://www.bhg.com/recipe/air-fryer-banana-bread?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- BHG, 2024, 29g carbs - [How to Make Classic Banana Bread](https://www.bhg.com/recipe/breads/banana-bread?ref=blog.warrenweb.net)\- BHG, 2024, 15g carbs Other websites like USDA (US Department of Agriculture) lists 33g carbs for a slice (identified as 60g), or the FatSecret website shows 27g for a Banana Bread serving. So it really matters what source and recipe you use for your meals, if you want to really know its nutrition so you have the right carbs to use in insulin dosing for your meals. Also, I remembered that the Plan to Eat app allows you to add a recipe from a cookbook using an iPhone photo so I created a new Banana Bread PTE recipe. I used its Nutrition Calculator to calculates the nutrition for all the ingredients in the recipe, and that showed 22g carbs (which is fairly closed to the original recipe). It's not enough just to know the nutrition information for a "serving" with its total carbs, fiber, sugar alcohols, net carbs, protein, fat, and sodium. It's also important to know what is the size (or weight) of that serving, and how many servings the recipe makes. For example, for a BHG Banana Bread recipe in a 8x4x2 inch loaf that makes 16 servings, a serving would be about a 1/2 inch slice. Sometimes it's more precise to use grams or ounces rather than a vague "slice" since you can use a food scale for quick easy measurements. That's what a connected recipe database changes. When a recipe's net carbs are visible before eating — not estimated afterward, not looked up separately, but surfaced at the point of decision — the bolus calculation becomes proactive instead of reactive. A 27g snack at 100 mg/dL calls for insulin first, eating second. Skipping that step is what turned a stable evening into a three-hour recovery. The same principle applies to every meal. The Creamy Spaghetti Bolognese (with shirataki konjac noodles instead of pasta) that works reliably at 12g net carbs behaves differently from a Breakfast Taco estimated as 20 carbs — because the glycemic profile of ground beef with heavy cream is nothing like a low-carb flour tortilla. Net carbs are necessary but not sufficient. Understanding *which* 12g matters as much as knowing the number. One more variable matters: timing. Taking insulin 15 minutes before eating — rather than at the first bite — gives it a head start that can dramatically flatten the post-meal curve. The system can prompt this. The recipe can inform the dose. But the timing discipline has to become habit. That's the intelligence gap the system is designed to close: not just logging what happened, but building enough structured meal and recipe data that the AI coach can start connecting cause to effect — and eventually, help anticipate outcomes before they happen. ## What's Next The recipe database and PKM Recipes app solve the visibility problem — net carbs are now surfaced before meals rather than estimated afterward. But visibility alone doesn't close the loop. The next step is connecting meals to outcomes. That means extending the Neo4j knowledge graph introduced in [Part 4](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-4) to include Recipe and Meal nodes alongside the existing Day and Health nodes. When a meal is logged, it links to its recipe, its nutrition data, and the glucose readings that followed. Over time, the graph accumulates something genuinely useful: a personal record of how specific recipes affect *my* glucose — not population averages, but my actual response to Beef Stew, Nut Granola, and yes, banana bread. Pattern queries become possible. Which recipes consistently keep me in tight range? Which meals correlate with post-dinner corrections? Does the Creamy Spaghetti Bolognese behave differently on days I walk afterward? The data to answer these questions is already being collected — it just needs the meal layer to connect it. **Part 7** covers the Week Cluster and meal planning workflow — how DMP's weekly meal plan, PTE's shopping list, and the Day Cluster's health tracking combine into a structured weekly rhythm that feeds this intelligence loop. The PKM structure that organizes all this data for each day is covered in Part 1 of a separate series: [📅 Day Cluster](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-cluster) . And for those who want to build something similar without starting from scratch, a companion post is coming: **Claude Projects Setup Guide for Diabetes** — practical instructions, sample prompts, and workflow templates for getting your own AI diabetes coach up and running. The system isn't finished. It's never finished. But it's getting smarter with every meal logged and every glucose curve recorded. That's the point. --- *Start from the beginning:* [*🚀 Part 1: The Transformation*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1) ### 🔧 AI Diabetes Coach — Build Your Own URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-5/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T12:02:18.000Z --- **🤖 AI Diabetes Coach** series: — 🚀 Part 1: [The Transformation](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1) — 🏗️ Part 2: [System Architecture](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-2) — 💭 Part 3: [Prompt Engineering](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-3) — 🕸️ Part 4: [Knowledge Graph](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-4) ➔ 🔧 Part 5: Build Your Own (this post) — 🍴Part 6: [Teaching Your AI Coach to Cook](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-6) --- You've read about what's possible. Maybe you've tried asking Claude about your glucose data and got something useful. But at some point the question shifts from *"could this work?"* to *"how do I actually start?"* — and that's where most people get stuck. This post is for readers at different technical levels. Remember, you don't need to build everything at once; in fact, it's better to evolve your system as you go based on your actual experience. ### Who This Is For This post is intended for multiple audiences—people with diabetes (or not), PKM practitioners, developers (technical), or others wanting to learn more about health, AI, and technology, or simply have a general non-technical interest. - **People with diabetes** (type 1 or 2): who are frustrated with fragmented data that does not provide an integrated view with what you need to know and do. They just want to track and manage diabetes better and take actions that help improve their health every day. - **PKM practitioners:** who want to integrate health information in their personal knowledge system. - **Developers:** who want a starting point to create a custom system for themselves (or others). - **Non-developers:** who are curious, interested, and just want to know what's possible. ### The Spectrum of Approaches There are various ways to address this topic along the spectrum at different implementation levels: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/04/Build-Your-Own---Featured-Image-1.png) Three levels of implementation — start simple, add layers when you feel the friction. - **Simple:** Claude Projects + manual data upload. The easiest way to get started — upload a PDF report and ask Claude what it notices. - **Structured:** Obsidian + Day Cluster notes + Claude. Add structure when you want your data to compound over time into queryable patterns. - **Automated:** Python services + Neo4j + Dexcom API. Full automation — daily notes generated without you thinking about it. ### Start Where You Are First, you need to begin with your own personal situation, what you know (and don't know), what devices you have (CGM, pump, phone), what apps are you using, how comfortable are you with technology, etc. - **Devices:** What do you have? This includes: - Blood glucose meter (BGM)—Contour Next, AccuChek, or One Touch Verio Flex - Continuous glucose monitor (CGM)—Dexcom G7, Freestyle Libre, etc. - Insulin pump for automated insulin delivery—OmniPod 5, Tandem t:slim X2 or Mobi, etc. - Mobile phones—iPhone (iOS), Samsung (Android), or other - Computers (laptop or desktop)—macOS, Windows, or Linux - Smart watch—Apple Watch and others - **Apps:** What apps, websites, or databases do you already use? Usually devices have associated mobile apps, and related websites with diabetes data available via API, CSV exports, and/or PDF reports such as these:You might also have other apps with health information. Some may have both mobile and computer versions of their apps. - BGM: Contour, One Touch Reveal, etc. - CGM: Dexcom G7 (and Clarity), Tidepool, etc. - Insulin: Omnipod 5, Glooko, Tidepool, and more - Websites: Dexcom Clarity, Glooko, or Tandem Source - Apple Health, Sugarmate, Glucomate, GlucoSense, enhance-d, etc. - Recipes: Diabetes Meal Plans (DMP), Plan to Eat (PTE), Paprika - Meals & nutrition: Under My Fork, Chronometer, SNAQ Diabetes Food Tracker, Mela, FoodNoms - Sleep—Sleep Cycle - Mindfulness—Calm or Headspace - Workout or Fitness—MyFitnessPal, etc. - Weight & nutrition—Lose It!, etc. - **Technology:** Are you comfortable with technology? Do have minimal, basic, or more advanced skills with apps, shortcuts, hotkeys, tools, notes, databases, and websites. This will also determine how you want to proceed, whether tiny experiments, a complete custom system, or anywhere in between. ### The Minimal Viable Coach The simplest version of an AI diabetes coach requires nothing more than Claude and a willingness to share some of your data. No API access, no Python, no special tools. Start by creating a Claude Project specifically for diabetes. In the Project instructions, add context about yourself: your diabetes type, devices you use, your target ranges, and any patterns you've already noticed. This becomes Claude's persistent memory — it knows your situation before you say a word. A detailed guide to setting up your Claude Project for diabetes — including sample instructions, prompts, and workflows — is coming as a companion post. Then export a week of data from whatever app you use. Dexcom Clarity offers a PDF report. Glooko does too. Upload it to Claude and ask: *"What patterns do you see in my glucose data this week? What times of day am I most often out of range?"* You'll be surprised what comes back. Not because Claude is magical, but because having an informed, patient analyst look at your data with fresh eyes — even once a week — surfaces things you've stopped seeing because you're too close to it. The key is consistency. One upload tells you something. Twelve uploads over three months tell you something you can act on. ### Adding Structure Once you're getting value from Claude conversations, structure makes that value compound. The Day Cluster approach I described in the [Day Cluster series](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-cluster) gives each day a consistent home — a set of linked notes covering your plan, log, health data, and review. For diabetes specifically, a daily health note with consistent properties (average glucose, TIR, meals, insulin) becomes queryable over time. Obsidian is the foundation because it stores everything as plain Markdown files you own and control — no vendor lock-in, no subscription required for your own data. ### The Data Layer Your data is already being collected — the question is whether you can access it. Dexcom offers a personal API (apply at developer.dexcom.com) that provides raw glucose readings, alerts, and events. Approval took me several weeks. Glooko aggregates insulin and meal data and offers PDF and CSV exports. If you're waiting for API access, PDF exports from Clarity or Glooko are a perfectly good starting point — Claude can read and analyze them directly. The goal is getting your data out of app silos and into a form you control. ### The Knowledge Graph (Optional but Powerful) This is the layer most people will never need — and that's fine. A Neo4j knowledge graph becomes valuable when you have months of structured data and want to ask questions that span time: - *"What's my average TIR on days after poor sleep?"* - *"Which meals consistently produce the flattest glucose response?"* Start without it. Add it when you feel the friction of not being able to query across your history. [Part 4](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-4) of this series covers the knowledge graph in detail, if you want to know more about that. ### The AI Layer *Claude Projects* is the right starting point for most people — persistent context, file uploads, and conversation history across sessions. *Claude Code* is worth exploring if you're comfortable with the command line and want AI assistance writing or improving your own scripts and services. For diabetes coaching specifically, the most valuable prompts are pattern-focused: - *"What changed this week compared to last week?"* - *"Given this meal and this glucose response, what would you adjust?"* The Morning Review workflow — uploading yesterday's data each morning and asking for observations — is where the daily value lives. ### Lessons Learned Building this system while living with diabetes has taught me things I couldn't have learned any other way. **What worked:** Automating the boring parts. The most valuable thing the system does is generate a structured Day Diabetes note every morning without me thinking about it. That consistency — 135 days of structured data — is what makes pattern analysis possible. You can't find patterns in data you didn't capture. **What didn't work at first:** Trying to build everything at once. The system you see in this series evolved over months of tiny experiments. The knowledge graph came after the daily notes. The Python services came after manual workflows. Each layer was added only when I felt the friction of not having it. **The sensor drift problem:** CGM sensors aren't always accurate, especially in the first few days of a new sensor. I learned to always check a calibration reading before trusting a concerning number. My system now captures calibration events alongside alerts, so I can see in the morning review when a "low" was actually a false reading. **Typos and autocorrect:** Meal names logged in the Dexcom app sometimes arrive misspelled — Cauliflower becomes "Caukiflower," Celery becomes "Cekery." The system captures what was typed, and I correct it in context. A slightly misspelled meal name is still useful data. **Building while living in it:** This is both the hardest and most valuable part. Every pattern I've discovered — dawn phenomenon, stress-induced highs, the Panera crouton problem — came from having data at hand when the moment happened. You don't need a perfect system. You need a consistent one. ### Getting Started This Week You don't need to wait until the system is perfect to start getting value from it. **Day 1:** Create a Claude Project. Add your diabetes context in the instructions — type, devices, target ranges, current challenges. Upload this week's Clarity or Glooko PDF. Ask Claude what it notices. **Day 3:** Try your first structured note. Even a simple daily log — glucose range, meals, how you felt — gives Claude something to work with over time. **Week 2:** Explore what data your apps can export. Most CGM and pump apps offer CSV or PDF exports. Find out what format your data comes in. **Month 1:** Look back at four weeks of notes. Ask Claude: *"Based on my logs, what's the most consistent pattern in my glucose data?"* The answer will surprise you. The goal isn't a perfect system on day one. It's a slightly better view of your own data than you had yesterday. ### What's Next Part 6 covers Recipes, Meals, and Nutrition Intelligence — connecting your food choices directly to glucose outcomes. And a companion guide to Claude Projects setup for diabetes is also in progress. - 🍴**Part 6:** [Teaching Your AI Coach to Cook](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-6) — How food choices connect directly to glucose outcomes — building a recipe intelligence system that learns from your actual responses. - 📋Claude Projects Setup Guide for Diabetes— A practical companion guide to setting up your Claude Project — sample instructions, prompts, workflows, and tips for getting the most from your AI diabetes coach. The PKM structure that organizes all this data for each day is covered in Part 1 of a separate series: [📅 Day Cluster](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-cluster) . *Start from the beginning:* [*🚀 Part 1: The Transformation*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1) ### 🕸️ AI Diabetes Coach—Knowledge Graph URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-4/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T12:01:17.000Z --- **🤖 *AI Diabetes Coach* series:** — 🚀 Part 1: [The Transformation](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1) — 🏗️ Part 2: [System Architecture](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-2) — 💭 Part 3: [Prompt Engineering](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-3) ➔ 🕸️ Part 4: [Knowledge Graph](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-4) *—* 🔧 Part 5: [Build Your Own](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-5/) *—* 🍴Part 6: [Teaching Your AI Coach to Cook](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-6) --- Imagine describing your diabetes history to a new doctor — every appointment, from scratch. Your basal rates, your patterns, what spikes you, what doesn't. Now imagine doing that at the start of every AI conversation. When I first started using AI chat conversations for my diabetes management, I realized I was starting each session at zero — re-explaining my glucose data, meals, insulin history, activity, and patterns every single time. No memory, no continuity. It reminded me of conversations with my mother, who had Alzheimer's disease — like talking to someone with amnesia: no past, no future, no thread connecting one conversation to the next. Talking to an AI without memory felt the same way: you could have a meaningful exchange, but it evaporated. Nothing carried forward. A truly knowledgeable diabetes coach would know my history after years of working together — my patterns, my triggers, what's improved and what hasn't. AI could be that coach. If only it could remember. This morning, I was writing this post while my system was simultaneously capturing my glucose, meal, and insulin data. Tomorrow, during my Morning Review, I'll open my Day Diabetes note and see analysis and insights explaining what happened, when, how, and why — along with actions to improve. I'm building the system while living in it. That's what this series is about: giving AI the memory and context it needs to become a genuine health partner — not a brilliant stranger you have to re-introduce yourself to every time. ## The Memory Problem Managing Type 1 diabetes means living inside an endless stream of data — glucose readings every 5 minutes, insulin doses, meals, exercise, sleep, stress. The challenge isn't collecting the data. It's making sense of it over time. There are several dimensions to this problem. ### AI Conversations Artificial intelligence chat conversations can be helpful because Large Language Models (LLMs) can read and understand language and generate structured and organized responses in various formats and styles. If you have a specific question (and provide relevant context) as AI input, you'll probably get useful output from the AI model for that prompt along with related sources and suggestions. This enables an interactive conversation where you can dive deeper on a specific topic or explore related concepts in an ongoing dialog. However, it's critical that you provide context and instructions with each prompt. And here's the fundamental problem: most AI conversations have no *memory* across sessions. Without persistent memory, you either have to keep repeating the same context and instructions for every interaction — or upload the same background documents over and over again. Both context and memory are essential if you want to find patterns and generate broader insights rather than just answering one-off questions. ### Finding Patterns Diabetes patterns don't reveal themselves in a single day. They emerge over weeks: a glucose spike every Thursday after lunch, a low every morning when you've slept less than 6 hours, a consistent post-exercise dip 90 minutes after a workout. Scrolling back through daily notes or exports to find these patterns is tedious and unreliable. You miss things. You forget what you were looking for. The signal gets lost in the noise of day-to-day variation. What you need isn't more data — it's a smarter way to *query* the data you already have. ### Diabetes Analysis My PKM health services already process all the rich diabetes data captured by my devices, apps, and websites—Dexcom CGM readings via their API, insulin doses from Glooko PDF parsing, meals and carbs from my daily Health notes. Since there's so much diabetes data, it can be quite overwhelming and hard to understand what's happening, why, and what I can do about it. However, it's not necessary for me to review all the detailed diabetes events or standard diabetes report summaries. My PKM system automatically generates a single *Day Diabetes* note every morning that integrates all my diabetes together in context for my Review practice. This has been extremely useful so far because it brings all my diabetes information together for the previous day. It includes glucose charts, time in range, and summary statistics; insulin and meal summary tables, alert and calibration analysis; day period analysis (night, morning, afternoon, evening), and hourly breakdowns for each 6-hour period with CGM summaries and associated event timelines. This provides me a wonderful diabetes summary, analysis, and insights for the Morning Review for my Health and Diabetes every day. It definitely helps me understand what's working, what's not, and highlights actions for better health. Currently, in AI chat conversations using Claude Projects, I can engage with my Claude AI diabetes coach to explore and understand my Day Diabetes day through a series of interactive dialogs during my Morning Review process. These interactions in context with my diabetes data enables me to make additional Obsidian notes from my learnings, suggestions, protocols, checklists, and actions for my Health area and Diabetes topics, as well as new tiny experiments. I can change my behavior today, and make improvement to my system and my health every single day. But there's no way to ask my PKM system questions like these: *"What was my average TIR last month when I exercised?"* , or *"Which meals correlate with the biggest post-meal spikes?"* — at least not without manually stitching data together. Next, I plan to integrate a diabetes model into my Neo4j knowledge graph, along with corresponding queries, services, scripts, agents, shortcuts, and voice questions. Also, I'm currently extending my Calendar model with features for all time horizon clusters: Week, Month, Quarter, and Year, including Health, Diabetes, and Analysis notes for my periodic reviews. For example, my Week Diabetes, Month Diabetes, Quarter Diabetes, and Year Diabetes notes will offer me further perspectives and insights on my status, progress, and improvement over time. ### Scrolling vs Queries The difference between scrolling and querying is the difference between hunting and asking. When you scroll, you're limited by what you happen to notice. When you query, you get precise answers to precise questions. To get from scrolling to querying, you need a data model. And that's where the knowledge graph comes in. ## What's a Knowledge Graph? Most data lives in one of two forms: unstructured documents (text you read) or structured tables (rows and columns you query). Both are useful, but neither is great at capturing *relationships* — how things connect to each other. A knowledge graph stores information as **nodes** (things) and **relationships** (how things connect to each other). Instead of rows in a spreadsheet or text in a document, you get a web of interconnected objects. A knowledge graph is a *knowledge map*, or "web of knowledge" rather than a *database*. It provides the structure, organization, metadata, context, memory, and tools that support my personal knowledge system and my life. ### Nodes For diabetes, a node might be a day, a meal, a glucose reading, or an insulin dose. A relationship connects them: this meal *preceded* that glucose spike; this insulin dose *followed* that reading; this day *belongs to* this week. Think of it like the difference between a filing cabinet and a mind map. A filing cabinet stores things by location; a mind map stores things by relationship. When you want to understand *how* things connect — not just *where* they're stored — a graph is the right tool. ### Relationships A link between two Obsidian notes simply says *these are related* — but the context and meaning lives in the surrounding text (or optional alias), not in the connection itself. Sometimes it becomes necessary to use intermediate notes to express relationship metadata or content regarding two or more notes (similar to the way join tables are used to represent relationships in a "SQL relational database"). A knowledge graph offers much richer model that makes the relationship explicit and typed. It's not just some *related* association or connection, but `PRECEDED_BY`, `CAUSED`, `CORRECTED_BY`. The relationship carries meaning independent of the notes it connects, and they can also contain properties just like nodes. ### Properties Nodes and relationships can also carry **properties** — named values that describe them. Properties are what make nodes queryable and comparable, not just connected. Since there are usually multiple meals each day, a graph model might have a Day node (`DayNote`) with `date` property, and a Meal node (`Meal`) with properties for `title` and `carbs`. The Day would be connected each Meal with a `HAS_MEAL` relationship with a `time` property. ### Knowledge Graph vs. Context Graph You'll see these terms used interchangeably in AI discussions, but they're subtly different — and both are relevant here. A **knowledge graph** is a *domain model*: a structured representation of what you know about a subject. Neo4j, Wikidata, and Google's Knowledge Graph are examples. The focus is on modeling entities and their relationships accurately and completely. A **context graph** (sometimes called a *memory graph*) is a more recent framing that's emerged alongside AI agents. It's specifically about giving an AI model the *relevant state* it needs to reason well right now — what's happening today, what patterns have emerged recently, what's most pertinent to this conversation. The focus is on retrieval and relevance for AI reasoning, not on completeness of the domain model. A useful analogy: a knowledge graph is a well-organized library. A context graph is the well-briefed assistant who already knows your research question and has the right books waiting on the desk when you arrive. In practice, the line blurs. My system uses Neo4j as both: it's a domain model of my diabetes and daily life *and* it's the memory layer that delivers structured context to AI conversations. The graph serves both purposes because the same relationships that make data queryable also make it retrievable for AI reasoning. ## Thinking in Objects Before you can query a graph, you have to *think in objects*. This is a shift from how most notes are structured. A traditional daily note is a document — a linear sequence of information written for a human reader. A graph object is a *node* with properties and relationships — structured data designed to be traversed by a machine. In my PKM system, each day is an object. Each day has cluster objects attached to it: Plan, Log, Journal, Health, Diabetes, Review, Actions. Each cluster has properties. Each day connects to its neighbors (previous/next) and to its containing time horizons (Week, Month, Quarter, Year). This isn't just organization — it's *addressability*. Every piece of information has a precise location in the graph that can be reached by traversing relationships. The power isn't in any single node — it's in being able to *traverse* the connections. You can start at today's breakfast and follow the graph to the glucose reading 90 minutes later, then to the correction dose, then to the bedtime reading. The relationships are first-class data, not just implied by proximity in a document. ## My Diabetes Graph At this point in the evolution of my PKM system, my diabetes graph is primarily realized in the Obsidian notes for Day Diabetes and Day Analysis that are automatically produced every morning during my Morning Review. My existing Neo4j Graph Services and Cypher Query Library primarily focus on existing Calendar, Health, and Review services associated with my Day Clusters in my Obsidian notes. ### Day Clusters Initially, I established my knowledge graph to focus on my Day clusters in the Calendar space in my Obsidian notes for time-based knowledge. I also established the time horizon structure (week, month, quarter, year), temporal relationships (prev/next) for all cluster notes, and wayfinder generation for navigation throughout my notes by time and type. ### PKM Services Then, I implemented my PKM services for Calendar, Health, and Review services for my Day Startup and Morning Review workflows. I have refined my Plan, Log, Health, Journal, Review, and Analysis cluster notes based on actual usage and experience with daily practice. ### Day Diabetes and Analysis Currently, my Day Diabetes and Day Analysis notes are foundations for my diabetes management (Log, Health, Diabetes) and workflow practices (Plan, Log, Review, Links, Actions). Also, my visual tools help me with visual thinking, brainstorming, planning, and tracking activities (and offer screenshots for my notes and website posts). ### Diabetes Query Right now, my knowledge graph model does NOT have a `Diabetes` node and `HAS_DIABETES` relationship in my Neo4j Day Cluster structure, like I have for Plan, Log, Health, Review, Links, Actions, Base, and View. Therefore, today I can't use a Cypher query like this to return all Diabetes nodes that have a relationship HAS\_DIABETES with a Day. ```cypher MATCH (day)-[:HAS_DIABETES]->(diabetes) RETURN diabetes ``` This query does NOT return any matching Neo4j nodes in my current Neo4j knowledge graph; it returns an error "Relationship type does not exist". That's because so far I have only generated my *Day Diabetes* note for each Day cluster in my Obsidian vault. I have not yet integrated the Diabetes node and relationship to a Day in my Neo4j graph model. ### Work in Progress This illustrates that my system is a work in progress that evolves every day because I'm building it while using it. My PKM system improves incrementally from my actual experience and requirements. This shows exactly where the system stands today and where it's heading. However, now I'm extending my Efforts by making Plans and defining Actions to be completed to extend my graph model, sync my Diabetes data between Neo4j graph and Obsidian notes, and enable additional query capabilities that are not available with simple Obsidian Bases or Dataview queries. ### Model My Day Cluster data is modeled as a set of interconnected objects including Plan, Log, Health, Diabetes, Analysis, Review, and Actions: - **DayNote** — the root hub node for each day, with date properties and links to all clusters - **Day Plan** — my daily intentions with focus effort, key actions, events, and sessions - **DayLog** — timestamped activities and events - **DayHealth** — meals, carbs, exercise, energy, mood - **DayDiabetes** — glucose statistics, TIR (tight and standard), period analysis, hourly breakdown - **Day Analysis** — summary, insights, plus, minus, next (overall and categories: health, work, learning), energy analysis - **Day Review** — review today, preview tomorrow ### Services When I create a day via my Calendar services, Neo4j creates all of these nodes and connects them with typed relationships: `HAS_HEALTH`, `HAS_LOG`, `HAS_PLAN`, `PREV_DAY`, `NEXT_DAY`, `IN_WEEK`, `IN_MONTH`. The `HAS_DIABETES` relationship is planned as the next extension. The Dexcom API feeds glucose data directly into the Diabetes note. Glooko PDF parsing adds insulin data. Calendar events from macOS populate the Schedule note. The graph reflects the full picture of each day, not just the text I happened to write. ## Real Queries My current Neo4j Graph Services has a Query Library with named queries that support my PKM Calendar, Health, Review, and Note services, including providing context data for my Template services for generating Obsidian notes. ### Get Count of All Node Types Here's a sample PKM named query (`Count nodes by type`) that uses a Python function (`node_count_by_type()`) to execute the following Neo4j Cypher query. It matches all nodes (n) in the Neo4j graph and returns their primary label (node type), such as DayNote and a count of the instances of that type, and then it orders the output by descending count and then nodeType. It's similar to an Obsidian Dataview or SQL query, but much more powerful and extensible. ```cypher MATCH (n) RETURN labels(n)[0] AS nodeType, count(n) AS count ORDER BY count DESC, nodeType ``` Query results are available visually in the Neo4j Desktop Query or Explorer views for interactive use. Also, CSV or JSON responses can be processed by my PKM services using Python and generate Obsidian notes like the following cluster summary. ### Cluster Summary Here's a simple Markdown table with a summary of Neo4j nodes in with counts from highest to lowest, which reflects there were 135 Day clusters when this post was written. | Cluster | Node Type | Count | | ------- | ----------- | ----- | | Day | DayActions | 135 | | Day | DayBase | 135 | | Day | DayHealth | 135 | | Day | DayJournal | 135 | | Day | DayLinks | 135 | | Day | DayLog | 135 | | Day | DayNote | 135 | | Day | DayPlan | 135 | | Day | DayReview | 135 | | Day | DayView | 135 | | Week | WeekNote | 22 | | Month | MonthNote | 6 | | Quarter | QuarterNote | 4 | | Year | YearNote | 2 | ### Query Library I have a library of pre-built Cypher queries for common PKM operations in my system. Most of these return a Python Lists and/or Dictionaries as a JSON arrays and/or objects for processing my PKM services, scripts, agents, apps, and shortcuts. This is a list of my current named graph queries. **Dashboard** - Get complete context for today - Get today with minimal navigation - Compare yesterday and today - Get all active work across horizons - Get current week overview **Planning** - Get planning cascade from day to year - Get actions rollup from all horizons **Temporal analysis** - Get last N days - Get days in date range **Maintenance** - Count nodes by type - Find orphaned cluster notes - Find broken navigation chains **Specific date queries** - Get specific day by date ### PKM Services My PKM system runs on Python services covering Neo4j Graph, Obsidian note generation, Calendar, Health, and Review — each with dedicated functions that work together through the FastAPI server. ### PKM Scripts Python scripts provide a convenient way to use PKM services from commands, agents, Swift apps, Shortcuts, or Siri. These are current scripts and commands organized by PKM Service with a brief description. Each include additional options and flags to allow customization, but they have been omitted for brevity. #### PKM Service My PKM System uses a Python FastAPI server that provides my PKM Services. I have a script that's used to automatically start the PKM service, as well as additional administrative commands. | Script | Command | Description | | ----------- | ------- | --------------------------------------- | | pkm-service | start | Start the PKM service in the background | | | stop | Stop the PKM service | | | restart | Restart the PKM service | | | status | Check if service is running | | | logs | View recent logs | #### Calendar Scripts Every morning at 7 am, a Day Startup agent automatically creates and syncs a Day cluster for today (and any new time horizon clusters such as week, month, quarter, or year) in my Obsidian notes and Neo4j knowledge graph. This orchestrates the following steps in my Morning Review workflow so can begin my day. 1. Creation of all Obsidian Day Cluster core and support notes as well as visual tools. 2. Generates a Day Schedule for my Day Plan with events and sessions from my Calendar 3. Creates Neo4j day cluster nodes, relationships, and properties, including sync with bi-directional IDs, as well as time horizons (week, month, quarter, year), temporal connections (prev/next), and navigation wayfinder links. 4. Opens Day Workspace for my Day cluster in Obsidian 5. Commit Git with all Obsidian changes since yesterday. | Command | Description | | -------------------- | ---------------------------------- | | pkm-day create | Create day cluster with Neo4j sync | | pkm-week create | Create week cluster | | pkm-month create | Create month cluster | | pkm-quarter create | Create quarter cluster | | pkm-year create | Create year cluster | | pkm-calendar refresh | Refresh Day Schedule | #### Health Scripts My Health Script automatically downloads, integrates, analyzes, and summarizes diabetes data from Dexcom (glucose) and Glooko (insulin) websites, and generates a Day Diabetes note in Obsidian for my Morning Review. | Command | Description | | -------------------- | ---------------------------- | | pkm-health sync-full | Generate Day Diabetes review | #### Review Scripts My review scripts uses Claude AI to generate Day Analysis for my Day Review from the Plan, Log, and Health notes in my Day Cluster. This provides a Summary, Insights, and Energy Analysis across my Day comparing my Plan intentions with actual Log activities; it uses Plus-Minus-Next methodology both overall and by categories of Health, Learning, and Work. | Command | Description | | ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | | pkm-review generate | Generate Day Analysis with Claude AI for Day Review | ### Future Query Examples These Cypher queries illustrates what's possible when I extend my knowledge graph with my diabetes data to enable this capability. **30-day TIR trend:** This show my glucose time in range over the past 30 days. ```cypher MATCH (d:DayNote)-[:HAS_DIABETES]->(diab) WHERE d.date >= date() - duration('P30D') RETURN d.date, diab.tir_standard ORDER BY d.date ``` **Meals with highest post-meal spike:** This query illustrates how I can find which meals produce the highest post-meal glucose spikes. ```cypher MATCH (d:DayNote)-[:HAS_HEALTH]->(h) WHERE h.breakfast_carbs IS NOT NULL RETURN d.date, h.breakfast_meal, h.breakfast_carbs, h.glucose_after_breakfast ORDER BY h.glucose_after_breakfast DESC LIMIT 10 ``` **Exercise impact on next-day TIR:** This one shows how I can determine how exercise impacts my next-day glucose time-in-range (TIR). ```cypher MATCH (d:DayNote)-[:HAS_HEALTH]->(h), (d)-[:NEXT_DAY]->(next)-[:HAS_DIABETES]->(nextDiab) WHERE h.exercise_completed = true RETURN d.date, nextDiab.tir_standard ORDER BY d.date ``` These queries are forward-looking — I haven't yet integrated diabetes data into my Neo4j graph model. But the data already exists in my Day Diabetes notes every day. Adding the graph model will simply make it queryable. ## Why This Matters The real goal isn't a fancy database. The goal is to give an AI model *structured, queryable context* so it can be a genuine analytical partner rather than a conversational chatbot. With a knowledge graph as the foundation, I can provide a Claude prompt with not just today's glucose data — but last month's patterns, the meals that tend to spike me, the exercise habits that improve my TIR, and the Cypher queries that surface anomalies. The AI conversation becomes informed by persistent, structured memory rather than a blank slate. This is the difference between asking a doctor who's seeing you for the first time and asking one who's followed your case for years. Context transforms the quality of the answer. ## Getting Started You don't need a production Neo4j setup to benefit from graph thinking. Start smaller: 1. **Model your data as objects.** What are the "things" in your diabetes management? Days, meals, readings, insulin doses, exercise sessions. What properties does each have? 2. **Identify the relationships.** What connects these objects? A meal *precedes* a glucose reading. An exercise session *affects* the next day's TIR. 3. **Try Neo4j Desktop.** It's free for local use, runs on your Mac, and has a visual browser so you can see your graph come to life. 4. **Start with one query you care about.** What's the one pattern you've always wondered about but never been able to verify? Build toward answering that. The knowledge graph isn't the end of the journey — it's the foundation that makes everything else possible. ## What's Next - 🔧 **Part 5:** [Build Your Own](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-5/) — How to start building your own AI health system, regardless of technical background. This puts it all together with AI-powered analysis and the PKM services that tie the graph to your daily workflow. - 🍴**Part 6:** [Teaching Your AI Coach to Cook](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-6) — How food choices connect directly to glucose outcomes — building a recipe intelligence system that learns from your actual responses. *Start from the beginning: 🚀 Part 1:* [*The Transformation*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1) The Day Cluster PKM structure that organizes all this data is covered in a separate series: \[📅 Day Cluster Part 1\](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-cluster). ## Suggested References If you want to explore further, you might check out these resources for more information. - **Neo4j** — [neo4j.com](https://neo4j.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) — Graph database; their "Graph Academy" has good free courses - **Anthropic's documentation on tool use and memory** — How agents use structured context - **GraphRAG** (Microsoft Research) — Context graphs in AI retrieval - **Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks** (Christakis & Fowler) — Readable introduction to graph thinking for non-developers (not technical) - **Nick Milo's Linking Your Thinking (LYT) framework** — Foundation that my custom PKM system builds on. ### 💭 AI Diabetes Coach—AI Prompt Engineering URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-3/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T12:00:15.000Z --- **🤖 *AI Diabetes Coach* series:** *— 🚀 Part 1:* [The Transformation](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1) *— 🏗️ Part 2:* [System Architecture](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-2) *➔ 💭 Part 3:* [Prompt Engineering](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-3) *— 🕸️ Part 4:* [Knowledge Graph](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-4) *—* 🔧 Part 5: [Build Your Own](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-5/) *—* 🍴Part 6: [Teaching Your AI Coach to Cook](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-6) --- ## The Generic AI Problem *Why basic ChatGPT doesn't work for health coaching* With diabetes (or any health issue), asking an AI a generic question gets you a generic answer—interesting perhaps, but rarely helpful. As they say, "Garbage in, garbage out". For example, if I ask ChatGPT: > Why is my glucose high?" I get something like this: > High blood glucose can happen for several reasons, depending on your situation (whether you have diabetes, what you’ve eaten, stress levels, etc.). Common causes include: > > **\- Diabetes** \- Your body can't regulate sugar properly- **Food** \- Carbs raise blood sugar- **Stress and illness** \- Hormones affect glucose- **Medications** \- Some drugs raise blood sugar- **Lack of sleep** \- Disrupts insulin sensitivity- **Inactivity** \- Exercise helps lower glucose- **Dawn phenomenon** \- Morning hormone surge > **What you can do right now:**Check your glucose againDrink waterTake a short walk if safeReview what you ate and when > *If you want, tell me your glucose reading(s), when you measured (fasting, after eating, etc.), and any symptoms... and I can help you narrow down the likely cause.* So what does this tell me? Not much. It's like asking "Why is the sky blue?" without any context about where I am, what time it is, or what I'm actually seeing. The response lists every possible reason the sky *might* appear blue, but doesn't help me understand "my specific sky" right now. **What I actually need** is to understand my timelines, patterns, and trends. Not generic possibilities—but specific insights about *my* glucose, *my* meals, *my* insulin, and *my* daily patterns. That's what lets me learn and adapt to improve my health. Generic AI can't do that. But engineered prompts can. ## Six Prompt Iterations *How I evolved from questions to coaching* ### Iteration 1: Basic Questions *No context, generic answers* **What I tried:** Just asking health questions directly: - "What should my glucose be after breakfast?" - "Is 156 mg/dL too high?" - "Why did I spike to 180?" **What I got:** Generic medical ranges and boilerplate advice: - "Normal post-meal glucose is 140-180 mg/dL" - "Consult your doctor about target ranges" - Spikes can be caused by many factors..." **What was missing:** Any knowledge of ME: - My Type 1 diabetes - My insulin doses - My meal timing - My target ranges (70-160, not 140-180!) - My patterns over time **What I learned:** AI needs MY context, not generic medical facts. ### Iteration 2: Added My Diabetes Type *What changed, why it mattered* **What I tried:** - "I have Type 1 diabetes. Why is my glucose high?" - As someone with T1D, is 156 too high after breakfast? **What I got:** Type 1-specific information—better than generic: - References to insulin dependence - Mentions of carb counting - Tighter target ranges suggested **What was missing:** Still no knowledge of MY specific situation: - My current insulin regimen - My actual breakfast and timing - My glucose trend (rising? stable? falling?) - My exercise plans or stress levels **What I learned:** Diagnosis is important context, but I needed current data—not just historical facts about my condition. ### Iteration 3: Added Current Data **What I tried:** Including real-time information: - "I have Type 1 diabetes. My glucose is 156 at 10 AM. I ate breakfast at 7:30 with 3u insulin. Why am I high?" **What I got:** Much more specific analysis: - Considered insulin-to-carb ratio - Looked at 2-hour post-meal timing - Suggested possible carb underestimation - Mentioned dawn phenomenon possibility **What was missing:** Context beyond this single moment: - What did I eat for breakfast? - How much did I actually carb-count? - Is this high normal for me after this meal? - How does today compare to yesterday? **What I learned:** One data point tells a story, but patterns tell the truth. ### Iteration 4: Added Daily Pattern **What I tried:** Providing my full day's data: - All glucose readings - Every meal with carb counts - All insulin doses with timing - Exercise or unusual events **What I got:** Pattern recognition within the day: - "Your breakfast spike suggests under-dosing by \~1u" - "Lunch was stable—that ratio worked well" - "Evening low might be from afternoon exercise" **What was missing:** Historical comparison: - Is today typical or unusual? - Which patterns repeat across days? - What changed from yesterday to today? **What I learned:** Daily patterns reveal cause and effect, but I needed to compare across days to see what's sustainable vs. what's a one-time event. ### Iteration 5: Added Weekly Context **What I tried:** Pasting several days worth of data: - Monday through Friday glucose logs - All meals and insulin doses - Exercise and stress notes **What I got:** Multi-day pattern analysis: - "You consistently spike after breakfast tacos" - "Your Friday evening lows correlate with yard work" - "Weekend patterns differ from weekdays" **What was missing:** This was incredibly powerful... but exhausting: - Manually copying/pasting data each time - No memory between conversations - Starting from scratch every session - Unsustainable long-term **What I learned:** I needed automation and persistent memory, not just more data. ### Iteration 6: The Breakthrough **What I tried:** Three game-changing elements: 1. **Claude Projects** for persistent memory across conversations 2. **Automated data sync** via Dexcom API (glucose) + Glooko (insulin) 3. **Structured daily reviews** generated from my own data **What I got:** True personalized coaching: - Daily analysis of yesterday's patterns - Comparisons to my historical trends - Specific, actionable recommendations - Conversational dialogue that builds on prior discussions - No manual data entry required **What was missing:** Nothing. This was the breakthrough. **What I learned:** The combination of automation, memory, and structure transformed AI from "occasionally helpful" to "daily essential coaching." **Result** 82% → 98% time in range over 14 days. The proof that engineered prompts work. ## What Makes It Work *Specific, context, examples, conversational* Four principles emerged from my iterations: ### 1\. Specificity over Generality Don't ask: "What should I eat for breakfast?" Ask: "I have Type 1 diabetes, my fasting glucose is 110, I have 2 hours before a morning workout— what's a good breakfast that won't spike me during exercise?" Generic questions get generic answers. Specific questions get actionable guidance. ### 2\. Context over Instructions Don't say: "Analyze my glucose". Say: "Here's today's glucose data, meals, and insulin doses. I spiked to 210 after lunch yesterday with the same meal but didn't today— what was different?" Context lets AI see patterns you might miss. ### 3\. Examples over Explanations Don't explain: "I want daily summaries". Show: "Here's the format I want: - Average glucose: X - Time in range: Y% - Meals that worked well: Z - Patterns to watch: ..." Examples are clearer than descriptions. ### 4\. Conversation over Commands Don't command: "Give me a meal plan". Converse: "Looking at my patterns this week, which meals kept me most stable? Can we build on those?" Dialog builds understanding over time. ## The Results *Real data from real days* After implementing Iteration 6 (automated data sync + Claude Projects + daily reviews), my diabetes control transformed: **Before engineered prompts:** - Time in Range (Tight 70-160): 82% - Inconsistent patterns - Reactive management (correcting problems) - Frustration with unexplained spikes and crashes **After engineered prompts:** - Time in Range (Tight 70-160): 98% - Clear pattern recognition - Proactive management (preventing problems) - Understanding of my specific triggers **14-day streak results:** - Average Tight TIR: 92% - Standard TIR (70-180): 97% - Learned from every challenging day - Recovered quickly from weekend restaurant meals - Identified exercise timing effects - Understood my roller coaster patterns The difference wasn't just numbers—it was confidence. Instead of guessing why my glucose did something, I could trace cause and effect. Instead of generic advice, I got specific insights about MY body's patterns. Engineered prompts turned AI from a search engine into a coach. ## Getting Started *A progressive approach for your own prompts* You don't need to jump straight to Iteration 6\. Start simple and add complexity as you learn what helps: **Week 1: Start with specificity** - Replace "Help me with diabetes" with "I have Type 1 diabetes, my fasting glucose is 110, what should I consider for breakfast?" - Add your diagnosis, current situation, and specific question **Week 2: Add context** - Include your current data: glucose reading, timing, recent meal, insulin dose - Ask about relationships: "What might explain this spike?" **Week 3: Show patterns** - Share 2-3 days of data - Ask for pattern recognition - Notice what insights emerge from comparison **Week 4: Experiment with structure** - Try different data formats - See what Claude (or ChatGPT or Gemini) understands best - Refine based on what gives useful responses **Eventually: Automate what works** - If manually entering data gets tedious, consider automation - Use Claude Projects (or ChatGPT memory) for persistence - Build on what you've learned through experimentation **Remember:** - Start where you are (no judgment!) - Add one improvement at a time (iterate!) - Keep what works, discard what doesn't (learn!) - Share what you discover (help others!) The goal isn't perfection—it's progress. Each iteration taught me something. Yours will too. ## What's Next - 🕸️ **Part 4:** [Knowledge Graph](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-4) — Giving AI persistent, queryable memory so it stops forgetting everything between sessions. - 🔧 **Part 5:** [Build Your Own](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-5/) — How to start building your own AI health system, regardless of technical background. This puts it all together with AI-powered analysis and the PKM services that tie the graph to your daily workflow. - 🍴**Part 6:** [Teaching Your AI Coach to Cook](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-6) — How food choices connect directly to glucose outcomes — building a recipe intelligence system that learns from your actual responses. *Start from the beginning: 🚀 Part 1:* [*The Transformation*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1) The PKM structure that organizes all this data is covered in a separate series: 📅 [Day Cluster](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-cluster) (Part 1). ### 📅 The Day Cluster: Multiple Daily Notes That Reduce Friction Instead of Adding It URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-cluster/ Last updated: 2026-04-17T15:01:00.000Z Most Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) systems use a single daily note. I tried that for years. Everything piled into one file: plans, logs, reflections, glucose data, AI analysis, tasks, links. Finding anything meant scrolling through hundreds of lines. Deciding where to put new information created constant friction. So I split my Day Note into cluster of interconnected notes—each serving a single, clear purpose. This Day Cluster structure is part of my larger AI-powered health tracking system, which I detailed in my [AI Diabetes Coach series](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-2). The Calendar Service (one of five integrated services) generates these daily note clusters automatically, creating the foundation for AI analysis, pattern recognition, and health insights. The result? Zero decision fatigue. Everything exactly where I expect it. Creating all cluster notes daily takes less mental effort than maintaining one massive file ever did. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by a sprawling daily note, or wondered "where should this go?" while adding content, this structure might help. Let me show you what each note does, how they work together, and why this actually *reduces* complexity instead of adding it. ## What Is a Day Cluster? *Cluster notes explained with examples* A Day Cluster contains multiple interconnected daily notes, each with one job, instead of one massive file trying to do everything. ### Core Cycle (Plan → Execute → Reflect) - **Day Plan:** Your morning intentions and priorities. What do you want to accomplish today? Not a rigid schedule—just 3-5 key outcomes that matter. - **Day Schedule:** Time blocks and calendar events. Meetings, appointments, time-boxed work sessions. The temporal structure of your day. - **Day Log:** Timestamped record of what actually happened. Not what you planned—what you did. Quick bullets: "7:00 Wake, 7:30 Breakfast, 2:22 Lunch, 3:29 Walk." - **Day Review:** Evening reflection. What went well? What didn't? What did you learn? Sets up tomorrow's planning. - **Day Analysis:** AI-generated insights across all your daily notes. Pattern recognition you might miss. Claude reads your day and identifies trends. ### Health Tracking - **Day Health:** General wellness. Sleep quality, energy levels, symptoms, medications, exercise. - **Day Diabetes:** Glucose data, insulin doses, meals, patterns. Auto-generated from Dexcom API + Glooko. Complete timeline with charts. ### Productivity & Learning - **Day Actions:** Task tracking. To-dos, completions, blockers. What got done, what's pending, what's blocked. - **Day Links:** Resources captured during the day. Articles, videos, tools, references. Organized breadcrumb trail. - **Day Journal:** Reflective writing. Processing thoughts, emotions, experiences. Deeper than Day Review—this is where you think through writing, process emotions, and work through complex ideas. - **Day Output:** What you created today. Blog posts, code, designs, documents. Your creative work and productive output. ### Visual Tools (Optional) - **Day Canvas:** Visual workspace for arranging ideas spatially. Collect content, draw relationships, model structure. - **Day Board:** Kanban-style task organization. Visual workflow management. - **Day Mindmap:** Visual thought mapping and idea connections (with links). - **Day Drawing:** Sketches, diagrams, hand-drawn visualizations using Excalidraw. - **Day Base / Day View:** Different perspectives on the same data. List view, calendar view, relationship view. Property-based queries and embedded views. Filter, sort, and organize notes by metadata. Not every note is needed every day. Use what serves you. The structure is there when you need it. ## Why 13 Notes Instead of One? *Separation of concerns, cognitive load, etc.* The answer comes down to two principles: **separation of concerns** and **cognitive load management**. ### Separation of Concerns In software architecture, separation of concerns means each component does one thing well. A function that tries to do everything becomes unmaintainable. The same principle applies to personal knowledge. When plans, logs, reflections, glucose data, tasks, and links all live in one note: - Finding specific information requires scrolling - Adding new content requires decisions ("where?") - Updating one section risks disrupting others - The file becomes a dumping ground, not a tool When each concern has its own note: - Location is obvious (glucose → Day Diabetes) - No scrolling needed (open the right note) - Updates are isolated (edit Day Plan, Log unaffected) - Each note maintains its purpose ### Cognitive Load Management Decision fatigue is real. Every micro-decision—"where does this go?"—drains mental energy. With one daily note: - Should glucose data go at top? Bottom? Inline? - Should I timestamp this? Under what heading? - Is this a plan, a log entry, or a reflection? - Where did I put yesterday's similar note? With separated notes: - Glucose → Day Diabetes (automatic) - Timestamped → Day Log (obvious) - Reflection → Day Journal (clear) - Yesterday's → Same structure (predictable) The structure removes decisions. Removing decisions preserves energy for work that matters. ### Context Switching as Feature, Not Bug "But doesn't switching between multiple cluster notes create friction?" Counter-intuitively, no. Intentional context switching is clarifying. When you open Day Plan, your brain shifts to planning mode. When you open Day Log, you're in recording mode. When you open Day Review, you're in reflection mode. The physical act of navigating to a different note signals a mental shift—changing your focus and attention. The separation becomes a feature that helps you think clearly about what you're doing. Compare this to scrolling through one massive note trying to find the right section while fighting the cognitive pull of everything else you see along the way. ### Single Responsibility Principle Each note has exactly one job: - Day Plan: What I intend - Day Log: What happened - Day Review: What I learned This isn't complexity. This is *clarity*. When something has one job, you know: - What belongs in it - What doesn't belong in it - Where to find it later - How to use it effectively Multiple cluster notes, different purposes, zero confusion. ## Neurodivergent-Friendly Design *Six principles that reduce cognitive overhead* This cluster note structure emerged from solving real friction points in daily tracking. But the design principles go deeper than personal preference—they address challenges common across neurodivergent experiences. Every day brings challenges with organization, planning, problem-solving, decision-making, and time management. Watching people with neurodivergence such as ADHD navigate daily challenges taught me something: the tools we build matter. Structure can either amplify friction or eliminate it. As I've learn more about neurodivergence—and recognized some of these patterns in my own thinking—I've come to see how certain design choices make systems more sustainable: ### Reduced Decision Fatigue The structure is identical every day. - You never face a blank page wondering "how should I organize today?" - The Day notes are always there, always the same, always in the same order. - For someone managing executive function challenges, this consistency removes dozens of micro-decisions. ### Clear Contexts Each note serves one purpose. - Day Plan is ONLY for planning. - Day Log is ONLY for timestamped events. - Day Diabetes is ONLY for glucose data. When you open a note, you know exactly what belongs there. No mental sorting, no category confusion, no "where does this go?". ### Low-Friction Creation - The entire structure generates automatically. - Run `pkm-day create` and all Day Cluster files appear, pre-linked, ready to use. - No manual file creation, no template selection, no setup time. - The barrier to starting is zero. ### Visual Navigation - Links replace search. - The Day Index shows all cluster notes (core, support, visual) at a glance. - Click to navigate. - No remembering file names, no search queries, no cognitive overhead. The structure is visible, not memorized. ### Consistent Patterns - Every day follows the same flow: Plan → Log → Review. - Every note uses the same template. - Every connection works the same way. - Consistency builds habits, habits reduce friction, friction is what stops us. ### Progressive Disclosure You don't need all cluster notes on day one. - Start with Day Note + Day Log. - Add Day Plan when planning helps. - Add Day Review when reflection helps. Build the system gradually as needs emerge. No overwhelm, no pressure, no "I must use all features." The structure supports you—you don't serve the structure. Whether you're neurodivergent or simply looking for a system with less cognitive overhead, these principles reduce the friction between intention and action. And that's what makes daily practice sustainable. ## How They Work Together *Relationships, navigation, workflow* The Day Cluster notes aren't random—they map to a complete daily workflow that many people already practice, often in scattered tools or mixed-together notes. ### Core Daily Cycle - Morning: Plan (intentions) - Throughout: Log (reality) - Evening: Review (reflection) ↓ Next Day's Plan ### Specialized Tracking - Health: Day Health (wellness) - Day Diabetes (glucose) - Actions: Day Actions (tasks) - Learning: Day Links (resources) - Insight: Day Analysis (AI coaching) ### Documentation - Reflection: Day Journal (processing) - Output: Day Output (creation) - Meta: Day Note (connections) **Each note has a purpose. Together, they create a complete picture of the day.** For example, yesterday (April 1, 2026): - Day Plan: Publish Day Cluster post, post community & social web announcements, engage with comments - Day Log: 7:00 Wake, 7:30 Breakfast, 2:22 Lunch, 3:29 Walk (27 min) - Day Diabetes: 128 avg, 84% TIR, 22u insulin - Day Analysis: Claude identified dawn phenomenon - Day Review: Series momentum building, 10-day health streak - Day Journal: Reflections on neurodivergence challenges There are six different notes, six different contexts, one coherent day. - The Day Index ties them together. - Links show relationships. - Navigation is visual. - The structure emerges from use, not force. ## Getting Started *Progressive approach - start simple* You don't need to build all Day Cluster notes at once. Here's a progressive approach: ### Minimum Viable Day Cluster (Week 1) Start with just two notes: - **Day Note:** Your hub/index for the day - **Day Log:** Timestamped record of what happened Create these manually or with a simple Templater template. Link them together. Use them for a week. ### Add Planning (Week 2) When you're comfortable logging, add: - **Day Plan:** Morning intentions and priorities Now you have: intention (Plan) → reality (Log) → navigation (Note). This is already powerful. ### Add Reflection (Week 3-4) As the habit builds, add: - **Day Review:** Evening reflection and synthesis Now you have the complete daily cycle: Plan → Log → Rview → next day's Plan. ### Add Context-Specific Notes (As Needed) Only add other notes when you have a clear use case: - Tracking health? → Day Health, Day Diabetes - Managing tasks? → Day Actions - Capturing links? → Day Links - AI coaching? → Day Analysis ### Automation (Optional) The Day Cluster note structure can be: - Manual (Templater + Dataview) - Semi-automated (Python scripts) - Fully automated (pkm-day + Neo4j) Start simple. Automate only when manual becomes friction. ## Tools You Might Use *From simple templates to advanced automation* - **Obsidian:** Base system (required) - **Templater:** Template automation (recommended) - **Dataview:** Timeline queries (helpful) - **Python:** File generation (optional) - **Neo4j:** Graph relationships (advanced) Begin with Obsidian + Templater. That's enough to build the foundation. ## Learn More This Day Cluster structure powers the Calendar Service in my [AI Diabetes Coach series](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-2). See Part 2 for the complete system architecture and how these daily notes integrate with AI analysis, health tracking, and Neo4j graph queries. ## Related Series If you're interested in how the Day Cluster feeds into an AI-powered health coaching system, check out the companion series: ### AI Diabetes Coach - 🚀 Part 1: [The Transformation](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1) - 🏗️ Part 2: [System Architecture](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-2) - 💭 Part 3: [Prompt Engineering](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-3) - 🕸️ Part 4: [Knowledge Graph](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-4) - Part 5: Build Your Own (coming soon) ### 🏗️ AI Diabetes Coach — System Architecture URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-2/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T11:58:33.000Z --- **🤖 *AI Diabetes Coach* series:** — 🚀 Part 1: [The Transformation](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1) ➔ 🏗️ Part 2: [System Architecture](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-2) — 💭 Part 3: [Prompt Engineering](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-3) — 🕸️ Part 4: [Knowledge Graph](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-4) *—* 🔧 Part 5: [Build Your Own](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-5/) *—* 🍴Part 6: [Teaching Your AI Coach to Cook](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-6) --- In [Part 1](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1/), you saw the transformation: 54% → 96% glucose time in range in 6 months, then 82% → 98% with AI integration. Five perfect 100% days in Week 13, and 45% reduction in daily insulin. But how does it actually work? What makes the system run every day without manual intervention? Let me show you the architecture. This isn't just theory—this is the actual system running in production. The same architecture that generated yesterday's Day Analysis, spotted my 5-day perfect streak, and provided actionable insights while I launched this series. By the end of this post, you'll understand: - How the data flows from sensors to insights - Why automation is key (not just helpful) - Which components you can build without coding - What the technical stack actually looks like - How to start building your own version The system has 5 core components: 1. Calendar Service - Creates the daily note structure (13 files) and maintains temporal relationships in Neo4j 2. Health Service - Pulls glucose data from Dexcom API and insulin/meal data from Glooko automatically 3. Review Service - Sends 7 days of context to Claude AI and generates the daily analysis 4. Knowledge Graph - Connects everything in Neo4j (days, health events, patterns, insights) 5. Integration Layer - Python services that orchestrate the flow Each component can work standalone, but together they create something greater than the sum of parts: a system that remembers, learns, and coaches—automatically, every morning. Let's dive into each component... ## Components Overview The system has 5 interconnected components that work together to transform raw sensor data into actionable daily insights. **1\. Calendar Service** — Creates the structure - Generates 13 interconnected notes every morning at 7 AM - Links them in Neo4j's temporal graph - Provides consistent foundation for automation - Example: Plan, Log, Health, Journal, Review **2\. Health Service** — Collects the data - Pulls 288 glucose readings (every 5 minutes) from Dexcom API - Downloads insulin doses and carbs from Glooko - Merges into comprehensive diabetes review - All automated—no manual screenshot uploads **3\. Review Service** — Generates the insights - Takes health data plus 7 days of context - Sends to Claude AI for pattern analysis - Produces daily PMN (Plus-Minus-Next) coaching - Spots patterns I would miss, and celebrates wins I would forget **4\. Knowledge Graph** — Connects everything - Stores relationships in Neo4j graph database - Enables powerful temporal queries - Reveals correlations: "Show all days where exercise preceded a low within 12 hours" - Answers questions you didn't know to ask - Reveals patterns across time **5\. Integration Layer** — Orchestrates the flow - Python services coordinate all components - Handles errors gracefully (retry, fallback, queue) - Runs automatically every morning - Total automation time: \~2 minutes ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/03/architecture_diagram.png) **The five components work together to transform raw sensor data* **into actionable daily insights.* Now let's explore each component in detail... ## Calendar Service: Day Cluster Generator The foundation of everything is the Day cluster—13 interconnected notes created every morning. ### Why 13 Files? Most people use a single daily note. I tried that. It becomes a dumping ground. By splitting into focused files, each has a clear purpose: - Day Index - Navigation hub - Day Plan - Intentions (what I plan to do) - Day Log - Reality (what actually happened) - Day Health - Medical tracking - Day Diabetes - Automated analysis - Day Schedule - Calendar + sessions - Day Journal - Reflections - Day Review - AI-generated synthesis - Day Analysis - PMN framework insights ... and 4 more specialized notes ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/03/day_cluster_files.png) The 13 interconnected notes created for March 28, 2026 ### The Neo4j Connection But here's where it gets powerful: these aren't just files in a folder. They're nodes in a temporal graph. When the system creates 2026-03-28, it: 1. Creates 13 note nodes in Neo4j 2. Links them to 2026-W13 (week) 3. Links them to 2026-03 (month) 4. Creates PREV/NEXT relationships to adjacent days 5. Enables queries like "show all Saturdays" or "find health patterns across weeks" ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/03/neo4j_day_structure.png) Day Cluster structure in Neo4j showing connections to Week, Month, and note components ### Why This Matters This structure does three critical things: First, it separates intentions from reality. Plan (future tense) vs Log (past tense). This lets the AI compare what I intended vs what happened, generating insights about execution. Second, it creates a consistent location for automation. The Health Service knows where to put diabetes data. The Review Service knows where to find context. Everything has a place. Third, it enables temporal queries. "Show me all days where I exercised AND had perfect TIR" becomes a graph traversal, not manual searching. ### Example Day Cluster (Mar 28) - Series Launch When I ran `pkm-day create 2026-03-28`, the system: - Created 13 markdown files in the correct folder - Generated frontmatter with metadata - Created 9 Neo4j nodes and relationships - Connected to the week and month structures - Set up PREV/NEXT links to Mar 27 and Mar 29 - Opened the workspace in Obsidian Time: 2 seconds. Manual effort: Zero. This consistency is what enables everything else... ## Health Service: Automate Data Collection Every morning, the Health Service runs automatically and collects my diabetes data from two sources: Dexcom (glucose) and Glooko (insulin/meals). ### Dexcom API Integration Dexcom provides a production API for developers. The service: 1. Authenticates using OAuth2 (stores refresh token securely) 2. Fetches glucose readings for the previous day (289 data points) 3. Downloads alert data (lows, highs, sensor issues) 4. Pulls exercise and meal events (manually logged in app) 5. Generates a comprehensive PDF report All of this happens programmatically. No manual login, no screenshot uploads, no copy-paste. ### Glooko Data Extraction Glooko is trickier—they offer an API, but my access request for personal data hasn't been approved (after 6 weeks). So the system: 1. Uses Playwright (browser automation) to log in 2. Navigates to the date range (previous day) 3. Downloads the CSV export (insulin doses, carb counts) 4. Generates and saves the PDF report 5. Logs out cleanly Yes, this is more fragile than an API. But Glooko has the insulin data from my Omnipod 5 pump, and that's critical for analysis. ### Data Normalization Raw data isn't useful. The service merges and normalizes: - Glucose readings (every 5 minutes, 288 points) - Insulin doses (bolus + basal, 24u total) - Meals (with carb counts and descriptions) - Exercise events (activity type, duration, heart rate) - Timeline creation (hourly breakdowns, period analysis) Example output from series launch day (Mar 28): Average: 133 mg/dL Range: 90-183 TIR: 98% (standard), 82% (tight) Insulin: 24u (14u bolus, 9u basal) Meals: 3 (56g total carbs) Exercise: 30 min lawn mowing (113 BPM avg) ### Example: Day Diabetes Note The automated review includes three key sections: ### Glucose Timeline *Color-coded chart showing meals, insulin, and glucose response* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/03/glucose_timeline.png) Daily glucose timeline with meal markers and insulin doses ### Meal & Insulin Timeline *Every meal with carbs, insulin dose, and glucose change* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/03/meal_table.png) Complete meal log with carbs, insulin, and glucose response ### Period Analysis *6-hour blocks showing TIR by time of day* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/03/period_chart.png) Time in range analysis by 6-hour periods This automated note becomes the foundation for AI analysis... ### The Generated Review All this data becomes the Day Diabetes note—a comprehensive markdown document with: - Embedded glucose charts (matplotlib-generated) - Meal timeline with insulin doses - Hourly and period breakdowns - Alert analysis - Pattern observations section (for manual notes) This note becomes the foundation for the AI analysis. ### Why Automation Matters Manual approach (what I used to do): - Screenshot Dexcom Clarity (5 min) - Screenshot Glooko reports (5 min) - Paste into note (5 min) - Review and annotate (15 min) - Total: 30 minutes daily ### What's Automated vs Manual **Fully Automated:** - Glucose data fetch (Dexcom API) - Insulin data fetch (Glooko automation) - Data parsing and merging - Statistical calculations - Chart generation - Markdown note creation **Semi-Automated:** - Glooko PDF save (requires manual click, then continues) **Still Manual (and that's fine):** - Meal descriptions (typed into Dexcom app, 1-2 min/day) - Exercise logging (marked in Dexcom app, 30 sec) - Health observations (Day Health notes, 2-3 min) **Manual input: \~5 minutes daily** **Automated processing: 90 seconds** (while making coffee) **Manual review: \~5 minutes** (reading the generated insights) Total time: \~10 minutes vs 30 minutes before automation. Automated approach (what runs now): - Command: `pkm-health sync-full 2026-03-28` - Time: 90 seconds - Manual effort: Zero (runs while I make coffee) 30 minutes saved daily = 15 hours per month = 180 hours per year. That's a full work week of time recovered annually. And the data is more complete, more accurate, and more useful because it's structured for AI consumption, not human review. Next, let's see what the AI does with all this data... ## Review Service - AI Analysis Every morning, the Review Service takes the health data and 7 days of context, sends it to Claude AI, and generates the daily analysis. ### The Context Window Claude doesn't just see yesterday. It sees: - Day Plan (what I intended to do) - Day Log (what actually happened) - Day Health (manual observations) - Day Diabetes (automated metrics) - Previous 6 days of the same data This 7-day sliding window is critical. The AI spots patterns I'd miss: "Your Tuesday afternoons always spike—what's different on Tuesday?" ### The Prompt Structure The prompt follows the Plus-Minus-Next (PMN) framework: **Plus:** What went well? The AI celebrates wins I'd forget. "Fifth consecutive perfect day!" I didn't even realize I was on a streak until the AI told me. **Minus:** What needs attention? The AI identifies patterns without judgment. "Morning breakfast spike—timing or stress factor?" **Next:** What specific actions? The AI provides concrete next steps. "Try eating at 7:30 vs 8:09 to counter dawn phenomenon." ### Example: March 28 Analysis When I ran the analysis after launch day, the AI: 1. Spotted the 5-day perfect streak (Mar 24-28) 2. Noted launch stress didn't derail diabetes (98% TIR) 3. Identified lawn mowing as intense exercise (113 BPM) 4. Suggested breakfast timing experiment 5. Celebrated the balance of health + work Time to generate: 30 seconds Manual effort: Zero (runs while reviewing data) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/03/day_analysis_pmn.png) AI-generated daily analysis using Plus-Minus-Next framework ### Why AI Coaching Works Three things the AI does that I can't: 1. **Pattern recognition across days:** "Every time you exercise afternoon, glucose drops overnight—plan accordingly" 2. **Objective celebration:** I minimize wins; AI celebrates them 3. **Comparative analysis:** "Today's control better than last Tuesday despite similar meals" The AI isn't replacing my judgment—it's augmenting my awareness. Next, let's see how all this data connects in the knowledge graph... ## Knowledge Graph - Neo4j Connections The files are in Obsidian. The data is in Markdown. But the RELATIONSHIPS are in Neo4j. ### Why a Graph Database? File systems organize by location. Databases organize by tables. But health patterns don't fit neat hierarchies—they're networks of relationships. Neo4j stores: - Days connected to weeks, months, quarters, years - Health events connected to glucose readings - Meals connected to insulin doses - Exercise connected to subsequent lows - Patterns connected to outcomes ### Query Power Traditional approach (manual): "Show me all days where I exercised AND had a low within 12 hours". - Open each day note - Check for exercise entries - Check glucose lows - Cross-reference timestamps - Take notes - Time: 30+ minutes Graph query (Cypher): ```cypher MATCH (d:Day)-[:HAS_EXERCISE]->(e:Exercise) MATCH (d)-[:HAS_GLUCOSE]->(g:Glucose) WHERE g.value < 70 AND g.timestamp > e.timestamp AND duration.between(e.timestamp, g.timestamp) < duration({hours: 12}) RETURN d, e, g ``` - Time: 2 seconds ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/03/neo4j_day_graph-2.png) AI-generated daily analysis using Plus-Minus-Next framework ### Pattern Discovery The graph doesn't just answer questions—it reveals patterns: - "Your Saturday morning glucose averages 15 points higher than weekdays—different sleep pattern?" - "Lawn mowing correlates with overnight lows 80% of the time—adjust bedtime snack?" - "Week 13 averaged 97.1% TIR—what was different from Week 12?" This is where automation becomes intelligence. Next, let's see how Python orchestrates everything... ## Integration Layer - Python Orchestration The components don't run themselves—Python services orchestrate the flow. ### Command-Line Interface Three main commands run everything: `pkm-day create 2026-03-28` - Generates 13-file Day cluster - Creates Neo4j nodes and relationships - Opens workspace in Obsidian - Time: 2 seconds `pkm-health sync-full 2026-03-28` - Downloads Dexcom glucose data - Extracts Glooko insulin data - Merges and normalizes - Generates Day Diabetes markdown - Time: 90 seconds `pkm-review generate --stage final 2026-03-28` - Reads Plan, Log, Health, Diabetes - Gathers 7 days of context - Sends to Claude AI - Generates Day Analysis - Time: 30 seconds Total daily automation: \~2 minutes **What Runs Automatically vs Manual** Automatic (runs while making coffee): - Health data download - Data normalization - Chart generation - Timeline creation - Neo4j updates Manual (what I still do): - Morning review (5 min) - Manual health notes (3 min) - Journal reflections (5 min) The automation handles DATA. I handle MEANING. ### Error Handling When things break (they do): - API authentication fails → retry with backoff - PDF download times out → manual fallback - Neo4j connection drops → queue for sync - Claude rate limit hit → wait and retry The system degrades gracefully—never crashes my workflow. Next, let's talk about costs and tools... ## Technical Stack & Monthly Costs **The Tools** **Obsidian** (Free) - Markdown editor and PKM platform - Stores all notes locally - Plugins: Dataview, Templater, Calendar **Neo4j Desktop** (Free) - Graph database for relationships - Runs locally on my Mac - Unlimited nodes (local storage only) - Full features, no cost, data stays private Note: Neo4j offers cloud options (Aura, $65+/month) for team collaboration or remote access. I don't need that— Desktop works perfectly for personal use. **Claude AI** ($20/month) - Claude Pro subscription - Unlimited conversations - API access for automation **Python** (Free) - Services run locally - Libraries: requests, playwright, matplotlib - No hosting costs (runs on my Mac) **Dexcom API** (Free) - Production OAuth2 API - No usage fees - Medical device ecosystem **Glooko** (Free) - Browser automation (no API fees) - Included with Omnipod 5 pump **Total Monthly Cost: $20** - Claude Pro: $20/month - Neo4j Desktop: Free ✅ - Obsidian: Free ✅ - Python: Free ✅ Optional upgrades: - Neo4j Aura: $65/month (if you need cloud/teams) - But I don't—Desktop is plenty! **Why These Choices** **Obsidian over Notion:** - Files stored locally (I own my data) - Markdown (future-proof format) - Offline-first (works without internet) **Neo4j over PostgreSQL:** - Relationships are first-class citizens - Cypher queries are readable - Pattern matching built-in **Claude over ChatGPT:** - Longer context window (200K tokens) - Better at structured analysis - API reliability **Local vs Cloud:** - Services run on my Mac (no hosting costs) - Data stays private (HIPAA-conscious) - Fast iteration (no deployment delays) The tools matter less than the architecture. You could rebuild this with different tools—the patterns remain the same. Next, let's see how it all flows together... ## Data Flow - Morning Routine in Action **7:00 AM - Wake Up** - Day cluster already exists (created yesterday for planning). - Glucose sensor has been collecting data all night (every 5 minutes). - Omnipod pump recorded every insulin dose. **7:05 AM - Morning Routine** While making coffee, run: ```bash pkm-health sync-full 2026-03-29 ``` Behind the scenes: 1. Dexcom API: Fetches 288 glucose readings 2. Glooko: Downloads insulin doses (23u total) 3. Parser: Merges glucose + insulin + meals 4. Generator: Creates Day Diabetes markdown 5. Charts: Generates 3 glucose visualizations 6. Neo4j: Updates graph with health nodes 7. Obsidian: Opens Day Diabetes note Time elapsed: 90 seconds ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2026/03/terminal_health_sync-1.png) Terminal output showing automated health data sync in action **7:15 AM - Review Yesterday** - Read Day Diabetes (automated metrics). - Add manual notes to Day Health (patterns observed). - Update Day Log (what actually happened). **7:30 AM - Generate Analysis** Run: ```bash pkm-review generate --stage final 2026-03-29 ``` Behind the scenes: 1. Reader: Loads Plan, Log, Health, Diabetes 2. Context: Gathers previous 6 days 3. Claude: Analyzes with PMN framework 4. Writer: Generates Day Analysis markdown 5. Obsidian: Opens Day Analysis note Time elapsed: 30 seconds **7:35 AM - Read Insights** - AI spotted 6-day perfect streak. - AI noted breakfast timing improvement. - AI suggested evening walk helped dinner spike. - Total time: 10 minutes (mostly reading) - Manual data entry: Zero - Cognitive load: Minimal The system runs in the background. I focus on living. ## What's Next This is Part 2 of a 5-part *AI Diabetes Coach* series. You've seen the architecture—now let's go deeper. **💭 Part 3:** [**Prompt Engineering**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-3) — How to craft prompts that make Claude a genuine diabetes coach that spots patterns rather than a generic chatbot. I share: - The exact prompt structure I use - How to provide 7-day context efficiently - Template for PMN (Plus-Minus-Next) analysis - Examples of good vs great prompts - How the AI's coaching evolves as you improve **🕸️ Part 4:** [**Knowledge Graph**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-4) — Giving AI persistent, queryable memory across months of diabetes data. Neo4j isn't just storage—it's discovery. I'll show: - Cypher queries for pattern detection - Temporal analysis across weeks/months - Correlation discovery (exercise → lows) - Visual graph exploration - How to ask questions your database can answer 🔧 **Part 5:** [**B**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-5/)[**uild Your Own**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-5/) — Whatever your domain (fitness, nutrition, sleep, ADHD, energy): - Start simple (manual + prompts) - Add automation gradually - Tools you can use without coding - Where to invest time first - How to adapt this architecture 🍴**Part 6:** [Teaching Your AI Coach to Cook](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-6) — How food choices connect directly to glucose outcomes — building a recipe intelligence system that learns from your actual responses. *Missed the beginning? Start with 🚀 Part 1:* [*The Transformation*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1) The PKM structure that organizes all this data is covered in a separate series: 📅 Part 1: [Day Cluster](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-cluster). **Your Turn** - What domain would YOU apply this to? - What patterns do you wish you could see? - What data do you already collect but don't analyze? Drop a comment—I'd love to hear what you're building. --- *Want the full series? Subscribe to get posts delivered automatically as they publish.* ## Sign up for WarrenWeb Thinking, linking, and sharing Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. ### 🚀 How I Built an AI Coach that Improved my Diabetes Control from 82% to 98% URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T11:56:30.000Z --- **🤖 *AI Diabetes Coach* series:** *➔ 🚀 Part 1:* [The Transformation](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-1) *— 🏗️ Part 2:* [System Architecture](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-2) *— 💭 Part 3:* [Prompt Engineering](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-3) *— 🕸️ Part 4:* [Knowledge Graph](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-4) *—* 🔧 Part 5: [Build Your Own](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-5/) *—* 🍴Part 6: [Teaching Your AI Coach to Cook](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-6) --- In early February 2026, I was averaging 82% time in glucose range—decent, but not optimal. This week (Week 13, late March 2026), I achieved 98% TIR with five perfect 100% days. What was the difference? I built an *AI-powered PKM system* that turns my *diabetes data* into actionable *daily coaching*. ## Week 13: The Proof After 6 weeks of building and refining my AI-powered PKM system, here's what one week looked like: **Perfect Days (100% TIR):** 5 out of 10 tracked days - March 17, 21, 22, 24, 26 **Excellent Days (95%+ TIR):** 4 more days - March 16, 20, 23, 25 **Week Average:** 97.1% time in range **Translation:** 9 out of 10 days, my glucose stayed in target range 95-100% of the time. Even on "off" days with sensor issues or new equipment, I maintained excellence. **The difference?** An AI coach that remembers patterns, celebrates wins, and turns data into actionable insights. ## Diabetes Background I was diagnosed with diabetes 20 years ago. I started wearing a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor (CGM) sensor 6 years ago. In September 2025, a month before I started with an Omnipod 5 insulin pump (or "pod") to create an automated insulin delivery (AID) system. Previously, I had been taking multiple daily injections (MDI) about 6-7 times every day. At that time, Dexcom reports showed my average *glucose* was 185 with a glucose management indictor (GMI) of 7.7% (A1c estimate). My *time in range* (TIR) between 70-180 was only 54%, and average total daily insulin of 43 units. Then I integrated my diabetes management with an AI coach into my PKM system. Now for the past 2 weeks, my average glucose is 126 with GMI 6.3%, TIR 96%, Insulin 24, daily carbs at 56, and I've lost 10 pounds! ## The Challenge Type 1 diabetes requires 180+ decisions every day: - **What to eat?** (Carb counting for every meal and snack) - **How much insulin?** (Dosing calculations 6-10 times daily) - **When to correct?** (Responding to highs and lows) - **Why did that happen?** (Understanding patterns and causes) Traditional diabetes apps give me **data**, but not **understanding**: - Dexcom shows glucose readings every 5 minutes (288 data points/day) - Glooko tracks insulin doses and carbs - But neither explains WHY my glucose spiked after lunch or HOW to prevent it tomorrow **The problem?** Data without context is just noise. I needed a system that could: - ✅ Remember yesterday's patterns (and last week's) - ✅ Connect glucose spikes to specific meals - ✅ Learn what works (and what doesn't) - ✅ Coach me with actionable insights So I built one! ## The Transformation **Beyond the Numbers:** Yes, my TIR improved from 54% to 96%. But the real transformation is how I **think** about diabetes management: **Before (September 2025):** - ❌ Reactive: "Why did I spike? Let me guess..." - ❌ Isolated: Each day was a fresh start with no memory - ❌ Time-consuming: Manually reviewing data took hours weekly - ❌ Inconsistent: Good days felt random, bad days frustrating - ❌ High insulin needs: 43 units/day **After (March 2026):** - ✅ Proactive: "This meal spiked me last Tuesday, adjust insulin" - ✅ Contextual: 7-day memory spots patterns I'd miss - ✅ Automated: Analysis happens automatically every morning - ✅ Consistent: I know WHY good days work and HOW to replicate them - ✅ Optimized dosing: 24 units/day (45% reduction!) **Time Savings:** Traditional diabetes management (done well) requires: - 30-60 min/day analyzing glucose data - Weekly pattern review sessions - Monthly report generation - Constant mental tracking of "what worked" **My system does this automatically** while I: - ✅ Exercise regularly (daily 25-min walks, streak continuing!) - ✅ Practice meditation (supports glucose stability!) - ✅ Read more books (freed up mental space!) - ✅ Build other projects (like this PKM system!) - ✅ Lost 10 pounds (better nutrition awareness!) **The irony?** Building a system to manage diabetes gave me MORE time for life, not less. ## **What's Next** This post is the beginning of an *AI Diabetes Coach* series. Here's where we go from here: - 🏗️ Part 2: [System Architecture](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-2) — The technical stack integrating Dexcom & Glooko diabetes data automation, Python commands and services, Neo4j graph database, Obsidian linked notes, and Claude AI analysis and coaching - 💭 Part 3: [Prompt Engineering](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-3) — How to craft prompts that make Claude a genuine diabetes coach with pattern recognition and weekly context - 🕸️ Part 4: [Knowledge Graph](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-4) — Giving AI persistent, queryable memory across months of diabetes data with Cypher query examples, temporal pattern detection, relationship-based insights, and visual graph exploration - 🔧 Part 5: [Build Your Own](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-5/) — No-code pathway to start today, minimal viable version, tools, costs, and setup, templates and prompts. - 🍴Part 6: [Teaching Your AI Coach to Cook](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ai-coach-part-6) — How food choices connect directly to glucose outcomes — building a recipe intelligence system that learns from your actual responses. The PKM structure that organizes all this data is covered in a separate series: - 📅 Part 1: [Day Cluster](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-cluster) **📧 Subscribe to get future posts delivered to your inbox!** Plus: Access to comments, digital garden notes, and bonus content. ## Sign up for WarrenWeb Thinking, linking, and sharing Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. ## Join the Conversation Questions? Tracking health in your PKM? Want to build something similar? **I'm curious to hear:** 1. What parts of this system would be most valuable for YOUR work? 2. Do you track any health/life metrics in your PKM? How? 3. What would you want an AI coach to help you with? **For technical folks:** - Interested in the Python code or Neo4j schema? - Want a deeper dive on the Claude prompt engineering? **For non-technical folks:** - What would make this feel more accessible? - Which pieces could you implement without coding? **Drop a comment below—I read and respond to every one!** 👇 --- *As Nick Milo says: "Your notes should serve your life, not the other way around.* *Well I have proved it. My PKM system literally improved my health!* 💪 --- *Doug Warren is a PKM practitioner, software developer, and Type 1 diabetes self-advocate with 20+ years of diabetes management experience. He writes about knowledge systems, health technology, and using AI to serve life—not the other way around.* Connect on [X](https://x.com/dpw67blog?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) or [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/warrendoug?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), or follow via ActivityPub at `@index@blog.warrenweb.net`. *P.S. This post was written in Obsidian, refined with Claude AI, and will be published across my digital garden, Ghost newsletter, and social channels—all part of the same PKM workflow! Meta, right?* 🤯 ### Experiment - Day Cluster Summary URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-day-cluster-summary/ Last updated: 2026-01-24T23:20:26.000Z I completed a tiny experiment on using my Day cluster notes in Obsidian: Plan, Log, Journal, Review, Actions, and Links. These are the results from my 5 workday trials (Jan 12–16, 2026) with a brief summary, what went well (Plus), what didn't (Minus), and what can I do (Next). I described the *pact* for this experiment in my initial post that began this series: - 📆 [**I will use a Day cluster in Obsidian for 5 workdays.**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-pkm-create-today) ## Highlights Before this experiment, I spent over 60 minutes of manual work to do a diabetes review every morning for the previous day, and now it's an automated workflow that takes under 10 seconds! This is done automatically for me when I create my Day cluster notes in Obsidian for each day: Plan, Log, Health, Journal, Links, Actions, and Review. This includes a Python review service that generates a Claude AI analysis of Plan vs Log for my final Review of the previous day, as well as generating my Diabetes Review via a Python health service. It uses a Dexcom API that analyzes and produces a report with summary, statistics, tables, and graphs from my glucose readings captured by my continuous glucose monitor (CGM) every 5 minutes (288/day). I used my Day cluster notes each day as part of my workflows, and refined the scripts, services, and templates based on my actual usage and experiences. These iterations provided significant progress and momentum that helped to incrementally improve my daily practices throughout the week of this experiment. I now have a working production system based on my Knowledge System Architecture (KSA) that leverages a Neo4j knowledge graph, Python services, Claude AI (LLM), Dexcom API, and Obsidian notes. ## ➕ Plus - Automatically creates a Day cluster of linked Obsidian notes with built-in navigation wayfinders for Plan, Log, Health, Journal, Links, Actions, and Review. - Generates Day support notes for View, Base, Board, Canvas, and Drawing as supporting visual tools. - Generates Obsidian note for AI Analysis from Plan vs Log, as well as Diabetes Review via Dexcom API from CGM glucose data. - Perform automatic Git commit for Obsidian vault with all changes since yesterday. - Automatically open a Day cluster workspace using QuickAdd macro commands. - Integrating and phasing out previous Templater scripts into enhanced Python service templates. - Created initial templates for Week and Year clusters. - I have published this entire experiment while learning in public on my Ghost website and the Circle communities (LYT and Ness Labs). ## ➖ Minus - It took a while working out the details for the production Dexcom API access, but I was still able to add initial diabetes analysis with basic summary and statistics. - Since I spent more time on the Dexcom API, I wasn't able to integrate the Glooko website for my Omnipod 5 insulin pump and meal carb data (yet). - Without automated workflows, it took too much time to get anything done, and often it didn't happen or other stuff kept getting deferred. - There's only so much time each day, and it's important to focus my intentions on the primary effort and key actions in time block sessions. - I didn't spend as much time in Review/Preview at the end of each day, but my automation now simplifies that workflow quite a bit with the automatic Plus-Minus-Next analysis of Plan vs Log as well as Insights. ## ➡️ Next - Integrate insulin pump and meal carb data from Glooko website to combine with my Dexcom glucose as well as HealthKit for food, activity, sleep, and mindfulness data. - Integrate previous R diabetes management work into my Python services and Obsidian notes with enhanced Diabetes Review summary, tables, statistics, and graphs for Day, Week, Month, Quarter, and Year. - Integrate previous Swift diabetes management work with HealthKit into my Python Services and Obsidian notes, along with additional meal plan, recipes, calendar, and photo services for my meals. - Extend Day cluster work into a similar approach for Week, Month, Quarter, and Year clusters. - Shift my focus from Day to Week cluster workflow practices. ## Summary During this transition after the experiment, I have the opportunity to consider several alternative paths forward using a *steering sheet*: Persist, Pause, or Pivot. I will **Persist** with this experiment as I continue with using my Day Cluster notes. This has proved to be extremely valuable in so many ways, even though it has been something of an effort. Both the external and internet signals have all be mostly positive and encourage me to continue and extend this effort. My initial focus will complete the development of my enhanced templates, extend my work initially into Week and Year clusters, and significantly enhance my Diabetes Review effort. I will not publish my trials each day, but I will post my progress on my website and communities as appropriate as I begin to post much more publicly about my work. ### Experiment - Day Cluster 5 URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-day-cluster-5/ Last updated: 2026-01-23T23:21:44.000Z I'm doing a tiny experiment using my Day cluster notes in Obsidian: Plan, Log, Journal, Review, Actions, and Links. These are the results of my Day 5 trial for Friday, Jan 16, 2026 with a brief summary, what went well (Plus), what didn't (Minus), and what can I do (Next). - 📆 [**I will use a Day cluster in Obsidian for 5 workdays.**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-pkm-create-today) ## Summary I made major progress today on finalizing my enhanced Day cluster templates to streamline my workflows and minimize redundancy. ## ➕ Plus - Made some adjustments to the Day Cluster workspace layout. - Added section and cluster index wayfinders at the top of the cluster notes, and moved the navigation links to related clusters to the bottom between the divider and Meta notes. - Relocated the cluster guide callout after the wayfinders at the top. - Refactoring content of Plan, Log, Health, Journal, Actions, Links, and Review cluster notes to be more focused and enable enhanced workflows. - Updated my templates to match the cluster changes. - I'm now starting my morning workflow in Journal with First Light and Meditation before Breakfast, and this is working better. - Then I finalize my Plan, start working and updating my Log, Health, Journal, Links, and Actions throughout the day, with the Review with analysis and reflection at the end ## ➖ Minus - I still need to work more on the Review/Preview and Morning Review/Day Plan transition so that's more effective from the end of one day and the start of the next one. - I'm doing better each day as I improve the templates and workflow, but there's more work needed before it's as smooth as I would like it to be. - More automation is needed to help streamline it further, and eliminate extra steps where possible, and ensure consistency. - I need to do more with other time horizons such as Week, Month, Quarter, and Year, as well as othere knowledge objects like Topic and Effort. ## ➡️ Next - Refine Day Workspace layout, toggle file properties, fold navigation section. - Refine enhanced templates based on actual workflow usage. - Review and consolidate existing periodic note templates and phase out previous Templater scripts. - Experiment with Week and Year clusters. - Extend Python health services to integrate previous R diabetes management work. - Publish results: *Experiment - Day Cluster Summary* ### Using Drafts as a Quote Library URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/using-drafts-as-a-quote-library/ Last updated: 2026-01-20T23:51:28.000Z ## Introduction You can use [Drafts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/drafts/) to manage a library of interesting quotes. ## Setup ### Basic quote Quotes are just drafts with the tag "quote". They are formatted using Markdown quote syntax that contains a `> `prefix on each line, consisting of the quote text and an author line. The quote text can be one or more lines, which is followed by an author line for source attribution (preceded with a long "em-dash" `— `prefix). See following example from Winston Churchill: ``` > Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must yourself believe. > — Winston Churchill ``` If you want, you can write a quote over multiple lines. If you want to include extra blank lines within the quote, it must also begin the a `> `prefix. You can also include a bullet list and/or links within the quote text. For example, you might want to have a space after a longer quote before the author line like this. ``` > Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. > Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. > To convince them, you must yourself believe. > > — Winston Churchill ``` ### Workspaces A Drafts workspace is a set of filters and options that can be applied to a draft list. This makes it easier to manage groups of text draft entries that you want to view, process, edit, or update. Drafts provides a Default workspace that provides a single draft list that contains all your drafts. However, with a Drafts Pro license, you can define multiple workspaces, such as Quotes, Snippets, etc. You can install the Quotes workspace from this private link on the Drafts Directory. - [Quotes workspace](https://directory.getdrafts.com/w/23e?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Action group Install the Quotes action group from another private link on the Drafts Directory, which is based on a similar one for Snippets. - [Quotes action group](https://directory.getdrafts.com/g/23f?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Quote actions This action group provides actions to work with a quote library, based on drafts tagged with “quote”, and a “Quotes” workspace. This group contains the following actions: - **Split big quotes file**: This script splits a single large quotes file into individual drafts with a `quote` tag for the Quotes workspace in the Archive folder. Each block contains at least two lines in standard Markdown quotation format that begins with a `> `prefix on each line (even those that are blank). - **Insert quote**: Prompts to select a quote from the “Quotes” workspace and inserts the quote text in the Drafts editor as if you pasted it. Use this action when you are composing content in Drafts and want to utilize one of your quotes. - **Copy quote**: Prompts to select a quote, as above, but instead puts the quote text in the system clipboard–ready to be pasted into other apps. Use this when you want to use some of your quote text in another app. - **Copy quote (via Prompt)**: Similar to “Copy quote”, but instead of the draft selection window, this version lists your quotes as buttons in a dialog prompt. This version may be more suitable if you have only a small number of quote. - **Edit quote**: Select a quote, and open the quote draft in the editor for editing. - **Load Quotes workspace**: Applies the “Quotes” workspace to the draft list. Same as selecting it in the Workspace menu. > TIP: Try the “Copy quote” action in a Drafts [Grid Widget](https://docs.getdrafts.com/docs/extensions/widgets?ref=blog.warrenweb.net#grid-widget) on your Home Screen or Lock Screen – or add it to Control Center.[Grid Widget](https://docs.getdrafts.com/docs/extensions/widgets?ref=blog.warrenweb.net#grid-widget) ## Quote shortcut Similar to the “Copy quote” action above, but implemented in Shortcuts. This shortcut fetches your list of quotes, asks you to select from the list, and puts the result in the system clipboard, ready to paste. - [Copy Quote (Shortcut)](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/a3518ae038a842e7a3a5299586d0bb17?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) The above works great on Mac if you enable it to show in the “Pin in Menu Bar” option, so it appears in your shortcut list in the main menu and can be accessed from anywhere quickly. On iOS, you can add this shortcut to your Home Screen or Control Center. ## Snippets If you wish, you would also like to install a Snippets workspace and action group: - [Snippets workspace](https://directory.getdrafts.com/w/2EH?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) - [Snippets action group](https://directory.getdrafts.com/g/2EG?ref=blog.warrenweb.net). - [Copy Snippet (Shortcut)](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/37eddc14ec8f41688787734b8f7f2777?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) The Snippets example was documented in a [Using Drafts as a Text Snippet Library](https://forums.getdrafts.com/t/tip-using-drafts-as-a-text-snippet-library/13551?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) how-to article. ## Related See more information about [Drafts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/drafts/) on my website, or use the [Drafts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/tag/drafts/) tag grid page page with all Drafts articles. - [Workspaces](https://blog.warrenweb.net/drafts-workspaces/) - [Action Groups](https://blog.warrenweb.net/drafts-action-groups/) - [Drafts Pro](https://blog.warrenweb.net/drafts-pro/) ## Resources See the Drafts User Guide for more information about the Workspaces or Action Groups features. [Drafts User Guide: WorkspacesDocumentation for Drafts app, a quick-capture note taking app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-180x180.png)Drafts User Guide![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/thumbnail/og-image.png)](https://docs.getdrafts.com/docs/drafts/workspaces?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) [Drafts User Guide: Action GroupsDocumentation for Drafts app, a quick-capture note taking app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-180x180-1.png)Drafts User Guide![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/thumbnail/og-image-1.png)](https://docs.getdrafts.com/docs/actions/action-groups?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) [Drafts User Guide: WidgetsDocumentation for Drafts app, a quick-capture note taking app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-180x180-3.png)Drafts User Guide![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/thumbnail/og-image-3.png)](https://docs.getdrafts.com/docs/extensions/widgets?ref=blog.warrenweb.net#grid-widget) ### Experiment - Day Cluster 4 URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-day-cluster-4/ Last updated: 2026-01-19T02:04:17.000Z I'm doing a tiny experiment using my Day cluster notes in Obsidian: Plan, Log, Journal, Review, Actions, and Links. These are the results of my Day 4 trial for Thursday, Jan 15, 2026 with a brief summary, what went well (Plus), what didn't (Minus), and what can I do (Next). 📆 [****I will use a Day cluster in Obsidian for 5 workdays.**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-pkm-create-today/) ## Summary Today, I focused on enhancing my Day Cluster templates based on the usage experience throughout this experiment to improve my workflows. ## ➕ Plus - Having a consistent Day workspace layout has helped minimize excess window clutter and focus on my Plan, Log, Journal work. - Although it's fairly easy to identify and write any scheduled events into my Plan for the day, automated calendar integration would remove extra manual workflow steps. - I returned to using (and improving) my navigational wayfinders because they added a lot of value to my cluster notes; I missed not having them after I briefly thought that might simplify the layout. ## ➖ Minus - I'm still not assigning actions to my session time blocks, especially later in the day, but simplified workflow will help. - I've had to go back and recreate some recent changes because I forgot to actually update my templates. - I'm still working on minimizing inline actions, but instead using a link strategy to actions for concepts, topics, efforts, outputs, etc.). - My Plan workflow has been improving every day, and recently I've been working on improving my Log activities and associated automations. - Most Reviews have been done the following morning, and I need to shift more to the end of the day including a Preview Plan. ## ➡️ Next - Continue working on consolidating enhanced templates and ensure consistency across the cluster notes. - Refine workflows and identify further automation opportunities. - Document Day 5 trial and summarize results from experiment. ### Experiment - Day Cluster 3 URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-day-cluster-3/ Last updated: 2026-01-18T01:47:59.000Z I'm doing a tiny experiment using my Day cluster notes in Obsidian: Plan, Log, Journal, Review, Actions, and Links. These are the results of my Day 3 trial for Wednesday, Jan 14, 2026 with a brief summary, what went well (Plus), what didn't (Minus), and what can I do (Next). 📆 [****I will use a Day cluster in Obsidian for 5 workdays.**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-pkm-create-today/) ## Summary I made a significant breakthrough today using QuickAdd macros to automatically configure an Obsidian workspace for my Day Cluster notes. This enables me to trigger a sequence of Obsidian commands from Python services that assemble my Day cluster notes into stacked sliding tab groups: Day/Plan +Log/Journal + Actions/Links. ## ➕ Plus - Transformation from window chaos to one-click layout. - Saves 5-10 minutes per day since I don't have to manually configure Day cluster window/pane/tab layout. - Now I can immediately begin my morning working on my Plan intentions, Log activities, reflect and freewrite in my Journal throughout the day. - Identified additional enhancements for my Day cluster templates based on actual usage and workflows, especially related to Meta notes and Action links. - Having consistent layouts reduces cognitive load and improves enables more gardening with notemaking with minimal structural support. ## ➖ Minus - Occasionally, I made some tentative changes in my note templates to see how that works, but then forget to integrate those changes back in my templates (so I have to redo them the next day). - Sometimes, I'm still getting bogged down exploring ways to automate my workflow for a quicker and simpler friction-free process. - I still have not been able to get time for reading that I want to do because I'm still working out the bumps in my workflow. - I don't always get to planned activities later in the day because it's still taking too long in the morning, but it's getting better. ## ➡️ Next - Further consolidation and testing of enhanced templates. - Improve wayfinders with navigation and hierarchy links for associated time horizons and related cluster types. - Further testing of Dexcom API and refinement of generated Diabetes Review based on earlier work I did for personal diabetes management. - Automated integration of Calendar and Health events using Swift Services, EventKit, and HealthKit. ### Experiment: Day Cluster 2 URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-day-cluster-2/ Last updated: 2026-01-15T23:19:53.000Z I'm doing a tiny experiment using my Day cluster notes in Obsidian: Plan, Log, Journal, Review, Actions, and Links. These are the results of my Day 2 trial for Tuesday, Jan 13, 2026 with a brief summary, what went well (Plus), what didn't (Minus), and what can I do (Next). 📆 [****I will use a Day cluster in Obsidian for 5 workdays.**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-pkm-create-today/) ## Summary Today was a "review & refine" day focusing on my templates, workflow, and links (with aliases). I reflected on yesterday's problems where I was getting bogged down in Plan and Log with too much detail. I discovered a better *link strategy* using Actions in Day cluster notes. I point to where the work is, not describe the actual work; this enables the plan stays high-level and strategic, rather than detailed items. Also, I can use a linked cluster for *all* core knowledge objects such as App, Topic, Concept, Effort, Area, Interest, and Output, like I'm doing my temporal notes for periodic notes across time horizons: Day, Week, Month, Quarter, and Year. ## ➕ Plus - Generated navigation wayfinders extremely helpful. - Examined how I identify and reference actions of various from simple lists to efforts or projects and areas or interests. - I manually created a working Day cluster window with multiple panes and sliding tab groups to use in my Day workflows. - Realized that I need to consolidate too many calendars and rethink my session time blocks. - Having sections for First Light, Meditation, Freewrites, and Last Light in Journal was helpful. ## ➖ Minus - Spend some time adjusting to minor website changes for integration of PDF report of glucose values yesterday from Dexcom CGM sensor. - I didn't focus on logging as much since I was mainly working on my Plan first and associated workflows. - I didn't get some family and finance actions completed. - Still I didn't do much reading that I want to do. - I spent more time refining my templates and related workflow practice. ## ➡️ Next - Test enhanced templates. - Explore options to execute Obsidian command sequences. - Automate creation of workspace window layouts for Day cluster workflows. - Enhance Diabetes Review from Dexcom API ### Experiment: Day Cluster 1 URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-day-cluster-1/ Last updated: 2026-01-14T15:15:24.000Z I'm doing a tiny experiment using my Day cluster notes in Obsidian: Plan, Log, Journal, Review, Actions, and Links. These are the results of my Day 1 trial for Monday, Jan 12, 2026 with a brief summary, what went well (Plus), what didn't (Minus), and what can I do (Next). 📆 [****I will use a Day cluster in Obsidian for 5 workdays.**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-pkm-create-today/) ## Summary I focused on creating simple day plan quickly. That worked, but I did not actually do what I intended. ## ➕ Plus - Created Plan note quickly - Identified top priorities: focus effort and key actions - Reviewed scheduled events: today and this week - Assigned session time blocks: what and when - Did meditation and exercise ## ➖ Minus - Did not do priority family actions. - Spent more time on templates. - Logging less after morning. - Missing intended reading. - Doing too much Review in morning Plan - Time spent create Day workspace. - Too much time watching TV. ## ➡️ Next - Watch less TV in evening. - Shift Review from late afternoon to Evening Routine before bed. - Create next Plan draft in previous Review. - Check and finalize Review in the morning. - Automate Diabetes Review in Morning Review. - Automate Day workspace setup. ### Experiment: I will use a Day cluster in Obsidian for 5 workdays URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-pkm-create-today/ Last updated: 2026-01-24T23:29:13.000Z I’m doing some tiny experiments in the new year, starting with this one. ## **Background** For periodic Obsidian notes in my PKM system, I have a *Day* cluster with *Plan*, *Log*, *Health*, *Journal*, *Review*, Actions, and *Link*s. I have a similar cluster model for other time horizons: *Week*, *Month*, *Quarter*, and *Year*. It also creates visual tools that support my day with View, Base, Board, Canvas, and Drawing. Also, an Claude AI *Analysis* of Plan vs Log using *Plus-Minus-Next*, as well as *Diabetes Review* note is generated to supplement my Review. My knowledge system model for temporal notes about time have vertical hierarchy and horizontal connections. They include navigation *wayfinders* to previous, next, and higher time horizons. I create these linked notes with customized *properties* and consistent content structure with *templates* using Python services, shortcuts, or hotkeys. I have created a *Neo4j* graph database with a *knowledge graph* of a model of my *Knowledge System Architecture (KSA)*, which I use to generate Obsidian notes for my PKM system such as my Day cluster. I'm developing and using PKM services with *Python* scripts, services, and API endpoints with *shortcuts*, hotkeys, menus, links, buttons, Siri voice commands and dictation, and Swift user interfaces. My PKM services include functions for: - *Neo4j* graph database access via *Cypher* graph query language (GQL) for creation, updates, and queries. - *Obsidian* PKM services for notes, folders, files, and commands. - *Health* services from *diabetes* data from *Glooko* and *Dexcom* apps and websites with glucose, insulin, food, and activity data and reports from my CGM and insulin pump. - *Claude* AI review services that generate Day or Week *Analysis* of my Plan *intentions* and actual Log *activities* using *Plus Minus Next* for my Day or Week Reviews. ## **Observation** Previously, it took a lot of time trying to manage all the Obsidian metadata properties, template scripts, and consistent structural formats across my temporal notes. I was constantly reinventing the wheel and still unable to find key knowledge objects in my PKM system. So I'm currently have been using a new Day workflow that leverages my PKM services. Each day begins with a *Day Startup shortcut* than runs automatically at 6 am so it's ready to use when I wake at 7 am. This includes a *Create Today* service that creates a Day cluster with all the customized linked notes that I need for each new day. It also does a *Morning Review* that generates a *Diabetes Review*, as well as a final AI Analysis for yesterday's Review, and then opens the *Plan* for today. I'm using my *Day* cluster notes throughout the day, and capturing thoughts, questions, actions along with field notes and procedures of what I actually do each day so I can review and refine my periodic workflow practices with automation if possible. ## **Hypothesis** These are options for ideas, projects, skills, activities, and routines that I might I want to explore as tiny experiments in 2026\. Maybe I would... 1. Create a *Plan* for each Day with my top priorities, key actions, and scheduled events. 2. *Log* what happened each Day, including field notes on observations. 3. *Journal* thoughts and feelings about my Day. 4. Record *Actions* that I can do to improve my notes, efforts, or life. 5. Capture *Links* that can be used for various apps, topics, concepts, efforts, or outputs? 6. Generate Claude AI Analysis of my Plan intentions and Log activities using Plus Minus Next 7. Generate a Diabetes Review from Glooko and Dexcom apps and websites with CGM and insulin pump data. 8. Create a *Review* for each Day with reflections, insights, and next steps. 9. Create *Workflow* automations using shortcuts, scripts, services, and APIs. ## **Experiment** Initially, I will focus on creating my Day cluster that I can use for my workflow each day to explore how I can simplify and streamline the process. For now, I will specifically work on option 1 about my Plan for each day. So this is my experiment for this week. \> **I will use a Day cluster in Obsidian for 5 workdays.** ## Trials These are the results of each day's trial and final results after the first week of my experiment. - [Day 1](https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-day-cluster-1) (Jan 12 Mon) - [Day 2](https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-day-cluster-2) (Jan 13 Tue) - [Day 3](https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-day-cluster-3/) (Jan 14 Wed) - [Day 4](https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-day-cluster-4) (Jan 15 Thu) - [Day 5](https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-day-cluster-5) (Jan 16 Fri) - [Summary](https://blog.warrenweb.net/experiment-day-cluster-summary/) ### Day Review 12 URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-12/ Last updated: 2025-12-16T21:39:30.000Z This is the *day review* for Tuesday, April 22 (2025-04-22). This is the last trial of my tiny experiment to *Write a Day Review for 18 workdays*; I only published 12 days using Plus Minus Next method because I got so busy working on stuff that surfaced during the experiment. Visit reviews for related time periods: - Prev: [Day Review 11](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-11) \- Apr 21 Mon - Next: Day Review 13 - Apr 23 Wed (suspended experiment) ## Summary *Reflect on what happened today using Plus Minus Next*. ### Highlight *Identify day summary for Week Review*. - Created main SwiftUI *NavigationSplitView* user interface. ### Plus ➕ *What went well?* - Developed NavigationSplitView for SwiftUI app on macOS with 3 panes: sidebar (Ghost, Spotify, Obsidian), content with toolbar picker (lists), and detail (properties for selected item with links). - Added CommandMenu's to the macOS app for custom menus, as well as a custom About view. - Developed custom enums for navigation selection of content and detail on posts, pages, playlists, albums, artists, songs, and notes. - Ideaverse Pro 2.0 highlights for linked notes with Nick Milo - Brother-in-law arrived to visit for a week. ### Minus － *What didn't go so well?* - It took quite a while and many iterations to get *NavigationSplitView* working right on macOS. - I didn't work on my PKM notes today since I was focused on Swift app development, but I will catch up later. ### Next → *What will I focus on next?* - Update dummy data with actual Ghost posts & pages, Spotify playlists, albums & artists, and Obsidian notes for the SwiftUI app. - Add Previews with preview data for the main, list, and detail views. - Develop ViewModel's for SwiftUI views for data formatting, view state & presentation logic, actions & commands, filtering & sorting lists, fetching data from repositories or services, etc. ## Last Light *Capture thoughts about today.* ### Thoughts *What do I think and feel about today's activities?* - I was feeling pretty good when I finally got the SwiftUI SplitNavigationView working properly, and I now have a foundation to build upon. - It's better when I can concentrate on development activities for a longer interval of several hours because I can get on a roll and accomplish a lot, rather than only doing smaller Pomodoro chunks. ### Questions *Any questions for research or exploration?* - How should I organize my project? - Is it best to have major organization by feature like Ghost, Spotify, Obsidian, Shared, etc.? - Within each feature, how should I organize technical artifacts such as Views, ViewModels, Services, Models, Entities, Repositories, Utilities, etc.? - Should I use libraries of reusable code? ### Actions *What can I do next?* - Explore options for project feature/technical organization. - Identify potential packages for shared libraries of reusable code. ### SYM - Playlist & Podcast URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-playlist-podcast/ Last updated: 2025-12-07T20:32:06.000Z In his recent Sketch Your Mind newsletter, Zsolt Viczián provided these updates about the *Sketch Your Mind Conference*. ## Playlist The full playlist is now live on his Visual PKM YouTube channel. If you missed a session, or want to revisit a visual idea, everything is now one click away. It's a great way to refill your creative tank for 2026. - [SYM Playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6mqgtMZ4NP0in8vxH3HaCLbPaRZL2Csa&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Video playlist (all 17 conference videos) ## Podcast As a creative experiment, Zsolt Viczián fed the conference transcripts into NotebookLM and generated a debate-style podcast on text, visuals, and how we think. It's a fun, fast listen; and it might spark a few questions about how you want to think and create next year. - [SYM Podcast](https://link.excalidraw.com/p/readonly/PImol9QWJslxb3Vqfdcc?darkMode=false&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Audio (12m) from Newsletter slide 3 Your browser does not support the audio element. Text vs. Visuals — Audio podcast (12m) ## Newsletter - [SYM Newsletter ](https://link.excalidraw.com/p/readonly/PImol9QWJslxb3Vqfdcc?darkMode=false&ref=blog.warrenweb.net)\- Drawing slideshow (16) with controls at bottom center [SYM - December 6, 2025 presentations - Excalidraw+Check out SYM - December 6, 2025 presentation on Excalidraw+![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-3.png)Excalidraw+![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/thumbnail/read-only-1)](https://link.excalidraw.com/p/readonly/PImol9QWJslxb3Vqfdcc?darkMode=false&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) Sketch Your Mind Newsletter ## Book If you haven't read his book *Sketch Your Mind: Nurture a Playful and Creative Brain*, you can get it at Amazon or Gumroad. - [Sketch Your Mind](https://sketch-your-mind.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Website, book & Newsletter - [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DZZCZPC2?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Kindle, paperback - [Gumroad](https://zsviczian.gumroad.com/l/sym?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- ePub, PDF - [Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/229000532-sketch-your-mind?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Reviews ## Videos Subscribe to Zsolt's Visual PKM YouTube channel. - [VisualPKM](https://www.youtube.com/@visualPKM?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- YouTube channel ### SYM 15 - The Emergence of Idea Emergence URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-15-the-emergence-of-idea-emergence/ Last updated: 2025-11-26T22:34:03.000Z Session 15 from *Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025* is now available. *The Emergence of Idea Emergence*: How sketches and links help ideas surface—and stick by Nick Milo. ## Session resources - [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZB2Tfx-GvU&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Conference presentation (1h 6m) - [Summary](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/emergence?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Session recap by Zsolt Viczián ## Speaker links - [Website](https://www.linkingyourthinking.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Linking Your Thinking - [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC85D7ERwhke7wVqskV%5FDZUA?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- LYT videos - [Podcast](https://podcast.linkingyourthinking.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Linking Your Thinking - [X](https://x.com/the%5FLYT%5Fway?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @the\_LYT\_way ### SYM 14 - Find Your Message URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-14-find-your-message/ Last updated: 2025-11-18T19:48:36.000Z Session 14 from *Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025* is now available. *Find Your Message*: See the big picture of your business by Ingrid Lill. ## Session resources - [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRhTfu72Zcc&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Conference presentation (1h 4m) - [Summary](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/ingrid?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Session recap by Zsolt Viczián ## Speaker links & social web - [Website](https://www.ingridlill.dk/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Visual Minds - [Newsletter](https://www.visualminds.org/shine-on-social?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Shine on Social Kit - [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@ingridlill3060/videos?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @ingridlill3060 - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ingridlill?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @ingridlill - [Email](mailto://ingrid@ingridlill.dk) \- ingrid@ingridlill.dk ### SYM 13 - Thinking in Comics URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-13-thinking-in-comics/ Last updated: 2025-11-16T19:23:44.000Z Session 13 from *Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025* is now available. *Thinking in Comics*: How the Grammar of the Page Shapes the Grammar of Our Thoughts by Nick Sousanis. ## Session resources - [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dORGUq-qxA0&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Conference presentation (1h 7m) - [Summary](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/sousanis?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Session recap by Zsolt Viczián ## Speaker links - [Website](http://www.spinweaveandcut.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Spin Weave and Cut - ["Map of Your Day" Gallery](https://link.excalidraw.com/readonly/g1YpRS5kN79IdOVktPTr?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Excalidraw drawing - [Unflattering](https://spinweaveandcut.com/unflattening/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net): Based on comics dissertation, Harvard University Press, 2015 - [Book](https://www.amazon.com/Unflattening-Nick-Sousanis/dp/0674744438/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Amazon (Paperbook), 2015 ### Social web - [RSS](https://spinweaveandcut.com/feed?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Website feed - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-sousanis-615120?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @nick-sousanis-615120 - [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/nsousanis.bsky.social?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @nsousanis - Email \- nsousanis@gmail.com ### SYM 12 - Sketchplanations URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-12-sketchplanations/ Last updated: 2025-12-12T16:25:14.000Z Session 12 from *Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025* is now available. *Sketchplanations*: A Decade of Drawing the World by Jono Hey and Oliver Caviglioli. ## Session resources - [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dORGUq-qxA0&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Conference presentation (1h 5m) - [Summary](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/jono/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Session recap by Zsolt Viczián - [Jono's slides](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/jono/Slides-Sketchplanations-JonoHey-SketchYourMindConference.pdf?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- PDF (32 pages) - [Oliver's sketchnotes](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/jono/Photos-Summary-of-Sketchplanations-OliverCaviglioli.zip?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Zip (4 sketchnote images) ## Speaker links & social web ### Jono Hey - [Website](https://jonohey.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) Personal website - [Sketchplanations](https://sketchplanations.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Website - [Big Ideas in Little Pictures](https://www.amazon.com/Big-Ideas-Little-Pictures-Explaining-ebook/dp/B0F7GVK4QK?ref=blog.warrenweb.net): Explaining the world one sketch at a time - Book (Kindle), Amazon, 2025 - [Podcast](https://podcast.sketchplanations.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Sketchplanations (with Rob Bell & Tom Pellereau) - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonohey/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @jonohey - [X](https://x.com/sketchplanator?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @sketchplanator - Email ### Oliver Caviglioli - [Website](https://www.olicav.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) Personal website - [Books](https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/9165.Oliver%5FCaviglioli?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Goodreads list of his books - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-caviglioli-25386a15?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @oliver-caviglioli-25386a15 - [X](https://x.com/olicav?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @olicav ### Veterans URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/veterans/ Last updated: 2025-11-14T01:22:48.000Z On Veterans Day, I was thinking about my paternal grandfather (John Warren) who served in World War I in the Canadian Army. Also, my uncle (Doug Warren) and father ([John Warren](https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Warren-4354?ref=blog.warrenweb.net)) (1920-2013) served in World War II in the US Army Air Forces (which became US Air Force in 1947). Also, I ([Doug Warren](https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Warren-4338?ref=blog.warrenweb.net)) (1945-) served during the Vietnam War (1968-1972) in the US Air Force. ## John Warren During World War I, my grandfather, [John Warren](http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Warren-15747?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) (1891-1978) served in the Canadian Army and was wounded in action in France. He was born 2 Jun 1891 in Pendeen (St Just in Penwith), Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. He emigrated to Ironwood, Gogebic, Michigan, United States in 1911 from Liverpool, England. He was still a British citizen when the war started, and wasn't able to enlist in Michigan. So he enlisted as a Private with Canadian Overseas Expeditional Force (44th Battalion) at Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on 17 Sep 1917 at age 26\. During the Battle of Amiens, Somme, Picardie, France, he received a penetrating gun shot wound in his back and right shoulder with a fractured rib and lung damage. After recovery in England, he was discharged by the Canadian Army and returned to Ironwood and was naturalized as a US citizen in 1919. I had included a 3-generation photo with my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather (also John Warren) as the feature image for my [Family Knowledge](https://blog.warrenweb.net/family-knowledge/) post. ## Doug Warren Near the end of World War II, his son, [Douglas Milton Warren](http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Warren-5923?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) (1922-1944), my namesake Uncle Doug, was a bombardier for a B-17G Flying Fortress four-engine heavy bomber (nicknamed "Betty Lou"). He was killed in action when shot down over Gellenbeck, Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany (west of Hanover) at age 21 on 11 Jan 1944. He was in the 532nd Bomb Squadron of the 381st Bomber Group and about 136 miles from their bombing target at Oschersleben, Germany, where there was a major aircraft manufacturing facility that produced Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters. His B-17 took off from Ridgewell, England, and was attacked by fighter planes and forced out of formation so they had to fight alone during a half-hour battle. Eight members of the crew were killed, but two parachuted to safety and were taken prisoner, later released, and returned to the United States. The mother of the navigator who received a visit from the right waist gunner survivor wrote a letter to my grandparents with details. Doug was killed before the plane went into a spin because the Germans brought in his flying jacket, with the identification picture that he carried in his breast pocket, and there was a large hole through the picture which they figured was a bullet hole. The ball turret was shot off with the gunner in it, and the tail section was blown off when a German ME109 exploded next to the B-17\. Finally, the Fortress exploded and broke into two. The front end went into a spin, so no one could get out, but the tail part leveled off and floated down a little more slowly so the two waist gunners had time to bail out before reaching the ground. Doug was awarded a Purple Heart and Air Medal after his death, which was presented to my grandparents. See my earlier post about [My Uncle Doug](https://blog.warrenweb.net/my-uncle-doug/) with some additional information. ### SYM 11 - How I Write My Books URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/skm-11-how-i-write-my-books/ Last updated: 2025-11-14T00:48:17.000Z Session 11 from *Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025* is now available. *How I Write My Books*: Visual Structures that Help You Think by Jorge Arango. ## Session resources - [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opjnRi22dGo&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Conference presentation (1h 3m) - [Summary](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/jorge?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Session recap by Zsolt Viczián - [Slides](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/jorge/Slides-HowIWriteMyBooks-JorgeArango-SketchYourMindConference.pdf?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- PDF (30 pages) ## Speaker links - [Website](https://jarango.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) Personal website - [Duly Noted](https://www.amazon.com/Duly-Noted-Extend-through-Connected-ebook/dp/B0CN7NT41X?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Book (Kindle), Amazon, 2024 - [Living in Information](https://www.amazon.com/Living-Information-Responsible-Design-Digital-ebook/dp/B07D85CVBG?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Book (Kindle), Amazon, Two Waves Books, 2018 - [Information Architecture](https://www.amazon.com/Information-Architecture-Beyond-Louis-Rosenfeld-ebook/dp/B015D78JV6?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Book (Kindle), O'Reilly Media, 2015 ## Social web - [LinkedIn](https://linkedin.com/in/jarango?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @jarango - [Mastodon](https://mastodon.social/@jarango?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @jarango - [X](https://twitter.com/jarango?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @jarango - [Email](https://jarango.com/lets-talk?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## See also See how Zsolt published his *Sketch Your Mind* book using Obsidian, Excalidraw, Pandoc, and Calibre (Epub, PDF, Audiobook). - [YouTube](https://youtu.be/nYReYJQfqjI?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Video (35m) by Zsolt Viczián ### SYM 10 - Drawing Out Your Genius URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/skm-10-drawing-out-your-genius/ Last updated: 2025-11-14T00:47:53.000Z Session 10 from *Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025* is now available. *Drawing Out Your Genius*: Expressing Emotion and Making Human Connection by Lisa Rothstein. ## Session resources - [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUjATJVqFa0&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Conference presentation (1h 8m) - [Summary](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/genius/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Session recap by Zsolt Viczián ## Speaker links - [Website](https://drawingoutyourgenius.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) Personal website - [Drawing Out Your Genius](https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Out-Your-Genius-Buy/dp/B0FHHTZ33W?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Book (Paperback), Amazon, 2025 ## Social web - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hirelisarothstein/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @hirelisarothstein - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/lisarothstein?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @lisarothstein ### SYM 9 - Explain Ideas Visually URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-9-explain-ideas-visually/ Last updated: 2025-11-08T17:27:02.000Z Session 9 from *Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025* is now available. *Explain Ideas Visually*:Turn ideas into visuals people instantly “get” by Janis Ozolins. ## Session resources - [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJXnEPjWuTQ&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Conference presentation (1h 8m) - [Summary](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/janis?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Session recap by Zsolt Viczián - [Slides](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/janis/Slides-Sketch-Your-Mind-Conference-Janis-Ozolins.pdf?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- PDF document (74 pages) ## Speaker links - [Website](https://ozo.art/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) Personal website - [Course](https://explainideasvisually.com/course?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Explaining Ideas Visually - [Ozo Newsletter](https://ozolins.substack.com/) \- Substack: short stories and visuals ## Social web - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozolinsjanis?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @ozolinsjanis - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/jaozolins?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @jaozolins - [X](https://x.com/OzolinsJanis?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @OzolinsJanis - [Contact](mailto://ozolins@hey.com) \- Email: ozolins@hey.com ### SYM 7 - Visual Frameworks URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-7-visual-frameworks/ Last updated: 2025-11-06T23:33:03.000Z Session 7 from *Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025* is now available. *Visual Frameworks with Dave Gray*: A pattern language to clarify thinking, discover options, and align faster. - [Session Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owanpV5Roz8&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Video (1h 11m) - [Session Summary](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/visualframeworks?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Speaker links - [Blog](https://xplaner.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Personal blog and newsletter - [Website](https://davegray.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) Personal website - [School of the Possible](https://schoolofthepossible.substack.com/) \- Substack - [Visual Frameworks](https://visualframeworks.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Website - [Gamestorming 2](https://www.amazon.com/Gamestorming-2-0-Playbook-Innovators-Changemakers-ebook/dp/B0FJ3T64LF?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Book, Amazon, 2025 - [Liminal Thinking](https://www.amazon.com/Liminal-Thinking-Create-Change-Changing-ebook/dp/B01LZS4SLO?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Book, Amazon, 2016 ## Social web - [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@DaveGray?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @DaveGray - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/davegray?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @davegray - [X (Twitter)](https://x.com/davegray?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @davegray ### SYM 8 - Fuel Flow State with Visual Notetaking URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-8-fuel-flow-state-with-visual-notetaking/ Last updated: 2025-11-06T23:30:54.000Z Session 8 from *Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025* is now available. *Fuel Flow State with Visual Notetaking:* Sharpen your attention skills and fall in love with focus by Brandy Agerbeck. - [Session Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuKx6jH849Q&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Video (1h 7m) - [Session Summary](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/brandy?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Session recap by Zsolt Viczián - [Session Worksheet](https://www.loosetooth.com/sketch-your-mind?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Brandy's worksheet for the session (2-page PDF download with newsletter signup) ## Speaker links - [Website](https://loosetooth.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) Personal website - [Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5297191.Brandy%5FAgerbeck?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Books - [The Idea Shapers](https://www.loosetooth.com/idea-shapers?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Book (Paperback) on visual thinking, [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Idea-Shapers-power-putting-thinking/dp/1494919338?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Social web - [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/loosetoothdotcom?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @loosetoothdotcom - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/agerbeck?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @agerbeck ### SYM 6 - Jerry's Brain URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-6-jerrys-brain/ Last updated: 2025-11-03T17:47:36.000Z Session 6 from *Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025* is now available. A live tour of *Jerry's Brain with Jerry Michalski:* How connecting ideas over time unlocks insight and better decisions. ## Session resources \- [Session video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XECWKQLOq2U&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Jerry’s Brain with Jerry Michalski (1h 11m) \- [Session summary](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/brain?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Session recap by Zsolt Viczián ## Speaker links \- [Website](https://jerrymichalski.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Personal website \- [Open Global Mind](http://openglobalmind.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Project \- [Design From Trust](http://designfromtrust.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Process \- [Trust is the Only Way Forward](https://youtu.be/gf3vp0Wquz8?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Video \- [2022 Follow-on](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N47GRiYZ0p8&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Video, “Trust” talk (updated) \- [Design From Trust](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjXC52gt0%5FQ&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Video, Personal Democracy Forum 2018 \- [What If We Trusted You](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0fgtvbMT7k&feature=g-all-u&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Video, TEDxCopenhagen \- A hunch - Video, Nobody is having the info curating experience I'm having \- [The Brain](http://jerrysbrain.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Jerry's Brain (online) \- [Lessons from 27+ Years Using My Brain](https://app.thebrain.com/brain/3d80058c-14d8-5361-0b61-a061f89baf87/23eff86f-0e85-4f13-14a5-4adb70b6ad6a?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- [Jerry's Notes from SYM Conference 2025](https://app.thebrain.com/brain/3d80058c-14d8-5361-0b61-a061f89baf87/77e809e7-682d-4e64-a7db-5c21deecd7c4?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Social web \- [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6di2OBPKmkc&list=PLreQNsM8LqWCAHo0N9HcHgf%5FHDkvAea%5FA&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Video playlist \- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerrymichalski?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @jerrymichalski \- [X (Twitter)](https://twitter.com/jerrymichalski?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @jerrymichalski ### SYM 5 - Visual Sensemaking URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-5-visual-sensemaking/ Last updated: 2025-11-01T21:24:34.000Z This is session 5 of *Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025*. ## Session resources - [Session video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv3JBB-lFH0&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- *Visual Sensemaking: From Blank Page to Big Picture* by Stephen P. Anderson - [Session recap](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/anderson?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Abstract, speaker bio, summary by Zsolt Viczián - [Session slides](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/anderson/Slides-Visual-SenseMaking-StephenP.Anderson-SketchYourMind2025.pdf?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- PDF (106 pages) ## Speaker links - [Figure It Out: Getting from Information to Understanding](https://www.amazon.com/Figure-Out-Getting-Information-Understanding-ebook/dp/B085412Q1X?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Book, Amazon, Stephen P. Anderson & Karl Fast, 2020 - [Blog](https://medium.com/@stephenanderson?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Medium - [Website](https://poetpainer.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Personal, speaking, training, books, consulting - [Company](https://the-mighty-minds-club.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- The Mighty Minds Club - [Newsletter](https://newsletter.themightymindsclub.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- *Thinking Things!* ## Social web - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenpa?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @stephenpa ## ### SYM 4 - Structuring Visuals for AI URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-4-structuring-visuals-for-ai/ Last updated: 2025-11-01T21:23:45.000Z This is session 4 from the *Sketch Your Mind* Conference 2025. ## **Session resources** - [Session video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPHDNn1x8gM&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- *Structuring Your Visuals for AI* by Jihyun 'Jilly' Lee (59m) - [Session recap](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/ai?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Abstract, speaker bio, summary by Zsolt Viczián ## **Speaker links** - [IFVP](https://www.ifvp.org/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- International Forum of Visual Practitioners (board member) - [Visual Sharing](http://www.visual-sharing.net/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Company (graphic recording, grahic facilitation, workshop) - [The World of Visual Facilitation](https://www.amazon.com/-/ko/dp/9082868504?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Book contributor ## Social web - [YouTube](https://youtube.com/@visualsharing?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @visualsharing - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jihyun-lee-65563b1a/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- jihyun-lee-65563b1a - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/graphicfacilitator?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- graphicfacilitator - [Linktree](https://linktr.ee/JillyScope?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- JillyScope ### SYM 3 - Gamestorming 2.0 URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/skm3-gamestorming-2-0/ Last updated: 2025-10-30T22:34:24.000Z This is session 3 from *Sketch Your Mind* conference 2025. ## **Session resources** - [Session video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oip5OF5o0w&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- *Gamestorming 2.0* by Dave Gray (1h 8m) - [Session recap](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/gamestorming?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Abstract, speaker bio, summary by Zsolt Viczián ## **Speaker links** - [Visual Frameworks](https://visualframeworks.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Website - [School of the Possible](https://schoolofthepossible.substack.com/) \- Substack - Book: [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Gamestorming-2-0-Playbook-Innovators-Changemakers/dp/1098148088?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) or [O'Reilly](https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/gamestorming-2-0/9781098148072?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- *Gamestorming 2.0* - *Book:* [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Liminal-Thinking-Create-Change-Changing-ebook/dp/B01LZS4SLO?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) or [Rosenfeld](https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/liminal-thinking?ref=blog.warrenweb.net)\- *Liminal Thinking* ## Social web - [X (Twitter](https://x.com/davegray?ref=blog.warrenweb.net)) - @davegray - [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@DaveGray?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @DaveGray - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/davegray?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- davegray ### SYM 2 - One year later... URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/s2-one-year-later/ Last updated: 2025-10-28T20:23:44.000Z This is session 2 of *Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025*. ## Session resources - [Session video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbRtx-sj6T4&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- *One year later*... by Nicole van der Hoeven - [Session recap](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/nicole?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Abstract, speaker bio, summary by Zsolt Viczián - [Session slides](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/sym/Presentation-Sketch-Your-Mind-Zsolt-Viczian.pdf?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- PDF (33 pages) ## Speaker links - [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@nicolevdh?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Videos - [Website](https://nicolevanderhoeven.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Blog, notes, work, speaking, course, book, about - [Obsidian for Everyone](https://courses.nicolevanderhoeven.com/o4e?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Beginner course (43 lessons), £150 - [How I Use Visuals in my PKM](https://nicolevanderhoeven.com/blog/20251013-how-i-use-visuals-in-my-pkm/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Blog post about this session ## Social web - [Mastodon](http://pkm.social/@nicole?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @nicole@pkm.social - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nvanderhoeven?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @nvanderhoeven ## ### SYM 1 - Welcome to Sketch Your Mind URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-1-welcome-to-sketch-your-mind/ Last updated: 2025-10-28T00:12:14.000Z Session 1 of Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025 is now available. Session 1 - Welcome to Sketch Your Mind ## Session resources - [Session video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICpwEUidC9U&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- *Welcome to Sketch Your Mind* by Zsolt Viczián (1h 7m) - [Session recap](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/sym?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Abstract, speaker bio, summary - [Session slides](https://sketch-your-mind.com/2025/sessions/sym/Presentation-Sketch-Your-Mind-Zsolt-Viczian.pdf?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- PDF (33 pages) - [Visual Summary](https://link.excalidraw.com/readonly/eTwaLHae7kbyIpXKkS3d?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Conference on a page ## Speaker links - [Book](https://sketch-your-mind.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Sketch Your Mind - [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@VisualPKM?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @VisualPKM - [Workshop](https://visual-thinking-workshop.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- *Visual Thinking* - [Wiki](https://excalidraw-obsidian.online/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Excalidraw plugin - [Support](https://ko-fi.com/zsolt?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- Ko-fi (donations) ## Social web - [X (Twitter)](https://x.com/zsviczian?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- @zsviczian ### Sketch Your Mind Conference URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/sketch-your-mind-conference/ Last updated: 2025-11-26T22:12:41.000Z Zsolt Viczián hosted an amazing free 5-day Visual Thinking conference. - Session [replays](https://app.events.ringcentral.com/events/sketch-your-mind-conference/replay?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) and [slides](https://app.events.ringcentral.com/events/sketch-your-mind-conference/reception?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) (if registered on RingCentral platform) - Visual [summary](https://link.excalidraw.com/readonly/eTwaLHae7kbyIpXKkS3d?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) (conference on a page) - [Book](https://sketch-your-mind.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net): *Sketch Your Mind* - [Videos](https://www.youtube.com/c/@visualPKM?ref=blog.warrenweb.net): *VisualPKM* YouTube channel - [Workshop](https://www.visual-thinking-workshop.com/cohort?ref=blog.warrenweb.net): *Visual Thinking Workshop* ## Sessions All 17 session videos presented at the conference are being gradually added to his *VisualPKM* YouTube channel, starting with his Welcome kickoff session. 1. [Welcome to Sketch Your Mind](https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-1-welcome-to-sketch-your-mind) (1h 7m) 2. [One Year Later](https://blog.warrenweb.net/s2-one-year-later/) \- Nicole van der Hoeven (1h 1m) 3. [Gamestorming 2.0](https://blog.warrenweb.net/skm3-gamestorming-2-0/) \- Dave Gray (1h 8m) 4. [Structuring Your Visuals for AI](https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-4-structuring-visuals-for-ai/) \- Jihyun 'Jilly' Lee (59m) 5. [Visual Sensemaking](https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-5-visual-sensemaking/) \- Stephen P. Anderson (1h 7m) 6. [Jerry’s Brain](https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-6-jerrys-brain/) \- Jerry Michalski (1h 11m) 7. [Visual Frameworks](https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-8-fuel-flow-state-with-visual-notetaking/) \- Dave Gray (1h 11m) 8. [Fuel Flow State with Visual Notetaking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuKx6jH849Q&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) *\-* Brandy Agerbeck (1h 7m) 9. [Explain Ideas Visually](https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-9-explain-ideas-visually/) \- Janis Ozolins (1h 8m) 10. [Drawing Out Your Genius](https://blog.warrenweb.net/skm-10-drawing-out-your-genius/) \- Lisa Rothstein (1h 8m) 11. [How I Write My Books](https://blog.warrenweb.net/skm-11-how-i-write-my-books/) \- Jorge Arango (1h 3m) 12. [Sketchplanations](https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-12-sketchplanations/) \- Jono Hey & Oliver Caviglioli (1h 5m) 13. [Thinking in Comics](https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-13-thinking-in-comics/) \- Nick Sousanis (1h 6m) 14. [Find Your Message](https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-14-find-your-message/) \- Ingrid Lil (1h 4m) 15. [The Emergence of Idea Emergence](https://blog.warrenweb.net/sym-15-the-emergence-of-idea-emergence/) \- Nick Milo (1h 7m) Subscribe to his [VisualPKM](https://www.youtube.com/c/@visualPKM?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) YouTube channel and [newsletter](https://sketch-your-mind.com/newsletter?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) to receive ongoing updates, and read his outstanding book on visual Personal Knowledge Management. ## Conference summary This provides a recap, highlights, and links from all the sessions for the entire week on a single drawing as an infinite canvas. [SYM Conference Summary - Excalidraw+Check out SYM Conference Summary on Excalidraw+![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-2.png)Excalidraw+![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/thumbnail/read-only)](https://link.excalidraw.com/readonly/eTwaLHae7kbyIpXKkS3d?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ### LYT 16 Workshop - Introduction URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-16-workshop-introduction/ Last updated: 2025-10-11T16:33:03.000Z I'm excited to participate in Linking Your Thinking (LYT) Workshop 16 cohort from Oct 13–Nov 11\. It provides an opportunity to focus on building and improving my [PKM](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm) system based on [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian/) linked notes (integrated with other apps) as well as a truly unique experience with a wonderful community I have been active since 2023 in LYT 11–15 [Workshops](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-workshop), Notemaking Mastery (NMM), Writing Original Works ([WOW](https://blog.warrenweb.net/writing-original-works-wow/)), and many LYT [Gongs](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-gong/) and Happy Hours. I have ongoing efforts in [Family Knowledge](https://blog.warrenweb.net/fkm/), [App Integration](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-integration/), [Shortcuts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/shortcuts/), and [Shine a LYT on PKM](https://blog.warrenweb.net/shine-a-lyt-on-pkm/). I have shared some of this content in Circle and Showcases, and published some here on my Ghost website, blog, newsletter, as well as a digital garden with active Obsidian notes being developed for publishing. Recently, I have been developing a knowledge graph model of my PKM system and will write more about my experiences and how that's changing the architecture, patterns, and practices for my Obsidian linked notes. I'm also developing some [Swift](https://blog.warrenweb.net/swift/) apps as well as Python and JavaScript services that help with management and administration of my Obsidian notes, Ghost website, and others APIs, and I will be learning in public along the way. I wished I learned more about making linked notes much earlier in my life, but better late than never. It has been so valuable for me over the past few years in the LYT community. I has energized my thinking, curiosity, learning, writing, and sharing. It adds more joy in the last phase of my life, while sharing knowledge with myself, family, community, and others. I'm excited to begin this LYT 16 Workshop. It will be interesting to see what my knowledge graph looks like after it's over. I will share updates throughout the workshop. Please subscribe to my newsletter and follow me on the social web (fediverse) platforms via [ActivityPub](https://activitypub.rocks/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) at `@index@blog.warrenweb.net`. ### 1Password - Copy Private Link URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/1password-copy-private-link/ Last updated: 2025-09-03T20:38:04.000Z ## Introduction In my [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian/) notes, sometimes it's useful to include external Markdown links using URL schemes to other apps such as *1Password Families*, which is used by members of my family (me, wife, and sons). ## Account notes In my Family vault for my [Family Knowledge](https://blog.warrenweb.net/fkm/) effort, I have many [*Account notes*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/account-notes/) for each of our family accounts with everything my wife and family need to know when I'm not available. This includes providing access to [account websites](https://blog.warrenweb.net/account-websites/). ## Private links However, I don't want to duplicate the website address and credentials in Obsidian, when It's already safely stored in the 1Password secure vault. To eliminate the need to open 1Password, and then search the account to find the login item, I can use the *Copy Private Link* feature that copies a private link to the clipboard that I can paste in an Obsidian note to include a direct link to that account's login item. This private link is only available to anyone with access to its vault, which might be private (just me), personal (but accessible by other members), shared (spouse and me), or shared (all). ## Categories You can get a private link for items in any category within the 1Password vaults: logins, credit cards, bank accounts, driver licenses, email accounts, memberships, rewards, passports, social security numbers, wireless routers, software licenses, identifies, databases, documents, or secure notes. ## Menu For any 1Password item, you select the *Copy private link* option from the *More options* (3 vertical dots) menu in the upper right corner of that Item. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/09/1Password-Private-Link---Item-Dots-menu.png) Item Dots Menu - Copy Private Link Or in the 1Password app menu bar, ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/09/1Password-App-Menu-Bar--Edit-.png) 1Password App Menu Bar (Edit) you can select the option in the `Edit` menu: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/09/1Password-Private-Link---File-Edit-menu-1.png) 1Password App Menu Bar (Edit) - Copy Private Link Then just paste it from the clipboard to another application. In Obsidian, create an "external" Markdown link `[label](url)`, identify the link with something like "1Password" as the label in square brackets and insert the "url" inside the round parentheses. For me, It starts with `https://start.1password.com/open/i?`, followed by several query parameters (such as *a*, *v*, *i*, and *h*) with their values and separated by "&" delimiters. I think probably `v` and `i`specify the *vault* and *item* being referenced; and perhaps `h` is my 1Password *home* page and `a` might be a key that represents my *account*. ## API keys and tokens Also, when I document API's for various apps, I don't want to include security information in the Obsidian notes. I can simply use the *private link* capability to reference the 1Password login item with the necessary information, such as the access token for the [Reader API](https://blog.warrenweb.net/reader-api/). ## Summary Remember to *copy a private link* to 1Password items, such as login information for accessing a website. Then include that as a Markdown link in Obsidian notes to reference that 1Password item without duplicating sensitive security credentials in your notes. ### Maps bring context, structure, and navigation to ideas URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/maps-bring-context-structure-and-navigation-to-ideas/ Last updated: 2025-09-01T21:24:24.000Z In [Part 1](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-bases-manage-knowledge-objects/) of this series, I covered how Obsidian **Bases** provide a solid foundation for capturing, organizing, and managing my notes as knowledge objects. [Part 2](https://blog.warrenweb.net/visual-thinking-with-obsidian-canvas/) described how **Canvas** unlocks visual thinking—spatially arranging notes, making connections, and enabling ideation beyond linear writing for deeper insight and further ideation. Now in Part 3, I focus on how **Maps** extend this process with a layer that brings *context*, *structure*, and *navigation* to collections of related *notes*. This focuses on the *Relate* phase of the ARC ideation framework, and the *Prompting*, *Planning*, *Drafting*, & *Crafting* elements of my [*LYT Pipeline*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-pipeline/) writing process based on [WOW](https://blog.warrenweb.net/writing-original-works-wow/) techniques and the [*Creator's Codex*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/creators-codex/). ## What are maps? A Map of Content (MOC), which I prefer to simply call a *map*, is essentially a curated note (or structural *hub*)—with lists, links, and sometimes embedded canvases or diagrams—that gathers and organizes related notes around topics, efforts, or workflows. I also like to think of different [*types*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/notes-and-maps/) of maps in my PKM system for apps, efforts, topics, outputs, etc. Sometimes I use them for a special transitional purpose like a workbench or focus map. They provide knowledge dashboards that: - Surface connections and *relationships* between topics. - *Guide* you to relevant notes, resources, and sub-maps. - Act as an entry point for deep exploration of ideas across *clusters* of related notes, - Help plan, *organize*, and manage efforts, topics, apps, and/or outputs. They are a conceptual technique that scales with my knowledge and adapts to my workflow. These *maps* provide the organizational structure that supports a *model* of my thinking that allows me to navigate ideas efficiently. ## Knowledge management Without maps, a vault can become a tangled web of notes, difficult to navigate and make sense of over time. Maps solve this by providing: - **Context**: Understanding how notes *relate*, both thematically and functionally. - **Structured overview**: Seeing the *big picture* at a glance, without needing automated graphs. - **Navigation**: Quickly *jumping* between ideas, efforts, and stages of work. While Canvas provides flexible freedom to visualize spatially, it can become awkward for large or complex topics. Maps bring back a sense of structure and hierarchy, supporting contextual navigation, relationship layers, and efficient discovery. They transform notes from isolated objects to an organized network of knowledge. ## Building effective maps I create and maintain maps as a natural extension of my Bases and Canvas workflow. - **From Bases to maps**: Bases help me manage *properties* in specific *filtered views* of my notes. This enables me to review and change navigational links like `up` and `related`, as well as categorization (structural) properties such as `effort`, `app`, `category`, `topic`, `group`, and `rank`.It helps me identify related notes for associated maps. - **Canvas to map integration**: I use Canvas to organize and relate notes, cards, and images visually. Using arrow or line connections between related elements focuses on their relationships. This allows me to identify the specific relationship that is represented by links; in some cases, it might be useful to replace a link with an link note when I want to represent more context, multiple connections, or properties about that relationship. Using Canvas is a simple way that helps me create of model of my personal knowledge graph, which enables effective mapmaking. - **Hierarchical maps**: Using both Bases and Canvas helps me to identify how notes and maps should be connected hierarchically. Besides providing structure, this supports effective access and navigation. The outline and local graph views in Obsidian also help me to create appropriate maps. - **Dynamic and evolving**: My maps change and evolve along with my notes. As I create or refactor related notes, patterns emerge that affect my map structure and navigation. ## Summary Maps are where structure and context come together. They help me move from raw knowledge (captured in Bases) and unstructured ideation (explored in Canvas) to organized, interconnected systems of thought. Maps keep me oriented, enhance idea emergence, generate new insights, and turn my Obsidian vault into a knowledge landscape I can navigate with confidence. With Bases, Canvas, and Maps working together, my writing process shifts from chaos to coherence—supporting everything from spark capture to polished publication. As my vault grows, maps ensure that every idea can find its place within a meaningful context. ### Payment Services URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/payment-services/ Last updated: 2025-09-01T00:54:08.000Z Sorry for the long hiatus with logging [*Family Knowledge*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/fkm/) activities. This effort continues, and we have been reviewing each of our accounts with a focus for each *Family Review* meeting on a different account website. This has been very helpful to spend this time for various reasons. ## Account websites Obviously, it’s a way to review what information is available for each *account* and where to find it. It also shows how navigate the menus, sidebars, links, sections, and pages. My wife has been more interested in each *website* than I expected, and usually has lots of questions that she asks about it. In fact, this review process has enabled me to discover many aspects of our accounts that need attention and corrections such as updated credit cards, phone number, or preferences. ## Account notes I update the [*Account Note*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/account-notes/) in our *Family Vault* for each account with the corresponding information for the common sections and structure from our *Account Template*. It’s necessary to capture information, commentary, procedures, links, and/or screenshots for each account. However, there’s a consistency for each Account note even though all their websites are totally different. ## Venmo account After reviewing retail credit cards such as Home Depot, Lowe’s, Macy’s, and Kohl’s recently, today we started going through the *payment services* starting with *Venmo*. Actually, she wanted to cover that because she knows we have used it to send money to our son, grandkids, and my sister; however, she didn’t really understand what it is or how to use it. So we went through my Venmo account today, and I also learned more about it as well. Like other accounts, we review both the website and mobile app (if available). Next week, she wants us to review *PayPal* since she’s not really familiar with that either. ## Homework Also, she gave me some homework for this week. She suggested that I gather all my *credit cards* together, so we can review them, and make sure they all in a single place. Right now, some are in my wallet, dresser, or office desk drawer. This is something that I’m meant to do, but never got around to it. It was very good suggestion. ## Financial & legal review We plan to visit our financial advisor and attorney next month to review financial investments and legal documents such as wills, trust, and advance care directives. It’s been over 10 years since our last changes, so it’s time to review them again. Recently, I noticed she was going over the list of our *Safe Deposit Box* contents, and we’ll talk about that in an upcoming review meeting. ## Summary These all demonstrate how she’s getting more engaged all the time, and learning more each week. Sometimes it the little things that really deserve some attention, but these weekly meetings give us an opportunity to spend some time doing that together (and then I follow-up with writing in our account notes). ### Visual Thinking with Obsidian Canvas URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/visual-thinking-with-obsidian-canvas/ Last updated: 2025-08-26T21:40:19.000Z In [part 1](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-bases-manage-knowledge-objects/) of this series, I described how Obsidian **Bases** provide the foundation to manage notes in my Add (+) inbox, support maintenance of their properties, and guide workflow processing from spark to output. Here I cover the next stage in my ideation workflow. Obsidian **Canvas** enables visual thinking to help me organize and refactor my notes, identify and visualize relationships, update properties, and build maps. These can be enhanced further using Excalidraw drawings to supplement the Markdown text in notes. In part 3, I will explore how **Maps** help me organize related notes, enable effective navigation, and provide more curated context for notes and relationships. ## Canvas in my workflow *Shortcuts* and *Bases* help me *capture* sparks to make new *notes* and organize their *properties*. After structuring notes with metadata and Markdown content, the next step in my workflow use *visual thinking* in a Canvas. This is more effective than working with multiple Obsidian windows or multiple panes within a window, although those are helpful in many situations. For example, I often work with two adjacent panes for map-note or note-note combinations. However, Canvas allows me to work with Markdown cards, notes, and maps within an infinite canvas with additional benefits of including spatial organization, grouping, and labeled connections (arrows or lines), and images (or screenshots). Canvas helps me map, organize, and see relationships between notes in ways that lists and tables can't. ## Why visual thinking matters in PKM The content of notes is plain text with Markdown formatting that includes outlines, headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, images, and links. This focuses on vertical linear thinking for organization and structure within the note. However, it's necessary to complement this with visual thinking to see how these notes are related using a spatial arrangement in Canvas (or Excalidraw drawing). When you place selected notes on a canvas, it's easier to see patterns and gaps in your knowledge. You can make connections not obvious in text list form. It supports brainstorming and associative thinking. *Canvas* is a natural fit in the *Note* and *Explore* stages in *Creator's Codex* in the Add phase of the LYT ideation framework. Organizing in a canvas helps lay the foundation for maps and further note development. ## Canvas in action You can use a canvas as an infinite workspace where you arrange notes visually. This allows you to move them around and group related ideas together. With Canvas, you can include Markdown note cards as well. For example, sometimes you don't want to include a whole note (even though it's scrollable). You might use a card as a placeholder for a future note, or a link to notes if you don't want to embed them. ## Integration You can also integrate other embedded media with your notes such as images, PDFs, and video. Images can be screenshots of Excalidraw drawings, apps, web pages, or even note fragments. Also, you can directly link to other Canvas files, notes, or external resources (including URL schemes for shortcuts or other apps). You can easily draw lines or arrows between anything on the canvas to show explicit relationships (including a label). This allows you develop the structure of a map visually. This is not possible with multiple Obsidian editor panes or windows on your desktop. ## Map related ideas Canvas encourages brainstorming where you start with one note, and then expand connections visually. It's easy to split or consolidate content across multiple notes when you view them in a Canvas in context. You can organize notes based on related ideas. This can help you to visually organize a series of posts or pages that you want to publish. For example, you can use cards as placeholders for future pages or references to existing content since they can include external web (or Hookmark) links, as well as internal Wikilinks to other Obsidian files. You can include arrows between pages (or posts) and arrange them spatially based on your website sections, menus, topics, or tags. ## Organize efforts and outputs Also, you can use a canvas to help map your efforts and outputs. You can layout a dashboard to manage efforts, planning, research, and outputs. You can even include an Obsidian Base, Dataview, or Kanban board in a canvas. Unlike an Obsidian local graph or outline that is automatically generated, a canvas enables you to focus on a curated model of your knowledge graph with intention. ## Enhance with Excalidraw You can use Excalidraw drawings to complement canvas and notes. It adds an extra visual dimension with spacial text, lists, headings, sketches, icons, diagrams, and annotations. This allows you to create inline visuals to quickly clarify a concept, diagram processes or workflow, and combine visual drawings with linked note cards. A Canvas card can link to an Excalidraw drawing that shows a decision tree or mind map. ## Workflow: Bases to Canvas These steps illustrate my workflow. 1. Capture and categorize in Bases using database-like views. 2. Pull related notes into Canvas to explore themes, find patterns, and plan next steps. 3. Add hand-drawn and diagram layers in Excalidraw for clarity and detail. 4. Canvas is not just another presentation option, but it can be a key part of the *thinking* and *writing* process. ## Practical tips For effective canvas use: - Start small with one central card and branch out as you go. - Color-code cards for categories or status. - Use grouped areas for thematic clusters. - Keep links to original notes intact for deep dives. - Save version snapshots of a canvas as efforts evolve. ## Preparing for maps Canvas helps me move from raw captured notes toward structured insight. In part 3, maps will extend *visual thinking* into *navigational knowledge landscapes*. The canvas is where my ideas start to **connect** and form the structure needed for *writing*. ### Obsidian Bases manage knowledge objects URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-bases-manage-knowledge-objects/ Last updated: 2025-08-09T17:13:26.000Z My writing process in Obsidian uses *Bases*, *Canvas*, and *Maps*. Obsidian Bases helps me organize, categorize, and manage notes and maps. This describes how I use *Bases* for making notes in the *Add* phase of the ACE ideation workflow with support from *templates* and *shortcuts*. I will cover more in subsequent posts on *Canvas* and *Maps* about my workflow to publish and share content with others. ### Bases Obsidian Bases is a core plugin that provides filtered views of selected properties for dynamic queries of note collections similar to a database. It offers a YAML query language and user interface that is more powerful that the community plugins for *Dataview*, *DataviewJS*, or *Datacore*, although they still have their place for special views. ### Table views There are several view layouts available such as Table and Card. The Table view format displays columns for selected properties and rows with values across your notes (like a spreadsheet or database). A *properties* editor provides an interactive interface to design their selection and order; also, you can define *filters* with various conditions for properties that determine which notes are presented in the table view. ### Notes are knowledge objects Bases offer a way to view your Obsidian notes as collections of *objects* based on their properties. Every Markdown note in your Obsidian vault contains a name and content, but it also has metadata properties as key:value pairs in YAML front matter at the beginning of a note. The content in your notes represents knowledge with links for relationships with other notes. This mesh network of connected notes forms a *knowledge graph* of notes (objects) and links (relations). ### Object technology Object technology in software architecture represents subject domains in software with classes (types) and objects (instances). An *instance* is a single object with a unique identity and specific *properties*. A class is a group of multiple instances of the same *type* of object. Templates create different types of notes with certain properties, and Bases helps manage note collections and properties like objects. ### ARC ideation workflow I create knowledge and ideas in my PKM system from sparks and other sources. I develop and relate these linked notes further over time and communicate my ideas by publishing works to share. This post focuses on the *Add* phase of the ARC ideation framework, and the *Notice* & *Explore* elements of my *LYT Pipeline* writing process based on WOW techniques and the *Creator's Codex*. ### Capturing sparks It's critical to quickly capture interesting or important sparks such as ideas, links, text, or recipes. I use a *Capture* shortcut to streamline this process with a prompted interface for consistent formatting and storage in Day notes (or sections) such as Log, Journal, or Actions. ### Add base I have an *Add Base* with multiple views where I can manage properties and workflow for new notes. This supports property maintenance for my notes, where I can: - update *navigation* links for \`up\` and \`related\` - assign *categorization* properties via \`category\`, \`topic\`, \`group\`, and \`rank\` - review/update \`type\`, \`status\`, and \`tags\` for processing *workflow* ### Day base I write thoughts, emotions, meditations, freewrites, and reflections in a *Day Journal*. These are primarily text paragraphs with lists and headings. My *Day Log* records what happened each day. These are timestamped bullet list items for *thoughts* or *questions*, and checklist items for *actions*. I use a *Day Base* with various views for files created and/or modified on each day. This shows the notes I processed each day. ### Creating efforts I also have several *Create* shortcuts to automate creation of linked maps, canvas, and drawing for new apps, efforts, and outputs. ### Making notes I create new notes in the Add (`+`) folder of my Obsidian vault (*Ideaverse*). This makes it easy to find since all new notes are located in the same folder. My Bases offer filtered views of these notes by day, effort, app, or output. ### Processing notes It's very easy to create many notes very quickly, and then it starts becoming more difficult to work with them. So it's critical that I have a regular workflow practice that helps me process these new notes regularly so I manage them more effectively. ### Summary *Templates* define and create different types of notes as objects in my PKM system. *Shortcuts* support my writing process with automation of workflow action steps. *Bases* help me manage properties across note collections. That's a powerful combination when making notes. ### Account Workflow URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/account-workflow/ Last updated: 2025-07-24T14:26:22.000Z It's very important for my family to know how to do the specific procedural steps involved in workflows to process paperless documents from our accounts and file them in our document archive for storage and access later. Initially, I'm including this knowledge in my account notes, but I'm exploring automation wherever possible to streamline this process to further simplify these actions. This overview illustrates how we process account email notes about paperless documents, access related account websites for relevant information, and download account documents in archive storage. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/Account-Workflow--Drawing--1.png) ## Introduction As I encounter workflows for our accounts during my daily activities, I work through them like my family would have to do without me (from their perspective). Usually, I just do these things almost automatically without even thinking about it much because I know what to do and how to do it. However, my wife currently does not know what or how to do the same thing so I need to create notes as guides about each of our accounts. For example, this morning I received a monthly payment reminder email message for an upcoming automatic payment to Mazda Financial Services for our car loan. What would she need to do about such an email notice about a paperless document and automatic payment? How would she download the latest statement and file it in our document archive? Does she need to do anything about the scheduled payment in our Budget app? ## Paperless documents We have paperless enrollment for our accounts, so everything is online and digital via various websites for these accounts. Obviously, that means knowing the password (and multi-factor authentication) to access the account website (which is available in 1Password password manager). Since all my accounts are paperless, we do not receive a constant barrage of postage mail with statements, notices, and promotions, and we don't have to organize all those paper statements in filing cabinet storage. However, since everything is digital at online websites with email notices and PDF downloads, there's a lot more that my wife would need to know and do to process our account statements. For example, what types of *email* messages do they send, as well as when and why, about available online documents such as statements? ## Account websites If you want to view the current statement, you must login to the website to download, view, and/or print it (since we don't get a paper statement in our postal mail). However, once you access the *website* via login/password, then you need to know how to navigate and *find* what you need, such as summary, statements, transactions, payments, autopay, profile, preferences, help, contacts, etc. Of course, each website has completely different menus, features, and navigation. Because my wife is not familiar with any of them, it would not be easy for her to know what do. As I have been reviewing each of our accounts, I realize that she really does not know anything about most of these account websites. ## Document archive After she located the current *statement* (or other online document like a tax form), how does she *download* the PDF document and where is it stored in my file system? What is the *workflow* to streamline this process, is there any *automation* that might help, and how does she access the document *archive* later to view a statement? So I'm documenting all this in our account notes including step-by-step procedures with screenshots. Then, we review at least one account each week as part of our Family Review meetings. ## Workflow examples In earlier meetings, I described how paperless accounts work, how I receive email messages from each account throughout the month about documents available online at their website, which accounts send statement emails as well as the types of documents and notices and when these occur. I used this drawing with an overview of the entire workflow process that also shows the Mac apps involved in processing account statements such as Obsidian, Mail, Safari, Hazel, Preview, and our YNAB family budget. We walked through a specific example for Spectrum, our local cable provider for internet and voice service (home phone) since I recently received an email about a new statement. It was extremely helpful to go through the process that she would have to follow, and explain related information along the way. This included these actions: \- Reviewed the email message from Spectrum that a new statement was available. \- Accessed the website and showed how to find the statement (and other information) \- Viewed and downloaded the PDF statement to the Downloads folder \- Explain the Hazel monitoring rules that automate matching documents, and then rename the statement (date, account, description) and move the new document to the Document archive in year-dated subfolders for each account. \- How she can view and/or print the document later from the archive. ## Summary The more I work on this effort, it becomes even more clear how important it is to spend all this time developing this Family vault for my wife and family. There is really so much she would need to know and do that I currently handle for us. I'm so glad I started this effort as a primary focus for this year. ### Poetry - Hero URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/poetry-hero/ Last updated: 2025-07-22T17:42:30.000Z Published: February 27, 2015 Updated: July 22, 2025 In a Writing 201 course on poetry, assignment #6 had a word prompt of a Hero(ine) to be written in the form of a ballad using the device of anaphora/epistrophe. ## Superman Superman was extremely popular when I was growing up in the 1950’s. Here’s the introduction to the *Adventures of Superman* TV show which I watched all the time (58 sec). This was the famous shield that he wore on his chest, along with the opening words to the TV show. [ ![Superman shield](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Superman_shield.svg/256px-Superman_shield.svg.png?20210305103821) ](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Superman%5Fshield.svg?ref=blog.warrenweb.net "DC Comics, Inc. A subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery (c)2015., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons") > Faster than a speeding bullet! > More powerful than a locomotive! > Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound! > > Look! Up in the sky! > It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Superman! Mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet is really the greatest superhero of them all who “fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way!” ## Trying to fly As a kid, I loved Superman on TV. He could do anything, which really impressed me. So I made a cape from a white towel and colored in a big red “S” on it to make it official. Then I tried to fly off the front steps of our house. But I just landed in the middle of the shrubs, and got yelled at by my mother. Oh well, so much for special powers! Here is my poem: > Amazing, powerful**,** back then, > I loved the heroes, oh yes! > I was but just a kid back then**,** > I loved to watch, oh yes! > > I made a cape and wondered why, > with dreams insidemy head. > I madea jump**,** and tried to fly, but broke a bush instead. ## Summary This one was quite challenging. First, it was hard just composing a ballad, which usually has four lines with the second and fourth rhyming (“why” and “fly”, as well as “head” and “instead”). But then you had to use anaphora with word repetition at front of lines (“I loved” and “I made”), as well as epistrophe for word repetition at ends of lines (“back then” and “oh yes!”) too. It was necessary to use two stanzas so I could get all that incorporated into the poem. But I think it finally came together fairly well. --- Photo credit: “[Superman shield](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Superman%5Fshield.svg?ref=blog.warrenweb.net)” by DC Comics, Inc. A subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery (c)2015., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons ### Account Notes URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/account-notes/ Last updated: 2025-07-21T17:27:39.000Z It's very important to have notes about all your accounts, where you document what you *know* and *do* for each one. ## Introduction When sharing what you know and do as *family knowledge*, one of the most important areas to address first are your **accounts**. Common financial accounts include bank accounts for checking, savings, or certificates of deposit (CDs). Other accounts track assets, liabilities, income, expense, or equity. Estate planning includes documenting your financial accounts to ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes, minimize legal disputes, and avoid unnecessary financial burdens for your loved ones. ## Account notes This starts with documenting all your accounts, which can be done easily with Obsidian internal links to related notes in a *Family vault* to avoid stress, confusion, or conflict after you're gone. These account notes can also include external links to account websites, documents, images, screenshots, and videos. I found it extremely useful to have a unique note for each account. This provides a single place for everything you need to know and do for a specific account. You might even think of this like an *account map*. Everything your family needs to *know* and *do* is available in these account notes as a *user guide* for each account. If it becomes too large or complicated, you can spin off related sub-notes, and retain that link in the account note; you would probably use an *up* property to point back to the account note. When I first started capturing information for my family notes, I discovered I had account information in various places when I was focusing on login passwords, statements, or budget. However, it was much better when I consolidated all the account information into each account note, and eliminated the overlap and redundancy. ## Account list It helps to have a single note that lists all your accounts that also serves as a map. 1. It can be useful to create an *Accounts* folder to store all your account information; this is optional, but it might help as you create your account notes. 2. Create an *Account List* (or *Accounts*) note and simply list all your accounts as bullet list items. 3. Then create level-2 headings (`##`) for account categories, like *Credit cards*. 4. Finally, rearrange your accounts under its appropriate category. Make each account into a Markdown link enclosed with double-brackets as a placeholder note for an account note. Just type `[[`, account name, `]];` or type and select the account name text, and then type `[[` to wrap the selection as a link. ## Account categories These are the categories I used for my Account List. I decided to use alphabetical order, but they can be grouped any way that makes sense. - Banks - Checking - Credit cards - Insurance - Investments - Loans - Memberships - Payments - Pensions - Social Security - Statements - Tax - Utilities ## Summary This process will take some time because you will discover there's much more to know and do than you initially realized. You're probably doing a lot that you don't even think about, but your family doesn't have that same experience, memory, or skills. Having weekly Family Reviews helped a lot because I was able to break this effort into a focus topic for each week and we covered one or more accounts at a time. This approach allowed me to work on those account notes during the week, then we reviewed and discussed them at our Family Review, and I made adjustments during the following week while I also started on the next account. Each account has a unique website and documents, but I found having an consistent account template to be extremely useful. We will cover websites and documents next, followed by an example, and then describe my account template. ### Account Websites URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/account-websites/ Last updated: 2025-07-22T16:51:47.000Z ## Introduction Every website for each account is totally different regarding where and how you find information. That's why it's so important to document everything about each website for your family since they probably are not familiar with it at all. You will also find this process useful because you will probably discover new things about the websites as you examine each one for what you need to describe in your notes. Like me, you may find some things that need updating. So each week I focus on a specific website, and document the account note with my commentary (and screenshots wrapped in callouts) from the perspective of what my family needs to *know* and *do* with that account website. Then we review that account note and walkthrough the website at a Family Review meeting. ## Unique websites There are many accounts and each website is unique. Although they all have some common elements such as structure, content, and support, each one presents that information in a different way with various ways to find what you need. For each account, you need to know much more than just the login address and credentials. How do you find what you need to know and do once you access the website? I map each account website to the common structure of my account notes. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/Account---Websites--Drawing-.png) ## Account notes I found it really helpful to document everything I know about an account so these become an account user guide with all the navigation guidance, procedures, and screenshots so my wife can handle everything without me. It will probably also be necessary to cover some technology skills along the way as well. Account notes are even more important today since most accounts are probably paperless with everything delivered online rather than in postal mail. This requires that you document workflow procedures for each account that include receiving email notices, accessing websites, downloading documents, and filing in document archives, which I will cover next. ### Family Review - Template URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/family-review-template/ Last updated: 2025-07-20T22:09:25.000Z I create a new Family Review using Templater with the Obsidian template below. ## Inline script The template has inline JavaScript at the beginning of the template between the \`<%\*\` and \`%>\` markers. When a note is created with this template, it prompts for the review date and focus topic, and generates the properties and content for the note from this template. It's necessary to save the Javascript variables as frontmatter properties so they can be accessed in the template using the inline syntax \`<% targetDate %>\` and \`<% focusTopic %>\`. Also, since Templater creates a new note with the name "Untitled", I need to rename the file name as a Family Review with the targetDate previx, and then move it to `Calendar/Notes` dated folder for day notes. ## Prompts This shows the prompts when creating a new Family Review for July 20, 2025 on the focus topic `Utilties`. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/586B7A25-C3B5-4A06-BF1D-327E33A73556.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/Focus-topic-prompt.png) --- ## Template This is the actual template `Family Template - Review` in the `x/Templates` folder, which I can create using the command pallette `Cmd-P` for the command \`Templater: Create new note from template\`. At the end, it also includes a Dataview table query with a list of files that have been modified during the past week since the previous meeting. ```js <%* // Prompt: review date (or today) let now = moment(); let todayDate = now.format( "YYYY-MM-DD" ); let dayNotes = "Calendar/Notes"; let dayPath = now.format( "YYYY/MM/DD" ); let targetDate = await tp.system.prompt( "Review date (YYYY-MM-DD)", todayDate ); // Prompt: focus topic (default: Family Notes) let focusTopic = await tp.system.prompt( "Focus topic", "Family notes" ); // Change default file name "Untitled" let title = ${todayDate} Family Review; let newFileName = ${title}; await tp.file.rename(newFileName); let newFilePath = ${dayNotes}/${dayPath}/${title} await tp.file.move(newFilePath); // Generate frontmatter properties (including JS variables) tR += `---\n`; tR += `up: "[[Family Reviews]]"\n`; tR += `created: ${todayDate}\n`; tR += `tags:\n`; tR += ` - review/family\n`; tR += `targetDate: ${targetDate}\n`; tR += `focusTopic: ${focusTopic}\n`; tR += `---\n`; %> ``` # <% targetDate %> Family Review We have a *Family Review* meeting every Sunday at 4:30 PM for 30 minutes to review, discuss, and plan shared *Family Knowledge*. We also cover our family budget each month and travel every quarter. ## Topic: <% focusTopic %> We review account notes, websites, apps, and documents. Our focus for today: ## Review - Cover progress on this week's focus topic - Cover updates in Family vault - Family information updates ## Plan - Next week's focus topic and goals - Action items for the coming week --- ## Log We record thoughts, questions, and actions using a Plus Minus Next format. ### Plus - Positive developments or achievements - Comments or thoughts ### Minus - Challenges or areas needing improvement - Questions or concerns ### Next - Upcoming actions or milestones - Research topics --- ## Budget (month) Every month we review and discuss our spending plan (budget), priorities, and wishes. - Review family budget - Preview next month - Financial questions, actions, or related topics --- ## Travel (quarter) On the last Sunday in every quarter, we discuss and plan any potential travel. - Review upcoming events - Discuss possible activities - Identify and plan potential travel --- ## Updated files These are recent files changed during the last week by date/time (new to old). ```dataview TABLE WITHOUT ID file.link as "File", dateformat(file.mtime, "MMM d @ HH:mm") AS "Updated" FROM "Family" WHERE ( file.mtime >= date(today) - dur(7 days) AND file.mtime <= date(today) ) SORT file.mtime DESC LIMIT 20 ``` ### Family Review - History URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/family-review-history/ Last updated: 2025-07-19T18:51:38.000Z This log shows all our Family Review meetings over the first 6 months (by month and week). ## 2025 ### Q1: Accounts, passwords, budget #### Jan - Week 1 (Jan 5) - Orientation: Obsidian, vault, notes, binder - Week 2 (Jan 12) - Passwords: 1Password, vaults, logins - Week 3 (Jan 19) - Accounts: Overview, categories (account map) - Week 4 (Jan 26) - Budget: accounts, categories; Travel: ideas, links, plans #### Feb - Week 5 (Feb 2) - Flu - Week 6 (Feb 9) - Flu - Week 7 (Feb 16) - Statements: emails, downloads, archive - Week 8 (Feb 23) - Paperless workflow: website, automation #### Mar - Week 9 (Mar 2) - Accounts: Bank, checking, savings; major notemaking - Week 10 (Mar 9) - Account notes, links, consolidation - Week 11 (Mar 16) - "What happens when...": obituary draft (placeholder), memorial, cremation, burial - Week 12 (Mar 23) - Income tax: documents - Week 13 (Mar 30) - Income tax (IRS): TurboTax & returns ### Q2: Documents, websites, apps #### Apr - Week 14 (Apr 6) - Property tax (house): appraisal, tax rates - Week 15 (Apr 13) - Retirement income: social security, pensions, investments - Week 16 (Apr 20) - Account websites: insurance (home & auto) - Week 17 (Apr 27) - No meeting during family visit #### May - Week 18 (May 4) - Account websites: insurance (health) - Week 19 (May 11) - Consolidated review history, log, actions - Week 20 (May 18) - Templates: account, review, log, actions, note refactoring - Week 21 (May 25) - Account views (bases), updated notes #### Jun - Week 22 (Jun 1) - Account websites: credit cards - Week 23 (Jun 8) - Account websites: car loan, AAA - Week 24 (Jun 15) - Account websites: AT&T - wireless, DirecTV - Week 25 (Jun 22) - Account websites: utilities - electric, water - Week 25 (Jun 29) - Account websites: budget transactions, reconciliation ### Family Review - Example URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/family-review-example/ Last updated: 2025-07-20T19:52:50.000Z After an overview of Family Knowledge, let's now focus on the periodic practice workflow that helps transform knowledge into action over time. I show a recent sample review (2025-06-22) about electric and water utility accounts. ## Introduction We have a *Family Review* meeting every Sunday at 4:30 PM for 30 minutes to review, discuss, and plan shared *Family Knowledge*. We also cover our family budget at the end of each month and travel at the end of every quarter. This iterative cycle has been a very effective method for me to share family knowledge with my wife so she can know and do when necessary. This process also helps me clarify my own notes as I organize them for sharing and associated skills transfer. So it benefits me as well. ## **Forcing Function** This *Family Review* meeting serves as a *forcing function* for my *Family Knowledge* effort. I use Obsidian linked notes that we review together and discuss. Using a map for each review helped me focus during the week to prepare and present the Family Review. ## **Flywheel** The weekly cycle of a Family Review enables me to share linked notes on *Family Knowledge* with my wife. I receive direct feedback as we review these notes, and I capture thoughts, questions, and actions for follow-up during the next week. This weekly cadence provides a feedback process that has been very effective for iterative development of linked Family notes, and enables just-in-time identification of topics and actions to focus on next. --- # 2025-06-22 Family Review ## ## Topic: Utilities We review account notes, websites, apps, and documents. Our focus for today: - Pedernales Electric (PEC) - Electric - City of Lago Vista - Water, sewer, trash ## Review - Review progress on the topics for this week - Describe updates in Family vault - Discuss other family information ## Plan - Next week's focus topic and goals - Action items for the coming week --- ## Log We record thoughts, questions, and actions using a Plus Minus Next format. ### Plus - Positive developments or achievements - Comments or thoughts ### Minus - Challenges or areas needing improvement - Questions or concerns ### Next - Upcoming actions or milestones - Research topics --- ## Budget (month) Every month we review and discuss our spending plan (budget), priorities, and wishes. - Review family budget - Preview next month - Financial questions, actions, or related topics --- ## Travel (quarter) On the last Sunday in every quarter, we discuss and plan any potential travel. - Review upcoming events - Discuss possible activities - Identify and plan potential travel ### My Uncle Doug URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/my-uncle-doug/ Last updated: 2025-07-21T13:58:25.000Z I never met my uncle because he died at age 21 a year before I was born. ## Bombardier My uncle Doug, 2nd Lt. Douglas Milton Warren, was a bombardier in a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress four-engine heavy bomber #42-37962 named "Betty Lou" when he was killed over Germany in World War II on Jan 11, 1944. He was positioned at the very front of the aircraft in the nose section so he had a wide, panoramic view for targeting and operating the Norden bomb sight for accurate bombing runs. Besides the important role of guiding the plan over the target and releasing the bombs, he also operated forward-facing defensive machine guns to help defend from head-on attacks. ## Mission On Jan 11, 1944, he was on a mission from Ridgewell Airfield in Essex, England to bomb major fighter aircraft factories in Oschersleben as part of a strategic Allied campaign to achieve air superiority before the planned D-Day invasion landing at Normandy, France several months later on June 6. He was a member of the 532nd Bomb Squad of the 381st Bomb Group in the 8th Air Force (U.S. Army Air Forces), which had over 570 B-17's bomb industrial and military targets in Oschersleben, Halberstadt, and near Brunswick. They encountered fierce German opposition, estimated at 500 fighters, and 60 bombers were lost (including Doug's). His plane was forced out of formation and they had to fight alone during a half-hour battle before being shot down with eight crew members killed in action over Gellenbeck, Osnabruck, Germany (west of Hanover). They were about 136 miles from their bombing target, a major aircraft manufacturing facility that produced Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters. Two parachuted to safety and were taken prisoner, later released after the war ended, and returned to the United States. ## Masters of the Air There is an excellent 9-part series *Masters of the Air* by Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks available for streaming on Apple TV+ about the men of the *100th Bomb Group*, which was called the *Bloody Hundredth* because they lost so many bombers and men conducting bombing raids over Nazi Germany. My uncle was in a similar 381st Bomb Group, both part of the U.S. 8th Air Force, and I think of him when watching the series and what he must have experienced. Watch this YouTube trailer (2:24). [Watch Masters of the Air - Show - Apple TV+Watch Masters of the Air, a drama series by the producers of Band of Brothers starring Austin Butler, Callum Turner and Anthony Boyle. Stream on Apple…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/icon/favicon-180.png)Apple TV![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/thumbnail/1200x675.jpg)](https://tv.apple.com/us/show/masters-of-the-air/umc.cmc.7bxcni0vwgll9kmicq738k5q2?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) Apple TV also produced a companion documentary (1h 2m) that includes interviews with the real pilots depicted in the series. [Watch The Bloody Hundredth - Apple TV+Meet the real-life airmen who inspired Masters of the Air as they share the harrowing and transformative events of the 100th Bomb Group. Narrated by T…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/icon/favicon-180-1.png)Apple TV![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/thumbnail/1200x675-1.jpg)](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-bloody-hundredth/umc.cmc.17tiu47xvxo1p9k0tqfvhf29r?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) The series is based on the book [*Masters of the Air*](https://www.amazon.com/Masters-Air-Americas-Against-Germany-ebook/dp/B000JMKVMG?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) by Donald L. Miller (688 pages), which is available at Amazon. ## Survivor letter The mother of the navigator Phil R. Miller later wrote a detailed letter for my grandparents after receiving a visit from Sgt. Bernard Keene, the right waist gunner, who was one of two crew survivors. She explained how my uncle (as bombardier) and the ball turret gunner were actually "borrowed" from another crew because the regular crew members were in the hospital. The ball turret under the fusilage was shot off with the gunner in it, and the tail section blown off when a German Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109 exploded next to their plane. Finally, the Fortress exploded and broke in two. The front end went into a spin, so no one could get out, but the tail part leveled off and floated down a little more slowly, so that the two waist gunners had time to bail out with a parachute before reaching the ground. Later, they found my uncle's flying jacket with a large bullet hole through the identification picture carried in his breast pocket. So he was probably killed before the plane split and crashed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/IMG_0738-2-1.jpeg) Douglas Milton Warren (1922–1944) ## Namesake When I was born the following year, my father named me Douglas in honor and memory of his brother, with my middle name Paul being a shortened from my grandmother's maiden name Paull. I was born 80 years ago in July 1945 right after World War II ended first in Europe with Germany's surrender on May 8 (after Hitler's suicide). A few weeks later, atomic bombs were dropped from the larger B-29 Superfortress bombers on Hiroshima (Aug 6) and Nagasaki (Aug 9), and finally the war was over in Asia after Japan's surrender on Sep 2. ## Medals My 10-year grandson Jake was staying over for the weekend about 11 years ago; he was working on a project related to Memorial Day in school. I told him about my Uncle Doug, and he was very impressed and proud when I actually showed him his Purple Heart and Air Medal (both engraved on the back with Douglas M. Warren). They were presented to my grandmother after the war, and then passed down to me by my father. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/IMG_0731-2.jpeg) ## Burial He is buried with my grandparents, John and Mabel Warren, in Riverside Cemetery, Ironwood, Michigan (Block 53 - Lot 13A). ### Family Management - Topics URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/family-management-topics/ Last updated: 2025-07-15T00:28:50.000Z These are the major focus topics for my *Family Management* effort. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/Family-Management---Topics--Feature--1.png) ## Financial accounts - **Vault**: Obsidian linked notes - **Passwords**: 1Password, vaults, users, categories, logins - **Accounts**: Online access links, banks, credit cards, loans, insurance, taxes, social security, pensions, investments, house, cars, utilities. - **Budget**: Accounts, categories, transactions ## Paperless workflow - **Statements**: Paperless notices, website downloads, document archives - **Websites**: Accounts, transactions, preferences, contacts, help - **Workflow**: Email, downloads, automation rules, archives - **Budget**: Planning, reconciliation ## Documents - **Documents**: Digital file archives - **File Cabinets**: Paper documents - **Estate Plan**: Documents: vital, legal, financial, health, personal, insurance - **Personal Legacy**: Photos, videos, audio, family history, genealogy, letters, obituary, memorial, cremation, burial - **Travel**: Planning, cruises, trips ### The Head and the Heart - Aperture URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/the-head-and-the-heart-aperture/ Last updated: 2025-07-13T14:10:19.000Z ## Album Listen to music by the *The Head and the Heart* on their sixth studio album *Aperture*. They're currently on [tour](https://theheadandtheheart.com/tour?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) through Oct 2025. ### ***Aperture*** (2025) - 12 songs, 45m ***Spotify album***: [https://open.spotify.com/album/5wyhyzvoRACvYCIyYr9vQM](https://open.spotify.com/album/5wyhyzvoRACvYCIyYr9vQM?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Playlists Enjoy more of their music on my playlist. ### ***The Head And The Heart*** \- Playlist (2025), 26 songs, 1h 41m **Spotify playlist**: [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0x3gdUYKhO1xzJTX8KYQOm](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0x3gdUYKhO1xzJTX8KYQOm?si=7cb58b2dfa5748d2&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ### ***The Head and the Heart at Stubb's BBQ*** \- Playlist, 19 songs, 1h 12m I attended a live performance by *The Head and The Heart* at Stubb's BBQ Waller Creek Amphitheatre in Austin, Texas on Nov 2, 2016 for their *Signs of Light* tour. This is my playlist of all songs played in their set, including 5 as an encore. **Spotify playlist**: [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3xwHl0wa1b5bJlNSMmgo1t](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3xwHl0wa1b5bJlNSMmgo1t?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Videos Enjoy watching these videos. ### Lost in My Mind - 4m 53s Here is a live performance for *KEXP Live at the Mural* in Seattle (Aug 2010). **YouTube video**: [https://youtu.be/bUu0zsLIA9Q](https://youtu.be/bUu0zsLIA9Q?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) I selected *Lost in My Mind* as the intro count-down song for my recent LYT community event on Family Knowledge. It seemed appropriate for linked Obsidian notes in our PKM systems with its title, lyrics, and the band name (The Head and the Heart). **Spotify song**: [https://open.spotify.com/track/3gvAGvbMCRvVDDp8ZaIPV5](https://open.spotify.com/track/3gvAGvbMCRvVDDp8ZaIPV5?si=8b3e471a372a4c85&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) These are official music videos for songs on their recent album *Aperture* (2025). ### *After The Setting Sun* \- 4m 33s **YouTube video**: [https://youtu.be/IOvuw7pKfv4](https://youtu.be/IOvuw7pKfv4?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ### *Beg, Steal, Borrow* \- 4m 6s **YouTube video**: [https://youtu.be/nlulYL8MUPM](https://youtu.be/nlulYL8MUPM?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ### *Arrow* \- 3m 34s **YouTube video**: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH2KtmVp1CA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH2KtmVp1CA&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ### ### Efforts (Action) URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/efforts-action/ Last updated: 2025-07-12T21:25:11.000Z When I began my Family Knowledge effort, I created an effort map where I gathered links to notes and other local and remote resources. It helps to have an initial organization to get started. You can simply list bullet items and group tehem in appropriate clusters. . The you create some initial headers for these groups, and add some commentary with additional context. This will change, but you need to begin somewhere. Break that initial inertia and just begin now. I will describe what I did as an example in another post. Also, you need to spend some time to identify your values & virtues, family & work roles, areas & interests, and knowledge & technology. ## Values & Virtues These are some values and virtues that I identified for my effort. Of course, yours may be different, but this helps establish a foundation for your intentions. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/image-5.png) ## Family & work roles Also, it's important to consider your various family and work roles, such as these that I used for myself. Again, yours will probably be different, but this example might offer a clue. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/image-6.png) ## Areas & interests You also need to consider your areas and interests. As I did for mine, it's especially important to look at these from the perspective of what your family needs to know and *do*. What subset of your personal knowledge would be considered appropriate for shared family knowledge. For example, in my case, I felt that the Finance area was most important to address first, so we have done a lot with login passwords, websites, and documents for all our accounts. I will provide more information on what we have done during the first 6 months. Likewise, they may not have any interest with your all the notes about your work, but there may be important things that need to be addressed for business or website continuity after you're gone. Just remember to examine everything through eyes and what's important for them. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/image-2.png) ## Knowledge & technology Of course, it's necessary to include some initial categories in your effort map on Family Knowledge, such as those items listed below on the left. However, do not forget that you also need to address technology skills (and apps) along with guidances and procedures related to corresponding knowledge. For example, my wife was not familiar with macOS on my desktop iMac, and had never even heard of Obsidian or Markdown notes. So we did a little introduction and orientation in our first session with the basics. She has an iPhone and iPad so she knows the standard Apple apps like Safari, but there are many little details that she did not know like login, Dock, Menu Bar, multiple windows, window movement & resizing, etc. We include some tips & techniques as we encounter them during our Family Review meetings. Repetition is very helpful, and it gets easier all the time as she becomes more familiar with them. We use a common structure for our account notes using a Account Note template. Even though all the account websites are each unique and different, there's common stuff she needs to find for each one. Then I can map each account website to the consistent Account note, and then everything needs for each account is available there. Also, don't forget to spend time on workflows for statements and document archive for each account, which is especially important for today's paperless environment where everything is online. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/image-7.png) ## Summary Hopefully, this provides some initial ideas for you begin your effort with Family Knowledge. Start simple, go slow, and adapt along the way. You will learn a lot with every focus topic for your weekly Family Review meetings. That will also serve as a "forcing function" with this regular cadence to help keep you on track. My wife has found this so extremely valuable, and we both look forward to these sessions. ### Time - Life Decades URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/time-life-decades/ Last updated: 2025-07-11T21:07:48.000Z Since I will be 80 soon, it's time to focus on my life so far and how I can prepare my family for life after me. I was thinking about time and knowledge in the 8 decades of my life. ## Calendar Since I was born in mid-year (July) in the middle of a calendar decade (1940's), it helped to identify the year that started each decade such as age 20 in 1965, as well as the calendar decade period like the 60's. Also, I thought of my primary roles during each period as well as my focus and knowledge. I was born in Wisconsin, grew up in New Jersey, have lived in Florida and Virginia, and now Texas. ## Life on a page This is a summary of my life by decade with roles, focus, and knowledge. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/Calendar--Time----Life-Decades--Drawing-.png) ## Job A lot happened between 1965 and 1975 after graduating high school in Woodbury and college from Rutgers University in 1967\. I got a job with IBM as a Systems Engineer in New Jersey initially with pharmaceutical clients and later, after returning from Air Force leave, with Exxon for 8 years before moving to Dallas. While staying in a Newark hotel for 10-week training, guns and fires outside caused me to escape a week early during the 1967 urban riots after assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy because I was getting married a few weeks later. ## Marriage I was married in 1967 and we have two sons. I remember when my first son was born at the Langley Air Force Base hospital, in those times they wouldn't even let me be with my wife for the birth; they told me to go home and they would notify me when it was over and I could come and visit. A year after my discharge, we had our second son, and my wife's labor was so fast she never even had a chance to get her knee socks off since we were racing to get there on time, but it was a civilian hospital and was able to be present that time. ## Military Initially, I had an occupational deferment while I in training with IBM, but they eliminated all deferments the following year in 1968 at the peak of the Vietnam War so my name popped right to the top of the draft list because I was 23 at the time and they were running out of 18 year-olds to draft. Somehow I found out I was about to be drafted into the Army (probably infantry) for 2 years, so I decided to enlist in the Air Force for 4 years; I thought that would offer a better chance to use my IBM computer experience in the Air Force. And I actually worked as a system programmer with IBM Federal Systems and Mitre Corporation on advanced command & control and intelligence data systems. ## Housing & hurricanes Since I was on an IBM military leave of absence, I received half my salary for 2 years that helped a lot on my Airman's pay. I remember the first place that we visited out in the country near Eglin AFB actually had dirt floors, and my wife immediately broke down crying when the realtor showed it us. We settled for a small cinder block single-story home with linoleum floors, plastic furniture, and gigantic flying roaches where we hunkered down during Hurricane Camille (after initially driving north via Alabama until we had an oil leak and turned back) . It became was easier as I was promoted to Sergeant and eventually Staff Sergeant. ## Senior advisor During the next 4 decades, I focused on my career as a systems engineer, technical support, senior advisor, software architect, and developer with IBM National Technical Support, IBM Global Services, and Countrywide Financial (now Bank of America). I was appointed as one of the first Senior Advisors in the IBM National Technical Support Center. That was the highest, non-management technical position, serving as a senior technical expert and trusted advisor to both internal teams and customers during a period of IBM's transformation into software, services, and consulting. this was similar to a Senior Technical Staff Member or Distinguished Engineer in development divisions. ## Technical support As Senior Advisor to executives, management, and support teams, I shaped technical direction and strategies to adapt technical support for new architectures and technologies. I provided technical support, design reviews, early support programs, and critical situation support for specialists, consultants, and customers. ## Technology labs I also established several technology labs and centers of excellence to enable and support early adoption of new technologies in distributed computing, PC networking, LAN systems, and interconnected systems. ## IBM Design Council Also, I was a member representing National Technical Support and later Global Services with executives, senior technical leaders, architects, and planners in the IBM Design Council that was a strategic, cross-divisional initiative managed by IBM Software Group. Its focus was to guide and coordinate major cross-divisional technology directions and standards on open distributed systems, Open Blueprint initiative, Systems Application Architecture (SAA), Java and object technology in product roadmaps and interoperability strategies in systems and software products. ## Enterprise architect After leaving IBM, I became a Software Architect in the Office of Architecture at Countrywide Financial (now Bank of America). I focused on service-oriented architecture (SOA), web services, software reuse, and architecture governance across multiple business units, project teams, and technologies. ## Editor & blogger Since I retired in 2001 as a Senior Advisor after 34 years with IBM, I because a software architect for another 6 years. Over the last 25 years, I continued my interest in open source software technologies as a technical reviewer, editor, and proofreader for Manning Publications and later as an editor for Reedsy Ltd. I started a personal blog on Wordpress over 10 years ago, and last year migrated to Ghost for my blog, website, and newsletters. ## Parents & grandchildren During the first 15 years of my retirement, I cared for my aging parents since my mother had Alzheimer's disease and my father eventually had vascular dementia. So I know what it's like when you lose your memory and the impact it has on those caring for them in assisted living, memory care, nursing home, and hospice. I remember when my father was overwhelmed with my Mom's diagnosis and his own health issues, he was dealing with a urinary catheter situation for an enlarged prostate in a nursing home after a hospitalization. He just wanted to die and refused to eat thinking that he would die, so they considered him suicidal and committed him to a geriatric psychiatric hospital. We had to follow behind the police car driving at 70 mph with him in a nightgown on the back seat to Corpus Christi for treatment and recovery. After my father had a serious fall in the bathroom during one night in their memory care room, he was taken to a nursing home for rehab (that never really helped him recover); he declined rapidly over his last year with vascular dementia and lots of rage, paranoia, disrobing in the dining room, biting nurses, throwing shoes, etc. (he wasn't a "happy camper"). My mother never even realized that he had gone, although she would ask "Where's Corky?" occasionally (and then forget a few minutes later). We usually told her that he was probably at "physical therapy", which he had being doing, and she accepted that explanation. It was frustrating that we could never even tell her husband of 69 years was dead because she would not understand. During same time, we have been lucky to be close to our 3 grandchildren and spent a lot of time with them reading bedtime stories, babysitting, celebrating birthdays and holidays, going to movies, doing other activities together, watching soccer games, and now enjoying their experiences in high school and college. ## Curiosity It's interesting that my early life focused on curiosity, play, and learning; and now in retirement, I have the time to return to them again in the later stages of my life. Over the past few years, I have been very active with personal knowledge management (PKM) through Nick Milo and the Linking Your Thinking (LYT) team, community, newsletters, videos, workshops, and events. I have also been involved with Anne-Laure Le Cunff at Ness Labs related to Tiny Experiments and associated mindful productivity and other neuroscience insights. ## Family knowledge I have published a lot on app integration with Obsidian among other PKM topics and other interests. However, this year my primary focus in my Family Knowledge effort including these articles. So follow along to hear more. ## Summary This has been helpful to step back and review my life over time from the perspective of major focus and knowledge throughout each decade. You might consider doing something similar; such review, reflection, and journaling can be very helpful as you assess what you have done, where you are now, and what's next? ## Your Arrow What does the arrow of your life look like? ### Me and My Arrow (2:06) This is an oldie from *Harry Nillson* in 1970. **Spotify song link**: [https://open.spotify.com/track/5KjRITicSHJM88w3U9LwLM?si=2faa6928b96d458e](https://open.spotify.com/track/5KjRITicSHJM88w3U9LwLM?si=2faa6928b96d458e&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) And here's music and a video from *The Head and the Heart* on their latest album *Aperture* (2025) while you're thinking about what you can do, especially to help your family? ### *Arrow* (3:14) **Spotify song link**: [https://open.spotify.com/track/1SddmjX60LKydFCMXPtMdV?si=0970b1964cd042ab](https://open.spotify.com/track/1SddmjX60LKydFCMXPtMdV?si=0970b1964cd042ab&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ### *After the Setting Sun* (4:30) This song explores themes of loss, memory, and hope, with lyrics reflecting on what comes after endings and the importance of connection. > "When you least expect it / When you've reached the end / There's a door that opens up / After every setting sun..." **YouTube video link**: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOvuw7pKfv4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOvuw7pKfv4&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ### Time - Past, Present, Future URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/time-past-present-future/ Last updated: 2025-07-10T14:03:00.000Z Your *knowledge* evolves over *time* through *actions* in your efforts. It helps to think about your knowledge timeline and reflect on **you** from a perspective of before, past, present, future, and after. The cycles of our life occur over various time horizons: day, week, month, quarter, year, and decade. I want to focus on what you can do right now in the *present* that enables you to share your *past* knowledge for yourself, family, community, and others in the *future*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/image-1.png) ## **Before** Before your life began, knowledge was passed across generations through conversations with family and friends. However, most information was recorded by other people in books, media, and web pages on the internet. We benefit from that as we learn and grow using sources we encounter from others and make personal notes for yourself. We can do the same for our family and others now that will help them after us. ## **Past** Your life includes experiences, events, skills, and memories from things you *did* until now. Many use a PKM system with linked *personal notes*, which might be recorded in an Obsidian vault with your universe of ideas, which Nick Milo calls an *Ideaverse* for your own personal internet*.* Everything you did before now is in your past, and what you do after this happens in your future. ## **Present** You live in the present moment and apply your current knowledge on what you are *doing* as you focus attention and energy on specific *efforts*, *interests*, and *areas* of your life. You make and link notes with information and ideas that develop, extend, and enrich our *personal knowledge*. We have periodic practices and workflows that capture, review, plan, do (actions), log, and journal in *time*\-based notes. ## **Future** When something is important or interesting, you capture, create, and connect knowledge as you make notes primarily for your own benefit and what you intend *to do* next. Some notes will be developed further for sharing content with others on websites, in communities, or a business. However, the focus in this series is on how you can create family notes with knowledge that will enable them to *know* and *do* after you are not available to support them. ## **After** What personal knowledge can you *share* with your *family* to make things easier for them after you are gone. And how can your knowledge, experience, skills, and memories benefit others too in websites, communities, or business. ## Summary This is very important for me to do for my family right now. Hopefully, my effort will also encourage you to do something that will help you too. I will be describing more details about how you can make that happen, and you can begin by following these notes that I'm sharing with you and think about what you might do. ### Family Knowledge - Overview URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/family-knowledge-overview/ Last updated: 2025-07-13T16:40:29.000Z Since Family Knowledge is a major effort this year, let's understand what we're talking about. Curiosity about a topic we want to explore usually begins with questions like these that I will explain further in this article. - What is *family* knowledge? - How is that different from *personal* knowledge? - Why am I spending my time doing this? - Why is it important to me and my family? ## Personal knowledge Personal knowledge focuses primarily on thinking, linking, and sharing for yourself. - Learning, understand, reflection, growth - Thoughts, experiences, memories, knowledge, and skills - An Obsidian vault is a "second brain" that supports our "first brain" ## Family knowledge Family knowledge is created and shared for the benefit of your family circle of loved ones. - What *personal* knowledge is needed by your family later? - Sharing linked **Family Notes** in a Family *vault* (and *binder*) - Everything your family needs to **know** and **do** when you're not available, whether illness, injury, dementia, stroke, or death ## Do it now It takes some effort to get this done, but now is the time to get started. Hopefully, my experience will make the process easier for you as we focus on these elements. - Notes: I have an Obsidian vault with linked notes (and binder) - Reviews: weekly meeting (30–60 min) to review & discuss focus items - Accounts: logins, websites, workflows, and automation - Documents: paperless digital files, assets, and legacy - Estate plan: wills, trusts, advance directives, etc. ## Accounts It helps to establish a map with an initial outline with themes for each quarter and month, as well as have a focus topic for each weekly review. This will evolve as you go, and it can be adjusted based on your experience. We both look forward to our Family review each week, which have really worked out well. For example, we started out with passwords, accounts, and budget; we wanted to address the area of finances because we already addressed our basic estate planning earlier. However, we discovered that it would take much more time to review all our accounts with their websites, documents, and workflows so we include several each week and spread it out. Also, we found it extremely helpful to consolidate everything in each account note rather than having account information scattered across multiple notes on logins, budget, etc. This allowed us to develop a consistent structure for each account in spite of all the unique differences in each account website. I will provide more details about the *templates* that we use for our accounts and reviews. ## Technology Be gentle and patient with your family and respect that this might be a lot to learn for them since you may have doing all this yourself until now. There probably is quite a bit to learn about technology and apps, so it helps to break these topics into bite-size chunks (and repetition helps). For example, my wife is not familiar with macOS at all, although she does have an iPad and iPhone, and she has never heard of Obsidian or Markdown, so there's some orientation that will be needed (which really helped a lot). There is a lot that you do all the time without even thinking about it because it's familiar, but you must look at everything from their perspective if they have to do what you do now. ## Status We have made significant progress since we kicked this effort off in January. I have created many posts in the Linking Your Thinking (LYT) community on Circle during LYT Workshop 15, Notemaking Mastery, and several LYT Gongs. I did a 10-min LYT 15 Showcase presentation, and recently a 60-min LYT Community Event on Family Knowledge. Now I'm publishing that content in my blog, website, and newsletter to help more people. ## Summary This topic has resonated with many, and I hope it's useful and practical for you too. I will share what I have done and learned so far, and continue to post my progress with updates along the way. Please follow me on this journey to help our families. ### Family Knowledge - Introduction URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/fkm-intro/ Last updated: 2025-07-09T12:39:58.000Z I wanted to provide a little background that highlights my thinking, linking, and sharing about why I am doing this, what I have been doing, and how you can do something too. I will be publishing more content on all of these topics. \- Family Knowledge Management (FKM) \- Family Vault and Reviews \- Family Notes and Templates ## A story... I created this little story to introduce my recent LYT community event on *Family Knowledge: What they need to know and do?* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/A-story-2.svg) ### Family Knowledge URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/family-knowledge/ Last updated: 2025-07-07T23:19:47.000Z ## Introduction During my last Year Review, I focused on this upcoming year (and decade) since I will be 80 this month. Our lives offer opportunities for learning, reflection, and growth in a PKM system as a "second brain" with thoughts, feelings, ideas, skills, memories, and experiences. At this stage in my life, I'm thinking about that *personal knowledge* needed by my wife and family when I'm not available, whether by illness, injury, dementia, stroke, or death. My primary effort for 2025 is *Family Knowledge*. ## Family Notes I created a new Family vault in Obsidian with linked notes that will contain (or link to) everything that my family needs to *know* when my "first brain" no longer functions. This enables me to transfer my personal knowledge to her so she will then "know" what she needs. It also needs to work for other circumstances like her leaving before me; also, if we both depart at the same time like in an accident, then our sons (and siblings) would need to know what to do also. Also, I have a Family *binder,* sometimes called an Emergency or Death binder, with PDF documents of key notes to be kept with other important documents. Of course, I created a Desktop *widget* with several shortcuts: Family Notes, Document Archive,Access Accounts, or Download Document. ## Family Documents With everything so digital and paperless now with today's technologies, this extends beyond traditional estate planning with wills and trusts, financial and medical powers of attorney, and advance directives with healthcare decisions. Now we also need digital estate plans for our digital assets and online accounts, as well as digital legacy considerations. ## Family Reviews So I created a map with an outline for an initial plan with themes each quarter and focus for each week. In a shared Family calendar with my wife, we scheduled 30 minutes every Sunday at 4:30 pm for a Family Review to review and discuss items for that week. We have done these weekly meetings for over 6 months so far, and results have been much better than I exceeded. Of course, it has also required some technology topics occasionally such as an initial orientation with a simple overview of macOS, Obsidian, Markdown, apps, etc. Even at the first session, although it's a lot to learn, my wife agreed how important it was to finally get this together now to make things easier for her later. ## Summary This is an important topic to me and my family, and I think it’s something that would be worthwhile to share for others too. I will share this work and my progress here in my blog, website, and newsletter. I hope you find this useful, and maybe it will generate some ideas and motivate you to do something similar for yourself. Everybody needs to address this eventually, and it's much better sooner than later (or never). ### Favorite Playlist - Liked Songs URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/music-favorite-playlist-liked-songs/ Last updated: 2025-07-12T11:20:11.000Z Enjoy listening to Spotify playlists, albums, artists, and songs, as well as related videos and links. This is a *preview* playlist with 30-second clips of each song so you can sample its contents. Press the *Save on Spotify* button with Add (plus-circle) icon symbol, which saves my playlist to your *Library*, and then click the Play button to listen to the entire playlist; or just click on the playlist title link to open it in Spotify. The ellipse (...) next to the *Play* button also allows you to Play the entire playlist on Spotify or Save it to your *Library* to play now (or any time). ## Playlist ### [**Favorite Playlist – Liked Songs**](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7k1eCY0ZurVl9uUUJ2dbtK?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) 382 songs, 25 hr 8 min ### [12/18] I will do a Day Review for 18 weekdays URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-experiment/ Last updated: 2025-12-16T21:40:32.000Z ## **Observations** In the [*Curiosity Collective*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/curiosity-collective/), my pact was [*I will Write Entries in my Curiosity Log for 5 Days*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/curiosity-log-pact/), which I persisted through all 4 weeks. I also posted the [results](https://blog.warrenweb.net/curiosity-log-act/) of my daily trials for this experiment using the Plus Minus Next method. I read [*Tiny Experiments*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/tiny-experiments/) at launch, and decided to join the Ness Labs community to continue with my curiosity, mindfulness, productivity, learning, and more tiny experiments. ### Curiosity Log I log thoughts, feelings, questions, and actions throughout the day; this includes diabetes health data, activities, focus sessions, and events. Since I was curious about what I actually do every day, and I started it in the *Curiosity Collective*, it seemed appropriate to have a separate *Curiosity Log* note for each day in my Obsidian notes rather than using my Day note. That has allowed me to just focus on my curiosity for my *field notes* on my experiment. Eventually, I will probably merge its contents (and template) into my Day Log. ### Logging all day So far, I have revamped my morning incrementally through this process, and that's getting pretty good now. However, I find that my logging decreases as the day progresses. It starts off great, and then gets less later in the afternoon and evening. Also, I have been struggling with plan and review practices at the start and end of each day and other time horizons (week, month, quarter, and year). ### Periodic routines Recently I have finally started enhancing my Day Plan and Day Review templates, especially integrating [*Plus Minus Next*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/plus-minus-next/) that I feel will help, but I need to use them through many trials so I can refine them over time based on what I discover and learn. I feel good when I can include plan and review activities in my day, and it's frustrating when I don't have those structural bookends. So that calls for this tiny Spring experiment! ## **Questions** I have many questions about what will work the best, which will evolve throughout the experiment, but there are a few key ones that jump out at me. ### Consistency First, how can I ensure that I do plan and review practices every weekday? And then, what should my Day Plan and Day Review templates contain? I have some initial working versions, but I know they are not adequate. ### Diabetes reviews Also, since I have type 1 diabetes, it's very important log and review diabetes health data all the time that I can review and improve my diabetes management. Although I have various devices and apps that help with than, I need a more integrated approach that brings them together for me to review on a periodic basis such as after a meal, day, week, month, quarter, and year. ### Health assessment How am I doing? Am I improving my diabetes management? What changes can I make to make it better? At various times, I had used different notes for all this diabetes health data, that I sometimes called a Diabetes Log or Health Log (to include more than diabetes, like sleep, exercise, workouts, weight, blood pressure, etc.). I'm trying to integrate that health data into my Curiosity Log to see how that works. ## **Hypothesis** There are many possible ways I could approach these questions, but I think it will be more effective to consider them as I encounter them during my logging. Also, I can add additional questions and actions while I'm logging my thoughts, feelings, and events. ### Iterate and adjust Maybe this, maybe that, but just get started; it isn't necessary for me to identify all these options, alternatives, potential solutions, etc. up front. It's better to do this more like an agile software development project (rather than an old-fashioned sequential waterfall). Each week will be like a sprint, I can make tiny adjustments in each Day Review, integrate them into my maps, views, and templates, so they can be used in the next iteration. ### Progress updates I will provide updates throughout my trials in this experiment in the community and my website as I learn in public. This should be fun! I'm curious what works (and what doesn't). ## **Pact** So here is my pact for this experiment: > [**Pact: I will do a Day Review for 18 workdays**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-experiment). I chose 18 weekdays so it extends through the month April 7–30\. I identified weekdays, but expect that I will also do my Day Review on the weekends too (but I wanted to give myself permission for some breaks. if desired). Let this experiment begin! ## Trials These are the Day Reviews for each day of my experiment. Note: I only completed 12 trials of my experiment (Apr 7–22, 2025) because I got so busy working on what surfaced and I didn't get around to publishing the last 6. ### Day reviews These are all the Day Reviews for this experiment. | April | Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | --- | | 15 | 7 - [Day 1](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-1) | 8 - [Day 2](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-2) | 9 - [Day 3](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-3) | 10 - [Day 4](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-4) | 11 - [Day 5](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-5) | | | 16 | 14 - [Day 6](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-6) | 15 - [Day 7](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-7) | 16 - [Day 8](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-8) | 17 - [Day 9](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-9) | 18 - [Day 10](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-10) | | | 17 | 21 - [Day 11](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-11) | 22 - [Day 12](https://blog.warrenweb.net/day-review-12) | 23 - Day 13 | 24 - Day 14 | 25 - Day 15 | | | 18 | 28 - Day 16 | 29 - Day 17 | 30 - Day 18 | 1 | 2 | | | FeedbackI like to share what I'm thinking and linking in public, and hope it sparks something for you too. Since I'm learning as I go, I would appreciate any comments or suggestions. Please follow my journey. All subscribers will receive my newsletter with new blog posts. Thank you. | | | | | | | ### Tiny Experiments URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/tiny-experiments/ Last updated: 2025-06-28T19:45:16.000Z Anne-Laure Le Cunff, neuroscientist and Founder of Ness Labs, has released her new book *Tiny Experiments*. It offers a fresh, unique perspective of curiosity, productivity, uncertainty, and growth based on an experimental mindset and mindfulness. ## Curiosity Collective I was fortunate to participate in an ephemeral coaching community called the *Curiosity Collective* for 4 weeks with Anne-Laure and 300 people before the book launched. It included watching her weekly live Zoom coaching sessions, reading excerpts from her book with breakout discussions, each of us doing our own tiny experiments on a focus topic based on the 4 parts of her book, and posting our results in a temporary Circle community. These were the results that I posted during the Curiosity Collective experience: - [**Pact**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/curiosity-log-pact): Commit to Curiosity - [**Act**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/curiosity-log-act): Practice Mindful Productivity - [**Reac**t](https://blog.warrenweb.net/curiosity-log-react): Collaborate with Uncertainty - [**Impact**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/curiosity-log-impact): Grow with the World This was a fantastic experience and I learned so much from her. She covers important information and useful techniques for personal growth and development based on an iterative, incremental model. Her book is now available at [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593715136?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) and other retailers. ## Resources Enjoy her book and consider joining her learning community. ### Tiny Experiments (Book) [Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World - Kindle edition by Le Cunff, Anne-Laure. Health, Fitness & Dieting Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World - Kindle edition by Le Cunff, Anne-Laure. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/icon/favicon-1.ico)Kindle edition by Le Cunff, Anne-Laure. Health, Fitness & Dieting Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.Follow![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/thumbnail/ATVPDKIKX0DER-142-7634768-9213054-MH46FWWWT3GR82YF5YWS-uedata-s--2Frd-2Fuedata-3Fstaticb-26id-3DMH46FWWWT3GR82YF5YWS-0)](https://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Experiments-Freely-Goal-Obsessed-World-ebook/dp/B0CXM9J9R4?sr=8-1&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ### Ness Labs (Community) [Ness Labs - The Learning Community for Knowledge WorkersWant to achieve more without sacrificing your mental health? Say hello to mindful productivity.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/icon/cropped-favicon-ness-270x270-188.png)Ness Labs![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/thumbnail/home-page-screenshot-banner-188.png)](https://nesslabs.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Related ### Linking Your Thinking (LYT) Explore more about personal knowledge management (PKM) with Nick Milo. [Linking Your ThinkingManage a lifetime of knowledge and build an endless creativity engine that puts you back in control of your most valuable resource: your thoughts.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/icon/5f872f2dbe60c038930fff00_LYT_small-20icon-186.png)Linking Your Thinking Logo![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/thumbnail/627c8cad72630c647e39b0cf_LYT_02-189.png)](https://linkingyourthinking.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Videos Watch these videos for more from Anne-Laure Le Cunff, neuroscientist and founder of [Ness Labs](https://nesslabs.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net). ### Keynote: Rewiring how we learn (57m) Watch this wonderful keynote at the 2025 South by Southwest Education (SXSW EDU) conference on teaching and learning in Austin, Texas. She focuses on "the power of an experimental mindset", which is the subject of her new book on [Tiny Experiments](https://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Experiments-Freely-Goal-Obsessed-World/dp/0593715136?ref=blog.warrenweb.net). Her 24-minute presentation is followed by a very interesting interview by Vanessa Van Edwards and audience questions. ### How to design tiny experiments like a scientist (35m) Enjoy this 35-minute video interview of Anne-Laure Le Cunff by Nick Milo of [Linking Your Thinking](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt/) (LYT). ### Set experiments, not goals (14m) Watch this 14-minute video interview of Anne-Laure Le Cunff by Ryder Carroll, creator of the *Bullet Journal*® (aka Bujo) method, on *Tiny Experiments: A System to Change Your Life*. He describes her book as "one of my top productivity book recommendations of all time". ### BigThink interview (50m) In this 50-minute interview on *BigThink*, Anne-Laure describes the experimental mindset, uncertainty and liminal spaces, cognitive scripts, procrastination and triple check, magic windows and mindful productivity, self-anthropology and tiny experiments. ### Curiosity Collective URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/curiosity-collective/ Last updated: 2025-12-16T21:57:00.000Z I'm excited to participate in a community on curiosity and tiny experiments with Anne-Laure Le Cunff. Watch the following video and pre-order the [Tiny Experiments](https://tinyexperiments.org/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) book now to receive special bonuses. I have loved reading her weekly newsletter [Maker Mind](https://nesslabs.com/newsletter?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), which as over 100,000 subscribers. When I had the opportunity to apply for this ephemeral coaching cohort during this month prior to the book launch, I jumped at the chance and was accepted. I participated in the Curiosity Collective ephemeral community with Anne-Laure Le Cunff for 4 weeks preceding the launch of her book on Tiny Experiments (Feb 4, 2025). I wrote these notes about my tiny experiment: [**I will write Log Entries in my Curiosity Log for 5 Days**](https://blog.warrenweb.net/curiosity-log-pact/). Note: I usually have a Day Log, but decided to use a special Curiosity Log that I used for this experiment. - [Pact](https://blog.warrenweb.net/curiosity-log-pact/) \- Commit to curiosity - [Act](https://blog.warrenweb.net/curiosity-log-act/) \- Practice mindful productivity - [React](https://blog.warrenweb.net/curiosity-log-react/) \- Collaborate with uncertainty - [Impact](https://blog.warrenweb.net/curiosity-log-impact/) \- Grow with the world I'm also an active participant in [Linking Your Thinking](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt/) Workshop (LYT) 15 over the same 4 weeks with Nick Milo, the LYT team, mentors, and community. However, I thought this is a great complement to focus on curiosity, creativity, and connected with others having similar interests. This allows me to incorporate more curiosity, creativity, and connections in the Obsidian linked notes of my PKM system. After this community disappeared when the book was published, and I decided to join the Ness Labs community established by Anne-Laure Le Cunff. In April, I extended this Day Review experiment over the last 18 workdays in April; however, I only published for 12 days because I got so busy with stuff that surfaced during the experiment. Later this year, I except to continue focusing on the Review process for all time horizons: Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year, and Decade. ### PKM Notes URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm-notes/ Last updated: 2024-10-30T14:55:56.000Z Linked notes in [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian/) are the foundation of my PKM system for personal knowledge management. After exploring [folders](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm-folders/) in part 1 of my [*Shine a LYT on my PKM*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/shine-a-lyt-on-pkm/) series, this post and cluster of related pages focus on specific aspects of making, developing, organizing, processing, and sharing my *notes*. ## Making notes I [make notes](https://blog.warrenweb.net/making-notes/) with my ideas from information, events, and experiences in my life. It's *personal* because they are *my* notes, separate from information from other sources. They are "thought containers" that help me understand information and experiences for life areas, interests, and efforts. ## Developing notes I [develop notes](https://blog.warrenweb.net/developing-notes/), connect related knowledge, build insights based on my understanding, grow my skills and expertise, and share my learning and discoveries to help others. This powerful web of knowledge is much more than the sum of its parts. As Nick Milo says, "linking is thinking", and the act of connecting notes often leads to new insights. ## Organizing notes I have developed my *system* with folders, tags, templates, and views to [organize my notes](https://blog.warrenweb.net/organizing-notes/) with consistency and enable my PKM workflows for thinking, linking, and sharing. ## Processing notes Periodic practices are important to continually review, improve, and *manage* my PKM system and my life. Learning, reflection, and refinement improve how I do my work by [processing note workflows](https://blog.warrenweb.net/processing-notes/). ## Sharing notes This PKM system enables me to capture ideas, develop notes, and organize maps for information, ideas, knowledge, and actions for my efforts and interests. Then, I can [share my notes](https://blog.warrenweb.net/sharing-notes/) as discoveries and insights via my digital garden and website. ## Summary I make notes because I can capture, organize, find, remember, and understand my thoughts, ideas, and knowledge. My digital note library allows me to make connections and generate new insights. Then I can share that with my future self and others. These activities with notes are fun: creating, linking, thinking, learning, writing, developing, and sharing. They produce feelings of joy and meaning, and that's what it's all about! You can create a flexible and powerful PKM system that allows for both structured organization and serendipitous discovery of connections between notes. It's okay to wander and wonder as you can navigate your knowledge through linked notes and maps. And it helps that you can always get grounded and return home. ### Focus Vaults URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/focus-vaults/ Last updated: 2024-09-21T00:43:41.000Z PKM systems of linked notes support all your ideas, information, and knowledge together in a single space like an Obsidian vault of Markdown files. When everything is all contained with a single vault, it very easy to make connections with related ideas and thoughts using internal Markdown links with double-bracket syntax and auto-completion. ## Multiple vaults Sometimes it's worth considering whether multiple vaults might be useful to provide *focus* on a subset of these notes in a specific context. There are several common reasons for having several Obsidian vaults such as: - **Digital Garden**: Creating a separate vault for linked notes you want to share via [Obsidian Publish](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-publish/), like I have for [WarrenWeb Notes](https://blog.warrenweb.net/warrenweb-notes/). - **Seasonal**: You might have different goals, theme, or focus for each quarter ("season") in the year. - **Semester**: For school, you might want a vault for each semester with related courses, projects, people, etc. - **Course**: Sometimes you might event want a vault for a specific course, especially if it's involves a lot of research like a advanced degree. - **Theme**: Maybe you want to do a deep dive into some new area of interest, like Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience, etc. - **Topic**: This might be appropriate if you want to dig into a topic like [Swift](https://blog.warrenweb.net/swift/) application development, Software architecture, Diabetes, etc. - **Work**: I might be appropriate to have a separate *work* vault for your job (or client) that's separate from your personal vault. - **Demo**: Sometimes you want a simple or custom vault for teaching or presentation. - **Testing**: It's a good idea to have a separate space that doesn't impact your existing main vault when you want to test new plugins, themes, scripts, snippets, etc. - **Refactoring**: It's helpful to have a separate test vault when you want to do tiny experiments with your folders, notes, maps, metadata, properties, fields, tags, templates, scripts, or views. ## Ideaverse Zero The empty *Ideaverse Zero* vault option available with [Ideaverse Pro](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ideaverse-pro/) is an excellent way to start another vault. It has all the same infrastructure as the complete Ideaverse Pro vault without all the example and tutorial notes so you can just add your own. I create my WarrenWeb Notes digital garden using Ideaverse Zero since my main Ideaverse vault is based on Ideaverse Pro. ## Benefits The primary benefit of a separate vault is increased focus on a subset of your notes to keep your active attention without the distraction of all your other notes. Often, this can be an effective way for some focused activity on a cluster of notes for a current effort or output. You might bring them into a focus vault, develop and refactor them, publish and/or return to your main vault (after the focus work). ## Limitations The separation also means that internal links will only apply to notes within this separate space since only work within a vault, which prevents you from accessing anything outside your focus area. However, it's still possible if you want to explicitly use external links for web pages or even notes in other vaults using Obsidian URL or Advanced URI links. ## Workflow You also need to think about how you want to manage different or similar versions of those notes that are moved (or copied) to separate vaults. You might want metadata properties with corresponding views to help you manage these notes, such as a property (or field) for version or even a URL link reference. ## Summary It can be beneficial to have focus vaults when they have a specific purpose, scope, and focus. This approach is similar to what I have described in [Focus Folders](https://blog.warrenweb.net/focus-folders/), but in some cases that technique can be extended into a focus vault. It's easy to create a new vault, try it out with a few notes, decide if that will work, identify any problems you might have, and then either keep going or just return them to your original vault. Think of it as a playground for *tiny test*. ### Shine a LYT on PKM URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/shine-a-lyt-on-pkm/ Last updated: 2024-10-30T14:55:35.000Z I have been thinking about my Obsidian vaults and Ghost website, and how I organize and process the types and relationships for the notes in my personal knowledge management ([PKM](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm/)) system. ## See the LYT My PKM system of linked notes is based what I've learned through multiple [Linking Your Thinking](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt/) (LYT) [Workshops](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-workshop/) with Nick Milo, the LYT team, and community. I have developed my own custom PKM system that focuses on [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian/) notes with [integration](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-integration/) for multiple applications, tools, and services in my environment. ## Share the LYT I'm now actively expanding my PKM system to focus on sharing what I'm thinking and linking with outputs from my efforts. Recently, I have introduced a new [WarrenWeb Notes](https://blog.warrenweb.net/warrenweb-notes/) digital garden vault via an [Obsidian Publish](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-publish/) site to complement my new Ghost website, blog, and newsletter. ## Notes and Pages In my *Obsidian* vaults, I create and link notes and maps, using templates, metadata, and views that help me with organization, ideation, navigation, and packaging. On my *Ghost* website, I create and link pages and posts, along with maps and tags that help users with access, connection, navigation, and topical focus; in this case, the maps include menus, sidebars, and hub pages. ## LYT Pipeline My [LYT Pipeline](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-pipeline/) workflow processes notes across my *Ideaverse* private vault and *WarrenWeb* digital garden, which eventually become pages and posts on my *Ghost* website. I find that it's helpful to apply these same principles across multiple apps in my PKM system environment for consistency and streamlined processing. Now is the time to review all these changes, assess my current system, make any necessary adjustments, and develop additional automation support for my workflows. ## Integration It's important to spend some time with introspection on how I can manage this evolution and streamline my workflow process and periodic practices with automation where possible. Since I've been migrating to my new Ghost website from the Wordpress site that I started 10 years ago, I have also been exploring what changes I want to make now that I'm integrating it with my PKM system and Obsidian linked notes. ## Summary This *Shine a LYT on PKM* series focuses on my Obsidian vaults as I refactor and improve my PKM system. I started this effort during LYT Workshop 14, and will share my work in progress with subscribers in my digital garden before publishing on my Ghost website. So far, I created clusters of pages about *vaults*, *folders*, and *notes*. Subsequent topics are templates, links, maps, metadata, views, and workflows. - [PKM Vaults](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm-vaults/) \- Evolution, improvements, and refactoring - [PKM Folders](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm-folders/) \- About ACE organization, PARA, and custom folders - [PKM Notes](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm-notes/) \- Making, developing, organizing, processing, sharing notes I will learn from this experience, and hope it gives you some ideas that will help you also. As I *shine a LYT on my PKM system*, perhaps it might act as a LYT beacon and compass with guidance and direction for you. ### LYT 14 Introduction URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-14-introduction/ Last updated: 2025-04-16T13:14:45.000Z I'm so fortunate to participate in another [Linking Your Thinking](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt/) (LYT) [Workshop](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-workshop/) (LYT 14) from Sep 16–Oct 15, 2024\. This is my *Introduction* post that I shared on the Circle community platform with my cohort members during our onboarding experience. ## LYT Journey I'm Doug Warren, software architect, developer, editor, and blogger in Lago Vista, Texas. I began my LYT journey with immersion in Workshop 11 and active participation in LYT 12 and 13, as well as the [WOW Workshop](https://blog.warrenweb.net/writing-original-works-wow/). Each one has been absolutely fantastic and I enjoy engaging with this wonderful community. ## Thinking: PKM system My [PKM](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm/) system has developed, evolved, and matured with each iteration, shifting like [ARC ideation workflow](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-ideation/): Add (LYT 11), Relate (LYT 12), Communicate (LYT 13), and [Creators Codex](https://blog.warrenweb.net/creators-codex/) writing process (WOW). ## Linking: App integration Throughout that time, I have been very focused on [Obsidian Integration](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-integration/) with the primary apps in my PKM environment: [Arc Browser](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-browser/), [Reader](https://blog.warrenweb.net/reader/), [Drafts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/drafts/), OmniFocus, Fantastical, and DEVONthink using support apps, linking, [shortcuts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/404/), templates, scripts, and APIs. ## Sharing: WarrenWeb Recently, I have migrated my website and blog from Wordpress to the Ghost publishing platform, and also established another Obsidian vault as a digital garden via [Obsidian Publish](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-publish/). ## Vault remodeling As my main Obsidian vault has now grown to almost 8,000 notes, I am currently deep into a [remodeling effort](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm-vaults/) to revisit everything with my [folders](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm-folders/), tags, properties, fields, templates, views, scripts, workflows, and practices. Now this is more important as I extend my private Ideaverse into a digital garden ([WarrenWeb Notes](https://blog.warrenweb.net/warrenweb-notes/)) to complement my Ghost website, blog, and newsletter. ## Summary I wish I had discovered all that I have learned through LYT, PKM, and Obsidian many years earlier. However, it's never too late, and I love *thinking, linking, and sharing*. I think it's finally coming together so I can share my ideas, discoveries, and insights with others. I'm looking forward to another outstanding workshop. ### Piano Favorites #1 URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/music-playlist-piano-favorites-1/ Last updated: 2024-09-03T16:11:50.000Z I love [music](https://blog.warrenweb.net/music) and it's featured as one of the [interests](https://blog.warrenweb.net/interests) on my website. I have published over 1,600 posts with [playlists](https://blog.warrenweb.net/playlists), albums, artists, and songs on my website over the past 10 years. ## Playlists I currently have 985 playlists on Spotify, and I will highlight one each week. I enjoy many genres, but solo piano tops my favorites, including this playlist from my current PKM soundtrack while working in my Obsidian notes today. ### [Piano Favorites # 1](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/29QnWsRcPHSFVSMc0XEBOq?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) \- 58 songs, 4 hr 18 min ## More ... There is a lot of music available on my site to listen with Spotify and watch related videos on YouTube. For example, you might want to listen to my personal playlists. - [Playlists](https://blog.warrenweb.net/playlists) (10) - favorite piano, guitar, folk, pop, and country music - [Reel Tapes](https://blog.warrenweb.net/reel-tapes) (26) - playlists from 60's & 70's based on personal tape recordings from FM radio - [Discovery Mix](https://blog.warrenweb.net/discovery-mix) (29) - background music for reading, writing, or focus work - [Weekly Mix](https://blog.warrenweb.net/weekly-mix) (6) - weekly music playlists - [Greatest Hits](https://blog.warrenweb.net/music-greatest-hits) – highlights 25 most popular music posts ### Visual Thinking Tools URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/visual-thinking-tools/ Last updated: 2025-06-28T19:31:30.000Z While thinking in my [PKM](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm) system, I focus on writing about the idea or topic for each note. As I am writing, it causes me to think more about what I'm writing. So I capture that *meta-writing* (writing about my writing), where I capture my sparks, ideas, thoughts, feelings, questions, and actions so I review them later in Dataview queries without distracting my current focus. Besides the text that I write about in the [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian) editor, it's also extremely helpful to use various visual thinking tools. There a different features and strengths for each one, and I will write more details about them later. However, I provide a brief outline of a few and mention some other for some potential uses that you might want to try. ### Markdown There are many aspects of [Markdown](https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Basic+formatting+syntax?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) text that support visual thinking in your notes, and features for structuring and formatting plain text. Many of these provide different ways to organize content in your notes, include metadata properties and fields about the note and list items, and use links to connect with related notes. ### Headings You have multiple levels of [headings](https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Obsidian+Flavored+Markdown?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) using 1–6 hash marks `#` that allow you to separate your content into sections and a nested structure. Level 1 headings are used for the note title, and level 2 is mainly used for main sections; then levels 3–6 can be used for sub-sections as needed. Each level uses different fonts and sizes indicate the level. Obsidian supports [folding](https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Folding?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) to collapse or expand any heading level, so that makes it easy to shift your focus and avoid the distraction of details. ### Lists With lists, you can create items in simple or nested bullet `-` or numbered lists `1.`. Or you can use checklist items `- [ ]` for actions (or "tasks") for things you want to remember to do. Obsidian also supports [folding](https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Folding?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) to collapse and expand nested lists. This can be very useful when twirling down or rolling up list items. For example, you can review some list items, and summarize them as a group. You can use your headings in [Shortcuts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/shortcuts) using [Actions for Obsidian](https://blog/warrenweb.net/actions-for-obsidian?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), which provides actions that can append or prepend text before or after a heading; this makes it easy to capture list items in a journal or log entries. ### Tables Markdown offers advanced formatting for [tables](https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Advanced+formatting+syntax?ref=blog.warrenweb.net#Tables), diagrams, or math. For example, tables allow you to easily display data within a row/column table format to simplify presentation of some content. It includes tools that helps you to created and edit these tables. ### Properties Obsidian file [properties](https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Properties?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) define associated values (or lists) in YAML frontmatter as `name: value` pair with a single colon at the beginning of a note before its body. You can choose whether you want these properties to be formatted and visible, appear in an associated [file properties pane](https://help.obsidian.md/Plugins/Properties+view?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), or be hidden. This allows you to define metadata about the entire note such as type, status, navigation links (up/related), dates (created), tags, aliases, or unique ID. You can use these properties in Dataview queries that you use to help manage your notes and workflows. ### Fields In a similar way, Dataview supports using inline metadata [fields](https://blacksmithgu.github.io/obsidian-dataview/annotation/add-metadata?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) within the body of a note such as list items. These are written as key`::value` pairs with a double-colon; you can control whether you want the field name visible by either enclosing them in square brackets `[ ]` or parentheses `( )`. These metadata can be used by Dataview queries to gather and review list items across your notes later. These are often used to log health or habit information related to health like weight, exercise, meals, diabetes, etc. There also implicit fields available for Dataview queries with metadata for [pages](https://blacksmithgu.github.io/obsidian-dataview/annotation/metadata-pages?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) or [lists](https://blacksmithgu.github.io/obsidian-dataview/annotation/metadata-tasks?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) (or tasks). ### Links Obsidian [internal links](https://help.obsidian.md/Linking+notes+and+files/Internal+links?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) (WikiLinks) using double-bracket syntax `[[ ]]` make it easy to connect your Obsidian notes together for relationships and navigation. [External links](https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Basic+formatting+syntax?ref=blog.warrenweb.net#External+links) using standard Markdown link syntax `[title](url)` allow you to include references to any web page (or API) on the internet; this also supports using URL schemes to provide links to other applications such as OmniFocus, DEVONthink, etc. Obsidian also has special core plugins to view [*incoming*](https://help.obsidian.md/Plugins/Backlinks?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) backlinks and [*outgoing* links](https://help.obsidian.md/Plugins/Outgoing+links?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) to every note, as well as *unlinked mentions*. These are quite useful when managing your note's connections. ### Canvas Obsidian provides an infinite [Canvas](https://help.obsidian.md/Plugins/Canvas?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) for visual notes using a standard [JSON Canvas](https://jsoncanvas.org/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) text format that supports interoperability with other tools, and is also supported in a special Obsidian visual editor. This allows you to include notes, cards, and images with lines, arrows, and links, along with groups, lists, fonts, and colors so you can think visually. It's quite easy to use once you learn the basics, and nicely complements your notes and maps. However, for some things, it's better to use another tool like MindNode that support mind mapping. ### Folders You don't normally think of folders as a visual tool since they are mainly a way to group related files together as an organizational tool. Usually, it's more effective and flexible to use maps first, and only use folders when that structure is earned such as when you want to collect a groups of resources to package for distribution. However, the Obsidian [File Explorer](https://help.obsidian.md/Plugins/File+explorer?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) makes it easy to navigate, collapse, and expand any folder so it actually can be a useful visual tool. ### Tags In a similar way, [tags](https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Tags?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) (preceded by hashmark `#`) can be used to group some notes together by some common characteristic, like being *in* a certain *collection* like books, movies, etc. You have additional flexibility since they can be nested, and Obsidian supports prompting when entering those nested tags. Obsidian offers many ways to view notes that share a specific tag, property, file path, or name using the Search pane, Tag pane, tag notes, or simply clicking on a tag. ### Maps There are many features of Obsidian that help you create your maps, just like notes. The most useful are Move Line Up/Down hotkeys, outline pane, local graph, and Note Refactor plugin. They also support your thinking about how a cluster of notes are connected, and visual perspectives help with this, especially when you have many related notes that you’re trying to organize around a certain topic. You might watch Nick Milo explain [map making](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoD6oURbRsc&t=533s&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) to Tiago Forte using Obsidian as a *second brain*, or another video about using [ACE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVl3IRGOWvk&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) folders in a PKM system based on knowledge, time, and action (recently extended to ACE-x with Ideaverse Pro 2.5). Also, see other resources about maps from [Mike Schmitz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7Dw9gaYrfc&ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [Sergio Juarez](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwRSTH72MYw&ref=blog.warrenweb.net), or [Tim Miller](https://obsidian.rocks/maps-of-content-effortless-organization-for-notes?ref=blog.warrenweb.net). ### Hotkeys Obsidian supports custom [hotkeys](https://help.obsidian.md/User+interface/Hotkeys?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) that you can map to any [command](https://help.obsidian.md/Plugins/Command+palette?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) or [template](https://github.com/Vinzent03/obsidian-hotkeys-for-templates?ref=blog.warrenweb.net). When making maps, I move lots of lines about as I'm clustering list items and links that I have collected from [Arc Browser](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-browser), Obsidian [Search](https://github.com/Vinzent03/obsidian-hotkeys-for-templates?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), or auto-completion. I have Cmd-1 and Cmd-2 mapped to hotkeys for Move Line Up and Move Line Down. Then it's so easy to rearrange what I have in my map, and begin to make sense of what I have, or create new items or future links that I need to fill any gaps. ### Outline The [outline](https://help.obsidian.md/Plugins/Outline?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) pane shows the structure of the headings in the current note (or map). I usually have this a sidebar pane on the right, but if it's larger it can be easily dragged over into its own separate pane. This help you to see your headings at a glance, check that the levels are appropriate, and make adjustments quite easily. However, the outline does not show what this note or map is connected with. ### Local Graph The [local graph](https://help.obsidian.md/Plugins/Graph+view?ref=blog.warrenweb.net#Local+Graph) serves that purpose since it provide a visual graph of the link connections in this note or map. This allows you to see related notes at a glance, and make necessary adjustments (or refactoring). ### Note Refactor To break sections out from a larger note (or map) into smaller notes, the [Note Refactor](https://github.com/lynchjames/note-refactor-obsidian?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) plugin is great. I use Shift-Cmd-C as a hotkey to select what I want to move to a new note, and it automatically inserts links between those notes also. Then you can use the local graph visually to view these connections. ### Mind maps Sometimes, you want to use other apps with special capabilities such as [MindNode](https://www.mindnode.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) that offers mind mapping and outlining. Mind maps are a great way to brainstorm or organize ideas on a specific topic, and it's much easier to create fan-like connections than using Canvas. For example, I find it helpful when constructing a map during early thinking about the associated structure and linking. You can include links to your mind maps within your notes and maps. For example, my maps often have an associated mind map, and Obsidian will automatically open it in MindNode when you click on a link. Also, mind maps can be a good way to map out the contents of a web site, like a cluster of related notes, as well as possible navigation routes between major areas. Check out how Mike Schmitz uses [mind mapping](https://www.mindnode.com/post/user-story-mike?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) with Obsidian in his PKM system, as well as his [Idea Development System](https://thesweetsetup.com/mikes-idea-system-2-0?ref=blog.warrenweb.net). ### Freeform I also find Apple [Freeform](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/freeform/id6443742539?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) digital whiteboard very easy to use as another drawing tool. It's a great way to create visuals to complement your notes and maps. Also, it's a good way to create a drawing or diagram that can be used as a screenshot image to be embedded (or linked) from any note or map. For example, I have used Freeform to create some of the images in my Ghost content that focus on integration across various apps and tools in my PKM system. Check out their original [announcement](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/12/apple-launches-freeform-a-powerful-new-app-designed-for-creative-collaboration?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) or watch this short [How to Use Freeform](https://www.perplexity.ai/search/apple-freeform-.PWplVs1RMuoIJ79ypcSTQ?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) video from Apple. ### Canva Another tool that's quite versatile for creating drawings and images is [Canva](https://www.canva.com/?success=true&continue%5Fin%5Fbrowser=true&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) that you can use on the web (I use it in Arc Browser), but you have the option to open it in their desktop app instead. These can also be incorporated in your notes and maps. For example, it quite easy to overlay text over an image. ### Excalidraw Of course, the [Excalidraw](https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) plugin provides extensive support for drawings and sketches within Obsidian notes and maps, but the learning curve is somewhat higher because it has so much more capabilities and features. You can view [Excalidraw](https://excalidraw.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) to see explore the editor in your browser, check out a [showcase](https://www.zsolt.blog/2021/03/showcasing-excalidraw.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) in Zsolt's blog, or watch his [Getting Started with Visual PKM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKnQgSjJVuc&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) video. ### Dataview Although you tend to think of [Dataview](https://blacksmithgu.github.io/obsidian-dataview?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) as a query tool for Obsidian with much flexibility to provide views for your notes and maps, it does this with a visual display via lists and tables. Check out these learning resources: [Beginner's Guide](https://obsidian.rocks/dataview-in-obsidian-a-beginners-guide/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [YouTube video](https://dannyhatcher.com/obsidian-dataview-for-beginners?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), online [Dataview Example](https://s-blu.github.io/obsidian%5Fdataview%5Fexample%5Fvault?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) vault, or [download](https://github.com/s-blu/obsidian%5Fdataview%5Fexample%5Fvault?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) it. The [Dataview Query Builder](https://s-blu.github.io/basic-dataview-query-builder?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) is a web tool that helps you create Dataview queries with a simple prompted user interface, which you can simply paste into your Obsidian notes. ### Mermaid Obsidian supports \`mermaid\` code blocks using [Mermaid](https://mermaid-js.github.io/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) text syntax to create visual diagrams and charts within your notes and maps. There is also a Mermaid Tools plugin that provides a Mermaid toolbar for developing Mermaid diagrams from examples. These can illustrate types, status, or workflow with various visualizations: [user journey](https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/userJourney.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [state](https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/stateDiagram.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [class/object](https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/classDiagram.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [sequence](https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/sequenceDiagram.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [entity relationship](https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/entityRelationshipDiagram.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [flow](https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/flowchart.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [timelines](https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/timeline.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [quadrant](https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/quadrantChart.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [gantt](https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/gantt.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [pie](https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/pie.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), [XY](https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/xyChart.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), etc. It takes a little bit to get familiar with, but this can be useful in the right context. ### Kanban Using the [Kanban](https://publish.obsidian.md/kanban/Obsidian+Kanban+Plugin?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) plugin allows you present a visual board with columns, cards, and lists with drag/drop functions to move items and cards between columns. This can provide a visual dashboard into note status or workflow. This [What is a Kanban Board](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcid33tgq8A&t=1s&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) might be helpful, if you aren't familiar with the concept. ### Files Of course, other apps provide various files and formats that can complement Obsidian notes with special features. This is screenshots, images, PDF documents, tables, spreadsheets, etc. ### Apps As mentioned briefly, you can link and integrate Obsidian with other applications in many ways such as links, URL schemes, [Shortcuts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/shortcuts), or APIs. For example, this allows to use other apps in your environment like Notion, Fantastical (Calendar), DEVONthink, and many more. I will focus a lot on [Obsidian Integration](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-integration/) with many notes about many apps. ### Analog I should also mention that analog tools can be useful sometimes as well, such as simple quick paper sketch, notebook, or napkin. Remember, you can always capture a photo or image scan on your phone and use that in a note or map. ### WarrenWeb So I hope this whets your appetite and provides some sparks that may motivate you to see how you might use visual tools to help with thinking, writing, linking, mapping, and sharing. Please subscribe and follow my notes, pages, posts, and newsletter on WarrenWeb. . ### Notes and Maps URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/notes-and-maps/ Last updated: 2025-06-28T21:30:04.000Z ## Notes As I focus my thinking on my notes about the *Reader* app and associated [Read Workflow](https://blog.warrenweb.net/read-workflow) with [Arc Browser](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-browser) and [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian), it's important to explore the types of notes that I'm creating and how they are linked to related notes. ## Maps Although I have notes about apps, it's also extremely valuable to have mapping notes, or maps of content (MOC). I prefer to call these simply *maps*, since I use them to map what I want to do with a group of notes on a topic. They provide a workbench for me to collect, cluster, organize, and refactor related notes, and also provide a framework for sparks, thoughts, questions, actions, and freewriting about the topic. Like notes, there are several types of maps. ## App Note Obviously, I have an *app note* for *Reader* that represent the application *Readwise Reader*, which is my main *topic* that has associated efforts and related outputs. This note includes all the content I want to publish about *Reader*. However, that's too much information to be contained in a single note so it will actually consist of a cluster of linked notes on this topic. The app note will provide a *landing page* for that app with relevant structure and links to all my notes about *Reader*. Other notes might include a link to this *Reader* app note when mentioning or discussing Reader, such as using a workflow with `[[Reader]]` in a *Read* space of `[[Arc Browser]]`. It makes sense to title app notes with just the app name to simplify such references without having to provide an alias every time I mention an app. ## App Map I want to separate the content that I'm writing on a certain topic such as Reader from all my thinking and linking about the "what, why, and how" about the topic. So I have an associated map for a cluster of notes on a specific topic. So this would be *Reader Map* as an *app map* that's related to the corresponding *Reader* app note. ## Templates To ensure consistency with the scaffolding for these relationships in my linked notes, I use templates to create a new topic such as the *Reader* app. With simple prompts, it generates appropriate properties, navigation, title, headings, structure, and related linked notes. For example, every topic has an associated topic map like *Reader Map*. ## Actions I prefer to use the term *action* rather than *task* or *to-do* to describe something that I want to get done in some area. Often these are combined as action groups for a group of related actions, and I use nested lists to outline these with tags and fields as associated metadata that I can use for views with Dataview queries. ## Effort Note Likewise, I prefer to use the term *effort* as an umbrella container for a set of related actions in a certain area. Some of these might be considered a *project* in the traditional sense, if they have a definite outcome with a completion date. However, efforts can be less defined and others might be even broader than projects. Sometimes, it can be useful to create a specific *effort note* that's similar to an app note for an application, with everything about that specific effort. For example, currently, I have started efforts about the Reader app and associated Read Workflow that will publish multiple outputs over time. ## Effort Map It's common to have one or more efforts for a topic that focus associated actions for what I want to do in that area. For example, I might have a *Reader Effort* that would be an *effort map* that would be my compass to guide my activities about my *Reader* content that I create, think, link, and share in outputs as notes, posts, pages, newsletter, or social media messages. ## Output Note It helps to identify the outputs for each effort, so an *output note* provides a way to think and link about what I want to share. These will evolve as notes in Obsidian, and eventually be distributed as pages, posts, or newsletters on my Ghost website. For example, a recent post included an output about [Publishing WarrenWeb Notes](https://blog.warrenweb.net/publishing-warrenweb-notes). ## Output Map To help me plan, outline, and organize my content for these *output notes*, it also helps to have corresponding *output maps*. For example, I have an output map about the *Reader* pages that I'm creating for my Ghost website. This helps me write my content using the consistent writing process that I learned in the [Writing Original Works](https://blog.warrenweb.net/writing-original-works-course-launch) workshop (and course). ## Hub Map When linking my notes for a cluster of related notes on a specific topic like *Reader*, it helps to have intermediate maps that help to group sections of related pages together and simplify navigation on a website with linked pages. So I find it helpful to have *hub maps* between *main maps* and *topic maps* and all the related topic notes. It's desirable to create pages in bite-size reusable "chunks" to allow content reuse in various contexts. The combination addresses both needs quite nicely. ## Workspace As I develop my linked *notes* and *maps* in *efforts* about *apps* that share specific *outputs* on my Obsidian Publish and Ghost sites, I find it helpful to use Obsidian workspaces with multiple split-view panes where I can *pin the map* while *nurturing the notes* and publish my *outputs*. ## WarrenWeb Notes Currently, I'm working on these notes in my main Ideaverse vault, but I have started moving content to my WarrenWeb vault that is available to *Plus* subscribers. Eventually, these notes in my digital garden will evolve into pages and posts for my Ghost website and newsletter. Please subscribe to see what I'm thinking, linking, and sharing now. ### Read Workflow URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/read-workflow/ Last updated: 2025-06-28T21:24:49.000Z Today I'm beginning a series of notes about the read-it-later app Readwise [Reader](https://blog.warrenweb.net/reader/). I focus on how I integrate Reader into my [PKM](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm) system using the [LYT](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt) ARC framework. My workflow for linked notes uses Reader with my primary apps: [Arc Browser](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-browser) and [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian). ## Reader Bring all your digital reading for different content types into an integrated environment where you can import, organize, annotate, and manage what you consume. First, I am creating notes about the [Reader](https://blog.warrenweb.net/reader/) app, and API. This includes examples and screenshots for web articles, EPUB books, PDF documents, email newsletters, YouTube videos, X/Mastodon threads, Kindle and Books highlights, Snipd podcast highlights, and RSS feeds. You can even create and import Obsidian notes or Drafts freeform text directly into Reader (via [Shortcuts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/404/) and [Reader API](https://blog.warrenweb.net/reader-api/)), or even OCR text scans from physical books using the mobile app. ## Read later I explore its many unique features for highlighting and saving content using browser extensions so I can read, watch, or listen to later. Also, I focus on that I will explore integration with [Drafts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/drafts/), [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian/), and [OmniFocus](https://blog.warrenweb.net/omnifocus/) via [Reader API](https://blog.warrenweb.net/reader-api). It can streamline your reading, highlighting, and notemaking processes across online content that you encounter. It serves as a great anti-library buffer between what you consume on the internet and your Obsidian notes. It helps my focus and avoid distractions significantly during my [ARC ideation workflow](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-ideation/) as I add, relate, and communicate my ideas as they emerge from sparks and remarks to notes, maps, links, and outputs. ## Arc browser I use a *Read* space in [Arc Browser](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-browser/) where I do all my reading. I have Reader in my Favorites, along with folders and tabs with links for major Reader sections. I open [Little Arc](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-little-arc) windows whenever I click links in other apps where I read those web pages without impacting my main Arc window with temporary tabs. If it's something I want to read, watch, or listen, I simply tap the *Open in Read* button, and Arc saves it to my Read space. If appropriate, I can use the Reader browser extension to highlight and annotate any web page. ## Reader API The Reader API provides a REST interface to list and create documents in your Reader Library. Also, there is a related Readwise API that offers a way to work with your books and highlights. I will describe these APIs, and include examples for JavaScript, Python, and Swift. Also, I will include Postman collections with requests for checking out the API functions on your Reader Library. ## Integration My notes are created, developed, and published using Obsidian. And they will also be available via Obsidian Publish online. Since [Shortcuts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/shortcuts) has actions that can invoke REST APIs, I will include shortcut examples that use the Reader API along with Actions for Obsidian to demonstrate how to integrate Reader with Obsidian notes in my workflows. I use [Actions for Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/actions-for-obsidian) extensively for integrating Obsidian with many apps and APIs for my workflows and automation support. ## Swift examples I will develop a Swift application for macOS and iOS with SwiftUI user interface and SwiftData database that uses the Reader API. This will provide an interesting way to explore various Swift features while demonstrating how it can be applied to integrating Reader with Obsidian. ## Publishing notes This is a new effort that I have started in my PKM system using my main Obsidian vault (Ideavese). I have already established a map where I have collected and clustered existing notes that I will refactor while writing about this topics. As I write, link, and develop these notes, they will begin appearing in my WarrenWeb vault; these notes will be available online in a WarrenWeb Notes digital garden for my Plus subscribers. Eventually, these notes will mature and be released on my WarrenWeb website as pages and posts over time. Please subscribe and follow me on this journey. ### Writing Original Works - Course Launch URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/writing-original-works-course-launch/ Last updated: 2025-06-28T22:47:33.000Z Nick Milo and the [Linking Your Thinking](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt) (LYT) team recently launched the self-paced version of Writing Original Works based on their outstanding live WOW Workshop. There tagline really sums it up so well. This is exactly what it does, and it is done so well. 💬 ****Make Writing Easy Using Linked Notes** Discover a reliable process that turns your notes into clear, meaningful writing. — Nick Milo I was extremely fortunate to be an alumni of their first and *only* Writing Original Works (WOW) Workshop as a live cohort recently as a member of Knowledge Accelerator 2024\. It was magnificent, I learned so much, and it helped me establish a writing process using the [*Creator's Codex*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/creators-codex) framework to share my ideas. The in-depth, hands-on *lessons* and instructional *videos* in the curriculum teach how to *write with linked notes*. Practicing immediately with next actions and takeaways, and understanding the *Creator's Codex* writing process and WOW techniques helps with writing sticking points and unlocks blindspots. Since that workshop, I have launched this new WarrenWeb website on the Ghost publishing platform. Initially, I migrated major content from my previous Wordpress website (with links to legacy content). I used proven WOW techniques for my notes and maps by moving between architect and gardener writing styles. I setup a reliable writing process that turns my ideas and notes into clear, meaningful writing to publish for sharing with others. Also, I created a [WarrenWeb Notes](https://blog.warrenweb.net/warrenweb-notes/) vault as a digital garden that I can use Obsidian Publish for early access to what I'm thinking, linking, and sharing in current notes under development that will eventually be integrated into Ghost pages, posts, and newsletter. You can now benefit from this amazing course with this new [**WOW self-paced course**](https://www.linkingyourthinking.com/wow?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) that was introduced on 2 Aug 2024 ($500). This is much more affordable that the original live intensive workshop that was included with *Knowledge Accelerator* or available separately for $1500. It doesn't have the showcases, hot seats, live Q&A's, forcing function of a weekly cadence, weekly Works in Process (WIPs), thoughtful peer discussions, or unique energy, which remain exclusive to the live cohort experience. But it is still amazing, and focuses on the essentials to help you share thoughts, ideas, and insights with a repeatable writing process. The goal was to make the course easy and accessible, but also keep the depth and ethos of the original. And they far exceeded that in what they have offered with this new course. Develop your ideas with linked notes that you writing, evolve, and emerge into outputs that you can share with others. ### WarrenWeb Workflow URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/warrenweb-workflow/ Last updated: 2025-06-28T21:27:47.000Z The feature image highlights key apps in my [PKM](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm) workflow used to publish WarrenWeb notes, pages, and posts via Ghost and Obsidian Publish. ## Arc Browser I use [Arc Browser](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-browser) to explore the web and gathering links for my interests and topics. Since it's my default browser, any link that I click (like when processing my email) automatically opens in my Arc Web space, except for specific URLs that are routed to Read, Music, Recipes, or Travel spaces by [Air Traffic Control](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-air-traffic-control). I use the *Reader* app by Readwise in my Read space for articles, books, emails, PDF documents, tweets, feeds, and videos. ## Drafts I capture text (and voice dictation) into [Drafts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/drafts) throughout the day, many will be added to my Obsidian day or week notes, journals, or log with specific *Capture* actions such as *Add to Obsidian*. ## Obsidian I use [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian) for notes and maps in my PKM system, which contains several vaults (Ideaverse and WarrenWeb). My private space for managing my sparks, ideas, knowledge, notes, links, maps, etc. is based on [Ideaverse](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ideaverse-for-obsidian) from Nick Milo and the [Linking Your Thinking](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt) (LYT) team that I established and refined since Spring 2023 over multiple LYT Workshops and a recent WOW Workshop. Recently, I also created a separated WarrenWeb vault so that I can publish notes as a digital garden via [Obsidian Publish](https://blog.warrenweb.net/publishing-warrenweb-notes) for my Plus subscribers. This provides them early access to what I'm thinking, linking, and sharing. ## Ghost Earlier, I had decided to migrate my legacy Wordpress over to use the Ghost publishing platform. This includes a foundation of about 250 pages, with additional links to legacy content that has not yet been migrated. ## Newsletter Also, I have started publishing daily posts from my current 15-day [LYT Gong](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-gong) practice (such as this one). These posts are automatically included in my WarrenWeb email newsletter for my subscribers. ## Workflow Image I added it as the featured image on my [Home](https://blog.warrenweb.net/home) page. I was experimented with Canva to see how I might be able to integrate this image with the title and description on the theme background in the publication cover. I almost worked it out, but it needs more tweaking and positioning to make it look right. This might be appropriate to be included in my cover page and newsletter. ## Obsidian Publish I also developed my [Obsidian Publish](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-publish/) page for my website, and I will publish that in a few days since it needs some additional refinement. ### Publishing WarrenWeb Notes URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/publishing-warrenweb-notes/ Last updated: 2025-06-28T22:49:48.000Z Today, I'm writing about my initial experiences using Obsidian Publish. [Obsidian Publish](https://obsidian.md/publish?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) is a cloud-based hosting service that lets you publish your notes as a wiki, knowledge base, documentation, or digital garden. This service enables you to publish your web of ideas and knowledge as linked notes to share online with others. ## Publishing Workflow My [publishing workflow](https://blog.warenweb.net/publishing-workflow?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) includes my LYT Pipeline that integrates multiple apps and tools across the ARC idea emergence process that I learned during [LYT Workshops](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-workshop). I capture, create, link, map, and develop my ideas and notes within my private *Ideaverse* vault. When I'm ready to share my ideas, I move selected notes to my WarrenWeb digital garden vault where I use my [Creator's Codex](https://blog.warrenweb.net/creators-codex) writing process that I developed in the [WOW Workshop](https://blog.warrenweb.net/writing-original-works-wow). Finally, I use [Obsidian Publish](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-publish) and the Ghost publishing platform to deliver my content to subscribers, and announce new content via social media platforms. ## Subscribers It takes a while for others to find a new website, so I am now starting to post on X/Twitter to help get others to check out my website. Currently, I’m still the only member so I guess it’s all *Send to Self* for all the website pages, posts, and newsletter. Anyway, it allow me to see what will be delivered to others when they do start arriving. I also need to notify almost 500 followers on my original Wordpress site, as well as other social media platforms (X, Mastodon, Threads, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.). So far, they’re still visiting my earlier site, and are probably not aware of my new and refactored content on Ghost. ## More coming... I have started creating additional linked notes on Obsidian Publish that will provide much more information about what it does, how it works, what options are available, and how I use it. As these notes evolve, I will follow the same process, first adding them to my digital garden, and eventually as Ghost website pages. ### Vault Maintenance URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/vault-maintenance/ Last updated: 2024-09-15T21:55:42.000Z > You are the sky. Everything else—it's just the weather. > > — Pema Chödrön I spend some time this morning thinking about how I manage my LYT ARC workflow across the Idea Emergence stages: Add - Relate - Communicates. Previously, I described this as my LYT Pipeline, and it deserves more attention now that I have am actively *thinking, linking, and sharing* on WarrenWeb pages, posts, and newsletter via my new Ghost website, as well as WarrenWeb Notes as my new Obsidian Publish website for Plus subscribers. ## Ideaverse My knowledge and notes evolve within my main PKM Obsidian vault (Ideaverse) from initial sparks, mature as they are developed further, linked with related notes, and organized via maps. I use efforts that include actions for my various interests such as PKM, technology, music, photography, travel, health, writing, genealogy, etc. ## WarrenWeb As I identify content that I want to share and publish via WarrenWeb, I select notes to *move to the medium* in my WarrenWeb vault where I can still leverage all the inherent Obsidian features such as linking. This allows me to focus my writing on the content as I want it to appear initially in WarrenWeb Notes digital garden via Obsidian Publish, and eventually in WarrenWeb on the Ghost publishing platform. ## Shortcuts I have started developing shortcuts to help me manage this workflow, and I'm able to move notes between Ideaverse and WarrenWeb. Also, I'm exploring how I want to use Obsidian properties, tags, and fields as metadata about my notes to help with my workflow and WarrenWeb maintenance. I'm creating shortcuts that help manage WarrenWeb content between Obsidian and Ghost platforms. And I'm developing a Swift app that will help further with additional integration. ## Car Maintenance I had intended to write about my initial experiences with Obsidian Publish this afternoon. However, I forgot that had an appointment to service my car, so I spent several hours in their waiting room. I guess we need to do car maintenance, as well as vault maintenance (and self-care). So now, I will write about [Obsidian Publish](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian-publish/) over the weekend. I also thought some more about Obsidian Canvas vs MindNode mind maps, and I will write about that too. ### ACE Organization for Publishing Notes URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/ace-organization-for-publishing-notes/ Last updated: 2025-06-28T22:50:42.000Z I have been thinking about how I can publish ideas and knowledge to share my notes to benefit more people. I have enjoyed developing notes in my PKM using [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian) using what have I have learned in [Linking Your Thinking](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt) (LYT) and WOW Workshops. Also, I have been able to participate actively with the LYT Community on Circle with exercises, posts, and showcases; this have enabled me to share my ideas and discoveries for others also interested in thinking, linking, and sharing. ### Ideaverse As my PKM system has developed and evolved over the past few years based on [*Ideaverse for Obsidian*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/ideaverse-for-obsidian), I have become better at making notes and maps and very creative as I learn more, link more, and develop solutions that help my workflow and practices. Especially since the [WOW Workshop](https://blog.warrenweb.net/writing-original-works-wow), I have been focusing on how to improve my writing workflow for sharing with a broader audience. ### Ghost Migration Recently, I decided to migrate from my traditional Wordpress website to a new Ghost website, and I have established an initial foundation with linked pages in sections on PKM, Technology, and Interests. Recently, I have begun publishing my daily [LYT Gong](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-gong/) posts on my Ghost website (as well as Circle) to gain more experience with this publishing platform for my writing. Also, these posts are automatically included in my WarrenWeb newsletter for subscribers. ### WarrenWeb Notes I have now established a separate Obsidian vault for notes that I publish on an Obsidian Publish website for *WarrenWeb Notes*. Soon I plan to include access to this password-protected website to my *Plus* subscribers. I suppose this might be considered my digital garden, or mind garden. I will provide more information about my initial experiences with Obsidian Publish tomorrow. ### ACE Organization The *ACE-x* framework provided by Nick Milo organizes our PKM system in folders for separate spaces for **A**tlas (knowledge), **C**alendar (time), and **E**fforts (actions); also, a **+** (Plus) folder serves as an Inbox for new notes, and **X** folder for metadata support like images, PDFs, and templates. I use this same approach to organize information in [Arc Browser](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-browser), OmniFocus, DEVONthink, and [Shortcuts](https://blog.warrenweb.net/shortcuts). Also, I use it for my WarrenWeb website on Ghost, and now my new WarrenWeb Notes website on Obsidian Publish. I use linked *pages* as the foundation for my knowledge, *posts* provide a time-based stream of information for my website and newsletter (with links to pages and other posts), and *notes* reflect what I'm currently doing with my efforts. I have also structured my website sections around PKM, Technology, and Interests based on my ideas, knowledge, and efforts. ### Plus Subscription Please subscribe to my *WarrenWeb* website and newsletter with a *Plus* membership subscription. It's available for $5/month or $50/year at a 17% discount with a 30-day free trial via Stripe. That will provide online access to Obsidian notes under development while I'm thinking, linking, and sharing in my [*WarrenWeb Notes*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/warrenweb-notes/) digital garden. This subscription will also include shortcuts, scripts, templates, queries, and more that I have developed; these have helped me a lot, and I know they can benefit others too. ### WarrenWeb Notes URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/2024-07-24-warrenweb-notes/ Last updated: 2024-10-18T22:02:39.000Z > When we go to war on something that we see as a war on us, the ultimate winner isn't either side of the conflict, but war itself. > > \-- Martha Beck I'm exploring techniques that will help my writing workflow for linked notes that I develop in my my main Obsidian vault (Ideaverse), and share on my Ghost website, blog, and newsletter. As I mentioned recently, I think it will be extremely helpful to use a separate Obsidian vault (WarrenWeb) for content that I want to publish. My notes have many related links, and I use maps, tags, metadata, and folders to help with organization, structure, and navigation. I'm currently exploring where that fits in my [PKM](https://blog.warrenweb.net/pkm) system between my Obsidian notes and Ghost website. I'm investigating how these linked notes can complement my Ghost website pages and blog posts. I intend to use Obsidian Publish to make my WarrenWeb notes available to my WarrenWeb Plus subscribers so I can make my linked notes directly available earlier, while they are still being developed. Also, I think this offers an additional method for delivering highly-linked notes that Obsidian supports, and I can include links between my notes, pages, posts, and elsewhere. This supports my WarrenWeb tagline: *Thinking, linking, and sharing*. ## Link Management One of the challenges with a website is link management. Links are integrated throughout [Obsidian](https://blog.warrenweb.net/obsidian), which makes linking notes and maps so effective and easy as the foundation of my PKM system. However, when I want to publish these notes, the internal links (double-bracket WikiLinks) must be converted into Markdown link format for an external website like Ghost. So moving my linked notes to be published into a separate WarrenWeb vault offers a way to leverage all that Obsidian provides. This intermediate platform for my notes enables them to be developed further, along with a way to make them available before they eventually become integrated into my Ghost website pages and posts. Also, this allows me to use maps and links naturally within Obsidian for my ARC ideation workflow to add, relate, and communicate for my knowledge, ideas, and efforts. It will also provide a supplemental way to access my content across my notes, posts, and pages since it will be an extension of my WarrenWeb website. ## Arc Browser Canvas Yesterday, I worked on an [Arc Browser Map](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-browser-map), so today I thought it would be interesting to explore how I can use Obsidian Canvas as a visual technique for working with my Ghost content on Arc Browser. While working with my Arc Browser Map, I found it helpful to use folders in various ways to help me organize my content. It was helpful to gather notes that I created with the help of my map into an Arc Browser folder in my Obsidian vault, along with related media like images and screenshots. The Obsidian local graph and outline views helped me to organize my notes, and I found it helpful to use *hub maps* for clustering notes with navigation waypoints. Using my WarrenWeb [space](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-spaces) in my [Arc Browser](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-browser) demonstrated the value of using folders and tabs for easy access to my WarrenWeb website. When I first migrated existing linked content as Ghost pages, it was a challenge to get all the links setup and adjusted. And once I had that foundation in place, I have been working somewhat backwards to see how my WarrenWeb vault in Obsidian could have made that process so much more effective. However, this exercise is helping me discover how I can use Obsidian notes and maps to complement my Ghost publishing platform. As I work this out, I will develop supporting shortcuts, scripts, and apps that will help me manage the integration of my notes from my PKM system into my Ghost website. ### 🔍 Arc Search Tips and Tricks URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-search-tips-and-tricks/ Last updated: 2024-07-23T22:04:48.000Z Check out these interesting features available in Arc Search (2-min video). More information is available on the Arc blog: [Top 5 not-so-obvious features in Arc Search](https://arc.net/blog/arc-search-hidden-features?ref=blog.warrenweb.net). See more details about [Arc Search](https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-search) on iOS for Apple iPhone and iPad. ### Arc Browser Map URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/arc-browser-map/ Last updated: 2024-07-23T18:46:05.000Z > No matter what tools you use to create, the instrument is you. And through you, the universe that surrounds us all comes into focus. > > \-- Rick Rubin ## Publishing I thought this quote in the context of my current focus on publishing more content from my notes. Although I'm thinking, linking, and sharing information about my PKM apps as "tools" (and interests such as music). Hopefully, it's my skills, experience, knowledge, perspective, insights, discoveries, and creative solutions that will benefit others. ## Obsidian Map Today, I'm working on the Arc Browser pages on my Ghost website, and so I created an Arc Browser Map. Initially, I simply gathered a list of about 50 pages on Arc Browser, and then worked on clustering them into groups with appropriate headings. Then I reviewed how they are organized and currently linked on my website. The map helps with structural organization somewhat, along with the associated outline pane; however, it does not reflect the connections between the pages, since it doesn't include the links. The associated local graph pane, along with outgoing and incoming link panes can be helpful, but at first they don't show anything. ## Arc Browser Here's my Arc Browser page on my Ghost website for WarrenWeb. Initially, I had several major sections for overview, features, interface, settings, and resources as a way to help organize the content and provide overall navigation within the topic. However, after doing Obsidian mapping, I'm getting a better understanding of what I have and might adjust how it's presented after some more thinking. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2024/07/WarrenWeb---Arc-Browser.png) Arc Browser ## Arc WarrenWeb Space Also, I updated the WarrenWeb space in my Arc Browser with folders and tabs for my current Ghost website, and this was also very helpful. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2024/07/Arc-Browser-Map---WarrenWeb-Space.png) Arc Browser - WarrenWeb Space ## Obsidian Publish Since I'm exploring how to use a separate Obsidian Publish vault for notes to complement my website, I thought it would be interesting to recreate my website content in Obsidian. So I quickly created notes in my new WarrenWeb vault based with my current Ghost pages. Actually, this was quite easy since copy/paste between Obsidian and Ghost editors works really well. It handled all my images, and I only had to explicitly use *Copy video URL* for YouTube videos that I wanted as embedded Markdown external links in my notes. Actually, this exercise confirms my current thinking how valuable it will be to use a separate Obsidian vault for content intended to be published on my website. It's so much better to work with linked notes directly in Obsidian, and I can use Obsidian Publish to make them available much earlier in my workflow and help streamline my writing workflow. ## Obsidian Graph After linking these notes in Obsidian, the local graph for my Arc Browser Map revealed all the current connections. Since there are so many, this prompted me to create *hub maps* that reflect the primary structure of my Arc Browser Map (shown in green); this really starts to illustrate how the content is connected much better (see featured image). ## Obsidian Canvas I’m also exploring how I can use Obsidian Canvas for a visual representation of my Arc Browser content. I’m making progress, and feel I’m going in the right direction. This approach will also help with all the Drafts content that I currently have (after working on Arc Browser), as well as all my music playlists, albums, artists, videos, etc. ### LYT Gong URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt-gong/ Last updated: 2024-07-23T18:07:25.000Z I'm currently participating in LYT Gong 10 with the [Linking Your Thinking](https://blog.warrenweb.net/lyt) (LYT) Community on Circle. A gong is a practice and discipline to achieve skill and mastery; it's simple, but requires some persistence. Over 15 days, we write or create daily for 5 minutes and share for 1 minute. This is a great opportunity to work on our notemaking skills and apply what we've learned during our workshops. We are very fortunate to have John Crosby as moderator and coach throughout this process. Since I'm focusing my effort for this LYT Gong on my Ghost website, I thought it would be helpful to get started with daily posts here on WarrenWeb to complement the pages I have initially migrated from my earlier Wordpress site. So I am publishing these daily posts starting now. ### Ghost Website Map URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/ghost-website-map/ Last updated: 2025-06-28T22:52:02.000Z Wow, how time flies! Yesterday was my 79th birthday, and today is my 57th anniversary. We need to make the most of each day since there are fewer of them and they seem to go quicker. ## Ghost Migration I'm currently migrating from Wordpress to Ghost for my website, blog, and newsletter. So I am focusing on those activities for my daily LYT Gong posts in the LYT Community on Circle. Initially, I migrated about 250 linked pages to Ghost on topics in sections on PKM/LYT, Technology (Arc Browser, Drafts, Obsidian, Actions for Obsidian, OmniFocus, Shortcuts, Swift), Music, Photos, Travel, Writing, Health, Genealogy, and About. ## Obsidian Notes I'm also creating another vault with notes for Obsidian Publish to complement my website pages and blog posts. I think this will be a good intermediate vehicle to get content published much sooner after creation, while I refine it further and eventually integrate it into my Ghost website. So today, I gathered a list of all these Ghost website pages to see what I currently have. I created a map in Obsidian, and I used LYT techniques to cluster and organize this list of pages. This was a very helpful process already. Also, I'm using Obsidian Outline and Local Graph views to visualize my Ghost website structure and content organization to see how I might make improvements. ## Ghost Pages My website, blog, and newsletter are available here on WarrenWeb. Currently, it has about 250 linked pages, especially about PKM/LYT, Arc Browser, Drafts, Music, Photos, and Writing. I have tried to decompose my content into smaller bite-size chunks that can be reused in many ways in various contexts with lots of linking. I wanted to get a foundation in place before starting a stream of blog posts about topics so they can reference pages as appropriate. So currently, there’s only a single Welcome post that provides an overview of the website. I have converted many earlier posts from Wordpress into pages for Ghost for a better infrastructure that can evolve more easily. ## Subscription Basic access to the website and blog is free, but I also have a Plus subscription membership with full access, extra content, and downloads. This will include commenting capability, as well as Apple shortcuts, Obsidian templates, Templater scripts, Dataview queries, etc. Subscribe for $5/month (or $50/year - 17% discount) with a 30-day free free trial. I would certainly appreciate any feedback or suggestions. ### Welcome URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/welcome/ Last updated: 2024-09-03T20:40:44.000Z [Doug Warren](https://blog.warrenweb.net/about) started *WarrenWeb* as a WordPress site in 2014\. During this transition to the Ghost platform, I'm creating new pages and posts with links to existing content for a smooth migration. My [WarrenWeb](https://blog.warrenweb.net/) website contains my *Blog posts* and a menu for its major sections: Home, PKM, Technology, Interests, and About that reflect my efforts, experiences, and outputs. The [Home](https://blog.warrenweb.net/home) page provides a brief overview and links for website sections, or just access them via the menu. Please [signup](#/portal) for a *Free* newsletter or *Plus* paid [subscription](https://blog.warrenweb.net/subscription) with website comments and access to my digital garden [*WarrenWeb*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/publishing-warrenweb-notes)[ *Notes*](https://blog.warrenweb.net/publishing-warrenweb-notes) via Obsidian Publish. Also, [tips and donations](https://blog.warrenweb.net/tips-and-donations) are available for one-time contributions to support my work with no subscription required. [Contact](https://blog.warrenweb.net/contact) me with any comments, questions, or suggestions. Your feedback helps me make improvements. I hope you enjoy your visit—reading, listening, watching, learning, thinking, and linking … and come back often. Linking my thinking has transformed my life, and I want to share information and ideas that I have learned. My focus is *thinking, linking, and sharing*. ### Mom Talk URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/mom-talk/ Last updated: 2025-07-19T17:46:04.000Z Published: March 7, 2016 💬 My mother died 3 years later just 4 days short of her 99th birthday. ## Alzheimer's I visited my mother several days ago. She is almost 96 years old and has had Alzheimer’s for more than 10 years. Her money ran out in January from the remainder of my father’s life insurance since he died 3 years ago. It was a busy time for me looking around at nursing homes, hiring a lawyer, establishing a Qualified Income Trust, and applying for Medicaid. ## Medicaid Fortunately, we got lucky and somebody passed away a few days earlier and there was an opening so we jumped at the opportunity and moved my Mom right away. So she has now been on Medicaid pending status effective Feb 1 while we’re waiting approval in several months. It’s a very nice facility with above average ratings, and she’s getting much better care now that she was in the memory care unit of the assisted living facility where she had been living for over 7 years. ## Volleyball In fact, the Activity (“Wellness and Life Enrichment”) Director is great since she had been at the nursing home where my father was during his last year. She was so good with my Dad and now she gets to know my Mom too. She told me recently that she had my Mom playing “volleyball” (where they bounce balloons around to each other from their wheelchairs); afterward, she told her that she needed more people to help her and my Mom said “sure!”. Maybe she will get her more involved with some of their activities like she did with my Dad. ## Recognition Actually my Mom is doing quite well considering her age. She’s always in good spirits, smiling, and happy most of the time. She usually still knows who I am, and also my wife and siblings. ' That day we woke her up and she was somewhat groggy for a bit and slightly confused. However, as she came to, she was responding to my wife, but I didn’t register with her at all. That was rather strange because she normally can’t keep her eyes off me, wants to hug and kiss me, and tells me that she loves me (constantly). Not this time. So my wife was getting her attention, and she pretty much ignored me. ## Sayings Since I wasn’t that busy, but just a spectator this time, I was observing the “conversation”. Actually she can’t really put more than a few words together at a time before she forgets what she wants to say. So everything is rather short, with many of the same expressions. So I thought it might be interesting to capture some of them on my iPhone. Here’s the intermittent dialogue of her comments in the conversation. - I don’t know - Okay - Right - No, I don’t think so - You’re wonderful - I love you - Yeah - Thank you - That’s about it - Well … - That’s the way it goes ### Cabin on Blueberry Hill URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/cabin-on-blueberry-hill/ Last updated: 2025-07-21T14:04:17.000Z Published: May 30, 2015 Updated: July 17, 2025 In April before our trip to Germany, we went on a short getaway to a log cabin in east Texas at the [Etheridge Farm Bed & Breakfast](http://www.ethridgefarm.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) in Kountze, which is [located](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ethridge+Farm+Bed+and+Breakfast/@30.8511321,-96.3490724,8z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x8639247d73f34edf:0xb75abebc2e0ea53b?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) in the [Big Thicket National Preserve](http://www.nps.gov/bith/index.htm?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) north of Beaumont, Texas. It sounded like a good idea when we made the arrangements to meet friends who were neighbors when we used to live in the Dallas area. We made the reservations and agreed to meet there and stay for three nights. ## **Brenham** We stopped for lunch in [Brenham](http://www.visitbrenhamtexas.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), which is about halfway between Austin and Houston on US 290\. We ate at [Yumm! Sweets & Eats](https://www.facebook.com/pages/Yumm-Sweets-Eats/232636586774519) right on the square across from the courthouse, which was a nice place to stop, and my soup and sandwich was very good. On the way to the restroom on the sweet shop side of the place, I spotted this bicycle all lit up with white lights and had to take a photo, which really turned out pretty good. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/Brenham-Bicycle.webp) Brenham Lighted Bicycle ## Prisoners While we were finishing our lunch, we noticed there was a guy across the street by the courthouse cleaning up stuff on the grounds, but he was dressed in orange stripes with a guard nearby that had a gun in a holster. Then we realized that they must be having the prisoners in the jail doing some work in the community. Then a little later a county sheriff pulls up right in front of the window where we were sitting. He got out of his car and walked around the back to the rear door where he let out another man who was dressed in grey and black strips with handcuffs holding his wrists together. The sheriff escorted him across the street over to the courthouse, so I assume that he must have been transported from a county facility to appear in court for a trial. ## Wild flowers Usually there are lots of wild flowers around the Brenham area, but we didn’t get any photos this time since we were trying to meet out friends and didn’t want to linger too long. Also, it was somewhat overcast that day so the photos might not have turned out that good anyway. [Blue Bell Ice Cream](https://www.bluebell.com/visit-blue-bell/brenham?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) is also located in Brenham and that’s a fun place to stop. We’ve taken the tour in the past, which was very interesting. Since they recently have had some issues with listeria contamination that is now being addressed, we decided not to get any ice cream this time. ## **Cabin** I have included some photos that I took of our litle [Cabin on Blueberry Hill](http://www.ethridgefarm.com/historic-blueberry-hill-bnb.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) (see featured image above). It’s named that because you can pick your own blueberries there on their farm, and in fact there were a bunch of blueberry shrubs growing just to the left side of the cabin ## **Porch** There was a covered front porch with a swing at the end. Also, we noticed there were carpenter bees flying around and into holes they had burrowed into the wood beams above, and we were so sure about them although the owner told us that they will not bother us (and they really didn’t). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/Cabin-Front-Porch-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-wall-sign-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-porch-stuff-1.webp) There was a cute little sign for the Cabin on Blueberry Hill, along with the obligatory Texas star hanging on the wall of the porch next to the front door. The overhead light was helpful too since it gets very dark out there at night, and they also provided some flashlights as well as if we needed to get around at night. For example, we had dinner in the main farm house the first night and needed to find out way back to the cabin after dark. Although they had a string of lights across the trees leading to our cabin, it was helpful to see where you were stepping too. You can see how they applied the logs over the former barn so it wasn’t really an original log cabin, but an adapted barn with a log veneer siding. They had lots of old stuff (“antiques”) throughout the cabin, including these things on the porch. However, I don’t think the oil lamps or lanterns actually had wicks so they didn’t work. But they did leave bug spray which was helpful because there are lots of mosquitoes in this part of Texas since it’s more humid, and there are ponds nearby and quite a bit of standing water on the farm in places. ## **Bedrooms** There were two bedrooms, but they were not enclosed like I had imagined. They were open at the top and there was only a hemp weave cloth covering the entry (no door) that you could criss-cross to cover it at least. But you could hear everything in the cabin (like our friends in the other bedroom). Our room had two twin beds so our friends could have the other one with the king bed (because they’re larger than us). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-bedroom-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-bedroom-2.webp) ## **Entry** Inside the front door, there were several storage cabinets and entry way with steps down into the main living area. The bedrooms are the left and right. Also there was a little writeup about “The Cabin on Blueberry Hill” on the side wall. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-entry-sign.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-double-doors.webp) ## **Living area** The owner told us that this cabin used to be a barn, and it was converted into a log cabin. The chickens were where the bathroom is now on the left side. The horses were in the kitchen area where there was a small refrigerator, microwave, sink, and stocked cabinet with utensils and supplies. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-living-2.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-living-1.webp) ## Kitchen wall There was this interesting newspaper advertisement with old-time prices on the wall in the kitchen. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-wall-ad.webp) ## **Living room** There were several chairs available for sitting in the main part of the living area, with a dinky 12″ TV available with only local channels. Another negative was the lack of WiFi in the cabin or even a cell-phone signal which was frustrating. If you went outside you could get access to a 4G data network for internet as well as cell phone, but not inside. However, I figured out I could get a cell signal near the window in the bathroom so I setup a personal hotspot on my iPhone which provided me a temporary WiFi network inside the cabin which I used from my Mac laptop to access the internet. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-living-room.webp) ## **Cotton (the dog)** The owner had several dogs that occasionally roamed the property. One of them apparently likes to catch rabbits, and we spotted some guts along the path near the cabin that one of the workers told us was a rabbit that the dog must have caught and ate the rest. We asked him if he could please clean it up so we wouldn’t have to look at it going to/from breakfast in the main house, which he did for us. Also, there was a cute little white dog that kept coming around, especially at happy hour in the evening, looking for attention (and handouts). Apparently, he belonged to a neighbor, but comes over here often (we saw him every day). We had to give him some Cheetos. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-cotton-2.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-cotton-1.webp) ## **Hiking** We went hiking on several trails in the Big Thicket which was nearby and scattered all over the area in various sections. There were large pine trees with lots of pine cones on the trails, as well as pretty wild flowers like the thistle. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-hike-4.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-hike-3.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-hike-2.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-hike-1.webp) ## **Pitcher plants** Big Thicket has four carnivorous plants which eat insects – pitcher plants, sundews, bladderworts, and butterworts. Of particular interest, we were interested to see the pitcher plants and we saw many of them on the Pitcher Plant Trail. We also walked the Sundew Trail but did not notice any sundew plants. Pitcher plants are passive plants that do not use movement in the capture and digestion of insects. They capture insects by luring them to the mouth of the trap with color, nectar, and/or scent. After an insect lands on the lip of the flower and begins to enter the mouth, it comes to a waxy inner surface that causes it to slide down the funnel. Downward pointing hairs lining the lower portion impede their ability to climb back out of the plant’s trap. The bottom of the pitcher is filled with a fluid that drowns them and then because it contains digestive enzymes, decomposes the proteins and soft body parts so that it can be absorbed into the plant for nutrition. Only the insect’s exoskeleton remains. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-pitcher-2.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/cabin-pitcher-1.webp) ## **Meals** Each morning we enjoyed a lovely home-cooked country breakfast in the lodge dining room that was prepared by the owner, Ann Ethridge, along with guests who were staying in other cabins. Also, we chose to have dinner the first evening as well, and it was very good also. She was very hospitable and friendly, and runs the place herself with some additional help for maintenance, etc.. Although she is in her 80’s, she seems quite active and handles everything quite well since her husband passed away several years ago. The second night we drove down to Beaumont where there were lots of choices for dinner. ## **Changing plans** We were planning to play golf at a course nearby, but unfortunately we went back home a day early because our friend was having some medical issues. Almost immediately after we arrived, he started having problems with strong allergy-like symptoms which caused him breathing problems and discomfort. It became even worse overnight and he was not able to sleep much. In fact, the second night he spent most of it in the recliner in the living room since it was worse lying down. He uses a CPAP machine to help him sleep during the night because of his sleep apnea, but because his nose was so stopped up he could barely breathe when it was on. Also he had heart bypass surgery in the past and takes pills for his heart as well as anti-depression medications, but he forgot to bring them along with him on the trip. ## Shortened visit Because the rooms were not completely enclosed, his breathing problems (and related complaints) prevented us from having a peaceful night as well since it was interrupted many times because of his situation. He was convinced that there was something in the cabin that was causing it, although we didn’t have any problems. So our friends decided they wanted to go back home earlier than planned, and we also decided to leave as well since we had intended to spend the time with them. The owner was very understanding and didn’t even charge us for the extra day. When he returned home, his symptoms seemed to disappear, so we don’t really know what caused him to have the problems that he did. Anyway our visit was shorter than planned. ## **Future travel** Although it was nice to see our friends, we’re starting to realize that traveling with them might not work out. Also they have physical limitations that even makes walking somewhat difficult, and we really like to be active, so we can’t enjoy many things with them anyway. We have tried quite a few getaways with them in the past several years, but each time there have been some issues because of their limitations. After each trip we have realized that it might not have been a good idea, but then we have tried it again with similar results. But this time, we couldn’t even sleep very well ourselves because of their breathing noises, night conversations, and depressed mood. ### World War II Pinup Nose Art URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/world-war-ii-pinup-nose-art/ Last updated: 2025-07-15T00:27:07.000Z Published: April 2, 2015 #### History Hopefully this offends nobody, but it’s a historical reflection of attitudes regarding wartime nose art about 70 years ago. ## **Hal Olsen** Hal Olsen was the last World War II nose artist who lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is my wife’s first cousin once removed – the son of her maternal grandfather’s brother (or her mother’s uncle’s son). He was a U.S. Navy aviation mechanic for autopilots who also worked at Los Alamos National Lab as an artist for official bomb designs. ## Nose art He painted over 100 [nose art](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nose%5Fart?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) pin-up ladies on various planes in the Pacific Theater of Operations during his stint with the US Navy during World War II on [Tinian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinian?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) in the Northern Mariana Islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, now a U.S. territorial commonwealth. He charged $50 per painting and it because so popular that he made enough money for a honeymoon when he got married, as well as paying for art school. He was doing about two a day during the period from June – August 1945 (right around the time that I was born). ## Tinian bombers He painted his nose art on over 100 PB4Y-1 (Navy version of B-24) and B-29 Superfortress bombers while stationed on Tinian island; they appeared in the first color issue of the National Geographic magazine. Some of his most famous paintings were on the Enola Gay and Bochscar, which were the B-29 bombers involved in the atomic bomb drops on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 that ended the war six days later after the Japanese surrendered. The final painting he made was Enola Gay because the Air Force “wanted her done right”. He had also painted a B-29 bomber named “Up-an-Atom” that became the title of his book. ## **Up an’ Atom** My oldest son wanted Hal’s book “Up an’ Atom” (2012) for Christmas. It’s an autobiography which covers the golden age of nose art in World War. We had Hal autograph it for him. There was no color film at that time, so photos were black and white. However, the fifteen best photos were recreated on canvas for the book. Although he painted most of the women in the nude, he requested that they be modified and clothed for inclusion in the book. The originals can be seen in their original state at the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Airpower Museum in Midland, Texas. [![Up an' Atom by Hal_Olsen - Amazon book cover](https://warrenweb.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/amazon_book_cover_hal_olsen_up_an_atom.jpg?w=195)](https://www.amazon.com/Up-Atom-Hal-Olsen/dp/0979164265?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) You can find his *Up an’ Atom* book at the [**Amazon**](https://www.amazon.com/Up-Atom-Hal-Olsen/dp/0979164265?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) web site. ## **Portraits of War** The [**Portraits of War**](https://portraitsofwar.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/wwii-nose-art-hal-olsen-the-last-living-wwii-nose-artist?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) Wordpress blog shows several autographed photos that Hal sent to Brennan Gauthier for his *WWII Nose Art – Hal Olsen, the Last Living WWII Nose Artist* post, including *Lady Luck II*, *Green Cherries*, *Accentuate the Positive*, and *Gear Down*. Also, there is an interesting picture of him painting one of the planes, as well as a brief description in the index of nose artists at the [**US Army Air Force (USAAF) Nose Art Research Project**](http://www.usaaf-noseart.co.uk/artist.php?artist=olsen&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) web site. ## **Commemorative Air Force** The Commemorative Air Force (CAF) was founded to acquire, restore and preserve in flying condition a complete collection of combat aircraft which were flown by all military services of the United States, and selected aircraft of other nations, for the education and enjoyment of present and future generations of Americans. More than just a collection of airworthy warplanes from the past, the CAF’s fleet of historic aircraft, known as the CAF Ghost Squadron, recreate, remind and reinforce the lessons learned from the defining moments in American military aviation history. It now contains over 160 aircraft. ## **CAF Airpower Museum** The [**CAF Airpower Museum**](http://www.airpowermuseum.org/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), formerly American Airpower Heritage Museum, at the Commemorative Air Force headquarters is located at 9600 Wright Drive in Midland, Texas. Besides restoring and preserving World War II-era combat airplanes, it’s preserving the complete history of World War II military aviation and the memory of the men and women who built, serviced and flew the historic military aircraft of World War II. It is recognized for its collection of authentic World War II artifacts and memorabilia including uniforms of Allied and Axis countries, armament, photographs, weapons, and equipment. It is affiliated with the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. Its exhibits tell the complete story of World War II military aviation, from the prelude of World War II to the Atomic Bomb. The exhibits cover the war in the Pacific, strategic bombing, D-Day, and the atomic age. They also feature the American Combat Airman Hall of Fame, 507th Fighter Group gallery, and Nose Art Gallery.. Here’s a very brief video overview of the CAF Airpower Museum. ### “CAF Airpower Museum – Overview” – Video (1:48) ## **Nose Art Gallery** The Aviation Nose Art Gallery is the largest collection in the world, recognized by the White House Millennium Council and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It includes 34 very rare original Nose Art panels that represent the artistic expressions of young men at war. They cut the panels from fuselages of World War II aircraft as they were being scrapped after the war. Easy Maid is easily one of the most recognizable pieces in the collection and was painted by the world’s last nose art artist, Hal Olsen. Hear Hal’s story of how and why he painted this and many other Nose Art images during World War II. ### CAF Airpower Museum – Hal Olsen (2013) – 2 min ### **Easy Maid** The [Save the Girls](http://www.savethegirls.org/index.html?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) project website was established to preserve, restore, and display the world’s largest collection of World War II aircraft nose art. Hal’s Easy Maid image on a PB4Y-1 Navy bomber is included in the Nose Art Gallery. Click on the [thumbnail](http://www.savethegirls.org/panel/index.php?panel=1&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) for background information or the [larger image](http://www.savethegirls.org/panel/panel-noseart.php?panel=easymaid&ref=blog.warrenweb.net). ## Summary He was a very nice, talented guy, and I wanted to share his unique story. We have several watercolor paintings hanging on walls in our house that he graciously gave us (not nose art nudes, but landscape and beach scenes). I hope you found this interesting and liked the photos and information about nose art. ### Criminal Hamsters URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/criminal-hamsters/ Last updated: 2025-07-20T13:39:44.000Z Published: October 18, 2014 When our sons were young, we had two cute little hamsters, Fluffy and Winston Pooh Bear. However, we found out that there was a lot involved in owning them as pets. We remembered these adventures yesterday morning while retelling the stories to our grandkids, and I thought you might enjoy hearing about them too. ## **Grandkid Stories** We had our three grandkids (10, 9, and 6) stay with us for the weekend. We went to the park to hike and play, and have them burn off a little energy before we took them to the local Sonic drive-in for lunch and shakes. While driving over there, Paige asked what was our favorite nocturnal animal. Kate, the youngest, responded, “What’s nocturnal”? Then Jake, the animal expert, explained that they are animals active at night. Kate suggested an owl, but Paige told her that wasn’t cute enough. So Jake picked a hamster. ## **Memories** That brought many memories back to when our grown sons were their age. I had forgotten about this until that moment, but this triggered us to remember. We told them that their dad and his brother had hamsters when they were young. Then we kept thinking of all the adventures we had during that time. As we started sharing them with the kids, we kept thinking of more incidents. ## **Airplane Cargo** Our move to Texas from New Jersey involved some additional experiences with our little furry friends. Since we had all our household stuff and car shipped by moving van, we took an airline flight. When making our reservations, we asked about taking the hamsters with us on the plane and they said, “Sure, no problem!”. Well, when we got to the airport, we found out they could not be carried on and put under the seat (Duh!). We had to purchase $80 crates for them so they could go in with the cargo. I’m not sure how cold it gets that high up, but they survived the journey. ## **Hotel Guests** After arriving in Dallas, we stayed at a Holiday Inn for about a week while our new house was being finished and so our kids could start school since they were 10 and 7\. The hotel didn’t allow pets so we had to sneak their cages from our car to the room under cover inside a shopping bag. However, they made some noise in the room when active, so it wasn’t the best arrangement with all of us in one room like that. ## **Night wheel** One time, my brother-in-law was visiting for Christmas, and was using a sleeper-sofa bed in our TV room, where the hamsters were in the corner. In the middle of the first night he was there, he came in to tell us he couldn’t sleep because of all the noise in his room. We went to check, and discovered our hamsters were frantically racing around the wheel they had inside their cages (nocturnal, remember). We had these elaborate cages with exercise wheel, tube mazes, climb tower, etc. So we had to move them to another room away from everybody so they wouldn’t disturb him. ## **Couch nest** Another time, when we went away for a few days, we came back and didn’t find them in their cages. We went hunting all over the house and finally noticed a bunch of foam pieces on our living room sleeper-sofa. When we opened it up, it turned out that they had chewed it all up inside the cushion to make a nest there and even added a few tiny toy figures that they had retrieved. They are hoarders and have huge cheek pouches for food storage. It was really a mess. ## **The great (closet) escape** My grandson liked *The Great Escape* movie which he saw recently, and now wants to watch more prison movies. That brought back the time where one day we noticed they had escaped during the night and burrowed through our carpet and under the closet door. We had to explain that to the couple that bought our house when we sold it. ## **Neighborhood Search** Several times they got out of the cage somehow, probably when someone forgot to close the snap latch after feeding or petting them. They’re pretty quick and probably slipped out of the house via a door left open. After an extensive search, our son finally found them down the street at a neighbor in their garage. ## **Burial** When they died, since they only live 2-3 years, our kids wanted to have a memorial service for them before burying them in our backyard after a brief ceremony for their pets. I think the deck later covered them over when we had a pool and hot tub put in the backyard. ## **Summary** They enjoyed hearing about these stories and had a few chuckles, especially since they imagined their father (and us) having these experiences. Our grandson, Jake, summarized our stories by calling them “Criminal Hamsters”. I thought it might be a good subject as a blog post to share with you. ### Hangar Hotel URL: https://blog.warrenweb.net/hangar-hotel/ Last updated: 2025-07-16T22:06:00.000Z Published: September 9, 2014 Updated: July 16, 2025 Last week, we visited the Hangar Hotel & Airport Diner in Fredericksburg, Texas. It’s a World-War II themed 50-room hotel built in 1995 that looks like a Quonset hut used by the US Army Air Force in the South Pacific during the 1940’s. I wanted to share some photos and related music, videos, and movies that you might find interesting. We read an article “Hit the Road” in the Texas Coop Power magazine that we receive as a member of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative. The weather was great and nearby Becker Vineyards in Stonewall, Texas (east of Fredericksburg) was having our quarterly wine club pickup party that Sunday, so this sounded like a nice day trip. Click the image link to read the article or view the slideshow of 5 photos. See its location in Google Maps [link](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hangar+Hotel/@30.2594173,-98.8903103,14z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x865bc1eca5ee904d:0x102a8f7190eb8a7?hl=en-US&ref=blog.warrenweb.net). [Fredericksburg: Hangar HotelA stay at the Hangar Hotel is a journey to another time and place![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon.png)Texas Co-op PowerTexas Co-op Power![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/thumbnail/detail_1406_htr_jim.jpg)](https://texascooppower.com/fredericksburg-hangar-hotel?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) Hit the Road by Eileen Matei in Texas Co-op Power (June 2014) ## Tour This video (2:24) from [Fun Places to Fly](https://www.funplacestofly.com/funflydetails.asp?id=457&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) provides a great tour of the Hangar Hotel and Airport Diner. The Hangar Hotel - YouTube video (2:24) ## Hotel When you first arrive from the parking lot, you see the back of the Hangar Hotel after you walk past an old aircraft sitting out on the lawn, which was being washed down and cleaned that day. There is a tall water tower right next to the hotel. You can see the two levels of rooms as we walked around the left side of the hotel toward the Airport Diner that was located opposite the hotel right next to the runway, where we planned to have lunch. There is a photo with another view looking back from the runway showing the palm trees and water tower a little better. The front of the hotel faces the runway of the Gillespie County Airport. There are rocking chairs on the upper and lower porches where guests can watch the sunsets and planes. These are the outside photos I took during our visit to the Hangar Hotel. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/hangar-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/hanger-2.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/hangar-3.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/hangar-4.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/hangar-8.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/hangar-10.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/hangar-11.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/hangar-9-1.webp) ## Officer's Club The Officer’s Club is the hotel bar and lounge with red leather chairs and fireplace. Just outside the entrance, there is a billboard with a nose-art pinup girl that reads *I Sleep Like a Baby*. Also there is a searchlight and palm tree reminiscent of the South Pacific during World War II. Outside the Officer’s Club, there is an old wagon for the Fredericksburg Brewing Company, which adds some character to that entrance. ## Lobby After entering through the Officer’s Club, you come into the hotel lobby, which had old World War II memorabilia everywhere and 1940’s music playing in the background to get you into the mood of that period. There’s an old wooden front desk with mail slots, and there is a row of clocks overhead for major time zones (but I missed that in my photo). ## Ruptured Duck On the hotel lobby wall is an airplane panel with the *The Ruptured Duck* nose art painting of Donald Duck on crutches from the B-25B Mitchell medium bomber flown by Ted W. Lawson in the Doolittle Raid over Tokyo in World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942\. He piloted the 7th plane in the squadron and after the mission was completed he crashed in the China coast where he was critically injured and had his leg amputated to save his life. I captured these photos: hotel front desk, *Ruptured Duck* nose art on airplane panel, and a view of the runway from Airport Diner. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/hangar-6-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/hangar-5-2.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/hangar-7-1.webp) ## Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo When he returned, pilot Ted Lawson wrote the book *Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo*, which became a movie in 1944 starring Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, Robert Mitchum, Robert Walker, and Phyllis Thaxter based on his crew’s experiences. View this short trailer (3:05), or watch the full movie free (with commercials) at [Tubi TV](https://tubitv.com/movies/100021239/thirty-seconds-over-tokyo?=undefined&startPos=0&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) (2h 19m). ## Airport Diner Private planes can fly into Gillespie County Airport and eat at the Airport Diner. It offers a 1940’s theme with Bomber Burgers on the menu and little planes on the counter with mints and hanging as mobiles from the lights. I included a view of the planes on the tarmac from our window booth seat during lunch. ## Activities There are plenty of things to do and see in the [Fredericksburg](http://visitfredericksburgtx.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) area. If you have an RV instead of a private plane, there is the [Lady Bird Johnson RV Park](http://www.fbgtx.org/index.aspx?NID=343&ref=blog.warrenweb.net). If you are driving by car, bring your golf clubs since there is an 18-hole [Lady Bird Golf Course](http://golffredericksburg.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), which is a nice place to play during your visit. The [Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park](http://www.fbgtx.org/index.aspx?nid=236&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) has additional amenities including picnic areas, tennis, and swimming pool. About 30 minutes east is the [LBJ National Historical Park](http://www.nps.gov/lyjo/index.htm?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) which features the former president’s home and ranch. ## Cotton Gin Village Across the highway is the old [Cotton Gin Village](http://www.cottonginlodging.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net), which is a quaint bed and breakfast with 19th century log cabins of various sizes such as the Rio Grande room shown below, which is fairly close to the entrance near the waterfall and fish pond. There are also modern cottages, and you can eat dinner at the award-winning upscale Cabernet Grill which features Texas cuisine and Texas wine. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/becker-0.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/becker-0b.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/becker-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/fredericksburg-1.webp) ## National Museum of the Pacific War Nearby in downtown Fredericksburg, Texas is the [National Museum of the Pacific War](http://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) highlighted in this video tour. [National Museum of the Pacific WarThe National Museum of the Pacific War, located in Fredericksburg, TX, tells the human story of World War II in the Pacific in more than 55,000 sq ft of…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-1.png)National Museum of the Pacific War![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/thumbnail/default-meta-image.jpg)](https://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Texas Hill Country [National Geographic](http://www.nationalgeographic.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) magazine included a *Texas Hill Country Road Trip* as one of the world’s most spectacular car trips in their book on the *500 Drives of a Lifetime*. The Texas Hill Country was selected as one of the *Top Ten Wine Travel Destinations for 2014* by [Wine Enthusiast](http://www.winemag.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) magazine. When this article was originally written, there were only 14 [local wineries](http://www.visitfredericksburgtx.com/attractions-categories/wineries/?utm%5Fsource=Google&utm%5Fmedium=CPC&utm%5Fcampaign=Q3) in the Fredericksburg area; however now (in 2025) there are about 8o in that area, with 60 wineries on the [Texas Hill Country Wine Trail](https://www.texaswinetrail.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net). ## Becker Vineyards Of course, we stopped at [Becker Vineyards](https://www.beckervineyards.com/?ref=blog.warrenweb.net) to pickup our quarterly wine club bottles and enjoy the pickup party food and live music on a lovely day. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/becker-2.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/becker-3.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/04/1604d8f1-4ecc-4cc4-bf94-8b01d607edff/content/images/2025/07/becker-5.webp) ## Music Here’s some background music for this story. Of course, there’s Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller, which was so popular during the war. Also, I included the hit song *Bali Ha’i* from the *South Pacific* Broadway musical in 1967. ### *Moonlight Serenade* by Glenn Miller on *Pure Gold* (1980) **Spotify song link**: [https://open.spotify.com/track/3XiFWZoHQtGUYIdtShPwPD?si=01fde4e470644233](https://open.spotify.com/track/3XiFWZoHQtGUYIdtShPwPD?si=01fde4e470644233&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ### *Bali Ha’i* on *Original Soundtrack of South Pacific* (1995) **Spotify song link**: [https://open.spotify.com/track/3xeZCv2zJguniFYYvGQceq?si=59eaf3b0ce1a4a5b](https://open.spotify.com/track/3xeZCv2zJguniFYYvGQceq?si=59eaf3b0ce1a4a5b&ref=blog.warrenweb.net) ## Summary It was a nice drive on a Sunday afternoon, we explored some new places, enjoyed the winery food and music, and picked up some wine.