#emacscarnival202506 #brainiac
Somewhere during the COVID pandemic I started checking out #emacs, because of a talk I saw on #orgmode that tickled my curiosity.
In the beginning I didn't dig into the manuals, as you should do, but started using the editor directly and customized stuff by integrating code snippets from different posts and blogs I stumbled upon, while looking for solutions for problems I faced.
Over the years as my proficiency grew, so did my Emacs config. Although I regularly removed packages I didn't use, at some point in time I did task management, note taking, blogging, news reading etc. with Emacs and kept on bringing in new packages into the mix. I didn't really reach the state of bankcruptcy, but I gathered some #elisp snippets I didn't understand or simply didn't remember why I got them at all.
So in order to force myself to finally start reading the manuals and to learn some proper Elisp, I started hacking on a new configuration for #emacs ... as this is what you do as an Emacs user.
The goal of the Brainiac configuration is to minimize the configuration to the bare minimum I need (e.g. tasks and notes) and try to stick to the built-in packages as much as possible. If I need something extra, I would try to implement it myself.
You can follow how the configuration progresses here: Brainiac. It is already fully functional and I am using it daily for private and work related stuff. When it reaches v1.0, I will write about my workflow that defined the configuration.
My name is Kemal. I was born and raised in Bosnia and Herzegovina, now I live in Germany. My days go by in trying to simultaneously play the roles of a husband, father, team leader, geek, good person ... sometimes it works, but most of the time I run with the flow and give my best.
My interests include #health, #parenting, #productivity, #leadership, #privacy, #selfhosting, #goodmusic with guitars, #fishing, #jogging ... and I hack on my #emacs configuration pretty regularly.
As a manager one of my tasks is to do yearly performance evaluations of the employees in my team.
I take this very seriously, as although I speak regularly with my people about tasks and behaviors, this yearly review gives me time to pause and reflect deeper about the stuff I (and the company) find important and how does the employee measure against that.
During the year I keep notes of all 1:1 meetings we have and also of stuff that happens between them that catch my eye, positive as well as possible improvement points. During the yearly review preparations, I sit down and go thru all the notes in order to consolidate the feedback I want to give to the employee.