The MySQL database system has been around for quite some time and I feel like I’ve been using it for twice that long. After the first few years I found that driving it via the command line interface was a real drag and I moved onto something more flexible.

GUI tools came and went from my workflow as a PHP developer. The web based phpMyAdmin stood the test of time for many years until I started working with a Macintosh based team. Then I discovered Sequel Pro and got very comfortable. It seemed to cover nearly everything that I needed but our love wasn’t meant to be. The project maintainer was off doing other things and with each iteration of MacOS stability got worse.

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Over the last 6 months I’ve spent a decent amount of time reading gem logs and exploring capsules. I’ve seen many different topics appear on Antenna, including the regular rounds of “Gemini Sucks” or “Gemini is Crap without XYZ”. Most of the time it’s down to some technical thing. They seem to always miss the obvious. Gemini’s killer app isn’t an “app” or a “feature”. It’s “words”.

Plain old fashioned text. Text written by people. Many of us are technical people and it’s easy to fall into trap of “bells and whistles”. Especially if you’re a web applications programmer like I am. We get so distracted about what we did in the http/web universe that we forget that we have everything we need right in front of us.

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Over the last 4 months (since my dance with c0v1d) I’ve been having ongoing health issues. So much so that I can no longer work full time. Of course the bills have to be paid so I find myself looking for alternative modes of operation.

At first I though that freelancing might be the answer but that lacks stability.Some weeks you have income and others you don’t. One might think that a higher hourly rate is the answer but that approach is getting harder and harder to do in such a competitive market. A part time role could be the answer.

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Over the last few weeks my obsession with text based applications has really ramped up! I’d always loved them of course. Even as far back as the late 80s when I’d call BBSs on my Amstrad DOS machine with its 2400 baud modem. These days its a terminal window running on my desktop MacPro.

Today I discovered a Python based app called “tg”. It has a brew tap which makes it easy to install on MacOS X. Connecting with my existing telegram account was a breeze. I supplied my number and then an authorisation code was sent to my phone. Reasonably secure.

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