Published: March 09, 2026 at 07:15 PM

Tags: fromgravelhill, blog, life-updates, tech, books, audio-archive, website-updates, christian-life

Things have been rather basic of late. Not “going through the motions,” but not exactly sprinting either. Just steady days on a track that works… even if it’s uneventful.

I’m not complaining. Quiet is often a mercy. But it does mean the updates end up being a list of small things that add up to something.

The Commentaries Are Finally Off the Floor

I finally picked up a cheap bookshelf from Walmart: pressed wood, simple black finish, basically the twin of the one in my room (just a different colour). Nothing fancy, but it does what I needed it to do.

The commentaries are now off the floor and on a shelf, which already feels like a small victory. The downside is that it’s “books in front of books” right now, so it isn’t exactly a library quality browsing experience. Still, they’re contained, and that’s progress.

The other downside: old house + slanted floors + limited space means it wouldn’t fit where I wanted it in the office. So it ended up in the spare bedroom instead. Not my first choice, but it’s functional, and at this stage, I’m learning to take “functional” as a gift.

Off the floor at last - not perfect, but better.

A Modded Kindle and a Hope to Read More

A few months ago I put my Kindle Paperwhite into airplane mode and waited. Not because I enjoy waiting, but because the modding community needed time to catch up to the firmware version I was on.

Tonight was finally the night.

Earlier this month a new method was released, and I tackled it today. Thankfully, most of these communities write instructions so clearly that even someone like me can’t mess it up too badly. Download a few files, copy them onto the Kindle, a couple reboots, a few button presses… and suddenly it’s done.

Now I can drag and drop books directly, without needing to convert everything into Amazon’s preferred file types first.

That alone feels freeing. I’m hoping it will translate into me actually reading more. When I try to read on my phone, it’s amazing how quickly “reading time” turns into “checking one thing” and then vanishing into a black hole of notifications.

Drag-and-drop books at last. Now I just need to... you know... read them.

A Book I Didn’t Expect to Buy

Speaking of books, I saw someone mention Not a Fan (Updated and Expanded) by Kyle Idleman in a Facebook group. I hadn’t heard of it, so I asked in the hall group chat, and nobody seemed to know it there either.

I read the intro out of curiosity, and it hit a little closer than I expected. Enough that I picked up a copy.

If it turns out to be worthwhile, I might even try writing a review… which feels slightly ridiculous since the book is over a decade old. But then again, I’m usually late to everything, so it fits my brand.

One of those books that feels like it might poke a little.

Another 30GB “Gift” to My Future Self

I stumbled across a site with conference audio files, a bunch of conferences over the years that I don’t already have, laid out in a spreadsheet-style index. Naturally, my first thought wasn’t, “That’s neat.” It was, “I can script this.”

So I wrote a Python script to crawl the site, download everything, and rename files to match my usual filing standard (when possible). The result: an extra 30GB added to the pile, and a fresh batch of good quality content that will eventually need mild edits, proper pages, and uploading to the Gospel site.

It’s the kind of thing that feels productive right now and slightly menacing later.

A small script... and a large new task list.

Transcripts Running, Cassettes Paused (For Now)

I’ve had the laptop running transcription code on media that’s already filed and uploaded, and it has been running for several days. Because of that, I haven’t digitized any more cassettes this week. The laptop is either transcribing or capturing, and it can’t be in two places at once.

I’ll get back to the cassette project again soon, it’s just been temporarily bumped down the stack.

The Hall Laptop’s New Party Trick

Twice now, the old laptop I keep at the hall has randomly restarted in the middle of a meeting. No overheating, no error message, nothing dramatic, just click, black screen, reboot.

Thankfully, the mixer stayed connected and kept recording directly to its SD card, so no audio was lost. Still, it’s not exactly comforting to watch a computer decide it needs a fresh start halfway through ministry.

I’m keeping an eye on it. If it does it again, I might have to start planning for a backup plan.

Wedding Slideshows, Hymns, and the Audio Problem

I’ve been tapped to put together a photo slideshow and a hymn slideshow for Justin and Charlotte’s wedding on March 17th. That part I can handle.

The bigger question is audio.

Originally they were going to use the main room at the hall, which would have made this easy. But now it’s being moved to the back room (the big echo-filled one) and we don’t really any audio equipment set up back there.

We might need at least:

• two microphones,
• a speaker (or two),
• and a reasonable way to handle Zoom for her family down south who can’t make it.

The Zoom part might be doable with my phone and two wireless Android mics (one mic for the preacher, and one on a stand between them) and the phone positioned down the aisle. Not ideal, but workable if everything cooperates.

It’s one of those situations where the plan is “good enough,” and I’ll be happy if it’s clear and stable rather than perfect.

House-Sitting Plans Shifting

I was supposed to watch someone’s house and pets from March 17th until the end of the month, but due to medical issues they may not need me anymore. That’s life, and of course I hope things improve for them, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed. The extra cash would have been nice.

On the other hand, my brother was trying to get me to watch their place during the same time window, and now that might actually work. I felt bad saying no before. That one’s unpaid, but they pick me up weekly, and I don’t really have the heart to ask them to pay me as well.

So it may still turn into a house-sitting stretch, just a different one.

Nothing Big, But Life Keeps Moving

So that’s the update. Nothing dramatic, nothing life-altering, just the usual shuffle of small progress:

• the bookshelf is in place (even if not where I wanted it),
• the Kindle is finally useful the way I want it to be,
• the audio archive keeps growing,
• the Gospel site continues inching forward,
• wedding logistics are creeping closer,
• and I’m trying to keep growing closer to God through it all.

The days are basic, but they aren’t wasted. Life moves on, quietly, and I’m still thankful for that.