Jessica Yurkofsky, The Setup

Who are you, and what do you do?

I’m Jessica. I just finished up the urban planning masters program over at the GSD. I’m hanging out at the lab for the summer, working primarily on Time/Slice, a project I started in the Library Test Kitchen. The Lab is very awesome.

What hardware do you use?

My most important hardware is my pen, which is a rotring extra-fine fountain pen. It was originally quite long; I had one break in my pocket so I sawed off the end and duct taped it. Now it fits in my pocket much better. My other piece of important hardware is a binder clip, which holds together a lot of printer paper full of my calendar, lists, notes, etc.

I rely on my MacBook Pro (4,1) for most things. It has a vintage 2008 battery that generates excessive heat, which can be nice in the winter. I also have an i5 iMac that I use for heavier stuff (a lot of GIS). My phone is a Nokia 6315i. The antenna broke off (also a pocket-related accident), so it is super svelte now. I have a Kindle Touch that I like a lot more than I expected to.

my pen writes well

What software do you use?

A lot of Adobe Creative Suite, mostly Illustrator, for design. Other than that, I like free things. For mapping I do use ArcGIS, but I’ve gotten really into TileMill recently. It makes maps that are nice and pretty. I use TextWrangler for coding, and Bean for typing words. When I really really need to write something, ommwriter is helpful.

Alfred makes using my computer a lot more enjoyable, as does f.lux and jumpcut. Dropbox helps me to not lose all my important things. I use GeekTool for keeping important information on my desktop, such as the weather and my new year’s resolutions. My computer counts electric sheep when it sleeps.

I go back and forth between Chrome and Firefox, but with both I love TabCloud and and being able to send articles straight to my Kindle.

What would be your dream setup?

My dream setup would be a fort that could also get lots of sunlight. It would also have a little stop-motion animation setup ready to go at all times. It might be in a tree.