6091 comments
2357 subscribers
6240 on Twitter
Subscribe! Feed reader E-mail

Unstructured time update

I’m going to find out if all that cooking we did last weekend will get us through this week and next week. If so, then that will free up a valuable block of unstructured time.

My weekdays have mostly settled into a good routine. Thanks to cooking ahead, I have 2-3 hours each evening of unstructured time. Batch-cooking takes a day out of my weekend, which means I have to plan around having one day of unstructured time instead of two, but the convenience and variety of meals during the week is worth it.

So, what are the things I can do with that unstructured time?

Evenings:

  • Write 3-4 blog posts
  • Organize things at home and improve our processes (kitchen kaizen!)
  • Work on code
  • Start seeds or improve the garden
  • Sew pre-cut or small pieces
  • Prepare presentation
  • Read

Weekend: Evening +

  • Pick up books and groceries
  • Do laundry + cooking + major cleaning
  • Cut pieces for sewing
  • Review blog and revise
  • Host tea party

So I should prioritize sewing over writing or coding during weekends, because I can write and code during evenings, but cutting pieces and patterns is harder to squeeze into an evening. =)

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/7132

On This Day...

  • 2013: Understanding my procrastination — This week’s Less Wrong Toronto rationality challenge was about procrastination: observing how, why, and when you procrastinate, and what you [...]
  • 2012: Unstructured time update, now that I have my own business — I like making lists of things I can do to make the most of chunks of time. Lists make it [...]
  • 2011: Setting up Ruby on Rails on a Redhat Enterprise Linux Rackspace Cloud Server — 1. Compile Ruby from source. First, install all the libraries you’ll need to compile Ruby. yum install gcc zlib [...]
  • 2011: The Busy Person’s Guide to Learning from the Network (a guide for IBMers) — I promised to put together a talk on learning for an IBM virtual conference for new hires. Here’s a rough [...]
  • 2009: Managing virtual assistants: the surprising benefits of transcription — I frequently give speeches. During some months, practically every week involves a presentation or two. I usually post presentation, recording, [...]
  • 2007: I miss my family — The only way to keep sane is to not wish that I was somewhere else, but I really really miss my [...]
  • 2006: Grill time! — Toastmasters from 6 to 8 means I usually can’t meet anyone for dinner on Tuesdays, which is why I was surprised [...]
  • 2006: Helping people find their voice — One of my friends scoffs at Toastmasters, but moments like this make it definitely worthwhile. Today one of the members brought his [...]
  • 2006: Backlog: Web 2.0 — Also, _totally_ cool Web 2.0 conference yesterday. Will blog more about it soon. On Technorati: nextweb Random Japanese sentence: 私が出掛けている間、猫の面倒をみてください。 Please look after [...]
  • 2006: Backlog: Lasagna — Shared lasagna and vegetable stew with Mike Tsang last night. This informal potluck dinner thing is working out quite well… Random Japanese [...]
  • 2006: Backlog: Lasagna — Shared lasagna and vegetable stew with Mike Tsang last night. This informal potluck dinner thing is working out quite well… Random Japanese [...]
  • 2003: Week summary view — Cross-reference: PlannerMode#4
  • 2003: NealStephenson uses Emacs! — Alan Shutko on debian-user@lists.debian.org links to http://hobbes.ncsa.uiuc.edu/nealstephensonOS.html . Coooool. Well, as if the OrdoEmacs reference in Cryptonomicon wasn’t a giveaway… NealStephenson is cool.
  • 2003: Emacs tips — EmacsWiki:ProgrammingEffectivelyWithEmacs has a lot of productivity-boosting tips. In particular, it links to a Kuro5hin article about making Emacs stand up [...]
  • 2003: Cards — Another cool project can be found at http://cards.sourceforge.net . It was started by Sam Watkins, one of my friends and an [...]
  • 2003: Hacking Society — On the compsci mailing list, Migz Paraz mentions the Hacking Society, a pretty cool idea. I’d love a real-life space like this. Currently, [...]
  • 2003: Another cat link — - http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/howto10.html
  • 2003: Gender stereotypes in CS — Susan Fox (SIGCSE) has a student double-majoring in CS and Psychology. From the message: A part of her project is collecting [...]
  • 2003: I hate floppies. — This is the Nth bad sector that I’ve come across. It’s starting to get a little annoying.
  • 2003: More puzzles — The anonymous person from 2003.02.26#6 contributes another puzzle link: http://www.claymath.org/Millenium_Prize_Problems/ . This one has heavier problems with big cash prizes.
  • 2003: Graduate school deadline — The deadline for applying to the graduate school of education in Ateneo is the second week of May, or 2003.05.05.
  • 2003: Yesterday’s CS party — Yesterday I had a thanksgiving party for the computer science faculty and staff. People who went: Dr. Vergara, Dr. Manalastas, Sir [...]

Get the highlights as a PDF!

Stories from my Twenties: Highlights from a Decade of Blogging

Free sample!