Monthly review: April 2015
Posted: - Modified: | monthly, reviewLevel up! I learned how to use Hacklab’s laser cutter this month. I’ve been giving it quite a workout with all these tops. It’s a lot of fun working with the laser cutter, since precisely-cut pieces are much easier to sew. Besides, it’s much better than cutting at home, where I often have to shoo the cats away from my fabric. =)
The weather has finally warmed up enough to start gardening and biking again. Whee! I’m not too positive about our chances of growing bitter melon – I think our garden has a disease – but maybe the other plants will be fine. The peas are starting to come up. The strawberry, basil, and tomato seedlings I planted seem to be doing fine too.
This month was a good opportunity to take a close look at my sub-optimal states. <laugh> Between squirrel-brain and fuzzy-brain, it’s a wonder I got anything done. Still, I managed to do the usual consulting bits, broaden my sewing experience, and collect ideas for things I might want to build someday and people I might want to work with. Anyway, the month provided plenty of practice in patience, persistence, and philosophizing, so I got some good out of it.
I’m not entirely sure what next month will be like. Still – onward!
Blog posts
- Emacs
- Experiment
- Sewing
- Connecting
- Self-care
- Tech and the home
- Reviews
Sketches
Daily:
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- Reviews
- 2015-04-05c March 2015 -- index card #monthly #review
- 2015-04-05b Week ending 2015-04-03 -- index card #weekly #journal
- 2015-04-13a Week ending 2015-04-10 -- index card #weekly #journal
- 2015-04-20k Week ending 2015-04-17 -- index card #journal #weekly
- 2015-04-27f Week ending 2015-04-24 -- index card #weekly
- 2015-05-01b Week ending 2015-05-01 -- index card #journal #weekly
- Experiment
- 2015-04-04c Exploring different paths -- index card #differing #experiment
- 2015-04-10b Reflecting on paths for living a meaningful life -- index card #experiment #evil-plans
- 2015-04-14c Work vs Explore -- index card #self-direction #experiment
- 2015-04-16d What if I extrapolated this rest to awesomenss -- index card #life
- 2015-04-17e Slowing down e-mail -- index card #email #slow #relax #experiment #semi-retirement
- 2015-04-19c 5-year plan vs 5-year experiment -- index card #experiment
- 2015-04-20e At peace with a small life -- index card #experiment
- 2015-04-20f Experiment timeline -- index card #experiment
- 2015-04-20g Exploring interesting differences -- index card #experiment
- 2015-04-20h Conditions for considering a startup -- index card #experiment #startup
- 2015-04-22b Noticing the effects of committing to this technodomestic life, at least for now -- index card #experiment #tech-and-home #geek
- 2015-04-23e Working once a week -- index card #consulting #pace #experiment
- 2015-04-24d Checking in with past Sachas -- index card #past #reflection #goals
- 2015-04-16b What does my Resistance sound like -- index card #resistance
- Tech and the home
- 2015-04-08b Spectrum of Awesomeness - Emacs Conference -- index card #emacs #emacsconf #spectrum
- 2015-04-08c Awesomeness Spectrum - Hangouts -- index card #emacs #hangouts #spectrum
- 2015-04-20i Tech and the home -- index card #tech-and-home
- 2015-04-20j Wearables, IoT, and the home -- index card #tech-and-home
- 2015-04-24a Working on technodomesticity -- index card #tech-and-home
- 2015-04-27c Imagining sewing aids -- index card #3d-printing #tech-and-home #technodomesticity #sewing
- 2015-04-28b Tech and the kitchen -- index card #tech-and-home #technodomesticity #kitchen #cooking
- 2015-04-28c Gadget trade-offs in the kitchen -- index card #tech-and-home #technodomesticity #tradeoffs #gadgets #kitchen #cooking #decision
- Quality of life
- Making and repurposing
- 2015-04-13d Repurposing -- index card #creativity #repurposing #making
- 2015-04-14e Becoming really good at repurposing -- index card #repurposing
- 2015-04-19b Conspicuous creation or customization -- index card #creation #making
- 2015-04-28e Scrap ideas -- index card #sewing #scraps #repurposing
- 2015-04-30e Sewing plans -- index card #sewing
- 2015-04-23d Imagining my sewing, a year from now -- index card #sewing #future #imagining
- 2015-04-24e What do I want to learn about next -- index card #learning #sewing #plans
- 2015-04-27e Imagining meal planning -- index card #cooking #planning #variety
- 2015-04-28d Japanese curry combination -- index card #variety #meal-planning #cooking #japanese
- 2015-04-16e How can I cross-pollinate interests
- Lasers, Hacklab
- Connecting
- 2015-04-03e On having differing opinions – index card #differing #support
- 2015-04-04b On responding to other people’s uncertainty – index card #supporting #differing
- 2015-04-19e Different worldviews – index card #small-talk
- 2015-04-19f Small talk shifts – index card #small-talk #growth
- 2015-04-08e On keeping the bigger picture in mind – index card #connecting #support #ego
- 2015-04-26c Dealing with things I don’t like talking about – index card #anxiety #conversation
- 2015-04-26d What would I like to hear or talk about instead – index card #conversation
- Philosophy
- 2015-04-03d Equanimity – index card #philosophy #equanimity
- 2015-04-20c The glass is amazing – index card #philosophy #perspective
- 2015-04-30a How would I like to respond to this in a Stoic way – index card #stoicism #philosophy
- 2015-04-30b Not feeling enough – index card #stoicism #philosophy
- 2015-04-30c Choosing an approach – index card #stoicism #philosophy
- 2015-04-03c Hope for the Flowers – index card #childhood #freedom
- 2015-04-19d On talking to non-Stoics about preferences and value judgments – index card #stoicism
- 2015-04-20d What does Stoicism mean to me – index card #stoicism
- Self-care
- 2015-04-17b Being extra-kind to myself – index card #self-care
- 2015-04-17c Anxiety – index card #anxiety
- 2015-04-17d Anxiety and choice – index card #anxiety
- 2015-04-24b Learning from psychotherapy techniques – index card #anxiety #therapy
- 2015-04-24c Learning from strong emotional responses – index card #anxiety
- 2015-04-13c Squirrel brain – #squirrel-brain
- 2015-04-13f Drawing and the squirrel brain – index card #squirrel-brain #zettelkasten #index-card
- 2015-04-27a Quiet days – index card #fuzzy
- 2015-04-27d Minor signals – index card #fuzzy
- 2015-04-20b Cultivating coping mechanisms – index card #self-care #coping
- 2015-04-26e Untangling – index card #uncertainty #anxiety #preference
- 2015-04-30d Taking care of myself – index card #self-care
- 2015-04-26b When my brain is fuzzy because I’m sick – index card #fuzzy #sick
- 2015-04-29a Reading while fuzzy – index card #reading #fuzzy
- 2015-04-20a Learning to spend on enjoyment – index card #frugality #spending
- Weaknesses
- 2015-04-22c On weaknesses, strengths, and the value of constraints – index card #weaknesses
- 2015-04-22d Premature satisfaction – index card #weaknesses
- 2015-04-22e Current weaknesses and constraints – index card #weaknesses
- 2015-04-22f More weaknesses and constraints – index card #weaknesses
- 2015-04-23b Arguing for your weaknesses – index card #weaknesses
- 2015-04-23c When do I like testing my boundaries – index card #boundaries #growth
- Raw book notes
- 2015-04-14b Things I’d like to learn about gardening – index card #gardening
- 2015-04-27b What do I want to learn more about – index card #learning #plans
- 2015-04-28a What can I present at Quantified Self Toronto sometime – index card #quantified #plans
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Time
| Category | Last month (%) | This month (%) | Avg h per week | Delta (h/wk) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discretionary – Play | 3.1 | 6.1 | 10 | 5.0 |
| Business – Connect | 6.2 | 7.1 | 12 | 1.5 |
| Business – Build | 4.5 | 5.1 | 9 | 1.0 |
| Discretionary – Productive | 8.8 | 9.0 | 15 | 0.3 |
| Discretionary – Social | 1.7 | 1.7 | 3 | 0.0 |
| Discretionary – Family | 3.7 | 3.6 | 6 | -0.2 |
| Business – Earn | 5.8 | 5.5 | 9 | -0.5 |
| Sleep | 38.5 | 37.5 | 63 | -1.7 |
| Unpaid work | 9.3 | 8.0 | 13 | -2.2 |
| Personal | 18.4 | 16.4 | 28 | -3.4 |
That’s odd. Given all the fuzziness, I expected that I slept more this month, but it turns out that I slept less. Well, maybe some of that sleep got moved to playing Persona 3 (4.8% of the time, which is almost as much as I spent consulting!), since I was taking it easy. I spent a little more time at Hacklab, too. But yeah, interesting…
I expect May to be a little less sleepy. =) More biking (counted under Personal) and gardening (counted under Discretionary – Productive) too, I hope. And cooking, and sewing…