Noisy Deadlines

100DaysToOffload

  1. The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson, 1124p: This book starts a little slow with lots of world building being the first book of a series. Kaladin and Shallan are my favorite characters, their story builds and builds, and I really connected with them. The chapters with Adolin's point of view were my least favorites overall, but his arc ends up being interesting in the end. All the character building is excellent, and it was satisfying to see how some character’s arc merged along the story. Now I know exactly what “Sanderlanche” is, and I enjoyed it! I'm excited to continue the series.

  2. Shards of Honour (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #1) by Lois McMaster Bujold, 253p: I liked it. This was the second time reading this book because I want to get into this series. It is a rich universe with politics, history and conflict. The main character, Cordelia Naismith, is the captain of a survey ship from the peaceful Beta Colony. And there is Lord Aral Vorkosigan who is the leader of a secret military mission from the planet Barrayar. It starts with an attack to Cordelia's base camp that leads here into the hands of Vorkosigan, as a prisoner. There is a subtle tension between the two characters as they must team together to stay alive. The plot brings discussions about honor, xenophobia, war crimes and cultural differences. There is moderate action, lots of politics and some romance. I will read “Barrayar” next.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  • 🌞 I am still in Brazil at my mom's place in my hometown. It's hot (20°C to 32°C everyday) with occasional rain. It's definitely dryer and it took me a day or so to get used to the heat. The main difference here is that everyplace seems smaller, the streets are narrower, the cars are smaller, there is more people, it feels noisier. I spend most of my time hanging out with my mom, helping her with errands, fixing little things around the house, reading, walking, relaxing.
  • I helped my mom create some Spotify playlists in her account.
  • I helped my mom organize some books, get rid of some old electronics and free up some space in the apartment.
  • I helped my mom solve an issue she was having with the Android Auto in her car. It was an easy fix, but she was struggling with the issue for weeks.
  • 💪 I temporarily enrolled at my mom's gym to get some weight training done. It was the first time that I went to the gym with my mom, so that was fun!
  • My sister arrived last week so I'm catching up with her as well.
  • Me and my partner met a bunch of old friends: from childhood, from elementary school, from high school, from university. It was nice to catch up!
  • I also met my brother-in-law and her wife for a nice coffee with chocolate afternoon. It was a wonderful chat; I needed this time to be with them to catch up. They live in a different city, so they were in town for a couple of days.
  • 🥳 We went to my mother-in-law 80th birthday! It was a small gathering with the typical Brazilian “churrasco” (grilled meat in a barbecue).
  • We had the typical “meat/chicken sfiha” (which is a triangular shaped pastry here, traditionally brought to Brazil by middle eastern immigrants). I am not sure this is the original recipe or if this is a Brazilian adaptation, but it's quite common here.
  • 📖 I finished reading “The Way of Kings” and “Shards of Honor”! I didn't read as much this month, and that's okay. I thought I would read more during the flight to Brazil, but I was super tired.
  • 👟 Me and my partner went for walks around Igapó lake which is the nicest place in my hometown. We had fresh coconut water from a real coconut (something that I never saw in Ottawa).

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  • ✈️ I'm getting ready for the trip to Brazil! I've got my travel checklist ready and started packing. I always travel with a carry-on and a backpack, and I just need to add some toiletries and I'm ready to go!

  • 📖 Because of the upcoming trip I've not been doing too much reading lately. It's been hard to sit down to read for more than 15 minutes. So, I'm still reading the same books as the week before.

  • ☕ I'm actually looking forward to all the downtime at the airports to do some reading.

  • ✅ I had a small crisis again this week about to-do list apps, and I was tempted to change tools again. In 24 hours, I realized that what I have (Nirvana HQ) still works well for me and that any other additional feature offered by other apps is not enough to beat Nirvana's functionality for me.

  • 📔 I got a paper planner for 2025! I want to have it as a goal/intention setting tool, with focus on wellness. I want to use it to make monthly, weekly, and daily plans. So, it's more strategic, rather than tactical. I will keep my digital calendar and to-do list as my tactic’s tools if that makes sense.

Currently reading

  • The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson
  • Gentle Rogue (Malory-Anderson Families #1) by Johanna Lindsey

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

One of the things I struggle with is planning short term, especially daily and weekly. During the past 2 years I've used Cal Newport's Time-Block Planner and this daily planner. I've tried time blocking in Outlook (digitally) but I didn't stick to it. I've also tried weekly planning and time blocking with Rocketbooks, which didn't last long because I started to dread the process of wiping off the pages every week.

All those experiences with paper planners brought me to the realization that I still enjoy planning on paper.

I was talking to a colleague the other day about planners, and she introduced me to the world of Happy Planners. Initially I just liked the format and the way it's setup with dividers and the disc bound system. It's very versatile and customizable. It's also not overpriced.

So, I got myself a Happy Planner for 2025!

I'm still thinking the details of how I want to integrate it with my digital GTD system, but the main ideas are:

Digital tools:

  • Calendar and to-do list management remain digital (Outlook and Nirvana)

Paper Planner:

  • Track my daily to-do's => to choose 3 tasks to focus on the day
  • Plan and track my monthly goals
  • Plan and track my weekly goals
  • Track wellness and health => exercise, meditation, gratitude journal

I'm thinking of the Happy Planner as my catch-all high-level view of my plans that will work alongside my calendar and to-do lists.

I want it to be a planning tool to give me an overview of what's coming.

My Happy Planner – Me And My Big Ideas 2025 (Classic size)

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  • 🏢 The office at work will undergo some needed renovations. There will be a temporary arrangement of some people working (partially) from home, some people grouped together in offices and some people on temporary cubicles. I currently have an office all to myself and I will be moved to a tiny cubicle while the renovations are ongoing. My department is not keen on working from home at all, so we will be 6 estimators working together in small cubicles for a while. The move will happen this week, and I'm not looking forward to it.

  • ☑️ I deleted all previous GTD setups that I had on Todoist and Microsoft To Do. I didn't want to be tempted to keep going back and forth between to-do apps. If I decide to change, it will be a whole lot harder because I will have to start from scratch.

  • ❄️ Cold has arrived around here! It seems we will get negative temperatures all day all week long now. We had a bit of snow yesterday.

  • 💪 I went to gym 4 times this week!

  • ⛸️ I've advanced in ice skating a bit. I can now do the clockwise forward crossovers! I mean, it takes some concentration and it's still a bit awkward but I'm doing it!

  • 💼 This week I will start getting ready for the trip to Brazil in a week or so. I plan to bring only my carry-on and a backpack, like I did last time. Some folks want me to bring maple syrup to them, I'm not sure how I'm gonna do that yet.

  • 🎮 I bought two RPG games that were on sale on Steam this weekend: “Pillars of Eternity – Definitive Edition” and “Pathfinder: Kingmaker”. They were on my wishlist for a while. I started Pillars of Eternity and created a character.

  • 📗I DNF’d a romance book that had lots of buzz: “Butcher & Blackbird” by Brynne Weaver. I knew it was about serial killers, but there is so much gore and vivid descriptions of torture that I couldn't get past Chapter 3.

Currently reading

  • The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson
  • Gentle Rogue (Malory-Anderson Families #1) by Johanna Lindsey

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

I was surprised to see that I finished less books this month than my average. But at the same time, I’ve been reading “The Way of Kings” by Brandon Sanderson, which is like 3-books-in-one length wise, so that explains some of it. I’ve also been spending some time with Dungeons and Dragons lore and articles online. Anyway, it was an interesting month and the last book, “Children of Memory” blew my mind!

  1. Five Minds by Guy Morpuss, 316p: It's a bizarre and surreal concept: five minds sharing one body. Because of Earth's overpopulation, everybody at 17 years old have to choose between 5 options: play hard and die at 42, work all your life and drop down dead at some point, have your mind transported to an android body and die at 80, or become part of a commune, 5 minds sharing one body, each mind being awake for 4 hours a day. I don't think we get a good explanation of how the world got to that point with these options being applied to everybody. In order to gain more years to live, the characters go to a Death Park, where they can play virtual reality games with other participants. So, the premise is intriguing, and there is a murder mystery that happens inside the Death Park. I thought the plot was interesting up until 40% of the book, but I missed more depth to the characters. The resolution of the murder mystery was underwhelming. The author is very obvious pointing us to a suspect along the way, while leaving the real killer somewhat hidden. We don't really get any clues of the killer's character and intentions while the plot develops, so it was a weak final plot twist. I didn't like the ending as well.

  2. Again the Magic (Wallflowers #0.5) by Lisa Kleypas, 416p: A forbidden love and second chance romance with class differences struggles. Lady Aline Marsden and John McKenna, an orphan stableboy, grew up together. They eventually fall in love and start a secret and forbidden relationship. When they are discovered, McKenna is forced to leave forever. But he comes back twelve years later, as a powerful businessman who wants revenge. This book was very emotional and angsty to me. There is a lot of anger and frustration in the face of situations the characters can’t change. I loved the motherly housekeeper character, who cared about them equally, it was very sweet. There is also Aline's secret: the result of a fire accident and she needs to get over some shame and low self-esteem. It's beautifully written, both characters have suffered and carry this sadness inside of them, but they find joy together in the end. And as a bonus, there is secondary romance revolving around Lady Olivia Marsden, Aline’s younger sister, and Gideon Shaw, McKenna’s American business partner.

  3. Children of Memory (Children of Time #3) by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 576p: This book starts like the previous ones: a ship travelling the universe investigating what became of planets that were meant to be terraformed and settled by humans. At the start of the book, the focus is more on the failing human colony at Imir, describing their day-to-day struggles through the lens of a little girl, Liff, who was born in that colony. But we also jump to another planet, Rourke, where another group of human colonizers are trying to settle in and where we see the origins of uplifted intelligent corvids. The exploration ship is composed of characters of the previous books: the AI Kern, Portia, Paul, Fabian and the newcomer Miranda (from Nod). It’s hard to talk more about this book without spoilers, but the whole point of the story is discussing the question: “What is sentience?”. And it is a delicious discussion when we get to Part 12. I was a bit disappointed with the big reveal at around 80% but then it pays off beautifully in the last chapters. This is why I read sci-fi: to experience these mind-bending thoughts one in a while. Also, the corvids Gethli and Gothli are awesome, I want to be friends with them! This is my favorite of this series.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  • 💻My work laptop was super slow and crashing a lot, especially after the company installed a zero-trust service called Zscaler on all computers. After complaining with IT, they said I was due for a laptop update anyway, because my current one was 3 years old. They issued me a new laptop, a Thinkpad with 32Gb RAM, intel i7 vPro processor latest generation with Windows 11. All I can say is that I’m not impressed. I mean, it’s not crashing anymore, but I expected it would be a faster machine looking at the specs. There is so much bloat, and everything is scanned five times in the name of cybersecurity. Very annoying.
  • 🚗 Ours cars were all changed to winter tires, but we didn’t have any snow yet around here. It seems like the true Canadian cold is coming later this year.
  • 🥂 Me and my partner attended the company’s Holiday Party this Friday. It’s the first year we had positive temperatures, it was +8C that night. It was weird not having to wear a full winter coat on top of my dress to get to the event.
  • 📺 I watched this series on Nebula by Polyphonic “Hit Record: An Incomplete History of the Music Video” (it’s also available for free on YouTube). It a wonderful series of video essays, exploring the first attempts at making music videos, the rise and fall of MTV, VEVO, YouTube music and how we got to TikTok.
  • ☑️ I had some back and forth with to-do list apps, but Nirvana is still my trusted system. I just can’t use any other app for more than a week. The issues I’m having has more to do with my habits and frequency of reviews, rather than the tool itself. Time to polish up my routines.
  • 📚 We did a “Book Choose” meetup for our Book Club to choose the books we will read in 2025. We want to re-read the classic Neuromancer by William Gibson, get into the Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold (maybe we will read all the books in the series as an alt-read throughout the year), The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett, among others. I’m excited!
  • 📥 I got a new in-tray for my work office with more tiers to store my notes and reference materials. That freed up some space on my desk space.
  • 🪑 I also got a cushion my work office chair because I’ve been having some low back pain while seated. I wanted to be a bit higher while seated and my current office chair doesn’t go any higher.

Currently reading

  • Children of Memory (Children of Time #3) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  • The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson
  • Butcher & Blackbird (Ruinous Love #1) by Brynne Weaver

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

🐉 I was recently invited to join an in-person Dungeons & Dragons campaign—using real paper character sheets and dice! We've just had our Session Zero and started creating our characters, and I am absolutely thrilled.

What’s funny is that even as an adult, this is my first time playing D&D in person, rolling actual dice. While I’m familiar with some of the D&D lore—I’ve read books and understand the basics like creating characters, the six core abilities (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma), proficiency points, modifiers, armor classes, skill checks, and saving throws—I’ve never had the opportunity to experience the game “old school” with pen, paper, and dice.

When I was a teenager, I thought D&D was the coolest thing ever. I desperately wanted to play, but I grew up with a very sheltered upbringing. My parents wouldn’t allow me to go to friends’ houses, let alone join a group to play. Sleepovers? Never.

And back in the '90s, especially in Brazil, D&D groups were pretty much a boys’ club. That made it even harder for me to join any in-person games. My parents definitely wouldn’t have approved of me playing with a group of boys.

But thankfully, there was the Internet! I discovered MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons), text-based online games powered by imagination and simple commands. Many of them were inspired by D&D and were the precursors to today’s MMORPGs.

That’s how I started playing a MUD called Realms of Despair (which is still active to this day!!). I played for years and loved it! I made online friends, and we joined forces to go on quests and adventures. The community back then was incredibly supportive and respectful. It was entirely anonymous, which made me feel safe, and I had so much fun developing my characters. It was also one of the ways I kept practicing English in Brazil (reading and writing a lot!).

Later, I dove into D&D-inspired video game series like:

  • Neverwinter Nights
  • Baldur’s Gate
  • Temple of Elemental Evil
  • Dragon Age

I’ve replayed these games countless times, creating new characters with different classes and species each time.

Interestingly, my partner—the love of my life—is also a D&D fan! We met at university, and he was the first person I could openly nerd out about D&D with. We exchanged gamebooks like The Shamutanti Hills by Steve Jackson, which are single-player role-playing adventures where you make choices that affect the story’s outcome. They’re super fun!

Ironically, though, I’ve never played D&D with my partner. He had his own group of childhood friends, and their sessions were always full. Then, adult life made it even harder to find time or a group to play with. So, I stuck to my video games, D&D novels, and sharing my love for the game with him.

And now, after all these years, I’m finally playing D&D for real!

Our group has seven members: me, my partner, three friends from work (one of whom is the Dungeon Master), and two new friends who know the DM.

That’s it—just a little tale about my long journey with Dungeons & Dragons. 😊

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

  • 💼 The past 2 weeks have been super busy at work for me. During the process of closing a big job, I’ve had 2 presentations to deliver! It’s not something I usually do, but coincidentally, I was invited to present about estimating to the company’s project managers the first week of November and then to present about estimating to a group of kids that were participating in the “Kids to Work” event last week. It all went well; I was actually impressed at how well I managed my stress and anxiety!
  • 📰 I’ve been taking a break from newsfeeds and even RSS feeds. I don’t feel like going through a feed and read about random topics right now. I’ve been focusing on reading my books and something else, which I’ll talk about in the next bullet point.
  • 🐲 Dungeons and Dragons! We finally had our Session Zero this weekend! I was super excited! So, before this session, I got a physical copy of the new Players Handbook version 2024 and I read through it and made a bunch of notes. I’m creating a tough Dwarf Paladin, to be our group tanker, with Lawful Neutral alignment. I’m still deciding on a name and background. The group has a total of 6 players, and we will be somewhere in the mysterious High Forest of Faerûn. I’m thrilled!
  • ✅ I’ve been thinking about my to-do list again. I don’t know, I am trying to understand what is bothering me about Nirvana. It’s still a work in progress, but there’s something there I need to figure out.
  • 🎧 The power button of my 5-year-old Bose Soundsport earphones broke! I’ve been using this earphone daily, and I really like it, but the button fell out and broke just from pressing/regular usage. I read online that the rubber gets old, and it has happened with many people before. I can still power it on with a pencil or something that reaches inside for the button. But because I use it daily mainly for my yoga practice, I ordered a new SPORT True Wireless Sennheiser that was on sale. I still prefer the sound of the Bose, tho.
  • 📺 I finished watching Season 3 of “The Legend of Vox Machina”!! It was so good, so heartbreaking and lots of high stakes. I loved it!
  • 🌲 The weather is colder now and perfect for hiking the trails around our home (now that the bugs are gone)!

Currently reading

  • The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson
  • Again the Magic (Wallflowers #0.5) by Lisa Kleypas

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.

I finished a bunch of romance books this month! All of them by authors I’ve never read before, so it was an exploration month. I finished it off with some light productivity read.

  1. The Highwayman (Victorian Rebels #1) by Kerrigan Byrne, 368p: It's hard to talk about this book without spoilers. It involves orphans, friendship, life hardships, trauma and love. It starts with a story of a girl and a boy building up a deep connection. Then we meet Farah, a widow who works for Scotland Yard (the only woman in the office) and Dorian, a powerful criminal who is never caught but has a good heart. There is a lot going on in this book, and I really enjoyed it! It's mysterious and emotional. Sometimes dark but sweet. The characters are strong and survived lots of challenges. Dorian is a traumatized adult, and we see him struggle with his traumas. The romance is slow burn, and I was totally invested in it. Both main characters have secrets, and it's all revealed in the most interesting way. I want to read more into this series.

  2. A Thief in the Nude (Rushmore Brothers #1) by Olivia Waite, 126p: This was a short read with an interesting premise. Miss Hecuba Jones is trying to recover lost paintings (painted by her mother) by breaking into an earl's house. In the midst of her burglary, she meets John Rushmore (the earl's brother) who is a disillusioned artist (painter). Of course, they start an affair with conditions related to said lost paintings, and nudes. Mysteries are uncovered. I learned that Hecuba blue is a colour, and there are lovely dialogues about art and painting in this book.

  3. Shadowbound (Dark Arts #1) by Bec McMaster, 427p: This book reminded of the Dresden Files but with more romance (and steam) and a female protagonist. It definitely scratched my itch for a sorcerer themed book for Halloween. Ianthe and Rathbourne are both powerful magic users, they've met in the past and they have secrets and hidden lives. In the best enemies-to-lovers trope, they must unite to fight against the demons and uncontrollable power threatening to destroy London. It's a good series starter and I was intrigued to see what happens in the next books.

  4. How the Marquess Was Won (Pennyroyal Green #6) by Julie Anne Long, 384p: Such beautiful writing and fun banter. Phoebe is a teacher, and she has a peculiar cat. She is a very independent woman with the dream to leave England and go to Africa on a mission. The Marquess Dryden is the most popular guy in the ton, dark and charming, and he sets fashion and trends. He's all the talk on the tabloids. I loved that the writing jumps between the two points of view seamlessly. There is a whole chapter building up to describe a single kiss that is so lovely! There are class differences conflicts and a slow burn romance. 

  5. Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You by Ali Abdaal, 295p: This was an enjoyable read. It presents a more positive and healthy approach to productivity which I appreciated. Some scientific research results are presented in a light way, not going too deep, but delivering the concepts behind the strategies suggested by the author. I liked his ideas on how to add more fun elements to our work and mundane activities.

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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.