🌞 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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Post 62/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!
✈️ 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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Post 61/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!
🏢 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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Post 59/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!
💻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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Post 57/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!
💼 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 fromnewsfeeds 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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Post 55/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!
✅ After experimenting with Microsoft To Do this week I switched back to Nirvana. I’ve reached the same conclusions I’ve had before. I like Nirvana. It works well with my system. I've been using it for the longest time. It works for me.
⛸️ I could do a few clockwise cross overs on the circle on my last ice-skating class. I’m making progress, bit by bit!
🎃 We attended a Halloween party this weekend! I loved my purple cape.
🌲 We hiked the Morris Island trails on Sunday. It was a cloudy and windy day, and most of the red and orange leaves were already gone. It’s an easy trail, but it has lots of rocks and roots, so I was glad I had my hiking boots.
❄️ There is no delaying anymore: we turned on the furnace in our house. Temperatures are negative during the night now, so winter is coming!
Currently reading
The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson
Five Minds by Guy Morpuss (My Book Club pick for November)
I want to read next
Children of Memory (Children of Time #3) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Again the Magic (Wallflowers #0.5) by Lisa Kleypas (a series I want to start)
Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment #2) by Rebecca Ross
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Post 53/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!
✅ I’ve switched my task list management to Microsoft To Do and it’s been working well so far. It’s less overhead overall. I’m working on a blog post to describe the setup, which actually is not too different from previous setups I’ve tried before.
⚖️ I got a new digital bathroom scale with BIG numbers! My dietitian is asking me to weight myself regularly at the same time in the morning and keep a record. My old scale is a mechanical one and the numbers are so small, I can’t read them.
💊 I’m taking a lot of probiotics/supplements prescribed by my Naturopath, including one that will tamper down some of the H. Pylori present in my stomach. It seems I don’t have enough of the bacteria to call it an infection, but they might be contributing to my acid reflux (gastritis) symptoms.
⛸️ I went to my first intermediate 2024 Fall Ice Skating class this Saturday. I was happy to know that: 1) I did not forget how to skate, and 2) I can still do my awkward forward cross-over counter-clockwise. So that means I’m just continuing from where I left off earlier this year. I’m enjoying my skates, all is working well.
📺 We got Amazon Prime for 3 months and we started watching “The Rings of Power” Season 2 and “The Legend ofVox Machina” Season 3. We only saw the first episode of each so far.
🧱My partner and I both worked with building heritage restoration for a long time in our careers. This weekend we attended a workshop about the use of traditional mortars, specifically, hot mixed lime pointing mortars used in stone masonry. It was a great excuse to drive to Kingston when the lovely fall colours are in bloom and be around Fort Henry near the river.
📖 I’m relaxing reading this historical romance with such beautiful writing and fun banter. It’s called “How the Marquess Was Won” by Julie Anne Long. It’s my first time reading this author. I saw this book being praised in the Heaving Bosoms podcast and I just want to finish reading it to listen to the episode. It will be fun!
Currently reading
The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson
How the Marquess Was Won (Pennyroyal Green #6) by Julie Anne Long
I want to read next
Five Minds by Guy Morpuss (BookClub pick for November)
Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You by Ali Abdaal
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Post 51/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!
✍️ I’ve been thinking about writing a blog post this week, but it didn’t happen. Not just “week notes,” but a blog post focused on a topic. That got me thinking about my writing process—or if I even have one. I keep a list of blog post ideas in Standard Notes, but I haven’t checked it in a while. Time to change that! Let’s see how it goes next week.
⛵ I took a couple of days off, and they flew by! I spent time reading, walking, resting, and generally relaxing. I wish I had journaled more, though.
🐤 I got back into playing Stardew Valley🙌. I finally got the hang of fishing using the “c” on my keyboard to control the fishing bar. It’s so much better than clicking with the mouse! Thanks to Stardew Valley forums.
🎃 My partner and I are going to a Halloween party at the end of the month! I’ve only been to two Halloween parties in my life (it wasn’t a big thing in Brazil). I got inspired and decided to accessorize a simple black dress to turn it into a sorcerer/mage outfit. I’m also getting a long purple cape with a hood because capes are cool! (This is the perfect excuse to get one) 😎
🥇 I ran my third 10Km race this year! It was the Fall Colours Run. It was cold (5C) but not raining (thank goodness!). This race takes place in a scenic route starting at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum. I managed to keep an average pace of 6:30/km, which is my personal best! I’m pleased with my running progress this year, especially since I wasn’t training for a marathon or anything. I just ran semi-regularly with no crazy goals in mind.
🌃 We caught a glimpse of Northern Lights! It wasn’t dramatically intense, just faint since we were in our neighborhood with lots of light pollution. But I saw something, and I captured a bit of it in a night mode photo.
Currently reading
The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson
How the Marquess Was Won (Pennyroyal Green #6) by Julie Anne Long
Reading On Hold (I haven’t picked up in a couple of weeks)
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
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Post 49/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!
🏝️ September was a blur, and I feel like I did so many things! I started October feeling tired. I will have 2 days off this week before the Thanksgiving weekend! So, I’m going to have an extra-long weekend to recharge a bit.
🧘♀️ I want to focus on my stress management this month. Although I have my routines in place to help me with anxiety, I’m still feeling tense overall.
I still have the occasional pain on my left hip that comes and goes. Very annoying! 😐
🐉 I was invited to join a tabletop Dungeons and Dragons campaign set in Forgotten Realms! I’ve never really played in an in person setting. It will start in a couple of months, and I’m excited!
🌹I wanted to read a romance with some Halloween vibes, but I can’t deal with horror/spooky/vampires stuff right now. So, I chose a book in my TBR that is historical fantasy with magic in Victorian England: Shadowbound (Dark Arts #1) by Bec McMaster.
📖 I’m enjoying The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I finished Part 1 and started Part 2.
📚 I never realize how much I've read in a month until I list out all the books at the end. And it's always a nice surprise, because I don't consider myself a fast reader. Last month was a record of mine with seven books! I’ve been doing a lot of reading instead of doing other stuff, and that adds up quick.
🧩 We saw this store with puzzle on sale and we couldn’t resist getting 4 more puzzles: 2 from the Fine Art Collection by Eurographics with paintings from Vincent Van Gogh, one with the Legends of Zelda “Breath of the Wild” video game cover art and another one with a collage of all Iron Maiden album covers.
Currently reading
Shadowbound (Dark Arts #1) by Bec McMaster
A Thief in the Nude (Rushmore Brothers #1) by Olivia Waite
The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
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Post 48/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!
💪 I got a pair of ankle weights to do my morning planks, bird-dogs, and crunches in the morning. I’ve also added the Donkey Kick to my morning series. The ankle weights I got are adjustable, so I’m starting with 2 lbs on each leg, but they can go up to 5lbs each leg.
📖 I started reading The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I've always been intimidated by the series books lengths (1,000+ pages). But I was itching for some good high fantasy world with an intricate magic system, so I took the plunge. Sanderson definitely delivers both good character and world building without doing boring info dumps. I’m enjoying it!
🩺 I got results back from the endoscopy exam, and it just confirmed I have GERD with mild acid reflux. So, it’s nothing too serious (yet), I must keep on taking my PPI medication daily, watch out for trigger foods and eat smaller more frequent meals. No news for me there, I’ve been adjusting my diet with a registered dietitian.
🌲 I went on a hike this Sunday! The weather was nice (not too hot, not too cold, less bugs) and a perfect sunny day. It was the first time me and my partner hiked the Wolf Trail at Gatineau Park. It’s not a beginner’s trail, because there is lots of elevation, rocks, tree roots and some muddy areas. I would say it’s intermediate to me. We parked at the nearest parking lot (P12, because P13 was already full), then walked 1Km to get to P13 to the head of the trail 62. On the way back we took the trail 38 then 40 to get back to P12 and get to our car. It was a total of 10 Km. We then had lunch at the Heron Lookout with a beautiful view of the valley (we packed some sandwiches).
Wolf Trail – Gatineau Park – September 29, 2024
Currently reading
The Highwayman by Kerrigan Byrne
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
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Post 46/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!
Wolf Trail – Gatineau Park – September 29, 2024