Week Notes – July 20 to August 10 2025
- 👟 I’ve been enjoying summer, going for runs or walks along the river. If I am careful with my knees, taking breaks when needed and never running more than 7 Km at once, I’m okay.
- 🦵 Talking about knees, the x-rays came out okay, no structural bone related issue. My doctor will do some more investigating like doing a gait analysis.
- 🩱 I started going to an Aqua Fitness class on Saturday mornings. I’m enjoying it, it’s a nice start of the day activity and it’s easy on my joints.
- 🎂 I got older, I turned 46! And I think for the first time I’m really feeling the weight of those years in my bones. There are more aches and pains, I want to slow down more often, I seek quiet moments. But also, perimenopause comes with mood swings and varying energy levels depending on the day.
- 📗 I finished reading “The Bullet Journal Method” book by Ryder Carroll. I love the idea of a single notebook where you can combine planning, journaling and reflection. I was looking for a better way to plan my day and set some goals for the week, which brings me to the next point…
- 📝 … I started a personal Bullet Journal. It doesn’t replace my GTD lists in Nirvana, it works as a daily planner with journaling. I was trying to do this planning in the Happy Planner. I wasn't enjoying the layout and the spaces available, not to mention it is super bulky. I got an A5 disc-bound notebook to start my bullet journal and I like it! I mix planning with journaling. I will write a post about it soon.
- ✅While I was starting with the Bullet Journal, I had the idea of trying to switch from Nirvana to MS To Do because of all the integrations with the Microsoft environment that I use at work daily. I set it up, used it for 2 days and I didn’t like it that much.
- 🔊 I got Bluetooth speakers for my home office. This project has been on my someday-maybe list for a year or more, and I finally decided to make a choice and just get them. I wanted something portable and not crazy expensive. I got two JBL Flip 7 which can be synced to create a stereo sound.
- 🪛 Things that broke and got fixed around my household: laundry washing machine wasn't draining the water, there was something wrong with the water pump. My partner managed to open it up and found that there was something stuck inside the water pump. Problem solved. The garage door spring broke: I called a technician who came super quick and promptly replaced it. Solved. My car didn’t want to start one morning. The battery was completely dead. We had to boost it to take it to the dealership (it’s still under warranty) and the issue was that the cabin light wasn’t going off after we turned off the car, draining the battery. The battery is still healthy, all fixed now.
- 🚀 I got back to the Vorkosigan Saga books and finished “Ethan of Athos” by Lois McMaster Bujold. And then I started the next book “Brothers in Arms”. I skipped this month’s pick for my local Book Club “She Who Became The Sun” by Shelley Parker-Chan. It was too grim for me right now.
- 🧩 I started another puzzle: The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, from the Fine Art Masterpieces collection (Eurographics).
📌 Cool online reads:
- I Spent 90 Days Rebuilding My Brain. Here's What I Learned: I saw this article cited on Analog Office – “Efficiency, as I have discovered, is the enemy of depth.” It really resonated with me. The idea that we’ve been automatically outsourcing our thinking and never enjoying time just being with our own thoughts. Some good ideas on how to get back to the practice of thinking.
- DadReadsRomance : a blog with reviews of romance books with all sorts of details and ratings. Loved it!
- Blogs are still a thing – 82MHz: Yes, blogs still exist, but people are not paying too much attention to them nowadays.
- An analog desk clock: Joel shares some thoughts about analog clocks, and I found it fascinating that he missed the seconds hand on the clock. And how the lack of precision felt liberating to him.
📺 Videos I enjoyed:
Yes, it’s going to be a bunch of videos from Virgin Rock 🤘
- Metallica, … And Justice For All – A Classical Musician’s First Listen, Reaction, and Study
- Metallica, Master Of Puppets – A Classical Musician’s First Listen and Analysis
- The Black Keys, Lonely Boy – A Classical Musician’s First Listen and Analysis
- Cream, White Room – A Classical Musician’s First Listen and Analysis
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Post 98/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!
#100DaysToOffload #100Days #weeknotes
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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.