Weeknote 1 - 14 to 20 Sept 2024

I've been doing some more thinking on habits, technology use, and my own priorities. Of course, I've always been the kind of person whose interests vary day to day or week to week. I get excited about new ideas, rediscover old ones, go down rabbit trails -- all things that (I think) are somehow hallmarks to my own personality.

What I find is that I still lack a coherent way of remembering things. I'll take up the journal every once in a while when the mood strikes me, or write a blog post, or snap and post a picture to Flickr. But I don't have a consistent practice that would allow me to look back and find patterns of thought or sentiment. I'd like that, but I think the barrier of entry needs to be pretty low for it to be a normal occurrence. As much as I'd LOVE to be a daily blogger, that's just not going to happen right now.

A weekly update/note though -- that seems relatively doable? Manuel's guest on P&B this week was Giles Turnbull. In doing a little rabbit-trailing (what the internet was made for imho), I found this article on Giles's website: Doing Weeknotes. A bit of a long article, but overall I thought it was actually a really good idea -- both for teams/organizations and even for individuals doing what I talked about above -- remembering.

So I thought, what the hell? Maybe I should give this a go. Once a week for a little bit doesn't seem to be a huge ask of myself (I also sent to Landon, my team lead at Green Line to see if it was a good enough idea to implement at work). It could not only help me just on a personal level but also maybe help me make connections at work or at home that I otherwise wouldn't make.

The question is, should there be a format to my own weeknotes? In looking at others, there seems to be a variety. Some are sort of "freehand." Others have a weekday cadence (e.g., headers for each day and what happened in each one); still others answer a standard set of questions ("What brought me joy?", "Where am I stuck?", etc.).

To make it simple on myself, I think it'd be helpful to have more structure for now. As time moves on, of course, perhaps that will open up the possibility of deviation from the structure. But for now, I think three questions/headers will do:

  1. What have I been doing?
  2. What do I need to take care of?
  3. What caught my interest?

So... well, let's get to it I suppose. One final note -- I'm going to not try to think about this too hard. Just answer the questions. If I miss something, forget about something, etc... I can always come back later and add a new post or add it into next week's note. Or it will just fall out of memory and won't matter anyway -- haha!

What have I been doing?

Last Saturday the cross country team had a meet in Ennis. It was hot and flat. Mixed performance on the team due to both the weather and also a mistake by the race officials during the HS girls varsity race.

Elaine had been down with the flu since two days prior, and I began to cough on Saturday. By Sunday morning, I had a fever and was in for a rough ride. By that evening, both L and P also began to run fever. Thus began about 4-5 days of illness for the rest of the family, and some bad days and nights. Monday and Tuesday were basically blurs. My fever and aches were so bad that I couldn't do much except lay in bed and stare at the wall. By Wendesday I could be up and about somewhat, but there was lot of television watching happening by that point as well (started The Sopranos, finished season 1 by Thursday).

I started Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, and am about 80% of the way through as of today. I am enjoying it.

Yesterday after work I needed a break from home (A tough day with P as she was still probably feeling unwell but needing to catch up on homework. She was overwhelmed and that often leads to emotional explosions.). I ate some Mod, then went to the library for a bit. I browsed and picked up a few CDs to add to the collection at home, and also the old Anne of Green Gables mini series on DVD.

This week at work consisted mostly of catching up on tickets that got left while I was sick. Not too big of a deal, mostly GTM work, and some cleanup/troubleshooting of data. Also got some good news that my salary increase was approved! While this was supposed to go through in June, it wasn't possible for a few months due to a hiring and raise freeze. That seems to have been lifted, and my next paycheck will reflect that. So very good news for us.

What do I need to take care of?

Goodness gracious it seems like there are a lot of things on my mind in terms of what I'd like to get done. Trying to not overwhelm myself here, but, here's just a list of things I think need to get done:

There are also so many longer term projects at the house that I know we want to do. Things like adding lighting/electrical to the gazebo, buying a new dining table and chairs, buying other decorative furniture (like a sidetable for the entryway), decorating the walls so they aren't so bare. As I come back to this list, maybe it will help me to talk with Elaine about actual plans for this so it's not just something that swirls around my head and causes anxiety about the fact that there are so many things I'm/we're not doing.

What caught my interest?

I think this was actually last week, but just posting it here because it's awesome: "Watch the Party Die" by Kendrick.

I've been thinking a lot about how I can be more knowledgeable and researched in the area of both running science and first aid + injury prevention (specific to running). Books that I have or want to read on this subject:

Also thinking more about digital minimalism and being more intentional about digital ownership. Two links that caught my eye this week on this subject:

This has been going for a little while, but I have a somewhat latent interest in sketching (well..... learning to sketch). A while back I borrowed, and then eventually bought, The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. Shaky neuroscience aside, so many sources seem to point to this book as a great starting point for learning how to see (which is the primary ability gained from sketching, I hear). Other sources I see mentioned a lot are Draw a Box and these old Andrew Loomis books.

...

Whew! That was a lot more than I thought it would be. I probably should have a set a timer so I didn't spend too much time here.

Oh well, here's to next week!

Tagged: weeknotes,

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