• Casual

    📓 Summer’s had a slow start for me. By now I’m afraid it willl accelerate exponentially and poof it’s gone. Trying to be mindful about this but can’t just force myself into a leisurely mood. Today is a lovely day though 🌞

    Monday July 8, 2024
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    📓 As is tradition - my second Micro.blog cake day post 🎂 Just a random photo from Monday when we moved to a new home. Bernie’s “TV” was upgraded significantly.

    Friday July 5, 2024
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    📓 Helsinki has nature even close to the heart of the city. As I’m enjoying one such oasis, what is not seen in a photo is noise pollution. You can always hear the monotonous grind of the roads. I wonder if we’ll ever solve this problem in the future.

    Monday June 10, 2024
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    📓Had to make several difficult decisions during the past week. Needed to lean more on my analitical self than my heart. I just have to trust that the time for pursuing one of my dreams had simply not come. It felt very close. Playing the long game.

    Saturday June 8, 2024
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    📓 Didn’t drink coffee ☕️ during the past week… until today 😵‍💫

    Sunday May 19, 2024
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    📓 Gotta love this era of quality TV based on video games. Fallout is just great. 👍 Had my doubts after the first episode but as I finish the season, I look forward to another one.

    Friday April 26, 2024
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    📓 Woo, excited for the new comics book from War and Peas creators: Once Upon a Workday! Eagerly waiting for my copy as of today.

    Wednesday April 3, 2024
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    📓 There’s correlation between my dogs barking in their sleep and them spotting a rabbit on our evening walk. 🐶🐇

    Tuesday March 19, 2024
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    📓💬 A quote often attributed to Niels Bohr or Yogi Berra:

    It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.

    Friday February 23, 2024
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    📓 For a while now, the cringy face thumbnails on Youtube ▶️ have the opposite effect on me to what the authors aim for - views. Even when creators that I like and follow do it. It’s so infantilizing… like a mass game of peekaboo. Ugh. 😑

    Tuesday February 20, 2024
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    📓 I value The Economist as a publication but their subscription cancellation process uses several dark patterns. 🙅🏻‍♂️ For example, they offer you a discount for renewal (could be nice but still) and just now I had to chat with a person to cancel (who tried to offer me discounts).

    Monday February 19, 2024
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    🍿 Bullet Train 🚅 is the right kind of silly I needed today.

    Thursday February 15, 2024
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    📓 When I ask for a shopping list from my partner, invariably there is 1 “impossible” ingredient. It’s either not available in every store, it’s sold out, or it requires next level treasure hunting skills to find the right isle. Either way - one does not simply get everything on the list. 👌

    Sunday February 11, 2024
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    📱 I can’t believe it - I can’t close all my Activity rings because of 1 stand hour, multiple days in row 🤦🏻‍♂️ It will break my weekly streak and most likely it’s due to having the watch off charging here and there 😡

    Saturday February 10, 2024
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    📓 It’s been a week that feels like a month. Reviewing my daily journal helped me recollect a lot, even though I felt it in my bones. One theme I’ve paid special attention to is what recharged me 🔋:

    • Walks, strictly not in a rush
    • Deep work - thinking and “designing”
    • Solid mid-day breaks
    Sunday February 4, 2024
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    📓This is quite an unshaped thought. Integrative garbage - the ugly outcome of combining too many, and often conflicting, ideas with the goal of creating an all-encompassing solution. Connected thinking is great. Generalists are great. Too much of a good thing - integrative garbage.

    Tuesday January 30, 2024
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    📓 Wikipedia: Petrichor

    Petrichor (/ˈpɛtrɪˌkɔːr/) is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil.

    TIL 🤓 I thought the smell of rain is the smell of ozone. It’s a bit more complex because - life.

    Monday January 29, 2024
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    📓📷 Together we are safe (from the vacuum cleaner)!

    Two dogs resting on a cozy couch surrounded by patterned cushions.
    Sunday January 14, 2024
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    📓 After a week of temperatures closer to -20C, walking the dogs at -5C feels like spring is coming. 😅 Snapshot from the wintery city landscape in Helsinki from last weekend. 📷 Alt text courtesy of Bing chat 🤷🏻‍♂️

    A snow-covered city with buildings and construction cranes silhouetted against a blue and orange sunset sky.
    Tuesday January 9, 2024
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    📓 Home-made chai latte, incense stick, headphones on - it’s going to be a particularly zen weekly review. 🧘‍♂️

    Sunday January 7, 2024
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    ,

    Management

    2023: an assorted list of personal takeaways

    📓 Reviewed my weekly takeaways in 2023. Unsurprizingly to me, the themes that emerged are wellbeing, work and career, and productivity. It is also clearly apparent how intertwined they all are. There is enough here to repeat and work on for many years ahead. Here goes.


    🪴 Wellbeing

    • Burnout symptoms - exhaustion, cynicism, ineffectiveness
    • Hobbies and pursuing interests are effective recovery mechanisms
    • Messy flat - messy mind
    • Never too late in the day or week to write a journal entry
    • Take care of yourself so you can take care of others
    • At your limits, it is OK to say no and focus on recovery
    • Poor short-term memory is a symptom of too much stress
    • Ominous meetings and days are often better than anticipated
    • Resilience is showing up every day

    👨‍💻 Work and career

    • Managing enthusiasm is essential to keeping things simple
    • Career growth requires crossing the boundaries of your role description
    • Challenging situations are an opportunity to build skill and improve the status quo
    • No one is going to remember your work achievements in a year
    • Know your “chase the fun” and “a place to call home” activities at work for effective recovery
    • There is no place for guilt in have to take a sick leave
    • Do not exhaust your “complaint budget”, i.e. pick your battles
    • Trust the fundamentals especially when feeling overwhelmed
    • The role of leadership is to maintain the necessary tensions and the constructive interaction stemming from them

    🤹 Productivity

    📚 Misc

    Wednesday December 27, 2023
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    📓 Iterating over my annual retrospective. Work seems to have a too big effect on how I feel about life. There is a lot to love about 2023, but it’s muted by work at each step. I am proud of how I’ve coped and grown. Still, I could appreciate the good things in life more and in full color. 🙇🏻

    Monday December 25, 2023
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    📓 One of the nine hells is perpetual flight travel with connecting flights 🛫 And most importantly - filled with people flying for the first time.

    Saturday December 16, 2023
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    📓 Changed back to standard time today. The oven clock is right again and it’s dark by 17.

    Sunday October 29, 2023
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    📓📷 This is the best sourdough loaf 🍞 I’ve baked so far! All this time I think I’ve been adding too much water. I’ve been underestimating the water content in my starter is my guess.

    Floured sourdough boule on a kitchen cloth.
    Friday September 29, 2023