I’m on the couch, coffee in hand, excited to try a new format.

I actually have no idea what the true format will be, but I know that I am going to write weekly. The plan is to have a consistent format for these weeknotes, but I’m more concerned with actually doing the thing, so I’m starting without the format. Jump first, find a parachute later, right?

Bear with me while I sort things out for the first 5, 10, or 50 of these.

The holiday marathon has come to an end, and it feels like I’m settling in for winter now that snow has fallen and stayed for more than 24 hours.

Basement

Being stuck inside, my attention has turned toward my house and projects that need to be done. The biggest of these is finishing the basement. My wife and I have been getting quotes, with the last of these being last week. We also took a trip to the three major big box stores near us, and must have taken at least $100 worth of samples.

I have completely lost my kitchen island to paint and flooring samples. It looks like a detective is trying to solve a murder, and the primary suspects are green-ish paint, blue-ish paint, and vinyl plank.

1Zpresso

I bought a really nice manual coffee grinder this week, the 1Zpresso J. I thought about it for 7 days and 7 nights, and then decided to go for it.

It feels outrageously-priced for something where I still need to grind my own coffee, but I convinced myself it was worth it after reading endless forum discussions on coffee grinders. Supposedly the machining is incredibly precise and there were people who had been using theirs for 10+ years.

I’m excited to feel more connected with my coffee. I’m looking forward to the morning ritual of grinding my own beans fresh, and then making a pour over in my Chemex. I’m also dreaming of sharing this experience with people who haven’t had high quality coffee before. Coffee can be such a wonderfully communal experience.

Anyways, that’s probably just all the feel-good stuff I told myself to justify the purchase. It worked.

Work

I went into the office on Thursday and it was pretty quiet. I talked with our IT guy and got to meet the new designer who just joined on the contract.

I had a lot of time off and most people are out of the office, but our team is also all hands on deck for a major release to the NASA Mishap Information System on Jan 12. So it’s been one of those quiet-but-busy type of weeks.

Health

I’ve been back on intermittent fasting, which has been going well so far. I’m trying to only eat between 12-8, but shorter is better. I’ve always found that to be the easiest eating pattern for me to follow. I started before the Holiday stretch, which was a bad idea, but things have leveled out now.

I’ve also started working out this week (classic New Year). My wife and I have been following along to work out videos on YouTube from our living room each evening, and then stretching afterward. We found a guy that makes videos of Tabata workouts from scenic locations and doesn’t do any talking. That was perfect for us.

In addition to our evening workouts we do together, I’ve been working out in the mornings. We got this treadmill/stair stepper way on sale on Facebook Marketplace recently, so some mornings I use that, or I’ve been using the resistance bands I got for Christmas.

I’m not sure that I would have ever bought resistance bands for myself, but I’m really excited for them now that I have them. They’re easy to use, and I can do all sorts of different things with them. I’m keeping them in my office near my standing desk so that I can get some exercise while I’m in meetings for work.

Devotional

My wife got me the Grace for the Moment devotional for Christmas, and I have used it every day since. Each page is super short, but leaves some space for writing in your own thoughts/reactions. I like being able to slow down with something really short and process through how I feel about it.

This is the first thing I do in the morning (well… after I get my coffee) and it has felt right to prioritize the first part of my morning to look up to God.

Analog

I can feel myself moving into an analog renaissance (again). What I mean by that is I’m using a lot less digital tools and a lot more physical tools in my day to day.

I have been using my bullet journal to capture daily to-dos and track things on a monthly cadence, including my intermittent fasting. I also started printing off articles on pieces of paper to carry with me so I don’t pull out my phone as much. And I’m moving toward taking my sermon notes in a journal instead of digitally, although it has been super cool to see all of my sermon notes and share them from my digital garden. I’m having fun taking notes more visually, drawing ideas/concepts that really resonate with me.

Weeknotes Vol. 1 Postmortem

It felt nice to reflect on my week, but this is definitely not the final format.

I want to keep these weeknotes shorter and punchier. I’ll be more likely to keep up with it that way. I like how Tim Ferris does his 5 Bullet Friday, so it may end up similar to that.

But I did it. I’ll take my win, and I’ll see you next week.