I wrote Are you looking in the right places? about a month ago. The phone that inspired that essay has been missing ever since, but today my daughter pulled it out from under the fridge. I guess sometimes to find what we’re looking for, we need to stop looking so much. 🤷♂️
I came across this old roommate agreement from college 😂🤣
We definitely considered mutual back massages, I can’t remember if it ever happened though… 🤔💭
Is it normal for a toddler to want spicy pickled garlic for breakfast? 😅
I scribbled in the margins this morning that the passage below made me think of the amplifying effect of social media. But then I was struck by the idea that I might still have this Bible in 50 years. If I come across my marginalia 5 decades from now, will social media seem like a distant memory? I think so. But what will have risen in its place? It got me thinking a lot about what stands the test of time, and what doesn’t. It’s crazy to me that I can’t imagine social media, at least as it is now, being around for 50 more years, but these words are from 2,000 years ago.
Ephesians 4:17-19 NIV
[17] So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. [18] They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. [19] Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
You have plenty of time, the problem is emotional overwhelm
I really enjoyed this conversation between Brett Kistler and Joe Hudson. They discuss that what we call “time scarcity” is really emotional overwhelm.
The key to overcoming that overwhelm and feeling like you have more time? Being present.
This message really resonated with me. It’s easy to whip out my phone when I’m feeling overwhelmed, which creates a vicious cycle. But the times when I lock myself in, be present, and experience my emotions are when I feel the most fulfilled and time abundant.
The joy of indexing
Indexing is one of my favorite parts of journaling. It’s joyfully tedious. There’s no way to do it quickly, and the slower the better in my opinion. I love going through each page one by one, and copying the gist into the index at the front of the journal. The end result of having a fully indexed journal is satisfying, but even better is the process and getting lost reminiscing in long forgotten memories.
This redesign was long overdue
I have to admit, when I first launched Fed Meetup, I wasn’t very proud of the UX . I pieced it together quickly to meet a need at NASA, and didn’t make the time to go back and clean it up.
But that bad user experience has been a thorn in my side ever since I launched the tool. That’s why I redesigned it from the ground up.
The result is a clean, intuitive, and much more beautiful interface.
I spent this morning writing an outline for a blog post with the draft title: “I spent eight years crafting the ultimate pocket journal setup”. I’ve been wanting to do this post for years, but it feels like it’s going to be a huge undertaking. I care about this a lot, so I really want to do it right and share all the details with more pictures than anyone probably cares to see. I can’t promise it will come soon, but I’m excited to start working on it.
Are you looking in the right places?
This morning I was assembling a Minnie Mouse puzzle with my daughter and all was going well, until we got to the end and realized we were missing Minnie’s phone. “Let’s find phone!” my two year old shouted. And off she went, scouring the house for a little purple phone.
I laughed when I saw the first place she looked.
She walked over beside our couch, lifted up an air vent cover, and peeked inside.
Testing out a new newsletter template. It’s crazy how quickly I can make these changes with Claude’s help.