Today is the spring equinox. This year feels different for me. Maybe it’s the hope of having some breathing room in the public health world. Maybe it’s the return of sunny, warm days. I feel great today. Grateful for that.
Today is the spring equinox. This year feels different for me. Maybe it’s the hope of having some breathing room in the public health world. Maybe it’s the return of sunny, warm days. I feel great today. Grateful for that.
I’ve had some interesting realizations in the last few months:
First, I will never be able to get everything done. Logically I’ve always known this is true, but in my heart of hearts I somehow thought I could find a way. Nope, there is no way. Recognizing and accepting this has made life so much better. I delegate at work now. I say no to things that I won’t be able to do. My to do list never has more than two items at a time. It’s amazing how much stress this has lifted from my shoulders.
Second, the people involved in the great experiences of my life have been what made them great. We took a cruise in early December as our family’s Christmas celebration. Was it fun to be on a boat or on a beach in Mexico? Yes. I’d never done either of those things before. But the happy memories I think back on most often involve the fun cabin attendant who made towel animals for us while we were at dinner and the head waiter who pushed my kids to try escargot. Even on the beach, the stewards who joked with me about how bad my Spanish is made the day so much fun than a day at the beach would have been otherwise.
Third, reading books makes me happy. It always has. My brother and I were constantly told to “go outside and play and stop reading” when we were little. Getting back to reading as my primary hobby has made me so happy. My family is in quarantine now (thanks omicron!) and I’ve spent so much time reading. Almost a book a day. I know how I would feel if I spent that time streaming; I tried that in March and April and May 2020. Wasn’t a great feeling. I spent it this time reading a series of historical fiction novels about Ghenghis Khan. So much fun.
Simple ideas, but ideas that I’m happy I have rediscovered.
Fun moment of the day: on the MinGuo calendar (中華民國曆, used in Taiwan) today is year 111, month 1, day 11, or 111-1-11. Sounds auspicious to me. Good day for a birthday.
Getting Grounded This sounds like crazy talk, but it absolutely has been working for me.
Shoutout to @pimoore for the great Tufte theme! Took a bit to get it configured but very worth it. (And I learned how to edit the config.json file!)
What a lovely theme. Such great typography and options. Well done sir!
Been a while since I’ve posted. I hope that everyone is doing well and had a nice holiday season.
Currently reading: Productivity Is For Robots by Corey McComb 📚
Fun book that I started while on a business trip. I love the concept of first clearing out the static in our life, then adding in creativity.
On today’s episode of Daily Jazz: On Green Dolphin Street, one of my all time favorite jazz tunes. Open up Spotify and enjoy! open.spotify.com/episode/3…
A new episode of Daily Jazz: Autumn in New York
I’ve been doing some podcasting at work and decided it was time to make my own podcast. The first episode is out! It’s called Daily Jazz and is exclusively on Spotify. Each day I examine a jazz song, share the history, and play a few different versions from different artists. Since this podcast is produced in partnership with Spotify, anyone with a Spotify subscription can hear the full tracks in each episode. (Everyone else gets samples of them.)
Jazz is a huge part of my life and I’ve wanted to do a project like this for a long time. I hope my love for this great music will help you to love it too!