Weeknote for 8/6/2023

Posted on August 6, 2023 by Andy

Art

🙂

I did the first few exercises in Presto Sketching. The first two were for confidence building (shown last in the Instagram post), and the rest were basically warm-up. This week I’m trying out 3D modeling, but I’ll try to keep doing sketchnote exercises here and there.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Andy Culbertson (@thinkulum)

Writing

😎

I carried on with creative writing by listening to the fantastic How to Tell a Story by storytelling organization The Moth. The audiobook is read by the authors and includes clips of storytellers from their events. It did inspire me a little to think about what stories I could tell from my life. Talk Like TED came next and complemented the Moth book by covering one context for storytelling.

Productivity

🙂

I set up an Anki flashcard deck for Gregg Shorthand, starting with an imported one someone shared. So far the studying has been easy, and I think it’ll be a better approach than laboriously creating sentence writing exercises for each new set of words.

TV

🙂

I revisited my childhood with the Lindsay Wagner Bionic Woman. I’m taking advantage of the final couple of months of the Netflix DVD service. So far I can say the acting is a bit awkward but has its moments, the writing is pretty good, and they make an effective use of music. It gives the bionic powers an almost mystical feel. But I’m still in Jaime’s origin story on The Six Million Dollar Man, so I don’t know what will be different about her own show.

Posted in Art, Gregg Shorthand, TV, Weeknotes, Writing | 2 Comments

Weeknote for 7/30/2023

Posted on July 31, 2023 by Andy

Writing

😎

To wrap up this iteration on creative writing, I listened to Matt Bird’s excellent Secrets of Story and turned my attention to short stories. Those are the kind I expect to write, so I found a book on writing flash fiction (Fred White’s Writing Flash) and researched short story collections to study.

Art

🙂

The next two weeks I’m switching gears to visual art with sketchnoting and 3D modeling. This week I’ll do some exercises from Ben Crothers’ books Presto Sketching and Draw in 4. Next week I’ll dip my toe into Blender.

Work

:raised eyebrow:

I’ve learned that my next two months at work are extra crammed full of work. I feel that at this point in my productivity development I can handle it, so this discovery didn’t generate the dread it might have before. I’ll try not to let my workload interfere with my personal projects.

Video games

🙂

I’m nearing the end of The Stanley Parable. It’s reminding me how long I take to play games, especially when I only play in small bites during dinner. I was also playing through two different versions, the original and Ultra Deluxe, which was well worth the impulse purchase. The whole set is an interesting and amusing metafictional satire on video games.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Andy Culbertson (@thinkulum)

Posted in Art, Video games, Weeknotes, Work, Writing | Leave a comment

Weeknote for 7/23/2023

Posted on July 24, 2023 by Andy

Writing

😎

I collected my story ideas and found a literature textbook to study. The story ideas were random ones I’d recorded in my notes apps the past few years. They tend to be about social thought experiments, bizarre science fiction and fantasy concepts, and explorations of my frustrations with other stories. But my conversations with chatbots this year have shown me my stories don’t need to be anything weird. It turns out I’m also curious about real people’s everyday lives.

The textbook is Writing and Critical Thinking through Literature by Heather Ringo and Athena Kashyap. I was looking for a free one that would refresh my memory on the basics of narrative so I’d have a loose template or checklist for planning my stories. I believe this one will do the job nicely.

Productivity

:thinking:

The practice method I tried for Gregg shorthand last week was very time consuming, so this week I’m trying another one using flashcards. One thing that’s already helping is the set of guidelines I created for sizing and spacing my shorthand words on the dot grid paper I use for writing. It frees my mind from that uncertainty so I can focus on remembering the strokes and joins.

Food

🙂

Watching a video game got me to finally try bubble tea. I made it my drink for Sunday lunch. I asked the barista for something basic, and she recommended a brown sugar milk tea. It was interesting and good but a little intense. I liked the tapioca pearls though. I foresee many return trips to explore their menu.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Andy Culbertson (@thinkulum)

Posted in Gregg Shorthand, Tea, Weeknotes, Writing | Leave a comment

Weeknote for 7/16/2023

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Andy

Productivity

:thinking:

I decided to try improving my schedule tracker in Google Sheets rather than moving it to Notion. I was convinced I’d move it, but then I didn’t want my Notion to become unusably slow from a ballooning database. I’ve set up recurring productivity iterations, so I’ll probably get back to developing the tracker in early November.

I made a practice plan to make faster progress on Gregg shorthand. Each day (ideally) I’ll create exercises from whatever needs work from my blogging or the Gregg book or a list of common words and practice writing them using spaced repetition. My dream is to someday zip across the page like this.

Writing

😎

This week starts my much anticipated (by me) creative writing project. I’ll spend two weeks getting my feet wet in various narrative activities. And yes, some of them will involve chatbots. To prepare myself I’ve been listening to Victoria Lynn Schmidt’s very helpful Story Structure Architect.

Nature

🙂

On a walk with Jeremy after one of the storms of last week, I took some cloud photos like I used to do. A while back clouds like these inspired an ongoing quest to AI-generate a vintage-looking tropical drink ad that popped into my head.

Posted in Art, Nature, Productivity, Weeknotes, Writing | Leave a comment

Weeknote for 7/9/2023

Posted on July 11, 2023 by Andy

Productivity

🙂

Starting on another iteration of productivity system improvement gave me a burst of productivity motivation. I returned to a normal sleep schedule, cut out background distractions to improve my focus, and used countdown timers to limit my open-ended activities.

But most importantly, I set my agenda for the iteration by making a list of my current productivity challenges and some potential solutions. This was so helpful that I’ll probably make it my standard practice. I also started a related side project for improving my research process, also with a helpful challenges list.

This week I’m looking at how I can implement my schedule tracker in Notion.

Health

:grimace:

I lost some hearing in one ear for a day. I woke up Monday with my left ear sounding muffled. Usually that clears up in a few minutes, but this time it stayed that way for hours. My version of worrying is planning, so I started mentally adjusting to a future of worse hearing.

But I was able to see the doctor in the afternoon, and there was nothing else wrong with me, so he recommended antihistamines and prescribed a steroid in case it got worse. But evidently it was just a eustachian tube issue, because after the antihistamines my hearing was back to normal the next morning. And now I know what a sinus rinse and nasal spray are like.

Nature

😎

I had another muskrat close encounter. We were both a little surprised.

Posted in Health, Nature, Productivity, Weeknotes | 1 Comment

Weeknote for 7/2/2023

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Andy

Programming

:thinking:

I reviewed my Agile sources for their advice on project initialization to learn how requirements fit into the Agile lifecycle. They fit uneasily, it seems, since Agile enthusiasts like to keep specification informal and minimal, but the authors agree you do need an initial high-level requirements conversation. So I made progress on my notes, which is my perpetual struggle, but not with enough momentum to feel the need to continue this iteration, except unofficially. I’m more interested in addressing the productivity issues that came up during the work.

Productivity

:monocle:

Now I’ll spend a couple of weeks on my productivity system with a side trip into my research process. I’ve been keeping a list of topics to look into for this iteration, but since two weeks feels very short these days, I’ll have to be selective.

Games

🙂

I returned to video games with The Stanley Parable. I’m playing during dinner like I used to. It’s been years since I really played anything. But I’ve been in the mood to branch out in my media, and I was tired of avoiding spoilers in video essays that discussed that game. It’s an interesting one, though I’m still working out the author’s point.

Nature

😎

In my third muskrat sighting spot, I found not one, but three out on land. Normally I see them in the water and only one at a time. These were having breakfast along the path I was walking and didn’t mind at all that I was there (until I stepped on a twig). It was a nice welcome back to the woods after hiding inside from the wildfire haze all week.

Posted in Nature, Productivity, Programming, Video games, Weeknotes | 2 Comments

Weeknote for 6/25/2023

Posted on June 27, 2023 by Andy

Programming

:thinking:

I explored the idea of making a software development cheat sheet in the form of a coding project. The lesson of BDD is to make your documentation executable. In this case, taking notes is helpful, but verifying them with working code is better. Why not make a whole software project to illustrate everything I was learning? But as usual, I was unsure what form the project should take, so I’m putting off the idea and will take regular notes for now. For the notes project in general, I’m continuing the iteration again this week.

Health

:eyeroll:

What took up most of my time last week was researching my new medication. My insurance wants me to switch my ulcerative colitis med to Rinvoq, and I wanted to do some due diligence to make sure it wasn’t an obviously terrible mistake. It doesn’t seem to be.

Nature

🙂

I discovered part of the neighboring woods grows like a little garden on our side of the fence. So I visited it a few times over the week to see what I could find there. I found some interesting bugs, such as a harvestman, which I learned is a harmless arachnid that isn’t a spider but looks like one.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Andy Culbertson (@thinkulum)

And now have some rabbits.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Andy Culbertson (@thinkulum)

People

🙂

Saturday I had lunch with my friend Jeremy’s family to catch up and take a walk. We visited one of my favorite spots, where they’ve been walking regularly, and somehow we survived the 88 to 99 degree heat.

Posted in Nature, People, Productivity, Programming, Weeknotes | 2 Comments

Weeknote for 6/18/2023

Posted on June 18, 2023 by Andy

Programming

:-O

I actually got somewhere on my software requirements notes. I’m going to take advantage of my momentum and extend this iteration another week. I’m using the book Writing Great Specifications to learn behavior-driven development on the theory that BDD lets you capture the benefits of a rigorous requirements process while still being agile.

Productivity

🙂

I’m learning to eat my frogs and use the rule of three. I’ve been listening to productivity books in anticipation of this iteration of my productivity system project, and I’m already picking up techniques to add to my practices. Specifically, from Eat That Frog! I’m learning to start with my most important and intimidating tasks and start them without much thought so I don’t talk myself out of it. The rule of three, from The Productivity Project, has you choose your top three tasks for the day based on a view from the future looking back at what you want to have accomplished that day.

Nature

🙂

I returned to the park where I first wondered what all the plants were, now that I have a way to ID them. I made some interesting discoveries, such as some wild carrots and asparagus.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Andy Culbertson (@thinkulum)

Posted in Nature, Productivity, Programming, Weeknotes | Leave a comment

Weeknote for 6/11/2023

Posted on June 16, 2023 by Andy

Housekeeping

:relieved:

I spent the week researching MagSafe charging devices. It took longer than I expected. I had meant to wrap it up quickly and return to software development, but that will have to be this week. But now a continually charged phone is in my immediate future. Having that take the whole week convinced me to space out my purchases instead of waiting every three months.

Programming

😐

This week in my software development notes I’ll look a bit at software requirements. I won’t worry about posting what I find unless the inspiration strikes me.

Productivity

🙂

I listened to Automate Your Busywork by Aytekin Tank. It’s about how anyone can use no-code tools to relieve them of many repetitive, everyday tasks. Ideas for that kind of automation pass through my mind regularly, and the book motivated me to stop putting them off.

I’ve reorganized my projects schedule to add another productivity iteration. The unfinished parts of my system have been wearing on me, so I’ll take a month and see what I can do. That’ll start next week if I don’t extend software development again.

Nature

😛

Some blackbirds harassed me. I was minding my own business, identifying trees, and a couple of red-winged blackbirds started swooping and rasping at me. I assume they didn’t like how close I was to their nest, wherever it was. It happened just like this:

Video

:thinking:

I began researching alternative sources for the DVDs in my Netflix queue. Their DVD service is ending at the end of September. It turns out most of my queue is easily available on streaming services or at the library. A few are harder to find. So far the series I’m in most danger of missing out on is K Street, so that’s what’s next in my queue.

Posted in Housekeeping, Nature, Productivity, Programming, TV, Weeknotes | Leave a comment

Weeknote for 6/4/2023

Posted on June 7, 2023 by Andy

Housekeeping

😐

I made general plans for the seasonal housekeeping project and planned some purchases. Part of my procrastination on this project has been not knowing what tasks belong in it. So I gave myself some clarity on that. The one actual project task I did was to plan a batch of purchases that have been on my waiting list. My phone’s power situation has become potentially perilous because its flaky lightning port makes it hard to charge, so I’m ordering a phone car mount that will let me use a MagSafe charger while I drive, and to take no chances I’ll get a MagSafe battery pack too.

Programming

:thinking:

This week I’m back to the software development notes. My plan is to journal a bunch on my current topics and then see if anything postable comes out of it.

Productivity

😎

I found a very helpful online Gregg shorthand dictionary. It resolves so much of the uncertainty I’ve had as I write. It covers the Anniversary and Simplified editions, which got me to take a second look at Simplified, and I’ve decided to standardize myself on it. I’ve ordered its manual.

Fiction

😐

I set up my Goodreads to track the many series I’m listening to. Now that I’m done with The Inheritance Cycle (great series, by the way), I’m running out of obvious next books to listen to. So I took an idea from my brother and added a Goodreads shelf for the next book in each series I’m following. It turns out there are a lot of them, so it’s kind of a major task. But that should make it easier to decide what’s next.

Nature

😎

I went on a plant identifying frenzy. After years of wondering when I would ever find a way to learn the plants on my nature walks, last week I realized I have a plant identification app on my phone, iNaturalist Seek. So now my walks have become much longer as I constantly stop to take photos of every plant that catches my eye, and a few bugs too. It seems that the nearby woods are dominated by common buckthorn, plus a lot of Amur honeysuckle.

Bonus: Have a bee and a fish.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Andy Culbertson (@thinkulum)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Andy Culbertson (@thinkulum)

Posted in Fiction, Gregg Shorthand, Housekeeping, Nature, Productivity, Programming, Weeknotes | Leave a comment