Realizing that all this data I have on my hard disk is “stuff” that I have to manage too. A big part of that is my music library. I tried managing it before with services like tunesbag or mp3tunes but the services were buggy and uploading my music library was just too much work. I ended up just putting my entire music library into a folder that’s synced across all my computers and laptops - this way, I had my library available to me wherever I was (as long as I was using my own device).
The ideal, however, has always been to have my music available to me - by just logging into some site somewhere. Lala.com was something like this but Apple bought them and shut down the service :( Haven’t been able to find a good replacement since.
But today, I can safely say that Spotify is my new tool of choice. I feel like I’m still curating a music library - but also have the world’s music available too me. I can find all the most popular songs but also discover new music. Spotify = Pandora + iTunes. In fact, I haven’t opened iTunes once since I started using Spotify.
So I’m taking a big step today by removing the iTunes music folder out of my Sync folder (so it only lives on one computer). I can’t quite delete it entirely yet - but looking forward to getting rid of 7gbs of data eventually!
Posted September 14, 2011 at 1:41am
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This has replaced all my notebooks, post-it’s and loose paper. Writing on this forces me to do something with notes (instead of having them just sit, unprocessed, useless and adding to clutter).
Posted September 6, 2011 at 11:53pm
I used to track everything with Toggl - how many hours I worked, slept, ate, excercised. I figured time tracking was the only way to be super productive. After all, if you don’t know what you spent time on - how would you know what to spend time on next? So every Tuesday - I would look at my Toggl report and say things like
- whoa! 48 hours sleeping? That’s like 2 days of productivity lost to sleep.
- man! only 7 hours at the gym? No wonder I’m not getting big.
- wth! 20 hours eating? is eating that important?
- yes! 65 hours working? I was uber productive this week.
A couple days ago, I realized, that in all this analysis, I lost what life was about. It’s not about maximizing hours worked (was all 65 hours actually productive). It’s not about minimizing hours eating (maybe dinner with friends is a good idea).
Life is about living - and enjoying what you’re doing. Trying to maximize every hour for “productivity” and then scrutinizing it weekly to squeeze out more “productivity” - belittles the joys of life that is moments with friends or movies on the couch.
Here’s goodbye to you Toggl
Posted August 30, 2011 at 8:09pm
Gave away this fog machine yesterday. It had a lot of use at many of our wild parties in Fayetteville, AR. I think the new owner will enjoy it. She already has big plans.
Posted August 15, 2011 at 10:40pm
August 2011 - All the stuff I own
Just finished another session of inventorying all my “stuff”. Feel like I’m making progress with accounting for everything - but realize that there’s still a lot of things I haven’t included. Check out my ongoing list of stuff here. Some lessons from today:
- I have a ton of stuff just for an “office”. A computer, mic, keyboard, mouse, etc, etc. It adds up to 15 things! I realized I can easily cut that down to 5 or so just by getting a good laptop.
- I only have 11 things for the “home” i.e. mirrors, posters, a bed, etc. I’m lucky that my roommate already bought most of what we need for the rest of the house. I didn’t count my contributions of a rice cooker and a water filter because those will most likely go to my Mom or stay here should I ever move. Having owned an apartment of my own before - it feels good to know I can just get up and walk away from most of this because it’s not mine.
- I don’t like that I have 50 things in my “other” category. It seems like too much “accessories” that I don’t really need. Things like scarves and watches and even a pull up bar. Do I really need these things? I have a gym membership - why do I also need a pull up bar?
- There’s 96 things I’ve sold or given away since I’ve started tracking. It makes me feel good that I’m nearing the 100 item mark!
Posted August 12, 2011 at 7:17pm
Rainy Days
I love the pit-pit-pat of a rainy day. It’s sporadic beat creates a rhythm unlike any other. Such a great example of simplicity with soul.
Posted August 9, 2011 at 10:35pm
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In an effort to cut out unnecessary gadgets from my life, I sold my iPhone to see if I really needed a smartphone. The above was my phone for the last 4 months. The backlight didn’t even work!
Turns out…I miss my iPhone dearly. I waste less time doing things like printing out directions and can be productive even while on the toilet. Experiment’s over…but I have to wait another two months for the new iPhone to come out. Can’t wait!
Posted March 27, 2011 at 10:55pm
