It’s that time of year again! This is my 13th attempt at creating life-long habits for myself for the whole year. I realize that after the end-of-year holidays I am not mentally or physically capable of sticking with resolutions for the upcoming new year. No new year day resolutions for me. I need a break so I will take off November through January and enjoy.
My resolutions, goals, best intentions, and life-changing habits are listed below. I will check in every month and then review my progress next on March 3 (3/3). After that will be 4/4, 5/5 and so on. Here we go!
Physical
The immediate goal is to drop 25 pounds quick. Last year I had a brief flirtation with the keto diet and was pleased with the results. But this was costly during a pandemic due to meat processing factories shutting down. I’m leaning toward this again and again, only for the quick results and then maybe switch it up to a low carb, more protein diet.
In addition to being more deliberate with my nutrition (I’m no longer calling it a diet) I will combine this with training (no longer calling it “working out”.) The phrase “Eat clean, train mean, get lean” comes to mind. I’ve registered in two obstacle course races this year. The Rugged Maniac course is in June followed by my third Tough Mudder course which is in November.
I’ve been on a 2 month perfect streak with my daily fitness goals using my Apple Watch. Combined with the Apple Fitness service, I think I’ll have my indoor cardio training set. Rounding out the training-from-home goals will be free weights and resistance bands with yoga. I’m eager to get back into the gym for some strength training and considering the risks/benefits thanks to the pandemic.
Throw in some fun activities like hiking, trail running, photo walks, geocaching and disc golf, I’d say this is going to be a great year.
Creative
Music
My fat fingers plucking tiny plastic strings on the ukulele at awkward angles? Stay tuned.
Photography
Sorting and organizing thirty years worth of photography has been a major pain in the ass, but worth it and about 95% complete.
I’ve been enjoying film photography lately and probably need to set up it’s own budget because film and development is a costly but rewarding endeavor to me. In addition, I want to finally frame some prints and be surrounded by my images. A few photo books will be on order too.
Writing
More short stories, micro fiction, One hundred word stories.
Work on that novel. Its been ten plus years and I still can’t get all of this out of my head.
Journaling my thoughts and experiences in addition with collages and white-out poetry.
Finally
Maybe I’ll throw in more fun stuff I’ve been thinking about like short podcasts, and exploring ham radio. Just because.
Knowing myself all too well, I could end up adding or subtracting this or that. Either way, I’ll check back in here on 3/3 for the first review of how I do!
Worn Out
2021-02-14 13:47:57
"We must all either wear out or rust out, everyone of us. My choice is to wear out"
Theodore Roosevelt
RSS, Read It Later and Newsletters
2021-02-16 21:56:54
This is the sixteenth year I have had the internet deliver me updates using the website feed aggregation protocol and it just keeps getting better. RDF Site Summary, or Real Simple Syndication, helps me stay up to date with my favorite websites, blogs, podcasts and some social media channels. Instead of visiting a hundred different websites to find new articles, or posts, I subscribe to their RSS feed which is then aggregated into an RSS reader.
This is old school internet technology, much like the e-mail client. They're still around because they are the best, most secure way of getting information (the internet's first function.)
I am in control of the content I want to see, not a publisher force feeding me anything I don't want. I choose topics of my interests and nothing more. Unless, I am forced to go to a website for a news piece or weather, sports etc, I can't be bothered.
Throughout the years, I've tried most of the RSS feed aggregators and currently I have settled on Reeder. Yes, it was $10 for the Mac and another $5 for iOS, but I am getting what I am paying for- features, privacy, security and the convenience. Thanks to the iCloud, all my feeds and articles are synchronized across all my devices. There is also a built-in read-it-later service that allows you to save an article for future reading or reference. No more web clippings or bookmarks on your desktop all over the place. For me, I'll save the articles and then have the option to share outside the reader with a share extension. In my world, it's either being shared via text or to my stand alone read-it-later app, Goodlinks. More on that one later.
For a clutter-free reading experience, I'll usually have the web article render in Reader View. No advertisements bombarding your screen, no privacy violating trackers watching your every move. Gone. It's just you and your text and images. I have never, ever clicked on an advertisement from the web. I do not want Google or Facebook or 40 other trackers knowing my interests. They don't get to do that anymore. I don't care if that is how they get paid. I won't pay it anymore and you don't have to either. (please tell me you use content blockers and reader view on all your websites you visit.)
Back to the RSS reader. Some websites will generate their feeds in truncated mode, which means they'll give you a snippet of the article, then force you to press "More" which promptly takes you to their website and to the aforementioned ads, trackers and sponsorship links. Well, thanks to the built in Reader View, 95% of the articles are pulled up in the app instead, again with only text, photos and no bullshit. That's a win.
I'll just click that Reader button and stay right in my cozy little app instead, thank you.
YouTube
I like the idea, hate the advertisements and trackers. I've left Google awhile back and it has been such a relief to be out of that evil ecosystem. I digress. Thanks to a recent update, I can watch YT videos from creator's channels. No advertisements, no algorithms, no suggested videos. Just content I want and no more all inside the feed reader. Brilliant.
Youtube subscriptions on the left, video on the right screen inside Reeder. No bullshit YT interface or ads.
Read-It-Later
Again, I can save the articles I want to keep for future reference inside the app, but I always like to have a dedicated RIL app. For years I used Instapaper, but they moved to a subscription service. No thanks. I went with GoodLinks as a one time purchase of $5 instead.
Using the share extension tool in Reeder, I'll just pass my saved article to Goodlinks, ideally tagging it under a category for organized reference and it'll be there waiting for me when needed. I say ideally tagged because saving articles can stack up quickly. It started off organized but...yeah, I haven't kept up. Goodlinks is also accessing iCloud so I can enjoy my articles on all devices.
Share, organize, read it later
Requested feature
I tried another RSS reader called FeedBin and I loved it because it gave you a generic e-mail address where you can subscribe to newsletters. Newsletters are created by bloggers, thinkers that will create articles of interest all in one letter and push it out to your e-mail inbox. I like my inbox uncluttered and am very protective of it. My subscriptions would be redirected into the FeedBin app alongside the other blog posts, articles and YT videos. A perfect all-in-one solution but at $50 annually, I balked because those same subscriptions were delivered to my inbox for $0. I've already invested one time purchases equalling $20 for Reeder and Goodlinks and I am pretty pleased with this setup. I'd like to see more feed readers incorporate this feature and make it standard as opposed to an add-on.
Finally, do yourself a favor and get an RSS reader. Subscribe to all your favorite news sources and make them come to you instead of scrolling through their websites. Say no to advertisements, cross-website trackers and privacy invasion. Say yes instead to a more pleasant reading experience that you control.
When you do, be sure to add this humble little website's RSS feed and enjoy
