What I do

_{This is a now page. · Quick update: see most frequently changing section · See also: about me}

I am not my past. Not my past mistakes or accomplishments.
I am not my future. My promise or lack thereof.
I am not the things I own.

I live in a small town.

In the rural south of Brandenburg, in the middle of nowhere. I live very close to a forest. It’s quiet and peaceful.

I walk every day.

Usually for one hour. Sometimes less, often more. I make heavy use of my local forest, which I mostly have to myself.

I wear barefoot shoes. They are much more comfortable and support a healthy way of walking.

I exercise.

My fitness is not at the level where I would like it to be. Accordingly, my exercise routine is still a work in progress. Currently I do:

• Sun salutations in the morning, as stretching and to warm up my body (see: challenge & conclusions)
• Kettlebell swings for strength
• Trampoline jumping ^🇩🇪 in between tasks

I prepare fresh meals daily.

Theses are some principles I eat by:

• prefer unprocessed ↔️ avoid sugar and bad seed oils
• prefer uncooked
• aim for: min. 50% of a plates calories come from vegetables ➡️ salad with every meal
• savory breakfast
• order matters¹
• keep blood sugar level in mind
• 16-8 intermittent fasting

I write.

For this website. For myself. Writing is thinking on paper. It’s part of every facet of my life. I use it to build up an idea, enhance my work output and the quality of my relationships, deepen my understanding about something I read or heard, communicate how something works or how I feel, automate tasks by writing scripts².

95% of this writing happens digitally. And the 5% that I write on paper are digitized afterwards. ^🇩🇪

I do a challenge every week.

This could be anything from trying visualizations, experimenting and understanding the tool Neurostreams or applying a learning like “eat the frog first” to my life. This is an effort to integrate the things I read about into my life.

I write a newsletter.

It covers my weekly challenges and give readers an idea of what is going on in my life in the absence of social media.

I read non-fiction.

Not as much as I used to, but much more purposefully now. I get the most out of a book if I approach it with a question to be answered or problem to be solved.

I keep detailed personal accounting.

Every euro I spend is accounted for³. This allows me to do budgeting in virtual pots, irrespective of where my money is actually stored⁴. It’s great for a quick overview and subsequent analysis.

I contribute to OpenStreetMap

OSM is an open-sourced map of the world. I add missing paths, amenities, details and fix speed limits.

I track my time.

Every minute is accounted for. This makes me more conscious of what I am doing and a few other benefits. A guide (why and how) will follow.

I spend time with my wife, friends and family.

Because of where I live, face to face interactions are limited to multiple times per month (except with my wife, of course 😂.) This is by design and in-line with my needs for social contact. I like calls, so I have a few long ones every week, mostly while walking.

I am present.

As much as I can be. Inspired by the Power of Now. Here are some of the things I do to be present.

Business #

I am employed as a Software Engineer.

Three days a week I work on a Symfony-based (PHP) project, on the same team as my wife. I work on maintenance tasks: bug fixing, code/performance improvements, documentation. Improving our API documentation is my current focus. In the big previous project, I completely overhauled the technical documentation.

I co-run JobDirecto.

Together with Wilfredo. I oversee the technical direction and do full-stack development.

Computer #

I maintain my note-taking system.

I have built-up an elaborate note-taking system⁵ for myself, which requires regular maintenance. Every week I wipe the slate clean. I go through all new emails, notes, unread messages, GitHub notifications, the downloads directory, accumulated paper scraps and remove or file them in accordance to my system.

I continuously update and enhance my Linux setup.

I built up a system tailored specifically to my preferences and needs and I add improvements regularly (whenever I find a better way to do something.)

I use the terminal for many things. Because of it’s potential to be automated and customized it is my preferred way to interact with a computer.

I maintain a few software packages.

These packages make it easier for users to install software on their system.

I torrent.

In order of frequency: audiobooks, books, music, manga, movies, documentaries and courses. In self-managing my media I can tailor the experience much more to my preferences.

I administrate a sever at home.

Through it I provide useful services to myself and my extended environment. Services include media streaming, Dropbox-like file sync, document management, video processing, website analytics and many little helper functions[^apps].

Projects #

This is the big picture. More detailed updates can be found in the latest edition of my newsletter.

Becoming profitable in the stock market.

To achieve consistent returns, with the money I’ve put aside. See the relevant projects:

• day trading
• developing an options strategy ^🇩🇪

Moving to Emacs

Last year I became aware of some problems with my Neovim setup.⁶ Emacs presented itself as the solution. All my concerns addressed. The migration of all of my workflows is a big project though. Now, I’m in the process of first moving my note-taking over, followed by some programming tasks.

What I don’t do #

I purposefully do not do things that would have a strong negative impact on my life.

• alcohol
• video games
• social media
• the news
• TV/YouTube
• worrying
• complaining
• negative discouraging people