Friday, June 15, 2018

Some stuff I love

I've been making some positive changes in my life recently, and I wanted to share some things that I love, love, love.

The library: You probably could have already guessed that this would be on the top of things I love. I love the library. I read about 2-3 books a week (depending on how long they are) and there is no reason for me to own that many books. Plus, if I don't like a book, oh well, back to the library it goes. In addition, the library has a ton of cookbooks, the latest bestsellers, Legos, toys, and it's right next to the Farmer's Market. The Stanford library is gorgeous. I can look up the books I want and the call numbers before I go there, so I just head over there when I want a walk. And, I check them out for months! It's so nice.

Spotify: I got this app a while ago, after the "kids" in my lab encouraged me and I love it. The algorithm is so much better than pandora and they have pretty much every song I can think of that I want to listen to. It can store music offline for travel and flights, and it's got pretty much every Disney soundtrack my kid can listen to. It's also got old, old albums that I had when I was a kid (Hot August Night, anyone? Melissa Etheridge Brave and Crazy. Cat Stevens. Tom Petty. the Beatles. So good. Also, all those one-hit-wonders. I'm in heaven. Also tons of classical music for focus. I did pay the $15/month for the premium to get rid of ads, but it's so worth it to me.

Calm: My work has these "BeWell" assessments and I went and did one a couple months ago. I told the lady helping me that I felt overwhelmed and anxious about everything and she told me to meditate 5 minutes a day. I thought that 5 minutes was something I could do, so I did it. My co-worker suggested this Calm app and I really love it. It has a bunch of meditations (most are 10-15 minutes long, but you can do shorter ones). It has guided meditations, or more silence, walking ones, or ones focused on something you might want to improve (anxiety, sleep, relationships, etc). There are even ones for kids. It also has bedtime stories (both for kids and adults) that are designed to help you fall asleep. One of my favorite parts of the app are the Master classes. These are "classes" taught by leading experts on certain topics, such as nutrition, depression, etc. I've listened to almost all of them and I get something out of each one. Plus, each class is about 10min or less, which is a nice bit of time. There are also "music tracks" that can help with focus, sleep, calming, etc. I really like those for when I am working and I can't listen to actual words in music. Most of this app is behind a paywall, but I used it a couple times (maybe for a week?) and they sent me a coupon for 25% off the cost of the app. It's about $60/year ($5/month) but the coupon got it for me for $45/year, which I think was totally worth it.

Bullet Journal: Seriously, I love this thing. I've tried keeping traditional calendars/day planners and I've tried keeping things on my computer calendar, but none of that works. My schedule and my life and my job and my family just do not fit on a traditional calendar. The bullet journal, you just do with it what you want. You don't have to use it every day. You can make huge lists, or just brain dump. You can draw pictures, plan out vacations, make lists of recipes, whatever you want. You can track things monthly (like gratitude, or weight, or whatever). I love this model because I can put all the things I want to do (experiments, questions, housework, school, kid, family vacation, etc.) in the same place. Its been a revolution for me.

Podcasts: As you can tell, I spend a ton of time with my earbuds in. There are a couple podcasts that I have really loved recently: Pod Save America (I mean, of course I love this one. Lovett or Leave it. (I love Jon Lovett, obv). Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History (all 3 seasons). No Such Thing as a Fish (OMG, humor, British, random facts - does not get better that that). Honorable Mentions: Atlanta Monster (this could have been so much better, but it is what it is). Fresh Air with Terry Gross is really great if it's a topic I want to hear about. A Killing on the Cape (professionally produced with a predictable ending. A bit of a rough murder mystery). The Moth (sometimes this is super good, and other times I just can't get into it.)

No Facebook: Yeah, this has changed my life. First, I cleared out my friends list (like, all those people from high school that I don't even know? Yeah, they are gone. Just family, actual friends and some of my students.) I check it once a week, maybe? I'm still on IG, which I love, but that's a much more cultivated list of people I dig.

And that, folks, is that. Things that have improved my life for the better :)