The cover photo is from picking up my wife from the airport in the early morning. Xi'an is truly a popular tourist city, with many tour groups even in the middle of the night. ✈️
"心迹逐影" means the footprints of the heart follow the shadows, recording, tracing, and reflecting on one's inner world. At the same time, it recommends interesting information seen each week.
I've delayed this for another month (why is it "another" again). Whenever it's the weekend, I don't know what to write. Life is quite ordinary, spending the day at work and playing with my phone, not reading books or watching TV shows and movies. I'm thinking of making some changes starting next week. I've actually done some different things in the past month.
Evolution of Tools#
flomo#
During the weekends, I didn't know what to write, mainly because I didn't have any records or plans. When I wanted to write, I could only rely on my memory to recall what happened this week. But the brain is not naturally designed for recording, it's for thinking. Tools can be used to record these things.
So I started using this app by Shaonan, which I got the annual membership for from an event by Grow last year. I gave it to my wife, and she's still using it. It's quite easy to use.
I'm also currently reading Shaonan's book "Methods of Note-taking", learning some better ways to take notes and make them useful for myself.
Craft#
Craft is where people go to ideate, organize, and share their best work.
When I have nothing to do at work, I start tinkering with note-taking tools. In the end, I replaced Notion and Feishu Notes with Craft. It combines the advantages of both. I need multi-platform support and convenient sharing and collaboration. I didn't use it before because the free version only supported 1000 blocks, which wasn't enough. But now it's unlimited, and the free personal version is more than enough for a user like me.
Now I mainly use it for writing blogs, weeklies, etc., while flomo records fragmented content.
Rize#
Rize is an app that automatically tracks your work progress. I've used various pomodoro timer tools before, but they didn't work well. I've been using Rize for almost a week now, and besides the price, I don't see any other issues. It's really worth the money.
No need to manually start focus mode, it automatically detects whether you are currently focused. For example, if you are coding and have WeChat or other chat tools open, it will remind you that you are being interrupted. It's better than other pomodoro tools and allows for better control of your focus.
There are also some other apps, I'll write a complete review and post it on my blog later.
Interests#
Open Source#
There's an open-source project called cover-paint that hasn't been updated for half a year. At that time, it only had about forty to fifty stars. I don't know who recommended it, but the number of stars suddenly increased, and it finally achieved the achievement of being the first open-source project to reach over a hundred stars.
Running#
Looking at my keep records, the last time I went running was in 2019. I haven't been exercising for four years. I truly admire myself. My weight has also increased by nearly twenty pounds since getting married.
I started running again this week. Although the distance and pace are quite low, I managed to stick with it. I read online that for beginners, it's best to control your heart rate and run while keeping it low. Don't focus on speed for now, let your body gradually adapt to exercise.
Walking the Dog#
Last week, my wife went on a trip, so I took on the responsibility of walking the dog, once in the morning and once in the evening. I thought that if the dog was locked in the cage all day, it would get bored. So the next day, I put the dog on the balcony. When I came back from work, I was really afraid that the curtains on the balcony would be chewed up. Luckily, the dog only chewed a big hole in the back of the sofa, which happened to be the perfect size for a dog's head.
Interesting Things#
Books#
Techniques for note-taking written by the author of flomo, which can be useful for oneself.
Collection#
An article from The Economist that I studied through the English News channel on YouTube.
TV Series#
The story revolves around a conversation between Einstein and Auburn Hummer by the lake. One day, when they punish you enough, they will offer you salmon and potato salad, give a speech, and give you a medal. Please remember, this is not for you, but for them.
This reminds me of a quote from the TV series "In the Name of the People": Heroes are powerless in the face of power, heroes are tools in the face of power.
Originally published on Late Night Pick-up