Tag: Analog

Analog Tools In A Digital World – What I Use (or don’t) And What I’m Interested In

Things I’m Using

I began wet shaving a few months ago. I’m nearly 45 and I’ve been shaving since I was 13. It was something I’ve dreaded for years, with a beard that needed attention every 2 days or less. It often resulted in my growing a beard for months (as many as 9) so that I didn’t have to shave. Electric razors and trimmers didn’t help much, and then I tried something ridiculous. I bought the above kit for $75 from the Wet Shaving Club and began a ritual that works for me. Since then, I’ve only missed shaving a few times, and the closer shave of the safety razor means I can go 2-3 days easily between shaves. Additionally, I’ve added items like an alum block and pre-shave oil, and I can say I genuinely enjoy shaving every few days. The appeal is the precision, control, and overall process. I set aside time in my time-blocked schedule for this.

Two other changes have been refreshing as well. I have a small yard, and I’ve ditched my electric mower and bagger for an old fashioned push reel mower that leaves the clippings on top of the remaining grass. Living in West Texas, there’s nothing like being able to quietly mow early in the morning so that I avoid the obscene July heat (we’re on day 5 of 11 forecast over 100). I’ve also seen my grass come in better this year than it did the two I was using the old mow and bag approach.

The other item is one I’ll say is analog, but also brings in some time of solitude during my normal routine. I’ve been a runner for years now, including finishing the 2015 Honolulu Marathon. This past fall and winter I had issues with my back that required months of physical therapy. As I began running again in March, I decided to try something different. I left the wireless headphones, the smartphone, and the sleeve armband at home and just went outside and ran. I still have my Garmin watch with me, letting me know when each mile is done and signalling the start and finish of my planned run, but that’s it. I don’t track my pace during the run. Instead, I just focus on breathing and form while I observe the world around me. It’s refreshing, and I’m now capable of almost perfectly identifying distance covered and pace during my timed run, with Garmin and Strava confirming a very close relation to what I felt and what was happening.

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July 15, 2020 Add Comment

Think deeply and quietly

Quite a few people have written about the need for solitude and deep thought in modern society. Cal Newport writes frequently on the topic. Stoicism is making it’s way back through whack jobs like Tim Ferris and less absurd people like Ryan Holiday.

My current read is Farsighted, by Steven Johnson. He focuses throughout the book on the value of putting proven processes and models into practice when trying to make better long term decisions. One of the revelations that is most counter-intuitive, and yet relevant, to modern life is the idea that our brains are actually more active during “rest” than when we’re actively trying to use them.

In other words, when we are left to our own mental devices, the mind drifts into a state where it swirls together memories and projections, mulls problems, and concocts strategies for the future…There is a simpler — and less revelatory — way of describing these discoveries: human beings daydream. We didn’t need an fMRI scanner to find this out about ourselves. What the technology did reveal was just how much energy daydreaming required. What feels like the mind drifting off into reverie is actually, on the level of neural activity, a full workout. And the brain regions involved in the workout happen to be the ones that are uniquely human.

Steven Johnson, Farsighted, pp. 79-80

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June 8, 2019 Add Comment