Procrastination

So, did I ever get around telling you about my mental block? I guess not, because I have a mental block about it. 

I have a serious problem about getting things done. Especially stuff that I will feel bad about not getting done. Like paying bills on time (I always pay them, but also always one day late). Like watering my houseplants (I can observe them needing water and think about watering them every day for a week or so before I get around to doing it. Delaying these things always puts me in a spot of self hatred and loathing. 

But I have a way out. A sure way of getting these things done. 

It is an app. A reminder app that I can set to 'Remind me to do this at the end of the month', OR, 'Remind me to do this every 7 days'.. When the time is up it asks me if the task is completed, and if it is not there is a snooze button that delays the task one day (/hour/minute). If the task should be performed at regular intervals, like watering the flowers, the reminder resets to e.g. 7 days once I press 'task completed'...

So, every time I pay my bills late or avoid watering the flowers I think of getting around to programming the app and how great it would be for me. But I am never getting around to actually doing that either. I procrastinate doing the thing that would help me with my procrastination. And I have also procrastinated writing this blog post for years, but I finally got around doing it. 

(The app would also be great for reminding people to take their medicine...)

Perfect oven baked potato wedges

I've been meaning to tell you (the image is four years old) my way of getting perfectly cooked potato wedges with minimal effort. 

You cut them (to roughly the same size). 

You cover them in oil, salt and pepper. 

You then arrange them so that the only thing touching the baking sheet is the potato skin.

You then put them in the oven (at 225 °C) and wait until they are perfect.

You do not stir them. They will not stick to the sheet. And they will all be cooked to the same level of perfection. 

You are welcome! 

Kickstarter idea - who is with me?

A product idéa that has been brewing in my mind for awhile has finally cristalysed due to the last days of reports of people all over panic buying toilet paper...

The hardest thing to remember is to restock the bathroom supply of TP. You can sit there, take the last roll (or sometimes even the last square), and you believe, you really believe, that you will remember to go to the closet and bring more rolls to the bathroom. Or that you will, directly after washing up, go and add it to the shopping list. But we all know deep in our minds, that there exists no thought that is more fleeting than this one. As soon as you have exited the bathroom any trace of it is gone.

What we all need is a rubber band with 'Restock The TP' written on it that you put on the last roll in the bathroom. When you take that roll you put the rubber band on your wrist and are not allowed to remove it until you put it around a new 'last' roll in the bathroom.

I've started a kickstarter campaign to bring in enough cash to get the production rolling. Who is with me? (No, of course I have not done that, but if you do, please send me one of the finished products.)
 

Husmorstips

- Men Mattias, det var länge sedan du kom med några riktigt bra Husmorstips, har du inga på lager?
- Jo, det har jag faktiskt. Ett som jag är riktigt nöjd med och som har underlättat hemarbetet något fenomenalt.

Skaffa tre (eller fler) separata tvättkorgar. Vi kör en för vitt 60, en för mörk 60, och en (stor) för mörk 40. När man tvättar är det bara att slänga in allt från en korg in i maskinen och köra. Har ni mindre barn så underlättas nog sorteringen om man fixar bilder på korgarna av vad som ska slängas var, men så långt har jag inte kommit än (jag bara kört med systemet i tre fyra år...)

You know the feeling

You all know the feeling when you walk out of the office to take a leak and then end up waiting in the corridor to get back to the office because your path is blocked by the prime minister, his wife and a heck of a lot of students taking a tour of the school.

More from the same early morning walk

Early morning walk

Grey herons, Onsala last Saturday

40 minutes

I realised a couple of years ago that the 40 minutes of FREE time that is created when you bring your kid to swim class is actually perfectly suited to read a book. Once a week you have a determined slot were you can immerse yourself in the book that's been on your bed side table fighting for attention with twitter, netflix, podcasts... (and always loosing).

Yesterday I brought my camera instead and took a short hike in the woods close by.

I highly recommend finding a small fixed window of time every week where your phone does not get to participate and you dedicate your time on some form of 'old school' activity instead. (Or just sit there quietly meditating over a cup of coffee). 

Naive

I know that I was naive.
I know that I was fooling myself.
But a little part of me thought that when I left the mail-man gig I would be a lot less tired. And that I would be able to use that energy in lots of creative ways.

I would start blogging again.
I would photograph more.
I would complete more projects that I am usually so good at starting but almost never finish.

But of course the physical tiredness has been replaced by mental tiredness. Being a (more than full time) student where half the days are spent in a school observing, or giving, lessons and the other half taking classes (and the rest of the day reading, preparing, writing..) does take its toll.
It has even gone so far that I happily bike home in silence some days (compared to a month ago when I went crazy if I could not fill every woken hour with podcasts streaming straight into my brain).

But then again.
I did finish a working (prototype) of my camera trigger that I have been planing for more than a year.
And I did go on a fifteen minute walk to document the demolition of the school next door with my camera last Saturday.
And here I am, writing away on a blog-post for the first time in ages on a Friday evening. 

Topless

Had some time today. Some free time. Some me time.
Short day at the office and no kids to pick up after.

On my meandering way home I wandered into a thrift store and started to look around for something interesting. After a while I had picked up a Bonsai book and a nice Jenga game but then I noticed a box. It was a bit rugged and not really something that I would buy but I opened it up and it turned out to be a box for ~6x6 photo-negatives. There was a lot of empty photo sleeves. I saw the sticker, 150 sek for a rather boring box, nope not going to pay that. But I took a second look inside and noticed two negatives. Two negatives of a woman. A topless woman. Probably done by a serious photographer by the look of it. So my mind started to try to convince me that yea, maybe the box is not that bad, it might be worth the asked price. It might have a place in my collection of old cameras and other photography paraphernalia. And maybe the photographs are from a famous or not yet discovered photographer (like Vivian Maier who was discovered when she could not pay the rent on her storage locker where she had over 150 000 negatives). Or maybe the girl in the photo is famous, it might be a topless photo of Billy the kids girlfriend. It might be worth Millions! But I managed to lull my brain back into a more reasonable state and I actually put the negatives back into the box, closed it up and returned it to the shelf for some other lucky person to discover.

Or maybe I'm having a short day at the office tomorrow. With no kids to pick up after work. Maybe I'll go back for a second look...

Lego art installation

Heureka

Ok, this is the one, the one that will make me rich!

Put a kid anywhere near a shower and you know that the wailing will commence. I have spent years of deep thoughts and careful analysis of the situation and I have come up with the ultimate solution that once and for all will solve this problem. A solution that will end the wailing and put a smile on every kid and every parent come bath time: Shower brows! 

Kids only has these tiny, barely visible, eyebrows that is no match for the flow of water and soaps which then of course ends up in the eyes of the innocent child. A pair of thick, bushy, glue on eyebrows that would make any pensioner proud will deflect the flow around the eyes and make shampooing a breeze! 

Ok internet, you know the drill by know: I give you the idea for a couple of the finished products (and a piece of the business, lets say 25% of the profits)

Ice ice baby

When, before you jump on your bike to ride to work, you think through where your phone is best protected in case of a fall - then you know it is slippery... But studded tires and a great deal of denial goes a long way...

My brain made a decision on its own

I noticed something fascinating about my brain today..

It made a decision - totally on its own - based on its own observation of the time it took to process a specific task.

I was sorting mail, and the fiftyeleventh thousand letter I was sorting was, after a quick check either going to the E or the X pile. Being rather tired however (after a thirteen hour workday and an hour of bike commute the day before) I promptly forgot. Now, here comes the fascinating part, Before I could return my eyes to the list to determine if it was an E or an X letter my brain said: 'Based on the time it took me to analyze the task the first time I am certain it should go to the E pile!'. This is not something that I have taught my brain to do. There are plenty of tasks at my job that I try to do as unconsciously as possible, but I have never thought of this strategy nor analyzed the problem that way before.

I got quite startled when I realized what my brain had done, and I felt the need to verify the answer even though I knew it was correct, which it then turned out to be. I gather it is not a unique event, but I have never before observed my own brain doing anything similar. Cool things sometimes happen when you are close to your breaking point!