Today is really the last day of work for me in 2024. I’ve got some vacation saved up, so I’m heading off next week to enjoy the holidays and catch up on a few chores. Even volleyball will be somewhat suspended, so it will be a nice break.
Happy Holidays and see you in 2025.
I was chatting with a friend recently about routines and some of the helpful or silly things we do. I mentioned that when I played adult baseball, we often had Sunday morning games and a routine of mine was to drive to town, stop at a 7-11, and get a large cup of coffee and an apple fritter. It was a comforting habit that I still have today, often stopping when I have a morning flight to do the same thing in the way to the airport.
Only in Denver though, not when I’m flying out of other cities and returning home.
At another job, I rode my bike to work. However, I’d drive Monday morning and leave my car at work, taking it home Friday afternoon. In between I’d commute on a bicycle 10-12 miles each way. On Monday, I’d buy a half dozen bagels for the week, which I’d leave in my office. After riding in and showering, I’d toast a bagel and have that with my coffee. It was a nice way to start the day while I scanned email or had a morning meeting.
Apparently, many of my routines revolve around food.
I have other habits, like waking up and checking my email before doing anything else. Not always, but most days I’ll stir, give up on trying to sleep, and scan email from bed to see what is in store for the day. I don’t always get up and go to work, but I can mentally prepare myself for how the workday will go. I’ve often found this helps me ease the way into the day, and I’m less stressed when I’ve broken the question of the day or had some other issue. I am prepared for what I’ll face in the next hour after relaxing with my wife for a bit longer.
Routines not only bring us comfort, but they ground us in the chaos of the real world. Even if we have lost control of our work, with others pressuring us to meet deadlines or fix a broken system, a routine helps us to react calmly and not panic.
Even during security or failure incidents, which can be very stressful, I’d start the issue with a blank notebook page, writing a few known facts down on paper and starting to think forward as to how I’d manage staff. Often this exercise had me making initial decisions about who would work now and who would go home to come back later and relieve people. This was before I knew the scope or details of the problem. Even though I often had to change my plan, having a plan to change gave me comfort.
Think about the repetitive things you do on a daily or weekly basis. Think about the things you do in response to periodic events. What comforting habits do you have that help you get through the day or just bring a smile to your face.
Steve Jones
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This is my last week of the year working (I guess I come back on the 30th for a minute), so I decided to do some analysis of my year. I like data and numbers, so I’m looking at a few aspects of life this year with data I’ve compiled from previous years.
This is the end of the week and I’m looking at music, which is a big part of my life.
I listen a lot on Spotify. On my phone, in the car, even at my desk. I do some YouTube at times, and I have my local library from days past loaded into the Spotify app, but mostly I’m streaming.
When I look back, this is slightly less than last year. About 40 minutes less streaming, about 100 less artists, about 200 less songs. More repeats.
Interesting that my top artists were similar. John Mayer, Zach Bryan, The Beatles. This year Kanye and Linkin Park replaced U2 and Chris Stapleton. Previous years had Jay-Z, Tupac, and Kenny Chesney in there.
I like to think I explore different music, but not a lot (apparently). I tend to listen to familiar things and keep some playlists around for a long time.
Another part of my music is that I play guitar to relax. I keep an acoustic Sweetwater guitar by my bed and will play many nights for a bit to unwind. I love Redgate has a few in our Cambridge lobby, though they are very cheap, not comfortable ones, but they work.
This year I also bought a Lava Me Play smart guitar in the summer, which I’ve taken on some vacations. It sits by my desk and I’ll take a break and strum something during the way. I haven’t done much with the “smart” features, which helped me learn I really just wanted a second, smaller acoustic.
Top songs I’ve worked on this year (in no order):
I’ve done a few more lighlty, but these are some I’ve played a lot, a few I’m still trying to get to sound vaguely like something you recognize.
2024 was a fun year of music for me, and I’m looking forward to 2025.
suente– n. the state of being so familiar with someone that you can be in a room with them without thinking, without holding anything back, or without having to say a word – to the extent that you have to remind yourself that they’re a different being entirely, that brushing hair away from their eyes won’t help you see any better.
This makes me think of the familiarity I have with my wife or kids or a few close friends. We don’t need to talk, and we know what the others are thinking based on the situation or body language. We can sit in a room reading, relaxing, watching something, listening to music, and we feel both comfortable and close.
I love the suente and I’m glad it’s with few people.
From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
