Weekly Good Things 2024 - Week 32
Good Things, and the Weekly Meal Plan.
Hello! Hello! Welcome to another weekly episode of Good Things where I give you a peek into my everyday life during the week, and roundup my good links, ideas, books, and more.
Hello!
One of the things that I appreciate from more than two decades of writing online and digital journaling is being able to recognize emotional patterns in my own writing to understand my feelings.
Every year, the first few weeks of August tend to catch me off guard. Some how, the summer is almost over – but we just got here!
I notice an "off" feeling creeping in, my anxiety ticks upward. Last week, I ended up with an ear worm: “Emergency, Emergency, Paging Dr. Beat” on loop (a current TikTok meme*). It’s my body’s way of signaling that I need a change—more time outside, more active rest. Something has to shift.
And then I’ll flip back a few years in a journal and see the exact same pattern “I saw a meme this morning where August you feel like “How is it August?” and also how is time just passing you by so swiftly. And that’s how I feel. Like many mornings, I’m feeling unmoored today. Anxious.”
Being able to observe the pattern is usually enough to snap me out of it: I can more easily course correct once I’m aware of what’s going on.
I'm fascinated by how systems and cycles shape our lives.
When we recognize patterns, we’re empowered to observe them, ride them through, or break them.
***Interestingly, TikTok doesn’t cause ear worms for me, I’ve gotten them all my life. It does help me counter-act them by replacing a loop with a different one that I can more easily let go. Fascinating!
👋 If you are new here, welcome! I try to fill these newsletters with a little something for everyone. (If you are just here for the food, it’s at the end! Feel free to scroll, I won’t judge!)
Using AI in Daily Life
Last year I set myself a challenge: 30 days of AI tools, for about 30 minutes a day. It helped me make great strides in both understanding the technologies, and getting better at using the tools.
This week, I’ve been thinking about how to continue to use AI in daily life in more robust ways. Last week, this American Life had a replay from last year about ChatGPT and AI that is one of the better pieces I’ve listened to (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED).
One of the things I’ve struggled with is implementing specific AI tasking into my daily workflow, and I know this is a missed opportunity. Getting ahead of the curve with these tools is a game changer. But there are *so many options* that it’s often easier to choose none, so I’ve been working to actually just identify and try out what might work for me.
I’m not seeking a replacement for thinking or writing (I enjoy both of those things!) but see some real promise in a few different areas for myself:
Prioritization to help with focus, task management
Tweaking and Improving Personal SOPs and backup systems for decision making when I’m low energy
Journaling: Identifying patterns in my thinking, asking the AI to observe my tone or patterns I may not be noticing.
Brainstorming: project planning and organization
Light editing of writing for clarity and formatting: what questions am I missing? Could I write this in a visually more consistent and compelling way?
Innovation is happening largely in the LLM wrappers: tools that have been trained to do more specific things. I’ve been playing with ChatGPT, Claude, Spiral. This week I got access to ChatGPTs advanced voice mode, a conversational bot which is *wild*. Seeing the technology improve in leaps and bounds month over month is inspiring (and a little terrifying.) (I’m a fan of Dan Shipper, who writes the Every newsletter, a podcast “AI and I”, and thinks eloquently about how to think, create, and relate with AI.)
Are you using AI consistently in daily life yet? What’s working for you?
Slow Drip Gardening
The champions of the week this week were undeniably my zinnias, who are having a field day with the amount of rain and sun. All of a sudden we have blooms everywhere.
Dahlia plants have been small and quiet much of the summer, and overnight seem to have tripled in size. I’m hoping that they flower this year. Last year was a little bit of a bust. I’m also looking forward to my fall Dahlia share from Fivefork Farms.
Tomatoes and cucumbers finally have started making their debut! My herbs are overflowing (I just have to remember to pick them on a regular basis.)
More Good Things:
📖 Reading: In my “Year of Sanderson” I just finished Rhythm of War, book four in the Stormlight Archive, which makes about 5000 pages read of this series alone. I’m taking a brief hiatus for some YA before starting Tress of the Emerald Sea. This week, I took the plunge to read Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince. Working my way slowly through: William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience, and David Burns’ ‘The Feeling Good Handbook’. ‘This is your Brain On Music’ by Daniel Levitin. Dr. Casey Mean’s Good Energy. Dan Carlin’s ‘The End is Always Near’ from my neighbor.
🎧 Listen: I’ve been listening to the Big Dig podcast (although, it’s not as gripping as Bone Valley, but I don’t think we’re going to top that this season.) Slowly working my way through Noah Kagan’s episode this year on Tim Ferriss (although it’s long enough that I may switch to just reading the transcript.)
🩺 Health: I had my yearly physical last week. I’m incredibly thankful to have a doctor I love who is pro-active about healthcare, up to date on biomarkers and trends. I also have been going to acupuncture to deal with my De Quervains pain in my wrist. (It’s mildly alarming that I just let myself exist with pain for months on end - you don’t always realize pain is there until you firmly notice the absence of it.) Local folks, would strongly recommend Dr. Yang!
🐶 Connecting with Friends: my friend Lisa lives right near by, and it was delightful to meet up for a quick weekend breakfast around the corner from my house, and have a co-working buddy mid-week. It was nice to catch up with an old friend, Aaron, and hearing about his new company (building non-AI visuals for content creators).
⚾️ Once in a Lifetime Opportunities Every Month: a few weeks ago I got invited to watch a Red Sox game from a fancy box, which included unlimited lobster salad, which you’d better believe I took *full advantage of*. In addition to watching the game on a perfect evening, I found myself writing notes on a Levain cookie bag. Sometimes when my brain doesn’t want to turn off, I just lean in. I also remembered that I really love honey mustard? It was an excellent evening.
✅ Tackle a Nagging Task: this was a great week for getting things done. I’m still bullish on my “Done List” which is where I simply take note of all of the errands I do as I get them done. • Donated a few bags of books and clothing - this time just in the More Than Words box for ease of release
📺 Watching: Olympics! I took myself to see Deadpool vs. Wolverine, which I have a lot of thoughts about – it somehow seems to have transcended to the next plane of movie writing. I have the humor of a 12 year old boy, and the movie was packed to the brim with delightful and terrible niche jokes and puns, and a significant amount of breaking the third wall.
🤣 Memes and randomness of the week: I won a plethora of Chomps (my favorite little jerky sticks) from responding to a podcast episode contest from Noah Kagan with the founder of Chomps. After years of watching my brother win everything under the sun, I’ve taken up our family legacy. The secret to winning things is to enter things! Consistently. If you see a contest today you even remotely are interested in the prize - ENTER!
The Weekly Meal Plan:
Why do I do this? I’ll note, my meal plans tend to be more of a directional support for me than what I actually end up eating in my week. (I think a lot of people who do meal planning feel obligated to actually eat the things they come with rather than just using as a placeholder/inspiration. I do not feel so constricted.)
🍒 Good Eats from this Past Week:
My friend Somchay was off on vacation, and left me with a perfect watermelon half, some strawberries and cherries, and a metric ton of cucumbers from her garden which are significantly better than mine.
I had Apertivo with my mom and brother at Elephantine Bakery.
My mom sent me home with Turkish stuffed peppers, and stuffed eggplant.
Braised beef with pepita salsa.
Chimichurri chicken with tomato and cucumber salad, and french fries.
Chicken cilantro wontons, with tomatoes, corn, and vinaigrette (a riff on Hetty’s recipe great!)
Marinated chicken thighs, with cucumbers, rice, and tahini lemon dressing.
✍️ Every week I spend some time working on my "Let’s Eat” kitchen organization spreadsheet. This week I’ve been updating my “what to eat when you have zero energy to cook and can only assemble” list, which includes frozen chicken fillets, kebabs, rice bowls, pre-cooked noodles on repeat.
Weekend prep: I opted not to Farmer’s Market this week, because I have enough pantry/freezer to eat down. I made a large batch of Sichuan cold cucumber salad. Smashed cucumbers, salted. Then dressed with garlic, a little honey, sesame oil and vinegar, with a little chile crisp.
Sunday: Mango-marinated redfish, french fries, crispy lettuce
Monday: JustBare Breaded Chicken Fillets (chicken nuggets for adults) and smashed cucumber salad
Tuesday: Pesto orzo salad with tinned lightly smoked salmon, red wine vinegar
Thursday: Takeout sushi or Silken Tofu with Smashed Cucumbers
Saturday: Beef taco salad
Lunch Options: Lamb vindaloo with yogurt. Tinned fish, cucumber salad. Coconut chickpea curry.🦞 A lobster roll off the summer list.
Snacks: Watermelon, strawberries, raspberries. Yogurt and berries. Cheese sticks. Turkey Chomps. Trader Joe’s High Fiber cereal and milk. (Something about lightly sweetened sticks..)
Treat options: Trader Joe’s Brownie Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches. Apple Tartines. Key Lime Pie. Trader Joe’s S’Mores in the freezer section. Popsicles. Dark Chocolate covered pistachios. (Still want to grab a new Flour Bakery corn muffin)
What are you eating this week?
Previous Years:
Something I really enjoy doing is flipping back in my journal or my blog to the week of the year over the past several years. When I write it out in a list like this, it feels like a nice accomplishment!
Observing the data this week: I start ramping up on household chores!
2022: Weekly Meal Plan
2016: Farm Share
2014: Week in Fitness
2011: Annabelle’s Ice Cream
2009: Farro Salad, Eating Seasonally
That’s all for now! Hope you have a great week!
xo, Sam
PS: Click the heart if you enjoyed this this week!