Pulling from the Idyllwild archives today. With temps in the 90’s (Fahrenheit) around here these past few days, it’s nice to revisit some photographs from our trip to Idyllwild a while back…thinking about the crisp air, mountain views, small town vibe, and time with family. Plans will be made to make it back, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Week of July 8-14, 2019
The “Quantified Self – Week of…” post is a data review of the previous week, highlighting a few key areas: Exercise / Sleep / Family / Language (Spanish) / Reading / Leisure.
“What gets measured gets managed.”
The exercise category took a nose dive this week — as did my head! Quite literally, as I went over the handle bars on my son’s scooter, and landed on my head. This resulted in a concussion and strict orders from the doctor to rest for a week. After 3 days of simply moving from the bed, to the couch, and back again…I added a few slow walks for the remaining 4 days of the week. Slow is the keyword here, and I’m grateful that Gia was willing to join me and go at a snail’s pace. That’s about it on the exercise front, and the total hours show for it.
TOTAL EXERCISE MINUTES: 224
The sleep data for the week is interesting, with consideration to the concussion and the impact it had (or didn’t have?). A decrease from the previous week in total number of hours slept, and slight dip in average percentage of Deep Sleep. Not sure what I expected. I guess I figured all the “bed rest” time ordered by the doctor might have increased number of hours asleep. But instead I simply was bored, and also had a hard time sleeping well.
Total for the week: 0
Doctor’s orders also included “don’t think.” I’ll use that as the excuse for not studying Spanish this week.
Highlights:
Photo of the week (via iPhone):
“A beautiful path does not need to invite people; the beauty itself is already an open invitation!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan
Ella and I rose at 5 am, and headed out the door well ahead of the 6:41 am sunrise. We settled into our pre-scouted spot at the harbor, set up the cameras, and enjoyed the quiet of the dark morning and gentle conversation before making photographs.
This was one of the last images created before heading home (just as the rest of the family was waking up).
Dana Point, California. An hour or so after sunrise.
Kai has taken to the Polaroid SX-70.
I’m pleased to see him leaning toward analog tools.
This is one of my favorite places in our home to photograph the kids, as the mid afternoon light creeps across the living room.
Week of July 1-7
This is my first “Quantified Self – Week of” post, which is (more simply put) a review of the previous week, highlighting a few key areas.
Why? Well, as Peter Drucker once said, “What gets measured gets managed.” And, there are a few areas I want to do a better job at managing. I’m still discerning what makes the most sense to measure, and suspect this will change/evolve in the months and years ahead, for now the focus will be on: Exercise / Sleep / Family / Language (Spanish) / Reading / Leisure. I measure the category of work separately for now. And the metrics won’t always be quantitative, because a primary purpose of this exercise is to pause and reflect on the week, and jot down observations that go beyond the numbers.
All in all a pretty good week on the exercise front. The most interesting insight is that I had the highest number of hours and activities on my birthday. A birthday wish granted — plenty of margin for exercise (combined with a good amount of family + leisure time, which also happened). While I did get back in the water, after a long hiatus, it was a slow entry and primarily dedicated to simply hanging out in the pool with the kids, passing the water polo ball around, and doing just a few hundred yards. On the gym front, Ethan and I logged some quality hours, much attributed to 3 days off of work. Also bumped up the number of lake walks with Gia, which was quite nice.
TOTAL EXERCISE MINUTES: 471
A rough week on the sleep front. Most nights averaged around just 5 hours. The average for the week was 6 hours. I’d like to get this closer to 7 hours for the average of the week. However, its early on the tracking & measuring, so will be interesting to see the trends moving forward, as I try various life hacks to improve sleep hours and quality.
I also gave thought to what’s best to measure, for me: Light Sleep | Deep Sleep | REM). Decided on Deep Sleep, as this seems to be the stage of sleep that is the most restorative to the body and mind (based on some non-scientific research via google).
Total for the week: 1 hour
Rough week on the language learning front. Taking the Summer off from my weekly Spanish class is having an impact, lacking the discipline. I listened and practiced while working out at the gym 2x this past week — not ideal, but logged an hour. Definite need for improvement on this front.
Highlights:
Photo of the week (via iPhone):
