Ending so soon? Sunday Surprise[15-Sep-24]

The last week is nigh!

Hello!

I cannot believe that it’s already here: the last week of my time in California! How the time has flown. Apologies for skipping the newsletter last week - I really wanted to get the podcast back on track and last minute scheduling conflict meant I had to chose between that or the newsletter.

Enough about me, how are you? As always, hit reply and let me know!

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Creative update

Youtube - How 3 Months at Stanford Changed My Life

Seems like an appropriate time to share a little vlog/update on what the sabbatical has been like so far. Few people have been curious, even after the Instagram updates, so if you’re one of them, here you go!

Podcast - S04E12 - Optimistic Facts?

After a mini-break due to logistics, we’re back! It’s also the first time I’ve had a chance to chat to Chandra these past few weeks so I was due for an update. Listen in!

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Video to watch

Camera that captures at the speed of light

This actually blew my mind! While it isn’t exactly that, the camera technique does allow you to see a pulse of light as it passes through an object and reflects back. I never thought we’d see camera tech that advanced!

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Cool finds

App/Tool - SwiftScan

I’ve used a whole bunch of phone camera/scanner apps and over the years, this is the one I keep coming back to. Free version does most of what you need and the 1 time purchase for the Pro edition does a whole bunch more. It’s fast and feature packed and syncs with just about anything.

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Actionable insight

Turn notifications ON?!

I’m a stickler for disabling notifications for almost all apps on my phone/laptop. I don’t like seeing a bunch of alerts unless it’s REALLY important. Recently, I started using Duolingo again, but this time, I left the alerts on. Now, it’s only been about a week, but so far, I haven’t missed a day!

I still don’t like alerts/notifications, but I’m thinking I’ll change my ways and only turn on the notifications for services that promote healthy habits instead of globally disabling them all.

If you’re not as annoyed by notifications, the other action you can take is to disable the notifications from the app that causes you to be the most distracted.

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Weekly Update

It’s the last few days here in California! I can’t believe that the time has flown by so quickly. It only seemed that other day that I had arrived!

It’s made me a lot more reflective about everything for sure. For once, I have the time to do the “reflecting” instead of pushing it for some other time, which has been a new experience!

On the topic of new experiences…

I had to take the Cybertruck for a drive while I was in California. It’s just such a ridiculous truck! There’s just nothing that’s just so angular on the road. Now, I’m a small car person and this was gigantic by my standards but I have to say that it’s much more nimble than my car in some ways! It was a surprising drive for sure…

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Quote of the week

This week, it’s one of those quotes attributed/mis-attributed to a few people…