Spiral Findings

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Dear Phone: We’re Breaking Up

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If you follow my reading list, or you’ve talked to me in the last few weeks, you know I’ve been a little obsessed over a book by Catherine Price called How to Break Up with Your Phone. In the interest of full disclosure, and admitting my very type A personality, I was recommended her other book, the Power of Fun, but had to read this first, because, well, it came first ;). My brain was like, “dude, you kind of have to break up with your phone before you have the time to do more fun things, and then you can start thinking about what fun things you want to do with all your free, non-phone, time!” So that’s what I did.

The book is broken up into two halves: the first where she goes into her “why” behind breaking up with her phone and the second part where she gives you a 30 day plan for how to break up with your phone, that you can loosely follow or not.

I found the first part of the book very interesting. One of the most compelling points she made was how reading a paper book or ebook is different than reading content on a computing device (website, app, etc.) because of the inherent distractions on that medium, and the work our brain has to do to process, decide what’s important versus distraction, and retain the information it has just received. I’ve been trying to articulate this exact point, and the reasons I’ve been having issues reading long form content, for some time. According to Price’s book and her research, the more distraction we have while reading content, the more we train ourselves to skim, and the more we skim, the less we actually are able to process deeply. Mind blown. I used to be able to read textbooks or fiction for hours, and until recently, I was barely able to consume a few pages before getting distracted.

I very loosely followed some of the steps (about 10) in the second half of the book and then just returned it to the library. I’d mostly done much of these things already like unplugging from social media. I’ve found her analysis of notifications very interesting, and I’m currently exploring the settings for text messages. Do I really need to get a ding every time someone texts me? I’m thinking the answer is no, and so far, I’m feeling pretty good about this change.

But don’t take my word for it – check it out yourself, and maybe you’ll find some value in it. If not, it’s a very small book, and well structured, so you can pick out the good bits and leave the others. One small suggestion, I’d recommend getting the paper book versus an e-book for this one (unless you have a color e-reader), because it was nice to have the small size to throw in my bag, and some of the fonts and inserts were not as easy to read on my e-ink e-reader.

What are you reading these days? Have you read “How to Break up with your Phone”? What takeaways did you have? Have you tried to make any changes with how you use your phone, and if so, what did you change and how did it impact your days?

Simple Abundance Magic!

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I took a class from Susannah Conway on Journaling. One of the guest instructors was Meghan Genge, and in her interview, she mentioned a book called Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach. Admittedly, I’m still learning how to say her last name. I wanted to check out the book because Meghan discussed the idea presented in the book of an Illustrated Discovery Journal, which is a book of cultivated magazine cutouts that inspired her to create the life she wanted. I found a digital copy of the book some days later, but it never really fit. Recently, the book crossed my path again, and I thought I’d give it another go.

I found a copy at the library. That’s when I learned there were two editions printed: the original version from 1995 and a more recent edition which had been modified.

  • This new edition was lacking the signature ribbon to keep your place. Simple Abundance is a book with 360+ essays so having a nice bookmark to keep your place is handy. I know I could have put my own bookmark in the book, but something about it made it more personalized with that ribbon.
  • The newer version also has a different introduction. After I got my hands on the previous edition, I found I preferred the 1995 introduction. It seemed more in touch with the spirit of the book as it was written.

So I went on the hunt to get my own copy. All I could find was the new version at the local used shop to independent bookstore to online retailer. Every time I went looking at a store, I was asked by the shop owner, if I wanted them to order it. When I went to my favorite used book store in SF, Green Apple Books, they asked the same question and my thought was, well, if the universe is meant for me to have it, then I’ll find it, in the original version, used and reasonably priced.

Wouldn’t you know it, some weeks later, I found just that – the exact edition, pre-owned, in really good condition, and it was only $5! And to make it even more special, there was a name in the front cover, presumably of the previous owner, and it was the same name as one of my relatives! If that’s not magical and a sign that book was meant for me, then I don’t know what is. 🙂

Have you ever had an experience where something or someone found its way to you? A book, a song, an experience – right as you needed or wanted it to, or maybe even after you asked for it to appear? I’d love to hear your stories.

Defining a fulfilling day

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I’ve recently found myself with more time on my hands, and I’ve started to think about how I’m spending my days.  Typically, my days are packed with the things I need to do and checking items off my to do lists.  In fact, even with less things to do these days, I’m a bit lost without my preciousssssssss to do lists.  

On occasion, I’ve done journaling exercises on defining your ideal day.  Susannah Conway has one in her Unravel Your Year workbook which is accompanied by a meditation that is fun to do.  

When I originally thought about this question, I reflected upon the idea of how do you define a “successful” day?  The word “successful” didn’t quite have the connotation I was looking for though.  When I thought about success, it was tied with how much did I accomplish or what did I achieve.  The word itself was too heavy.  People define success in so many different ways, and society defines success too.  To some success means money, the house with the white picket fence, the fancy car – to others or even to society, it could be being fit like the person on the cover of a magazine and have that kind of success.

That wasn’t the spirit of the question I was trying to capture.  When I tried to replace it with other words, I played with some other options – good? fulfilling? whole? contented? peaceful? enjoyable? joyful? delightful? serene? satisfying?  

Fulfilling felt like it fit better than successful. 

So how do I define a fulfilling day?  I don’t actually know for sure, but I know there are some things that make my days better, and maybe that’s what makes them more fulfilling:

  • A slow start at the beginning of my day to reflect & plan, with a nice cup of tea
  • Social connection 
  • Getting outdoors 
  • Creating something
  • Having fun

I’m continuing to reflect on things that I do or have done that make my day more fulfilling.  

How do you define a fulfilling day?  What would be the word you would use if “fulfilling” or “successful” doesn’t fit for you?

Evaluating Photo Management Software

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We have a few budding, amateur photographers in my family and I’ve been trying to figure out a good way to manage my photos. So far, I’ve been using a Mac, and since the Photos application is included with my Mac, I’ve mostly been using that. As my photo collection has grown, I’ve had to move to an external hard drive for storage, and Photos seems to be lagging for while accessing the hard drive and my growing collection.

I started evaluating new options for photo management applications. I don’t do a lot of post-processing, though I might someday, so that wasn’t a huge focus during my evaluation. Here are some things I was thinking about while evaluating different providers:

  • Cost: Monthly Subscription, Annual Fee, One-Time Charge
  • Storage: Cloud or Local Storage
  • User Interface: Is it easy to use?
  • Import: Do I have to import the photos to a new library/filesystem or can I access them where they are?
  • Speed: Can the application handle the photos & videos as the library grows?

Why did I start looking for a replacement for Photos? When I tried to import my photos from my external hard drive into Photos, it would just hang indefinitely. During one attempt, it crashed and I was luckily able to salvage the drive with all my photos. After researching a bit and finding out that other people who had a similar issue of hanging or crashing, it didn’t seem like there was a fix that would allow me to continuing to use Photos without it being really slow or crashing. That’s why I started looking for an alternate solution.

When I started looking, I found this article from Top Ten Reviews which covered the Best Photo Management Software of 2019.

From this list, there were only several applications which are supported on Mac including CyberLink PhotoDirector Ultra 10 & Aftershot Pro. I also wanted to consider Adobe Lightroom and Skylum’s Luminar 3 which had been recommended to me. For each option, I downloaded the Mac application, imported some of the sample images on the mac, and explored the user interface a bit.

These were my four options:

  • Adobe Lightroom CC
  • Corel Aftershot Pro 3
  • CyberLink PhotoDirector Ultra 10
  • Skylum’s Luminar 3

Adobe Lightroom CC requires a monthly subscription, and with that you get a certain amount of storage. In the plan, I was looking at, it costs $9.99/monthly for 1TB of storage. It also requires you to import your photos. I will say that the interface seemed pretty user friendly: I was able to easily import photos and access the photo library on the left panel, and similarly, all the editing options were nicely laid out on the right panel. Viewing images, flagging or rejecting images, or ranking images also seemed very intuitive. Lightroom only offered a 7 day trial, so my ability to edit images was unavailable after the trial expired. When I asked for an extension, they offered me the option to buy as they had no ability to extend the trial.

  • Lightroom – Staggered Photo View
  • Lightroom – Tiled Photo View
  • Lightroom – Single Photo View
  • Lightroom – Library View

Corel Aftershot Pro 3 offers an option to purchase for $79.99, and at the time of writing this post, they were offering a 40% discount making the price $47.99. This application also requires you to import your photos. The first time I imported the photos, I couldn’t figure out which directory they imported into and I believe the import didn’t take. The second time, I was able to locate the photos in the Aftershot Catalog. The user interface for Aftershot is probably pretty functional for non-beginner photographers, but I found it ugly and cumbersome. The left panel has to be opened to see the catalog and the right panel has to be opened to see the editing options, but it wasn’t as simple to understand or use as Adobe Lightroom CC. The rotate clockwise or counterclockwise icons reminded me a lot of an undo or redo option from other applications and I clicked this a few times trying to undo something I had done! 🙂 I will say, I love how they give you a 30 day trial, versus other providers that only offered a 7 day trial.

  • Aftershot – Catalog, Edit View
  • Aftershot – Filmstrip Photo View
  • Aftershot – Single Photo View
  • Aftershot – Tiled Photo View

Cyberlink Photo Director Ultra 10 offers an option to purchase for $99.99 or upgrade your existing product, and at the time of writing this post, they were offering a 20% discount making the price $79.99. Photo Director requires you to import your photos. The user interface didn’t seem as clunky as Aftershot, but definitely wasn’t as simple as Adobe Lightroom CC or even Photos. They did offer a 30 day trial as well.

  • Cyberlink – Catalog View, New Features
  • Cyberlink – Edit View
  • Cyberlink – Layer View
  • Cyberlink – Tiled Photo View
  • Cyberlink – Filmstrip Photo View
  • Cyberlink – Single Photo View

Skylum’s Luminar 3 offers an option to purchase for $70, and at the time of writing this post, they were offering a $10 off discount making the price $60. Luminar doesn’t require you to import your photos. Out of the 4 different products I evaluated, this is the only one that accesses your photos where they lie. The user interface seemed quite good though it was a bit confusing how to edit photos and not as simple as Adobe Lightroom CC or Photos. It wasn’t clear if, during editing an image, that the application was preserving the original source or not.

  • Luminar – Tiled Photo View
  • Luminar – Single Photo View
  • Luminar – Edt Pane View

In Summary, Corel Aftershot 3 and Cyber Photo Director Ultra 10 are off my list based on the complexity of their experience. I’m not saying they aren’t good applications, but they just weren’t for me. On the other hand, I enjoyed the ease of use of Adobe Lightroom CC, and I appreciated not having to import photos with Luminar 3. Ultimately though, with Lightroom’s requirement to import and use the cloud and Luminar’s complexity of editing, neither of them really seemed like they fit the bill. It made me wish Photos just worked better for my large files and folders. I think I’m just going to give it one more try with Photos and then I’ll probably end up with Luminar.

Have you used any photo management or editing software? If so, which did you use and why?

Social Clubs for the Modern Era

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I’ve had several conversations with friends and colleagues about the challenges of building a community or network once if you move to a new city or simply don’t have a construct like school, work, place of worship to meet new people to become part of your regular social network.  It would be neat if there was something similar to a social club where people could go to, meet like-minded individuals, take advantage of community social events, but without the requirements of the social clubs we know of today i.e. financial contribution, social status, who you know, etc.

I recently read an article in Departures magazine about Spring Place in New York City which seems to combine the concept of a workspace with a social club that might fit the bill.  The article also mentions places like WeWork and Soho House and a short list of smaller private clubs focusing on serving people in a specific community, e.g. creatives, entrepreneurs, fashion industry professionals, Millennial women, etc.  Unfortunately, these options are still quite pricey and inaccessible for someone not willing to shell out approximately $2000-3000 dollars to join a club.

I think there is room for some discussion & disruption here, and I’d be curious to watch if there is a middle ground that forms between free social platforms that provide event information and social clubs like the ones described here.

What are your thoughts?  Do you have a social club or something similar that you have joined?  How did you find the club and what are your impressions?  What other tools do you use to meet new people and network when you move to a new place or lack the social connections offered by work, school, or place of worship?