Iterate Weekly - Issue 2
Welcome to Issue 2 of the Iterate weekly newsletter! My name is Chris Jennings. If you really have no idea who I am and why you’re receiving this e-mail, take a look at the about page for a reminder.
You’ll see that the content here is broken down into 4 categories.
Tech - This will be the main focus of the newsletter. I’m dedicated to helping people improve their relationships with technology.
Learning - I consider myself an autodidact and like to examine the concept of learning how to be a more productive learner.
Health - None of these other topics are important if you’re not healthy enough to enjoy them.
Grab Bag - This could be something personal, something silly, something fun that doesn’t quite fit the other categories.
Finally, we’ll wrap things up with a quote of the week and a piece of content that I recommend you check out.
Yes, there may be the occasional affiliate link to a product I recommend, but no one is paying for placement in this newsletter. Thank you so much for reading, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment and let me know what you think of this format.
Tech
How many robots are in your house?
This question jumped out at me when my 1-year old daughter started saying “Google” all the time. It makes sense seeing how my wife and I are always spouting demands at the audio assistants scattered around the house. Having voice-activated lights or door locks when you’re carrying around a toddler is extremely convenient. But how much is too much?
We joke that the laundry room has become the den of robots in our house. You’ll find the stacked washer and dryer (super common robots), a docked Roomba i7 vacuum (a somewhat common robot), and the Litter-Robot 3 Connect (a rare robot that could be a little superfluous). Should we feel a slight bit of guilt for having an automated litter box for our spoiled cat? Do other people have this many robots in their house right now?
If they aren’t in your house yet, a recent New York Times article talks about the next domain that robots will be infiltrating...your backyard
Learning
Shower Notes
I have always known that waterproof notebooks for the shower existed, but I wasn’t sure I needed one. An old colleague of mine had mentioned getting one as a birthday gift a few years ago. At the time, he considered it somewhat of a gag gift but then found it to be incredibly useful.
About a month ago, I decided to take the fairly inexpensive plunge and picked up an Aqua Notes Pad. I have to say that it really reframed my shower experience. I felt like my shower was incomplete if I didn’t jot down something before getting out. It was never anything particularly groundbreaking. My notes fell somewhere between a to-do list and a motivational journal entry.
Notice that I use the past tense for these notes. My wife was not as keen on the idea as I was. In her defense, a notepad attached to the shower wall does give off a certain vibe. It’s not the classiest thing to see in a bathroom. And while the product works as advertised, the fine folks at Aqua Notes could probably improve the design a bit. I’ll still pull out the notebook for more strategic showers, but maybe you’ll have better luck keeping it as a staple part of your shower routine.
Health
Oura Ring
People ask me all the time about my Oura ring. Is it a wedding band? What does it mean? Most untrained eyes don’t recognize it as a high-tech piece of tracking equipment. But it has become a key component of my quantified-self blueprint.
If you’re not familiar, the Oura ring is mainly marketed as a simple way to track and improve your sleep. It has no screen, no vibration function (although I’d love a vibrating alarm feature in the next iteration), it’s one of the most simple looking devices you’ll find.
But make no mistake, the Oura ring does a great job of presenting you the data you need to know about your health. How long were you asleep? What was the quality of your sleep (time in REM or deep sleep, etc.)? How much activity did you have during the day that may have impacted that sleep? For anyone looking to take the next step in their quantified-self journey, I can’t recommend the Oura ring enough.
Grab Bag/In Case You Missed It
Backyard Office
Spring is in full effect here in Northern California. Not that we get much of a winter. But the star jasmine vines in our backyard are in-bloom and it smells amazing.
In case you missed it, this week I wrote about some of the questions I get about my outdoor office set up in my backyard. The story was featured on the front page of Medium’s Remote Work publication. The aforementioned jasmine plants make a cameo appearance.
Quote of the Week
“Perhaps we should love ourselves so fiercely, that when others see us
they know exactly how it should be done.” - Rudy Francisco
Content Recommendation
Operation Varsity Blues
This week my wife and I watched “Operation Varsity Blues”.
I felt like I was pretty well-informed about the college admissions scandal that serves as the topic of this film, but I learned a lot.
Check it out for yourself. Matthew Modine gives a hell of a performance. I’d say it’s really just a great magnifying glass to take a closer look at the way higher education serves young people (and their parents) in the United States. It really seems like a broken system that we need to fix ASAP.
You made it to the end of my newsletter, nicely done! If you enjoyed this and know of someone else who may enjoy it, please share it with them.