Playing With Fire and To-Do Lists

I don't want to jinx it because I've been hurt before but I think we're finally getting into Summer now. The city is coming alive and I've been living in my Birkenstocks lately which is always the tell-tale sign of good weather. Hopefully it stays this way because I plan on putting away my winter clothes today. On second thought, maybe I'll leave a hoodie or two out just in case.

in this issue:

🔥 Craighill Swingtop lighter

🗓️ One weekly list

🌋 DIRT Hawaii

🔥 Craighill Swingtop lighter

If you put a little speck of orange on EDC gear, there's a high chance I'm going to want it. Case in point: the Swingtop lighter from Craighill. I've never been a smoker but I've always had an appreciation for cool lighters. Well designed lighters are a lost art form. Everyone uses BIC lighters now but there were so many cool designs back in the day. I would still say a good ol' mini BIC is the best and most reliable source of fire you can buy, but I always have a Zippo somewhere nearby because if we're being real, they're so much cooler. I've had the same nerdy Zippo lighter since high school but when I saw this lighter from Craighill, I knew I had to have it. It comes out later this month but they were doing a limited drop in the city that Rich (of Studio fame) went to and was kind enough to scoop one up for me. And let me tell you... this thing is cool.

It has a lever that exposes the wick when you push it and, upon release, the lever swings back into place causing the friction that sparks the flint. The tiny orange lever not only looks dope but it's also a pretty great fidget toy. Still, if you've ever used a Zippo before you know that the butane inside evaporates quickly and requires constant refilling. I haven't had to refill this one yet so hopefully Craighill found a way to make the fuel last longer, but my hopes aren't high. Needing to refill it every few weeks is a trade-off I'm willing to make for something that looks this good.

🗓️ One weekly list

I don't have many podcasts set to auto-download. I listen to a lot on a weekly basis but even then I usually just wait for them to drop before I press play. Cortex is one of the podcasts that I keep on auto-download. It's a podcast about how people use technology to do work that matters, and I leave it on auto-download because of episodes like this one with Obsidian CEO Steph Ango. Obsidian is a note-taking app that gives you full control over your files. Everything is local and if Obsidian ever goes away, you still have all of your notes and files on your computer. They won't be locked away behind a server that's about to be unplugged or stuck behind an increasing subscription. All your notes are local Markdown files that you can open with any text editor.

Obsidian is my tool of choice for almost everything. It's where I write these newsletters, keep meeting notes, save articles from the web to read later, and a bunch more. So I knew I had to listen to this episode. But while discussing how Steph Ango uses Obsidian, he said something that shook me to my core: he has one weekly tasks list. That's it. No extra apps. No reminders. Just a single list of things he has to do. And next week, he'll make another one! I've tried a bunch of different systems to capture tasks and to-dos, but I don't think I've ever YOLO'd like that. I live in constant fear of forgetting something on my to-do list but his argument is that if a task falls through the cracks, then it must not have been important to begin with. This is a challenge I have to take on so for the next few weeks I'm going to live by the weekly list and see if it fixes me. Wish me luck.

🌋 DIRT Hawaii

I'm fairly certain I've talked about the DIRT YouTube series before, but if you need a quick refresher DIRT is a series of aspirational lifestyle videos from online retailer Huckberry. The host travels to a specific location and meets up with cooks, farmers, fishermen, and everyone in between to gather local ingredients in order to make one giant meal at the end of each episode. Not only does the food always look delicious, but the crew does an amazing job with the visuals and there's always a great story to go along with it.

The most recent example of this is the Hawaii episode. They talk with people working hard to make sure that the next generation stays in touch with their culture, and they also get into a few fun adventures along the way. If you have some time to kill and want to be inspired, an episode of DIRT goes a long way.