If I count the travel time, I finished my 40-h work week by Wednesday. Why bragging about prioritizing work over family? Hustle culture isn’t that cool honestly. When pushing >80 h work weeks, most normal people are just on their way to a burn-out. However, it is not that simple. In my case, I performed field measurements in a school I have designed the acoustics. I started that work in 2021 and now, over 4 years later the buildings are almost finished. Just think about it for a second, how frustrating it is to make recommendations to a client and then wait for almost half a decade until you get feedback and can finally own the consequences of your recommendations. Feedback should be rapid, but this is the reality of civil engineering. That’s why I pushed such an insane work week. My curiosity was like a fire I couldn’t put out. I had to know if my calculations worked in practice!
After finally finishing the installation of a new head unit and loudspeakers, including new wires, I have noticed that I listen a lot more to music now than in years. Sure, the components are very good, but there are no power amps or subwoofers (yet) so the overall sound isn’t earth-shattering or anything special. But the listening environment is, and the blood sweat and tears that went into the installation matters. And when you season it all with nostalgia, all the planets align for what is close to a perfect listening experience for me.
For a very long time, VR has been “almost” ready for mass adoption. Tonight, I am doing an experiment by writing this blog post in my VR headset. It works, kind of, but so far it isn’t really a pleasant experience. I am sitting on some kind of platform, floating in infinite space, with a huge virtual computer screen in front of me. So far, it is just a gimmick and not really useful. But quite fun anyway, to try out.
Christmas holidays was a perfect time to dive into my car audio project. But as always, I was too optimistic on the time it would take to install and rewire new speakers. I had taken the panels off inside the cabin to route the wires properly, so the car was not in a driveable state and this increasingly annoyed me as the days became weeks. Finally, I decided to just spit in my hands and wrap things up, no matter how long it would take. I didn’t finish until after 04:00 in the morning, having worked for seven hours straight without a break. Was it worth it?
I was rather satisfied after my first car audio installation last week including a new head unit with new front and rear speakers. But the joy was short-lived. Now, I have pulled out all the speakers again, to start all over. Somewhat frustrating yes, but on the other hand, it is practically impossible to get something right on the first try. As soon as I was finished with the project, I had learned so much that a teardown and rebuild was the only rational thing to do.
Why do we know how sand tastes like? Or dirt, or wood, or mud, or whatever strange material you would never consider eating…? I think the answer is that we have tasted just about every material and substance out there when we were kids. If you’ve been around an infant, you know exactly what I mean. They taste anything they come close to. Which brings me to my second point, Memory.
I spoke with a friend today who introduced me to a new concept I haven’t heard before: “Clean desk”. I suppose the idea is to have a flex-office solution where you have a bunch of workstations with laptop docks and then you grab an available one in the morning, and before you leave it should be 100% restored. I have some serious concerns with this approach.
I usually look at my expensive life decisions as an education fee. With that mindset, it is easier to find positive aspects even when life gives you lemons. To become an owner of an old classic car was one of the best decisions of my life. Apart from the obvious economic savings, I have learned several important lessons. The most unexpected one was how much nicer it is to be a customer at a generic workshop instead of a brand-specific one.
Shortly after nine o´clock last Sunday morning, I boarded my train. I was heading from Umeå to Malmö, a 12-hour journey with one train change at Stockholm central. Lunch and dinner were pre-booked, and the transfer time was very short. I had booked a 1st class seat with a table and downloaded a bunch of files so that I could work offline during the trip. The trains worked perfectly, I arrived on schedule, well-rested and with proper lunch and dinner. In addition, I managed to do a full day of work onboard. Arriving at Malmö central, there was a short walk to my hotel.
One week ago, I thought it would be a regular blog writing Thursday, but then my son threw up in his bed when he was about to go to sleep. Not good. We have been here before but this time we also have a third one, a small baby so stomach illness is no joke. It is clearly one of those cases where you just insta-shift your priorities. And writing just went far down on that list.