Don’t think, just dad

Last weekend I learned a secret dad technique. I have been working on a small IT central in our walk-in closet for a while, with a patch bay, router etc. Basically, the hub of our home network connecting all the rooms and buildings. I had a small shelf system that was supposed to carry a couple of devices, but it had been lying around for several weeks and it annoyed me more and more every time I put my eyes on the unfinished project. But this time, something snapped in me. I couldn’t stand looking at that mess anymore, so I simply grabbed my tools and ruthlessly started working. Meanwhile, our two sons and Labrador retrievers were busy tearing the home apart. It’s standard practice and the primary reason why the IT central was still unfinished. My wife was screaming for help, but I just replied, “No, that’s your problem now, I am busy” and locked the door. To say that it wasn’t popular, is a slight understatement. But sometimes you must make a choice. Take a hit now or suffer death by a thousand cuts. I chose the former. And it was a good choice.

Diary, ParentingRikard ÖqvistSeptember 12, 2022family, relationship, kids, priorities, focus, network Comments

A lesson from physical labor

Last Saturday I spent digging around 15 meters of network cable in the ground. The only thing that remains now is to make a wall pass-through and install some wall outlets in the houses and then finally, all our houses are hard-wired with cat6 cables. It’s something that I have been waiting to do since we moved here, to get rid of the shaky Wi-Fi connection. But you must always rank-order your work and it took me four years to execute more important priorities before I could start solving this simple but highly annoying problem. And it felt so good to put it all back together. When I was done, it really struck me that there are few things that feels more satisfying than to complete some proper physical labor, to the degree that you can raise the “mission accomplished” sign.

Diary, Parenting, PhilosophyRikard ÖqvistSeptember 5, 2022parenting, work, exercise, scheduling, planning, productivityComment

You will never get any new old friends

Have you ever thought about which music that really makes your heart sing? I suspect most of us would say that it’s the music you grew up with that has a special place in your heart. I haven’t come across any music that speaks to my soul as strongly as the favorites from my childhood and teenage years, with a handful of exceptions perhaps. But the pattern is clear as crystal. The relationship with music that you acquire when growing up stays with you for the rest of your life. I realized this weekend that the same thing goes for old friendships. You can get new friends, but you cannot get any new old friends.

Philosophy, DiaryRikard ÖqvistAugust 29, 2022friends, friendship, celebration, familyComment

Upkeep vs Improvement

For the past couple of years, I have been working on a little project; to restore an old disused Tennis court. The journey has been a bit shaky at times, but tonight I made a giant leap forward when I finally got my surface cleaning equipment up and running and managed to clean about 70% of the surface in a day. The total area is about 600 sqm, so it is quite a big undertaking. It felt so good to fire up the pressure washer with the surface cleaning attachment and see the grime and dirt just flow away, once again revealing the vivid colored playing surface that had been gone for so long.

DiaryRikard ÖqvistJuly 26, 2022priorities, parenting, tennis, cleaning, restorationComment

Discipline equals freedom

The sun painted everything golden all the way to the horizon. As far as the eye could see, there was ice. My son Elis was riding his Stiga Snow Racer pulled by our dog Jussi. The three of us were on a round trip on the ice around a nearby island, with the sea as a backdrop. That morning, my son woke up at 05:44 which had interrupted my morning routine. But what an interruption! It was one of those mornings that you only get a handful of throughout a lifetime.

Diary, Habits, ParentingRikard ÖqvistMarch 22, 2022nature, discipline, habits, winter, ice, spring, parenting, dogComment

I prefer the stick

To make real progress you need both the carrot and the stick. I have got plenty of carrots, and last week I finally got a proper batch of stick. It’s amazing how much productivity boost that can be achieved by a feeling of impending doom. My to-do list had been growing steadily for quite some time, perhaps for a couple of months. I was adding things faster than I was ticking them off. Problems like these are appropriate to consider the saying “How did you go broke? Little by little then everything at once.” So, when you get that feeling that you are inching slowly in the wrong direction, be careful. Be very careful. Because then suddenly everything might twist and turn at once and you don’t want that.

Diary, HabitsRikard ÖqvistMarch 14, 2022health, productivity, sleep, focusComment

Everyone is a three-year-old

”Daddy, hug!!!” My three-year-old son yelled while running to me and gave me the biggest good-bye hug I have ever got in my life. I was about to leave on a job trip with a stay in the hotel. Just one night, no big deal. The tears started rolling down, mostly from overwhelming joy but also from sadness. Every single soldier on both sides were also somebodys three-year-old not that long ago. Somebodys brother, husband, friend, dad… I thought about what it would feel like if this was the last time I would ever hug my little boy. It gave me a glimpse into the reality of what thousands of Russians and Ukrainians are going through right now. And that’s all I can write tonight. I will pray instead.

DiaryRikard ÖqvistFebruary 28, 2022love, familyComment

A simple Valentine’s Day

Last Saturday I finally tested positive and started acquiring my natural immunity. Knowing that everyone on the planet will get it sooner or later, I was relieved when the two lines showed up after inserting a tops half-way into my brain. So nice to just get it over with and leave this whole insanity behind us. The sickness has been a walk in the park. One of the mildest colds I have ever had. But the week was quite tough anyway due to the lack of sleep. My sleep account was already running dry, and when both boys got the fever and kept us up at night, the whole situation felt more like a bad hangover that went on for a week.

Parenting, DiaryRikard ÖqvistFebruary 14, 2022love, family, kidsComment

Be prepared

This weekend I finally managed to photograph an Otter. Actually, I even got three (1) of them in a single shot/video! I have been trying to snap a picture of one for over a year, but they have always eluded me until now. I have usually seen them from a window, and then I have rushed to grab my camera and when I got back it was nowhere to be seen. We are talking about a time window of about 30-60 seconds here. I can honestly say that I am hooked permanently now on nature photography. It is so rewarding, and when you live in a place like we do, it is all but mandatory to get a tele lens and learn photography. My wife told me that there are only around 2000 Otters in the whole of Sweden. They are super rare. That means that I have just documented a significant part of the entire Swedish Otter population. They are so rare that you are supposed to report sightings in Sweden (which I just did).

Art, Diary, PhotographyRikard ÖqvistJanuary 24, 2022photography, focus, preparation, productivityComment