Vacation crescendo
Vacation crescendo

The usual pattern again. Everyone wants to deliver important projects before the vacation and the final weeks up until the last Friday feels like a metronome that speeds up exponentially. Let us also throw a couple of urgent surprise problems that require you to drop everything and hyper-focus without interruption for 8 hours straight. No, we are not saturated enough, we also need sick kids that must go to the emergency room, dogs with wounds, and a computer that blows itself up in the middle of an important delivery. Then I went outdoors, the rain started pouring and I inhaled a mosquito and almost puked. What a wonderful day!

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Habits, Family, Parenting, DiaryRikard Öqvistpreparation, parenting, computers, mindfulness, focusComment
To-do lists and vacation
To-do lists and vacation

Vacation is rapidly approaching, and there are 10X more things to do compared to available time. The usual approach has been to go for the more boring list and as a house owner there is an endless supply of things to attend. I have things on that list that has been there for five years. But one has to prioritize… Me and my wife just tried a new approach. We wrote both a “chore list” and a “fun list”. Consequently, this shall be our best vacation ever, Inshallah.

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DiaryRikard Öqvistscheduling, vacation, planning, habitsComment
A grumpy old gamer
A grumpy old gamer

I have been playing a lot of Diablo 4 these past months. Overall, it is a very impressing game, especially with regards to the production value. I don’t think I have seen anything like it before. The graphics, artwork, audio, cutscenes, atmosphere, mechanics, story, music… the list goes on and on. However, there is one thing that annoys me more than anything. The difficulty level. Why on Earth is the game so extremely easy? There is no challenge whatsoever and it is almost impossible to die, and I can dispose of most enemies, including bosses with one or a couple of actions. It becomes rather boring after a while.I have been playing a lot of Diablo 4 these past months. Overall, it is a very impressing game, especially with regards to the production value. I don’t think I have seen anything like it before. The graphics, artwork, audio, cutscenes, atmosphere, mechanics, story, music… the list goes on and on. However, there is one thing that annoys me more than anything. The difficulty level. Why on Earth is the game so extremely easy? There is no challenge whatsoever and it is almost impossible to die, and I can dispose of most enemies, including bosses with one or a couple of actions. It becomes rather boring after a while.

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ComputerRikard Öqvistgaming, blizzard, challengeComment
Hands-free baby
Hands-free baby

I recently discovered how great baby carriers are. Our little girl is by far the clingiest one yet. Pacifiers hardly work but I have noticed that attaching her on my body and going about my business as usual seems to get the job done most of the time. It is kind of like getting a hands-free mode on your newborn, which can come in very handy. She even joined me at work this Monday for around two hours.

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ParentingRikard Öqvistbaby, father, love, familyComment
Less is more
Less is more

After finding my destroyed Airpods a week ago, I did a little experiment and dug out my unused pair of cable headphones that came with the phone. Now I have been using them for a week and I have made some interesting observations. In a full week, I have used them only two times. I took a phone call while walking, and I listened to some Youtube stuff tonight for around 10 minutes. And it is not that I have improved my self-control. Simply put, the cable headphones are lightyears worse than wireless Airpods. They are extremely bad from a usability perspective. Paradoxically I can now confirm that it is also their greatest strength.

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Diary, HabitsRikard Öqvistapple, airpods, focus, habits, disciplineComment
Good riddance!
Good riddance!

Some months ago, on a dog walk this winter in a rough snowstorm, I dropped my Airpods. I didn’t notice they were gone it until I got back home. I instantly returned and backtracked to look for them. But a white Airpod case is near invisible in snow, and even though I was back in the same place just a couple of minutes later, they were already buried. They were gone. And that turned out to be a very good thing.

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Habits, DiaryRikard Öqvistapple, airpods, habits, coffee, attention Comment
The greatest gift
The greatest gift

One week ago, we were blessed with our third kid, our first daughter. The first few days are magical and there is a saying that an infant is the closest thing to seeing the face of God. That one is absolutely true. There is nothing that can come close to it. I have managed to check out temporarily from work these two weeks and for that I am very grateful. It is a rare occasion to have something in front of you that is important for real and not just a misplaced priority.

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FamilyRikard Öqvistfocus, children, kids, lifeComment
Contrast keeps you sane
Contrast keeps you sane

While talking to a colleague last week, I went on a rant regarding cognitive work. I sometimes have a strong urge to work with something where I can just turn on the autopilot and cruise for a while. But it seems like that day never comes to me. I am a specialist consultant, and I find my work very difficult most of the time. And every time a palette drops, and I finally figure out how to solve a specific problem, you might think that life should get a little easier. But no… the only thing that happens is that the difficulty setting increases even more. It feels like mental tractor pulling.

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Engineering, HabitsRikard Öqvistwork, job, engineering, health, musicComment
Kid routines
Kid routines

Routines are critical for a successful life. They are the foundation upon which the house of your life is built. With a solid foundation, the house can endure tougher challenges than were it built on clay. When we got our first son in 2019, we had to build new routines. It took about two years to iron out everything. Then, son number two arrived in 2021 and all routines were blasted into smithereens, and we had to restart the routine building process for another two years. In about a week, it is time to destroy the routines once again.

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Family, HabitsRikard Öqvistchildren, family, habits, routinesComment
Sleep habits in the land of the midnight sun
Sleep habits in the land of the midnight sun

I listened to a long podcast about the importance of sleep and to keep a solid routine for your circadian rhythm. It was nothing new under the sun, except for a couple of eye-opening facts such that shift workers die 15 years earlier on average (!). A proper sleep habit with enough hours in bed gives massive, massive health benefits and reduced risks for just about everything. It all sounds great on paper, but to apply it up here in the north of Sweden is slightly frustrating…

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Diary, HabitsRikard ÖqvistComment
Quality time
Quality time

My oldest son (5yo) is a petrolhead and loves anything with an engine. That’s why I got the brilliant idea of using up a bunch of airline and hotel bonus points to book a father-son weekend in Stockholm. We would go on an airplane, buses, trams, trains, and metro. Those things that I usually couldn’t like even if I tried, but with petrolhead junior, just about any boring chore can be fun again. What a blessing it is to experience it all once again through him. We threw in a couple of museums and a zoo into the equation too.

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DiaryRikard Öqvistparenting, travellingComment
The importance of a clean mind
The importance of a clean mind

One of the most important lessons I have learned from my weekly writing is the importance of a clean mind before writing. The first hundred posts or so, I wrote first thing in the morning. And the past few months it has usually been the final activity before bed. That implies a very high probability that I have recently used my smart phone just before writing. Or watched something on YouTube or read something… whatever. It doesn’t matter because the effect is the same. It feels almost impossible to come up with something original topic when you have saturated your mind with someone else’s thoughts.

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Habits, DiaryRikard Öqvistwriting, focus, habitsComment
Dreams and stress
Dreams and stress

I just exited a streak of around ~100 work hours in nine days. It has been quite high stress level in general and intense periods of focus. It is fascinating how the body enters a high alert state and how I have been able to function in a state of sleep depravation with sometimes down to 4 hours per night. But today, when I finally lowered my guard and rest mode activates, I was unable to stay awake at all. The mental realisation that the crunch is over for now, takes a bit of time to process into a physical realisation. It is a damn nice feeling though when it happens.

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DiaryRikard Öqviststress, burnout, work, healthComment
Steve jobs on consulting
Steve jobs on consulting

Steve Jobs once did a speech on consulting and how crucial it is for learning and improvement to “stick around” for a long time, several years, to fully “own” the consequences of your recommendations. I have worked as a consultant most of my professional life and it hit very close to home. In the building industry where I am an acoustic consultant, the delay between your first advice to a client to the finalized building is measured in years. And I am finally getting old enough to seeing several of “my” projects materialize. It is equally scary and wonderful.

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Acoustics, EngineeringRikard Öqvistacoustics, consulting, wisdom, construction, buildingsComment
Retro gaming on period-correct or modern systems
Retro gaming on period-correct or modern systems

EA had a big sale recently on Steam where they released the whole original Command and Conquer series. All the old original games, no remastered editions. I really enjoy these old gems for nostalgia and the occasional retro LAN party, and getting them on Steam helps a lot, because it has been difficult or even impossible to play them for a long time. A Steam release is thus perfect for simplicity. I messaged my retro pals and gave them a tip on the sale. In the conversation I jokingly said that the best way to enjoy the original games is on proper Retro hardware with spinning discs. Surprisingly, my joke turned out to be the truth.

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ComputerRikard Öqvistretro, gaming, pcComment
To long for the dentist
To long for the dentist

Two weeks ago, I tried out a proper toothache for the first time. It was just as enjoyable as it sounds. I don’t know why it is perceived worse than for example a pain in a leg or an arm? I’ve had my fair share of those, and I don’t recall it to ever being as bad. Maybe it is because pain in your teeth is inside your head, and if you ask anyone where they “are” in their body, I guess that many would consider their brain as the most important part of the machinery where your soul resides. And in that case, the closer any physical pain gets to the perceived center of your soul, the more painful it becomes? You can’t hide from it or think about something else when you have a migraine.

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DiaryRikard ÖqvistComment
Tech-savvy kids
Tech-savvy kids

This weekend I had a big wow experience. I introduced my five-year-old son to Minecraft. I just put a gamepad in his hands, and a short time later, I glanced at the screen and stopped in my tracks. He had just built a little house with a kitchen and a library, with an additional lookout tower complete with an internal ladder to get to the top. To keep the monsters away, there were some bonfires and torches. The learning curve will never cease to amaze me. It is not too long ago that he was pushing the go pedal in Mario Kart straight into a wall. Fast-forward 1-2 years and he beats me. And now he’s creating things in Minecraft. Playing a first- or third-person game is more challenging than understanding a racing game. It is mind-boggling how fast it happened.

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Computer, Diary, ParentingRikard Öqvistminecraft, computer, gaming, parentingComment
Analogies between AI and Wooden buildings
Analogies between AI and Wooden buildings

Since almost ten years, I have been doing a yearly guest lecture at my old university. In the beginning of my presentation, I use a couple of slides where I demonstrate Moore´s law, and how the fastest supercomputer on Earth was beaten by a Playstation less than ten years later. Then I move on to demonstrate where we are now and a hint where we are going. I usually look up what is the state of the art shortly before the lecture, and every time I notice that the monster computer that was the king of the hill, was already old news. And indeed, progress is accelerating. But what does this have to do with wooden constructions?

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EngineeringRikard Öqvistacoustics, wood, timber, buildings, AI, moores lawComment
The best Valentine’s day
The best Valentine’s day

Yesterday was one of the best days ever. I had to take a full day and take care of my sick little two-year-old. Usually, me and my wife try to do some damage control by sharing it, but this time she was completely swamped, and I wasn’t, for the first time in forever. Previous days when I have attempted sick kid leave, I have always had to take some phone calls or listen in on some meeting on one ear. But finally, I could just let it all go for a day. It really makes a difference.

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ParentingRikard Öqvistfamily, parenting, dad, relationship, kidsComment
Why routines are critical
Why routines are critical

Oh, how easy it is to lose a habit. This is my 218th weekly blog post, but a couple of weeks ago I stopped caring about which day I should publish it. It used to be Mondays, almost without fault for a couple of years. And here I am, Sunday evening, in the final hours of this week before my habit is officially broken. It is interesting that these things always seem to gravitate towards “I’ll do it later”. But later usually never comes. Obviously, it can never work if you don’t follow a routine. Lesson learned.

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Diary, HabitsRikard Öqvistblog, writing, habits, consistencyComment