🥬 Gardening szn
Ep 33: Strength in the cemetery, the benefits of a mental clean sweep, and cruise ship spotting in New York City.
Hello, and a special welcome to new subscribers! You’ll find today’s edition has a heftier picture-to-words ratio. Pictures are fun! Thank you for being here, and I hope you have a fabulous week ahead.
A Tip for the Modern Worker
You have to leave off before you can pick up. There are times when your work will not logically conclude at the end of your workday. This can be tough if it’s a particularly vexing problem. If you must leave something undone, take steps to be fully present for yourself and those around you during your non-working time. Unburden your mind by leaving notes to yourself about what your immediate next steps are when you pick up where you left off. Make a plan in your calendar to finish the work. Then, leave.
This tip is one of 365 in my Handbook for the Modern Worker. I used to struggle with this lack of compartmentalization. Now I take time at the end of most work days, and definitely at the end of every week, to know what my next steps are when it’s time to clock in again. It’s a bit of a mental clean sweep, clearing the decks for the evening or weekend ahead.
#365DayDraw
I drew this and wrote the accompanying annotation as part of my #365DayDraw project 7 years ago today.
Strength in the cemetery
Seven years ago today I was running the Flower City Half Marathon. In my race report, I talked about being inspired by something I ran past in the cemetery. It made enough of an impression to inspire the day’s drawing, too.
In the Mount Hope cemetery, there was an awesome sight in one of the earlier turns (there were many). It was a mausoleum (or columbaria, I'm not sure) emblazoned with the surname "Strong". Yes, I was tired, and I would need to be STRONG to keep on track.
Speaking of running, I also completed race reports for this year’s Skunk Cabbage 10K and the Syracuse Half Marathon.
Commentary
I nestled a short business trip in the middle of last week. Just “one sleep” as I termed it to my colleagues. The enormity of the city always strikes me. So many people. So many buildings. And so much to see.
I ran on the Hudson River Greenway Thursday morning and had the pleasure of seeing Norwegian Cruise Line’s Breakaway shepherded into its berth at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal by a group of sturdy tenders.
It’s a massive ship: 5,620 guests and crew, 14 decks, and 1,068 feet long. As I completed my run, I passed no fewer than 25 tractor-trailer trucks waiting patiently in line to replenish the ship.
One of my colleagues told me they’d seen advertisements for MSC all over the city. MSC’s Meraviglia pulled into New York’s Brooklyn Cruise Terminal last week. One of the world's biggest cruise ships, the Meraviglia will ferry guests to The Bahamas, Florida, Canada and New England, and Bermuda. While it is 32 feet shorter than Breakaway, it holds 1,616 more guests and crew (7,236) and has 5 more decks (19). I bet that’s a sight to see on the shores of Brooklyn.
Miscellanea
📃 A note about Notes: Substack announced this new feature as a way to share posts and short-form content. I posted a welcome note and played around with viewing notes from the entire network, people I subscribe to, and people who subscribe to me. It feels like another Twitter (albeit with a lower amount of noise) and I’m honestly not sold. To me, Substack Notes is just another feed to pay attention to, and except for Instagram, the concept of a feed is exhausting to me. It’s one more thing to have to check if FOMO is your thing. Sure, it could go somewhere, but I came to Substack for longer-form writing and really targeted subscriptions. I’m interested to see where it goes, though.
🌮 Ithaca’s Viva Taqueria completed its move across the street to a new location, opening its doors days ahead of schedule. We’re excited to go try it out at 215 East State Street, right at the east end of the Ithaca Commons.
🍅 Gardening season is getting in full swing! I have some seeds starting inside now: tomatoes, eggplant, leeks, and peppers. As these weeks pass by, more delicious things will get sown and transplanted. The screenshot below is from my Todoist, by the way. I had a nice talk with a colleague this week who’d been using Apple Notes as a way to keep track of tasks. They were intrigued by what Todoist offers for free users.