Wonders Untold

A blog about life, arts and culture

Of life, arts and culture.

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A change of scenery

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I spent today working from my new ‘office’.

I’ve signed up for a subscription that entitles me to several days a month working from my choice of beautiful office buildings in Amsterdam.

It’s a nice way to experience different work environments. This is one of the benefits of the hybrid work culture ushered in by the covid pandemic.

Some days I work from home. Other days I go to my company’s offices. And now, I have a third option – I take my pick from any number of well designed, unique, Amsterdam buildings.

Today, I worked in a building on one of Amsterdam’s most beautiful canals. I was shown to a nice, private office where I worked undisturbed for the whole day. The wifi was excellent, and so my video meetings went smoothly. There was a coffee machine close by, also stocked with decaf capsules. (A plus point in my book, as that is the only ‘coffee’ I drink.)

All told, a lovely day at work. Looking forward to many more.

In praise of Notion templates

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Three cheers for whoever invented the software behind Notion templates, in particular the button that allows you to create your own templates.

I’m a massive fan of this feature. One way I use it is to create a weekly goals sheet, which sets out all the things I want to achieve in any particular week.

My goals sheet has different categories relating to my personal and work goals, and also shows how these tie into my quarterly goals. As this is a document I fill in every week, I have created a Notion template in the form of a questionnaire. At the start of every week, I simply click a link, and a brand new questionnaire automatically appears. I then fill this in with my goals for the week.

Without the ability to create a template, I’d have had to create this questionnaire from scratch every week. I’m glad I don’t have to do that, and can simply focus on filling in my goals for the week.

Notion is an amazingly versatile app, and the ability to create templates does wonders for creativity. Five golden stars for this incredible feature.

Kyrö Wood Smoke

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I’m not at all a fan of rye whiskey, but the Kyrö Wood Smoke is something different.

I like this one. The rye doesn’t hit you in quite the way it normally does. The spiciness is there, but tapers off quite gently. The whiskey is aged in ex-bourbon casks. Perhaps that has something to do with it.

Also amazing is that this whiskey comes from Finland – not one of the big names when it comes to whiskey distilleries, and so a really nice surprise.

Perhaps the Kyrö Wood Smoke will make me revisit my views on rye whiskey. Let’s see how that goes.

End of experiment

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Well, this particular experiment lasted no more than two days.

I don’t think I can restrict myself to reading only one book at a time. I’ve given it a try, but it doesn’t work for me.

I’ve already added another book to the January list – Nicolas Cole’s The Art and Business of Online Writing. Didn’t mean to buy it, but he writes so compellingly. I read the Kindle sample, and have now decided to read the whole book.

I know I won’t be disappointed. And I’m actually happy that the experiment failed.