These are my Momentos, short personal diary entries I write daily – since 2013 – and publish monthly. Some links are affiliate links.
1
Was going for a short run but ended up doing 10k. Through the mountains, the views and fresh air kept me going until my feet gave out. Along the way, saw folks relaxing by the lake, men catching trucha, an amateur ninja flying through the woods.
2
In a mall restroom the other day, a woman in there cleaning. I thought about thanking her for keeping the place clean – I bet she doesn’t hear that often – but chickened out in the end. Still regretting it.
3
The hardest people to help are those who aren’t willing to help themselves. Sent this guy two in-depth articles about data entry and typing work, probably 100+ hours put into creating those resources. He replies: “I need online job not tips to get a job.” #doomed
4
Looking back through my journal, and July 22nd last year was the first time we seriously started discussing and researching Andorra as the country we’d like to call home. 439 days later, we are officially residents 🥳
5
Last time I felt a sense of home was 2016 in Amsterdam. Before that, 2010 in New Orleans. Every six years, like some kind of rhythm I was unaware of. This place is for keeps though. Zero desire to move my entire life to a different country again.
6
First time I’ve had to furnish an entire place from scratch. Only through this experience have I come to appreciate the obvious: pretty much everything you see in someone’s house had to be bought at some stage.
7
Gotta do this more often: was feeling burnt out this afternoon, no desire for the work stuff, so I headed out for a long run along a magical river, winding through a valley with all the trees singing an autumn song. That recharged me.
8
They keep things tidy in Andorra. Very few run-down buildings or crappy roads. Walking around my town this eve and it’s immaculate. It’s the way things “should” be everywhere, but it takes a lot of effort to make them that way, to keep them that way.
9
Common question I get via email: “I’m from [some developing country], can I even get paid for online work?” My response: find someone in your country or similar who has already figured it out, then follow in their footsteps.
10
Playing a 3×3 basketball tournament, fairly intense. Got screwed out of one game, the other team basically cheated so we wouldn’t have time to get a final shot off. I refused to shake hands with them after. That shit bugs me, probably more than it should.
11
Words from Sir John Templeton – “probably the greatest international investor of the twentieth century” – resonating with me today…
It is impossible to produce superior performance unless you do something different from the majority.
12
That tournament proved my conditioning sucks, so I’m trying to exercise a bit more. Basketball scrimmage for almost an hour today, then went running up and down a hill after. Was wrecked after it, but the good kind of wrecked.
13
About 2300 years ago (!!) a Greek geographer named Pytheas sailed from Marseille up around the British Isles and beyond to the Arctic. He’s the first known person to have described the midnight sun, and to figure out that the moon causes the tides.
14
They don’t speak much English so I’m trying to explain in Spanish. At the end. I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him. I don’t like it. They say they’ll call mountain rescue. I feel I’ve done my part and head back to the car.
15
I’m up to 25 minutes a day of resting squat. I usually practice a little Spanish via Duolingo at the same time. Next month I’ll bump it up to 30 minutes a day and that’ll be my default going forward. Best thing I’ve ever done for my back issues.
16
Watched that Lightyear movie, then found out about the controversy. Down a YouTube rabbit hole, ended listening to a Christian dude telling me why being gay is a sin and Disney is pushing a homosexual agenda. Jesus fucking Christ.
17
The work isn’t flowing so I head out for a run, exploring a trail that cuts across the mountain to the next town over. Had to keep stopping to appreciate the view. Even saw a deer and some squirrels. Afternoon well spent.
18
Visited two car dealerships today. Was hoping to buy something on a payment plan, spread out the cost, but that’s not really doable in a country where I have no credit history. Now looking to buy something outright, lower my expectations.
19
Basketball scrimmage this eve, 4×4 for about an hour. Played terrible – missed layups and several air balls – but I don’t worry about that too much anymore. The main thing is to get out there and run around, have fun, meet some people.
20
Four dealerships today and everyone was quite pleasant. Occurs to me that you can’t really be a shady car salesperson these days. Customers can easily fact-check you via their phones and leave bad reviews online if you screw them over.
21
Reading about William Barents and his efforts to sail from Europe to Asia via the Arctic in the 1500s. They were literally sailing off all known maps, into oblivion. Sometimes my ego gets big and I think entrepreneurship is pretty much the same thing, just without sub-zero temperatures and killer polar bears.
22
Adding to what’s already the most expensive year of my life, I just transferred five figures to buy a car. That’s one of the main downsides of Andorra; you really do need a car to get around easily.
23
They say history is just one damn thing after another. Life can feel like that, too. You get something checked off your list – something you were sure was all that stood between you and some peace of mind – then stumble right into the next to-do.
24
Got a new desk a week ago, adjustable. Press a button and it becomes a standing desk. Liking it a lot so far, stood working for a good two hours today. May look at getting one of those minimalist treadmills so I can get some steps in as I work.
25
Lately I’ve been terrible with checking email and getting back to people. I sometimes go a few days without opening my inbox. Might be a good thing though. The more I ignore my email, the more work I seem to get done.
26
Seeing a guy with 17,000 subscribers to a newsletter not all that different to mine, and he’s earning $100,000+ a year from sponsors. I haven’t looked to monetize my newsletter much. Will be changing that soon, hopefully without ruining it.
27
SEO is a funny game with the long feedback loop. I’ll publish something, it will look like a dud for weeks, I’ll start to think I wasted my time, then it takes off. Not all the time, but enough that I should know by now that you never know.
28
Had a guy saying on Twitter that it’s unethical for us to affiliate link to courses we rate poorly, because we’re essentially making money off people getting scammed. But my conscience is as clear as the shopkeeper who sells someone a pack of cigarettes with “SMOKING KILLS” written across the front.
29
Tis the season for scary books, so I’ve started into Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. An early excerpt…
I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose – a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.
30
Night of the Living Dead was released six months after Martin Luther King was assassinated. The film had a black man in the lead role, and – spoiler alert – the police shoot and kill him at the end. Director George A Romero said there was no hidden meaning in that.
31
The thing that bothers me about guys like Kyrie Irving is the supreme confidence they have in their righteousness. He seems to believe he’s some kind of enlightened being and everyone else is an idiot, unable to see things as clearly as he can. Ugh.