Information Curation

Over the holiday I started working on my digital scrapbook projects. It felt nice to review pictures of warmer times while listening to the wind howl outside my windows. I flipped through photos of vacations taken to sunny climates. Swimming. Laying near the beach. Going rock climbing.

Our trusty kayaks waiting for us as we lunched on the rocks above.

One big difference I’ve noticed in the process is choosing which pictures to place in the scrapbook. I’m overwhelmed with options and I get decision fatigue often. It makes the process very time consuming, especially when I have to go to multiple locations to see all the photos. I selected the image above from many similar ones of the kayaks tied up at different locations throughout our 4-day trip last summer.

However, the more pictures I select, the more I can fit on the page, but then the smaller they become. So many compromises to make! The image below wouldn’t be as nice if it were too small.

One of many stunning views while rock climbing in Lake Tahoe.

Volume was more contained when pictures were still printed, likely for practical reasons (space, cost, managing, etc.). It would have been difficult for most of us to obtain the same large volume of photos/videos with older technology. But on the other side, features have been developed to accommodate the volumes, some of which can automate the hard work of organizing and managing photos.

Every time I create a digital scrapbook, I feel keenly aware that I’m somewhat crafting my own history by the choices I make, sometimes from hundreds of options. Cost is definitely a factor for me because I like to get my digital scrapbooks printed. So I carefully go through them to choose the best representatives, or my favorites. I’ll often limit how many scrapbook pages are dedicated for each set of photos.

Each time I look through one of my scrapbooks, I become more familiar with the highlights of the event I memorialized. The narrative I designed by the images I chose and the accompanying text. I wonder, as time passes, will I only remember these few curated moments of the experience?  The ones that match the photos I selected?  Will I forget about all the other small details and things that happened if I can’t see all the photos?

And then I wonder, if that’s such a bad thing.

 

 

 

Floating

With the start of the New Year, we often put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be better, healthier, more organized, etc. We convince ourselves that we can change decades of bad habits and stick with it the minute the clock ticks from Dec. 31 to Jan. 1. But maybe with resolutions, we don’t need to be so resolute with ourselves. Sometimes it’s best to decide not to decide just yet. Keep your goals in mind, but remain open to possibility and unexpected outcomes.

Last summer I had the good fortune to go on an amazing 4-day kayaking trip with my family in the Johnstone Strait, off the coast of northern Vancouver Island. We went in August when we would be most likely to see orcas, an animal that has been at the top of my mom’s wish list for decades, although there were no guarantees. Even though there are 3 resident pods of orcas in that area, they are wild and could show up anywhere at any time. And we intended to be ready for them, paddling in our kayaks, floating and waiting.

Day 3 of the trip stands out as a highlight in my mind. We started paddling that morning in a thick fog, obscuring the landscape in a blanket of wet, gray mist. The edges of the land peeked out enabling us to use the shoreline to guide our path.

 

Some birds hanging out on the bull kelp.

Suddenly, we heard loud smacking and cracking noises ricocheting off the haze around us. Humpbacks! They were close. We could hear them, but we couldn’t see these massive 40-ton animals sliding through the fog. It was eerie, exciting, and magical, all at the same moment.

The fog started to clear as we disembarked on land for a small break.

The fog starting to clear as we took our morning break on land.

Each passing minute revealed more of the landscape. Every turn offered a new vista, stunning and pristine. We paddled close to seals, splayed out on the rocks in an array of tawny and gray colored bullet shapes. Bald eagles dotted the trees with their bright white heads, surveying us from above.

A seal peered at us curiously as we glided by in our kayak.

In the afternoon, orcas! We were lucky. Our kayaks were right in the middle of a few orcas swimming by.

The dorsal fins of three orcas cutting through the water near our floating kayaks.

Sometimes when you just relax and spend time floating, the best things come your way. If you’re too resolute about what’s supposed to happen when, you may miss out on alternate possibilities and unexpected, yet delightful, outcomes.

The Gift of Time

During the holiday season, it’s easy to get caught up in the frenzy of consumerism. Every where I look I’m bombarded with ads for cool gadgets, special holiday sale pricing, tantalizing offers of free shipping and extra freebies, and a persistent message to buy, buy, buy.

In Canada, my home for the last 12 years, the holiday season starts near Halloween. We don’t have a holiday between October and December to distract us from buying gifts for 2 months straight. Canada even now offers Black Friday sales in November to match the US, even though Canadian Thanksgiving happens on the 2nd Monday in October.

It’s easy to succumb to the pressure (and guilt) and start buying things at this time of year.  Even things you might not have considered purchasing if you weren’t inundated with promotionals and infected with “the holiday spirit.” However, one thing many of us want, but rarely get, is the gift of time. The tricky thing about time is that once it’s spent, it can’t be regained. It’s done, never to be repeated again. It can’t be returned, exchanged, or traded in for something better. We all get one shot at the time we have.

Some months ago I read an article in the New York Times, “Want to Be Happy? Buy More Takeout and Hire a Maid, Study Suggests.” The article reports the findings of a study that people who spent money on timesaving services experienced increased levels of happiness. Timesaving services mentioned in the article included things like ordering takeout, hiring a house cleaner, or paying someone to run errands for you. If these are things that you hate doing, it makes sense to me that hiring someone to do them for you would increase your happiness. Not only do you not have to do the dreaded task, but you also have more free time to do something you would rather be doing.

So for this holiday season, enjoy the time you are spending with your loved ones. It’s not about the presents. Give yourself the gift of time and take an afternoon off to do something you really enjoy. Or, if you’re still scrambling around for gifts to buy, consider giving your loved ones time by offering to do something such as babysit the kids, clean part of the house, prepare a dinner, or pick up the groceries. The gift of time is precious.

Avoiding Spoilers

It’s harder than ever to avoid spoilers for shows or movies that you may be interested in watching. This past weekend, on Sunday, I went to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi in the movie theater. It was only 4 days after it was released, but even so, I had concerns about how to avoid reading, or hearing, about the movie until I could actually see it.

I had a number of friends and colleagues who all rushed to see the movie on opening night. Afterwards, I was careful to only ask them if they thought the movie was worth seeing, while artfully dodging any other questions that may have inadvertently led to spoilers.

Even reading a review, or synopsis, about a show or movie can contain spoilers. Some authors are better than others about marking reviews and articles with a “spoiler alert” message. I recall once reading about the next season for a program I was watching, only to discover I could figure out everything that happened from reading the small synopsis for each episode. Talk about spoilers! And there wasn’t even a warning.

Sometimes, spoilers can be verbal, and can happen on radio programs, during interviews, or even with an innocent discussion. Or from a news source that’s totally unrelated. A colleague of mine, who incidentally is a huge Star Wars fan, shared with me how she was inadvertently exposed to a big spoiler for the previous Star Wars film in 2015. This colleague was being mindful to avoid any source that could potentially have information about the movie. Shortly before she went to see the movie, a big spoiler was randomly posted (with no warning), in a magazine about an unrelated topic, like gardening.

I’m not sure what the solution is, other than to avoid all news, social media, and casual conversations until after the threat of spoilers has past for you. Or learn to live with the disappointment. It’s almost impossible to control this type of information flow. Or to predict how and when it will appear. And at what point does a “spoiler” stop being a spoiler? Surely after enough time has passed, it’s ok to share certain things….

Irony of the Information Age

We have instant access to so much information. Instead of making us more knowledgeable and informed, it can often have the opposite effect. There’s too much available, and too many things of dubious quality. And it’s too easy for false information to go “viral” polluting news streams in a matter of seconds.

It’s easier than ever to access information about anything, but harder to trust the quality of the sources, or to figure out what’s relevant. Searching Google with just a few words, for example, often yields millions of results, more than anyone could possibly go through. And yet, most people will never go past the first page, relying on the advertisements and top 10 hits to find what they need.

We’re inundated with snazzy headlines, cool things to read, entertaining videos, all vying for a few seconds of our attention. The value of the information is often questionable, but that doesn’t deter us from watching, reading, and sharing these items of interest. We can now learn from our peers as well as reputable experts in a given field, making it that much harder to know who to trust.

I often read peer reviews when I’m thinking about purchasing something new, or trying a new restaurant to get a general sense of the item’s worthiness. However, even with peer reviews, I’m always evaluating the quality of the review and ratings to ascertain if a product is really a bad product, or if maybe a particular individual just couldn’t figure out how to use it thus resulting in a low rating.

Listicles are popular reading for many people.The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines a listicle as “an article consisting of a series of items presented as a list” (source). They are often seen as a good way to ingest a few golden nuggets of quality information. If you’re like me and don’t have time to read dozens of articles about something, a listicle provides highlights in an easy to read, digestible format. However, I can never be sure how many items were looked at to produce the listicle, what criteria was used or how extensive the search process was. Unless I’m reading listicles from a reputable source, I’m always curious to know what didn’t make the list, and why it was eliminated.

We live in the information age, but if the quality declines as the quantity increases, is that a benefit for us?

 

 

 

Under Construction

Few things feel as disruptive in the home as going through renovations. Space must be made. Things are moved around, piled up, bagged, or stacked, sometimes for an extended period of time. All while I’m trying to get through my day-to-day life.

Earlier this year, my building decided to replace the windows on all of the units. Ever since I found frost on the inside of my bedroom window my first winter here, I’ve been an advocate for the window replacement project. However, it’s challenging to keep up the enthusiasm when the actual work is being performed. For each window installation, 5 feet of space has to be cleared in front of the window. And it has to stay that way for days, sometimes weeks, until all the work is finished. Furniture is piled up away from the windows and covered with drop cloths. And no curtains.

In order to keep my sanity throughout the process, I rely on a few things I learned from moving. The first trick is to adjust (i.e., temporarily suspend) my expectations and standards. I have to get used to looking at stuff piled up and remind myself it’s temporary.

Another adaptation is planning extra time for routine tasks, some of which may take longer because everything is displaced. For example, my designated practice area was consumed by stuff relocated temporarily from the living room. Consequently, I now have to move things around to recreate a suitable space, and take it down when I’m finished. Cleaning also takes longer, and it needs to be performed daily during the construction period. So much dust!

Now that I know the construction will go on for longer than anticipated, because something always comes up, I work that into the plan too. When I move everything, I make sure to keep things I may need easily accessible. And I designate special places for critical items such as keys, phones, wallet, chargers, etc.

One of the most important things for me has been to maintain one space that I can use for an oasis when it feels crazy. This time around, I’ve been able to keep my bedroom clean and clear.

If I ever get renos done in the future, I’ll be adding money to the budget to stay somewhere else for the duration of the work.