Personal

I’ve been struggling with this ever since I started blogging 2 years ago (can’t believe it’s already been that long). But I’ve finally made the decision: I’m keeping this blog at mischavandenburg.com as a tech and career focused blog where I share technical knowledge and notes, and I’m starting a new personal blog at mischavandenburg.blog. I have fallen in love with blogging. Documenting my own life in writing has become a very therapeutic and valuable experience to me. Even if nobody reads what I put out into the world, it is incredibly satisfying to scroll through your own blog and go back in time to see what I was learning or doing or feeling at that time. ...

I notice that I’m not writing in my journal every day like I used to. I always wrote down what I did, what I felt, what my plans and ambitions were, every single day. During my holiday I started writing by hand in a notebook again which was really nice. It felt good to feel the pencil scratching on the paper again and to practice my cursive writing. After I came back I first tried to keep journaling by hand again, but after a few days the journal remained untouched. I figured I would go back to my usual digital journaling again by writing daily notes. ...

I’ve just finished my last workday and tomorrow I’m heading off to Norway! When I glance at the amount of posts I’ve made on my blog recently it’s obvious that it is time for a break from the entire routine. I’ve been tapering down to this moment for a while now, toning down the studying and prioritizing relaxation so I can enter the holidays with a clear mind. Now it’s time for lots of fresh air, mountains, many kilometres on the trails, and to pick up the connection to Nature I’ve made during the 9 years that I lived in the beautiful North. ...

Why bother with a personal website? Why not just write blog posts on LinkedIn? I want to own my data. I want to have complete freedom. I want to write whatever I want. This post captures it beautifully. Links: 202305171305 https://matthiasott.com/notes/simple-truths-about-personal-websites

Through YouTube I’ve been exposed to quite a bit of Japanese culture and I love many aspects of it. I love this list of habits, and I was surprised to see how many of them I already incorporate. Clean the Toilet Many successful businessmen clean the toilet every day. It humbles you. Ajahn Chah also talks about this a lot. Check out “Toilets on the Path”. I’m also very focused on cleanliness and especially emphasize keeping my toilet clean. But I like the idea of cleaning it every day and I’m going to give it a try. ...

I watch the whole AI craze from the sideline: I am interested in it but I do not spend a lot of time investigating it. But I do pick up a few things here and there. In this Rich Roll podcast, Kevin Kelly argues that AI does not grow exponentially. It grows linearly, but not exponentially, because it is constrained by the infrastrucutre that we give it, and are able to give it. AI cannot grow by itself. We simply cannot provide enough computing power to enable exponential growth because the technology is not advanced enough yet, which means the growth is stunted. ...

Happiness, Hedonic Adjustment, Experiences This was a very good video. I can honestly say that I am very happy and content, and I lead a very fulfilling life. I do not usually watch this kind of “happiness” content because I’m already happy. But this video did give me some very important insights which have influenced the way I approach money and happiness. ...

I ran 10k for the first time in my life today. I ran to the beach and back in Heemskerk on hardened forest roads, listening to the birds and feeling the spring sun on my face. I felt great and had a smile on my face most of the time. Lots of interesting thoughts popping up in the mind as I run and reflect. Hardly noticed that 77 minutes went by because I was having such a good time. ...

With the spring finally being fully released on the Netherlands, my wanderlust has awakened again after lying dormant for two years. In my 9 years in Norway I became a seasoned outdoorsman spending much time roaming the mountains and forests and always spending days or weeks out in the wild with my tent. When I moved back to the Netherlands this has been put on hold for a couple of years while I focused on changing my career on IT. Now that the career is rolling along nicely by the looks of it, I’m super excited to start exploring the Netherlands and see what the outdoors life is like in an area where the nature is significantly less wild and abundant. ...

My recent post on E/N blogging led to a realization: posting on social media will be something I do for myself, instead of doing it for others. When Facebook came out when I was 16 I posted quite a lot on social media. 5 years later I found it very embarassing to read back through those posts and I deleted everything, and since then I have been been holding back on social media posting and deleting my accounts several times. ...