Everyday stuff

The other day, Bria and I watched a video titled These are the 76 Things I Use Every Single Day and we both immediately thought it would be a fun exercise to do something similar ourselves. Talking about our relationship with the stuff around us has been a mild obsession of mine for years, probably since reading the opening chapter of Logo Design Love years back. In fact, I have recently started to write some very short form posts about this in the Stuff section of this site.

I am going to tweak Maurice's format for this post a bit. I'm just going to list all of the products (tangible and intangible) I use on a recurring basis to get through my week. There won't be an explicit order to this that you can read into, despite it being numbered but to make sure I don't forget anything I'll be going through my day in order, then through my week. Take from that what you will.

1. Phone

I'm embarrassed to admit, by the time I have one eye partially open, that eye is already looking at this phone (iPhone 15 Pro Max).

2. Glasses

Hemmings in Butterscotch Tortoise by Warby Parker. Got them thick lenses.

3. Watch

a Seiko Prospex Sea SRPF03 that Bria got me for our first anniversary. Engraved bookending the crown is the latitude and longitude of where I proposed.

4. House Slippers

an Allbirds Wool Lounger Fluff in black with the cream sole. Deeply clownable tech bro behavior, I know. Its going to get worse too.

5. Bar Soap

Hawthorne's Exfoliating Bar Soap. Huge bar with a rough texture, coupled with some (6.) random wash clothes from target.

7. Shower head

I'm trying to include stuff I was an active participant in picking for the most part, so I got this Nebia Quattro Shower Head during its Kickstarter.

8. Shampoo

Nizoral Anti-Dandruff Shampoo. I still havent found a shampoo I like but I have almost no hair on my head so it really doesn't matter.

9. Beard Wash

I do have a lot of hair on my face, it took me a while to find a beard wash I like but I landed on Anthony Conditioning Beard Wash.

10. Electric Trimmer

I don't remember buying the Wahl Cordless Beard Trimmer , it just feels like one of those things I have always had and will probably out-live me.

11. Beard Oil

What I want to use is the Le Labo beard oil that I have samples of from Nordstrom but for now I'll use the more-than-good-enough Preston Beard Oil.

12. Tooth Brush

iO Series 9 Electric Toothbrush. Being unemployed has humbled me, I will never spend this much on a toothbrush again. Also, 13. Oral-B Dental Floss and 14. Listerine Mouthwash.

15. Face Cleanser

Squalane Cleanser, 16. Amino Acids + B5 Cleanser, and 17. Ethylated Ascorbic Acid from The Ordinary.

18. NFC Stickers

lately I've been putting these really small NFC tags around my house coupled with the Shortcuts app on iOS. I have one hidden under my bathroom sink that runs through a set of instructions like turning my always-on display back on, sets phone brightness to 100%, turns off my sleep focus mode, and then opens 19. Happy Scale.

One of the last things I do before getting dressed for the morning is weigh in with the 20. Greater Goods Digital Scale. So many "smart scales" are hard to trust, but this one actually gives a brand new record every time you step on it instead of basing your reading on previous results. Wild that you have to consider that.

21. Deodorant

I really wanted to like the refillable deodorant by Humankind but it's forever falling apart. If you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them. Especially if they are aluminum-free (stains shirts) or more earth-friendly.

22. Lotion

Inulin Body Lotion from The Ordinary, lotion can help increase the longevity of perfumes if your skin is dry when applying it.

23. Fragrances

I like to collect fragrances so I am usually changing which one I use each day, but recently I have really liked Orpheon by Diptyque, especially the 24. refillable solid perfume as well.

25. Electric Kettle

I switch up how I make coffee most mornings but for pour over I use the Stagg EKG Pro in smoke green + maple. The only thing that has kept it from being perfect for me is for some reason, the time keeps getting reset.

26. Dripper

For pour-over I use the Dripper Air S in orange from Origami along with the 27. clear AS dripper holder and 28. Aroma Glass server.

29. Aeropress

I'll sometimes instead use the AeroPress clear in green just to switch it up.

30. Espresso Machine

if I'm making espresso, I use a Breville Infuser BES840XL. Regardless of how I am preparing coffee, I use the 31. Timemore C3 ESP Pro for grinding and the 32. Neoweigh espresso scale.

33. Mugs

My go-to travel mug is the Carter Move Mug from Fellow in red/orange with "Dare Mighty Things" engraved vertically. If I'm not using that, I'm using a 34. Lino Latte Cup from NotNeutral]], 35. Kinto cup, or the 36. Lotta coffee/tea cups from Hudson Wilder.

37. Skillet

the 10 inch Stainless Steel Frying Pan from Misen, along with the 38. Stainless Steel Fish Turner.

39. Standing Desk

I use a Jarvis Bamboo Standing Desk but I'd really love to downgrade to a smaller size. Currently, I have the contoured 30" × 72" but at some point I'd like to switch to the 30" × 48" to match Bria now that our desks are back-to-back.

40. Office Chair

I was able to get an Embody chair with a white frame and canyon red upholstery by getting a note from a chiropractor and using my FSA to buy it. I ended up still needing back surgery a few months later so it definitely wasn't a lie.

41. Laptop

this M1 Max MacBookPro with 64gb of memory is easily the best computer I have ever owned and its not even close. Probably the best gadget thing too.

42. Mouse

I currently use a gray MX Master 3S from Logitech. Even though their vertical mouse helped with wrist pain before, I never adjusted to the reduced accuracy with it so I switched back.

43. Keyboard

I'm currently using the first keyboard I built myself, a Candybar 40% from The Key Company. It took me a minute to adjust to so few keys and a left-hand numpad but now I love this thing. (I wish I could replace the plate though). I think I'm using 44. Gazzew Boba U4 switches along with 45. GMK Symbiote key caps.

46. Phone Stand

3-in-1 charging stand from Belkin. I'd like this a lot more but it starts to look gross over time. I think I want to replace it at some point.

47. Thunderbolt station

TS4 by CalDigit. I went back and forth for a while before buying this because it felt so overpriced but I am really happy I have it now, I feel like I never have to fumble with cables.

48. Electric Lighter

I use this burnt-to-hell Electric Arc Lighter for lighting various candles I keep on my desk. Most recently, I have been using this 49. John candle by Candles By John. All of their candles are inspired by specific members of Brennan's family such as his paternal grandfather.

50. Note cards

For about two months now, I've been using (and refining) this workflow for staying on top of my day. Once it feels mature enough and I work out how to make it approachable I'll try to publish a guide on adopting it yourself. It starts out with Analog Today Cards from Ugmonk, along with their 51. Next Cards and 52. Someday Cards.

Every morning starts with me writing a new today card while referencing my next and someday cards. Every sunday I carve out an hour and a half of my morning to also update that week's Next card (next cards always equal that current week number) and at the start of the month, the someday card which I use for tracking that month. At the start of the week I also fill out an Ugmonk 53. Week Card to specifically write down all-day events and meetings, stuff like that. All four cards are kept in view on the 54. Analog Walnut Card Holder and 55. White Weekly Card stand (I guess they dont sell them separately yet).

56. Pen

I've been using this titanium CW&T Pen Type-B with 57. Pentel Energel 0.5mm Black ink refills. Bria got it for me as a Christmas gift a few years ago, with Voyager engraved on the side. I love this pen but I might still need to find a replacement. I think the suction from taking the case off pulls ink through the ballpoint causing it to bleed. I also use these 58. Staedtler Highlighters in red and blue to emphasize events on my week card that I don't want to be surprised by.

59. Productivity Apps

I am a heavy user of Drafts . I have the action button on my phone set to run this Today action that updates a daily note with a timestamp so I can quickly jot down little updates I don't want to forget. I'll sometimes write about stuff I'm feeling in drafts and then send it to 60. DayOne which I've been a user of for years. Day One also keeps track of your location if you let it. Possibly dystopian I'm sure, but super useful for when I do my sunday prep. Lately I have also been using 61. Retro for posting photos that I used to put on Instagram. I try to do that on Sunday also, sort of as a way to reflect on the week I just finished.

My other apps that I use heavily are 62. Obsidian which you are reading this blog post on, 63. Calendar.app (you can read about how I set that up here), 64. Reminders.app (almost exclusively via Siri), and 65. Cushion where I send invoices and plan my projects schedule at a high level (it feeds into how I will publicly share my availability in the future).

66. Car

I told you the techbro behavior would get worse. I (currently) drive a Tesla Model Y. Elon has been a piece of shit for a minute so I won't pretend I was tricked, but for life reasons that I won't get into for brevity's sake, this is the compromise I've landed on until my lease is up.

67. Maps

I use Apple Maps a lot, you can even use it to check out some of my favorite places in the Bay Area.

68. Wallet

a few years ago, my mom and Bria got me this Tom Ford Cardholder wallet for my birthday.

69. eReader

I mostly stick with using a Kindle Oasis I got years ago but sometimes I switch to the apple books app or a physical book.

70. Digital Camera

My go-to camera (that's not my phone) is the FujiFilm XT-4. I shoot with either a 71. 23mm f1.4 or 72. 90mm F2. When I'm not shooting digital, I'm either using the 73. TBC 35mm reusable camera by IUTD or the 74. Ektar H35 Half-frame from Kodak. And if I want to really take my time, I'll use my 75. FM2n from Nikon with a 76. 50mm 1.4 fixed lens. Fun fact: My specific camera body was produced in January of 1994, 31 years old!

77. NAS

To store photos (and other files), I keep everything backed up with a DS920+ from Synology. Whenever I import using 78. Lightroom Classic, the original files are moved to the synology and then smart previews are stored in 79. Synology Drive. This lets me always have my photos with me without completely filling my laptops hard drive. Edits are made to the smaller preview image and then when exported applied to the full size RAW. Once a day I then backup the Synology to the cloud.

80. "Smart" oven

Possibly another tech bro sin but I'm not ashamed of this one, I get so much value out of this Tovala smart oven. The meals are great 99% of the time and when they're not, their support has historically more than made up for it. We also use it for plenty of things outside of the meals that Tovala sends themselves. Even if we canceled our subscription, I'd still like it as a steamer/oven/toaster.

81. TV & Streaming

When Bria and I first moved in together, there was no way I was talking her into spending money on a "nice" TV. Luckily for Samsung I didnt know as much about TV specs and they sold a TV that was nice to look at with their Frame TV. between some of the backlit panels dying, being unable to remove ads from the menus, and the remote constantly needing to be re-paired, I'd avoid buying one of these in the future.

I am a fan of the 82. Apple TV and pair of 83. HomePods we use though. Namely for streaming with 84. Apple TV+, 85. YouTube, 86. Dropout, 87. Disney Plus (go stream IronHeart) and 88. F1 to name a few.

89. Sofa

Speaking of stuff that I hate. I hate this sofa from Burrow (Range Piece Sofa). I'm a sucker for anything that promotes itself as modular and we got it to go with their Sleep Kit. I was hoping it would be like a sleeper couch for guests without being bad but its still bad. Womp.

90. PS5

Sony Playstation 5 and 91. G920 racing wheel, mainly for Gran Turisomo and F1.

92. PC

I think I'll avoid all of the specs but this was the build before I updated some parts.

93. Flashlight

Initially I grabbed this ThruNite Archer flashlight for a trip since it had a nice low-light mode, but I've since used it to check my bedroom/closet/bathroom for spiders before going to bed. I am a hardcore arachnophobe and I'm even more scared of making weird movements from being jumpscared and hurting my back again.

94. Vacuum

I actually don't know which one it is since it was a wedding gift, but it might be this Dyson V8 Coordless Vacuum. We use it to vacuum obviously but even more often, its our de-spidering tool at 11pm when I'm trying to go to sleep.

95. Bed + Frame

I broke our last bed frame by jumping onto it, a humbling way to find out I was approaching 30 years old. We already had an old mattress we wanted to replace in our guest room so we used this as an opportunity to completely upgrade our bed. We wanted to get something delivered fast and wound up finding a really good deal with Casper. We went with the Repose Bed Frame + headboard along with the 96. Wave Hybrid Mattress. I wouldn't pay the full price for either but given the steep discount we got, it was worth it.

97. Sleep Apps

I've unfortunately been a big fan of Endel since using their trial. I am genuinely upset that I think this app is worth the subscription, its just sounds. I've since found out that my health insurance covers a subscription to 98. Headspace so I'll probably let the Endel subscription go… but if two more of you uses that referral link to endel I can keep my subscription for free.

99. Phone Charger

I use a wireless phone charger on my nightstand, partially to make sure I'm not laying in bed with my phone in hand. For that I use the MagSafe Duo Charger so I can charge my 100. Airpods Pro as well.

101. CPAP

Continuing in the trend of HIPAA violating myself, I got diagnosed with severe sleep apnea a couple years ago. I haven't slept without this AirSense 10 from ResMed since.

102. Code editor (and other apps)

Lately I've been sticking with Zed as my code editor, mainly because it's fast. You can turn the AI stuff off which I mostly recommend (though if you're into that, I think they have the best UX implementation). In addition to Zed, throughout my day I'll also use 103. 1Password, 104. Figma, 105. Lu.ma, 106. Are.na, 107. Bluesky, 108. Zoom, 109. Whereby, 110. SaavyCal, 111. Loops (for 3&3), 112. Matter, 113. Mymind, 114. YNAB, 115. Discord, 116. Mail.app, 117. MacroFactor, and more.

118. Tracking media

Although I mainly track media with Obsidian now, I'm still a huge fan of both Letterboxd and 119. Record.club . I also heavily use 120. Apple Music but I'm trying to transition to 121. Plexamp as I acquire more music.

122. Comics

I recently got into reading comics with Bria a few months back, since then I've tried to check whats new at my local shop using the ComicHub app. God do I hate this app. Easily the worst app I have ever used, especially by choice and more than once.

123. Deli Containers

These TashiBox deli containers are the kinda thing I get way to into. They're useful for left overs but also great for all kinds of storage, food or otherwise. I use these for storing coffee beans, sugar, pens, trash while cooking, etc. Every time I find a new use for them I get excited again, microplastics be damned.

124. Tape

I carved out some dedicated counter space in my kitchen for prep and organization tasks. I keep a Lichamp Tape Dispenser there along with some 125. FrogTape and some other pens/box cutters/markers/scissors (kept in a deli container).

126. Marker

Since I'm labeling stuff so often, I really want(ed) to have a nice marker I like using that isnt just a typical sharpie. I tried going with a Montana Acrylic Paint Marker but it smudges too easily. I liked the idea of something that would be refillable and last a long time, but I don't think this is it. I'm open to suggestions.

127. Headphones

I use a pair of Airpods Max in silver when I'm at my desk. When they work well I love them, but I don't think they're worth the money. Over time the net on the headstrap has loosened meaning the headphones rest on the metal bars. Also, sometimes I'll have to reset them because they refuse to consistently connect. It's rare, and when it's not happening they feel like magic. But when they act up it's deeply annoying.

128. Family Newsletter

Since so many of us dont use facebook anymore, It can be hard to stay in touch with family. For the last 6 months to a year we've been using Letterloop for staying in touch. It's a monthly form we all fill out with questions for sharing announcements or answering family-submitted questions and then a week or two later we get a digest of everyone's responses.

129. Working out

Here's another techbro thing I'll actually rave about. I use this Tonal home gym thing at least a few times a week. They're genuinely really difficult workouts complete with instructions and form checks via the camera on my phone. It also takes up a surprisingly small amount of space. I'll also use a 130. Theragun Mini afterwards as well.

130. Smartwatch

The Applewatch Ultra is a great wearable. Unfortunately, since receiving the watch that Bria got me I wear it a lot less now. It's basically just for when I exercise, either with the tonal or swimming at the gym. The rest of the time, I use an 131. Oura Ring. With that said, given the direction that [RFK is taking things with wearables, I might stop using any of them. Thats something you should especially take into consideration if you are a person who can have a miscarriage.

132. Water bottle

I try and bring my bottle from Waterdrop everywhere I go. I really hate water bottles that are hard to clean or damage. Luckily this one is neither. The spout is removable so it's easy to get a brush inside without any weird corners as well as fit ice. Then with the spout reattached, it doesn't have to be a widemouth bottle to get that benefit. I also use the 133. flavor cube things along with it. They're sweetened with stevia and take up no space so it's easy to carry a few with you.

133. Laundry Detergent

I wanted to find a brand that we could subscribe to, perform well, and be easy to recycle. We landed on this Detergent from DirtyLabs. I don't remember what the selling points were anymore, but I probably found them via Wirecutter.

134. Tote Bag

RIP to read.cv. I use their Tote Bag whenever I'm at the farmers market.