Hello readers, first things first, that’s a terrible headline, I know. Apologies! 😅
Anyhow, welcome, glad you’re here at the very start of 2022! I’m usually not a person who sets new year’s resolutions or even goals, because instead of giving me focus I find them limiting: They were conjured up in the past, might have been superseded by more urgent matters and then continue to make you feel bad about not ticking them off, even though you might have spent all your energy on exactly the right things. So screw that, I usually just try to give (and be) my best every day, trusting that’ll lead me in the right direction. Keep an open mind, take small steps, rely on a compass, not a map (to use a popular metaphor).
I do have one intention for 2022 though, which is to write more: Writing helps me digest what’s happening and I haven’t done enough of that over the last couple of years. In the past I used to publish a lot on our company’s blog and still do occasionally, e.g. here’s my work-related 2021 year in review post. But as the company I work for (diesdas.digital) has grown to over 30 people, it has ironically become harder to find topics to write about and to speak for everyone at once. So in this space here I’ll just share my own thoughts and perspective.
Why here on HEY, and not Substack, Revue or similar platforms? Well, I’ve been using HEY as my primary email address since it was released and it comes with a newsletter service as a bonus. It’s extremely limited in all the right ways:
Anyhow, welcome, glad you’re here at the very start of 2022! I’m usually not a person who sets new year’s resolutions or even goals, because instead of giving me focus I find them limiting: They were conjured up in the past, might have been superseded by more urgent matters and then continue to make you feel bad about not ticking them off, even though you might have spent all your energy on exactly the right things. So screw that, I usually just try to give (and be) my best every day, trusting that’ll lead me in the right direction. Keep an open mind, take small steps, rely on a compass, not a map (to use a popular metaphor).
I do have one intention for 2022 though, which is to write more: Writing helps me digest what’s happening and I haven’t done enough of that over the last couple of years. In the past I used to publish a lot on our company’s blog and still do occasionally, e.g. here’s my work-related 2021 year in review post. But as the company I work for (diesdas.digital) has grown to over 30 people, it has ironically become harder to find topics to write about and to speak for everyone at once. So in this space here I’ll just share my own thoughts and perspective.
Why here on HEY, and not Substack, Revue or similar platforms? Well, I’ve been using HEY as my primary email address since it was released and it comes with a newsletter service as a bonus. It’s extremely limited in all the right ways:
- Essentially no customization options, so can’t get lost in tweaking colors and font-sizes
- No html email templates, it’s almost plain-text, which I like, makes it more personal
- No statistics, no click/open rates, no content optimization, no ideal time of day to send, no spying on readers, nothing to gauge performance of individual letters
- Every post gets a public link to share on twitter (or elsewhere)
So instead of fiddling endlessly with setup elsewhere, coming up with a semi-clever publication name, thinking about personal branding and tweaking some about page nobody is going to see, I’ll just use what I already have here and get going. Zero setup, all writing. It’s not going to be super polished, but humble, honest and direct. If you want to reach me, you can simply reply to any email, since these are, you know, just good old emails. Topics will range from personal interests, to life updates and work-related thoughts. You know me, I’m all over the place and endlessly curious! No fixed schedule, posts will drop when something needs to exit my brain through the keyboard into a letter.
To stay up to date you can subscribe here (I believe there’s gonna be a link at the bottom somewhere), you can follow me on twitter (I’ll post new issues there as well) or simply type harryfk.email into your browser’s address bar once in a while. I’ll be here!
Anyhow, 2020 turned our lives upside down, 2021 was the continuation with more of the same (the good and the bad), 2022 will have to bring some much needed change for me. More on that at a later date (but not too much later, promise).
Some other things I’ve been dabbling with lately:
- My girlfriend and I got a dog again—a brown miniature poodle named Freddy. He’s adorable and is bound to make an appearance here sooner or later!
- I’ve revived my GameBoy Camera from the 90s, even buying a few additional ones off ebay and taking lots of photos. I love the moody, pixelated images, scratching my digital nostalgia itch. The resolution is breathtakingly low (128×112px) and it sports a total of four
colorsshades of grey. It’s the best worst camera in the world! I’ll include a few shots at the very end of this letter. - I’ve been hosting a zoom book club called UNREAD (→ unreadbook.club) for a while and we’re currently reading Dune by Frank Herbert. The meetup to discuss the book is on Jan 25th—you can still join us if you’re a quick reader!
Otherwise not too much is happening these days … I’m in Berlin, still trying not to catch covid, still working remotely, keeping my spirits up against the winter greyness outside. I have a few more days off and will be back
That’s it for now! Hope you’re doing well, starting the new year in a good mood! Talk soon!
Harry
