It’s Time to Finally Throw Out the Stack of Unread New Yorkers
When we collected weekly updates from our staff last Friday, our editors were injecting more plants into our environment, cracking the code for Instagram-worthy Halloween costumes, tossing coffee, and cleaning up the clutter of browsers.
This week, we’re adjusting to cold weather, finding ways to sleep better, moving away from smartphones, and reorganizing our kitchen strategies.
What updates have you made this week? Let us know in the comments.
Add a new option to podcast rotation
I just watched the first nine episodes of Mission to Zix , an impromptu sci-fi comedy. It combines the scent of Star Wars and Star Trek, but without parodies. The sound design is carefully thought out, and small snippets at the end reveal the details of the recording process.
Nick Douglas, staff writer
Keep your hands warm when typing
In the fall and winter, it gets unusually cold in my house (colder than you think in Southern California), and I find it difficult to type because my fingers are freezing. So, I bought fingerless compression gloves . They keep my hands warm and are very comfortable.
Patrick Allan, staff writer
Switch to grayscale and put your phone down
I turned my phone screen to grayscale to fight phone addiction! It took about five days. My phone is really tired now, so I think it works. I open Instagram and think, “Wow, what’s the point?” Today, following the link to the Nordstrom Rack sale, I started flipping through the gray pages and thought, “Why am I doing this ?!” I spent zero dollars. So, win? Even with grayscale, it’s possible to spend too much time on your phone (you don’t need color to read nonsensical tweets and Facebook updates), but I really think it helps me become more aware of how subconsciously we are sucked in. I think I will focus on gray for a while.
Michelle Wu, parenting editor
It’s easier to sleep with white noise
My mom sent me a white noise generator to help me relax during this hectic holiday season and it’s VERY helpful. It just makes noise as it moves air, so it’s not like an audio recording that can have a detectable pattern and wake me up – if that makes any sense.
Claire Lowe, Food and Beverage Editor
Create a digital recipe box
For years, my recipe tracking system has been a disaster; a bunch of cookbooks with shabby posters, various emails to myself, a few Google docs with a bunch of links, probably some recipes I saved in the New York Times digital recipe drawer … you get the idea. I don’t know why I put it off for so long, but this week I finally shelled out $ 4.99 for paprika and it’s already game-changing. In particular, it’s nice to have recipes automatically formatted and saved in one place, so I didn’t googling Martha Stewart’s French Lentil Salad all the time on poor Wi-Fi when I was in the grocery store desperate that I was forgetting something. key ingredient. Once I set it up, I’ll also be happy to use custom categories (“work lunch,” “recipes to try,” “dressings,” etc.) to make things as easy and searchable as possible.
Virginia K. Smith, Editor-in-Chief
Take your portable cleaning kit with you
I like to try to dress well enough for the office, mainly to make people think I care about my appearance. Unfortunately, there are always accidents in offices, accidents involving detritus on your pants when you crawl under desks to unplug power cords, or food getting into your beard. So, I made myself a mini cleaning kit. Inside my tiny dopp kit is a brush and pick for my beard, a Tide To-Go pen, an extra small nap roller, a pack of mints, and a USB stick. It’s compact, fits in my backpack, and helps me maintain the illusion that I’m a productive member of society.
Patrick Austin, staff writer
Clean your content from clutter
We are pretty far from the general cleaning time, but as the end of the year approaches, I decided to do an autumn cleaning. I scanned my phone and deleted podcast episodes (and even a few entire podcasts), eventually threw away those July New Yorker episodes I didn’t like, and even clicked an X on many of my open tabs. It was not easy, but the relief I now feel was worth it.
Caitlin Schneider, social editor