Week 38 of 2025: Dream Rack and Cherishing Time

I found out that my desire still wasn't satisfied - I want something even better looking.

My Dream Machine

Let me compare what I have now with what I want.

As they say, "what's in the pot is always more fragrant!" I might be entering the expensive world of rack units. My current setup focuses on practicality, plus compatible accessories that make 3D printing much more convenient due to compatibility.

Some experienced folks advised me that it's really not necessary to spend that money :)

That's certainly true, but the unique premium rack, combined with the following reasons, still makes me want to spend the money:

1. The aesthetics are genuinely high;
2. Peace of mind - I don't want to spend too much time on rack and various rack component related matters anymore;
3. Plus this rack has four wheels! If I need to move, it shouldn't be too much trouble, right?

However, Unifi's interface is really amazing.

Coming home to see this elegant interface every day genuinely makes me happy 😄.

Here's also a network topology of my home setup.

I thought of that classic saying: "Soft routers, charging heads, fishing, DSLRs - the treasures of middle-aged men." Without realizing it, I've collected all four.

I'm starting to contemplate the meaning of life.

Contemplating Life — Making Life Better

This week I read a book, or rather, I'm preparing to read a book, because I've only read 43% of it so far. The book is "The Strange Life" (奇怪的一生/strange life/Эта странная жизнь).

It all started when I came across a Feishu document from a colleague who recently left our company. Following the trail, I found another former colleague's introduction document and discovered an interesting person.

He's a data analyst.

He has his own "good food rankings" in a Google Sheet link. He earned a national intermediate Western cooking certificate (skills include but are not limited to: 5-minute whole chicken deboning, lobster meat extraction, homemade dry-aged beef, handmade pasta).

Over a period of time, he recorded what he did every day in past time segments. He analyzed this data and discovered some common patterns. For 7 years from 2016-2022, he quantitatively recorded his time daily and created data visualizations, producing what I think is a decent article posted on Bilibili. Oh, and then he became a content creator.

In that Bilibili article, he mentioned:

For the past 39 months, I've been "accounting for time," recording my activities every half hour. (This is the "Lyubishchev Time Statistics Method," known as the most difficult time management method)

Lyubishchev was an extremely productive Soviet scientist who produced over 70 academic works across multiple fields in his lifetime. At age 26, he created his unique "time statistics method" and persisted with this approach for 56 years.

My Lyubishchev time log: I use Google Sheets to record my activities, divided into three main categories: Work, Play, and Default (eating, commuting, etc.).

So I started reading this book. It's quite short, with the first 1/3 covering many miscellaneous topics in a conversational style, though the author is good at summarizing. In the first chapter, the author clearly states one point:

Lyubishchev's greatest secret is — how to live better;

What a coincidence! I've always been committed to making my own life better. So I started analyzing each of my days. After persisting for three days, I began to have a new

perception of time.

I'm increasingly cherishing my time. Things are getting interesting.

This work has brought me many visible outputs in the past, such as: self-learning 3 programming languages, maintaining a GPA of 3.92, becoming an Excel power user, finishing a book every two weeks.

But more important than these are two invisible changes:

1. My awareness of time has become increasingly acute;
2. My understanding of myself has reached unprecedented depth.

Accordingly, I understood two things:

1. Improving awareness — this itself can bring change;
2. The more data dimensions of awareness, the greater the value.

Below, I will use some data to illustrate these two things. Whether you're a student, office worker, or entrepreneur, they will be very helpful for improving your output.

1. Awareness

Yes, that's what his article covered - just this one thing.

Awareness

I superficially think that everyone has this feeling that "time is passing faster." I previously watched a video by BiDao on Bilibili called "This Law Predicts Your Life Progress Bar," which also discussed "why we increasingly feel time is speeding up" from a mathematical perspective.

Very interesting. So to "make my life better," I started recording my time.

Call Back

Today is Sunday, a makeup workday for National Day holiday.

Perfect timing to review how I spent the past week - my first recorded week.

Looking back, I spent most of it working, with some entertainment. Working on my own Homelab.

Laura and I watched "The Stage" (戏台), a film directed by Chen Peisi with a strong theatrical style.

Reviewing the past week, I felt most satisfied on September 24th, which was the second day after I realized this point. I went to bed early and woke up early too. After waking up, I accomplished many things and felt very happy - a sense of mastering time.

However, the evening of September 24th was terrible. That night I worked overtime very late to prepare for the next day's work report, so September 25th was miserable for me - I felt depressed to the extreme. So I shouldn't have the mindset of rushing deadlines; such thoughts are painful.

OK, looking forward to the upcoming vacation work~