Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 19 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 19 – 2019

A tool I found useful –

CloudFlare – I recently got introduced to this CDN service and to my wonders it just reduced a lot of issues my website was facing – performance, security and weird 501 (service down) errors. This service is like a proxy server plus a content delivery network (CDN). So if you have a site – blog or podcast or any other person or a brand website. I recommend using CloudFlare as your CDN system. It will make your life much easy. I literally brought down my site’s loading time from 10+ seconds to under 1 second. Go check it out.

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Asiatic!
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

A Person I’m learning more about —

Sonam Wangchuk – Oh yeah he’s the one who inspired the Aamir Khan’s 3 idiot movie’s character Phunsukh Wangdu. However, he says that he is not Phunsukh Wangdu. I really wish to get him on the podcast someday.

He is an Indian engineer from Ladakh and also an innovator and education reformist.

He has also been conferred a Doctorate of Literature. Here is a video of his speech from that day in the presence of The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind –

A song I’m loving —

Don’t Worry Bout Me – This song by Zara Larsson has been running in loops. It has that tempo beat which keeps you going and focused. Loving it.

Go check it out – Spotify | YouTube

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect.
It means that you decided to look beyond the imperfections.

Unknown

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 19 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 18 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 18 – 2019

A Conversation I really loved –

Neil Gaiman — The Interview I’ve Waited 20 Years To Do – This conversation on The Tim Ferriss show with Neil Gaiman (one of my favourite fiction Authors), just took me to another world’s ride. It even got me intrigued again towards fountain pens.

Don’t miss this one –

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Bottled horse!
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

A YouTube channel I found really helpful —

MrAlexTech YouTube Channel – If you are a video editor or a YouTuber who is attracted to an amazing of video editor – DaVinci Resolve. You’ll find this channel really helpful. The nitty gritty and the tricks which actually make wonder to your videos. This channel has almost like 5-10 mins how to video on different things about DaVinci resolve and related stuff. I actually made my first MultiCam video for my podcast learning from his YouTube video.

Check out his channel he’s really good.

A song I’m loving —

Tere Jeya Hor Disda by The Yellow Diary – This song from one of my favourite band (I’m a little biased because one of my friends is in the band – Stu, but you’ll know when you hear this if you haven’t yet) just takes me away from all the worldly sufferings.

Check it out.

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

The meaning of life is to find your gift
and the purpose of life is to give it away.

William Shakespeare / Pablo Picasso (Quote is attributed to both)

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.
Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 18 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 17 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 17 – 2019

A book I’m loving –
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – When I stumbled upon this book in the Audible Store while searching for some fresh books to add in my reading/listening list. I had very low expectations (contrary to the title) and kid you not, I took some time while breaking into this book, in the beginning. But when I got hold of the characters a bit and was comfortable with the narrator’s voice in my Audible app. This book has covered half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening on a daily basis from past some days while commuting back home from work.

Great book with a wide array of characters and I just wonder how the author (Charles Dickens could hold so many characters in his mind while writing. The plot just keeps on slowly opening up.

I would definitely recommend this book.

My most popular Instagram post recently —

City that never sleeps!
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

A playlist I’m loving —

Netflix n’ no chill – This spotify playlist is a mix of chill vibes and melancholic electronic beats. Awesome to just let loose and listen to it and be in the moment.

A video I found helpful —
Multicam Editing and Sync WITHOUT Audio in DaVinci Resolve – I’ve been using DaVinci Resolve as my primary Video editing tool from past 1 year. Recently when I started thinking about podcast video episodes as I’ve only been doing audio episodes for a long time, my main insecurity was how will I handle Multicamera footage from different angles, one camera on guest close up and one on the full scene and one on myself. Syncing multiple video angles and audio was a major major issue in my head. But the below YouTube video resolved it completely and I was able to learn how to do multicam with audio syncing in almost like 7 minutes. Greatly recommended if you are a video make or YouTube creator or even just an enthusiast for videos of interview format.

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

Speak in such a way that others love to listen to you.
Listen in such a way that others love to speak to you.

Unknown

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 17 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 16 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 16 – 2019

First of all an Announcement —

This year I’m trying to make my blog and my podcast self sustainable as there is a lot which goes on monetarily apart from the human efforts I put out myself. For this purpose, I’ve integrated with Patreon. Patreon is a service/site which helps creators like me be supported by their readers or Fans. So you can support my work every month by becoming my supporter at Patreon. You can support me with as low as Rs. 70 (or $1) per month.

By doing this you not only provide your support to me but also get the benefits as per the support level you choose. Some of the benefits are –

  • Behind the scenes of my podcast
  • Exclusive posts special for the supports
  • Discounts on my upcoming Minimal Lifestyle merchandise store.

So please consider becoming a Patron to me and my work and you’ll receive the benefits and immediate access to this annual life review post and more exclusive stuff.

Go here to check me out on Patreon and support or click the Patreon button below –

Post of the week –

Lifestyle Arhchitecture Lab Podcast – Bijay Nair

#7 – Bijay Nair (#TheyINSpire) – Active War Deployments, Becoming a Leader and balancing your life and passions – In this episode, I’m talking to the Bijay Nair, who is a former Lt.Cdr of Navy. He also a blogger and author. He has written a book named #TheyInspire. He’s also an endurance runner and a corporate professional post his retirement from defence services.
In this episode, we talk about his story. How he got into defence services despite all the financial and other difficulties. His naval academy day and some stories from his active service deployment times. At some places in this conversation, I literally got goosebumps listening about the armed forces and the sacrifices they make for the nation.

Please enjoy!

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Intercom!
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

A video I found helpful —

As I and my family are working on the organization of our home a lot more now. So for upcoming kitchen work, during my research, I found this video for Indian Kitchen Organization very helpful.

Go check it out on YouTube.

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.

Michael Pollan

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 16 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 15 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 15 – 2019

A Camera lens I’m intrigued towards –

50mm Prime Lens – I love the pictures and video which has a great depth of field. So while researching and discussing with other photographers and filmmakers. I found that 50mm prime lens for almost every brand with f stops of less than 2 is a great lens to get that sweet bokeh effect. I’m very much inclined towards buying this lens. But I shall try it out by renting it before I put in the real chips.

In case you are interested, here is a great video explaining this lens.

If you own a DSLR here are a couple of links for buying one – Nikon | Canon

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Did the drinks just start to shrink?
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

A Person I’m fascinated with —

Gopi Vadsak – This visual artist/photographer has really stunned me with her each piece of work. New perspectives and techniques used in photographing the subjects. Her work is just amazing.

Go check her out – Instagram

A song I’m loving —

Sunflower by Post Malone, Swae Lee – I recently watched the animated movie – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The movie was amazing but the song by Post Malone got stuck in my head. For a few days.

Go check it out – Spotify | YouTube

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

The best camera isn’t the one you have. It’s the one you master.

Matt D’Avella (Filmmaker and YouTuber)

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 15 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 14 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 14 – 2019

Post of the week –

Pawanpreet Budwal - Insta Post
Pawanpreet Budwal (Gymnastics For Kids) – Discipline, Visualisation and Never backing down

In this episode, I’m talking to the Pawanpreet Budwal, who is a former competitive gymnast and now a gymnastics coach. She has the vision to make gymnastics a more accessible sport to Indian youth. Hence she started her own venture Gymnastics For Kids in New Bombay.

In this episode, we talk about her story and how she got introduced to gymnastics, struggles she had to go through to chase the gymnastics dream and how she determinedly followed her passion for gymnastics and topped her game by being consistent. We also talk about her transition from being an athlete herself to becoming a gymnastics coach. If you are a parent of a 1-2 years old kid and want your kid to be active. Then listen up this episode as Pawan makes a strong case to why your kid should learn gymnastics and also why every school should focus on their gymnastics routines. In this conversation, we also talk about her high-performance daily routine, diet and exercise regime.

You can listen to the podcast on one of your favourite apps –
Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | TuneIn | Spotify | RSS

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Vada Pav
.
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

A course I found really helpful — This course by Pat Flynn – “Build Your Own Brand” is one of the great courses available for free for the beginner online entrepreneurs. How to choose your business’s name? How to start off with a website? How to design your personal brand? It’s all in here in this course. Plus it’s available for free. Click the link above to check it out.

An article I found really helpful —

How to make Tall Dry Erase Boards for $50 – This article from Sara Dietschy was really helpful, as I was looking out for some white boards. But damn they are super expensive. So thought if I can do some DIY stuff. Stumbled upon this insightful article on the exact same topic. Sara You rock!

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.
Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.
 
 

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 14 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 13 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 13 – 2019

Post of the week –

Trishita Bhattacharya - Insta Post
Trishita Bhattacharya (The Overrated Outcast) – Making your passion your intention

In this episode, I’m talking to the Trishita Bhattacharya, popularly known on Instagram as The Overrated Outcast. She is a traveller, photographer and social media influencer.

In this episode, we talk about her story, her initial struggles and how she followed her passion for photography and travel despite being from a science and pharmacy background.  We also talk about her journey to become an Instagram Influencer, her creative process and tools, cameras, lenses and apps she uses to produce her work, how to attract brand partnerships and how to generate a sustainable income as an Influencer. This episode has some real insights and advice for many youngsters who want to take this path but in the right way. There are a couple of interesting travel stories as well in this episode.

You can listen to the podcast on one of your favourite apps –
 Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | TuneIn | Spotify | RSS

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Rubix Cube!
.
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

A Person I’m fascinated with —

Stanislav Grof – He is a Czech psychiatrist, one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology and a researcher into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness for purposes of exploring, healing, and obtaining growth and insights into the human psyche.

I found him via The Tim Ferriss Show podcast. He is a pioneer in his field and he has orchestrated 4000+ sessions of LSD on patients (as part of the medical treatment and research) including himself. You should check the podcast episode.

Go check him out – Wiki | Website

A YouTube Channel I’m enjoying —

Max and Lee – This couple has been living full time in a van with their dog (occy) since Sept 2017. They sometime back started a YouTube Channel and a website to showcase their life and get support from the online community and the response was overwhelming.

They are really sharing their raw life with the audience and so many insights about travelling. Especially travelling through different countries in a van. I just love their story and content.

Go check them out – YouTube

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

” Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”

Confucius

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.
Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.
 
 

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 13 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 12 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 12 – 2019

App of the week –

Canva – I’m in love with this app. This is not just an app, it’s basically a cloud-based service for graphic design. The best you can get.

You can make all type of creative work with it – Instagram post designs, story designs, your company’s branding like logo, banners and everything in between. It has all the basic tools as well as advanced tools for graphic design.

Available on – Web | Google Play Store | Apple App Store

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Bombay corner!
.
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

A Person I’m fascinated with —

Matt D’Avella – He is a filmmaker and a podcaster. Basically created the life what I dream of. He put out not just quality content visually but the depth of the stories and topics is just awe inspiring.

Go check him out – Instagram | YouTube

A song I’m loving —

The Ride by Amanda Palmer – I got introduced to Amanda through The Tim Ferriss Show podcast. She just blew my mind with that episode. She is a renowned singer and wife of one of my favourite writers Neil Gaiman. A little later, I discovered her new album – There will be no intermissions. To be honest this album is a little sad and can make someone cry. But at the same time so powerful that it can actually take you for a ride (into another world).

Go check it out – Spotify | YouTube

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

“There is only one question that matters. What are you unwilling to feel?”

— Amanda Palmer (From The Tim Ferriss Show)

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 12 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 11 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 11 – 2019

“Saturday-Pentacle”

Saturday-Pentacle - Week 21 - 2017

App of the week –

Spark Mail Logo

Spark Mail App – I love this email app from my iPhone and Mac both. But as I have an android which I use daily, I had no choice but to use outlook mail app. Which was not providing my an aggregated smart email experience for all my email accounts on my android device. But as Spark team had promised some time ago that they’ll soon come up with Android app as too. Well, it’s here. You can download it here.

Few great points to make you jump right away to download it –

  • Smart Email Grouping (awesome if you have multiple email accounts)
  • Snooze email to get back later (keeps everything in check)
  • Schedule emails for sending at a defined time (very time saving)
  • Smart Replies – like facebook reactions

It’s so good that I didn’t go back to any other app even after so long.

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Dusk sky!
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

A video I loved —

This is Water by David Foster Wallace — This is one of the great commencement speeches I’ve heard. David Foster Wallace gave this speech in 2005 and he died in 2008. But he lived the life he speaks about in this speech. A must listen.

A song I’m loving —

Will You Be By Me – I just stumbled upon this song from a movie I watched a couple of years ago – Stuck in love. That movie was a delight for people who are in authors or writers. The characters were so tasteful. Ok, now go listen to the song – Spotify | YouTube

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

“When the mind goes beyond the thought of ‘the me,’ the experiencer, the observer, the thinker, then there is a possibility of a happiness that is incorruptible.”

― Jiddu Krishnamurti

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you with additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 11 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 10 – 2019

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Saturday-Pentacle – Week 10 – 2019

“Saturday-Pentacle”

Saturday-Pentacle - Week 21 - 2017

App of the week –

TickTick – I’ve been a long time fan of to-do lists or checklists for higher daily productivity. I’ve been using Todoist from a very long time (5 years or so). But I got introduced to this new app called TickTick and I’m loving it.

Two main features –

  • Strong reminder feature – This app has a very good reminder feature for each and every task, this reminder comes as a half a screen covered reminder on your phone so which makes it hard to swipe and get away. Plus you can press the play button to start capturing the actual time on a specific task.
  • Pomo Timer – The Time capturing feature mentioned above is called Pomo timer which is amazingly implemented. So now one can actually get to know how much time was literally spent on that specific task.

This app is available on all major platforms, click the app logo above to download the app if want to try it out.

P.S.: You can also import your Todoist task into this app directly. Look for the import feature in the app.

My most popular Instagram post recently —

Breaking dawn!
.
Oh Delhi!
.
Got of the train at Old Delhi! Walked up this rusty Bridge. Looked left to this scene.
.
…Click the photo below to read the entire story.

A short film I loved —

La Dura Complete: The Hardest Rock Climb In The World – After watching the behind the scenes of the Oscar-winning documentary “Free solo“, I’ve been itching to watch more and more of the climbing world. Then last week I found this short film. It shows the efforts put in to do the first ascent of the world’s hardest rock climbing route.

A playlist I’m loving —

Lo-Fi Beats on Spotify – I’ve been loving this playlist and using it as background music while reading and writing. Now that Spotify is officially launched in India, readers from India can also listen to this awesomeness. Check it out.

Quote I’m pondering on lately – 

“Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you’ll start to see a big difference in your life.”

― Yoko Ono

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

A couple of things I could use your help with:

  1. Have a relevant topic, which I should be covering? Write to me directly or fill out this form and let me know.
  2. Join my reader’s list – It helps us a lot when you become a subscriber, it smoothens you experience on Lifestyle Architecture Lab. Being on the email list provides you additional benefits like some exclusive content, webinar’s, free goodies and all of it will be FREE. Please click the link above to join now or put your email address in the below box and hit subscribe.

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle – Week 10 – 2019

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