Acquisitions

Remember all those CDs I got rid of? Well, today I just bought two more. I also bought a small book to write dumb things in so they don't wind up here. Some people call that a journal, I guess.
I don't feel bad about cutting into my sidebar tally. I consider it something like balance, or an allowance. This was not an impulse buy or therapy. It was calculated. There were specific reasons behind the purchase of each. I could write about that here, but it wouldn't interest you. No, they make small books for people to write dumb stuff just like that in.

Oh, the CDs?

Well, there was this, and there was also this.

Postponed

The garage sale didn't happen this weekend. The other families who were going to contribute stuff to sell couldn't make it. Plus, the weather wasn't ideal. Oh, yeah, and we did zero prep work until the would-be morning of the sale. So, we'll try again sometime in September. Meanwhile, we did identify a bunch of things to get rid of. Having not counted them, I have no numbers to tally, but closer to the theoretical garage sale I should have actual numbers.

My goodness. The above-paragraph is terribly boring. Who reads this crap, anyway? I mean, really, who cares if we had a garage sale or not, and even more than that, who cares whether I counted stuff that I haven't even gotten rid of yet? If you really are looking for something to read, go here.

Decluttering the desk

I found a list of 10 tips for keeping your desk clean and tidy at LifeClever. Of course, I'm not sure if each of these will work for me as well as the article advertises, but I'm excited to try these out. What I like about it is that it gives a plan for not only decluttering, but developing a system that discourages the accumulation of clutter and allows the brain to not have so much clutter to wade through.

In a similar vein, I'm trying out GTDGmail this week. I'll let you know how it goes.

Does the pope wear a pair of bermuda trunks?

An article in The Herald echos sentiments previously stated here(1)(2): too much work and not enough play can be bad, and can even cause declining quality in work. But don't take my word for it. This came from the Pope.

However, this article does leave us with two questions. One, just how much is too much work, and two, can we in good concsience really use the word holidaying in a headline?

(10+2)*5 update and a bunch of other stuff, too

I have been trying the (10+2)*5 procrastination hack all week, and I must say, it really has worked well so far in keeping me focused and motivated to do work. Several notes:
1) It doesn't so much matter what numbers get plugged in, as long as you keep to whatever number you have plugged in. (9+3) could work as easily as (10+5) or (20+10), I think. The point is, you work hard for the first part, with the knowledge that a break is coming, which both gives you motivation to get as far with what you're doing as you can -- like a personal challenge, and also allows you to see the light of pleasure just beyond the slough of meniality, which totally psyches you into being able to wade through to the end of the task.
2) What was I thinking when I thought I might not have an hour's worth of work to do? I've been going non-stop for a few days now.

A few other things:

• I'm very interested in trying this to help me keep all my tasks and appointments all on one page. I'll let you know how it goes.


• I may be listing things to get rid of but not actually getting rid of them for another week or so. As I was on my way to donate clothes to Purple Heart, my wife stopped me and asked that I donate them instead to a garage sale (yes, a dreaded garage sale!) being held to benefit the Ann Arbor chapter of the Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation, happening a week-and-a-half from now. If any of you other townies (you know who you are!) want to donate as well, let me know.


• I acquired something I don't need. It's a tube. For my pond. I have to count that. I mean, I paid money for it, and it isn't a necessity. If I don't count the things I acquire, what good is it to count the things I've rid myself? Do I rid myself of things only to indiscriminately acquire more? I don't think so!
  Anyway, the acquired looked something like this:


• One more thing to add to the list of stuff I'm getting rid of: my old Saturn SC2. Pictures and details later.

(10(work) and 2(play))*5 makes Jack a productive boy

I'm about to try this procrastination hack if I can find 50-commulative-minutes-worth of something work-related to do.

Chapter 2: Clothes

I've just packed up a box of clothes (17 articles thereof) I intend to donate to Purple Heart or some place. They don't fit me anymore, and they're taking up room. Some of them I may be able to fit into again, but really, they're just clothes.

Maybe this is because I am not a girl, but I do not understand the idea of being attached to clothing. Clothing, in my opinion, serves practical purposes: it keeps us warm, and at the same time, keeps us from being fired, arrested, or ostracized.

So why are so many people so obsessed with clothing? Why do people feel the need to fill their closets with so much clothes? And what's with women and shoes, really? I've never gotten a satisfactory answer on that one. But maybe we shouldn't go there just now.

Anyway, I've got my theory. We are told in Genesis that before Adam and Eve disobeyed God and introduced sin, pain, and death universally to the world (thanks, you two. No, really -- we probably wouldn't have liked Utopia anyway. Don't flex.)the two jaybirds were naked and unashamed. After sin, everything changed, and the writer of Genesis is very sure to mention the whole "we can't go out, we simply haven't a thing to wear" protest our first parents lamely offered. Enter fig leaves, and we're just several millennia away from the Gap and wherever kids are buying clothes from these days.

Anyway, here's a picture. I tried to get their good side.

TV or not TV?

Turn the channel / turn it off / smash the picture tube / and pull the plug... -Ric Alba
You're sending nothing good enough to view - Phil Keaggy

Excellent podcast at Nuclearity this month about TV, computers, other media, and distraction. Show description:

August has been dubbed "Turn off the TV Month." Is this campaign necessary since TV viewing is already getting crowded out by newer forms of media? The answer to that question involves Fatboy Slim and dead sheep, at least in the mind of one dad.