New math

Take one 24-hour day, subtract 43 hours for doing stuff, and you don't have a whole lot of time for sleeping, now, do you?

Theoretically related posts: Multitasking, 43 Folders -- On Distraction

Quotations

Two quotes I have run across recently put me in the mind of blogging:

Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.
- Samuel Johnson

and,

Somebody's boring me. I think it's me.
- Dylan Thomas

Gar(b)age Sale

We had the garage sale today, to benefit the Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation. We raised over $70, but we also rid the following items from our house:

4 glass bowls
1 measuring cup
2 lamps
1 purse
1 aquarium filter pump
29 toys
1 napkin holder
3 counter jar containers
1 pair of 12 lb. weights
40 kitchen cups, tupperware pieces, etc.

Total items removed from my blessed home today: 81.
Many more to go, but that's what Purple Heart and its ilk are for.

I should also report that I found and brought home a 45 of Jim Croce's "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" b/w "A Good Man Like Me Got No Business (Singin' the Blues)," and an LP of the Cars' classic eponymous album. Yes, I found these at a garage sale last week. Sue me.

Gone: one car

Finally.

Wasn't sure it would ever leave, but my Saturn SC2 is finally gone. Donated to charity. It looked a lot like this. I've got pictures on my phone, which I've conveniently left at home. Again.

Fall Cleaning

I keep thinking I'm going to quit blogging, but then I keep finding things online that are so pertinent to the spirit of this blog.

Honestly, I'm trying to quit.

Multitasking

We're not good at it but we try to live like we are. I'm thinking that multitasking is just another word for being distracted.

News Fasting

News fasting would not be terribly difficult for me. However, fasting from other media might be. How about blog fasting? Might that be good for us?

Theoretically related post: TV or not TV?

More reasons to quit (or, reality check)

Debi: You know what you need?
Marty: What?
Debi: Shakabuku.
Marty: You wanna tell me what that means?
Debi: It's a swift, spiritual kick to the head that alters your reality forever.
Marty: Oh, that'd be good. I think.
-Grosse Pointe Blank

Reality's swift kick to the head: I just might be wasting my time.

Getting Organized, Staying Organized.

This article both inspires and depresses me. Inspires, because I see that staying organized is something that can be done. People have proven it possible. So, if they can do it, why not me? It depresses me, however, because it seems like a lot of work, and I'm having a hard time seeing myself sticking to a plan like one of these. Granted, part of that may be because I've merely skimmed the article and don't entirely understand how something like this could be made actual in my life. Maybe I need to get the ...Car Keys book that's mentioned in the article. But then again, I don't read.

This looks a lot like discouragement

Shit.

I haven't gotten rid of anything in a long time. The house and my life keep getting cluttered, and this garage sale feels like it's not going to come. Until it does come, I'm not allowed to get rid of anything. Meanwhile, the schedule keeps getting more filled, and I can't really say I'm keeping an even keel these days. I do see, however, that everyone else's items-gone totals keep rising.

All the while, this damn blog is reminding me of the failure I've been at simplifying my life.

I should just quit.

Google Desktop as an organizer

See Google Operating System: 10 Great Uses For Google Desktop for some ideas about how Google Desktop might help you keep track of things on your computer. As a warning, I had Google Desktop installed on my laptop at home, and it seemed to slow things down a bit, and was a space hog, probably because of all the copies of files it cached. I never used it to its full usefulness, which is my fault, I guess. I ended up removing it from my hard drive, but have no hard feelings toward the application. Had I used it for some of the tasks suggested in the above-linked, I might have kept it.