Most Mind-Numbing Chore Ever

Posted on July 31, 2007 by jeannie

is stopping JUNK MAIL.

I waded through two months of mail,  called every single company, and asked to be taken off their mailing list. They do not make it easy.

That’s what I did today, all day. I did it for myself, for Bella, and for the past four tenants of my Joshua Tree house, and for my p.o. box. I was on hold more often than not, I heard a dozen different foreign accents, but unbelievably, I am done.

The mail should come to a grinding halt. yee-haw.

And I bother to put myself on a DO NOT MAIL list every year. And I write DO NOT SELL OR RENT MY INFO on every card I ever fill out. They always find me.

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Things I Love About C.H.A.D.

Posted on July 31, 2007 by jeannie

Climb-

Hardened

Attack

Droid

One delightful aspect of my new husband is that Moe believes that Chad is Nathen‘s imaginary friend, and made a documentary to prove it.

Neither Chad or I have ever met Moe (who is Nathen‘s roommate in Eugene, Oregon), but we’re willing to, if the situation is right.

Moe sent down the homemade documentary on a DVD as a gift gesture for Chad‘s imaginary wedding. We played it a few times at our lox and bagel wedding luncheon. It got a few laughs.

I’m still chuckling about it.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYA-c1qtMRs]

[If you click on Chad’s name, it’ll take you to his 23 challenges blog he started this summer. Apparently somebody within the library system challenged all the employees to get up to speed on the latest web tools, by completing 23 challenges. Or something like that. Read about the 23 challenges, which you can do personally if you like, here.]

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Two-fity

Posted on July 30, 2007 by jeannie

Chad has declared a two hundred fifty dollar weight loss contest for the month of August. He proposed that the money should come out of the wedding gift money (lots!) and I suggested that the money should be used towards the house. This might mean a new (used) computer desk for Chad or a full set of knives for me.

We both agreed that if we tied that we would split the money – or agree upon how it is spent. This outcome is the most likely because Chad fairly proposed that the contest be proportional – that is, we win according to what percentage of our weight loss goal we have reached. Chad’s goal is to lose nine more pounds, while I only intend to lose six. If we both meet our goals – then we both win.

So far, so good. We are both on track. He has lost three pounds and I have lost two pounds in our first week. We are running five times a week (and learning our new ‘hood): 45 minutes 3x, and 1 hour twice.

The only tricky part is that the competitive spirit compels Chad to taunt me occasionally; apparently he likes to win.

What would I do with that extra two fifty?

1. clothes? (Normally I’m motivated, but without a job – all I really need are hang-out clothes at the moment)

2. Shesiedo cosmetics? (Maybe. But  I’m only low on sunscreen – and I like to buy a bunch at a time, so I can get their freebie promotional.)

3. Full-spectrum lamp?

4. Get my Jane Gyer print framed?

5. Put it aside for another ticket to Bangkok?

Posted in losing weight | 3 Comments

The Photo Scavenger Hunt That Might Have Been

Posted on July 30, 2007 by jeannie

1. Bella and Dawkins with a kid going to a Harry Potter party on the New York subway. (The kid is dressed as Professor Lupin.)

2. Dawkins holding a sleeping baby.

  3. Bella and Dawkins in an art gallery cafe (P.S. 1 on Long Island).

   4. Dawkins riding the carousel on the Mall  in D.C.

   5. Bella sitting in a hand chair (like Buster’s).

   6. Bella kissing a baby in Brooklyn.

  7. Bella and Dawkins with Albert.

8. Bella and Dawkins walking towards some of the best shopping in NYC (Century 21).

9. Bella and Dawkins with their favorite work of art. (Bridget Walsh at the Torpedo Factory in old town Alexandria on view until August 6, 2007.)

10. Bella and Dawkins with my dad in his new golf cart.

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Mental Note

Posted on July 29, 2007 by jeannie

The best place to sleep in the desert is outside.

I went back to Joshua Tree this week as a visitor. Strange, how you can leave a place one day as a resident and come back as a visitor the next.

I liked being a visitor; I found I had a much greater appreciation for the actual desert part of Joshua Tree living – especially the sky, and the weather at night time.

While I had many opportunities to sleep outside while I lived in Joshua Tree, I rarely did – since my own king-size bed indoors with freshly laundered high-count sheets was always too inviting. This time, though, as a visitor, sleeping outside with Giselle seemed vastly superior to sleeping on a friend’s sofa with two cats, so I did. (No offense to the cats – just that my nose felt itchy.)

I slept on a 20-foot high wooden platform that was built years ago as the beginning of a very cool fort. Well, the fort would’ve been cool if it had been finished (that’s the damnest thing about completeness, it adds imeasurably to a thing’s coolness quotient). As it stands now, it is a just a very sturdy wooden platform with sturdy, narrow wooden stairs all the way to the top. In my friend’s backyard.

And I slept on it. with Giselle.

The first night I didn’t sleep very well, because the wind was too brisk; and challenging the platform’s integrity just a little too much; and I fretted a bit about accidentally rolling off the platform. On the other hand, the clouds were beautiful shades of grey and blue and I watched them off and on through the night, passing over the moon. Giselle did not like being so high up on a platform from which she could not independently descend, so she was buried deeply in my sleeping bag nestled in the crook of my knee.

The second night I slept so deeply, I made up for the first night and more. The moon was nearly full, so there was magic light on the landscape, and the air was still. It felt like a spa sleep, the kind of sleep people would pay extra money for – because the temperature was so right, and the air so clean. Even Giselle crept up to the top of the sleeping bag to sleep with her head out on the pillow next to mine. The air was that good.

Posted in desert | 1 Comment

Corrina's Photo Scavenger Hunt

Posted on July 26, 2007 by jeannie

After Chad’s brother, and then my brother challenged Bella and Dawkins to a photo scavenger hunt, Corrina jumped in on the action:

“Okay here’s mine $1 each, and another $5 each if you get them all:

1. Bella holding Dawkins in the superman pose, in front of Jeannie’s parents’ condo.


2. Dawkins holding Bella in superman pose, same loc.


3. Bella doing a handstand with Jeannie spotting her, in front of a blue car.


4. Dawkins doing spirit fingers, with a stranger in the background (someone I don’t know).

We never got his name, but he was from Adelaide, Australia. We’re in line for Broadway tickets.


5. Dawkins riding piggy back on Bella wearing a cowboy hat.

This might be the only pic the girls did on their own.
6. Both of you with someone who looks like the president.


8. 2 pics: one of each of you doing a cartwheel in front of a protester (I had to put ONE that was at least a little bit hard).


9. Pic of both of you in front of a t-shirt or bumper sticker that’s PRO Bush. Bush’s name has to be in it.” Um, this was impossible in downtown D.C. and N.Y.C. – we may find something in Yucca Valley today, though!

Posted in treasure hunts | 2 Comments

the worst box of misc. ever

Posted on July 26, 2007 by jeannie

That box labeled “OFFICE MISC.” that I opened up yesterday? The one that made me call it quits for the day?

The one that turned out to be the contents of junk drawer from my classroom teacher desk from when I was teaching English to unruly 8th graders two years ago?

Nah, it wasn’t so bad.

Especially after I found an envelope with $50 in it.

Once I got all the confiscated novelty pens and random thumbtacks under control, it was a breeze.
Anybody need a pile of partially used vis-a-vis markers (for the overhead projector)?

Anyone? anyone?

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…that invisible, temporary shelf…"

Posted on July 25, 2007 by jeannie

Just back from surfing through djtim’s blog and found a link to this nifty site, called lifehacker, that tells you how to do ten more things with your clipboard:

“One of the greatest features the point and click interface brought to personal computers is the clipboard – that invisible, temporary shelf you use more times per day than Google. If you think the clipboard is only about Ctrl+C, you’re missing out. Several utilities can turbocharge your clipboard and track, transfer and reformat the clipboard to your heart’s content. After the jump, our homage to the under-recognized clipboard with our top 10 clipboard tricks.”

Thanks, for that one djtim.

(I don’t have to time to learn the tricks now, but I’m sure I will after I’ve revamped my life with GTD.)

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GTD

Posted on July 25, 2007 by jeannie

As I work through processing my inbox, it seems as though I have already implemented many of David Allen’s ideas in my own personal systems; usually I go through all my things, sort them out; and I have a well-developed filing system.

But there is one area where I fall pitifully short: completion of projects. Luckily, I know that I am a procrastinator, so when other people depend on me for completion (like at work), I over-compensate and frequently develop a reputation for being very organized (ha!) and efficient (double ha!) It is with my personal projects where the worst of me takes over; I have dozens and dozens of unfinished projects lingering around my home office space – and uncovering them now is daunting, and making me feel queasy.

When I come upon an un-fun project or even an un-fun piece of paper, I tend to stuff it back into the inbox at the bottom – so in other words, some things never make it out of my inbox; they just build a makeshift shelter and set up a life waiting for me to get around to them. Well, in Getting Things Done (or GTD), Allen insists that the inbox must be gone through – all the way to the bottom – razed to ground zero. That is hard. Really, really hard.

I have been working steadily all morning and making great progress; however, I have, one, two, three… yes, the equivalent of eleven boxes left to go. sheesh. I feel like I’ve been fighting all morning. I even have sweat on my brow.

And I just opened a box labeled “Office, misc” ; that’s the worst kind: bits of ribbon, ungiven gifts, mixed cassette tapes from college – sometimes, I literally have to close my eyes and put my hand in. I am only allowed to pull one thing out at a time.

If the action can be done in under two minutes, do it now. If not, figure out the next action, and put it on a list. Gulp.
But, I finally have all the wedding gifts/envelopes in one spot, and all the outstanding bills from my former life as unmarried me have been paid. That’s not a bad start.

And tomorrow I give myself a break. I’m headed back out to the desert to meet my new tenant, see some friends, and attend the monthly Money Club.

Posted in books, organizing | 2 Comments

a nudge

Posted on July 24, 2007 by jeannie

Usually it takes two mentions before a book recommendation starts to make waves in my radar. Right now, I am fully immersed in the ideas of David Allen’s Getting Things Done. First introduced to me by my friend Nathen, I started reading it last week at John’s house in NYC. I carried that book around with me and read it at every opportunity – Bella said, “Mom, you can’t read standing up in the subway. That looks weird.” I only got through two-thirds of the book – but I think I got the gist enough to get started. I have the book on hold at the library, but I am considering purchasing, despite my valiant attempts at reducing my home library.

The main idea is to gather up every idea/project you have going into one system – so that nothing escapes notice, and then to make sure you have a NEXT ACTION figured out for each one. That is an extremely simplified version of Allen’s ideas; if it sounds intriguing, I recommend you read the book – I don’t have time to summarize any more, because I am too busy implementing. See?

Also this guy at 43folders is very into Allen’s system and has been blogging about it for over a year – but it may be more helpful if you’ve already read the book.

Except that I will tell you what I am doing right now.

I spent the morning putting everything pertinent (every piece of paper/thing in my office) into my large cardboard box INBOX. This was easy; since most of my office boxes are still unpacked, I just hauled them over closer to my desk and made an INBOX mountain.
Then I picked one piece of paper/item up and decided whether there was an ACTION attached to that item. If there was an action that took less than 2 minutes – I stopped and completed that action. If it needed more than 2 minutes, I put it on a list. If there was no action, then I threw it away or filed it.

Some difficult rules:

Start from the top of the pile (no skipping items, or grabbing items that look easy, but are deeper down in the pile – oooh. hard one for me)

Only hold one item at a time (I like to hold 3-5, and buzz around the room)

Go all the way to the bottom of the pile (hard!!!)

These are the lists I have going so far: NEXT ACTIONS, PROJECTS,  WAITING ON, POSTS-FUTURE, and SOMEDAY/MAYBE. Each one has a manila folder and a word doc list with it.

So far, so good.

Posted in organizing | 3 Comments