Getting Crap Done

10.15.2008

Over the past couple of months I've been trying to do a better job of getting seemingly random things done. Being the resident single guy, I can't pawn off chores on others and I'm (luckily) too anal to forgo laundry and dishwashing completely so the basic chores get done on a week-to-week basis. Although my home improvements started 3 months ago, progress is being made and the end of it all is getting closer. Everything would already be done if :

1. I was pushier and yelled at the contractor I hired to get things done faster.
2. I knew what all I wanted done 3 months ago instead of calling up the aforementioned contractor and saying "Hey, what if we ...". That's why I have a prefab storage building being plopped down this coming Friday.
3. I was in a hurry to get it finished. Fortunately I only write checks as things are finished.

I don't really count the home improvements as chores or things for me to do since I've got people (Mike, the contractor) to take care of the actual work. No, it's the day-to-day hobbies, tasks, and goals that I've been putting off. Some of them I've been putting off for years.

Whenever visiting Stately Ford Manor, I'm always amazed at the 2 calendar whiteboards in the Stately Ford Manor Kitchen. Color coded (I think by child), well organized, things plotted out up to 2 days in advance. It's a model of organization, and in a household of 6 (I'm sure the College Ford is still on there somewhere) it's probably needed. With Stately Ford Whiteboard as my inspiration, I tried to map out my month on a calendar whiteboard magnetically adhered to the side of my refrigerator, but I kept skipping tasks for days all too frequently.

Last month I decided to renew my vigor. As an impetus for this, I procured a newer, bigger calendar whiteboard to adhere to the side of the refrigerator! I jotted down weekly/regular tasks: Date nite with Gina, Wrestling nite with Evil Matt, Visits to see Mom. Realistically I wouldn't feel like doing much on those days. In addition, weekends are usually up in the air in regards to free time, much less where I'll end up spending chunks of time (Gina's and Mom's come to mind), so I didn't think it prudent to schedule things for the weekend. Besides, I've got to do the menial tasks like laundry sometime.

Now that I had jotted my known tasks on the calendar, I saw that I only really had Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday free. I started to think of the things I've been trying to get done over the past (I hate to admit it) year:

• Fix the disaster of my inaugural painting experience. This room had turned into my catch-all/junk room for the past 2, if not 3, years. I needed to clean it out (and get Mike the Contractor to haul the crap off). I need to fix all the things I screwed up when I painted the room the first time. You can laugh at me, but they include:
  • sand down the spots where I globbed on paint
  • repaint the ceiling where I managed to smear red paint
  • baseboards... how'd they get red paint on them?
  • window blinds... didn't the baseboards get all that extra paint?
  • old sheets do not make for a good drop cloth. Paint goes right through to the carpet.

  Can you tell why I've been putting it off for so long? I've got an idea for what to do with the room, and step 1 of cleaning it out is done. Now I have to realistically schedule time to start sanding and priming.

• Become a game programmer. It's been over 3 years since I purchased the Torque game engine. Since then I've gotten to know a group of guys who can not only make models for games (my readily admitted weakness), but they're good at it. Over the past couple of months we've been talking through some ideas and I think have come upon a way to make a/some games. Again, being realistic, this will take some time and I need to schedule things out.
• Still work 2 jobs. Granted, it's not really something to schedule, but I have to admit that there are days when I come home after work and don't want to do much of anything, much less pick up the laptop and start working on job #2.

With all of that, the important thing for me to realize is to be realistic when planning things. Although I used to be able to sit down at the computer at home and write code for 8 hours, I can't do that anymore. Some weird form of old timers ADD kicks in and I've got to get up and do something else after a while. If I'm going to clean, I know I'll do it in phases and take a little break after cleaning the kitchen before moving on to the bathroom.

Over the past month, when I started using the new bigger whiteboard, I've done a better job of realistically scheduling things. On the way out the door in the morning, I look at what I've got written down as the tasks for the day and mentally prepare myself to get it done. After 4+ weeks, I've only missed 1 days target so far - I had one of those "come home from work and want to be lazy and watch 4 episodes of Smallville" days. I consider that a success, so I'll keep sticking to it.

Permalink random renovation/remodelling

Happy 40th Dr Blondie!

10.13.2008

Today Dr Blondie is the first of my friends to hit the 40 year old mark. I don't see this as a negative, as many people might (especially since I've still got another 5 months before I hit 40), but it is a milestone nonetheless. Last I heard, Dr Blondie was going to venture into the far north of Montreal to celebrate. I hope she made it, those French Canadians are a fearsome bunch.

I generally get a post card form Dr Blondie as she gallivants around the world. In the past month I've gotten cards from Italy and San Diego. With the help of my post cards, I can track her global movements over the past few years - I've got one from London sent in 2000. Mayhap a card will appear from Montreal which I can add to the collection?

As an unrelated bonus, I found part of the following pic on one of those sites I look at on occasion that I probably shouldn't share:

After looking at the picture hard enough, I learned that Koss introduced the first stereo headphones in 1958. I did not know that before today. And knowing is half the battle.

Permalink random

You're Goin' Down, Brother

10.04.2008

Hulk Hogan Celebrity Wrestling. I.... don't know what to say. Perhaps we should check Hell for snowballs? Are Horsemen of the Apocalypse galloping about?

It's going to be bad. It has to be bad.

But I hope Matt DVRs it so we can watch a whole season in an hour or so. I've gotten hooked watching Danny Bonaduce and Dustin Diamond when they pop up in reality shows, so pitting them against each other is something I've got to watch once.

I just hope I survive.

Permalink wrestling

Longing for long term cooperation

09.28.2008

Not since my Japanese-English translated eBay seller have I had so many laughs from following a Spam-link. This morning, deftly gliding past the spam filters with ninja like ability, I was taken to www.eleabc.com with a promise of "You can get a PS3(20GB) for free if your order is over 660$". That's such a good offer I've got to check it out!

After waiting an eternity for their home page to load, I saw that this Chinese company sold everything. Digital cameras, phones, motorcycles, televisions. To confuse me even more, all the prices were in Euros. There's just so many things for sale here that it boggles the mind. Then I noticed some scrolling text at the top of the page:

They are longing for long term cooperation with me! That makes.... so little sense! I quickly visited their About Us page and found out ELEABC is China Ding Hao International Trade Co., Ltd. Of course, it makes so much more sense now! Except farther down in the page they state "At Kicks On Fire we stand behind every product we sell." Kicks On Fire? What about China Ding Hao International Trade Co., Ltd? Oh well, that's not important. I went on to look at their customer service rules:

The situations below are not in the free maintenance scope:
1.water rans into.
I may have peed myself a little when I read that. I wonder if pee rans into is covered?

Oh special note, if you take the time to visit their About Us page there are 2 pictures of warehouses, one of which is watermarked with "do not copy". That image comes from another Chinese shopping site. They may be partners, I just thought it funny the image is hosted elsewhere.

My time of laughing at ELEABC/China Ding Hao International Trade Co., Ltd/Kicks On Fire was drawing to a close. I'm not sure which link I hit, but I found a little FAQ about their shipping terms.

I think Jerry and I actually talk like that at times.

Permalink random

Unsanctioned Widgey II

09.24.2008

This past Friday there was a follow up to our last unsanctioned widgey as we met at Stately Ford Manor to continue our D&D quest. It was the same group as before, but this time with a little more playing experience, and hopefully a little more of a clue as to what we should be doing.

Our game consisted of the final 2 rooms in the basic DM guide adventure. Room 1 found myself and Brady at deaths door as a tag team of Kobolds and a giant rolling boulder from the first Indiana Jones movie pummeled us. Jer whipped out his magic whammy and managed to dispatch most of the bad guys, followed by a lenient Keith allowing the use of the Heal skill to preform CPR. This brought us to room 2, which had a dragon.

This is our first adventure. We're still a group of level 1 guys. Against a level 3 dragon.

Somehow we managed to work together and get some strategy going after surviving the first salvo from the dragon. Thanks in part to our DM forgetting some of the extra attacks the dragon had available, along with secretly re-rolling some of our bad attack scores, we managed to defeat the dragon handily.

But still, it was a freakin' dragon on our first adventure.

We're now (supposedly) heading back to town to turn in our quest, level up, and start Adventure #2.

Permalink boardgames