In renewing my Georgia license plate, or “tag” as you say, I was informed that my physical plate will have to be updated. It’s been ten years since I started using this plate, and honestly, I think it’s a waste of taxpayer money replacing perfectly usable license plates.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Close your eyes and relax for two minutes.
Closing your eyes and tuning out the world – including anything that is worrying you or stressing you out – can help you relax and re-focus your energies. Deep breathing also brings more oxygen into your body and helps you counter that panicky fight-or-flight feeling.
If I were to do this I’d be asleep after two minutes. Seriously, I think I would.
Today’s Personal Chore
Take the two boxes of stuff in my car to Goodwill.
Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
Perhaps I could have simplified this section’s titled by only typing the word once…
As “Today’s Personal Chore” indicated, today I’ll be removing two boxes of “stuff” from my life. Sure, I miss one or two of the items I’ve decided to give away, but it’s the beginning of a process that I plan to continue through July and beyond.
Don’t think that the purging of physical items is the only thing you (or I) could do to simplify your (or my) life. Here are a few other things I plan to do in order to simplify my life.
- shut down my LLC (thus removing all of the extra chores / expenses it brings)
- canceling services I don’t require (see also: Netflix)
- purging my iPhone and iPad of all apps, bringing them back one-by-one as I need them
- unsubscribing from most of the podcast feeds to which I am currently subscribed (I find myself pumping noise into my head for no reason, thus distracting me from thinking / creating)
- getting all my bills sent to me electronically and setting up their payment automatically so that I don’t have to track them in the haphazard version that I currently do
Probably No Blog Tomorrow
Tomorrow is Independence Day here in the United States (as if there is anyone from other countries who still read my dreck). Because of this I plan to go out and shoot at the Peachtree Road Race (weather permitting) and probably little else. What’s on your agenda?
Speaking of other countries… I’m finally planning on taking the plunge by visiting (at least one part of) Europe next year. I know that the European electrical outlets are different than those in the United States, and that converters are sold. In doing some research on Amazon I keep seeing conflicting stories. If you were to buy a US-to-Europe converter, where would you do so?
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fat, but looking forward to a mid-week day off tomorrow
Current Music – listening to today’s stage of the Tour de France
Website Of The Day – Good Magazine.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – going to start checking soon
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights
Days Of Bed-Making – 0
Vegetarian Days – 0
Carnivorous Days – 1
Pancakes Eaten – 0
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2012
- Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me — Mindy Kahling
- Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man’s Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science — Curtis Ebbesmeyer
- God, No! — Penn Jillette
- The Elephant to Hollywood — Michael Caine
- Here Comes Trouble — Michael Moore
- How We Decide — Jonah Lehrer
- Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson
- Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays) — Arthur Miller
July Goals
– Take at least one load of stuff from my house to Goodwill
– Post at least ten new photos during the month (let’s try this again)
– Lose at least two pounds (net weight loss)
– Finish two books (audio or otherwise, comic books do not qualify)
– Exercise for thirty minutes no fewer than twenty days
– Not to get sick for the entire month (may be a moot point as of today)
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than ten days
– Watch all of the classes in the 2011 Winter semester of Stanford’s CS193P (iOS Development) course
– Ride no fewer than 150 miles
2012 Goals [will be a little less fluid than last year]
– Get my weight under 200 pounds, or at least whittle myself back down to where wearing a 36″ pant size is comfortable
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Run Sharpened Stone as a real business
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Ride in no fewer than five 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Run in no fewer than one one 10K
– Submit at least one application under the name “Sharpened Stone” to Apple’s iOS store
– Restore the ITP Estate to a condition where it can be put up for sale at any time
– Buy a new iPhone (iPhone 5?), a new iPad (iPad 3?), and MacBook Air [look, not all goals have to be altruistic]
The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient and profitable programmer in Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions
– Start, and continue, to make my own bread using my bread machine as well as using the technique outlined in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
– Read and discard magazines during the month in which they arrive (even digitally)
– See more live concerts than I did in 2011
– Eat more pancakes
– Drive/Fly somewhere for a real vacation
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Purchase the converter when you get to wherever you’re going. Did you know that Japan has 2 different voltages and outlet systems, causing more of a problem after the earthquakes, as they couldn’t just switch the grid over to support the damaged areas?? Strange but true..
After a stop at the Ben Hilton (my ancestral home) for a little grass mowing, I’ll be heading to Our Lady of the Painful Member for the traditional run and pizza buffet.
And in reading the AH4 website last night, I read where Aunt Jamima was stopped by the Cobb County PoPo in April with a trunk full of moonshine. Not a bright lad. Court date was mid-June- no update.
-FP
Electrical convertor – Allan’s dad had one we borrowed that had a few different types of plugs, so I’m guessing get something that has choices. I can’t remember the brand, but for some reason Sharper Image comes to mind. Also – in our Barcelona hotel, the outlets were recessed – so I couldn’t use the one we had brought (it was a big square block type of thing), so I had to borrow one from the front desk.
Tomorrow, we plan to bike in the morning & go to a pool or more than one pool in the afternoon.
And- my A/C is fixed, it was a bad run capacitor or some sort of part name like that that just died & needed to be replaced. Took a long time to cool the house back down, but I went to a neighbor friend’s for dinner & then just had the fan blowing until it got cooled down. Didn’t cost an arm & a leg, so I can afford to get tires today after all.
What sort of conflicting stories? What is your question?
Back when I traveled ‘across the pond’, I just needed an adapter for my hair dryer, flat iron, etc. I didn’t have any high tech electronics back then. Remember the UK plugs are different than the rest of Europe.
I was hoping to take it a little easy today but I’ve got back to back meetings all afternoon, who does that??
Have a happy and safe 4th of July everyone!
Where were you planning on riding Barb? Glad the AC was an easy fix.
Steve -we haven’t decided – I’m thinking from our house over to Roswell & back, there shouldn’t be too much traffic, but JoAnna’s pushing for a SCT ride out Rambo Nursery or even further Rockmart start. I just don’t really want to drive that far…….. (Plus, going further away will take away from some pool time)
and – as for the plate – I’m keeping my Share the Road tag for the main reason that I don’t like the new plates.
Some converters look different than the others, perhaps some are for the UK and others are for the rest of Europe. I suppose I should just wait until I figure out exactly where I am headed.
I went for the plainest of plate selections. I already pay enough for the privilege of driving in this state so I choose not to pay a penny more.
I hadn’t even considered running Painful Member — man, how my life has changed…
Sounds like good news on the AC Barb. Hurry up and get those tires before Allan contracts out to get a slab poured. 🙂
I’m with you Barb, sticking with the share the road plate. Not a fan of the new ones.
I’ll be riding tomorrow but I’ll have a motor attached to my bike 🙂
Last night I received an email with a discount for the GA400 century, I took that as a sign and registered for the ride. I’ll be doing the 62 mile option.
I’ll see you at the start Sunday, Bob. That will probably be the only time as I won’t be able to keep up with you for long.
Bummer, I just heard that Andy Griffith has died. He was 86 so I guess that it’s not a “surprise.” Ironically just last weekend while watching Matlock I looked him up to see whether or not he was still alive.
bike ride tomorrow – leaving my house at 8am. Going towards Roswell. Not sure how far, could be 20, could be 30, could be 40 . All depends on what we feel like.
and – Allan & Mike did you go to Prometheus this afternoon – I’m totally off the hook now!!!! I was never going to go, but now I don’t feel bad that Allan mgith not see it on the big screen.
just made my over priced Delta Amex work for me- used the free companion ticket for our tickets to Phoenix for my brothers wedding – tickets were $366 each, & I hate paying that much for jsut 4 days. so I got 1 free. I don’t fly enough domestically to make the free checked bag deal worth it – but this just made it worth it.