Unrushed

Recently I wrote about constantly feeling rushed. Today I’m doing something about it — in the form of taking another day off from work. My initial plan was to get up early and go out for a long bicycle ride, however I’m taking my “unrushing” (not a word) strictly and am relaxing this morning. Today I will go out and eat pancakes, I might read, I might clean, I will do some coding for work (I know, I’m supposed to be taking a day off but I need to get some coding done). Or not.

Today’s Personal Project
Put the new license plate onto the Jackmobile.

Today’s Daily Challenge
Take a walk and take a closer look at the trees.

Spending time with trees means you’re getting up and out, and walking is a great way to improve heart health, strengthen muscles, and lower your risk of certain diseases. And studying trees’ many interesting features may motivate you to walk farther! Even though we see trees every day, we may take them for granted and not notice them. But they are an important part of our environment and can enrich your walk. They can also help to make you more mindful of your surroundings and help connect you to nature.

Very applicable for my current lifestyle, though ironically appearing on the day I’ve decided not to go to work — where I do most of my walking.

Tomorrow’s Daily Challenge
Spend 10 minutes looking at your books, and set the ones you no longer want aside for donation.

Owning fewer things makes cleaning house much easier, and a cleaner house is a healthier house. If your bookcases have some open space to display a few treasured photographs or objects, they are easier to dust off and more pleasurable to look at. And passing on books that you have read (and will likely never read again) gives them new life in the hands of another reader.

Wow, talk about applicable…

Rain Rain Please Stay Away
Last night’s weather took an amazing turn for the better. I was unprepared for this and went to Chuy’s with coworkers and then promptly zonked out as soon as I returned home.

I’m hoping for a similar reprieve from the rain today as I will be joining ITP-Reader Betsy at the Neko Case concert at Atlanta Botanical Garden. The concert is “rain or shine with no compensation in the event the concert is canceled due to extreme weather” (why do I agree to participate in these events in which I can get screwed so badly?) so I’m hoping for some decent weather. [I’m trying to ignore the huge green/yellow/red splotch which is slowly moving southeast from Tennessee currently.]

ITP Flickr Pic
Because of the way billing cycles run July is traditionally a very expensive month for me. One of the recurring bills I’ve been paying for the past handful of years is my Flickr “Pro Account” membership.

In year’s past (actually including this year) I’ve hemmed and hawed over canceling my Flickr account, but hell, for $25/year it still seems like a good “investment.”

On Preparing For Forty-Seven
My birthday is coming this Sunday. (I know, I know, you are probably as tired of hearing about this as I am of hearing about the goddamn upcoming Olympic Games).

I can’t say that my life is not how I expected it to be as I become forty-seven years old, because I’ve never really thought about getting here. If I had to have guessed about my life during this segment of the human cycle I would have assumed that I’d be married (or divorced) and would have never hoped to endure the extreme companionship dry spells that I’ve encountered.

All things considered I’m okay with my current lot in life. I’m doing alright financially, my (current) biggest health concern is dropping at least twenty pounds (mostly for my vanity), and while the ITP Estate and the Jackmobile have been all-to-frequent nags they’ve served me as I should have expected.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fair
Current Music – listening to a “Core Intention” podcast
Website Of The Day – Recently I mentioned Loose Nuts Cycles in Grant Park, but failed to link to their website.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – walking, ~4.3 miles
Morning Weigh-In – checking again starting next week

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~59.8 miles
Wheel Mileage – ~81.8 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights

Days Of Bed-Making – 0

Vegetarian Days – 3
Carnivorous Days – 16
Pancakes Eaten – 0

Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2012

1. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me — Mindy Kahling
2. Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man’s Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science — Curtis Ebbesmeyer
3. God, No! — Penn Jillette
4. The Elephant to Hollywood — Michael Caine
5. Here Comes Trouble — Michael Moore
6. How We Decide — Jonah Lehrer
7. Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson
8. Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays) — Arthur Miller
9. Fahrenheit 451 — Ray Bradbury

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]