- thinks he knows why Chris Ruth stopped being vegan (circa 2003). #
- is annoyed that his two earlier “tweets” didn’t show up. #
- woke up with a sore throat. The fun never ends around here! #
- now knows and fully understands that depression is real. Investigation into its causes, essence, and solutions is under way. #
- needs to start looking at housing ads, since he’s moving at the end of this month. #
- just ate a PB & J & raw garlic sandwich; thinks he might have another. #
- is now going to attempt to work on AceHotel.com. #
- is listening to the Strife album One Truth, which still rocks hard after all these years. “Will you ever know what it is I feel for you…?” #
Monthly Archive for April, 2008
- is heading back to Portland; Isaac bought the 82 (?) 240D. #
- is headed to Laurelthirst for Bluegrass. #
- is drinking Hub Pale, which is quite a bit more bitter than he prefers. #
- just got home from an “interesting” night out. #
- I can’t find the words that express how I feel… a sick & sinking feeling. #
- is contemplating friendship, love, life, purpose… distraction. #
- “Sources of inquiry have nothing to portend. They will perplex us all until the coming end.” #
- is heading out to go swimming at the Matt Dishman Center. #
- had a fairly productive day working with Ruby on Rails and Komodo Edit. Being productive makes him happy. #
- My eyes are burning from the chlorine. Burning! #
- is going to Pizza A-go-go #
- is at Ace Hotel/Stumptown after crashing at Michael’s last night. #
- is in an I-don’t-know-what-the-hell-I-feel-like-doing sort of mood. #
- is eating a really tasty, crisp Cameo apple w/ a soy cappuccino #
- just left Ace Hotel after a nice conversation w/ Ray. #
- is perusing Ruby on Rails books at Powell’s Technical. #
- just got done w/ lunch w/ AAR @ home: mung beans & rice w/ dollop of Earth Balance & clove of garlic, lightly heated in “nuclear computer.” #
- thinks “nuclear computer” is a funny (HA HA!) way to refer to a microwave oven. That label was taped to a microwave @ Eugene student co-op. #
- is now going to stop twittering and start working. 4-hour work day! Go! (points finger) #
- @dansensei I looked at about 10 Rails books. Any recommendations on a good Rails 2.0 beginner-to-intermediate book? #
- @ameliorator Portland is still “the shizzle.” I’ve thought about leaving, but where would I go? I would like to get some travel on, though. #
- just got done inviting people to connect on Linked In and updating his profile. I guess that counts as work. (?) #
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Today I read a post about decluttering your desk. Right now, I can’t find that post, but this page links to a bunch of similar and related articles. Those links are on the Zen Habits site, which I’ve started reading lately. Lots of interesting food for thought there.
So, I’m pretty tidy already, and my desk wasn’t that much of mess to begin with, but there were still quite a few unnecessary items accumulated there, like a printer I’m never going to use, a stapler I use maybe once a month, etc. I only spent about ten minutes decluttering, but the benefits were huge. So huge that I had to write it again in bold AND italics.
Along with office type stuff, I cleared off some knick knacks–little bits of art and what have you.
Did I mention the huge effect all this had? Wow. There’s a sense of openness and space. There’s more room to work and breathe. There’s also less distracting visual clutter.
This is only an anecdote, but I was more productive today than I’ve been in a while.
I recommend giving this a try. What do you really need on your desk and in your immediate working environment? What I’ve found, at least for myself, is that it’s actually not much. I’m guessing everyone’s got at least a couple items that can be tossed or sold or given away. Things that only get used once in a while can be put out of sight in an easy to reach place. Things that are visually interesting (photos, say) eventually become visually distracting, especially when there’s too much of it.
Of course, there’s no precise recipe, and everyone’s got their personal preferences. For me, just thinking about this, or anything, consciously is what’s important. The “right” changes naturally precipitate from awareness.
Using sheer determination and a couple of shovels, I dug up this stump from the area I plan(ned) to use as a garden. I didn’t need to dig it up, but it suited me better to have a more uniform garden space. I also enjoyed the challenge of it and having an excuse to play in the dirt.
Click image for big version
This reminds of a Czech movie, Little Otik (Otesánek), I saw a few years ago where a woman wants to have a baby but can’t, so her husband carves one out of a stump or something. It comes alive and starts eating people. It’s a great movie. Scary. Creepy. Recommended.
Updated with links and a couple typo corrections.
I’ve been working on a fairly big Web site project lately. My partner and I initially decided to use Django to build the site, mainly because I’m a Python “expert” and Django is (apparently) the #1 Python Web framework. We were also lured by the easy admin interface.
After trying to use Django and not really enjoying it, I tried switching to Pylons because I’ve had a good amount of experience with it in the building of byCycle.org. It’s gone through two fairly major releases since then, and so have a bunch of the libraries that tend to get used with it, like SQLAlchemy, Elixir, etc.
I was having a hard time with the Pylons docs, and so I ended screwing around with Grok (which actually looks fairly interesting) and even took a look at the Zope 3 site. I’m sure Zope is really awesome or whatever, but it might as well suck. Every time I look at that site, I’m just like “WTF! This shit has been around for like five years!” Anyway, I might just not be smart enough for Zope.
This led us back toward Rails (even if it is a ghetto). I used Rails a bit last year but never did anything too serious with it. Diving into it today was quite a pleasure. There are issues to be sure, but overall I’m enjoying it by far over any of the other options we had tried. I’m also enjoying learning/relearning Ruby.
If Pylons had good docs, we’d probably be using that.
So, I don’t know if this is a particularly useful post, since I didn’t get into much in the way of reasons (what, i have back this up?!). This subject’s been hashed and rehashed, but I just wanted (needed) to make a qualitative statement about my/our experience, which, of course, is purely personal.
More punk rock lyrics. These fit with the “To my friends: I’ll be there for you…” theme.
”
When all the old consoling places
Lose their charm and change their faces
The world becomes too cruel to bear
And something in you starts to tear
When nothing seems to be quite worth it
And sleep becomes the only sure thing
I’m here to help you out of it
Come and see me for a lift
We’re all close to the end
Don’t you need a friend?
Honor your allegiances
Everyone is drowning in sand
Couldn’t you use a hand?
Please don’t make me guess
When changes make the world a stranger
No one calls and your life’s in danger
If the money’s gone without a trace
And you’re longing for a familiar face
Cars collide and people die
You begin to shake ’til you start to cry
If disasters only multiply
My door is open; drop on by
We’re all close to the end
Don’t you need a friend?
Honor your allegiances
Everyone is drowning in sand
Couldn’t you use a hand?
Please don’t make me guess
Sad again, you’re sad again
Hey, you’re breaking down
Sad again, you’re sad again
Your eyes betray your new smile
When keeping up is killing you
And you need a ruling without a clue
When being cool means being dead
And your better thoughts are better left unsaid
If you’re sad to see your gun’s unloaded
Tried to drown but you only floated
If the world is only getting colder
I’d like to offer you a dry shoulder
We’re all close to the end
Don’t you need a friend?
Honor your allegiances
Everyone is drowning in sand
Couldn’t you use a hand!
Please don’t make a guess
Sad again, you’re sad again
Hey, you’re breaking down
Sad again, you’re sad again
Your eyes betray your new smile
Whoa!
”
– Jawbreaker - Unfun - Busy
I went out for the Nekkid Fools bike ride, but not enough people showed up, so it didn’t happen. That’s too bad because I was really looking forward to stripping down, riding around, and getting a sense of freedom and exhilaration. I was planning to roll in my shoes, drawlz, and scarf. I wonder if it was too cold or if everyone else was at the Ride for Sheldon, which started at the same time.
We met at the North Park Blocks where Food Not Bombs was going on. I haven’t been to that in a while, so that was fun. I wasn’t very hungry, so I just had a semi-tasty freegan pastry that tasted a bit like it was sweetened with Saccharin.
I’m about two thirds of the way toward having the soil in my garden prepared for planting. I got all the weeds pulled, and I’m currently working on digging out a stump. Once that’s done, I’ll just need to till up the dirt and maybe add some topsoil. Then I can move on to the fun stuff. Actually, digging up weeds and stumps is fun too, and it’s foundational. On top of that, it’s a good upper body workout.
The kitties were having a blast running around and chasing each other all over the yard. They are way more active when someone’s outside, which is interesting. They’re somewhat like (certain) people in that way.
–
According to Wikipedia, “Soilwork is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Helsingborg.” I’ve never listened to them before; I’ve just heard the name and thought it was cool.
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