Category: Writing

This Is Not a Blog

I’m almost certain that the W3C prevents me from calling this site a weblog anymore. The odd thing is, with the exception of very brief periods, I don’t know if I ever ran a blog. However, when the home page shows entries that date back nearly a year (and only displays 10 posts total), something about the format isn’t working.

My life is busy. Since my last entry, I’ve moved to a new apartment, bought a new (used) car, become engaged, was promoted to Web Developer at work, and started several freelance design projects. I’m trying to simplify a lot of things in my life: clutter, diet, goals, and more, but I realize that I won’t have less to do or more time to do it unless something drastic happens. Like winning the lottery or a generous windfall from the Walton family. My goal to write shorter entries more often is clearly not working. I just don’t have the time or the interest to prioritize it.

I’m thinking about deemphasizing the blog format of this site and shifting focus to the items that have been in the sidebar for-(almost)-ever: the photos, the links, and the reading. I would really like to put together a web-based library application for myself and include that on this site. There are better ways to incorporate my photos and links than just sidelining them. And perhaps I’d have time to write up some longer article-style entries. A home page that gives equal time to all of these areas of my digital life makes more sense than antiquated weblog entries hogging the home page real estate.

A Little Late for Resolutions

I don’t really believe in New Year’s resolutions; if it’s important enough to me, I don’t need a calendar switch to get started. That being said, some articles I’ve read recently have me feeling motivated to stop thinking and start doing things.

Work Out

My friend Joe recently blogged that he has been going to the gym this year and already noticing positive changes. I never really used the free gym when I was at Scranton, but I could definitely afford to join one now. Or maybe I could just run around the block a few times. Either way, I want to get more exercise than walking from my apartment to my car and back once or twice a day.

I’ve been feeling more drained every day I know the weight I’ve gained since college is partly to blame. It’s nothing Oprah-esque, but I’m sure I’d have more energy if I dropped a few. I’ve already been trying to eat less, but I need to make sure that what I eat is good for me. Since I’m such a lazy ass when it comes time to actually work out—right, Jason?—I think a paid gym membership might throw some financial motivation behind, you know, my health and all.

Read More Books

I read a tremendous amount of blogs, news, Wikipedia entries, and a cornucopia of random online articles. Trouble is that a large portion of that is trivial crap that I won’t remember the next day. Most of this stems from procrastinating something more useful. Theoretically, there’s nothing wrong with what I read online; it’s only that it prevents me from reading or doing more substantial (or productive) things.

I am going to start cutting down a half-hour to an hour of online time-wasting and try to read at least one book each month. It doesn’t matter if it’s fiction or non or whether it maintains any credible hold on the term “literature.” I don’t care if it’s Dan Brown or Dante at this point.

Create More

I like to think of myself as creative, but I haven’t created much in my spare time lately. The last thing I want to do is allow my writing or coding skills to stagnate. I’d love to be able to write articles again like I did for the Scranton Student, but I just don’t have the time at this point. As I’ve been saying for years, I want to write more here. I think if I force myself to write at least once or twice a week it will develop into something of a habit.

In terms of creating websites, I want to design, code, and program more. At this point, I might focus on improving some of my existing sites, but I’d also like to seek out clients for professional projects. I need to focus on finishing projects, rather than a series of false starts.

Organize

In order to make all of the above even remotely possible, I need to organize myself. I could blame it on a hundred things beyond my control, but staying organized has never come easy to me. I think I’ve always battled clutter, but lately it seems to be winning. I want to work on scheduling my time better, but cleaning my room is priority one. I recently read a Lifehacker article that had a few great ideas for pilers. Already it’s helping me, but I need to take it further.

I know this might seem a little… much. But I don’t expect to accomplish all of this in a week or a month. Gradually, I want to make these changes part of my life, not some random things I might be trying. It’s going to take time, but I’m committed this time.

Things that Should Be Mentioned

The past week and a half have witnessed a flurry of activity. I wanted to write something about each event, every day, but I just didn’t have the time. That seems to be a recurring issue in my life: I wanted to, but I ran out of time. Anyway, here’s a list of the past weeks’ events:

1/17 — I took Annie to Baltimore for her Saturday class and hung out in Barnes & Noble and Borders for six hours. I wrote about loitering in bookstores.

1/18 — Annie and I went to see Cold Mountain; it was an excellent movie with powerful messages and acting. It reaffirms my belief that war is dumb.

1/21 — We took a trip to Harrisburg today to see Jane Goodall’s Wild Chimpanzees at the Whitaker Center IMAX. It was interesting to see how her relationship with the chimps has evolved from outsider to accepted member of the chimps’ society.

1/23 — Annie and I almost went to Baltimore today so that we could move her stuff back to her dorm room, but her residence life department is just as inept as mine and claimed that she wasn’t allowed to move in two days early, despite the fact that she had class the next day and it’s a 300 mile round trip.

1/25 — I drove down to Baltimore so that Annie and I could practice riding the busses from her school to her internship downtown. The Maryland Transit Authority’s website is generally useless, but the new digital signs in the busses that announce the approaching intersections are a wonderful idea. I wrote about our bus adventure.

1/27 — I moved back to Scranton, with little planning beforehand. It actually entailed staying up all night so that I’d be ready to go in the morning.

So there’s the rundown. There were many opportunities for posts where I actually did something or saw something interesting, but it’s all lost in the recesses of my mind. What a waste of bandwidth!