life hacks

Things I Won’t Do Again

AKA, my “Fuck It” list. Inspired by Unclutterer, who was in turn inspired by Amy KR.

I will never again:

  1. feel guilty for not attending every event I’m invited to.
  2. feel guilty for finding a new home for gifts I’ve been given if they don’t work well in my home.
  3. allow negative people to suck up my rare free time.
  4. be a negative person who sucks up the free time of others. < == hard! I'm trying!

    5. purchase something without asking “do I really need this?”

2012 Update: Going through my drafts folder, I found this old post from Aug 24, 2010 that I never put up, but should have.
Continue ReadingThings I Won’t Do Again

Uncluttering projects

I haven’t stalled out on the de-cluttering and organizing projects, I just don’t have photos to put up quite yet – I’m still working on the great furniture shuffle. I purchased a new desk and new china cabinet at Ikea last week, and have put them both together. I unloaded and removed the old shelving unit, which is residing on the porch until I can transport it to it’s final resting place. I just have to install the lights into the china cabinet and we’ll be set to load it up with china and glasses that go there, along with table cloths. And I need to clean out the pantry and find room for tools, which will unearth an avalanche of discard-able items. It’s all proceeding nicely and we’re getting to the place where I start working on smaller items again.

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Things I’ve Learned on the Internet

The long and involved commented I posted on this Cute Overload post, just because it’s one of those things I’ve finally figured out after being on the internet for over 20 years. The Accident Network Group in Costa Mesa warned people to be cautious while riding bicycles to avoid accidents. In case of accidents you can also consult attorneys for DWI claims in Hempstead as they can help you in claiming compensation.

When I’m walking down the hall and I accidentally step on someone’s toes, I apologize for it and take a moment to make sure that I haven’t seriously hurt the person whom I stepped on.

I don’t get up in arms and protest that I didn’t intend to step on their toes and that there was nothing malicious about it — of course that’s true, but it doesn’t change the fact that I caused an injury (check out injury charges attorneys for hire from here), however slight.

I also don’t blame the person for feeling pain when I stepped on them. It’s not their fault they were there; they have just as much right to be there as I, and just because I didn’t happen to see things from their point of view when I was walking doesn’t mean that their point of view is invalid or shouldn’t be considered, just that I wasn’t aware of it until they yelped. With the availability of the DUI law firm for hire, it is nowadays becoming very easy to identify victim and accused without much effort.

And sometimes their yelps of pain, being surprised ones, take a tone of accusation at first. I don’t take offense to that; it’s easy when one is surprised and hurt to suspect that malice is intended, even when it’s not. Usually after some apologies and expression of concern, the person I stepped on understand that what happened was an accident on my part and that I am genuinely concerned about their well-being. We exchange mutual pleasantries and move on.

That’s probably what should have happened here, but it appears that it didn’t. For that reason, I probably won’t be back to visit Cute Overload — I really don’t want to interact with people who say things like “walk somewhere else, you’re not welcome here” when they’ve trod on someone accidentally. The first trodding on may have been accidentally, but this post is quite clearly stomping on someone’s toes on purpose. It seems to me to be juvenile and rude and unnecessary. Just because you aren’t face to face with the person whose toes you injured doesn’t mean you have license to go on without apologizing, or to claim that their toes weren’t actually trod upon at all, and it was all in their head.

Continue ReadingThings I’ve Learned on the Internet

links for 2008-03-22

Continue Readinglinks for 2008-03-22

T-shirt Challenge Revisited

A while back I decided, since I have way too many t-shirts (over 100), I would wear all of them without repeating, and photograph each one. I didn’t get too far into the project before photographing all of them became too much to keep up with. I’ve still be cycling through them, and I have 36 left to wear. But it’s obvious I don’t need all of them, and it’s also obvious that many people will be in desperate need of clothes soon. So I’m going to sort out most of them and give them away, as soon as charities start accepting donations of clothes for Katrina victims.

I haven’t located a place yet (most, like the Red Cross are really in need of cash donations, which we did this week) but I’m sure that will come soon.

[edit needed: update photos]

Continue ReadingT-shirt Challenge Revisited

Long-delayed t-shirt blogging

I started out with such great intentions. I was so determined. I as going to take a picture every day, and blog it right away. How quickly I got sidetracked. Curse you, real life! How dare you get in the way of my silly website projects?

Well, anyway, here’s the catch-up… see the main photo page for all my shirts in context.

[edit needed: update photos]

June 28, 2005 – One of my three Curious George shirts. Sleeves are too long, but I love it.

June 28, 2005 – fun grey shirt; this looks good on me.

June 30, 2005 – I have six white shirts exactly like this, and a grey, blue and black. I’ll have to try on another to see how they all look.

July 1, 2005 – Beaver Mountain. Hee hee.

July 2, 2005 – Darn it, I need someone else to take pictures.

July 3, 2005 – I love this shirt, but it’s too big, and is getting old. It’s definitely a wear-around-the-house shirt.

July 4, 2005 – One of my standard Old Navy ringer shirts. They look alright.

July 4, 2005 – Another Old Navy. I spilled on the other one, and had to change.

July 5, 2005 – Inexpensive Fruit of the Look I bought for $3 several years ago. This looks okay.

July 6, 2005 – Cool “year of the rooster” shirt I got several years ago. They didn’t have the “year of the monkey, or I would have it instead. Sleeves are too long.

July 7, 2005 – Standard Old Navy ringer shirts.

July 8, 2005 – I’m blogging this! I got this at thinkgeek.com
Okay! Now I’m all caught up.

Continue ReadingLong-delayed t-shirt blogging

tshirt blogging; day 4, 5, & 6

[edit needed: update photos]

A really old t-shirt that I love because it has a cool tiger on the front. It’s not really in the wearable pile anymore either, but I’ll try to do something with the logo. Why do I keep sticking my hands in my pockets?

A new Old Navy ringer shirt. I like this one because it’s plain, and the sleeves fit better.

My Dinosaurland shirt. I love this one, but the sleeves are too long, so I’m thinking of having them re-sewn to be shorter. I tried not sticking my hands in my pockets for this photo, but clearly that’s not the best pose either. I need to practice in the mirror

We had another hectic weekend. We spent Saturday at Stephanie’s getting her house ready for her surgery, and then took a break and went to see Bewitched in the evening. I liked Nicole Kidman in this movie better than some she’s done in the past. Sunday we visited my mom and saw my nieces Riley and Erika.

This morning, I spent 45 minutes looking for my keys and never found them. They have to be somewhere in the foyer, but I didn’t find them at all. I ended up using my spare set. Very frustrating, especially after I didn’t sleep well.

And last but not least, I’m struggling to get through my book club book; 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs -The Election that Changed the Country. I know the first (and second) rule(s) of book club are not to talk about the book before book club, but I can’t help it — this book is damned boring. And it’s especially frustrating since

I’m slogging through it so I can read these far more interesting books:

Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter
by Steven Johnson

Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People’s Right to Marry
by Evan Wolfson

Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things
by Donald A. Norman

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
by Susanna Clarke

Continue Readingtshirt blogging; day 4, 5, & 6

The Great T-Shirt Challenge

We watched the first installment of Morgan Spurlock’s “30” this past week, (the one where he and his girlfriend live on minimum wage) and now I’m analyzing every cent I spend. So this morning while I was folding clothes, I answered a question that’s been bothering me for a while — “How many T-shirts do I own?”

I didn’t feel the need to go to Closet & Storage Concepts because my job doesn’t necessitate dressing up, and I have a very relaxed style of clothing. Although I probably should make an effort to dress up a bit more, it’s not a requirement at my job. Over 11 years of working for the same company, my casual wardrobe has expanded while my formal wear has diminished. I am particularly fond of t-shirts, whether they are plain or feature a message. I even created my own design. I tend to purchase t-shirts impulsively, and who knows, maybe someday I’ll come across the sp5der pink hoodie that I always longed to have in my wardrobe.

So I started counting. And the final tally is: 93. Not counting the ones currently in the wash, which would probably put the total at over 100. And I won’t include the ones that I only wear when painting and working on the house, or the ones in my “clothes archive” (t-shirts from gay rights rallies and college events), or long-sleeve shirts, or polo/golf shirts with collars.

[edit needed: update photos]

Many of these don’t get worn. I have favorites that I wear over and over, and lots of my shirts get ignored. So I decided to challenge myself. I’m going to wear every shirt in my wardrobe without repeating one. Every day, for the next 93 days. And I’m going to photograph each shirt as I wear it. Now there are a couple of shirts that are either too large or too small; I’ll weed those out as I go and do Good Will runs. And shirts that don’t look great on me will go to Good Will, too, after I wear them.

I hope when I’m done to have given all my clothes their fair share of wearing time, to weed out shirts I don’t need, and to generally be more conscious of what I spend my money on in the future.

2019 Update: I never got through this challenge because taking and processing the photos took longer than I could manage every day. It because a lot easier with cell phone cameras and I ended up attempting it again in 2006.

It took me forever to realize that both times a significant part of why I failed was because I hated the way I looked in the photos because of my extreme dysphoria.

I did clean out many shirts both times. And I gained them all back, with interest. Maybe I should try again.

Continue ReadingThe Great T-Shirt Challenge