Wedding is over

Wow, what a great past couple of weeks. Seeing all my friends and family coming together in one spot is crazy! I really enjoyed getting to see everyone, I just wish there was more time. There were several people that made a huge trip to Portland and I just didn't get to talk to them as much as I wanted or at all. I'd do the whole thing again in a heartbeat.

26. Finalize the wedding blog so it's ready by the time invites are sent out

It's not perfect but it's done to the point of ready for people to get information off of it.

http://www.michaelandjenneliwedding.blogspot.com/

A very productive week

This was a very productive week and my urge to read news and surf the web has really gone down. I spent a couple hours reading my old news sites and although it was fun to catch up, nothing had really happened that I needed to read. Though it was nice to get some details.

This week I'm going to focus on cleaning the house and getting everything put away in a good spot. After I get done with this post I'm going to add a few cleaning goals to the list. I'm also going to try to allow myself to do a little searching and surfing. I'm going to try to keep it below hours a do. Today I went a little over that but I'm not going to look the rest of today and just clean.

I feel pretty good about my progress.

8. Send out invitations for wedding

They are out! Well at least 95% of them. I took 300 to the post office this morning and posted them off. This is the first big project I've finished since my return to productivity. I've not got to finish off the website so when people receive the invite they won't be confused when hitting the website. Which if you are curious is michaelandjenneliwedding.blogspot.com

Hockwald helps with the invites

The end of day 3

Honestly, I thought I'd be able to check off at least a few items by today, but I guess one always underestimates the length of a task and over estimates the number of hours in a day. I'm really pushing to get all the invites out tomorrow.

It was far easier to do without looking up news items today. I'm beginning to think this is like any compulsive behavior. I'm always going to have a desire but it's manageable. If I can make it to Monday I want to shoot for one more week before I let up on the restrictions. Ideally I'd like to only research news an hour or 2 a day. I've gotten so much done the last 3 days I don't want to let that go. It's weird how memory works, this week has brought back memories of college and working at FSR. Not to say I've been working so hard but I've been at a task all day without breaks. I'm wondering if my mind hasn't adapted to the breaks I do give it, like this blog. Maybe I'll understand more next week.

Getting the invites out

We also can't decide on the stamp. All the choices!

EWB party on the beach

In a parade for Russ Warner

(I'm also testing updating this blog via my phone)

Jenneli paints @ LA Works

Jenneli and I spent the day painting a school at a LA works event. After painting few doors and some walls we proved ourselves worthy of mural work.

Day 2 of not reading news or surfing online

This morning was easier than yesterday morning. I still had pangs of wanting to do a little research on Obama's ethonal policy vs. McCain's but I'm persevering. Making french toast for breakfast was also a nice distraction. I figured out why NPR just isn't enough as I originally thought it should be. While it does a good job of covering topics it often leaves out the details, often the details are the most interesting.

I don't have to do 7 loads of laundry today so maybe I'll be able to get the wedding invites all ready to go out the door. I'm sad they just changed the price of postage, it limits our options on stamps. Why don't they just make all stamps "forever"?

Jenneli Having Fun

We volunteered for LAWorks last weekend to paint a school. Jenneli is
putting the finishing touches on her mural.

13. Post Blog on Hillaryis44 comments

I actually did this but within a couple posts I realized that http://hillaryis44.blogspot.com was doing a far better job than I was so I took mine down and just supported her efforts. If I wasn't swearing off reading news I would have already visited both the big pink and hillaryis44.blogspot.com by this time this morning. I'm still fascinated by the big pink, it reminds me so much of the creationists blogs I used to read it's a little scary.

23. Volunteer for Mark Warner

I can't remember when I first volunteered for Mark Warner. It must have been pretty soon after I put it on the list. Since May I've volunteered probably 20-30 hours by making calls, walking in parades, and mostly canvasing. I really think he's going to be able to win. The national media still does not see the race as competitive as the incumbent David Dryar has several million to spend on the race but there has been a shift in the demographics in the district and a lot of excitement on democratic side. Only time will tell, I plan on splitting my time this fall between Obama and Warner.

5. Get first draft of the wedding site blog up

The first version is up but it's going to need work before the invites go out.

http://www.michaelandjenneliwedding.blogspot.com/

Time to get back on the wagon

My grand plan fell apart but I'm back and more serious than ever. There are many things to blame my lack of action on but I'm going to single out reading the news. As a result I'm spending the next week focusing on this task list. I'm not going to read news online, nor will there be any surfing. I'm limiting my access to blogging, wedding, and managing my finances.

My friend Adam did something similar a few weeks back, we'll see if I can last as long as he did. I can already tell this is going to be very difficult. I've only been up since 8 and the past 2 hours have been long. I've gotten a lot done though, so I feel good about that. Right now I'm cleaning and doing laundry. As soon as most of the cleaning is finished I'm going to start cranking out the wedding invites.

17. Finish god of war on god mode

Yeah, so I picked the most fun thing to do first. Sue me. I actually finished it 3 times. After playing for 4 hours and finally beating it I went to save and it locked up. I was angry at first but then decided I could pretty quickly beat it again. I did, it took about an hour. Then I realized I didn't unlock the 2nd secret message and spend another 30 minutes beating it again to unlock that. Overall it was kind of fun to master the last few battles but I'm not sure I gained a whole lot from the experience.

Completed item #1

I've been getting into blogging of late and thought I might combine that skill with an old idea I had in high school. On my old 486 I made a big list of things to do and each day I would try to check off a few items. The list itself was pretty free form and didn't have set rules. I tried to keep off items that I'd have to do anyway like homework and focused more on things that I would like to accomplish but didn't necessarily have a due date, or if they did, I put them on to finish them early. It was an attempt to ward off procrastinating.

Now that we have the internet I'd like to try that again as it worked better than any other system I've tried. I'll start by admitting that this could be a bad idea. Everyone, including Jenneli is going to see what's on my list. So will anyone that searches for my name. That poses some some potential problems for my list. I have a feeling I'll be updating my list rules as time goes on but for now, here they are:

The list rules:

1. Items that are finished will need to have a blog post stating what was accomplished.
2. The list should never be more than 100 items long
3. Retiring items from the list without completion will be fined by having to explain the reason in a post and 1000 situps (or pushups to the extent 1 pushup = 4 situps)
4. It is possible to divide up one goal into a smaller goals

List of things to do

2. Complete taxes for 2007
3. Get W2 for 2007
4. Display a list of yardsales from the db on my google app account
6. Clean desk area to the point of having a working environment
7. Send out best men announcements to Jason, Juan, Eric, Aaron, and Adam
9. Import yard sale listings from craigslist
10. Confirm Jenneli's engagement ring's stone.
11. Send out 10 resumes before 4/25/08
12. Plan axis and allies party for 5/3/08
14. Send grammy a letter
15. Send grandma and grandpa a letter
16. Create 50 things to do
18. Move finances to Kevin
19. Visit Tim & steph's kid
20. Plan a camping trip
21. Plan a climbing trip
22. Figure out type of wind turbine for the hill
24. Go to a toastmasters meeting
25. Figure out how to manage timelines for this list
27. Buy Wedding Gift/Birthday Gift for Jenneli (Her Birthday is August 30)
28. Clean out the 2 extra computers and old drive so I can get rid of them
29. Send out wedding thank you's


Finished Items:
1. Describe the goal of the blog
5. Get first draft of the wedding site blog up
17. Finish god of war on god mode
23. Volunteer for Mark Warner
13. Post Blog on Hillaryis44 comments
8. Send out invitations for wedding
26. Finalize the wedding blog so it's ready by the time invites are sent out