Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Google ads
Thinking about putting a google ad thing at the bottom of the main page here. Thoughts? Being that I'm unemployed, it might be a way to earn a little scratch, but I doubt it'll accrue hits fast enough to actually be worth it.
Chilling out at ICPL
that's the Iowa City Public Library. Free wi-fi + air conditioning = win in my book. I think I've nearly finished up all the last-minute administrative stuff that I was waiting until after Portland to do, so pretty soon I'll be able to head out east towards Chicago.
Speaking of Portland, it was a pretty amazing experience overall. I'm so happy that I got the chance to see old friends from last year, and meet new ones as well.
Highlights:
Flight from Omaha to Portland via Denver: Plane has to go back to Omaha when we're almost to Denver because of a storm cell and lack of enough fuel to go around it. By the time we actually do get to Denver, our flight out to Portland has been canceled, and since it was due to the weather, they refused to give us any sort of food or hotel vouchers. So we ended up crashing in the terminal on the floor until 6am the next day. At first they switched us to a 6am flight to San Fransisco, where we could catch a flight to Portland at TEN PM, which would have sucked. But around 2am Lauren and Rachel were wandering around and randomly asked a desk agent if there were any other options and she found us a flight that went through Sacramento and got us in to PDX around 1pm. Much better than not getting in until 11pm. Regardless, we lost about 24 hours of Portland fun time, and it would have actually been faster for us if we'd just driven there from Omaha.
Karaoke at Alibi:
The small group I was with got there early, so we played some Apples to Apples while sipping tiki drinks. Then the karaoke started and we met up with about 20 other PPKers (members of the Post Punk Kitchen forum. Camping with these people is why I was in Portland in the first place). We had some amazing songs come from our group, including "Dare to be Stupid" from Tommy, Lauren and Maeve did "If You're Happy and you Know It", and Justin did the Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes".
Camping at Willamette Mission State Park:
We were in the group camp area called "Beaver Island", and of course much hilarity ensued. Lots of delicious food, fun games, lounging in the shade, and campfire singalongs. Good stuff.
The Bye and Bye:
A NE Portland bar, with a delicious signature girly drink, and tasty vegan food (all of it! an all vegan bar. be still my heart.)
So much more! I have to head out, but once I have more time I'm going to trawl through everyone's Flickr streams and post the best pics (IMO) here, hopefully with an anecdote or two.
Speaking of Portland, it was a pretty amazing experience overall. I'm so happy that I got the chance to see old friends from last year, and meet new ones as well.
Highlights:
Flight from Omaha to Portland via Denver: Plane has to go back to Omaha when we're almost to Denver because of a storm cell and lack of enough fuel to go around it. By the time we actually do get to Denver, our flight out to Portland has been canceled, and since it was due to the weather, they refused to give us any sort of food or hotel vouchers. So we ended up crashing in the terminal on the floor until 6am the next day. At first they switched us to a 6am flight to San Fransisco, where we could catch a flight to Portland at TEN PM, which would have sucked. But around 2am Lauren and Rachel were wandering around and randomly asked a desk agent if there were any other options and she found us a flight that went through Sacramento and got us in to PDX around 1pm. Much better than not getting in until 11pm. Regardless, we lost about 24 hours of Portland fun time, and it would have actually been faster for us if we'd just driven there from Omaha.
Karaoke at Alibi:
The small group I was with got there early, so we played some Apples to Apples while sipping tiki drinks. Then the karaoke started and we met up with about 20 other PPKers (members of the Post Punk Kitchen forum. Camping with these people is why I was in Portland in the first place). We had some amazing songs come from our group, including "Dare to be Stupid" from Tommy, Lauren and Maeve did "If You're Happy and you Know It", and Justin did the Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes".
Camping at Willamette Mission State Park:
We were in the group camp area called "Beaver Island", and of course much hilarity ensued. Lots of delicious food, fun games, lounging in the shade, and campfire singalongs. Good stuff.
The Bye and Bye:
A NE Portland bar, with a delicious signature girly drink, and tasty vegan food (all of it! an all vegan bar. be still my heart.)
So much more! I have to head out, but once I have more time I'm going to trawl through everyone's Flickr streams and post the best pics (IMO) here, hopefully with an anecdote or two.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Quick update
Still in Portland, having a great time. Tons of details to fill in when I get back to my own computer, including tales of a night spent in the Denver airport, and all of the awesome food at the campground.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Now with 100% more homelessness!
The apartment has been cleaned (mostly), the keys have been turned in, and I'm about to head off on my trip to Portland.
I managed to fit everything into my car, and in such a way as I am not blocking any of my rear view mirror. I think this means that I win.
I managed to fit everything into my car, and in such a way as I am not blocking any of my rear view mirror. I think this means that I win.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Scrub-a-dub-dub
T-14 hours
The car is packed! Except for my cooler/mead, and the box of "throw last minute shit in here".
I'm slowly whittling away my "clean this stuff" list. One bedroom down, one to go, then it's just a little hallway, big living room, kitchen, and bathroom! before 10:30am tomorrow! I can totally do this.
I am a recent convert to the "swipe it twice with magic eraser, and then paint over it if it's still there" school of cleaning.
Obviously I also belong to the "put a sassy description of something in quotes so you can use a whole run-on sentence as an adjective" writing style.
The kitchen will be the real beast. I finished the stove top and under the burners last night, but that used up the last of my oven cleaner. So long easy street.
The car is packed! Except for my cooler/mead, and the box of "throw last minute shit in here".
I'm slowly whittling away my "clean this stuff" list. One bedroom down, one to go, then it's just a little hallway, big living room, kitchen, and bathroom! before 10:30am tomorrow! I can totally do this.
I am a recent convert to the "swipe it twice with magic eraser, and then paint over it if it's still there" school of cleaning.
Obviously I also belong to the "put a sassy description of something in quotes so you can use a whole run-on sentence as an adjective" writing style.
The kitchen will be the real beast. I finished the stove top and under the burners last night, but that used up the last of my oven cleaner. So long easy street.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Advice for Adriane
Adriane said...
Sounds liberating. I've been wanting to de-clutter my life as well.Have any tips?
Well Adriane, there's a few things I've learned I suppose.
1) Start early
If you're moving or have some kind of deadline, you want to be working at least two months in advance, probably more. If you don't have a deadline, I encourage you to make one, even if it's arbitrary. Without some kind of goal, it's easy to get sidetracked and caught up in all the random stuff you'll find while you're cleaning.
2) 'Sunk Cost'
Please be familiar with the economic principal of Sunk Costs. That's a lot of words, but I'll simplify it here. If you paid $400 for a bed, and you are entering a situation where you cannot take it with you, the original cost of the bed cannot have any impact on decisions you make with regards to how you're going to dispose of the bed. You cannot think "oh my god, I just spent a ton of money on that bed, I can't get rid of it!" or "I can't sell it for $50! It cost $400 new!". You must treat all decisions about that bed based on their own merits. If you can get $50 for it, or the alternative is throwing it out, take the $50 and be glad you got some part of your original investment back. Of course, this fits in with point 1 above, where if you start early you are more likely able to wait for a better offer.
3) Primacy of Recency
I had boxes in my closets that I hadn't opened in two years, since I packed them and moved into my current apartment. If I had to do this again, I wouldn't have even opened those boxes to see what was inside. If I haven't used it in two years, it's clearly not something that I need. Instead, I ended up spending a ton of time reminiscing about the items in the boxes, and then ended up getting rid of it all anyway.
4) It is just STUFF
In the end, everything you own is just stuff. It can be replaced. It does not define who you are. It is much easier to declutter your life when you are able to detach your emotions from your belongings. I'm not suggesting that you throw away all your pictures of your family, or gifts from relatives, those objects represent something more than what they physically are. I am suggesting that you carefully examine everything and actually think about what the object is, and then determine whether it fits into the life you want to live.
Sounds liberating. I've been wanting to de-clutter my life as well.Have any tips?
Well Adriane, there's a few things I've learned I suppose.
1) Start early
If you're moving or have some kind of deadline, you want to be working at least two months in advance, probably more. If you don't have a deadline, I encourage you to make one, even if it's arbitrary. Without some kind of goal, it's easy to get sidetracked and caught up in all the random stuff you'll find while you're cleaning.
2) 'Sunk Cost'
Please be familiar with the economic principal of Sunk Costs. That's a lot of words, but I'll simplify it here. If you paid $400 for a bed, and you are entering a situation where you cannot take it with you, the original cost of the bed cannot have any impact on decisions you make with regards to how you're going to dispose of the bed. You cannot think "oh my god, I just spent a ton of money on that bed, I can't get rid of it!" or "I can't sell it for $50! It cost $400 new!". You must treat all decisions about that bed based on their own merits. If you can get $50 for it, or the alternative is throwing it out, take the $50 and be glad you got some part of your original investment back. Of course, this fits in with point 1 above, where if you start early you are more likely able to wait for a better offer.
3) Primacy of Recency
I had boxes in my closets that I hadn't opened in two years, since I packed them and moved into my current apartment. If I had to do this again, I wouldn't have even opened those boxes to see what was inside. If I haven't used it in two years, it's clearly not something that I need. Instead, I ended up spending a ton of time reminiscing about the items in the boxes, and then ended up getting rid of it all anyway.
4) It is just STUFF
In the end, everything you own is just stuff. It can be replaced. It does not define who you are. It is much easier to declutter your life when you are able to detach your emotions from your belongings. I'm not suggesting that you throw away all your pictures of your family, or gifts from relatives, those objects represent something more than what they physically are. I am suggesting that you carefully examine everything and actually think about what the object is, and then determine whether it fits into the life you want to live.
Getting down to the wire
Two Days Left
My desk sold yesterday. I'm a little worried about actually fitting everything I have left into my car, but I think I can swing it.
Today needs to be a cleaning day. This place has to be spotless when I turn in my keys on the morning of the 22nd, so I've got my work cut out for me. I can hear my mother now "if you'd just cleaned the small things on a regular basis, you wouldn't have so much work to do now!" I can't help but think though, that I'm saving time in the long run by just doing it all at once at the end. Anyway, I did give the place a reasonably thorough cleaning when I had Couchsurfers over a few weeks ago, so hopefully it shouldn't be too bad.
I didn't quite get my kitchen finished yesterday, though I did get two boxes of non-perishable stuff packed up from my pantry. I need to find a small box for my spices, I think. I'm dreading the refrigerator, because I know I'm going to have to throw things out and that makes me sad. I don't think there are any food banks in the area that will take perishable items, especially if they're already half gone.
My desk sold yesterday. I'm a little worried about actually fitting everything I have left into my car, but I think I can swing it.
Today needs to be a cleaning day. This place has to be spotless when I turn in my keys on the morning of the 22nd, so I've got my work cut out for me. I can hear my mother now "if you'd just cleaned the small things on a regular basis, you wouldn't have so much work to do now!" I can't help but think though, that I'm saving time in the long run by just doing it all at once at the end. Anyway, I did give the place a reasonably thorough cleaning when I had Couchsurfers over a few weeks ago, so hopefully it shouldn't be too bad.
I didn't quite get my kitchen finished yesterday, though I did get two boxes of non-perishable stuff packed up from my pantry. I need to find a small box for my spices, I think. I'm dreading the refrigerator, because I know I'm going to have to throw things out and that makes me sad. I don't think there are any food banks in the area that will take perishable items, especially if they're already half gone.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
re: the title of my blog
Most of the blogs I pay attention to are cooking blogs, specifically vegan cooking blogs. This is not one of them.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Preparations are nearly complete
T-minus: 5 days
Things are moving along nicely in my quest to rid myself of extraneous material goods. The vast majority of my furniture is gone, either to consignment or via craigslist. The only remaining pieces: my large glass desk, a wooden hexagonal end-table, and my wooden coffee table. It seems that craigslisters don't want these pieces for whatever reason, and the consignment shop won't take them. Why they're full on hexagonal end-tables is beyond me, but the other two pieces have large panes of glass, which they don't accept. Regardless, I need to find some way to get rid of these pieces besides just throwing them away. I suppose freecycle is my best bet at this point.
Soon I will be able to start packing my car with the things that I'm actually keeping, instead of the things I'm getting rid of. This should lead to better mental health for me as my apartment begins to declutter itself again. I've completely cleared out the two bedrooms, and the majority of my kitchen drawers/cabinets, but this leaves me with bags and boxes of things I am taking with me sitting and taking up space in my living room.
Things are moving along nicely in my quest to rid myself of extraneous material goods. The vast majority of my furniture is gone, either to consignment or via craigslist. The only remaining pieces: my large glass desk, a wooden hexagonal end-table, and my wooden coffee table. It seems that craigslisters don't want these pieces for whatever reason, and the consignment shop won't take them. Why they're full on hexagonal end-tables is beyond me, but the other two pieces have large panes of glass, which they don't accept. Regardless, I need to find some way to get rid of these pieces besides just throwing them away. I suppose freecycle is my best bet at this point.
Soon I will be able to start packing my car with the things that I'm actually keeping, instead of the things I'm getting rid of. This should lead to better mental health for me as my apartment begins to declutter itself again. I've completely cleared out the two bedrooms, and the majority of my kitchen drawers/cabinets, but this leaves me with bags and boxes of things I am taking with me sitting and taking up space in my living room.
But sometimes I'll post about food.
This is a blog about my life and travel, my attempts to live a more simple life, and my difficulties (or lack thereof!) of finding vegan food while traveling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_living
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_living
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