Tag: crap-program

The Island of Lost Resolution

In preparation for the coming year, a progress report on last year’s resolutions, which Rochelle recently found on her computer.

Rochelle found the following snippet on her computer, dated at the end of last year:

“Crap Reduction and Abatement Program — While we have remained committed to the idea of having less stuff, we still have way too much crap. Michael has promised to get rid of his BeBox collection by January 17th (the one year anniversary of their arrival). I have promised to throw any remaining BeBoxes out the front window on January 18th. I have vowed that since Spring semester doesn’t start until February, I would dedicate a couple of weekends in January to weeding through the dressing room which, despite our good intentions, has reverted once again to the Island of Lost Crap.”

For the record, all three of these things will be on our resolutions list at the end of this year, too.

Fancy Detective Work

So I am, as part of my effort to get rid of crap around the house, working on resuscitating my old Mac, a Beige G3, in order to sell it. The system has been sitting in the corner of our office, completely disconnected. Indeed, I’d unplugged everything from it, and stored the cables, mouse, keyboard, etc., elsewhere. Heh, to reduce clutter. Now there’s just one piece I can’t find…

So I am, as part of my effort to get rid of crap around the house, working on resuscitating my old Mac, a Beige G3, in order to sell it. The system has been sitting in the corner of our office, completely disconnected. Indeed, I’d unplugged everything from it, and stored the cables, mouse, keyboard, etc., elsewhere. Heh, to reduce clutter.

So setting it up initially involves tracking down all the pieces, so that I can turn it on. Power, graphics, and Ethernet were easy; those are already connected to things in the office, I can just borrow them. And I knew where the keyboard was, because I had used it for a while on my new Mac, until I found an acceptable replacement. After digging in boxes for 20 minutes, I found the old mouse. The only piece missing is an ADB cable to attach the keyboard to the Mac.

I can’t find one.

After digging in boxes in four different rooms for over an hour, I just can’t find where I stored the damn thing. I probably have exactly one of them, and it’s just hiding from me.

So, time to take a break, and think about where it could be. Let’s see, I got the new Mac about two years ago…both Macs where hooked up and running for a couple months…what did I do when I disconnected the G3? Well, I kept using the old keyboard for a while…but that was with an adapter, not the keyboard cable. What did I do when I retired the keyboard…?

Hmmm, wait a minute! I have a padded keyboard case, that I bought specifically for that beloved old keyboard, except the damn thing doesn’t fit. So I took the keyboard out of it, but maybe the cable is still there!

Ummm…but where did I put the keyboard case? Well, the closet, maybe, on the top shelf…? Yes, there it is! And, the top is still open! And look, there’s something inside it!

Eureka! My swim goggles!

Still looking…

DHI 20-26

More CRAP improvements, getting rid of boxes of stuff, a dozen items of clothing, and rearranging all the BeBoxes to give Rochelle most of her parlor back.

DHI 20: I emptied a box in my office, from the pile of many next to the office door. I cleared and sorted the nearly three inches worth of papers I accumulated in my last Java class. And I threw shit out.

DHI 21: Killed another box; it’s by the back door, waiting to be taken to the Goodwill pile in the basement. Among the things discarded are a couple of old messenger bags, a padded shoulder bag for my also-discarded StyleWriter printer, and a slew of baseball caps I culled from my collection.

DHI 22: I put my old ADB keyboard away in the dressing room, cleared out a large pile of old mail, filed some other papers, and cleared off the entire surface of the footlocker in the office. Then I moved the two plastic bins on top of the footlocker, for a later effort.

DHI 23: I culled from the back of my closet, getting rid of a pair of slacks, a couple sweaters, and a bunch of sweatshirts, none of which I wear anymore. (I did my shirts a while back, before 2003 got started. My closet’s ready for me to buy a few new items!)

DHI 24: Emptied a box of miscellaneous computer items. Kept the interesting items (a few lights parts), and will give the rest away (a very old scanner and a very old, semi-working inkjet printer).

DHI 25: Cleared off the sofa in the parlor of all my stuff, and a few of Rochelle’s items, too. The sofa is now actually usable for the first time in 10 months or so.

DHI 26: Moved all but one BeBox out of the parlor. Packed up all the crap I had littered on top of our bar. Consolidated a dozen shipping boxes, and prepared them for storage in the basement. Rochelle almost has her parlor back!

We also paid the interior design consultant Rochelle found, for the week’s worth of work he’s done with her, including amazing progress on the water closet and the lovely new arrangement for the back deck. Our house could actually be pretty cool in another month or two!

BeBox Project Update

Back in October, Rochelle got me to publicly commit to finishing my BeBox refurb project, or terminate it. She cleverly suggested a deadline far in the future. The date was last weekend.

Back in October, Rochelle got me to publicly commit to finishing my BeBox refurb project, or terminate it. She cleverly suggested a deadline far in the future. The 17th of January, the anniversary of my buying the collection. I later modified that to be the weekend after the 17th, to give myself an extra two days.

Those last two days were this past weekend.

So, I’m not finished, and haven’t actually made a whole lot of progress. My Daily Home Improvements are primarily going to tasks to clear space for the BeBoxes in my office, so Rochelle can have her parlor back.