August 19, 2010 – cursing the darkness?
A leftover from my daughter's room - used to live at my home in Seattle.
Why is a miscellaneous lamp so hard to give up?
I realize that there are several items in my life that I’m hanging on to because “they still work, and I might want them some day.”
This lamp, which I bought to furnish my daughter’s room in my house in Seattle, still works just fine…but doesn’t fit into my apartment in Dallas. So, today it goes.
There really isn’t much else to say – so I’ll RID myself of the need to say it.
August 18, 2010 – Tennis, anyone?
A wooden racket that has Borg's name on it might be worth something to somebody, but not to me anymore.
We’re in the middle of a ridiculous, every day is 100 degrees — 2 weeks straight kind of patch here in Dallas, so it’s a great time to get rid of outdoor sporting equipment.
I love playing tennis, but the reality is…too many things have to fall into place now for me to get to play. The weather has to cooperate, the person I want to play has to available, there has to be a court free, etc. The reality is…I NEVER play anymore.
So what a perfect day to give away my two tennis rackets. I’ve held on to these for years, but haven’t played in a long….loooooooooong time. So, over the fence you go.
PERSONAL ANECDOTE: This post however, has inspired me in a new way. While I go to my gym semi-religiously, I’d like to find a sport that I can participate in that’s a little more social. I just found this new app for my iPad, perhaps I’ll give that a try. If nothing else, it’s an interesting experiment in new technology — and who knows? Maybe I’ll connect with someone whom the universe wants me to meet.
August 17, 2010 – no more DIRECTV.
From this moment forward, all Miami Dolphins games will be watched in a sportsbar.
When I first moved to Dallas, I signed up for Time Warner Cable for two reasons:
1) I had been informed that the DIRECTV signal, which I had been using for YEARS on the West Coast, was subject to more outages in Dallas in heavy rain, and
2) Since I rent an apartment here, hooking up cable is a lot easier than getting permission to put a dish on the building, etc.
Since I was rethinking TV anyway, I used the opportunity to check into “many” ways of watching TV…I even hooked up my computer and went “Hulu” for a couple of months.
I’ve now had cable for about a year – so I’m sending my old DIRECTV receiver back to its source.
The experiment of “having so many options” has taught me that I rarely WANT that many options. The truth is, the options merely slow me down and get me aggravated thinking about what I might be missing out on.
If you’re interested in knowing the underlying psychology of what I just blogged about, here’s a great book.
I’m thinking that I need to keep this satellite receiver in mind as a metaphor for not overcomplicating my life with more choices. Make a choice, if it makes me happy — then accept it, and be happy. Don’t dwell on the choices NOT made.
A metaphor for SO MANY of my decisions.
The only thing I’m going to miss out on is watching my beloved Miami Dolphins games at home, since Time Warner cable doesn’t offer the same sports package as DIRECTV. But – actually, this is a better choice – it will encourage me to spend my Sunday mornings getting out of bed, and going to watch the games in a social space…you know, with humanity….
So…here’s to LESS choice.
Thoughts relating to ownership from Gentleman George.
BEYOND NSFW.
August 16, 2010 – the benefits of travel.
A book everyone should read.
I’ve been hanging on to this book for some time, convinced I’d find “the right person to give it to.”
As of today, I give it to the universe, and trust it’ll find its way to the right person.
The book details many, if not most, of the countries of the world – and it’s organized in sections that help make sense of the individual countries politics and customs. It’s a handy reference guide for anyone who’s looking to come up with a new place to travel — or just to understand better the world we live in.
As I cast this book into the world, it makes me think a lot about our news media — and how few stories we get from around the world. We’re so enamored with car chases and celebrity gossip that we’ve lost the big picture.
And, let’s face it, the Internet has made the situation so much worse. I know in my own quest to try to stay current, the Internet makes entertainment just a click away…and I often go for it.
So, here’s to staying current and worldly. A few links to keep bookmarked are below (since we all know print media is in big, big trouble.)
August 15, 2010 – Wholphin.
Three editions of short film happiness.
If you haven’t checked out Wholphin, you should. They’re collections of short films put together from the fine folks at McSweeney‘s – the home of Dave Eggers and one of the finest Internet sites around.
Wholphin is worth subscribing to, the films are poinient, powerful, and artistic. But you know what? I was NEVER going to go back and watch any of these – yet I was hanging on to them. No more.
In fact, I’m taking great personal satisfaction in the fact that, by giving these up, other people will be exposed to this fantastic content, and maybe subscribe, and maybe help Wholphin stay in business in this tough economy.
That’s today’s “pay it forward” thought, and I’m sticking to it.
August 14, 2010 – 2 books, 1 TED mailing.
Anyone wanna claim?
As I’ve blogged about before, books are a tough one for me – I always have the best intentions, WANT to read them, feel like I SHOULD.
A couple of days ago, I received one of my regular deliveries from TED. It couldn’t have come at a better time. You see, both of these are TED speakers that I have heard in the past, and both of these books are ones I downloaded “samples” of to my new iPad.
The Dan Ariely book seemed fascinating and I downloaded the full copy to my iPad. The Matt Ridley book, whilst a killer TED speech, just didn’t seem like one I’d follow through with reading. So, I deleted the file on my iPad and moved on.
When I received these in my TED Bookclub mailing, it threated to reopen the decision. You know, I WAS interested enough in the Ridley book to CONSIDER reading it, maybe now that I got a physical copy I should keep it – put it on the bookshelf.
We all know what would’ve happened. I would’ve been blogging about the Ridley book in a few months – adding it to the stack of the RID project.
It feels good to stick with this decision, and to pass this book along to someone who’ll want it…and treasure it.
Now THAT’S rational optimism.
August 13, 2010 – DVD o’ rama.
No theme whatsoever.
It’s amazing the DVDs I’ve stacked up.
I thought I’d throw these three in a group together, since they represent the randomness of my DVD collection in total. Future RIDs will be more thematic, or singular DVDs that mean something specific to me.
Looking at these DVDs now presents me with a quandary. Is the RID project about preserving the diversity of information and interests I have? Or is the end goal getting RID of the diversity in order to generate serious depth in a particular area?
I have no idea. But I’ll blog about it when I figure it out.
What I got rid of today. 