Was informed this afternoon that BACM and BAA will have to go to campus on coming Monday for the grad show thing which had taken over by the school management. However, it is said that there are minor stuff that students have to deal with. I can’t complain much because I am kinda out of the list to be in charge of anything lol.

On the mean time, I am pretty much stucked in Cyber Jaya. Wanted to go somewhere but anywhere I go I need pay for it i.e transportation and food. Nothing is cheap nowadays. It’s affordable but not cheap.

Anyway, there are stuff that I need to do.

1. big bro’s logo design

2. sis’s kolej t-shirt design

3. redo my showreel? ( is that even possible @.@!)

4. redesign namecard

5. arrange my 4 years work and print it out like a book

6. lose weight! I wanna look nice during convo(ahh i have been saying this for ages even since I got back from the London the Land of Evil @.@)

7. of course make sure i can find a job T_____T

8. learn to make tiramisu and cook curry for DD!

Actually there are so many things to learn and to do!

Unfortunately, I am currently addicted to K-drama.

‘When It’s At Night‘ is such an addictive drama to watch. I’ve been watching it over and over again, E-V-E-R-Y-D-A-Y. Honestly said, there are no hot babe or muscle man in the drama. There is something about the leading actor and actress. Lee Dong Gun(starred as Kim Bum Sang) is so charming, Kim Sun-ah(starred as Heo Cho Hee) is so attractive even she does not have a hot sexy figure. The story is basically about them protecting/ searching for archaeological treasures that are classified as nation cultural properties or retrieve the stolen ones from tomb robbers. And of course there are romance conflicts in between added with black humour.  The drama is so entertaining and heart-breaking at certain level. Totally in love with Lee Dong Gun ! Well, Chuck Bass is still in my heart too. LOL!

I fell in love :] again

So I have left some things a little late – but typing about my to-do list surely makes all the difference.  Especially if I could be doing them instead of blogging about them:

I have gotten a lot better, with the things I need to do, I have.  Maybe it needs a little bit lot of work!  Surely leaving it open for the whole of the web will make all the difference in the world?  OKAY, I will add it as a page on my blog!  I can always edit and add as I go!

1. Find Logan a nursery school.  Yes, still to be done!  I have phone a couple of schools again today – the yellow pages are quite handy in this regards.  Viewing schools tomorrow and Monday!
2. SARS – I have register!  I have submitted!  Now all I need is to submit my previous years and medical documentation via email!
3. Renew my car licence (OVERDUE).  I haven’t receive the slip in the post, which means I haven’t done it yet!  So I will need to go to TOWN and do it in person.
4. Update Logan’s immunisation chart – there is one or two vaccinations that I missed!  Bad mommy!
5. Go to the lady doctor.  (gynecologist)  Not that I want to, but I should!
6. Dentist – same story!
7. Go back to the maintenance court.  I will do this one next year.  Last year (after 3 visits of not having the father show up) I was flabbergasted to see him and I never demanded for a yearly 10% increase.  SILLY Girl!
8. Take out life insurance and pension scheme.
9. Stop Smoking
10. Lose a hell of a lot of weight!

Not necessarily in this order of course!  What does your to-do list consist of?

… is the express service to Procrastination Central.  Calling at: Fiddling With My Iphone, Make Another Cup of Tea, Avoid The Ironing, and Facebook.

Yup, that’s been my week so far.  

I heard on Monday that one of the school governors I’ve worked closely with for the last four years had died on Sunday (cancer).  She was a real example through her long illness, very brave and a real character.  The last time I saw her (less than two weeks ago at a committee meeting), she made me laugh out loud with her dry wit, which will be how I remember her.  So sad.  Candle for you, Stella, to light your way.

And I have been giving far too much headspace to the thing with my ex sister in law which I mentioned earlier this week.  It’ s been troubling me.  Mostly because I feel guilty about William’s relationship with his cousins.  I am happy to discontinue contact with Sarah – it had been getting less and less, anyway.  But I feel bad for William.  However, Ashley and his brother could make the effort to get the kids together (which they never have done.  Ever.)  Or indeed my mother-in-law could do so.  Why do I feel the need to take responsibility for this?  I don’t really know, but it seems to be nagging away in my head.

So, here’s the thing: I need to GET STUFF DONE (copyright Mo!).  I am going to list ten things here that I want to get done today, and I’m going to do them.

1. List six things on Ebay.
2. Make Nigella Breakfast Bar recipe (Will wants to help, so will have to be after I pick him up from school).
3. Go through two boxes of clothes which have been sitting on the landing since Dickens was a boy.
4. Wrap up ten more Christmas presents.
5. Hoover and dust my bedroom, and tidy large pile of clothes, too.
6. Tesco Wine order (v v v important, this one – must get it done TODAY!)
7. Filing (pile is possibly going to be vying for a place in The World’s Top Ten Highest Mountains if I do not tackle it.
8. Do a load of washing and get it dry.
9. Make a start on a project that I can’t tell you about because it’s for somebody who reads this blog: I bought something yesterday which is going to be an awful lot of work but will be absolutely fabulous when complete.  Couldn’t resist it.
10. Clean and polish kitchen worktops.

Wish me luck.

What a whirlwind few weeks it’s been!  I realized today that I totally skipped my post last week…but that’s the nature of getting ready for the holidays around here.

I was out of town for a much needed girls’ weekend with my mom and sister this past weekend, so last week was a short work week.  And this week is another short week due to the holiday.  I feel so much better now that I own my own business and can control my work schedule and spend much needed time on my house and with my family.

I love the Holidays, but I admit I do put a lot of time towards making sure they turn out right…I’m a total, hopeless romantic.

Last week I got some things off my to do list:

• Painted the kitchen cabinets

• Did some “decorative” shopping

• Gave 75 items (mostly clothing) to Goodwill

• Threw out a huge black garbage bag full of stuff that was laying around the house

• Put a wreath on the front door

• Put together a practice centerpiece.  I’m not sure if I totally like what I’ve come up with yet.  Here it is:

The girls did cute Christmas centerpieces with the church group.

Tonight, we are doing “under the surface” cleaning.  My kids are reluctantly cleaning with me, while we are listening to an old Selena CD.  Sometimes, cleaning can be fun!

To get the kids motivated, I made up a list of what I wanted done in every room of the house, assigned $ values to the projects that I decided to delegate, and sort of let them pick the jobs they wanted to do.  So far, so good.

I told them that I have to actually approve of the job they did before they can get their full paycheck.  They are earning between $4 and $10 a piece if they do all the jobs on their list.  And, I’ll have a clean house for the family gathering:)

Yesterday, I bought all the food:  a 21 lb turkey, mustard and spices for the topping, fixings for crockpot potatoes, several cans of veggies for the kids, and andes mints for the holiday brownies I make every year.  I think the only thing I will make tomorrow is the brownies.  I like the thought of a simple and traditional holiday meal.  Therefore, the guests are bringing salad, roles and pie.

Here’s my to do list for Wednesday:

1. Finish cleaning projects
2. Finalize place setting
3. Make brownies
4. Thaw turkey fully (water method)
5. Get all my dishes and serving pieces out and clean them
6. Wrap silverware with special napkins and twine
7. Setup extra table
8. Finish as much laundry as possible (it’s almost all done already)

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving…I know I will!

I’m produ of myself. I finished everything off my list I made a couple weeks back except:

Buy resume paper (1 wk.)

Take GRE  (10 wk.)

Take GMAT (20 wk.)

Apply to Graduate Schools (10-20 wk.)

Buy Christmas gifts for goddaughter and bf (5 wk.)

I don’t think I need to really buy resume paper until somebody asks to meet me for an interview. I don’t want to apply for Grad Schools anymore because I can’t pay for one. I don’t want any more debt pilling up. My grandfather was saying I can only get paid up to $150K with a Bachelor’s but I think that is pretty good for right now. I can go back later. Nobody ever goes back. I know but I’m working on it and when I make plans, I follow them.

The Christmas gift is going to be tricky. My goddaughter is easy. I just go scan Toys R Us and pick the cutest (and probably only) black barbie they have. DONE. My boyfriend is a little more complicated. He has so many video games on that PS3 harddrive. He just got the game he has been dying to get and I don’t know of any other games he will want for a while because he will be obsessing over Modern Warfare for at least a few months. Ok so I know he needs a bluetooth headset. His sucks and it is old and he wants one with noise cancellation. Well, with black friday coming up, he wants to just go out and buy one then for himself. So I can’t get him that and that was all I had in mind to get him. So now I am thinking. I got him the Playstation Eye for his birthday and he loved it. He never uses it but he wanted it so I got it for him. I could buy him a game or two that uses that thing but I haven’t heard him talk about wanting that game in a while. I know he wants shoes, winter shoe-boots. Great but I don’t know if I want to spend $100 on some shoes he may or may not like. I don’t have any other ideas though. Kinda sucks. I need to find a way to make him not want to buy that headset for black friday.

So now it’s time to start thinking about some of the big tasks we’ll need to do in preparation for the paper. In no particular order, these include:

• Construct a composite phylogeny of all ornithischians (and our outgroups) for use in the quantitative comparative analysis. This will need to be in some sort of format readable by Mesquite or a similar program. This phylogeny will need to be tied to the (preferably recent) literature. It shouldn’t be necessary to run a matrix from scratch – instead, we should focus on just melding trees from various papers together into a single global phylogeny.
• Compile a list of what all of the museum abbreviations mean (institution, city)
• Obtain reasonably accurate age ranges for all of the taxa in the database (probably down to the stage – e.g., Maastrichtian, Bathonian, etc.). One of our analyses (as Randy Irmis will detail in a future guest post) will look at ornithischian limb morphology over time.
• The PLoS ONE reference format uses abbreviated journal titles – but most of our titles aren’t abbreviated yet. We’ll need to get all of our references into a PLoS ONE-friendly format.
• Anything else that should be on the list?

These are the sorts of things that anyone can work on – and many are tasks that could/should be handled by multiple individuals. Any takers?

Okay, I know, this holiday is about celebrating everything you’re thankful for and spending time with loved ones. Still, I’m hoping to get  a lot done this week since I have the ENTIRE week off!

My office is closed on Thursday and Friday, and I decided to take today through Wednesday off as well. I’m hoping to get a lot of stuff done during these five days, not just loll around the house. Here’s my to do “wish list” (because in all honesty,  getting things done during a holiday during late fall may be wishful thinking!):

• Rest my feet and my knee. I got X-rays done on my knee today and the only thing that’s certain is that there’s “tenderness in the meniscal cartilages.” I missed practice tonight and will have to do so tomorrow as well, and though I plan to go Wednesday, I’ll likely stick to upper body conditioning…the doctor said no high-impact training for the next 2 weeks
• Clean my bedroom. I just wanna clear space to do yoga and do work at the desk, that’s all! It hasn’t gotten much cleaner in the 2-and-a-half months I’ve been home, sadly. To “clean” I mean to at least get rid of needless papers like old work documents, bank statements, etc. I also have a ton of clothes in piles EVERYWHERE!
• Make my Christmas shopping list. I’m going very low-key this year! Just one or two simple gifts for family members, and a simple (but meaningful) gift for close friends. I’m thinking of budgeting $250 for gifts. (Just curious. How much do YOU spend on Christmas gifts?? $250 seems pretty low, but my “family” includes my parents and 2 sisters only…all my extended family lives in India.) And for the record, no, I don’t do Black Friday! Never have, never plan to.
• Finance Goals. Figure out where to set up a high-yield savings account for my train-full-time-in-2012 fund.
• Personal trainer internship. I’ve been trying to set up an internship for a while now, and I’m hoping to have something set in stone so I can start in December.
• Butternut Squash Soup! I had the most amazing butternut squash soup this past weekend dining at an inn that uses same-day farm-grown ingredients. The soup had a dash of cinnamon and pecans in it, and I bought a jar of steamed chestnuts from William Sonoma to put in the one I try on Thursday.

How do YOU stay productive during the holidays? Or, do you not even try?

There have been quite a few things that I have crossed off my to do list the last few weeks, and a fair chunk of them that have crept back on again.  It’s a bit annoying to say the least.

I had finished the Brideswomens dresses, a fitting revealed that that wasn’t so, only minor adjustments but still.

The earrings I had originally ordered had the same problem as the napkins.

It all works out in the end but with 61 days to go until the wedding having wasted anytime on something that turns out to be unproductive is a bit frustrating.

Thankfully 90% of what is left really can be done without if it comes to it.  I have also set myself a cut off of Christmas Eve, because I just can’t stand the thought of another 60 days of running around doing wedding stuff, I’m well over shopping.

So from now on Christmas Eve is known as the F*ck It Line, once that date is crossed any prep work not done falls in to the F*ck It category and no longer applies to our wedding.

*Seriously if you are going to run an online business how about you keep your stock up to date, and when you discontinue something remove it.

To-do list:
♫ use my 10-free-pictures-coupon at dm
♫ clean the aquarium
♫ get a life!!!!
♫ get a dog-sitter job
♫ meet up with my best friends

why am I so bored, editing this post for the fourth time? XD” oh, I am somewhat desperate.

Ticking items off my to-do list I paused at “paperwork for New Job.”   The large FedEx box that arrived on Thursday was a lot heavier than the envelope I had expected.  Half the bulk was taken up by items explaining life in Montgomery, including the Alabama Driver’s Manual and a real estate magazine so thick that I wondered if everyone in the city was trying to leave.  Was I being counter-cultural AGAIN?

The actual paperwork, although a thinner stack, demanded time to absorb.  This afternoon, as the painters finished up the living room — in a shade that, despite the assurance I got from the gurus at the paint store that Benjamin Moore colors are never discontinued, is NOT the same Oriental Silk I’ve had on the wall that works magically with every item in the room.  The lemony shade that is now on the walls will undoubtedly make it harder to sell the house.  But I digress–I settled in my bed to read through the forms, policies and benefits. 

Which is when I realized that there was a cap on the moving allowance.  In one corner of my mind, I’d figured I would do my best to jettison the obvious jetsam, and haul the rest to Alabama where I could go through it at my leisure.  One of my future colleagues had cheerfully advised me that I shouldn’t worry about weeding out my belongings.  ”Big houses are cheap here,” she said, “just bring it all with you!”    

But there, in cold black & white type on the Relocation Policy, I saw ample economic reason to weed, and weed ruthlessly. 

I enjoy weeding.  It’s my favority gardening activity and, twice a year, at the change of seasons, I re-curate my closet.  All my unwise purchases are banished:  out go the shoes whose color I love but which  pinch my toes; into the Salvation Army bag goes the suit with the unfortunate peplum coat; they are followed by sundry articles that no longer fit, recall the 90s too vividly, or have just had it. 

It turns out, though, that my aggressive de-cluttering is limited to my wardrobe.   We have overfull bookshelves in five of our eight rooms.  Despite having adopted the latest audio technology, from cassettes to CDs and MP3, we still possess about 900 vinyl albums.  Mr. NYer hates to throw anything out, and grows visibly despondent when enlisted in spring or fall cleaning.  Our son, the Soon-to-be Abandoned Child, moved out in a minimal fashion, leaving behind all the physical artifacts of his childhood plus three guitars and two amps.  Our basement has the wondrous power to multiply objects while simultaneously making them grimy and damp.  In a mutual bond of  avoidance, we keep it dimly lit and use a machete to maintain a path to the washer.  Lastly, we have a large storage area that runs across the entire width of the house at the back of the attic.  We call it the dark, dark room.  We have no idea what’s in there.   

You can talk about filling a contractor’s bag a day, or spend an evening in front of the TV cleaning out a desk drawer, but none of that is going to do squat to address  the issue of sorting through and getting rid of the  accumulated stuff, which I’ll refer to as the Albatross.  And then there’s the how to get rid of it all.  It’s the wrong time of year for a yard sale, and we don’t have a front yard.  I don’t have time to write clever listings for eBay, Craigslist or Freecycle, or to make the individual arrangements to have Flowerpot Guy pick up all the garden tools.  There’s no market for old books or LPs.  And cleaning out the basement?  A new  definition for eternity spent in hell. Not to mention that every effort to clean out has induced allergies. 

So how do I lose this Albatross?  Is there a diet?

The weekend.  Forget going hiking or taking a bicycle ride.  There are things to do.

The list so far:

1. Wait for the guys painting the living room to return to finish the work they began yesterday.

2. Rent a self-storage place (more on that later)

3.  Sign the paperwork with the realtor to put the house on the market.

4. Clean out some more.

5. Cut back the rose bushes so prospective buyers don’t have their eyes put out.

6. Fill out the paperwork for New Job.

7. Break the news to my hairdresser.

The last item is the hardest.  I’ve been getting my hair cut by this guy for over 25 years.  He knows the weird way the waves start to appear at the 3-inch mark, and the way it curls when it gets longer.  He has helped me grow it long and, when I need a drastic change, cut it down practically to a buzz cut.  About 15 years ago, we decided I didn’t have to give in to my early-onset Irish graying and began to color it.  I almost never tell him how to cut it, or how to alter the shade to fit the season, because his judgement is so much better than mine. 

How will I find a stylist like  that in Alabama?  Will he give me the color recipe?  Will they follow it?  Will I wind up with a bouffant?

Losing Jimmy is more than losing a stylist.  This is a quarter-century relationship.  We’ve both lost parents during that time, weathered illnesses, had major life changes.  We’ve attended parties together, and broken bread together.  He’s come to my house to make homemade pizza.  He’s one of many friends I’ll be leaving.  I dread telling him, especially since, now that I have short hair, he counts on me as a client who comes in every 4 weeks.

Telling friends is hard because it presents emotional issues which I’m trying to keep at bay right now.  I know this is going to be a really hard move at times, but I’ve got too much to do right now.  So I’m putting those emotions in a box and putting it on a shelf.  I’ll take it down when I must — or when the box grows too weighty and falls down on my head.

Another day sort of blasted by. Maintenance man Dale woke me up at 9:30 AM so he could poke around in my ceiling. He was trying to find where the smoke comes in. I have a dropped ceiling with acoustical panels. Above them is LOTS of insulation. That explains why my upstairs neighbor and I don’t hear much of each other. It also explains why we have cheaper electric bills than others. My across the hall neighbor, Mary Lou, just got her place insulated. Hopefully soon she will also reap the benefits of quiet and less energy use.

My ceiling was done before I moved in because the woman who stomps used to live above me. I am grateful every day that she lives in another apartment now It’s bad enough hearing her slam the doors and stomp up and down the stairs and back and forth in the upstairs hallway! My chair vibrates….my toilet vibrates….my bed vibrates…..my head vibrates….. How can one woman smaller than me make more noise than ALL the other tenants combined? Sigh…..

I sat on the living room couch while Dale explored my ceiling. First I started sneezing, then coughing, then wheezing. He said it was the fine dust in the insulation. I coughed so much that I got worn out. I gave up an hour later, got in bed and put my oxygen on higher than usual so I could breathe. When I woke up at 2 PM I felt a heck of a lot better.

Mary Lou came to visit, then Doug, then Beth and Luc. Heck….easy day. I hang out and the world comes to me

I had a turkey in the oven all afternoon. Mmmmmmm….smelled good I roasted it, de-boned it and filled a gallon ziplock from the meat off a 14 pound turkey. Amazing how little is actually meat. I have the carcass in a big pot, turning into turkey stock. I froze the turkey meat and pan juices for Thanksgiving. My next project is opening up, cooking, then freezing a Hubbard squash before Thanksgiving. I want to have many things done ahead of time. It will be me and Mary Lou….plus Zeke and Aleka.

I am still extra sore all over. I love arthritis….NOT! I think Doug might have infectious arthritis. He was cutting flint when a piece of it did some acrobatics and then impaled itself in his finger joint. His finger swelled up huge….but the weird stuff is that he has a bad rash all over his body and a bunch of joints are all hurting. He is calling it the dinosaur virus since flint is old. Eeeeeeewwwwwww! Anybody have a clue what’s up with his new arthritis, rash and pain? Being a guy, he is even worse at wanting to go to a doc than I am.

Source: Climateprogress.org

Does your to-do list seem to be on steroids? The more you check off the list, the more it seems to grow. Well, join the club.

Since many of us are taking on more work, I thought I’d share a few words of advice on how to be more efficient and effective and, ultimately, spend less time working hard.

Get to the Point
• When you’re under the gun, think in bullet points. Put the information out there quickly. Your teammates or client(s) will thank you for saving them from searching through paragraph after paragraph.

Prioritize
• Make one list of actionable items and one list of goals, and prioritize them in order of importance. As you complete a task, cross the item off of your list. You’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment even if the list doesn’t get shorter (at least you’re getting things done).

Delegate
• Enlist your colleagues. Provide clear direction and deadlines to ensure you have a more productive work day. Trust that your coworkers have the ability to complete the tasks at hand, but have an “open door” for questions. 

Measure Twice, Cut Once
• Double-check your work and have a second set of eyes review it before it goes out the door. This will save you time – and potential heartache – in the end.

Be Flexible
• Things change fast these days, so learn to adapt – quickly.

Stay on Track
• Before leading a meeting, create an agenda to help you stay on track and on time.
• If you can cover something in ten minutes, don’t drag the meeting out for 30 minutes to “fill the time.” I’m sure your colleagues will appreciate you respecting their busy workloads and letting them get on with their day.

If we all apply these tips to our busy work life we’ll not only work smarter, we’ll feel smarter by achieving more in our days.

Niveau alimentation, je ne fais absolument attention à rien et pour cause, avec ma flemme du moment ainsi que la myriade d’anniversaires que j’ai à gérer, impossible pour moi de structurer quoi que ce soit. Sans parler du bouquin qui a complètement changé mon rapport avec l’équilibre alimentaire “obligatoire” et le “vital”.

Côté organisation, dans ma tête c’est un gros flottement, que je sens tout de même positif. Je pense qu’il faut que je laisse les idées et tentatives de structuration personnelle en stand-by le temps que certaines idées mûrissent et me donnent l’impulsion. Encore une fois, je pense que le livre n’y est pas étranger.

Dans le domaine ménager, ça commence à ressembler à quelque chose. Les meubles pour aménager la maison se commandent, les listes  de choses à acheter et d’améliorations à faire s’allongent, les papiers ont été triés et sont sur le point d’être payés, rangés. Le ménage fluctue en fonction des jours et de la fatigue, mais ma maison reste à flots concernant le rangement (même si la lessive m’a rattrapée !).

Côté chouchoutage, il y a un énorme mieux ! Voilà une semaine que je prends soin de moi. Même si j’ai un mal de cou (et trapèzes) à tuer un cheval (et la position devant l’ordi n’arrange rien), chaque soir, au moment de ma douche, je fais un petit geste pour mon corps (et mon esprit). Hier soir, un bon shampoing avec soin, la veille mon épilation (jambes et sourcils), un petit gommage pour chaque jour, plus ou moins fort, et ce soir, pédicure/manucure devant la petite pile de pubs/catalogues que j’ai réalisée ce matin. Et tous les matins, je prends le temps de mettre ma crème de jour, de me maquiller et de me coiffer. Anodin ? Pas vraiment…

Pour le sport, c’est calme plat. Je rate l’aquagym, la piscine du lundi avec les enfants, la marche du matin avec les copines. Et pourtant, j’ai envie de bouger, de sentir les muscles de mon corps travailler, se fatiguer… je ne sais pas. Encore une fois, je laisse aller, je ne me sens pas en perdition, juste en… contemplation ? Je ne sais pas quel est le mot adéquat, toujours est-il que je sens que la roue va tourner et que je laisse le meilleur moment arriver.

tulips

Two awesome date nights in one week! Sunday was Shelly’s Indian dance performance. Dinner and a show, such a lovely night. I’ve been helping her with the costumes the past few weeks, (I didn’t help with anything too complicated, some dying and some seam ripping) it was really nice to see them all together. I really hope that she is nominated for a PEW fellowship this year, she’s very talented and I think she’d be perfect for it. The costumes really were beautiful. I’m amazed with what she did for the black dress- the fabric looked so strange sitting on her work table, but was just great on stage.

Tonight he picked me up from work, with a rosemary tree, some wine and some tulips. Oh, and a pumpkin cookie. Dinner at my favorite sushi place ever….. awwwwwww…….. now the house smells like rosemary, and I feel festive. I know its a little early for Christmas, but its ok if its an herb tree, right?

This weekend I have quite a list of tasks, we’ll see what actually gets finished. The most complicated task will be replacing the zipper on my mid-weather coat. It was a cheap jacket, and now if I try to zip it up I get stuck in it. I hate sewing zippers, but its really a perfect coat for right-before-it-gets-cold, so its worth the headache. I also have some work on KK’s doc, some sewing, some beading, some audio editing for work, some christmas-present-making and organizing…. sheesh! But at least I have the lovely little tree to smile at when I feel overwhelmed.

I’m a busy bee this week so I won’t be blogging again until next week. The photo above is a peak of the show I’m currently working on.

Next week I plan to review Bare Escentials Matte Foundation. I’m generally NOT a B.E. fan (the bismuth oxychloride makes me itch soo bad) but I’m trying to give the new formulation the benefit of the doubt. I’ll  let you all know how it goes after I’ve been wearing it for a few more days.

Slowness breeds to do lists!

I hate it when I have a slow day.  Sitting around in dull meetings, getting dehydrated and eating at the wrong times, I fill the the time by making to do lists.

When I get back to my office, I see, laid out in front of me, all the things I could and should be doing.  And can’t settle to any.

When I was a youngster, I loved a to-do list labelled with A’s B’s and C’s.  I liked making calls and crossing things off.  I hate it now.  I like dealing with larger chunks of work and  I like working towards a goal that has some meaning.  “Getting things done” no longer does it for me.

My rationale now is to figure out one or two things that are very important and just do those.  As long as something important is being done, and getting finished and getting shipped, a list adds no further value.

But in times when I have a long list, these are the methods that I have found useful.

#1 Yellow stickies

I use an ordinary A5 diary.  For every little task that I have to do, I add a yellow stickie, upside down. The stickies go down the page in columns, overlapping each other. That’s why it is important they are upside down.  The top line gives the title of the task and the details are covered by the next sticky though visible by lifting up the sticky below.

As I complete a task, I rip off  the sticky with glee, and put it on the corner of my desk.  At the end of the day, I have a pile of completed stickies and hopefully a clear diary. If not, I can move the stickies to another page.

And when I need to record my actions, I record what I have done on the page itself.

#2 Access data base

Access databases are pretty handy for projects which have many detailed steps, each of which must be completed precisely and in a particular order.  Anything which needs a PERT analysis is suitable for a database.

Each sub project is put in a table with tasks, expected dates, actual dates and costs.  The report function can be used to list all the tasks that need to be done in the next day, week or month and of course to check that everything has been done.

#3 Google Wiki

I’ve recently discovered Google’s Project Wiki, on Google Sites.  It is not really a wiki – linkages from page-to-page are limited.  It’s more like an electronic filoax!  It is  a full project template where you can add to do lists, time sheets, blogs, documents and pretty much anything else except perhaps a GANTT shart and a PERT analysis.

That’s what I am using now.  I’ll store away every zany idea in my Google Wiki and add a column for priorities.  My personal kanban will become the top items that I’ve resolved to start and finish. The choice is start and finish, or start and dump.  What’s not allowed is more than two or three open tasks.

What’s more, I can add dates that I completed work so I can review my progress at the end of each month.

The front page in the wiki is also useful because it prompts you to put in a strategic plan, which after all you can do for the next quarter!

My only reservation is all the information that I am giving to Google.

Here are you then – three time management systems for grown-ups!

1.  Yellow stickies for bitty projects and a physical reward for knocking off tasks

2. Data bases for precise projects where tasks must be done in order and on time.

3.  Google Project Wiki for messy jobs where it’s not really possible to tell priorities ahead of time but it important to work on on chunk at a time, finish and ship!

I specified that this list is explicitly re: stand-up comedy because my regular to-do list would include applying for grad schools, getting a job, and finishing my novel. Those things are boring.

Stand-up, I hope, might be a little more engaging. This is a list of things I need to work on most in my stand-up routines. Hopefully, this will help other stand-up comedians who might be at the start of their career and struggling with the same things.

1. Looking up and at people.

Too often, I stare down at the ground or into a vague no-man’s land in between two audience members. This is bad. I need to make eye-contact with people in the audience, or at the very least force my head to stay at eye level.

2. Punchlines.

Sometimes, I think a joke will work just because the topic is funny. Two nights ago at the St. Charles Coffee House, I described Twilight as “a book about a girl who moves to a town, falls in love with an older man, abandons her friends, and devotes her whole life to him. Then, at the end of the story, she gets beat up in a fight and he convinces her to claim she ‘fell down some stairs.’”

First of all, everything in that speech actually happens in the book. Even the bizarre potential allusion to the common lie used to cover domestic violence. However, there’s no punch line. No point where the audience is instructed to laugh.

Now, I’m not saying jokes half to be setup/payoff and that punchlines need to be hammered home, just that there should be definitely moments where the joke occurs and where the audience may respond by laughing. For example, when I was  earlier talking about crystal meth, I said “it’s a national epidemic, like swine flu or Twilight” and that got big laughs, because there’s an easy-to-spot joke in it.

3. Body Language.

Too often, I keep both hands on the microphone the entire set. It’s a nervous habit, but once I get started, it’s difficult to stop. And when I take one hand off the microphone, I tend to make the same repetitive hand gestures, over and over again, which isn’t much better.

I need to work on stepping back from the microphone and letting the mic stand do its job.

4. Posture.

I guess this is really a part of “Body Language,” but I think it deserves a separate category because I’m really bad with it. Often, I never properly adjust the microphone stand, so I spend my entire routine hunched over, with my head down. I need to stand up straight to project confidence, even if I’m nervous as hell.

5. Practicing my material.

I need to practice my routines at home more, going over the lines and refining them into their sharpest form. I almost always improve my material by selecting every single word individually, but often when I’m going to an open mic, I choose to just wing a bit or too. While improvisation can be good (see Eddie Izzard), I still need to practice more, so that I know when to improvise and when to stick to the script.

6. Speaking more slowly.

This one is pretty obvious. Sometimes I race through my material, if I slow down, it will be more effective, and also I’ll need fewer jokes per minute, which is a nice side-effect as it means less work for me.

7. Developing a unique style.

Sometimes I find myself making easy jokes for the guaranteed laughs. Last night at St. Charles, I actually started cursing more because I could tell it was getting yuks from the audience (though there were diminishing returns with each “fuck”). I actually planned to start with a joke about the weather, for crying out loud! (And not even a good one!)

I need to work on developing my own unique style. This, I think for me, means more ridiculous situations that involve pop-culture figures (such as my Cannibalism on Gilligan’s Island material, or my Vanna White is Addicted to Vowels bit). I need to learn how far I can carry a single routine, and I need to push it at least that far, instead of getting nervous and moving on.

8. Performing more often.

Again, this is self-explanatory. I can count the number of stand-up performances I’ve done in the last year on my two hands (that means it’s less than ten, for those of you who don’t know how many fingers I have). Only by performing in front of a live audience will I get any better, and only then if I do it consistently. With regards to this, I am going to try to perform at least once a week. That’s not a lot, but it’s something.

So, there we go. Those are my eight to-dos when it comes to stand-up comedy. Posting them in public like this should force me to work on them more, and maybe other aspiring stand-up comedians will read this and realize that they are making the same amateur mistakes.

As always, comments/questions/complaints?

since this month has all but flown by, i have a few observations:

- as much as i love a dark, cold night perfect for snuggling up under blankets, i cannot get used to the fact that i literally race the sun on my way home from work, and the sun always wins.  returning home in total darkness is not my idea of a good time.

- i’m way behind in house chores.  my “fall decorating” consists of some fallish garland on our mantel, and a large vase full of mini gourds on the dining room table.  elaborate, no?  i’ve also been eeking along in getting the yard and garden put to bed for winter:  one yardwork day entailed us changing the entire day’s plans; the second entailed taking 3 hours off of work.  there just aren’t enough hours in the day.

- Christmas. Music. Is. Already. Playing.  what???  i’m absolutely in love with Christmas, but if I take a two footed jump into sugar plums and mistletoe TWO WEEKS before Thanksgiving, I’m going to be all sorts of messed up.  “Q99 all Christmas music all the time”:  please let me enjoy Thanksgiving before moving on to Christmas!

Next week, Ross and I will be taking a much needed break and spending Thanksgiving with his side of the family in Florida.  During that week (with the hope we’ll have internet) I’m going to catch up on the many things I haven’t posted on yet.  And to keep me on track, here’s a sample list of fun posts to come:

- our anniversary trip to Charleston

- finally taking pictures of our semi-fallish front porch

- cleaning up around the yard + why mowing your driveway is a bad idea

- a fun dinner by jen and ross

- upcoming house projects

- a Christmas decor gameplan

- the first Garden 2K10 post!

- gratuitous puppy pictures

One of the first things you realize when unemployed is just how much time 40 hours a week is. 40 hours a week that you used to work and now have wide open.  By hour 14 of the first week, you have already watched so much Law and Order, you wonder if ANYone out there is really a decent citizen. I would like to maintain some semblance of faith in humanity, so I’ve started a list of projects to fill my time until the job search pays off.

1. Theology Summarizing :: a friend of mine has a great website concept cooking. He plans to provide “cliff notes” or summaries of theological books online. I’ve volunteered to start summarizing some of those books. Substantially more fulfilling than E! news.

2. Java :: tomorrow I will visit the Minneapolis Public Library and check out every book they have on Java development. Between engineering and comm classes in college, I have a basic knowledge, but I want to get stronger with Java.

3. Psychosquirrels.com (Coming Soon) :: @cboldon is also starting a new website … about psycho squirrels. He’s volunteered his fledgling site for me to practice my newly formed Java skills on. Also, I am practicing to voice audition for the role of chief squirrel voice over. A potential career path redirection.

4. Running :: I’m waiting out a foot injury, but soon I will be back to training for Grandma’s Marathon in June. Unemployment could end up being the best thing that ever happened to my training.

5. People Serving People :: This frees up some more time to work at People Serving People in downtown Minneapolis. Btw, I designed an ad for them that is in the Star Tribune today. Check it out, give money to PSP, then hire me to make ads for you (another shameless plug).

Other project ideas, because I have too much time : write a book, start a small business, get past level 23 in Chip’s Challenge

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Every Wednesday I offer tips for adulthood.

Last week I took a self-imposed vacation from this blog in order to focus on marketing my novel. It was an unusual thing for me to do, but I’m so glad that I decided to do it. As the self-development guru Colleen Wainwright – a.k.a. Communicatrix – put it so well in a comment on that post:

“Hardest thing in the world, carving out time for the Not Immediately Necessary. But how else does the big stuff get done?”

How else, indeed?

So in this week’s tip list, I thought I’d share what I learned from that experience and, specifically, how to make “time off” (as in time off to carry out a specific project, as opposed to a vacation) productive:

1. Tell Other People What You Are Doing. Several people – including myself – noted that I wrote a blog post to announce that I wouldn’t be blogging for a week. Why not just…stop blogging for a week? But I did that for a reason. I knew that if I told readers what I was doing and gave myself a time-line, I’d be more inspired to hit my goal. And I did.

2. Cut Distractions. This is obvious, but it bears repeating. Much of the joy that comes from being a blogger doesn’t just come from writing posts, but from reading other people’s blogs, commenting on those blogs, sharing an interesting article on Twitter, etc. Doing all that is a big part of how I come up with my ideas. And while I didn’t stop reading my RSS feed last week (perish the thought!), I did dramatically reduce the amount of time I normally spend in the blogosphere.

3. Stay Focused. Another obvious suggestion, but which also bears repeating. Midway through the week, I realized that I could easily have devoted the entire week just to clearing out my inbox. And by “clearing out my inbox” I don’t mean deleting announcements about “What’s on at The National Theatre” or the latest cure for cancer in homeopathy.  I mean attending to really useful articles and websites I’ve flagged for myself about blogging, writing, publishing, etc. that I *really must read.* But then I reminded myself: Nope, that’s not what I’m doing this week. I”m working on the novel. But that insight did motivate me to take another, future SIV (that’s “self imposed vacation” as opposed to SUV, FYI..BTW..IMHO…ha!) that will just be about blogging best practices.

4. Recognize That You’ll Never Totally Clear Your Inbox. I think I had this fantasy that once I took this large, annoying monkey off my back (e.g. sending out the novel to agents), the sky would magically part and I’d be relaxed and in control of my to-do list. But taking time off also made me realize that, much as I’d like to, I’ll never completely reduce my “to do” list to zero. Because as soon as I take one thing off the list – like “send out novel to agents” – something else immediately moves in to take its place, like “blog promotion.” Sure, there’s all this stuff floating around out there about inbox zero and the Four Hour work week. What-ever. I think for most of us, it’s about reducing our to-do lists to a manageable level and then taking it one step at a time, accepting that whatever we prioritize comes at the expense of other things we’d also – genuinely – like to be doing. That’s just…life.

5. Remember that Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder. One of the best ways to appreciate something in your life is to take a break from it. Your feelings while your away will tell you how much you either totally love it or could actually live without it. Back when I was an academic, I took a year off to work for the United States Treasury Department, precisely in order to see whether I’d miss my life as a professor. I didn’t miss it at all and mailed in my resignation half way through the year. In a similar vein, last week while “not blogging” I realized how much I love this blog and missed both writing it and being part of this community.

And that was the best lesson of all.

*****

If you’re interested, here’s my piece in yesterday’s PoliticsDaily.com about the pro-Israel lobby in the U.K.

Image: Monkey On My Back by Mshai via Flickr under a Creative Commons License.