2007.07.31
Part of the impetus might have been EB sending along this Soft Drinks Linked to Metabolic Syndrome Risk link. There wasn't any particular reason why it should be a trigger for positive change over previous warnings, but so far, so good.
I made another odd health-related purchase... the StressEraser, a somewhat overpriced biofeedback-lite tool. In practice it's a breathing meditation guide gizmo, cue-ing when to exhale based on some light biometric data (pulse and heat, I think.) The net result reminds me a bit of the practice outlined in The Relaxation Response. Plus, err, Wired gave it 9/10.
(I should say that I'm more willing to risk a trip into the wonderful world of pricey electro-quackery after being delighted with DermaSeptic as a startlingly effective fever blister remedy. Forget the Abreva and all those goops, this is the only thing short of acyclovir/alacyclovir that works.)
Also this weekend I finally got to digging up all the 401K stuff I could find so as to enlist the aid of a new financial adviser. I've made the effort in the past, but with 7 job changes and just as many moves its been a mess, and I have evidence that some attempts to rollover failed, while other ones succeeded. (In digging through the paperwork, I found $5K in an old Scottrade account that I guess was a project of Mo's but went to me as part of the divorce settlement. W00T!)
QUESTION: I now have a big garbage bag full of old, potentially sensitive bills and other documents that I want to get rid of. It would take forever with my puny shredder. And, personally, I don't quite trust myself to make a bonfire on my own. Any suggestions?
In a similar vein I got (yet more) bookshelves. (Priced at $30 at Tags, though the computer thought they were $50.) So I reorganized the front room/shared workspace of the apartment. Plus, I sorted through the old stash of Atari games, took out the ones I really care about (mostly head to head games, a few others) and am getting the rest ready for Ebay.
So, I'm optimistic about my life decluttering and simplification efforts. This was a good weekend for them, and I need to ride that to make my apartment and financial environment
Quote of the Moment
The most effective way to do it, is to do it.. Guess I showed that this weekend! Though one shouldn't forget the old technique of "productive task avoidance", setting one unpleasant task against another.
Link of the Moment
Yeesh, after all that prattling you deserve an amusing video:
--Recruitment Spot from the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force's. I want to go fight for Japan! Via 5 Military Recruitment Ads That Suck, which also includes the Spanish-language US spot with the Latino who went on to get killed in Iraq, whoops, and a painfully blatant "soldiers are attractive to women!" spot from Ukraine.
The Who Sucks site is interesting. A bit overly cynical, but it reminds me of what I think was the original mandate of (long lost) suck.com: websites that suck.