Powering Down

As someone who has a blogger account, a twitter account, a facebook account, a last.fm account, a ping account, more than one myspace account, a xanga account, a purevolume account (if I remember correctly), a youtube account, and now a tumblr account - I can safely admit to spending some of my free time dedicated to the social networking on the web. This, here, marks the 465th post to this blog alone.

I am trying to make some changes.  No I am not giving up or closing those (more recent) accounts.  I am also not going to pretend like I will be disconnected from the web. Hell, I have to use this very computer all day long at my office. Instead, my goal will be to keep this computer turned off at all other times, unless absolutely necessary.  I spend far too many hours surfing the web mindlessly every night.  Surely the internet is a place of endless information and much can be gained from reading it hours a night, but who of us really does that?

I will most likely continue to tweet. I may occasionally post to my new tumblr as both of these things can be done via my phone and takes no time at all. This blog, however, may stand still for a little while.  If I can figure out an easy and timeless way to still post a daily picture from my phone, then I will do so. Otherwise, if you are interested, check out my tumblr.

For the next 30 days, my life online will be reduced to the work day. I have set too many goals (gym, yoga, reading, writing) that seem to always come second to sitting on my couch with my laptop in my lap. Hopefully, this change will help bring change to those goals that are collecting dust.

*Disclaimer: despite having all of those accounts, very few are still in use. I just never delete anything.

Ticky Tacky

So my goal of reading every morning has been slightly put on the back burner. I do like my new book, but this week I just have not yet felt motivated enough to put in the effort so early, or after a full day. The combination of said laziness and netflix on my phone has brought me back to Weeds. Today I was able to finish season 1 between my two trips.

The upside: I am interested in the show once again. The down side: I might not be reading any time soon. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

Out To Lunch

Today I met my sister for lunch. We met at Reading Terminal Market which was about 6 blocks away, total. Despite being that close, it was the first time I had gone there since starting my job. I have been to Reading Terminal Market before but only briefly and never for lunch. We split a turkey steak and mashed potatoes and then headed over to Old City Coffee (still inside RTM) and got a cappucino.

For a place so close, I have no excuse for having not gone there before. I told myself, and the person I replaced, that I would try to get out of the office as often as possible. Three months later and I have gone out during the day only a handful of times. Part of this is due to my desire to save money. I have been bringing lunch and avoiding buying/eating out. But another part is due to sheer comfort/laziness. It is much easier to stay in my office and surf the web than it is to go outside for a bit. Maybe this is partially influenced by the 53+ days of over 90 degree weather this summer, but I cannot claim that as my only reason.

I am hoping to revisit the RTM many times in the future. It is not cheap, but an excursion once every few weeks is not out of the question.

Half Day, Half Asleep

I don't really sleep in anymore. At best I might make it to 10 am on a morning after going to bed at 2. Even still, I don't think I can claim to ever be totally awake when my alarm goes off during the week at 6:20 am. Even I go to be before 10 pm, which I have done, I don't feel completely rested.

There are still days, however, where I feel like I have not had enough sleep to a more substantial degree. Described as "in a fog", some mornings I just cannot get myself going. Today was absolutely one of those mornings. All this week, because of how low the temperatures have been dropping over night we have been leaving the windows open. At 6 am, the house is a cool 63-65 degrees. The perfect temperature to stay wrapped up in bed. I almost fell back to sleep this morning because the atmosphere of my room - lighting, temp, etc - was coaxing me into a coma. I actually jumped to my feet, in hopes to counteract this, and shook my head a bit to try to wake up.

My ride was no different. While I was not ever in danger of falling asleep, I still felt out of it to some extent. I reached the train station, parked my car, and just sat there for a good 3 or 4 minutes before getting out and heading to the platform. All the way in I was battling to keep my eyes open, and I felt like I even was sleepwalking my way to the breakfast cart in the city. The bill is always 3.25 and I try to keep the change from them first day in my bag to cover that 25 cents for the next three. I reached into my bag, then my pocket and then I found my stack of 4 quarters. Not the quarters for the sandwich, you see, as there should only be 3 of them, max. Instead, these were the quarters meant to pay for my parking spot at the train station. Turns out, I was so out of it that I stood on the train platform at the station for 5 minutes and never thought to walk over and pay to park.

I was taking a half day today because I had to run some errands for work. I was planning to spend the afternoon of my work day running around and picking up some stuff. This helped fight my haze. I had a decent amount of work to do and needed to be on the 11:39 train. With little time to waste I tried to stay physically active in the office, moving around a lot, to keep up.

Maybe it was because I had a half day and got back before they make their rounds in the lot, maybe it was just chance, but I got back to my car and happily found it to be void of a parking citation. The day continued to improve with my luck in finding the things I needed for work.

Tonight, however, sleep caught up with me. While waiting on the couch to go meet my friends I happened to fall asleep. My dad came down at some point and woke me up asking if I was still going out. I decided to call it a night.

So, this past week I had set a goal to be more active. This summer has locked me into a routine of going straight home and doing nothing 5 nights a week. This week, from Sunday to Thursday I did something whether it was being active at home or going out. It looks like the week caught up with me, however, as I was too tired to do anything tonight. While I am glad I was successful in doing much more this week, maybe activities in moderation is the key. Otherwise I end up sitting in on a Friday night.

Staying Active Continues

Tonight I got home a bit later than usual. I had a few emails to take care of. There was several stories and trailers I have pulled up throughout the day as they came in my twitter or RSS feed that I wanted to make sure I read later. My dad came home and asked if we were still on for the gym. 90% of me wanted to say no. But, being that I am really working at this goal to stay active, I went. I got home tonight at 8:15, didn't finish dinner until 9, and then made 40 cookies.

Sure, its 11:35 and I am still awake which will make me more tired tomorrow. But, I am at least a bit more content knowing that I did something between work and sleep.

Side note: Today for some reason - Amtrak lines went down. This meant that Septa lost power. I ended up walking an hour from the stop I was at to my office. Luckily, it was a beautiful morning and I had nothing to rush in for. What could have been a huge hassle ended up being a real treat.

Too Lazy

Tonight I forced myself to be productive. 75% of the nights since I started working I have driving home and sat on the couch. That 75 is including Fridays where I would go out and nights I have gone to the gym. But if you cut those out - its closer to like 95% of the time that once I leave work all I want to do is be home. I am not sure why this is, but it is really dibilitating.

Tonight I had things I wanted to do/needed to do and I forced myself to stay out until they were done. I was able to go get my watch for the wedding resized. I also drove to Target (20 minutes passed my house - was tempting to just turn into my street) and then proceeded to check Home Depot, Home Goods and then Staples looking for a crate/bin of some sorts for my records. I ended up buying a milk crate.

Neither of these tasks were difficult but it was a matter of convincing myself to not just retreat back home. I am hoping to keep this up. I find myself too content with this sleep-work-sleep routine. Time for a change!

Another Anniversary

On April 9th, 2009 I started this blog. April 9th, 2010 rolled around and I did not make any note that it had turned 1 years old. I think that is partially because for the first few months of this blog I was not really sure what the purpose was. That was more of a trial period, to see what would happen or if I could even keep it going.

On July 30th, this blog gained a purpose. Somehow, while out that day or maybe it was earlier that week, I had thought up the idea of a digital trail, a photographic version of the Hanzel and Grettel breadcrumb trail that they left to be able to trace their steps back. I set out with a goal of taking a picture every day and posting it on this blog. The picture could represent something I did or saw that day, a place I visited, and so on. Essentially, this picture would capture a moment in time for me. They each are something I saw or was in the presence of on that particular day. Down the road, I would be able to follow my days, weeks, and months back through these images.

While I did not succeed at posting every day due to two trips that kept me from a computer and maybe one or two other days, for the most part I kept my promise and achieved my goal. Today, one year later I have made over 300 breadcrumb posts. I have taken more than twice as many pictures. Very few of them could be photographically significant to an outsider. To me, however, each of them is a visual representation of something or somewhere for each day of the past year of my life. For most of them, I can look at them and remember what I was doing or where I was when I took that picture. That alone makes the project a success.

To the future: I have no plans to stop. Maybe eventually I will put this project to rest. For now, my philosophy that the world is beautiful and everything is worth capturing keeps me motivated to continue.

Thanks for reading.

Fortune Cookie

"You will live the life that makes all others not envious, but proud of you."

I got this fortune cookie a while ago. These fortunes and I have had a bitter relationship ever since I opened up a negative fortune. At one point, in close succession I had eaten Chinese food twice which left me with two fortune cookies that combined to make a poor message.

The first read: "You will have a prosperous and joyous life" This is a vague but welcomed fortune cookie. Not long after I would get another cookie. This cookie read "Disregard your previous fortune" Maybe this is meant for those who may get greedy, take two, thus undoing the first through the greed of taking a second. However, combining these messages I was told that I should ignore the prospect of have such a life.

At the beginning of this school year, we went out to dinner and the top line was my fortune. I like to keep them, when I remember to, and packing to go home I just came across this again. I never thought of it before, but the negative message of my back to back fortunes seems to somehow coincide. I might not lead a prosperous and joyous life, not because I will be miserable or be unlucky/unfortunate. Instead, whatever my path is, I will be doing something that is clearly not envied by others, but necessary and good. I don't know what this thing is, but with graduation on my heels, looking at these in succession, I am left confused, but eager to find out.

I have to tell you about last night. It was magical. I was able to get 3 of my friends to join me on my Brooklyn Bridge mission. I think we all agreed, there was no other place we would have wanted to be once we got there. If you ever get a chance, put off sleep, or set your alarm, go stand on the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge. The city, the water, the world - just looks so beautiful. I'll recap soon, but here is a picture.

To Quote A Show

If you do your spring cleaning now, you know what you will have to do when spring gets here? Nothing.

I don't know if that's exactly the quote but it comes from The Office. It might not have been my reasoning for my cleaning today, but it applies. Recently, when a boggle cube when missing, I pulled some of the furniture out to look for it. What I found was hidden gems. The gems are priceless. Why? Because they literally are worth nothing. Aside from the large clumps of dust, several bottle caps, batteries, change, and pens lay underneath the couches. I pulled them away, along with the run and most of the other furniture in the living room today and cleaned the floors, the baseboards, etc. There is definitely a sense of satisfaction or motivation that comes from a clean home. Not a surface clean, but a get-in-the-cracks-clean that only happens a few times a year.



Spring break is upon us. I will be staying in New York City to check out and check off a few things on my list of places to see before I graduate. Hopefully the next weeks BreadCrumbs will consist of snapshots of these activities or places. Wish me luck.

I need to do this earlier

I got into a habit, when I started this thing, of writing my blogs at the end of the day as a way to be able to write about anything that happened that day. In addition - the night blogging caters to my breadcrumb project. Unfortunately, many a time I have avoided blogging about something on my mind, something from the day, etc because of the time. Especially with work or an early class, getting on here and really getting into a blog is hard to do. So with that said, I am going to try to start doing one of two things - posting earlier, or writing my thoughts down when I have them to post before bed.

Hopefully I stick to this goal.

Goodnight.

hanging outside looks like a party to wondering freshman

tonights cookout turned into a party when warren decided to invite the wandering freshman over and set up one (later a second) beer pong table. freshman being freshman called more people over and it went from 10 people hanging outside, sort of cold, but enjoying the atmosphere to 30 some people crowding around in the apartments front yard. it was cool, though.

plans for tomorrow - hang remaining posters in room, rehang posters in hall that fell. buy milk.

shall we begin.

so i have been out of school for almost 1 week at this point and a bunch of things are happening.  i am on the eve of my first day of work at my new job at anesthesia services of PA (in delaware).  i am going to be working at my first job - Pete's Produce Farm which is less than 2 minutes from my house on saturdays from 8-7.  Hopefully the combined will provide me with a bit of cash.  2 weeks until official move in day of the new apartment.  Probably going to paint it, if allowed - any suggestions?

I have not been to the movies yet, despite the slew of films coming out weekly.  I was given a positive recommendation on Angels and Demons so whether its a great film is up in the air but better than davinci keeps getting thrown around.

hair is cut.  saw taken.  enjoying the wii fit.  going to start bike riding.  considering picking up skateboarding, again.  camping round 1 is over - no real pics...the major picture day found itself rained on (not to say we didnt still do what we planned..but cameras were hidden away to survive the storm).

i will try to do this posting thing more often - especially since ill be on a computer 40 hours a week

congrats to all the grads this year both high school and college.  hope all is well. 

also (and this is for me really) im very happy/excited that fox is renewing Dollhouse for another season, that show, once it got going really had alot to it and im glad theyr giving it more life.  cant wait for the DVD and the bonus ep - Epitaph One.

dinner time!