Weeknight Initiatives
I've decided that I'm not getting enough stuff done and it's because I watch too much TV. Now, I've been thinking this for a long time, but today I came up with a new plan to address the challenge. Before I explain what it is, I'll talk about what it isn't.
This isn't a way to get myself to do chores. It doesn't address everything I want to work on because it's simply not conducive to everything. This isn't based on anything I've read recently, it doesn't employ a system, and it isn't tested so I don't know if it will work.
Ok, enough disclaimer. Weeknight Initiatives is a plan that each weeknight (Monday to Thursday) I will set a reminder on my phone at 9:30. At 9:30 I'm done with TV and any other stuff going on. It's initiative time. It's not browsing time, Facebook time, or any other random occupation. For the next two hours I will tackle one initiative, of which I've defined four for myself (writing, coding, health, and gaming). I may choose to substitute others from time to time.
Writing is pretty self-explanatory. I'll work on my writing, primarily my book. Coding includes iPhone coding, web development, computer hacking in general, or any other technological/geeky endeavor. Health is a workout followed by stretching and meditation, with any exercise options available. Gaming is to play video games, either computer or Xbox. Believe it or not, I haven't made any time for it and with summer winding down I want to get back into it.
I'll cycle through my categories each day. If I'm way into one I may do it more than another, but the variety will hopefully keep it from getting stale. I'm not going to make exceptions, because they typically become the rule for me. If I didn't plan ahead and the show isn't over, I'll leave in the middle. Now, something may come up on a weeknight, and that can preempt an initiative, but if I'm at home and nothing is going on then it's on.
Tonight will be the first test of this. I'm going for gaming, since that's an easy one (twist my arm, right?). I'll work through the rest this week and see if the plan needs any tweaking. I've got about 45 minutes, so I've got to wrap up some things first. Wish me luck!
Work Begins Anew
I've decided to make some significant changes to XeoMage. As usual this involves a fair amount of new coding, which is already underway. I don't have an immediate forecast of how long this will take, but expect to see something new here in the not-too-distant future.
I've been floating around some vague ideas for a couple of years and a lot of it still needs to take shape. However, I have some broad strokes in mind, and given a little bit of work I think I can bring it about. Some of these changes may see older content fall off. I haven't found the time for some of the section of this site, and there's no use in convincing myself to keep them up if my heart isn't in it.
Instead I think I've come up with a way of making this site work for me instead of the other way around. It can still provide a forum for me to expound and share my thoughts, but it doesn't need to be presented in a way that makes parts of it seem abandoned. It doesn't need to ignore a lot of the things I do online that I'd like to share with everyone. Lastly, it doesn't need to be constrained in ways that prevent me from really using it.
Partisan Divide
We all know that there are problems in Washington, DC. There's a fair amount of disagreement about what is wrong, though, and who is to blame, and what needs to be done to fix it. I think a lot of this confusion is due to the way that we get our information, through a stream of over-simplified sound bites that focus on people instead of issues, through passionate and melodramatic opinions that do little to explain the problems but much to inflame partisanship.
Intermingled in this is an effort by the media to appear unbiased, and effort by politicians to appear bipartisan, and to place all of the blame for a lack of progress on the other party. Despite these efforts, little is actually done to bridge the divides and overcome difficulties. The entrenched games mean that there is little to gain politically by cooperating with the ideas of the other side. Any kind of compromise is seen as risking a political future, any kind of common ground is forgotten by the margins.
Finally, if this were not hopeless enough, there are the hidden and not-so-hidden agendas of the media and politicians to help their own interests or the interests of a campaign donor, lobbyist, home state, district, etc. With this in play it becomes even more difficult to know which plays (if any) are actually meant to help people and which are intended merely slight of hand.
I think the most disingenuous outcome of all of this is the erosion of party values on both sides, and the pandering to baser problems in order to gain political base. Neither party can honestly claim anything resembling their core values motivate their actions, and neither party's proposals will ultimately help our country.
We have an unsustainable government. People bicker over a fraction of the budget when it is the most beneficial portion, while completely ignoring the other two-thirds of the budget that is where our problems truly lie. Our military spending is completely unfunded. Medicare does not collect enough money to pay for its inflating costs because health care costs are spiraling out of control. Our debt requires interest payments that are already terrible and going to get worse as long as the deficit continues.
Here's the thing: whether you agree with the government spending money to create jobs during a recession or not, the majority of our massive federal budget needs to be cut. We can fund huge infrastructure projects that will create jobs, improve the country, reduce dependence on foreign oil, even give corporations billions of dollars, and all of it would be hugely less than we are spending today.
Ultimately, we need a solution to our health care problem because it is so expensive. Medicare operates with low overhead, while private health insurance operates with twenty percent overhead. In spite of that, it is still unsustainable in the long term because the cost of health care is only partly insurance overhead. The rest of the cost is systemic, with every procedure, bandage, test, instrument, and drug costing more than it should. How do we address this? I'm not sure, but it isn't the health care bill in Congress right now. It won't be fixed by electronic records, though that would remove a lot of duplication and work if it were done right --which it likely won't.
Rather than focus on the things that separate us, politicians and the media need to focus on what most of us share in common. That's what representational government should do. Most of us want a balanced budget and effective governance. Right now we have neither, and arguing about whose fault it is or which administration started it, insisting that the agenda of one party is destroying America or leading us to some tyrannical state is worse than counter-productive, it's actively undermining our ability to function as a nation.
Even now I can hear the immediate reply of "well if so-and-so from the party I hate would just..." and it needs to stop. Rallying behind our guys will not help. What we need to do is hold our guy to the fire, insist that they play along, make compromises, and try to help us all. If there are no political points to be gained in obstructing or blaming, maybe they'll try a different tactic like getting to work.
Gorgeous Light Art
I don't know that I have a lot to add to this, so I'll just link and run:
This is not Photoshop: 50 incredible examples of light painting.
Too Many Directions
I'm overwhelmed, and I'm not sure what to do about it. I realize that the only way to accomplish my goals is to work at them diligently, to prioritize that which is important, and focus on important things. Unfortunately, I'm having a difficult time deciding what the priority is. For roughly the last six months, the priority was the wedding, and that having been executed fairly well I'm now free to turn my attention to other things. Granted we are still (slowly) cleaning the house after the wedding, the return from the trip, and the post-wedding shopping took their toll on it, and of course we still need to write thank you notes to everyone.
However, in larger strokes I have before me an array of projects that I would like to undertake, knowing that unless I focus on one I will not make much progress. My website has grown stagnant, after another few years of little change. It's amazing how quickly time flies, but the current visual design has been in place for over three years. I have a host of ideas on how to improve the site. More over, the content is not as fresh as I'd like, with no new photos in a year, many movies not reviewed, and little more than tedious journal entries and the occasional thought. Why spend a lot of time re-working the look when content is king?
The next project is the engine my website runs on, Spark. I developed it from scratch, but never truly finished it. Worse, I've come up with designs entailing dramatic overhauls, as is my habit. This would require a lot of time and work, and learning new coding methods. The end product would be more flexible and capable, and could drive all sorts of sites that I've wanted to create as well as being a platform I could potentially market to others.
Code Writing Robot, my iPhone design company with Mike, has done little since releasing our first program, save one small update. I've been approached about an Android app, which would be itself a whole new set of challenges if I undertook it. Mike and I have a number of ideas we could work on as well, provided we have the time and inclination.
I've made some small efforts to get back into serious writing, working on some background and starting at a re-write of my long languishing book. This is truly the oldest incomplete project I have, since I started it in eighth grade and finished the first draft in high school.
There are numerous other small projects, interests, plans, ideas, and such that are also distracting me and pulling me many ways at once. I truly don't know where to direct my efforts, which is the most interesting to me, or which has the greatest chance of success. Each has its particular appeal and its drawbacks. Since each would enter a crowded field of similar products, I need to decide what I am best at and what sort of endeavor I stand the best chance at distinguishing myself at.
Ultimately of course I want to do all of these things, and choosing one to come before the others is a struggle, but that's the whole point of this post. I'm not sure in writing it that I am any closer to a conclusion, so I suppose I'll have to leave it open-ended.