Ok - I know that I need to blog about my month off from drinking, but I do not want to do that now. Maybe after I finish my neatly poured drink in front of me. I will at least summarize. I did it. I did not have one drink all month. It was hardest after about the first 7 days or so. I think that what made it the hardest is that so many social interactions I have involve people partaking in a few beverages. Anyway, more on that later.
It is April now and I have started a new experiment. Actually, I have started 3. The first (level 1) experiment calls for me to stay outdoors for one hour every day this month. All I have to do is be out of any building. I am still working on the gray areas, like what if I was in my garage and the door was open? Or what if I was in my car and the windows were down? I am still working out the bugs. But the main constraint is that that 1 hour has to be continuous. In other words, I have to stay outside for one hour straight. If I go in, the clock resets.
Yesterday I had a planning meeting that was held at a local restaurant. I was leading the meeting so I got there 30 minutes early and was able to sit outside on the patio. As people started to show up for the meeting we stayed out on the patio. I made a point to go to el bano before I sat down. Anyway - we eventually moved to a bigger table inside, but it was well after 1 hour. So the first day worked out ok. Today is a little different since the weather today was not great. I worked all day and then it started to storm towards the end of the day an into the night. So I was inside taking care of my boys most of the night. My wife came home at 8:30 and helped put the boys to bed. At 9:15pm I walked out of the house and sat on my front porch. Yes, I in within wireless internet range, but I am still outside. I will sit here for at least an hour and take care of things i need to in cyberland. It is nice out now. Little cool, and there is a breeze, but the rain has stopped. I can hear a plane flying overhead. We live about 10 miles or so from the airport. I can hear strong gusts of wind as it passed through the nearby trees. The trees are just starting to get their new leaves, so there is some resistance that make the sound louder. The gusts seem to pulse and last for several seconds at a time. Reminds me of a scene from the John Travolta movie, Phenomena where he is talking about Aspens or something like that.
I have 2 other less important experiments that I am testing out. First I am going to record every penny I spend personally all month long. I have become a huge fan of Google Docs so I simply started a spread sheet there so I can access it from work, home, phone, anywhere. If only I could set it up to receive text messages, that would be great. I thought about twittering my amounts and where I was, but I am too lazy. Maybe if I have a QWERTY keyboard on my phone. Sidetrack: Remember what it felt like to go from a rotary phone to a tone dialed phone. I wonder if it feels the same to for from the regular ABC=2, DEF=3 phone to a full keyboard on a mobile phone for texting.
The final experiment is not a easy to document, it is more of a way of living. In a kind and loving way, I have been advised to "lighten up" and not try to always have a solution for everything that people bring up to me. Even things that do not need a solution - as a man, I have been trained to solve problems and that will make people happy. As a scientist, I have been trained to never stop asking questions. Those traits spill over into places where they do not necessarily make the situation better. Anyway, so my final task is to accept as many ideas as I can from everyone I run into in their initial state. Do not offer advice or opinion unless I am specifically asked to do so. I may even require that they ask twice so I am clear. So for example, if someone from work suggest going to get Thai food for lunch and I do not care for it that day, I will either go anyway, or not go. I will not suggest that we go somewhere else. If my wife suggests that we go on a cruise, and I wanted to go skiing...a cruise it is. Now, I am free to make whatever decision I want to when I am on my own, I just will not offer any "suggestion" or "fixes" to others if that is not what they specifically asked for. Don't ask what started this test off - let's just say that it needed to be done. I will not apply this rule at work, since I am supposed to be somewhat critical and seek improvements. This is what leads to new ideas and better products in the end for our group.
So for the month of April...
1) Stay outside for one continuous hour every day
2) record every penny you spend
3) No giving of unsolicited advice and go with the first suggestion offered by others.
Wish me luck.
It is April now and I have started a new experiment. Actually, I have started 3. The first (level 1) experiment calls for me to stay outdoors for one hour every day this month. All I have to do is be out of any building. I am still working on the gray areas, like what if I was in my garage and the door was open? Or what if I was in my car and the windows were down? I am still working out the bugs. But the main constraint is that that 1 hour has to be continuous. In other words, I have to stay outside for one hour straight. If I go in, the clock resets.
Yesterday I had a planning meeting that was held at a local restaurant. I was leading the meeting so I got there 30 minutes early and was able to sit outside on the patio. As people started to show up for the meeting we stayed out on the patio. I made a point to go to el bano before I sat down. Anyway - we eventually moved to a bigger table inside, but it was well after 1 hour. So the first day worked out ok. Today is a little different since the weather today was not great. I worked all day and then it started to storm towards the end of the day an into the night. So I was inside taking care of my boys most of the night. My wife came home at 8:30 and helped put the boys to bed. At 9:15pm I walked out of the house and sat on my front porch. Yes, I in within wireless internet range, but I am still outside. I will sit here for at least an hour and take care of things i need to in cyberland. It is nice out now. Little cool, and there is a breeze, but the rain has stopped. I can hear a plane flying overhead. We live about 10 miles or so from the airport. I can hear strong gusts of wind as it passed through the nearby trees. The trees are just starting to get their new leaves, so there is some resistance that make the sound louder. The gusts seem to pulse and last for several seconds at a time. Reminds me of a scene from the John Travolta movie, Phenomena where he is talking about Aspens or something like that.
I have 2 other less important experiments that I am testing out. First I am going to record every penny I spend personally all month long. I have become a huge fan of Google Docs so I simply started a spread sheet there so I can access it from work, home, phone, anywhere. If only I could set it up to receive text messages, that would be great. I thought about twittering my amounts and where I was, but I am too lazy. Maybe if I have a QWERTY keyboard on my phone. Sidetrack: Remember what it felt like to go from a rotary phone to a tone dialed phone. I wonder if it feels the same to for from the regular ABC=2, DEF=3 phone to a full keyboard on a mobile phone for texting.
The final experiment is not a easy to document, it is more of a way of living. In a kind and loving way, I have been advised to "lighten up" and not try to always have a solution for everything that people bring up to me. Even things that do not need a solution - as a man, I have been trained to solve problems and that will make people happy. As a scientist, I have been trained to never stop asking questions. Those traits spill over into places where they do not necessarily make the situation better. Anyway, so my final task is to accept as many ideas as I can from everyone I run into in their initial state. Do not offer advice or opinion unless I am specifically asked to do so. I may even require that they ask twice so I am clear. So for example, if someone from work suggest going to get Thai food for lunch and I do not care for it that day, I will either go anyway, or not go. I will not suggest that we go somewhere else. If my wife suggests that we go on a cruise, and I wanted to go skiing...a cruise it is. Now, I am free to make whatever decision I want to when I am on my own, I just will not offer any "suggestion" or "fixes" to others if that is not what they specifically asked for. Don't ask what started this test off - let's just say that it needed to be done. I will not apply this rule at work, since I am supposed to be somewhat critical and seek improvements. This is what leads to new ideas and better products in the end for our group.
So for the month of April...
1) Stay outside for one continuous hour every day
2) record every penny you spend
3) No giving of unsolicited advice and go with the first suggestion offered by others.
Wish me luck.
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