Bitropolis.com

Problem: I have a ton of things I want to get done. In life, around the house, at work. Aside from a few mild dependencies, it really doesn’t matter in what order these things get done.

Most people’s response to that is “Great! So you can just pick any of them and do it and it’s done!” Which is a nice idea, but not how my brain works. This is an issue for me. A list of equally weighted items will, for the most part, never get done. I either get lost in trying to come up with a logical way to figure out where to start, or I try to force myself to just do something and get frustrated with it. What I really want is a way to create a To Do list of items, and then have them presented to me one at a time.

So here’s my wish:
I’d like something that will allow me to do the following:

• I want to create at least two To Do lists, so I can keep my Personal items separate from my Professional items
• I want to view that To Do list one item at a time, so I don’t get overwhelmed by the whole list
• I want the one item shown in that view to be randomly selected, so I don’t get stuck with the order I entered them
• I want to refresh the view and get a new random item, so I don’t get stuck on one item
• I want to mark that one item as Done if it’s a one-time item, so that I don’t see it in the view again
• I want to leave the one item in the list if it’s a recurring To Do item, so that I see it in the view again later

That’s the base. Other nice-to-haves would include putting an importance or priority rating on each item and have that factor into the randomness, and maybe a level of difficulty rating. Also, maybe a category on each item and being able to filter the lists.

Anyone know if there’s an app for that? If digital, ideally it’d be iPad/iPod based, or if not that, online. Or maybe there’s a non-digital way to do the above?

After today I’m off work until June 6. To answer some of the common questions: No, I’m not traveling. No, I don’t have plans. No, I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do with my time. No, I’m not looking for suggestions. Let’s call it a Personal Recovery Retreat; an extended block of “me time”. I’ll figure it out as I go along, and I’ll share details when and if I feel like sharing. Rebooting the system is good now and then.

Thanks, and I’ll see you all in June

Everyone has their own secret to getting things done. For me, I’ve recently discovered, it’s doing them first thing when I get home or first thing in the morning… before I feed the cats.

Has to be before the cats are fed. No idea why. But nearly every day this week, I’ve come home from work and unloaded/loaded/ran the dishwasher before I fed the cats. This in contrast to trudge home, feed cats, and flop on the couch/bed. Do you have any idea how long I’ve needed to clean up my kitchen? Let’s not talk about it; it’s embarrassing.

All my dishwasher-safe dishes are done now. So this morning, Saturday, I did an experiment. Before bed last night, I told myself I’d wash one pot first thing in the morning, before the cats are fed.

I managed to wash 2 pots, my big mixing bowl, 2 knives, and about half of my chopsticks collection before the phone rang and completely jarred me out of my rhythm. Still finished out the chopsticks, since they were easy. I probably would have kept going on the pots too, if the phone hadn’t rung.

I’m happy to have found this pattern, for however long it lasts. The cats, as you might imagine, are less happy. But they’ll live.

The last seven days I felt highly productive. I was on a project that was very clearly focused, I was using software tools that just work and have the proper hardware to support them, and I was Getting Stuff Done. Built HTML/CSS prototypes for an entire new site in 7 days, start to finish. I had a serious adrenaline high going as a result.

Today I’m on a different project. One where I’m being forced by technology to slow down in order to be productive. If I work as fast as my brain wants to on this, the tools balk, lock up, give incorrect errors, or worse. I end up losing time, making strange whimpers and groans, and metaphorically tearing my hair out. Slowing down, it seems, is the only way to speed up.

Click a button. Take a breath. Click another button. Write a blog entry. Save a change. Browse email while the server realizes change was made. Better run programs one at a time, or else.

Not feeling zen. Oh no, not feeling zen.

I’m angry at you.

I’m angry at you because when you hate your job, you find a new one and leave. Or just leave and figure it out later. I’m angry at you because when you gripe about your job it’s because somebody had to delay a delivery, or didn’t show up on time, not because you’re being screwed over and screwed up by the collective above you in the food chain. I’m angry at you because when you have chores to be done or calls to make or things you don’t want to do, you can make yourself just do it and be done with it. I’m angry at you because you’re calm, and I’m not. I’m angry at you because you’re brave, and I’m not. I’m angry at you because you’re strong, and I’m not.

I’m angry at you. Because it hurts less than being angry at me.

At the grocery store today. I was debating the benefits of sweetened vs unsweetened organic applesauce, when a man approached me. He walked straight toward me, and as he approached, he said this:

“I hope I won’t get in trouble for saying this, but you’re very pretty.”

And then he walked on.

I blushed three shades of pink, I’m sure, and managed to stammer out “Thank you”. And finished my shopping in a happy cloud.

To this man, whoever you are, thank you.

Sleep. Necessary for our general health and well-being. Usually quite enjoyable, aside from the occasional nightmare. Sometimes hard to achieve, sometimes hard to keep once you’ve achieved it.

I’ve been having trouble with sleep this week.

It’s not that I can’t fall asleep, or can’t stay asleep. In fact, I’m finding it hard to get up in the mornings because the sleep feels so good, the bed is so cozy, the pillows so supportive and comforting. Especially compared to the alternative of getting up and going to work.

And that’s the crux of the problem really. I’m having trouble with sleep because *I don’t want to go to sleep*. Because if I go to sleep, the next thing that will happen is I’ll wake up and have to go to work. And sadly, work is about the only part of my life right now that’s a bit of a downer.

(I started to edit out that “sadly” above, because as soon as I wrote it, something in my head said “wait, what? um, yeah, if work is your only downer, that’s great!”. But it’s relatively new to me to be able to say that. Though, it’s true. Everything outside of work in my life is beautiful and happy right now. Not perfect, mind you, which makes it even better(er) that I’m feeling happy about it.)

It was an interesting moment of recognition this morning. I’m not having trouble getting up in the morning because I’m staying up too late. I’m staying up too late because I’m having trouble getting up in the morning. At least on work day mornings; weekends are no problem

No solutions quite yet to the work situation, but this impact on my sleeping pattern does explain why I’ve been feeling so burned out lately, and why my week off was so much awesomeness. So identifying it is at least a step in a good direction.

Ta-ta for now. It’s almost 11pm; I should get some sleep…

Those of you that are using the RSS feed will be (hopefully) unaffected by this change, but should you decide to take a look at the actual site for my blog, I’ve created a new theme. In addition to updating the overall look, I’ve added in new links for things like sharing individual posts on various social media, the rss feed link, etc. Anyway, let me know if anyone notices any issues, either with the RSS feed or with the site itself. Thanks!

I was bored today so I re-took a Color Quiz I took a while ago. Got different results this time, so I thought I’d share them.

Elizabeth took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! “”Looking to make a good impression and be recogniz…” Click here to read the rest of the results.

What are your preferences regarding contents in the RSS feed for this blog?

Do you prefer full posts over excerpts?

Do you prefer to keep certain categories out of the feed? For example, I’m thinking of using this blog as a place to track certain personal goals, and most of the posts in those categories are likely to just be lists of what I ate on a given day, exercise progress, etc. Would you rather I leave those out of the feed and/or give them a separate feed?

Just some things I’m pondering. Responses in comments welcome.