Futile tasks (3) Mar 4, 2008
Some tasks are completely futile, but I do them anyway.  It's futile to make my bed in the morning if I know I'll mess it up again at night.  But I do it because it feels better to sleep in a well-made bed than in one that's all messy.  It's futile to clean the house or do my laundry because everything will just get dirty again.  But I do it anyway because it's sort of essential.  Dirty clothes stink.  Dirty dishes are gross. 

It's slightly different with tasks that eventually complete themselves.  For example, sometimes it seems a little futile to rake leaves.  Not only will they be there again in exactly 12 months, if you wait long enough, the leaves will eventually decompose and essentially vanish.  But eventually is a fuzzy word.  They might decompose in a year if they're not piled too densely, or it might take several years. 

A more realistic example is shoveling snow.  All snow will eventually melt.  Fortunately for people who live in temperate regions, not only will snow inevitably melt by around April, it'll probably melt several times during the winter.  It's rare to have snow on the ground for more than a few weeks, let alone a few days. 

With that in mind, every time I shovel snow, I try to put forth as little effort as possible, because I know my efforts are literally futile.  It's like running in a circle:  The end result is exactly the same as the beginning, i.e. no snow.  It's always a game of chance:  Should I shovel the snow several times during the storm so it doesn't pile up and become more difficult, or should I wait until the sun comes out and melts it all away?  That, my friends, is one of the hardest decisions I make. #psychology
Task completion Feb 11, 2008
I usually don't consider myself to be task-oriented, i.e. I don't derive pleasure from checking things off a to-do list.  However, I might be changing my mind about this.  I've found that doing one big task often has the same amount of fulfillment as doing several small tasks.  Task size/importance/involvement can be broken down as follows: 
  1. Everyday tasks - Cooking, doing the dishes, cleaning the counter, etc.  These are minimally fulfilling, but if done in sufficient numbers, can be more than just minimal.
  2. Weekend tasks - Vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, doing the laundry, etc.  These are slightly fulfilling, but if done in groups of 3-5, can be more than just slight.
  3. Small but important tasks - Hanging up pictures, fixing the toilet, clearing stuff out of the junk room, etc.  These are pretty fulfilling, and since they only happen once in a while (and only need to happen once in a while), just one at a time can be good.
  4. Large and important tasks - Cleaning the gutters, cleaning the attic, moving dirt or rocks, etc.  These tasks are very fulfilling because they happen infrequently and involve either a lot of time, a lot of effort, or large tools and equipment.
The bottom line is that the best way to get fulfillment out of completing tasks is to either do several small tasks or one large task.  The choice seems pretty clear to me. #psychology
Games Feb 11, 2008
I've decided that I like playing games.  Games like Taboo, Catch Phrase, Such and Such, Buzz Word, and other such games that usually involve cards, a timer, and much yelling (game-related yelling, not angry yelling).  I wouldn't call them board games because they usually don't involve a board like Monopoly or Scrabble, and board games are entirely different in style and level of fun ($fun = 0).  There's a subset of the aforementioned type of game that I would classify as "get to know you" games.  While any game can be a good chance to get to know the people you're playing with, certain games serve that purpose only, and game content suffers dramatically.  Apples to Apples, for example, is a meaningless game that's completely subjective.  There's no right answer.  I've come to terms with the fact that the point of playing games like this has nothing to do with winning.  It doesn't even matter if you keep score.  The purpose of such games is to yell, laugh, have fun with friends, and spend time with people.  Winning helps though. #psychology
Aggregation Feb 7, 2008
I have a little theory:  Every person is an aggregator, collecting and passing along certain specific subsets of information for their own enjoyment and for the potential benefit of their readers/listeners. 

The internet is one giant aggregator.  It gathers information about everything and displays it for people to find, read, watch, and listen to.  Any website that collects and shares links (which is pretty much every website) is an aggregator.  Boing Boing collects and distributes "wonderful things".  Kottke finds and shares "fine hypertext products".  Lifehacker, Consumerist, Neatorama, TechCrunch.  All these websites collect information about particular topics and subjects and pass everything on to interested readers. 

The news industry is the same.  CNN has people that look for newsworthy stories covering a range of topics.  Similarly, the job of the local sports writer is to find information about local sports and pass it on to his/her readers.  It's all about collecting and distributing, gathering and passing on. 

In the same way, people are aggregators.  Everyone has their own personal interests and hobbies.  Some people collect and distribute information about politics.  Some people do it with jokes.  Some people know everything about Apple products, and their knowledge gets distributed as desired (and sometimes when not desired).  Essentially, anyone who has conversations is an aggregator of sorts.  They know some facts or opinions about certain topics, and they share these facts and opinions with other people in the form of speech.  If you watch the news, read the newspaper, read the comics, read magazines, read books, watch TV, watch movies, or do anything else that consists of gaining information with the possibility of passing that information on to someone else, you're essentially an aggregator. #psychology
Closed on Mondays Feb 4, 2008
List of establishments that are closed on Mondays: 
  1. Churches (sort of)
  2. Non-chain restaurants (apparently)
  3. Barber shops
#psychology
Just a typical day (1) Feb 3, 2008
The 24-hour period of Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon was pretty typical. 

4:00 pm - Freezing rain and ice storm.
4:45 pm - Power goes out.  This is a problem because our house has electric heat, electric hot water, and electric everything.  With no electricity, absolutely nothing works. 
5:00 pm - I'm not worried because the house is still pretty warm. 
5:03 pm - The house is no longer warm. 
6:45 pm - If the electricity doesn't come back on in the next hour, we need to buy a generator. 
7:45 pm - We go to Home Depot to buy a generator. 
8:00 pm - We realize generators are big, so we go back home to get Wendy's car, hoping the electricity will be back on and we can cancel our plans of buying a generator. 
8:30 pm - We buy a generator. 
9:00 pm - Generators are heavy, so I hurt my back lifting it out of the car (Wendy was fine). 
9:30 pm - Generator is running, powering an electric heater in our room (Yay!). 
10:00 pm - We empty the refrigerator and freezer and put everything outside on the deck. 
11:00 pm - We drain the water pipes throughout the house so they don't crack. 
12:00 am - We go to sleep in a warm room, surrounded by several very cold rooms. 
4:15 am - I wake up sweating (generator works!) and in extreme pain because of my strained back. 
6:15 am - Dilbert the cat wakes us up to tell us the electricity is back on (Yay!). 
10:00 am - I almost die in the shower from back pain. 
10:30 am - I call the doctor to see if I can get an appointment (the answer is no). 
11:00 am - We get in the car to drive to Walmart to buy drugs and heating pads. 
11:01 am - Wendy spills my hot coffee on my lap, soaking my pants and underwear. 
11:02 am - I change into dry clothes and we go to Walmart. 
11:30 am - We get in the car to go home and Wendy spills the rest of my coffee, this time not on me. 
4:00 pm - I eat apple crisp, which pretty much cancels everything else out. #psychology
Easy to die (3) Feb 1, 2008
Sometimes it frightens me how easy it is to die.  I'm not talking about death by dangerous things like skydiving or mountain climbing, or even death by somewhat normal things like car accidents or wildlife encounters while camping.  I'm talking about everyday things like eating a meal or plugging in an electrical cord.  If a piece of food gets lodged in my throat when I'm eating alone, there's a pretty good chance I could die.  If my finger touches one of the metal prongs of an electrical cord as I'm plugging it in, I could easily die.  I never think twice about flying in a plane or walking near the edge of a rocky cliff, but doing certain simple everyday things makes me nervous. #psychology
It's not ok (3) Jan 29, 2008
Sometimes when people say they're sorry, I don't respond.  Normally, an acceptable response would be, "It's ok."  But a lot of times, it's not ok, so I don't feel like lying and saying it is.  Consider, as a hypothetical example, that someone pukes on you.  They do the right thing and say they're sorry.  You can't respond by saying it's ok.  It's not ok.  It's never ok when somebody pukes on you.  It can't be.  Puke is disgusting.  And they puked because they were drunk.  So it's their own dumb fault for getting too drunk.  Dumb → drunk → puke → not ok.  You're under no obligation to accept that person's apology.  So what do you do when they say they're sorry?  Keep quiet, I guess. #psychology
Of soap and cleanliness Jan 28, 2008
If I were to guess what would lead to my eventual downfall and possible death, I would go with this statement: 
Since a bar of soap cleans dirty things, it can never itself be dirty.
I know it's not true, but I still believe it.  I would rather die than share my meal, but I don't think twice about sharing soap. 

Related:  This Dilbert comic. #psychology
Puke on me, jerkface Jan 28, 2008
Saturday night was my first time being puked on.  Not by a baby or a child or a sick person, but by a drunk friend.  If I were to guess beforehand how I would've reacted, I would've gone with something that contained the words "explosive belligerence".  But in reality, it actually wasn't too bad.  It was kind of funny, while still being really gross.  I think it had something to do with the fact that it was on my lower leg and my foot.  If it had gotten on my hand, arm, torso, or face, I probably would've returned the favor.  And I have a colorful history with puking, so I would've won that battle. 

All in all, my first experience of being puked on wasn't too bad. #psychology