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Studio time, selling DVDs
10.02.2008 7:15 AM \| Link	Last week was pretty much devoted to music, since I had a couple band rehearsals, played a gig, and then spent a whole day in the recording studio with Casa del Swanko! We've been putting a little money aside from each gig just for this purpose, so it was cool to be able to pay for the studio time without any additional investment, which was actually pretty easy since Brain Machine's rate is fantastic. I enjoyed playing their heavy duty drum kit with lots more toms than I normally use, which brought out a few weird fills I didn't know I had in me! The whole experience was really nice, and we were able to lay down six songs, which will be mixed this coming weekend. Since I don't have much clutter left in my life, I'm always looking for anything that I can turn into a project! The other day I realized that I would probably never re-watch some of the Disney DVD sequels that were filling up my shelf - I used to buy them all the time, but since so many of them were disappointing, I just rent them now. So, I decided to make some "just in case" copies and sell a big stack of these to Planet Replay, who paid me $80 bucks in no time flat (I'm definitely a Planet Replay fan!). Of course, I kept the good sequels like Bambi II and Return to Never Land, but it was nice to free some space on my shelf by selling those bad cheapquels! Labels: decluttering, disney, life
iTunes 8 obsession
9.11.2008 10:06 PM \| Link	I love music, and I love obsessing over my music library with iTunes! The latest version of iTunes has some really cool features that I've really been enjoying lately - last night I was up until 4:00 AM just tinkering around with it and having a great time! I have always thought album art was cool - long ago I went crazy and tried to get images for all of my songs, scouring the web for the right covers, but even though I liked seeing them when songs were playing, I wanted to see them even more. Now with the new grid view, I can see album art all the time! I love looking at everything grouped by album or artist, and it's really made it easy to find things in my library I want to clean up (hence my obsession!). With all the Jpop I have, there are lots of cases where I have an artist tagged as "first name, last name" in one place and "last name, first name" in another, so it's been cool to straighten that out. I also want to organize all my obscure Disney theme park audio so it makes sense - it's like a new decluttering goal! The new Genius playlist feature is awesome, too - I'm always wanting to hear songs to fit to a certain mood, and now I can just find one song that fits my emotions and instantly generate a playlist with similar songs. So far it works great! For some reason it's so much much fun for me to start some tunes playing, and then sit there rating songs, fixing tags, and even getting rid of tracks I don't really need (since I download so much on a regular basis). The new iTunes gives me another way to completely enjoy my music (in an obsessed neat-freak kind of way)! Labels: apple, decluttering
The end of Money
9.06.2008 8:16 AM \| Link	Yesterday I reviewed my finances and paid bills like I do every Friday, but for the past two weeks I've only had to spend a few minutes doing it, since I've finally decided to break my addiction to Microsoft Money. I've been using Money for longer than I can remember (at least the past ten years or so), and in the beginning it was the only way I could feel organized. It was kind of cool to have a history of so many transactions, so I diligently typed in each and every one. That was before so much of my financial life was online, though! Now all of my accounts are accessible online, and I pay all of my bills online, so I started to feel silly copying transactions from a website into Money all the time! I have nothing against Money (I even bought Windows XP just to run it via Boot Camp on my MacBook), but I just don't need it anymore, especially when there are websites like Mint, which allows me to look at all of my accounts in one place. I'm really addicted to Mint - I like to look at it everyday to know exactly what transactions have cleared and so on, and it's helping me in ways that I never had the patience to setup in Money, since Mint is almost totally automatic! By giving up Microsoft Money and using Mint, I've definitely decluttered the time I spend thinking about my finances. I feel like I have a better picture with a lot less work! Labels: decluttering
Disney stuff sold
8.27.2008 7:56 AM \| Link	I've been selling a few Disney collectibles on eBay for the past few months, and overall I'd say it was pretty fun and successful! To make it easy on myself, I only sold one item at a time, and these were all things that I won't miss, since I had bought them out of sheer Disney mania, but never actually displayed them. I learned a lot about eBay selling techniques, how to pack items and where to buy materials, and so on. Here are some random tips! It seems to be important to get the word "Disney" in the title of the item, rather than "Disneyland", since eBay's search seems to look at full words only by default. You have to set your starting bid really low (even below what you want to make, which is like gambling!) to get the ball rolling, and just hope all the watchers go nuts in the last five minutes of the auction (which they usually do). Don't buy shipping materials from office supply stores, which all suck - bubble wrap is cheapest at the grocery store (USPS brand), and peanuts are cheapest at the UPS Store (since they are most likely reused). The key to packing is to float the item in the middle of a large box, and be sure nothing rattles when you shake the box! Anyway, after selling seven items, I basically tripled my money over what I originally paid for the collectibles, so buying and selling Disney items can be a pretty good investment! I would almost consider buying things just to sell them later, but I'm so against storage and clutter now that I don't think I would ever really do that. Someday when my toy shelves get too full I'll have to rotate some things out, so maybe I'll do a little more selling in the future. Labels: decluttering, disney
Happy pockets
8.20.2008 7:51 AM \| Link	I haven't written about decluttering in quite a while, mainly because I've spent so much time on it that it's been tough to find more things to do! But I'm convinced there's still something out there waiting for me to change for the better, and here's a couple small things (one in each pocket) that have been making me smile lately. Several weeks ago I finally got rid of my home phone and switched to an iPhone-only life, and I'm so glad I did. Besides the savings, I love walking into my condo after being out and not having to check an answering machine! When I'm getting out of the car, my brain still starts to think "I need to see if anyone called me", and then I remember "Oh yeah, I already know since I have my iPhone with me!" And don't forget the side-benefit of receiving zero telemarketing calls! It's just one little bit of mental decluttering (plus financial decluttering) that's pretty cool. I also did some major wallet decluttering recently. I had been thinking about trying out the Slimmy, a super-thin, new-concept wallet (if you can still call it that!), for quite a while, but never got around to ordering one. But during my Disneyland visit, I experienced the wettest Splash Mountain ride ever! I had the front seat and got completely soaked (my pants were still wet in my suitcase when I got home!), which pretty much destroyed my old wallet. The cash was so wet I had to deposit it at the bank since no one would take it! Anyway, now I'm using the Slimmy, and I love it. I only need a few bills, identification, and one credit card - I don't carry all of the other crap (like discount cards) unless I know I'll be using them. The Slimmy is so nice, and now I keep it in my front pocket and never even notice it! Labels: decluttering, disney
Frugal scheming
7.05.2008 7:24 PM \| Link	My latest habit is finding new ways to be frugal and make a little extra money, and I've been thinking about it a lot lately! It's just another decluttering obsession to me, except this time I'm decluttering financial stuff (and replacing it with better decisions and so on). I've sold three items on eBay so far (and I'm hoping the fourth item goes soon!), and I was able to get some great cash for my bike and my wool rug (that I stopped using a long time ago since it interfered with DDR) on Craigslist. The people who bought my things were really nice, and paid in cash with no hassle - how cool! Recently I also decided to totally get rid of my home telephone, since I only make about one call a week with it - I haven't cancelled it yet, but I can't wait, since the savings will be nice. At the same time, I also decided to check out some insurance quotes online, and I'm totally going to get rid of State Farm and go with GEICO. I'm excited about dealing with my policies online (instead of calling my inept State Farm agency), and that's another huge yearly savings for me. Finally, I've been in the habit of putting my loose change in a cup in my pantry for a long time, and when it fills up, I take it to the Coinstar machine at HEB. Usually I get cash, which carries a transaction fee, but this time I realized I could get an Amazon gift certificate with no fee at all. So, my cup of change translated in $60 bucks at Amazon, and I know I'll have no problem spending it! Labels: decluttering
Selling, sweating, sleeping
6.17.2008 6:51 AM \| Link	I think I'm ready to get back in the swing of posting again after some crazy days recently! I lowered my prices for the items that I had on Craigslist, and I finally got some emails about my old TV. After answering several questions, I sold it to a guy and his family on Saturday, so I've completed my first successful Craigslist sale. I didn't hear a thing about my entertainment center, though, but I discovered that one of my work pals was interested, so he came over on Saturday also, and now both of the huge items in my garage are gone! I sold both items for a steal, but I don't mind at all - it's just nice to park my car in the garage again. On the same day, though, I discovered my condo air conditioner was acting up, and the timing is terrible since we've been having 100 degree days! I thought it was the ant problem again, but yesterday I found out that I need a new fan motor, which I have to wait on. Right now when it kicks on it may or may not work - last night it decided to not work, but this morning I got it going again. Anyway, I hope I get the new motor really soon! On Sunday, I had a cable appointment to install cable cards in my TiVo HD, but I was so tired from the baseball game that I took a nap after going to church and making my Father's Day phone call, and I ended up completely sleeping through my appointment! Of course, I forgot that I had the ringer off on my iPhone and that was the number they called, so I missed it. Now I have to wait another full week for the next appointment. Oh well, I'm still enjoying my HDTV anyway, especially watching upscaled DVDs! Labels: decluttering, life
Selling update
6.11.2008 11:26 PM \| Link	I have to say it was pretty fun selling my first item on eBay! It took forever to get any bids (which I understand, since I would never bid on anything until the last day of the auction), but I could tell when people were watching my item, which was kind of exciting. I finally got an opening bid, and then in the last hours there were a couple more bids to bring the selling price up above where I expected, so I did pretty good! So, I'm definitely going to keep it going with the same formula, and I already have some watchers on my Frontierland Pewter Miniatures Set! I'm also trying to move the aftermath of my new entertainment setup by listing my old furniture and TV on Craigslist. Truthfully, I thought I would be contacted right away, but so far I haven't heard a peep, which is a bummer since I want to get the things out of my garage! I guess I'll wait a couple more days and then lower the price. In more selling news, I got rid of some really old video games at GameStop and Planet Replay today. I was really impressed with the cash I got at Planet Replay, but they would only take a few of my games since I didn't keep the case for most of them (I usually toss it to make storage easier). But GameStop took everything else for a chunk of store credit, so I'm all set for a new DDR game or something later this year. I'm also hoping to sell a chunk of my comic book collection, too - I might get an offer from a comic book shop soon (although it's taking quite a while). All this selling won't make me rich, but it's a fun project to work on! Labels: decluttering
Please buy my stuff
6.04.2008 9:35 PM \| Link	I'm not sure if it's related to my big spending recently, but I suddenly have the urge to make a little money by selling some things, and doing a little decluttering at the same time. During the 50th anniversary celebration of Disneyland, I went a little crazy buying limited edition collectibles. Most of these I have displayed around my condo, and I totally cherish them, but I also bought a few things on impulse that I've only looked at once. I bought all of the sets of pewter miniatures that were available at the time, and they are really cool, but they're kind of too small to display nicely, so I've just had them in their boxes for the past few years! Although I've bought lots of stuff on Ebay, I've haven't sold anything before, but a couple days ago I decided to give it a shot. So, I put my set of Disneyland Main Street Pewter Miniatures up for auction! Now I keep wanting to check to see if I have any bids (none so far, but hopefully someone will snag it when the auction is almost closed), and the suspense is driving me crazy. I have no idea what I'm doing or if my pricing is competitive, but I'll just try again and adjust my strategy as needed - I plan on selling my other pewter sets eventually, too. If that goes well, I'm hoping to sell a Disneyland train set that's become a really hot item! I've also decided that I need to sell my bike soon. I really loved it for a couple years, but it's been unused in my garage every single day since I moved to my current condo, so by my definition, it's just clutter now. Sometime soon I think I'll try Craigslist to sell it! Labels: decluttering, disney
Spending frenzy
6.01.2008 12:18 PM \| Link	One of the positive side-effects of all my decluttering efforts has been a change in my purchasing habits. I used to view buying things as one of my hobbies, but lately I've been much more frugal, trying to buy fewer DVDs and books, for example. I've also been saving more and monitoring my savings closely. So, feeling weird about spending a lot of money is a relatively new feeling for me! Last month I had a lot of expenses converge so it felt like I was bleeding cash. I had to pay for the rest of my Las Vegas vacation, buy a new suit for a wedding, and my car needed some semi-major maintenance, all at the same time. I could afford all these things, but I was only able to save half of what I usually do - no big deal, but I decided I would take a break from buying anything for this month. However, this morning I did the exact opposite - I just ordered an HDTV! And now you get to hear me justify my huge purchase! Switching to HDTV was actually one of my goals for this year, along with replacing other furniture like my computer workspace and my rocking chair. So, I was already committed to getting one sometime this year. Last Christmas I got to setup and experience my dad's new HDTV, which has been fueling my desire for months! The only thing holding me back was the amount of change involved, since I'll have lots of things to get rid off (my old incredibly heavy TV, my old AV receiver, my entertainment center) and I also knew I would need a new TiVo for HD recordings. Well, that's what pushed me over the edge - Amazon is having a special right now (for about a week) on Samsung HDTVs (which I had already chosen as the brand I wanted) with a completely free TiVo HD box! Since I'm a TiVo addict, there was no question that I needed the box, and now I'm getting it free and saving around $225! The model I ordered is the Samsung LNT4071F, which is similar to my dad's, but a little newer with a higher contrast ratio. In a way, all of this is becoming a decluttering project, too, because with the new TiVo I can get rid of my cable box (along with my receiver and speakers I already mentioned), so eventually my AV world is going to be nice and tidy. Of course, I have no idea how I will begin the transformation once the new HDTV arrives, but I'm sure it will be a fun adventure! Labels: decluttering, life, tivo
A tag for every post
5.28.2008 7:29 AM \| Link	This week I finally finished adding tags (Blogger labels) to all 3000+ posts I've written on WEBmikey. This is something I've wanted to do since they added this feature, and I overcame this daunting task by working on it a little bit each morning. It's always tough to see a big mountain of work and wonder how it'e ever going to get finished, but if I can break it down into really small chunks then it's fun to watch it dwindle away, even if it takes months. The tags are fun for me since now I can see true statistics on my posts - for example, now I know I've reviewed 679 DVDs! You can click some of the more popular tags on the left to read those posts, but there are lots of other tags that are fun to go back and read (at least for me), like family, memories, and even Star Wars! By the way, I'm tagging this post as decluttering because I think mental decluttering is just as important as reducing and organizing physical things. Now that this task is complete, I have a few more moments each day to think about all the other things I want to do! Labels: decluttering
Classical tidiness
4.18.2008 6:46 AM \| Link	I recently finished some digital decluttering of my iTunes library, focusing on my classical music collection. I have close to 200 classical CDs (which was practically all I bought in college), and although I ripped them ages ago, their tag information has always been a mess. The CDDB entries for classical music are totally inconsistent, since classical works don't fit well into the usual track information, so I had tempo markings in the Artist field, movements in the Title field, and the whole thing was driving me crazy! So, I decided to take on a few albums every day, copying and pasting things the way I like them. I decided to go with putting the composer in the Artist field, since I would never search for something by performer in this case (with exceptions like Kronos Quartet). At the same time, I even grabbed a portrait of the composer from Wikipedia to put in the album art! The lesson that I reinforced to myself is that big tasks that seem like they will take forever can actually be done if you just make a commitment to do a little each day. It was actually kind of fun since I only spent 15 minutes or so each morning, and now I have the reward of nice, neat classical tracks! I'm following the same daily method of tagging all of my old blog posts, too. It's time to take my parents on a vacation again, so I'm leaving for Las Vegas today! WEBmikey posting will resume in a few days, but I'll probably say a few things on Twitter while I'm out of town. Labels: decluttering, music
Garage lessons
2.17.2008 12:19 PM \| Link	There are lots of inspiring things being written about decluttering these days, but I enjoy adding my own words at times, especially when I face up to a particular experience myself. Lately I've been working on a second round of garage decluttering, since when I did it the first time I managed to get everything in nice, neat storage containers, but I still kept a lot of things that I really didn't need. This time around I decided to go through my paper containers (where I actually had every last note I took during college) and my souvenir/memory boxes. It was kind of fun to actually see all these items again, but ultimately a little melancholy since I knew there was absolutely no need for me to keep most of them. I would never again be looking at these Large Scale Scientific Computing matrix equations, if it wasn't for the fact that I was going through them to throw them out! It's been good for me to reassess the value of "things", since I often equate the physical thing to a memory. I had to remind myself that my memories are never going to change if I don't have this Shakespeare exam buried in a box in my garage - I will still remember the class fondly! So, I was able to reduce three giant boxes of paper down to one giant box - I had to keep just a few favorite projects and all of my journal notebooks (since I may read them when I'm 75 or something!). I went through the same emotions with my other old items, and even old clothes. It may be difficult, but I found it really liberating to "detach" from things, and now I've reduced my box of "treasures" by 50%, too. I'm sure someday even the items I'm keeping now will mean much less to me than the memories I have of them - and the memories can be stored in zero physical space! Now I can say my garage is totally complete! After round two and a trip to Goodwill, I can fit everything I need on my shelves without having other storage containers lining the walls, and it feels great! Labels: decluttering, life
Wide open spaces
1.26.2008 1:25 PM \| Link	I'm happy to say I just finished Operation Loft! Today I built my new Elfa tables (which was pretty easy even though you have to use a drill), and then I unplugged all of my equipment to get ready for the swap. Next I took apart (demolished) my old computer table, and got it out of there along with the old broken filing cabinet, and then I set up all of my things again, doing my best to keep the cables fairly neat. Now I have a ton of wide open space, since I was able to put some items that I used to keep in my desk inside the extra drawers of the new filing cabinet! I also have room under the table for my new shredder - I kind of went a little overboard buying a new one (this thing will even chomp up a CD!), but at least I'm pretty sure it will last longer than the last one. Some day I'm going to replace my Power Mac with an iMac, not only because I want all my Macs to be Intel, but also because it will open up more floor space and reduce even more cable clutter. I'm really happy with today's accomplishment - this marks the end of a big series of tasks for my loft, and now it serves as my library (books, manga, DVDs) and workspace. Take a look! Labels: decluttering, life
Prerequisite decluttering
1.20.2008 7:27 AM \| Link	Yesterday was a great weekend day, because I finally got started on my last decluttering project for my loft, which is setting up a new computer work area! One thing I've learned about projects like this is that one task always has some sort of prerequisite task, so sometimes it's a puzzle to figure out how to begin. For example, I knew I wanted two simple Elfa tables (no need for a complicated desk for me) with one supported by a new filing cabinet (since my old filing cabinet is ugly, ancient, and broken!). So, first I had to declutter my old files (which I did last week, burning out my old cheap shredder in the process, so a new one is on the way!), and then figure out what to do with an old set of drawers that I used to store VHS tapes in (the tapes are all gone from last year's decluttering, but I was still using it as a table). Thankfully, my boss George can use the drawers, so I moved them downstairs for him to pick up next week. Next, I needed to empty out one of three DVD racks to make room for the new tables, so that meant it was DVD decluttering time! Actually, I had quite a few I could part with, mainly because Disney keeps re-releasing movies as Platinum Editions (which I buy, of course!), so there's no need for me to keep the old releases of the same movies. But I still had a way to go to free up that rack, so I decided to move a row or two of DVDs to my bookcases, which meant (you guessed it) decluttering my books again! I severely pruned my books last year, but it was surprisingly easy to do it again - there were still a few college books that I know I would never touch, as well as some novels that I can't imagine re-reading, so out they went. To top off the day, I did actually make it to The Container Store to buy my tables (which were part of the Elfa sale!) and filing cabinet, so soon I'll get to build them and actually enjoy the results of my labor. I intended to use this situation as an introduction to mentioning my use of "minimum space" to help control what I buy, but it took so long that I'll have to save it for another post! Labels: decluttering, life
Less really is more
1.16.2008 9:26 PM \| Link	Lately I've been more and more convinced that decluttering, in all shapes and forms, is a good thing for me, and finding ways to simplify my life continues to be one of the areas I want to focus on this year. I did a great job last year, and during that time did a lot of reading about the idea that "external" clutter definitely has an effect on "internal" clutter, meaning that too much stuff in my world does the same thing to my mind. It's true that removing things I don't need gives me a huge sense of relief, which makes my thoughts clearer, which helps me enjoy life more. Lately I've been struggling with trying to do too much, which only makes me disappointed when I don't meet all my expectations, so I've been thinking a lot about decluttering again, which includes simplifying what I do with my time. For example, since I'm kind of a media addict, I've been trying to keep up with way too many websites, RSS feeds, podcasts, and even shows on TiVo, so today I just decided to cut way back, and now I won't be concerned about all of it piling up. I even did a little tidying up at my office today, which seemed to help me think straight, too. Anyway, I'm mentioning all of this because I'm going to try to change how I write on WEBmikey to make blogging more fun and less of a chore. I still want to keep writing reviews, but since I'll never be a true critic, I'm going to write more personally and just enjoy sharing my thoughts about something. I'm also hoping to let myself write shorter posts off the top of my head, just to have fun! I think by doing less, I'm actually going to end up doing more, because I'm going to be doing things less out of self-imposed obligation, and more out of simple joy. Labels: decluttering, life
Productive distraction
1.10.2008 9:28 PM \| Link	Sometimes I have to deal with a big internal conflict involving my free time, which is balancing the things I've planned to do with what I actually want to do at the moment. It's really silly, since everything amounts to stuff that I actually desire to accomplish, but at times I get obsessed with something, which throws out all of of my carefully time-distributed plans! I love having the discipline to say I'll do a set of tasks each day (such as Japanese study, writing WEBmikey, and so on), leaving the rest of my time for other things I like to do. But sometimes (like recently!) something I get started on takes over, and I have to admit it's fun being obsessed, since I like the energy! The other day I got started reading Revolution in the Valley (which I'll review soon), and I absolutely could not stop reading it - I've been stealing every free moment in the morning, during lunch, and evenings, too. Tonight I decided I had to get it out of my system, so I just read for four hours straight (something I almost never do!) and finished it! I'm also getting a new burst of decluttering energy, since I spent some time recently to go through my filing cabinet to get rid of old documents. While I was doing it I got thinking about even more decluttering, such as going through my books and clothes again, and now I have more projects flying around in my head! So, you could say I've been undisciplined in my usual schedule lately, but I don't really mind, since my time is still getting filled with worthwhile efforts. Labels: decluttering, life
Resolution report
1.01.2008 8:28 AM \| Link	Happy New Year, everyone! For the past few years I've really been into thinking hard about New Year's resolutions, and I took some time over the weekend to look back on 2007 and look forward to 2008. Since I keep my thoughts written down, I really enjoy reading what I was thinking on this day last year and seeing how I did. Last year my main goal was decluttering, and I have to give myself an A+ on that one! Getting rid of all kinds of stuff and organizing everything has brought me tons of enjoyment and peace of mind, and really changed the way I think about buying new things. My next goal was to get new furniture, which I only half-finished - I bought things to help with my decluttering, but not important items like a new couch! My next goal was my biggest failure - I made almost no progress on health and fitness in 2007. I was really happy with myself in 2005, but it's been downhill since then, so that resolution really tanked! But I did much better on my next goal, which was to go to church regularly again. I had a time of church burn-out in 2006, but now I really look forward to going to Gateway each week and I've been much more spiritually-minded, and I feel great about it! Finally, my last goal was to experience more art and culture, but after a great start last year, I kind of fizzled out. Overall, I had a great year, and I'm proud of my successful goals, and not too discouraged by the ones I missed! Of course, I have another list of goals for 2008, but I'll write about those next year. Actually, they are quite similar to last year (maybe a little more defined), and I'm filled with confidence that I can make them happen! While I'm on the topic of the New Year, my pal Kumiko gave me a special set of Disney New Year postcards from Japan. This is the Year of the Rat on the Chinese Zodiac, so Mickey Mouse is the perfect symbol for 2008! Labels: decluttering, disney, life
Still simplifying
9.15.2007 4:07 PM \| Link	Lately I've been finding other ways to make simplification and de-cluttering part of my life, and the whole concept is really working for me. Now I'm kind of working on mental de-cluttering, by removing things that nag me in in the back of my mind. The best example of this is keeping up with my own DVD and book purchases, which I typically have a pile of waiting for me to enjoy. I decided recently to just stop buying new DVDs and books until I made it through everything I already have, and I'm happy to say that I'm half-way through my last unwatched DVD! I can't even remember the last time I was caught up on DVD viewing. I'm starting to dig in to my unread books, too, and the feeling of personal accomplishment is great, plus I'll be prepared for all the goodies Santa will bring me for Christmas! Another thing I've been trying is keeping more of my day-to-day stuff online, rather than on my own computer. Even though I liked using Mori to record my thoughts and to-do lists, I always wanted to add something or refer to them during breaks at work, but I couldn't. Now I'm using Backpack for everything, and my list keeping has never been better! I can even check things out from my iPhone now, which is really convenient. I used to use SplashID on my Palm to keep track of things like numbers and accounts, but since I've finally said goodbye to my Palm days, I've moved all of that information to PassPack, which seems to be a really cool (and extremely secure) solution. I love the feeling of getting mental clutter out of my head, and everything I've done this year with my environment and habits has really made me feel productive and happy! Labels: decluttering, life
A little more progress
7.31.2007 7:54 PM \| Link	Here we are at the end of July - it feels like 2007 is really flying! Now I officially have four more months to study for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) Level 3, and I also have to really get moving on my usual end of the year video project at the same time. Today I took half of the 2004 Level 3 exam, and I did pretty well, but I think I need to specifically study whatever vocabulary I don't already know (rather than the complete word list). I'm going to start focusing my studies on sample exams for the next month or so, so I can start to judge how I'm doing! Besides studying and staying busy with my bands, I did manage to completely finish my Astro Boy 8-DVD set (yatta!). I also hit a nice milestone with my de-cluttering project - I've now been through each and every room, closet, cabinet and drawer in the entire condo, getting rid of everything I don't need and organizing the rest! I think I need to make another pass at the garage, but it's still a wonderful feeling. There are other goals that I wanted to accomplish in 2007, and I'm not sure if I have the time, but at least every day brings a little more progress, and there's always 2008 ahead of me! Labels: decluttering, jlpt, life
Focusing on finishing
7.27.2007 7:06 AM \| Link	I've still been working on de-cluttering my house (I recently made another pass through my clothes and got rid of some old stuff), and now I have the urge to de-clutter not only my physical environment, but my mental world as well! When I stop and think about it, there are a lot of things that I have started doing that just crawl along at a snail's pace, and I think having too many of those long term tasks cooking in my brain isn't such a good idea. So, my new obsession is finishing things! I started Rosetta Stone Japanese Level 2 so long ago, and I've only been working on a lesson when I felt like it, but now I really want to complete it. Now that I've started moving my Kodak Gallery photos to Flickr, I really want to finish the job. Similarly, I'm concentrating my money into an early loan payoff. I guess what I'm doing is focusing my efforts on a few things to actually finish them before I move on to other things. However, I decided to see what's ahead of me and how long it will take - I have to finish 91 Rosetta Stone lessons and move over 186 photo albums, both of which will take a few months. Oh well, I'm committed! Labels: decluttering, life
Rainy holiday
7.04.2007 2:02 PM \| Link	Happy 4th of July! I'm enjoying this rainy day off with lots of studying, de-cluttering my bathroom and washroom cabinets (if anyone needs some anti-itch cream that expired in 2004, let me know!), shooting a few toy photos, and taking breaks to watch anime. Tomorrow I'm off to Oklahoma City for a short vacation with Mom & Dad, but I think I'll still make a few WEBmikey posts, so stay tuned. I've finally took some shots of my finished LEGO Y-Wing fighter, which I built while watching Episode 4 (and drinking beer) as my own little Star Wars 30th anniversary celebration. The Y-Wing design is really cool, and it actually took just about the exact length of the movie to complete! View photos: LEGO Y-Wing Labels: decluttering, lego, life, star wars
Organizing obsession
4.19.2007 6:34 AM \| Link	My recent efforts to organize and get rid of stuff are really becoming a happy obsession! It feels so good to work on this stuff, since I really wanted to get going on this last year, but I managed to let my time slip away. Now I'm so excited that it's tough to decide what to do in any given moment! My latest idea has been to drastically reduce the space taken up by my CD collection. Years ago I took the step to throw away all my jewel cases, and I bought lots of nice leather CD binder cases for my collection. Now I've decided those are too big! My new plan is to use simple two-sided CD envelopes, and then cram them vertically into CD boxes (I have been storing my burned DVDs like this already). I was up until after 1:00 AM last night emptying the last of the binders, resulting in around an 80% reduction in required storage space! (I can definitely see myself moving toward the all-digital utopia of the future.) I also decided to throw out a bunch of magazines, and I even dug into the souvenir bins. Barron took a ton of old Pokemon toys for his kids (hope they have fun!), and I gave Ryan a few Star Wars things. Most of the other stuff was Happy Meal toys that I just don't need, so I'm just going to break some collectors' hearts by tossing them. Later this week I'm going to move the empty bins into one of my closets to store office supplies - each project just feeds another one! Labels: decluttering, life
Less computers, less books
4.10.2007 8:13 AM \| Link	My recent efforts to simplify and reorganize are going well! I've gone from five computers down to two, selling my iMac to George, my iBook to Barron, and my PC to Ernesto. They all seem happy with their purchases, I'm happy with a little cash, and I'm really happy with the extra space in my loft! My next big job was making room in the toy room (for more toys, of course) by moving my bookcases into the loft. I've been selling (practically giving away) bags of books to Half Price Books, but I finally had to get down to it and move everything. This weekend I unloaded all three bookcases, moved them into the loft (with help from Jonathan), and I just got them reloaded today. I'm totally amazed at how much more shelf space I have after reorganizing the books! I still have a million more projects of this type I want to do, but it feels great to really be getting started! Labels: decluttering, life, pals
Bookmarks mess
4.07.2007 7:04 AM \| Link	I've always wanted to consolidate and organize all my website bookmarks - I've collected way too many over the years from general surfing and blog reading. I really like using Delicious (yes, I know it's really del.icio.us, but that's a pain to type), since I can easily save things I see at home or work, and organizing by tags is so much better than crazy folder structures (even though I still enjoy Safari's bookmark management). Anyway, I decided to try out the new Firefox extension that keeps local bookmarks in sync with Delicious, but I don't like it - I'm just a Safari purist when it comes to the Mac, and I would much rather create my own tags and descriptions rather than relying on an import. So, now I'm deleting over 1,000 links from Delicious (what a mess!), and then over time I'll put all my links there by hand. I want to eventually get all of my "save for someday" links into Delicious, and only keep my "use often" links locally on Safari. That's my bookmarks dream, and someday it will come true! Labels: decluttering, sites
Hello, MacBook! Farewell, iBook!
3.01.2007 7:50 AM \| Link	Time for some really big news! This blog post is coming to you from my new MacBook! I'm finally retiring my old iBook G3 that has served me well every day of my life since 2001 (amazing!), and my excuse for doing it now is part of my de-cluttering effort. Since the new Intel Macs can also run Windows XP, I will able to use Microsoft Money, the one PC program that I can't do without, on my Mac, which means I can get rid of my old Dell PC! As usual for Apple, getting started with my MacBook was totally amazing. The setup process includes migration from an old Mac, so I hooked up my iBook (via FireWire) and all of my settings, applications, and files were transferred. Suddenly my brand new computer was identical to my old one! It was like I was using the exact same machine, except for the fact that it's a jillion times faster. I was amazed to discover that there's only one non-Universal application that I use every now and then, so all of my usual programs are super-speedy. I'm really excited to be in the Apple/Intel world now! Labels: decluttering, mac
Catching-up and de-cluttering
2.27.2007 7:11 AM \| Link	Sorry there's been yet another period of WEBmikey radio silence! My schedule has just been a little crazy, and whenever that happens, I don't manage my time well (which is funny since I should try to manage it even better when I get swamped!). Anyway, I have all kinds of things to write about, so I'm going to catch up and back-date a couple posts to catch-up (like this one!). My pal Dae from Los Angeles is coming to visit this weekend, too, so I'll probably miss a few days again, but at least you have been warned this time! Just to mention something interesting (so this won't be a useless post), I've decided to finally start going through my mountains of books and get rid of some of them. I've always been the kind of person that keeps books no matter what, so I still have all of my college textbooks. Those are definitely the first to go - I think I will keep my History of Science books, since they are pretty interesting, but I guarantee I will never, ever (in a million years) crack open Engineering Physics! I have several old computer books, too, for software that's completely hillbilly now. I managed to clear away two complete shelves of my overflowing bookcases, so now I just need to take some to Half Price Books and see if I can dump them for a few bucks (I'll take anything!). It feels good to start to get rid of some clutter! Labels: decluttering, life
Efficiency for weirdos
5.18.2006 9:23 PM \| Link	The other day at work I needed a new highlighter, which made me stop to think about the wacky (yet efficient for me!) method I have developed for keeping track of all the stuff I need to do. I'm pretty busy all day at the office, so when someone asks me to do something, I have to record it somehow or I will definitely forget it! Over the past several years I just fell into a pattern of prioritizing things, however strange it may be. If someone asks me to do something that I know needs to be done the same day, I write it on a Post-It note. I usually just stick it on my notebook or scratch sheet (see below), but when it's done, I toss it. For some reason I like bright blue or green Post-Its (I have weird work superstitions!). Things that need to be done "soon" go on my scratch sheet. I have a drawer full of used printer paper, and I always keep a couple sheets on my desk. One is for random scribbles, and the other is for listing things I'll be working on in the next few days or weeks. When I finish something, I mark through it with a highlighter. I like using a highlighter because I can still read what I did! The highlighter must be pink! I have no idea why, but my brain knows that when the whole page is pink, then it's all done and I can toss it. Long-term jobs go in my notebook, which I also use for planning how I'm going to make those jobs happen. I always use 9.5 x 6 inch size, spiral bound, and use them until every page is full. I keep these notebooks like an archive, since sometimes the things I figure out in them become useful later. It takes about a year to use a whole notebook (of course, I go through many scratch sheets in that same year!). Finally, every few months I go through my notebook and type up a kind of project list of all the big things that haven't been done (usually major projects or ideas that just didn't ever get to the "top"). This is the only task list I keep electronically, and I still print it out so I can refer to it on paper! So, all I need to be efficient is a pink highlighter, blue or green Post-Its, a 9.5 x 6 spiral notebook, and a stack of used printer paper. Now that's hi-tech! Labels: decluttering, life
Watch, Read, Study, Play
3.19.2006 8:20 AM \| Link	I love free time! Yesterday was a semi-rainy Saturday, and even though I usually hate dreary weather, at least it was a perfect backdrop for staying inside (or hanging out at a bookstore) and doing stuff I enjoy. I'm always adjusting my life to try to squeeze in all my obsessions into each day, so the latest scheme I've come up with with is Watch, Read, Study, Play. If I can check each of those off my mental list each day, then I've had a nice day! Watch means to keep up on my pile of DVDs, so yesterday I finished the first DVD in the Batman Animated Series set I'm watching. Read means to stay current with my magazines, manga, and books, so yesterday I read the latest issue of Tales from the Laughing Place Magazine cover to cover (relaxing with coffee at Barnes & Noble). Study means to work on my Japanese, so I used my dictionary and looked up just about every word I didn't know on my sample JLPT. Play means to spend some quality time with my Nintendo DS or PS2, so I spent a while in Animal Crossing (but I have been seriously neglecting my other games lately, so I have to fix that!). Of course, there are other things I need to do everyday, such as post something on WEBmikey, or get off my butt and exercise, but so far I like the simplicity of Watch, Read, Study, Play. Labels: decluttering, life
Four priorities
11.05.2005 4:45 PM \| Link	I've gone though periods in life where I really didn't feel focused - I just didn't know what to do with my free time. This definitely isn't one of those times! Lately I feel like my priorities just developed on their own, and I'm pretty happy with them. There's really no order to them, but I seem to be constantly focused on: learning Japanese, staying healthy, continuing projects, and total fun. Learning Japanese is just something I've become obsessed with - I really enjoy it, and it's become my number one hobby, mainly because it requires daily effort in order to keep progressing. When I'm filling up some free time, there's always several Japanese study tasks I can choose from! My health finally became a priority this year when I finally lost some extra weight (which surprised even me!), so now I always try to be conscious of what I'm eating and I make sure to play some DDR regularly for exercise. Next are my "projects", which are big efforts like video editing or ongoing things like shooting macro photos of the toys I buy (and I guess writing WEBmikey fits into this category, too). Finally, when all those things are taken care of, I just want to have complete fun - I'll always enjoy getting together with my pals, gobbling up media (DVDs, movies, TV shows, books, CDs, websites) and of course, taking trips to Disney parks and other cool places. Someday I'm going to have a lot more free time to explore all of these things - having "weeks of weekends" is a dream of mine! But right now it feels great to know what I like to do with myself. I just can't imagine being bored right now. Labels: decluttering, life


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