Household

I’ve done a bit of rearranging of my web site. This blog is in the same location, but it’s no longer serving as the main page. That has been moved to the wiki, with appropriate redirects and auto-refreshes leading there. It occurs to me that this overall site has been in existence for quite awhile now; it’s like a house that I just keep adding new wings on to and changing where the front door is. Not to mention all of the rooms that are hidden away at the end of long hallways, and the stored files and trinkets from years ago neatly cataloged in the basement. Is the analogy making sense?

April was a busy, fun, active, scary and difficult month. I’ve been working quite a bit, ejoying many social activities and feeling vaguely guilty that I’ve barely been sailing this year. April includes an anniversary of a family member’s death, for which I take some time off and do something meaningful to mark the occasion and remember that person.

Geez, it’s already halfway through May. Wow.

So I have been TV-free since ~April 23rd. And I am, in fact, finding that that prompts me to go out and do more things in the evenings. I basically plan or find something to do each night after work. On nights when I do just come right home, I listen to music (I bought a ton of new music), read, clean my place, rearrange things and generally be more productive than I would be with a television. So it has all worked out the way I wanted it to. I did watch The Office at a friend’s house the other day; I do miss that show.

Losing TV is just part of an ongoing self-improvement tack. I gave up diet soda to reduce my sodium intake; since I’m not a coffee drinker, I went ahead and gave up caffeine as well. I didn’t realize just how much caffeine I had been taking in; the first three days without it I could barely stay awake. I was literally sitting in my cube at work trying not to nod off. Once I got past that, it has been fine. I’ve been drinking a lot more water and I can feel the difference.


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I have been thinking for quite awhile about giving up television. I don’t even consider myself to be a hardcore TV watcher; I never watch in the morning and there are only a few shows that I really follow. Wow, that sounds really convincing, huh?

Unfortunately I do flip on the TV more than I’d like too, especially when I’m tired or just bored.

I’ve lived without TV before. I’ve read more. I’ve listened to music and the radio more. I may have even exercised more. It’s the reading that I really like and want. I have stacks and stacks of books, many of which looked interesting when I bought them but remain unread.

I already use a good deal of my free time going out, spending time with people I know, meeting new people, walking around The City, volunteering with some progressive organizations and looking for new activities of interest. What could I do without that luminescent screen facing prominently into my living room, drawing me in just because it’s there?

I know I would read more and listen to music more. I’d probably spend more time online reading about news and politics and history. Would I go out more? Meet more people? Tend to my job more (I can work just as well from home as I can from my office)? Meditate more? Exercise more? Go on walking tours or take classes or volunteer more? Draw, paint, think, create? It’s intriguing and I think it’s worth exploring.

Tonight my faithful boxy old CRT will move down to the basement storage room and my living room will be rearranged to better accomodate the computer, music gear and more books. I’m going easy on myself, knowing that it’s still there, ready to be hauled back upstairs to give me a fix if necessary. I’ll just take it one day at a time.

I need to start taking pcitures again and posting them here to pep this place up some.


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I didn’t have a proper camera when I was wandering around Russian Hill this morning, but I snapped a couple shots from my phone. They’re not great, but I liked the mood conveyed of a chilly, crisp clear day above The City.

I just finished watching the entire first Tales of The City series on DVD. I think the last time I watched it was something like eight years ago. It totally reminded me, again, of my own sense of awe when I first moved to SF and how naive I was. Mary Ann Singleton is a character that resonates. I keep meaning to track down Macondray Lane, the street that was the model for Barbary Lane, but haven’t done so yet.

I’ve also been meaning to take another walk around the steps on Telegraph Hill since I finally watched The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.

There’s something about wandering SF on a weekday, away from work and the crowds, that I find particularly relaxing. Since I’ve moved to Nob Hill I’ve found myself exploring Russian Hill and North Beach more than I ever have before.

Another topic, of much excitement (to me at least), is the “new to me” steam radiator installed in my apartment. The previous one was an unusual “baseboard” configuration and didn’t work right. This one is a regular old cast-iron vertical unit that looks cool and actually works. Everything old becomes new, right? I’ve learned way more than I ever expected to about single pipe steam heating systems.


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