Ryon's 101 Things

Checking in...

2008-09-13T13:42:00.001-07:00

Hello, friends!

I realize that I've been a bad boy and I haven't updated this blog for a long time. Believe me. I am very, very sorry. Look at these puppy dog eyes. Tell me you can forgive me.

Thanks, that makes me feel better...

Don't think I've been resting on my laurels; far from it! I was as surprised as anyone when I came back here and made my way down the list, checking off the things I've accomplished. Although I have done very well on the "one off" issues, I haven't been making as much progress on some of the ongoing thematic items as much as I'd like. I think it's because I haven't consciously made the effort to change those bad habits into good ones.

Also, it's very difficult to quantify whether one is successful on one of the ongoing pursuits. Does a pizza now and then nullify the "eat more vegetables" entry? Do I uncross it when I stop eating vegetables again? I believe that that purpose of lists like these is to foment a general positive change in one or more areas of life. That doesn't mean that I have to be a Nazi about things; one week of unfolded laundry doesn't mean that I failed the laundry-folding goal!

The really good news is that the improvements in my life don't stop at just those entries on the list that are struck out; overall I feel that the general mindset of this list has given me more of a positive can-do attitude in general.

Now I'll try and keep it updated more. Honest....

The Dream Becomes a Reality

2008-01-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

My new frame just came in. Now to order some parts from my friend Whit...

Victory is Mine!

2008-01-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

Today I received a notification on my door that contractors will arrive on Tuesday to create a barrier wall that will divert water from running right on my porch during rainstorms.

And to think it only took six years...

Gastronomic Excellence

2008-01-12T18:54:00.001-08:00

Tonight I cooked an absolutely delicious Chicken Breast with Chimichurri sauce. Quick, easy, and the three pounds I cooked will last me throughout the week! Next week will be Honey Mustard Turkey. Stay tuned!

Cooking

2008-01-09T23:11:00.000-08:00

One of my goals is to cook at least once a week. Cooking is surprisingly nerve-wracking. It requires timing, preparation, and attention, three things which I tend to lack. Nevertheless, the final product is usually very rewarding to eat, although I don't think I'll ever understand the economy of taking three hours to prepare something that's eaten all to hell in thirty minutes!

This past evening my friend Bryan and I cooked a fucking awesome Porkchop-with-apples-and-cider-gravy meal, with a side of homemade oven fries and kale. Kale is a leafy green vegetable that is considered one of the healthiest things you can eat. We sauteed it with Parmesan cheese and topped it with bacon, where the healthy and unhealthy battled for dominance within our stomachs.

Overall, a most rewarding and tasty way to get progress with one of my list items!

Ruminations on Accomodations

2008-01-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

There are a few vital, pivotal items on my list for this cycle of 1001 days; the most important one of these might be finding a new place to live. I've lived in my current place for almost six years now. In fact, it will be over six years by the time my lease expires, and I'm determined not to renew.

Over the past six years, my life has been in constant perturbation; throughout my college career, throughout several intimate relationships and several jobs, throughout happiness and depression, I have come home to the same set of rooms, with almost the same contents. As a person, I have grown vastly, and yet I find myself staring at the same surroundings night after night, week after week, year after year.

This apartment was a wonderful place for that 22 year old who was tremendously unsure about himself and his place in the world, but it's not so wonderful for who I am now. It's not that this place is bad, It's just no longer appropriate for the person I see myself becoming; it's not even appropriate for the person I feel I have been for a year or so. It's well past time that I moved on.

Like I said, it's not a bad place. I have two bedrooms, fairly low rent, and it's quiet. But it also gets little sunlight. It's dark and the ceilings are low. It has a lot of features that play into my depressive tendencies and Seasonal Affective Disorder. For some reason, I also feel that my surroundings are keeping me from moving forward.

I've got two choices: Buy or rent. I haven't figured out which of these I'll choose yet, but I do know that there's absolutely no reason why I should go for anything less than what I want. After all, I've got a year to look. I've come up with a few "nice-to-haves" for my new place. It's unlikely that I'll find a place with all of these things together, so I'm willing to compromise on a few things if it's a place that's excellent in every other way.

Features of which I am desirous vis-a-vis potential new dwelling structures:

Hardwood or tile floors.

Almost all the places I've ever lived in have had typical wall-to-wall carpet. I've come to the conclusion that carpet is ghetto-ass shit for chump ass punks (no offense, gentle reader, if you are a chump-ass punk). Carpet holds in allergens, has special stain lock-in technology, so it will never be the same after that first spill, and invariably looks like it belongs in a crackhouse a year after you buy it.

Hardwood and tile are classy, last forever if you aren't a fucking ape with sandpaper for shoes, and you can let your personality shine through by placing area rugs or bear/leopard skins in strategic spots.

As much as I hate carpet, this isn't a deal breaker, because I can always rip up that weak shit and at the very least plop down some almost equally-as-ghetto pergo. Although no straight player has carpet, it can be tolerated. At first.

high(er than my current apartment, which isn't too hard) ceilings.

Nothing says home-sweet-home more than having ceilings that you can touch by raising your hands above your head. That's right, my current apartment is basically a hobbit-hole from Lord of the Rings. I used to tell dates: "Come on down and see my dungeon", but "have you ever seen an apartment with ceilings like a dollhouse?" seems to work much better. It freaks them out less.

After six years of living in a place that a hibernating bear would feel "cozy" in, I think it's definitely time for nice vaulted ceilings, at least in the common and entertaining rooms, because nothing squelches a good time like your guests feeling like the ceiling is pressing down on them like a trap from an Indiana Jones movie. This is, quite frankly, a requirement, heating and cooling bills be damned. I will pay the extra money because it's worth it not to feel like Shaq visiting mini-me's house when I come home at night.

Gas Range/Stove.

Because Electric stoves and ovens are so fucking shitty I don't even want to talk about it. If I wanted a pot of water to take an hour to boil, I'd just breathe on it really hard. Not a requirement but I'm really sick of having stove envy of my friends with gas ranges. Definitely a nice-to-have.

Lots of natural light.

I think this is an extension of my wish for high ceilings. My current apartment is suitable for vampires, albinos, and those weird fucking things from the movie Descent. Unfortunately, unlike the cave in Descent, my apartment is not often filled with numbers of hot spelunkers, but that's a bitch for another time.

Is it too much to ask to be able to tell the difference between 12:00PM and 8:00PM when I'm at home?

A garage.

I'm male. This should be enough explanation. Plus, the CrossFit Garage Gym calls to me...

Near to cool places.

Preferably reachable on a bike. This is important to me. I hate commuting!

Is it too much to ask for all of these in one place? I hope not!

Settin' 'em up and Knockin' 'em Down!

2008-01-08T13:02:00.000-08:00

I actually wanted to see how many single quotes I could squeeze into one subject line. Not too shabby! I've been pretty busy here. I think I should probably check in my progress a little more often than I'm doing now, but the important thing is that I remain motivated and I'm totally in it to win it!

I've officially spent a bunch of money for my Moots road frame! It took some wavering back and forth ("Man, that's a lotta money..." vs. "What a fuckin' awesome bike this will be"), but I finally plunked down the cash for the frame and titanium seatpost. Thanks so much to James from New Revolution Cycles for his friendly responses and help ensuring that I get the proper size frame. I highly recommend this shop, even though it's a little ways out of Austin, in Kyle. It's places like this that really exemplify why I like shopping at small, independent stores instead of large corporate behemoths (it's also a reason why I chose the frame I did!).

I can't wait to get back on the road. It's been way too long since I've felt the wind through my hair and the familiar burn in my legs as I climb up the hills. I've marked this item complete, even though I still have componentry (Campy Chorus) to buy and a bike to assemble, I've already done the hard part. The frame should be here Friday. I can't wait!

I've also made a wee bit of headway in my apartment situation. I came home Saturday evening to discover my bathroom ceiling partially collapsed. Apparently, the people living upstairs had taken a shower without the shower curtain. Oops. Regardless, I took the time to put in a work order not only about that, but also about the drainage problem, where every drop of rain that falls on the parking lot of my apartment complex gets redirected exactly to my front porch.

Yesterday, I spoke to the head of maintenance for my apartment complex. He assured me that they had contacted some contractors, who would apparently build a retaining wall of some sort. Truthfully, I'm not really holding my breath; The point here is not necessarily to get the wall built, but instead to continually assert my right to proper housing for which I'm paying $900 a month! For a variety of reasons, I'm not renewing my lease here, so I might as well try and make the place better for the next tenant!

I've also been working on my photography; I'm trying to take the time to go through and make pictures I'm proud of. I have even had a few successes lately in locations about which I felt a great deal of skepticism. It never hurts to try!

That's about all for now!

Finances

2008-01-01T21:21:00.000-08:00

One of my action items is to start using Quicken for my finances. I have used it in the past, and in fact I was a really good boy for a long time. Then Quicken crashed and lost all my financial data. My backup Quicken database also crashed Quicken. I was frustrated enough to stop using the program. I wanted to get back on the wagon this year.

My sister is going to try and use an online program called Mint to keep track of her finances. I've created an account and played around with it for about an hour. I'm definitely not going to use this product. Here's why:

No reconciliation of accounts

No manual entry of charges that matches up with what you've spent later on

Creepy ads that imply they're taking your financial information and comparing it against their creepy internal database to give you creepy offers about how much you could be saving

No support for any of my investment or retirement accounts

Summary: Mint is a stupid piece of shit. I recommend that everyone who is using it STOP now, and anyone that is thinking about using it NOT DO SO. Back to Quicken for me. Even though it sucks and crashes.

Fuck you, Mint.

How to NOT Set Myself up for Failure

2008-01-01T16:43:00.000-08:00

This is a powerful method for personal growth. For one thing, I've stated my goals publicly, and I've blogged about it. If I don't finish this, in the distant future, someone will stumble upon this abandoned, dusty old blog, and think "man, he never followed through on this".

For another thing, I've gotten several of my friends and family in on this. I'll be damned if They are all cheerfully improving themselves and I'm stuck in the same old rut! It's a pride thing.

Most importantly though, it's something that I really want for myself!

In any case, I tried to be very careful when choosing items for my list. In my opinion, there's two main dangers. The first is setting unrealistic, lofty goals:

Go to space

Clearly, I'd be setting myself up for failure. It's good to believe myself confident that I can achieve wonderful goals; after all, the purpose of this list is to finally make my reach exceed my grasp. It's another thing entirely to set myself up for a fall by setting impossible goals for myself.

The second is being careful to choose goals that are as actionable as possible. What's that mean? It means that as much as possible, the goals in my list should be as contingent as possible on my actions and my actions alone. Other peoples' thoughts, feelings, and biases should not enter into whether or not I succeed at these goals. Sure, it's true that we don't live our lives in a vacuum, and that we're almost certainly going to bump up against the wall of someone else's negativity sooner or later, but I believe that we can write our goals out in such a manner that it becomes a personal challenge, not one of navigating the minefield of other people. For instance, if I had the following goal:

Get a book published

It's not as much of a personal challenge as it could be. It puts a lot of pressure on me to write a 'publishable' book. It puts the ball in another person's court as to whether or not my own goals are fulfilled. Instead, I'd rather have this goal:

Write a book

Therein lies the personal challenge. Let's worry about publishing for some other list.

It has begun.

2007-12-31T23:08:00.001-08:00

Happy new year, everyone!

It's 01/01/08, and time to get this fucking show on the road. I have some lofty goals and some banal goals, but I intend to complete them all.

Wish me luck.

Preliminary Investigations Regarding Bicycles and the Purchasing Thereof.

2007-12-26T15:20:00.000-08:00

I punish bikes. My ham-fisted overly aggressive style of riding has thus far caused the untimely deaths of two bicycles, my first mountain bike, a Specialized RockHopper (via bent-beyond-repair'd rear triangle), and now my Carbon Fiber road bike, a C4 Majik (by 4" crack in the top tube, which at any moment could result in catastrophic structural failure and shortly thereafter, my own untimely death). It's time to stop fucking around.

A few years ago, I replaced my mountain bike with my amazing, buttery-smooth, turns-on-a-dime Moots Rigor Mootis. It's time to take my old Majik frame to the farm, where it can run around and play with other bicycles forever and ever, and replace it with a Moots Vamoots. These are both titanium bikes, the ultimate in reliability and bicycle material cachet. With any luck, they will hold up forever, the last frames I'll ever have to buy.

There are two Moots dealers within reasonable driving range, one in Kyle, and one in San Antonio (sadly, Austin's Moots dealer, CycleWorks 360, closed last year). I will soon be blogging about my experiences at the dealer and hopefully parting together my new Moots!

If I manage to break either one of my Ti bikes, then shit, I'll consider that a message from god telling me it's time to stop riding.

Sipping a Martini in '08!

2007-12-17T20:54:00.000-08:00

Although it's a bit premature, I've already committed to my first '08 concert date, even though it's in May! I've loved Pink Martini ever since my sister first introduced them to me in 2004. I was immediately captivated by their amazing range - Latin Mambo and Samba gives way to Asian and Film Noir influences gives way to lounge jazz - and of course lead singer China Forbes' sultry, intoxicating voice.

I've especially always wanted to see them live, but they've simply never come to my neck of the woods. But May 20, 2008, I'll finally get to see them in concert, and at a venue that couldn't possibly be more apropos, the Paramount Theater.

This is definitely a dress-up-go-to-wine-bar-after occasion!

Starting Fresh Feels Good

2007-12-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce the completion of one of the two most important goals on my list: Changing jobs.

I have spent the last two-and-a-half years in the same position at my company. I'm grateful of all the opportunities my current position has offered me, and the time spent there has definitely helped my metamorphosis into a more effective, knowledgeable employee. However, things reached the point about six months back where I had reached the end of the road in terms of what it could offer me in terms of growth and new skills.

Even back then, I saw the fork in the road ahead of me. One path led to comfort and familiarity. It wasn't the most intellectually stimulating job, but better the demon I knew than the one I didn't. Down the other path lay the scary and frightening unknown.

It's time for me to start taking the scarier path. That's the theme I've tried to weave into the tapestry of the next 1001 days of my life. I suppose I've started with that thing that consumes 8 hours of every day Monday through Friday. Wow, that is important.

Realistically, I should have this as a goal on every iteration of a 1001 day list. I want to always look for that new thing to keep me on the edge, that new way to grow professionally. I don't want to mire myself in complacency and safety.

I've also taken the relatively simple step of trading in my work desktop for a newer model. If I get managerial approval, I'll have a shiny new work computer! Now to do the same thing for my laptop...

X-Boxes and Archaic Appliances

2007-12-12T00:32:00.000-08:00

Well, my new X-Box 360 arrived today (hey, next-day shipping was only eight bucks more!). I honestly can't tell you how I ever lived without it. Now I can connect to my PC and listen to my MP3 playlists and watch my pir... Legitimately obtained movies on my HDTV! A tear damn near escaped my eye as I watched Glengarry Glen Ross and Brick without having to burn a VCD or connect my laptop. Paradise!

In other news, I used my new dishwasher for the first time today. Its sleek stainless steel facade conceals the innards of what must be the very first dishwasher ever made. This thing is just one step above having a pink baby mammoth under your counter wiping your dishes like the fucking Flintstones. It's about three times noisier than the old unit, and has mechanical push buttons on the front, like a 1980s blender.

Then again, why would an apartment complex replace cheap old appliances with anything other than cheaper new appliances?

Be careful what you wish for, I guess!

EDIT:

While trying to confirm that the Flintstones' dishwasher was indeed a wooly mammoth (I was wrong, it was apparently an octopus. I'm actually kind of glad I didn't remember the Flintstones all that well), I came across a site proclaiming itself "The Ultimate Flintstones Site". On it there is a huge list of all of the "Animal Tools" used by the modern stone-age family. The descriptions are oddly clinical, often blasé:

Pelican Garbage Can: When Wilma steps on the foot of the pelican he opens the top of his beak to accept the garbage.

It accepts the garbage and puts the lotion on its skin, doesn't it precious?

Two Three more down...

2007-12-10T12:26:00.000-08:00

I just ordered an X-Box 360 for my Christmas present to myself (I am very giving, you see!). Recent updates to the 630 let it stream DivX movies and other legitimately obtained media from another machine (such as a desktop computer). This means that I've lopped two more items off of my list (media center and X-Box)! Boy, I really enjoy the list items that involve buying things, as opposed to, you know, hard effort and self improvement.

Of course now I have to think up two more...

UPDATE: I added "Get T-Mobile Corporate Discount" to my list as an addition, but I went ahead and did it just now. Goddamn I'm a machine!

UPDATE: T-Mobile does not support my employer for their corporate discount program. The fucking salesman lied to me. Fucking asshole.

Staving Off Entropy

2007-12-07T15:21:00.001-08:00

A few of the items on my list might seem trivial: the shaving, haircuts, laundry folding; they seem like odd things to put in a list full of goals and aspirations. Seriously, what the hell? Shouldn't I be using that space for items like "Cure cancer (0/1)" and "Visit outer space (0/1)"?

Not Necessarily.

For me, these simple, repeating actions will form the bedrock upon which I will build every single more ambition on the list. The reasons are simple: I'm trying to stave off entropy, and to teach myself to start small.

I have always pursued lofty goals for myself, often at the experience of the little things that make the big things possible. I set for myself huge, monumental goals, ones that are truly worthwhile; yet I often can only think about how impossible it seems to see them through to completion. Mixing in small, regular tasks in with the big goals reminds me that life is built upon the basics; small steps and habitual actions.

I also have a tendency to let my life get out of my control; entropy creeps in, the order in my life deteriorates, and I start feeling a little helpless. I'm going to devote a good amount of time over the next few years putting energy into my environment and myself, so that I can be the best person I can possibly be, and live the life I've figured out that I deserve after all.

The Car Situation

2007-12-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

One really big goal of mine for the upcoming two years is to completely pay off my new car. At that point, other than monthly bills that come and go, I will have no debt whatsoever. No student loans, no outstanding credit cards, no mortgage, nothing. I'll have at least $570 more a month to spend however I please!

This is sort of a big deal to me, as with the housing market going down faster than yo momma, I almost feel it's time for me to make the first big commitment in my life: a new house! Having the extra money to spend on a potential mortgage would make me a happy puppy. Barring that, having the extra money to spend on an apartment that's a little less like a fallout shelter would also make me a happy puppy.

Really though, what really pisses me off are interest payments. It gets me steamed to login to my credit union's website and see all that fucking interest I'm paying on every car payment. Perfectly good money I'm paying out for no good reason. I've been making huge car payments the last few months ($4,000 last month) to put this to bed.

I've got just a little over $10,000 left on the loan, and I want it paid off by it's 2nd anniversary, which gives me 6 months. That's $1600 a month. A lofty goal, but I wanna smother this baby ASAP.

Pass the pillow!

The Apartment Situation

2007-12-06T13:59:00.000-08:00

So why is a new apartment (or even home ownership!) on my list?

Well, I've lived in the same apartment for a little over five years now. I used to love the place, but the relationship has become strained. The time I've spend here has revealed some uncomfortable truths about our relationship. By all standards, it's not a bad place, pretty good even. I'm just approaching that point in life where I need something more from my place of residence.

It also doesn't help that it's a fucking cave.

Seriously, that's my biggest gripe. My apartment actually lies below the level of the fucking parking lot. Taking friends and especially women to it is like taking them down to mom's basement, or a torture chamber or something: "Hey, come on down to my dungeon, it has that cozy feeling that comes from having ceilings only two feet higher than your head".

Even that would be tolerable if the property company (who shall remain nameless) hadn't tried to screw me out of another $100 in rent when I renewed. Seriously, I don't mind paying $900 (or even more!) in rent, if the place didn't give the impression of being a rabbit warren. Give me nice high ceilings and carpet that isn't the color of baby shit, and all is right with the world.

Oh, and a hot tub next to the pool.

Cheating.

2007-12-06T13:52:00.001-08:00

Since I've already accomplished some of the stuff on my list before my official start date (01/01/08), I'm going to add one new goal for every one I accomplish before then.

For some reason my conscience has been nagging me about that. So the two goals I'm adding are:

<drum roll...>

Stop cursing so goddamn much.
Get a new, classy watch.

Admirable, dontcha think?

What's up with this anyway?

2007-12-06T13:35:00.001-08:00

This is a roadmap for the next few years of my life. It's an attempt to flesh myself out into the person who I want to become, or at least to get part of the way there. Quite a few of the goals I've put here are pretty lofty, at least by my standards, so I expect to go through a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth, a lot of anxiety over plans, and a lot of rationalizations for why I should not do some of these things.

That's normal, and I should ignore it.

With exercise, doing that new thing, whatever it is, requires going through some discomfort. Hell, it often requires going through acute pain. It's your body's way of telling you that you're in danger, that whatever you're doing is out of the ordinary and that under no circumstances should you continue.

I've managed to completely conquer that feeling with my body. So now I'm concentrating on doing it with my mind and emotions. Most of the goals that I've chosen represent boundaries that I'm seeking to conquer, ones that I've allowed to stop me before. This time though, I have a clock ticking.

And I intend to beat it.

Appliances are here...

2007-12-05T14:53:00.000-08:00

The apartment work guys installed the new appliances today. A few thoughts:

Stove:
other than the stylish stainless steel facade, this is your grandma's stove! Classic 1950s sensibilities meet modern-day styling! The burners are raised up on little hills of their own, making it impossible to put anything on the top of the stovetop that doesn't fit either neatly on the burners, or is about two inches square. Nice.

Refrigerator:
This thing is pretty nice, compared to my old one. However, still no icemaker. $909 a month and still relegated to spilling water all over the fucking place filling icetrays. It's roomier than my old fridge, but the shelf placement is make it such that there is a huge storage areas, and two more that are barely large enough to admit powerbars. UPDATE: OK I figured out how to move the shelves. The fridge is pretty good after all but I still want a fucking icemaker.

Dishwasher:
They installed it so that when the door is closed, it is at a less-than-right angle to the floor. Adds to the crackshack ambiance.

Microwave:
Smaller than my old one. What the fuck?

This cinches that I'll be moving. The new stainless appliances sooooo don't match the brown linoleum and formica countertops. I'm looking even more forward to checking off the 'move to new place' item next year...

Two Down...

2007-12-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

My 1001 days haven't even started yet, and I'm knockin' em down like crazy! Just went to Aaron Bros. and got some frames for my four TF2 posters. I imagine I will rotate them through since four TF2 posters at once is a bit much... I also framed that dumbass ITIL certificate from work and a special surprise for my sister...

One Down...

2007-12-04T12:11:00.000-08:00

Wow, that was easy! The apartment complex called today to let me know my appliances would be replaced tomorrow! And to think I thought the fuckin' bastards would need a boot up their ass to get them to do it.

In other news, No luck yet in getting one of the six BMW Motorcycles being offered for cheap by Amex. Here's to hopin' :)