It's a new era.

I've transported everything to www.stenaros.com.

Come and join me there!

Hello From Future Me!

It's me, your trusty blog author, writing from the far future of September 8, 2013.  Things are good here, but there are still no flying cars.  I'm here to tell you that the next month or so will be very busy, what with finishing up the uniform project and getting ready for school to start.  So this blog will be static for the next little while.  But that just means there will be a glut of catch-up posts in September.

Also, on September 8, you will change the format of the blog which will hopefully make it easier for people to comment.  That design you have now is sleek and everything, but I know you hate that it's even hard for you, the blog author, to comment.  The new template will be much better, in that regard and also ORANGE!

So keep your head up.  There is much work to do.  But September 7 will be a very relaxing day.  Just keep breathing.

We are now 1000!

This here is post number 1000 on Out & About!

If I only had a dollar for each post I've written...

Catching up post.

Oops. I published the end of May posts before I finished some posts that came at the end of May. Make sure you haven't missed the following:

Vancouver Lake Bike Ride, May 28.
Three sentence movie reviews: Hanna (a second viewing), May 29.
Early Morning Bike Ride, May 29.
Highlights from Dead Relatives Tour 2011, May 29.
Excepting vs. Accepting, May 29.
The picture-less and I'm giving up Catherine Creek post, May 30.

Resolution 2011

My resolutions for 2011 are in two realms: the food realm and the physical realm.

In the food realm, I want to prepare vegetables at least four times per week. I need a variety of vegetables to keep myself healthy and, due to the lack of a staff, need to prepare them myself. So, each week I shop, I will purchase four different kinds of vegetables in proper quantities (see below) and get them ready to eat throughout the week. I've actually been doing this since November and it is going pretty well, though I think four times to week doesn't happen as often as I think it does.

In addition, I will strive to cook food in quantities that I can eat before it turns and must be thrown out. To do this, I have made a few lists and posted them on the fridge. The first list is "Things to Prepare" where I write down what I have bought that needs to be made into something before it goes bad. I also note the date I bought it, which will spur me into a frenzy of preparation when too much time has passed. I also have a list called "Things to Eat" where I write down what there is to eat and cross it out as I finish it. This will help me keep my eye on when I have forgotten the last bit of Lima beans in the refrigerator. I can then dig them out and eat them before I have to throw it out.

I have a notebook to keep track of what I have prepared this week. This will let me see my progress, track the food I throw out and be able to determine how many pounds of beans I eat in one year. I will also mark my calendar with an F when I do something food related and a V when I cook a vegetable.

In the physical realm, I will do more push ups this year. I enjoy a good push up or two (or ten) and I would like to increase the number of push ups to at least my age, if not more. I'll start with the number I can currently easily do and add one whenever I feel like can hack it. The time to do them will be before I stretch after doing my jog/walk each morning and I will keep track on my trusty calendar.

You've caught up your blog. Now what?

I've received the following email from one of my regular readers:

Dear Patricia You've now caught up your blogs. Well done! I've enjoyed reading all the interesting observations you have about the world but I'm curious, how will you keep your blog caught up? Won't you just fall back into your slatternly habits? Do shed some insight into your plan.

Sincerely,
A faithful reader*


Dear faithful reader,

I'm glad you asked, as I've been planning a blog post about this since before I finished catching up the blog. Your timely email has propelled me forward to actually write it.

Here's the plan:

First off: I have a specific time (and a back up time) planned weekly to do basic set up for the blog. The official time is Saturday morning post-run/pre-8:00 gym class. That block of time usually gives me 45 minutes to an hour to do the Blog Blessing Hour. More on that below. The backup time is Sunday from when I haul myself out of bed to before I go to church. Having a scheduled time each week to get things in order helps tremendously.

The Blog Blessing Hour. This is an adaptation of the FlyLady's Weekly Home Blessing Hour in which you spend an hour once per week and get your house in reasonable shape. My Blog Blessing Hour (written down and posted next to my computer) is as follows:

1. Update books read, post to Goodreads
2. Update movie posts
3. On camera, delete all bad pictures
4. Upload pictures to archive
5. Rotate pictures the right way
6. Copy select pictures to the "to print" folder
7. Copy pictures to blog folder
8. Erase photos from camera
9. In blog folder, open with picture manager
10. Compress all photos
11. Rename
12. Put pictures in blogger

It looks like a lot of work, but each step takes a few minutes. Except for the renaming of photos. That can be rather lengthy if an event has happened during the week. Before I was caught up and had this handy list, I would delay doing all of these steps for months. Trying to catch up the reading posts and cross reference it with the Goodreads stuff alone drove me crazy. Plus, I was often afraid to post things because I wasn't sure if all the movie posts were in their right place and I like to publish in order.

Yes indeed, those of you who think my anal-retentive nature might be hindering my ability to get anything published and contributing to the huge backup are correct. It totally did. But now that I have a weekly list of tasks, I know finish the weekly Blog Blessing Hour with a list of posts IN ORDER to write and publish. All the pictures are in a named post with the right date, all the movies are caught up and in their place and the book post doesn't get totally out of control. During the week I can spend fifteen minutes here or there writing the posts and then editing and publishing them.

Combined with the above I have two hard and fast rules:

1) Do the Blog Blessing Hour every week or, at the very least--and rarely--every two weeks.
2) If a post is in draft form and is over one month old you have not made this post a priority and I MUST DELETE IT.

Because I don't ever want to not post a post I had intended to post, hopefully the draconian rule number two will keep me on the up and up.

And that, dear reader, is the plan. Keep reading and see if it works.

*The above letter was entirely made up by Patricia. It was manufactured so she could write a blog post about how she intends to keep her blog caught up. She never has anyone email her with questions about her blog, though she would be happy to answer them if she did.

What now?

So I'm still not caught up, what now? Now I will publish one post per day until I have caught up to present day. I've just placed all of September's pictures into draft posts. I've made sure all the movies are listed. I'm ready to whiz through these....Shoot. I've got 16 posts in September on this blog alone. Never mind. I'm going to try and do two per day. Or a bunch on weekends. My oh-so-free weekends.

Results?
162 posts completed and published since August 20. That's approximately 4 posts per day, which is a huge effort. Good job me.

Motivation, brought to you by Excel and Desktop Printing

It's amazing what a nice looking piece of paper will do for my motivation. This was the sheet I created so I could keep track of my blog posting. Back in the day before desktop publishing, I would have hand written this out and it would not have been as pretty. It also would have taken me forever. I created this in about two minutes, printed it at school and was on my motivational way. There are so many wonderful things about this modern world.

The thing in shadow in the lower right-hand corner is the pin I got at the Romanian wedding Matt and I went to in August. I wasn't sure where to put it and didn't yet want to throw it away, so I stuck it on my motivational paper. Sentinel notices it every once in awhile and attempts to pull it down, so I should probably move it somewhere else. I think I will leave my piece of paper up for awhile, it feels so good to look at.

Sigh.

Well, I've got one more day and I'm not going to totally catch up. I've been working like a dog since September fifth and I was hoping that by tomorrow I would be caught up to present day. But I've got the by-ear harmony singing class tomorrow which will cut into the blog posting time. Even if I do four posts (my redoubling of effort goal) I will still have about three more posts on this blog, plus whatever I need to do for September for The Orange Door blog. So, I'm not to present day, but much, much closer than I was on Friday August 20.

Overall, a "good job me" award. Into the breach!

A redoubling of efforts.

It's been 18 days since I started my two-posts-per-day regimen. The good news is that I have posted 41 new posts since that time. The bad news is I am just now tip-toeing out of May.There are roughly 3 weeks until PSU school starts, and I want to be within a month of present day at that point. I need to be to August 29 or further. So I'm going to strive for four posts done per day. If I can do that, there will be 88 new posts published and we will hopefully be into September. Right?

Ugh! Never again will I get so behind.

10/3 note (date I'm actually hitting the "publish post" button): Hey! According to this blog post, I met my goal! Good job me!

Full court press

Do I know what a full court press is? Something to do with Basketball? Perhaps offensive? What does the dictionary say? Hmmmm.

Full-court press

1. Basketball. a tactic of harassing, close-guarding defense in which the team without the ball pressures the opponent man-to-man the entire length of the court in order to disrupt dribbling or passing and force a turnover: Suddenly behind by eighteen points, they went to a full-court press.

2. a vigorous attack or offensive.

Okay, that's interesting. Definition one says it's a defensive tactic, while definition two says it's offensive. That makes no sense to non-spectator-sport me.

At any rate! I'm here to tell you that I'm going to vigorously attack my horribly behind blogs between now and the start of PSU school. My class this fall, I'm excited about, but it is taught by a professor I've had before and she requires massive amounts of work. So, even more important that I catch up before that begins, as once I catch up there will be FIRM RULES about posting so this never happens again.

So!

From yesterday until September 29, I will post--actually physically post, not just write--TWO POSTS PER DAY! That will be 82 post posted between yesterday and then. I have no idea if that will catch me up, but it should make a very good dent. I have printed a check off sheet with two check offs already made and here I go. Of course, you won't read this for awhile as I need to make my way to late August from mid-April, but just know that I'm on my way.

Resolution 2010.

I've read, and observed in my own life, that the interest in sewing skips a generation. My grandmother was an excellent seamstress. My mother tried, but I can still picture her exhaling sharply as she set out to rip another mis-sewn seam. She once made me a pair of pants for Christmas. Suspecting that something wasn't right, we agreed that I would wear a blindfold and try them on. She laughed when they didn't fit, and I took off my blindfold and laughed too.

My sewing talents don't approach my grandmothers, and I'm in a "not sewing" holding pattern, but my homemaking gene is strong.

Similarly, my resolutions seem to go in an every-other-year success rate. In 2008, I resolved to write a letter per day and before burning out completely in late November, pretty much kept to that. Last year, I pledged to stop eating while standing. On the surface, a much easier task to fulfill, but I failed miserably at it.

With the every other year success rate, this year looks good for resolutions. At the New Year's Eve party I attended last night my resolution was greeted with raspberries, general jeers and calls of "boring!" But I'm pretty excited about it.

Resolved: in 2010, I will spend 15 minutes per day working at my desk. In priority order my tasks will be: checkbooks, in box, blogs.

All three of those things are not really in my control. My checkbooks/money management system is admittedly a labyrinth process that could perhaps be streamlined. But I like the way I have set up its many processes, and checks and balances. When it is caught up, it gives me a sense of security.

It is rarely caught up. When I attack the to-do list monthly, it takes two or three hours and causes much shallow breathing and sighing. I also have a vague sense of unease throughout the month that I could bounce a check at any time. When I neglect the money management for more than a couple months, it takes the better part of a day to dig myself out. After the move, I didn't catch things up for about six months and spent eight hours setting things right. A bit of daily attention would prevent this, and the resolution is designed to do just that.

My inbox is a sorry mess. I caught a reference to it in a previous blog post mentioning something about it's geologic layers. I think I had it down to one object a few Christmases ago, but that was it. I would love to clear out that sucker, and now that my checkbooks are caught up, and presumably easy to maintain, I aim to do just that.
And oh, the blogs. In my mind, I work on them all the time. One of my friends lists my blog on her site. The listing also notes the last posting. I remember the first time I saw that my last posting on the list was three or four months old. I was surprised, then realized that just because I think about the blog daily, doesn't mean that things are published. The thing I didn't realize is that there are so many steps. Taking pictures, prepping pictures, making the blog post, writing it, letting it rest, editing it, editing it again, actually posting it. And I have so many damn interests. All those steps just don't get done very often. It's disheartening.

I don't expect the blogs to get much better any time soon, for right now the money and the inbox promise to eat up that fifteen minutes. But perhaps the blog will move along a bit.

As for implementation, I have printed up calendars for the year and posted them on the door to the office. Each day I do my fifteen minutes, I will make a check mark of some kind on the day. I plan to prioritize this task and do it as soon as I come home from work, or first thing in the morning on non-work days.

Wish me luck.

Tagged!

At the end of May, Sara from Pike Schemes got tagged. Though Sara didn't single me out, (probably because she knew I would be slow in responding) I did follow the rules and here I am. I'm eating lunch in my boss' office because my computer was being used by the bookkeeper. I've just treated myself to some leftover Fritos from the school lunch. My hair is very long.

Theoretically, I would tag some other people too, but given how long it has taken me to get this posted, I think the moment has died.

May Catchup!

Arrrrgh! I've just discovered a whole folder of photos from May! I will have to go back in time to post them, which means I'm breaking my rule of posting in order. Much apologies, but you can use the links below to find the posts you may have missed.

Graffiti at Portland State

Not Something You See Everyday

Scenes from a Bike Ride

Flower Communion

Houses and Plans

Details

Leverage filming here. Lucky us.

Back to the bus mall!

Dead Relatives Tour

Bus tip: Enjoy your private coach

Holds

Plenty

Waiting for the Starlight Parade

That list of links should catch you up nicely.

A message from Future Patricia

Hello,

Future Patricia here. And let me tell you, April 26 looks a lot different than March 16. The weather is a bit warmer, for one. And the clover is over a foot tall, rather than just two or three inches. But enough about that. I've traveled here from the future, because I am dedicated to keeping my blog posts in order. And I realize I'm terribly behind. But that doesn't mean there are not posts coming. They will be posted, eventually. In the meantime, I want to tell you about a discussion group I am starting that Current Patricia hadn't thought up on March 16. It is a discussion group for the book Your Money or Your Life. And it is online, so you, Out & About fan, could join us, even if you don't live anywhere near Portland. Are you interested? Read on. I'll copy and paste the information that Future Patricia sent out to people.

In the meantime, keep in mind the weather is improving. And the blog posts will be posted, eventually.

Love,
Future Patricia

Hello blogging friends,

I've recently picked up the book Your Money or Your Life again. I read and followed its practices in the early part of this decade and lately, I've been feeling the pull to return to its lessons. I thought it would be fun (and more motivating) to invite others along so I’m starting a study group.

Apologies to those of you who previously received an email about this topic. Due to the pace of modern life/work schedules/pregnancy/”the economy” etc. it turns out that meeting in person for a discussion group doesn’t work very well. So I have re-jiggered the discussion group to be online. So perhaps you couldn’t participate before in person, but now you can virtually.

As a member of the study group you will read a chapter of the book per week, post to the newly created Y$YL blog (http://PDXYMYL.blogspot.com) and do your best to “do” one of the nine steps as best you can. Some of them are more involved than others.

You can see a discussion course outline by going to http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dj9fzf2_54fdr8zqvw

(That link is iffy, let me know if you need me to send the outline to you.) Our first discussion is May 15, so that gives you time to get the book and post an introduction.

More about the book:

Read the customer reviews of Your Money or Your Life at Amazon.com and the common theme you will hear is--"it changed my life!" Lots of authors aim to change people’s lives with their books. How many pull it off? Your Money or Your Life pulled it off because it revealed the connection between solving money problems and solving work problems. Looking back, one is tempted to say that the insight should long have been obvious to all. The reality is, it wasn’t. Your Money or Your Life has been a global bestseller for 13 years because it got to the root of the money management project and said something about it that had never been said before--the best reason to save is not to escape work but to free yourself to do a different kind of work.

(http://www.passionsaving.com/your-money-or-your-life.html)

If you are interested, or have questions, please email me to RSVP. stenaros [at] gmail.com

If you aren’t interested, but know someone who might be, feel free to forward this.

Patricia

I am caught up!

One plus of being extra busy with normal life is that it is so routine that there is not much to blog about. That, plus the fact I've been avoiding studying for the test in the mornings, means that I am caught up on this blog for the first time since June 2008! That's right. If you are reading this on Friday, March 13, that would be the same day in which I typed this! So exciting.

I'm aware that this blog is in its "In & Inactive" state again. That is partially because I forgot to bring my camera when I went to Sunriver last weekend with the staff of my school. There would have been pictures from that, but alas. Hopefully with the coming of spring (and spring break!) there will be more pictures.

So I take the big Praxis test tomorrow. 10:45. Wish me luck. I'm hoping to not have to take it again.

Pike Schemes Visits

As some of you may have noticed, Sara (of Pike Schemes) and I are devoted blog followers of each other. She easily wins the prize for most comments left on my blog and I have a feeling I'm a top-three finisher for the prize of "most comments left" on her (and Shawn's) blog. So it was thrilling to have Pike Schemes in Portland.

They were in town for a few hours, on their way to Shawn's cousin's wedding, but we had enough time for them to get a tour of the school I work at and to have lunch at Byways, where this picture was taken. You can see it's obverse here.
After lunch we walked back to school and stopped at Cupcake Jones where Sara fell in love with "The Pearl" cupcake. Cupcake Jones describes "The Pearl" as a: white velvet cake filled with vanilla pastry cream, topped with vanilla bean buttercream icing and a single handmade white chocolate pearl.

After that Shawn and Sara gave me a ride home so they could see "The Orange Door" in person. Then they were off to Corvallis and a wedding. It was great to see them.

Posts you may have missed because they are out of order.

Okay, so these are really old. It's actually not July 28, it's September 12. But I have turned over a new leaf in the blog world and I am committed to not posting things out of order. But I have this issue in that I have a fair number of drafts sitting on my "to do" list. I've learned from experience that "new" posts published in the "past" don't show up on people's readers. And, at the same time, I want to post things in order for those of us who don't use readers. So I am breaking a couple of rules (don't publish out of order, always pretend when writing the post that it is the same day) but I think that this solution is the best one for now. The following posts are from April-June and many have no comments yet. You! Could be the first to comment! Don't be shy.

And the catching up continues....

04/06/08. Dorky State Quarter Holder.
04/06/08. Bruunch!
04/11/08. Their Uniform.
04/14/08. Signs.
04/16/08. A walk through Northwest Portland.
04/21/08. End of Building
04/26/08. Menucha.

Sara, I think you have commented on the above, but not the below.
05/11/08. Even Less Building
05/17/08. Lost in Translation: Lilacs
05/17/08. This House
05/20/08. Jury Duty!
05/26/08. Uniform!
05/31/08. I know which generation I am.
06/03/08. Hee!
06/03/08. No More Building.
06/06/08. It Takes A lot to be Miss Nomer.
06/07/08. Miss Nomer Reigns.
06/22/08. Sunday Parkways.

I know it is July, but let's head back to April.

And check out these posts you may have missed.
(some are lacking in comments, so feel free)

04/06/08. Dorky State Quarter Holder.
04/06/08. Bruunch!
04/11/08. Thier Uniform.
04/14/08. Signs.
04/16/08. A walk through Northwest Portland.
04/21/08. End of Building.
04/26/08. Menucha.
04/27/08. The grass is greener and Bizarro continues to slay me.
04/30/08. Shiner.

You can get to these posts by clicking on the link or by going to April, clicking on the last post of the month (shiner) and then clicking "older post" until you make it through the month.

Goodreads

Before today, I really liked Goodreads. It gives me "shelves" on which I put all my books in various categories. It has solved the problem of the ever started and ever disappearing "to read" list, as I now have that list as a shelf. It lets me see what my friends are reading, which is great because then I can get recommendations from them.

But now I really really like Goodreads. Why? The never-ending book quiz. All Goodreads members can submit trivia questions about books which then can be answered by other Goodreads members. In my short time playing, I've answered 98 questions (1.2%) and my average is 73.5 % correct. That puts me 3896 out of 30215 people.


Want to do better? Sign up for Goodreads today.

http://www.goodreads.com/