To multi-task or not to multi-task?

I read  this article last week for one of my classes. It is an interesting article about multi-tasking. I can't say that it revealed anything I didn't already know (i.e. that people are bad at multi-tasking), but the author did express some interesting "side-effects" of his experiment to stop multi-tasking--things like having less stress.It sounds like an interesting experiment. I may have to try it someday. I thought it was a good read. I particularly liked one part at the end where he says that "giving yourself less time to do things could make you more productive." I know that for myself I am most definitely more productive when I am busier. It seems a little counter-intuitive, but I find that if I just have loads and loads of time to get something done in then I have no motivation to do anything.

I've been trying to be more aware of when I try to multi-task and to not do it so much, but I know that I still have a long ways to go.

Flowers

Last weekend I took a load of clothes down to Goodwill and decided that I needed a new vase. Now, we have about half a dozen vases at our house so there really is no reason for me to need one, other than the fact that the bouquets I always buy are always too small for the large vases we have. So, while I was at Goodwill I looked around for a smaller vase. I found one I quite liked--except it was $4! Can you imagine? $4 at Goodwill?? I was astounded. But it was the only one I really liked and so I still paid it. sheesh. Well anyways, today I picked up some more flowers and they do look so nice in the smaller vase. I just love having flowers in my home.

Gift-giving

This year I really struggled to figure out what I wanted for Christmas. I started several months ago trying to compile some kind of "list" to make things easier for my family. But when it came time to really think about it I realized that there are really very few things that I need, and even fewer that other people can pick out for me (for whatever reason I find better success in picking out my own clothes). And some of the things that I was in need of I recently acquired from my Grandmother, i.e. a bread tin and mason jars.

I really hate having to make quick decisions about purchases. I always feel like I'm impulse buying, even if that's not really the case. I have a good story about my favorite dress that illustrates this well, but it will have to be a story for another day though. Because of this fear of impulse buying I'm a huge fan of the concept of putting something you want to buy on a list and then revisiting it a month or so later to see if you still want it. More often than not I find that I don't really need the thing I thought I needed. And so this means that as I was trying to figure out what I wanted for Christmas, that the things I thought I needed I really don't. And as I've tried to minimalize and declutter my life my wants have decreased quite a bit. For me I feel like this is great, but I think it frustrates those who may want to show their love for me through gift-giving this holiday season.

And now it begins

Here we are. Black Friday. A day that some people love and some of us dread (technically, given the two options I'd fall in the camp of the latter, but since I don't really care to shop on any day of the year, this day isn't really much different). Since I'm currently playing with my family in Utah, I am just reposting a timely article I read earlier this week from Slow Your Home. It's about preparing your home for the holidays with a "pre-holiday de-clutter."

Enjoy.

Techno Lust

I came across an interesting term in one of my textbooks the other day. Techno lust. I thought it was a pretty succinct way to describe the way that society feels about new gadgets that come out and new bells and whistles. I like the connotations that come with the word lust in this phrase. I feel like we never really need these new bells and whistles and that they are just a way of making us more dependent on technology that will probably eventually let us down and leave us stranded somewhere with no coping mechanism. And I feel like lust describes the relationship that we have with technology pretty well. It is something that we desire, and we want, but since we don't really need it we end up with this kind of co-dependent relationship on it. I'm not saying that all technology is bad, I'll be the first to admit that I love things like electric lights, and there is a lot of good that can come out of technology (like FamilySearch Indexing, for example). But I do think that a lot of times when we hear about the latest and greatest new toy a lot of us (myself included) want it just because it's cool and new, and everybody else has it--we lust after it. I'm hoping that now that I've become aware that that's what I do sometimes, that I can control it better, because let's face it, lust is pretty much never a good thing.

Just for Fun

Awhile back I read this post from zenhabits. It offers a unique view on goal setting. Essentially Leo recommends letting go of the need to achieve goals and instead do things for the fun of it. How do you feel when you set some goal and  then you fail at it? pretty miserable right? Well, if instead of setting a goal to do that thing you decided to do it just for fun then if it didn't work out you don't feel so bad and you can look back at what you did do as being fun. I think this is a pretty good take on goals. 

So let me tell you about a couple of goals I have/had this year. You probably remember a few weeks ago where I managed to go nearly a whole week without using the internet at home right? I went in to that goal less determined that I would succeed, but more curious about whether I could do it or not and how it would really impact my life. And when I "failed" at it, I didn't feel too bad, because I learned something about the way that I use internet and I can look back and think that it was an interesting experiment, and one that I would like to do again someday.

The other "for fun" thing I'm doing this year, is just that--it's purely for fun. I haven't bought meat at the grocery store all year. Now let me clarify, what I really mean is that I haven't bought raw chicken or beef. When I first moved to Boston I couldn't really afford to buy meat, and then by the time that I was in a position where I could afford it I was out of the habit of buying it. Now, I have, on several occasions, bought deli ham and I still buy canned meats occasionally and I'll buy things like frozen meals with meat, but so far as I can remember I haven't bought raw chicken or beef from the butcher all year. At this point it's kind of a challenge to see if I can go the whole year without buying it. Lest you worry that I'm not getting enough protein, never free I almost always eat meat when I eat out. But you know, if tomorrow I just had to buy hamburger at the grocery store I would survive and think that it had been a fun 10 months of having not bought meat. And it's just been fun. I've been learning to cook with lots of other things (like tofu, gasp!) and it has been a great way to broaden my horizons. It rarely even occurs to me to buy meat anymore.

I feel like goal setting is all about the way in which you think about it. If you set a goal thinking that it'll be fun to see how it goes then no matter what happens it will be a success.

Plastic-free eating!

I just wanted to check in and let you know how my lunchbot and my reusable produce bags are working out for me. Pretty much they are awesome!

I really like my lunchbot. I've found that the lid both is easy to take off and stays on securely. It certainly is far from air tight, so anything with just about any amount of liquid will leak if it gets turned on its side or anything. But that's only a minor inconvenience--something to take note of more than anything else. reusable things!! And I love the size. It is a good size for taking a sandwich (and I typically have somewhat oversized bread). And it's a good size for a meal, or even for two if you pack it good. And I like that it's metal and so I can't put it in the microwave which forces me to eat my food on real dishes and thus to feel like I'm eating real meals even when I'm just wolfing down leftovers on my break at work.

My reusable produce bags I have also been very happy with. I find that I don't use them as much as I thought I might, because I usually just end up putting more of my produce in my basket loose. Most vegetables don't really need to be put in a bag, and so I don't always. But I do use them for sort of corralling my veges in the fridge. I do love that I use less plastic.

Not using the internet at home is hard. very hard.

Well, I lasted nearly an entire week of not using the internet at home. I still really like the idea of not using it at home, but at this point in my life it is really helpful to not have to pack up everything and go somewhere else so that I can do a handful of things online. Today I have an early afternoon meeting at work, and I have plans to cook an actual meal for lunch and so it is just very hard to motivate myself to go to the library to work for an hour when I'll have to turn around and come back. And there are a lot of things I'd like to do online that are perfect to also get housework done (like watching the debates I've missed while folding laundry and cleaning my room). All that being said, I think I will stand by my no internet after work rule. That one seems reasonable, and doable--I should just be going to be after I get home from work anyways.

I'll try to remember to take pictures of the stir-fry I'm making for lunch today. I'm pretty excited for it.

So many things, so little time

So I actually started writing this post yesterday, but didn't finish, and now I find that there are other things I want to talk about too. 

When I decided on Thursday that I wanted to be internet-free at home I figured that the first few days would be easy because I knew that I had a lot of plans already and that I wouldn't be home that much. But I did wonder about Sunday. I wasn't sure how it would go since I'm typically home for much of my Sundays.The first couple days went about like I'd planned--easy as pie. I've already done several things I wouldn't normally get around to doing (like reading books for pleasure). Sunday turned out to be surprisingly easy. I ended up with a mighty headache and so slept much of my afternoon away. whoops. Where I've hit snags have been the last couple days. My classes are all near the end of the week and so Mondays and Tuesdays are my days at home to do homework and other things. Yesterday I spent much of the day at the local library and today I spent most of the day running errands. But there are still many things I'd like to do online that I just can't squeeze in during the day. For example. Last week I missed the VP debate and tonight I'll miss the presidential debates. I did manage to watch part of last weeks debates today, but with limited internet access I just can't justify sitting down for an hour and a half to watch it when I have tons of homework that I need to do.

I keep wanting to make excuses and use my internet, but I'm trying to be strong. If nothing else, this is a lesson in my needing to plan better. And I imagine that this will get easier as the weeks go along. And if all else fails, we're halfway through October.

On a totally different note. Today I went and looked a neat encyclopedia of cookery at one of the Harvard libraries. The library the book is at isn't one of the libraries that are accessible to the general public and so I worried that I might not be able to get in. But luckily the girl at the door pretty much just waved me through. I was armed with an introduction letter, but she didn't seem to care too much about it (which is good, because now I can use the same letter to go back another time and peruse the book more). I was excited about how easy it was. I guess I must look like they expect researchers to look like (i.e. not a tourist). The encyclopedia was fantastic. It's this comprehensive eight volume set and has tons of stuff in it. Quite remarkable.

Every time I go to libraries and look at their cookery books I just want to own them. I want to have them on my shelves to access whenever I want. I'm excited for the Boston Book Fair in November, maybe I'll find one of these books that I am desperate to own. Now if only I had better heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) to store my books in.

Also, I bought milk in a glass bottle today. Yeah. I'm pretty excited about it. Nearly plastic-free milk!

Internet in your home

Today I read this article about taking the internet out of your home. Reading the article today was not the first time that getting rid of my home internet connection has occurred to me, but I think it was the first time that it occurred to me that other people actually act when they think of things like that. And that there are people out there who choose to not have internet at home. 

I really like the idea of not using the internet at home. In some ways it harks back to my Facebook-free month, and also to the numerous days that I decide that I'm not going to open my computer when I get home from work (on these days I invariably get more sleep and often get to read for pleasure). During my Facebook-free month I felt so much more liberated and free. Facebook weighs me down and I don't like that feeling. And I sometimes feel the same tether from the Internet at large. Don't get me wrong, the internet certainly is useful, but I'm not sure that I really need it in my home, consuming my life. Of course, living with roommates as I do I find it highly unlikely that I'd be able to get them on board with getting rid of the internet all together, but I don't think that that needs to stop me from doing something to get the internet out of my home.


I think my goal for October (what's left of it) is to not use the internet at all after work (or after 9 on non-working days) and I also kind of want to go cold turkey and declare no internet at home at all, but I'm not sure that I'm strong enough to do that. But it would be a good exercise for me in planning. And I have plenty of libraries near me where I can get internet. And I think that will help my homework to be done more efficiently too. I think I'm going to try. It'll be hard, but if it's not hard then I won't grow or learn as much, right? And I'm going to try it through the end of the month, though if it's going well then I'll go all the way to the 11th of November. A nice full month.

Keep me honest. Ask me how it's going. Really. I think this goal is going to be more challenging than my other goals have been.

On being grateful

Writing about waiting made me think about the wonderful things that I have in my life. Here are a few of the many things that I am grateful for (in no particular order):

• my wonderful and supportive family
• my awesome job
• the fact that I have a roof over my head and food in my cupboard
• the Gospel in my life
• my three fantastic roommates
• my friends spread throughout the world
• the opportunities I've had to travel in my life
• the opportunity to watch General Conference last weekend and listen to the words of living apostles and prophets.
• the opportunity to be educated
• my bike
• and about a gazillion other things.

 What are you grateful for?


As an aside. I bought more Muller Yogurt today--that's another thing I'm thankful for. Delicious yogurt.

On Waiting

Last week I read this excellent article about waiting. I find that I am one of those persons who spends too much time waiting for things to happen. I often feel like "I can't wait till I'm done with school" or "I can't wait till work is over" or "I can't wait to get home and make a good meal."

I challenge you to take a moment today or tomorrow and just stop and think about awesome life is. And seriously. Read the article. It's not that long.

Convenient or Better?

After watching Digital Nation yesterday, I got to thinking about technology and how it "improves" our lives. I think we can all agree that technology (or at least most of it) makes our lives easier and more convenient. We often equate this convenience with better-ness. Thus, technology makes life better. I wonder if that's the case though. What exactly defines better?

Naturally, I turned to the OED. Better has many definitions and uses, some more archaic than others (surprisingly, the one that was marked obsolete is one that I occasionally use...) In essence better is:

• comparative of good
• of greater excellence; of superior quality
• said of persons, in respect of physical, mental, or esp. moral qualities; also of social standing
• said of things, in respect of their essential qualities
• of persons and things: more profitable, useful, or suitable for a purpose; more eligible or desirable
• of greater amount: more, larger, greater
• and a couple other similar things.

Merriam-Webster adds

• greater than half
• improved in health or mental attitude
• more attractive, favorable, or commendable
• more advantageous or effective
• improved in accuracy or performance

The OED gives many definitions of convenient, but only the 6th sense really concerns us here:

• personally suitable or well-adapted to one's easy action or performance of functions, favorable to one's comfort, easy condition, or the saving of trouble; commodious.

 Again, Merriam-Webster adds

• suited to personal comfort or easy performance
• affording accommodation or advantage
•  being near at hand: close

 Given these definitions I think there are definitely kinds of technology that is "better," things like medical technology or indoor plumbing water, but there are some kinds of technology that I'm just not sure about. What do you think? Does technology make life better or just more convenient? Is that same?
So, my question is does technology make life better? or just more convenient? 

Buying fresh flowers

A couple months ago I read a book called Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure by Maxwell Gilliam-Ryan. It was pretty good. Gilliam-Ryan provides lots of ideas of how to "fix" your home. They include things like deep cleaning, de-cluttering, learning more about your personal style, making sure you have good enough lighting in your home, etc. While there were a lot of useful ideas I found that a lot of them weren't really applicable to me because I don't have my own apartment where I have full control over how the rooms are painted, or furnished. But one idea that I did like and can use was to have fresh flowers in your home. They add a life and color to your home and are just nice. I was out shopping on Saturday and saw these flowers, so I thought that it was time for my apartment to have some fresh flowers in it. And you know what? Every time I walk past them I'm glad that I bought them.They cheer the place right up.

Lunchbot

My lunchbot finally came! Actually it came one day last week, but today I finally washed it up and packed my first leftover pizza in it (of course pizza, what else?). I also got my new produce bags in the mail--a couple of mesh ones, the easier to see the vegetables with my dear, and a bunch of muslin ones that will be good for all kinds of things. Now all I need to do is go to the grocery store. I'm thinking maybe Friday I can hit up the market. I will keep you posted on how much I love my new lunchbot.

Looking back to moving

I was flipping through some photos on my phone and realized that I don't think you ever saw the proof that my stuff all fit in my car when I moved. It's a little hard to see, but there is nothing in the front seats. And all that I had to come back for was my bed frame, oscillating fan, nightstand, and groceries.

Happiness is

Happiness is riding my bike on a crisp autumn morning.
Happiness is playing with rare books.
Happiness is bookbinding.
Happiness is having a nice meal with friends.
Happiness is going to bed early and waking up with the sun.
Happiness is watching the sun rise.
Happiness is laying in the grass reading a book on a warm sunny day.
Happiness is watching films you have to read.
Happiness is spending time at the temple.
Happiness is seeing people smile.
Happiness is when people laugh at your jokes.

What makes you happy?


















Happy Monday!

Inspired by this post.

The Story of Stuff

I was looking for a good book about plastics the other day and I stumbled across The Story of Stuff.  It's about 20 minutes long, but I highly recommend watching it. It's pretty enlightening.

Tapped

By the year 2030 two-thirds of the world will lack access to clean drinking water.

This morning I sat down and I watched the documentary Tapped. After I watched Bag It last week, one of my roommates recommended Tapped to me as another good documentary about plastics. I promptly checked it out of the library (have I ever mentioned that I love libraries?) I'm coming to realize that I actually feel pretty strongly about environmental issues, and plastics littering our oceans is something that really bothers me. Bottled water also bothers me. Before watching this film, bottled water always bothered me from a financial point of view. Why would I want to spend $1.80+ to buy a bottle of water when I can get a drink from a water fountain for free? To me, I have a hard time understanding why someone would want to spend that kind of money. But then, I also don't get things like soda at restaurants for much the same reason.

I thought that Tapped was a fascinating look at the bottled water industry and the effect that it has on our lives. And below are some of the things that I took away:

40% of bottled water is just filtered tap water.

80% of PETE produced in the US ends up in Nestle, Pepsi, or Coke beverage containers

Municipal (tap) water is highly regulated and bottled water is virtually unregulated.

Municipal water providers have to test their water 300-400 times per month to ensure safety of their water. They also have to make their reports available to the public. Bottle water providers don't have to test their water or provide their reports.

We put an awful lot of faith and blind trust in a for-profit industry that is almost entirely self-regulated.

BPA is present in many kinds of plastic bottles, including water coolers, sport bottles, and baby bottles.

BPA has links to obesity, cancer, diabetes, ADHD, and many other diseases.

FDA approval of products comes from and is based on studies that are performed by the industry the product comes from. They don't typically ask for independent studies when looking at approving a product.

World average for beverage bottle recycling is 50%. US average is 20%.

Only 11 states offer container deposit legislation. (you pay a deposit on the bottle when you purchase and get it back when you return the bottle.) But only 6 of these have bills to include bottled water.

Michigan, which has a 10 cent deposit gets a 97% return rate. Other states with a 5 cent deposit get about a 70% return rate.

About half of Americans don't have access to curbside recycling.

Bottled water may have its place in disaster relief, but there issues around bottled water that make it unsuitable for regular use.

You're really better off just refilling a reusable water bottle at the drinking fountain.

I feel very grateful that I didn't grow up in a household that drank a lot of bottled water. Certainly we had some, picnics, the beach, vacations, etc., but generally when we were at home tap water was good enough for us. And I am so glad. I think it will make my desire to completely give up bottled water that much easier. If the demand for bottled water wasn't there I don't think that the bottling companies would bottle as much of it. I challenge you to consciously think, next time you have bottled water, about where your water comes from and where the plastic bottle is going to go when you're done with it.

There is enough water for human need, but not for human greed. --Mahatma Ghandi

September Goals--live life plastic free

Owing to the success of my goals in August I'm going to make some September goals too. Remember that awesome, life-changing documentary I watched last week? Well, it has inspired me to try to become plastic free in my life. I will freely admit that I don't think I can quit plastic cold turkey. If nothing else, it's going to take me a while to find a replacement for the copious amounts of plastic Tupperware that I use. But, I can make small changes. At the end of Bag It the narrator gave some suggestions for simple things that we can do to reduce our plastic consumption:

• cut way back on single use disposables
• quit using plastic grocery sacks
• don't drink bottled water
• choose things with less packaging
• buy used
• bring your own containers
• buy less stuff
• reduce, reuse, then recycle
• clean it up
• simplify your life

I think this is a pretty good list of things to start with, but I'm not so ambitious as to think I can tackle all of them this month. So I'm  mainly going to focus on not using plastic grocery sacks, or plastic produce bags. I admit that I already failed this week. I've been looking around and have found some cotton mesh produce bags that I want to order online, but I'm waiting for some Amazon credit to post this week. But I still needed to go grocery shopping today and while vegetables like potatoes and onions really don't need bags anyways, broccoli really keeps together better in a bag. So I gritted my teeth and did use one produce bag today. But I repeatedly told the lady at the checkout that I didn't need my eggs in a plastic bag and that when she poorly filled my reusable bags that I'd take paper over plastic.

While plastic grocery sacks are going to be my focus this month I also want to work on not drinking bottled water (which I don't often anyways, but still), and I want to work on bringing my own containers (which means I need to work on coming up with glass containers that I can bring...)