Can It Be Done?

Update on Net10

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 15:20:00 +0000

UPDATE: I still have not heard back from them.

net10 screws me again.

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 15:19:00 +0000

OK, this is only the first time they've screwed me over, but it sounded better.

I signed up for net10 back in December. Got on the "easy minutes" plan (oh sweet irony on the name) Every month since then we've had a kind, gentle and easy going relationship. The money would be taken from me quietly and my minutes were given to me quickly.

Until this month. Check my account I saw that my minute mistress had taken the money, but had failed to uphold her end of our months long deal. (no happy ending for you!)

I go and check at her home (www.net10.com) and I see that she had left me a small love note. "You have pending updates click here to get your updates" She even underlined click here, does she know how to tease or what!

I gently click on her here. She tells me to make sure that I'm on, (oh, I am on), then to press continue to receive my... updates.

I click.

I follow her steps, entering in *#0, then press OK.

She then gives me a 27 digit code to enter. Fingers quivering, I enter them.

And invalid code 8. What?

Please try re-entering your code again. In red.

Oh, you're teasing me aren't you. OK, so I enter it again.

Invalid code 8.

And again.

Now she tells me to call her. Call her? Up until now it's all been word play. A safe screen in-between us. But to call her?

So I called, got the menu, followed it down the path feeling like Alice.

I get a real person and explain to her I went to the website, was told there was "an issue" given a code number to enter. After four tries, each returning a "invalid code" I was given this number and called. Was told that I would have to call back on a line line to get the minutes that I've ALREADY PAID FOR. I don't have a land line, I got rid of it to get your phone. CSR was no help, I told her to never mind and just cancel my account and that I request a refund on the minutes that I've paid for but did NOT receive. Was told that I would have to call in on a land line to get my own money back. The feeling of being Alice hit me again.

After having the same conversation with some one else told them to just keep my money and cancel my account.

The whole point of getting the Net10 was to get rid of my land line. Now I have to have a land line to get the minutes I've already paid for. Wait a minute, I see a robin coming a round again.

This is SO going on http://consumerist.com/ and www.reddit.com.

Somebody's playing with my money, and it's not me!

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:15:00 +0000

So Friday I had a doctor’s appointment about my back, (but that’s another story), I was on my way home from it when “BING” my iPad letting me know that I had new voicemail. (I love my iPad). I pull over and took a look. They say that there’re from the Credit Union and that they had some questions about some transactions that got put on my card that morning. Please call us and use this reference number 745 453 or you can use your card number. Hmmm, that was a convenient bit of static. I only had done the doc’s office. I happened to only be about two blocks from a branch so I rode over and talked with a CS rep. played them the message. They go, “Nope, not our office. You have to identify yourself like three times” So. I go ahead and cancel my card, order a new one which will take a week to get here. Oh well, better safe than sorry.

I go to lunch with my friend Fred and during it I get a call from the CS rep I spoke with. Turns out that the call really was from their fraud department and that the recording had been cut off. She asked me to go ahead and give them a call, get it straightened out and then to call her back so that she could un-cancel my card. 20 minutes and two phone calls later it was all taken care of. At first I was a little put off, but then when I started thinking about it, I’m glad that they’re keeping an eye on my account. It makes me feel a little safer.

My poor truck!

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 13:31:00 +0000

What a week this has been for my poor old truck. On Tuesday, I'm at work and I look down at my truck to see a ticket on it. I park with a handicapped placrie on the street. You get to park for four hours. Of course I work eight. Usually I can get a handicapped parking place if I get to work about an hour early. I don't mind that so much, I get maybe one tricket a month, So it's worth it.

Then a little while later, Carrie comes up and asks me if I consider my truck a beater. Hmmm, odd question. She goes on about how she has a car that she doesn't mind if it gets a ding as it's so old, blah blah blan. I'm wondering where this is going when she tells me that someone hit my truck while trying to park next to a fire hydrant. I go look at it and truth to tell, couldn't see where it had been hit. It's a 1995 truck after all and had a few dings already. So no biggie.

My friend Karen had given me two bags of clothes to give to our co-worker Wendy, but the bags were very heavy so I had left them in the truck and told Wendy that I would give her a ride to her car which is about two blocks away. This is a parking garage for the county employees. Of course end of day, everyone is trying to leave. I park next to Wendy's car, move the bags over and let her pull out first. As she's pulling out she doesn't back up quite enough and then SHE hits me, leaving a dent.

I think from now I'll take a cab!

My poor truck!

Yes, I still live!

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:22:00 +0000

Wow, I hadn't realized that it's been so long since I've updated the Blog (3-25-08). Ok let's see… We'll pick up from the apartment and the rat. I still have the rat BTW. I got a lot of good info from people reading the Blog. I put together a 57 page report with photos of my rat, the rat(s) in the apartment next to mine, a rat trying to get into my apartment and a rat flocking around in the yard outside my apartment. Signed notarized statements from the people next door and the other buildings. Also was 3 pages of who else (county offices, websites, etc) that the report would go to.

They did not evict me, but did turn it over to a collection agency. They first offer was for me to pay off the balance of my lease, a little over $8000.00, but they would settle for $2000.00. I sent them the report and explained why I was not paying. They wrote back to me telling me that they were just the agency, but they would not settle for $800.00. I didn't write them back. Let's see... what else, I've become very (very) active in my church (behind the scenes). I've taken over the website, created a Yahoo! Page, webshots, flicker. Worked on re-designing the bulletin and a complete redo of the website which hasn't really been touched in over 5 years. Gary has been doing a great job on the updates for the weekly stuff. But it really needs to be done. Then I asked to start singing with the Sunday night "Worship Singers" and that's been a lot of fun.

And as many of you know, I sing with the Southwest Florida Gay and Lesbian Choir, (I'm the token straight). So rehearsals for the Choir 2 nights' weeks, rehearsal for the Worship singers twice a week, church twice a week, work and of course. Toby. So I am sorry Jan. You're a wonderful gal and when season is over I hope to spend more time with you. So I moved into a wonderful guest house that was built in 1925. Hard wood floors, the original brass and cut glass doorknobs. Its two really large rooms on each end with the kitchen and bathroom in the middle. Big yard in front and back. The guest house is completely separate from the main house. When I rent the guesthouse the main house was empty. As I was moving in the main house was rented. It was rented to a women and her sister. The women seemed nice enough but a little flakey. At first. At first it was just her and her sister. Then her two kids moved in. Then the boyfriend. And then another boyfriend. I think that she was a dancer or something like that as she was home all day and gone most of the evening and night. With all of the tattoos and piercings that she had I don't think she worked at a bank. But she was driving a 2008 SUV, lots of nice furniture, a couple of game systems.

The other thing that made me mad was she had this dog, maybe 8 months old that she left outside all the time, Rain, shine. Didn't matter. Often without food or water. I started taking care of the dog. The only thing the dog had to lie under was a kid's trampoline and often times he would get his chain caught up in the legs so he couldn't even get under it. I watched chewing on a tree out of boredom.

The front lawn hadn't been touched in months. So I would get up at 7 in the morning out doing yard work. They'd come out on the porch and watch me. Never offered to help. The thing that really made me mad was that there's only one electric meter for both building and I was to pay a part of the bill. Now those of you who are long time readers of this blog know that I'm a minimalist. I wouldn't even be running the fridge right now if it wasn't for keeping that dang rat frozen. They would have the A/C running 24/7. Wither they were home or not. And when they were home they'd have the windows and doors open with the A/C running. I told that owner that I wasn't paying 25% of that bill. I give him a print out from the past year of what I was paying and it worked out to about $40 a month.

So I come home one day and find that the Mom moved out and left in the middle of the day. Than the sister moved out but left the boyfriend behind. So now this guy who's not even on the lease is living there, running the A/C throwing beer cans and cigarette butts into the yard. Finally the landlord came over, threw all of his stuff out into the yard and changed the locks.

Now someone else has moved into the house. He seems nice enough. Toby likes him. He's a good cook and has offered to let me share his T1 line. (oh boy oh boy). I'll keep you all updated, sooner. I promise.

--
Give the hardest job to the laziest man and he'll find the easiest way to do it. www.aklesh.blogspot.com

Help! I have a rat in my apartment!

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:56:00 +0000

I need help. Does anyone have any ideas about this? Who do I contact? Can I be held accountable?

Well, I have a rat. A dead rat that Toby killed in my apartment. Thursday night Toby was barking at something in the bathroom. When I went in to see what was the matter I heard something moving about in the wall over the toilet. I had planned on contacting the management after work the next day, but the office was closed when I got home. It is often closed by 5PM, even thorugh the sign states that they are open until 5:30PM.

The next night I was outside on the steps of my front door using my cell phone when I heard Toby making a fess inside the apartment When I opened the door Toby came up to me with a dead rat in his mouth. I immediately called the office and left a message asking what was going to be done about this and when. I wrapped the rat up in a plastic bag and froze it. There's no telling what diseases it might have transferred to my dog and I wanted to keep it for testing, if need be.

It wasn't until I took the rat into the office on Monday that I heard anything from management, who stated that they were aware of the problem and was looking into having "someone" put traps down under the house. They had "meant" to contact me about it.

I have since found out that the people next to me are also having a problem with vermin in their apartment. They have observed mice in different parts of the apartment for over a week now and yesterday I found out they have now found a live rat in their apartment on one occasions and a bloody dead rat on another. They did not keep the rats like I did, but there are photos.

Also one of my neighbors in the next building over has heard vermin in the walls of his apartment. It would stop when he pounded on the wall, but start back up again within ten minutes. This is not a random happening, this is an infestation.

Local management has known about this for well over two weeks now and yet nothing has been done about it, but every time any of us talk to them about it it's "we're looking into it" and "we're taking bids". How long do we have to wait? I looked up Florida statutes 83.56 which states;

(1) If the landlord materially fails to comply with s. 83.51(1) or material provisions of the rental agreement within 7 days after delivery of notice by the tenant specifying the noncompliance by reason thereof, the tenant may terminate the rental agreement.

The local management has been aware of the vermin issue since 3/12/08 and has done nothing about this issue that any of us are aware of, other then coming into the apartment to look for droppings on 3/21/08. Last night 3/25 I was using the bathroom and heard what sounded like something in the tub, but it was actually under it.

So I had decided to leave. I'm trying to follow the statute. I've sent them letters of grievances (there's more than just the rat). I went over there to give her the Letter of Termination of Lease and took along an acknowledgement receipt just like the statute says to do.

The acting manager, Milagros Gonzales refused to sign the acknowledgement that she got the letter, so I called my co-worker Karen Cartwright and made her tell Karen that she was refusing to sign it. I had signed, notarized statement from 4 different apartments talking about their rodent issues. Photos of my rat, the rats next door, rat poop, and mice trying to get into my apartment. She refused to take any of the signed forms or photos and then she told me they're not going to let me break my lease over the fact that I had a single rat in my apartment. How many does it take? She kept going on about the lease as if the lease superseded Florida law.

She then told me I had failed to give her notice that I was moving out. It was on the acknowledgement letter she refused to sign. I told her that I would type something up for her right away.

I typed it up, signed it and gave it to her. She brought it back to me because it said I was moving out today. (I had cut and pasted it), I fixed it, went to give it back to her and she had locked up the office so I couldn't give it to her. So I slipped it through the door. I have since faxed it to the office at 239-997-5162; I did receive a fax receipt saying that their machine received it. I requested her to fax me back.

So I left work early so that I could hand it to her. I asked her if she had gotten my fax, she told me she had. When I asked her why she didn't fax me back she just stood there looking at me. And that's the whole attitude of indifference. It's always "we're looking into it".

Weight loss Breakthrough

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:07:00 +0000

Well, I've gotten some good news today. I've been using the scale at the blood center where I donate. The last time I weighted there it told me that I was 344. I then found out that we have a scale here at work that I can use. It's one of the old weight scales. It tells me that I weigh 330. So I had my friend Karen go up and weigh herself as test and the scale at work is right. I lost 14 lbs in ten minutes!

--
Give the hardest job to the laziest man and he'll find the easiest way to do it. www.thelaziestman.com

The life of Toby and Allen

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:43:00 +0000

Well here's what's going on in my life at the moment. I still have some problems with missing Fiona. I'll look down to where she used to lie at my feet and not find her, but Toby is doing better. I've been dropping him off at my friend Karen's house everyday as kind of a "doggie daycare". He's never had any dogs his own size to play with so he was a little slow to catch on, but it seems that he fits right in now.

I preformed a wedding Saturday for one of the women I work with, here's some photos for you to look at. Man, just look at those ears on my head. It looks like the only thing I have to fear is a high wind!

I've gotten involved with a local church. As my Mom always said, "If there's two ways to do some Allen, you're pick the weird one!" I'll tell you more about what's going on with that in my next post.

Working for the Minutes department will be ending soon, so I guess I'll be
going back to R1ing until the next project rolls around or until the VAB
meetings start up again.

I am half way to paying off all my debts, so that by the end of this year I
can start looking for a piece of land out in the country to live on, just Toby
and I. (And whatever other dogs I'll have by then) Keep checking this spot for more updates!

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 13:34:00 +0000

R.I.P. Fiona ?-2008

It has now been one week since my little girl, Fiona died. I woke up Sunday morning at 4:30 to find that she had had the runs all over the bedroom, but she seemed ok. We got everything cleaned up, about 6am we went out to potty where she had some trouble pooping, it was very soft and a little bloody. I made sure that she drank some chicken broth and she was sleeping on her favorite pillow when I went to church at 10am. When I got home at Noon she was gone, she had bleed out through her rectum. I swear that she was ok when I left. I've gone through a lot of emotions since Sunday. Being mad at God (If I hadn't gone to church I would have been here), It's just a dog (I can't even believe I thought that, Fiona was more then just a dog) and more in-between. I miss her and so does Toby. It's a little easier every day, but this morning I found where she had pooped behind the hot water heater and started crying all over again.

Poor Toby is not quite sure what to do. I've tried spending more time with him, going on longer walks, taking him to the dog park. Toby has always had Fiona. He's never had anyone his own size to play with. I've been dropping him off at my friend Karen's house during the day where he has 5 other dogs to play with and a yard to run it. He's not used to playing with other dogs but I think he's getting the hang of it.

At the dog park he'd run over and play for about 5 seconds, then run back to me. Karen's dogs are teaching him things. He's never been a barker but did bark some at the dog park. The first time he did it he looked surprised as if to say, "Who did THAT?"

This brings back a memory of Fiona. We were in the back yard of the house, it was late at night and I had just gotten home from working a double shift and was really tired. Toby was doing his business and I had Fiona in my arms and for some reason the thought came into my head "I wonder far I could throw Fiona? I bet I could make the fence". And I swear it's as if she could read my mind. She turned her head up to look at me like she was asking, "What the hell are you
thinking".

It was Fiona that got my mom to play with dogs. All of her life she was scared to death of dogs. She had really bad varicose veins and was afraid that dog would nick them. She would cross the street to bypass a tiny dog. But Fiona she loved, (who didn't?), and would let her into her apartment in the morning. She would bring her a sausage sandwich from Burger King every morning and cut it up into little bits and re-heat it for her. Because of her she started to meet the other dogs and right before she died, (Mom, that is), I was able to get a picture of her with all five dogs around her. My brother Hack was amazed knowing the fear Mom had. That was the kind of dog Fiona was.

She was a little over ten years old which is getting up in age for her breed. I take peace in that I tried to give her the best life that I could and hope that she is in a better place.

My glass of water is empty. And I like it like that.

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 11:39:00 +0000

For a long time I have been a solitary person. I would prefer to be at home working on my projects. I ran into an old friend of mine and she talked me into going to church with her. Sooooo, now I'm in the chorus and have taken over their "web presence" and working on the fundraiser. The point is I'm now a much more sociable person spending time at people's houses. I thought it was just my friend Huggy-Bear that owned a lot of crap but I'm finding out that it's a lot of people.

I can understand the idea of art for art's sake. Some of Rodin's work can make me weep. But just to get something to "fill that corner" I don't understand. I look around my apartment at the plain white walls and realize that there is beauty in blank space. When I first started graphic design I would want to "fill that corner" and hadn't yet learned the use of white space. When can be used to emphasize the design itself. Opening up that space lets me enjoy it. A large white wall with a single picture on it is far more striking that a gallery.

A case in point is that I used to have this fancy cell phone, (I love my gadgets), Bluetooth web access, 2.1 mega pixel camera. But I was also so afraid that I've hurt it or lose it that I couldn't enjoy it. So now I have a $10 throw-a-way phone. It doesn't give me the joy that the other did, but the peace it gives me is worth far more.

Think of the things we own but don't use. I have another friend that has a number of exercise machines that he never uses. Every time she see them she feels guilty for not using so now that object is a source of guilt.

Our outer world is a reflection of our inner world. Now I know that the first thing that may pop into your mind is that it's an empty world. I would guess that your glass of water is half empty. I like to think of my glass as being empty. Think of the potential that it has. Instead of water I could put a flower in it. Rather than have a shelve full of knick-knacks, use that same space for just one quality piece. The less we have to focus on the more attention we give that which is left.

It's pretty amazing how little we really need. Living without the refrigerator brings that point home a lot. The other day I really had a craving for some chocolate. Now if I want chocolate I'll have chocolate. But by not having the fridge running to keep the chocolate in was none for me to have and I didn't want it bad enough to get in the car and go get some.

Getting back to making money,,,

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:00:00 +0000

I came across something today and had a great idea! Someone had left some Reader's Digest in the office. I was flipping through the pages and found the page where they are asking people to submit jokes and little stories for things like Life in These United States and All in a Day's Work. They don't even have to be original items. For every previously published item it's $100 and for every original items. (that they publish).

I wonder how many other magazines are paying like this? I'll look into this and let you know but think how easy it would be. You can even submit via email.

I didn't know I had such a fat head!

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:57:00 +0000

One of the things about losing weight is the way your body changes... my shoes have gotten looser and my pants have gotten longer. But the main thing is the skin on my head of tightening up. It used to be when I shaved my head I had these rolls of flesh that my razor had to go over. Now it kinda just smooth. I find myself rubbing the back of my head in amazement in not finding the roll of fat back there.

Now if it would just catch up to the rest of me!

How to shop 101

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 11:32:00 +0000

When I was married, I used to hate going shopping with my wife. When I go shopping I know what I want. I go in, get it, go through the self checkout or 10 items or less line and get on with my life. My wife on the other hand would go up and down each (and every) aisle. With a cart of oh-doesn't-that-look-good items.

I don't know that either method is the best. We ate better using her way. So like I usually do in those cases, I decided to find out. Turning to my friend www.google.com, I put in how to grocery shop better. I found out some very interesting things. Tricks that stores use to get you to buy more. Things like more expensive items at eye level, things on end caps are not always on sale. Impulse items at the checkout line. So here are my thoughts on shopping better.

Shop early or late. The idea is to shop when there are fewer people shopping. If you shop at 5:30pm on a Friday, you’re going to run into a lot of people who just stopped in for "one thing", usually with their kids who've been in day care all day. More people means less items on the shelve so you're more likely to just grump what's left, or just what's closer. If you shop really early or late, you'll have less people, but you sometimes have to put up with shelve stockers. But that can work out too because what they're putting up is usually fresher or at least has a longer expiration date.

Shop around the perimeter of the store. It's along the wall you'll find all the fresh items. Shop the perimeter of the store first for the bulk of your buys, THEN dip into the aisles for staples that you need. Most fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meats, and natural foods are usually located on the outer aisles. Often these foods contain the most nutrients and the least amount of preservatives and added chemicals. Inside the aisles you'll find the pre-made, pre-boxed, hormone-grown, nutrient-leeched, preservative-full items. Shop on the edge! Don't get canned corn, get fresh corn. Don't buy pre-sliced, pre-packaged lunch meat, go to the deli and get it fresh(er).

Can't buy fresh? Then get frozen. Items are usually flash frozen at their peak, within hours of being picked. Think about this, some fruits come from as far away as 1500 miles or more, think how early they have to pick them so they'll be "fresh" when they get to your store.

Look at the ingredients. Ask yourself a simple question when looking at food to buy. Is this food processed in any way? The easiest way to find out is to look at the ingredients. The lower the number, the better! I try not to buy anything that has sugar within the first five ingredients. I was looking for a cold cereal and the first one I picked up, all FIVE first ingredients listed was some form of sugar!

Don't shop on an empty stomach. I know you've heard this one before, but it really works. You won't be tempted to buy food you don't need, or that isn't healthy for you.

Think of your store as a department store. So that the dairy, produce, meat, and so on) is a separate store within the supermarket. You wouldn't shop at every store at a mall the same way, would you? You know better than to idly browse through a jewelry store, don't you? So apply the same approach to the grocery store. Target the sections that are safe to browse through--the produce section, primarily--and steer clear of the dangerous sections (the candy, ice cream, and potato chip aisles).

Don't use a shopping cart. Boy do the stores really have it in for you. They give you this big old cart which makes it so easy to just toss stuff into it. Don't do it, if you have to use one of the carry baskets you'll be forced to make the choice of what is really worth carrying.

Shop more often. Trying to live and eat better is rough. This one may have to be put aside for a while. Here in Florida I paid $3.20 a gallon for gas this morning and a new report shows that it could easily go to $3.50 and $3.80 with the next 6 months. Unless the store is on your way home or within walking or biking distance you might have to consolidate your trips to one or two.

Avoid convenience items. Don't purchase items that are convenience items, such as prepared vegetables or pre-made sandwiches. These items are more costly, and you are better off buying your own ingredients and making them yourself.

Check the entire shelf. Grocery stores will often place the higher priced items at eye-level. Again, consumers choose more items to buy from eye level. So look at the top and bottom of the shelf for potential better bargains.

Buy generic products. Now maybe not every thing you buy should be generic, but most generic or store brand items can save you a dollar or more! It really adds up. And do you really think that they have one factory for Green Giant green beans and another for Winn Dixie brand? Of course not! Yes, the Green Giant brand may have fewer broken beans in it, but who cares? It's all going to become poop anyway. My wife would never buy generic, of course this was also the same women who thought that any movie older than three months was crap.

Ok, ok that's enough for now. (climbing down off of my soapbox)

Losing weight makes your pants longer!

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:17:00 +0000

Something I've noticed as I've been losing weight is that my pants are getting longer. To the point that I've had to "up" the hem a couple of times on one pair. It was really cold so I put on a pair of my heaviest pants, but it turned out to be a pair of "fat pants" that I haven't gotten rid of yet. Older, larger clothes also make you look fatter than you are, I've noticed this even with shirts. Go figure.

--
Give the hardest job to the laziest man and he'll find the easiest way to do it. www.thelaziestman.com

Man was it cold this morning.

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:49:00 +0000

I force myself to get up at 5:30 AM so that Toby and I can go for our walk. Toby jumping around like he always does, as soon as the door opens the the wind hits him at 20 degrees, he just looks up at me like I'm nuts and dragging his leash behind him goes back to bed.

--
Give the hardest job to the laziest man and he'll find the easiest way to do it. www.thelaziestman.com

Better than Seinfeld?

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 01:12:00 +0000

A little while ago I had told you about the tip from Jerry Seinfeld, and the website www.smarterfitter.com that give you the calendar to use. Well, I've found a better one. Unlike Smarterfitter, it lets you credit more than one on the same page and even to do negative ones. On my I have tow positive ones, Walk the Dog and Update Blog and one negative one, Eat out. You check them off each day that you do them. It's called Joe's Goals. Check it out and start today!

Weight loss in Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:18:00 +0000

Here I am at Christmas 2006

And now at Christmas 2007, who know what I'll look like in 2008!

A motivation tip from Jerry Seinfeld

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 16:13:00 +0000

I was never a big fan of the Jerry Seinfeld show. It just seemed silly and I've never watched a lot of TV (Go! Heroes! GO!) Ahem... But I came across a great motivation tip on Lifehacker.com, click for the article itself. Basically it comes down to this:

Years ago when Seinfeld was a new television show, Jerry Seinfeld was still a touring comic. At the time, I was hanging around clubs doing open mic nights and trying to learn the ropes. One night I was in the club where Seinfeld was working, and before he went on stage, I saw my chance. I had to ask Seinfeld if he had any tips for a young comic. What he told me was something that would benefit me a lifetime...

He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. But his advice was better than that. He had a gem of a leverage technique he used on himself and you can use it to motivate yourself—even when you don't feel like it. He revealed a unique calendar system he uses to pressure himself to write. Here's how it works.

He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.

He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."

"Don't break the chain," he said again for emphasis.

It makes sense. I'm a great one for getting ideas and making plans, following through on them.... not so good. It's just there's so many of them and I have such grand ideas it's hard to get them all done. And after all, I AM the laziest man (www.thelaziestman.com) (shameless plug).

But seeing that chain of red X's grow makes you really want to keep that chain going. I was waiting on the new year to roll around to get one of the calenders. I found a spot of the web where you can do the same thing. It puts the calendar on-screen for you and you can add the X for each day you do it. You can find it here. The only drawback to it is that it's not sitting there on the wall staring you in the face every morning. The good thing is you can have more than one. But I guess you could just use different colors of markers for each day.

I've been putting down the X's for a week now and it's getting easier. Give it a try

Testing BlogJet

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 02:12:00 +0000

I have installed an interesting application - BlogJet. It's a cool Windows client for my blog tool (as well as for other tools). Get your copy here: http://blogjet.com Let me test it out for you first, I’ll give you a review once I’ve had time to play with it.

"Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination." -- Albert Einstein

Convenience is a reason for clutter.

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:50:00 +0000

I just wanted to get this thought down while I was thinking about it. As I was going through the list of things I own, I realized that I own no less then six garbage cans. Two in the kitchen, one in the bathroom, one in the bedroom, one in the washroom and a last one in the living room. Now, my apartment is not that big and since my food waste, (the little food waste that I have between Toby and Fiona), goes into left over jars. So I've ditched the six trash cans and have gotten one large 55 gallon one. I won't have to buy 3 different sizes of trash bags and if I have to walk a few steps so much the better.

But it got me thinking about how much clutter is convenience. At one time I had many different means of cutting up food. I had a Veg-o-matic, another cutter similar to it that pushed the vegetable through a vertical grid of blades. A set of knifes. A box grader. A Chop-o-matic for herbs, nuts, etc. A garlic press. So let's see that, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 different things to cut/chop up food. They've all been replaced by one very good knife. Now I paid as much for the one knife as I paid for all the other put together but it will last me years.

Convenience is a reason for clutter.
--
Give the hardest job to the laziest man and he'll find the easiest way to do it. www.thelaziestman.com

Why live the Simple Life?

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 23:49:00 +0000

People has often asked me about a minimalist lifestyle. I like to think of it as simple living. But there are some definite benefits. I found some of the reasons on the Simple Living Resource Group

Ecological. Lower consumption of goods and services benefits the environment.
Financial. Expenses are reduced dramatically resulting in a more economically sustainable lifestyle.
Spiritual. For years, people seeking spiritual growth and inner peace have established for themselves simple spaces, clothing, and food to enhance their personal development.
Consider monks, nuns, Buddhists, and spiritual leaders such as Gandhi, Mother Theresa, and St. Francis. Simple surroundings enhances the ability to look inward and upward.
Health. Eating simple and healthy reduces diet induced illnesses.
Focus. Sparse surroundings enhances the ability to focus on work and pleasure.

Simple living is stress free living. With no bills laying about, nothing that visibly needs to be cleaned or put away, and no extra stuff lying around that would lend to making an easy mess, you can relax in good conscience and truly enjoy your environment. A relaxed person is a healthy person.

Simple living frees up your schedule. When you don't own a lot of things, things become easy to find. Cleaning is quick and easy. I've often heard that Einstein had a closet with 7 identical suits. Shirts, pants, Ties and Shoes. (He was notorious for not wearing socks.) This way he never had to spend time thinking about what he was going to wear that day. He would just reach in and take the next set. When he got to the sixth one he would send the others out to be cleaned.

The hardest thing about losing weight was the clothes. When you're as big as I was, a 68 waist and wearing 6X and 7X shirts a single pair of (cheap) pants could be $50 or $60 dollars. T-shirts were $30 to $50 dollars apiece. Everything was more. When I was losing weight I hated to get rid of my "fat" clothes because some where in the back of my mind was if I gain the weight back I would have to spend that money all over again.

100 item challenge UPDATE 67 ITEMS

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 18:01:00 +0000

Well, I went online and started searching for anyone else doing the 100 Item Challenge and came across this post from zenhabits and found that there was a few points the I didn't notice the first time around. So I went back to Dave Bruno's website, the guy who started this whole thing. Here's the point I missed.

You only do personal items, you don't have to include everything.

Hmmm, kind of a big point to miss, eh? Since I live alone I figured everything was going to be included. After all, it was all my personal stuff. The way he puts it:

I'm going to limit my personal stuff to 100 items. Shrewd readers of this blog will immediately wonder, what constitutes personal stuff? Pretty much whatever I say. But for now a "personal stuff" does not include:

Books, including maps - likely the stuff-vice I'll carry with me to my grave

Tools - will hopefully get this category down to 100 sometime down the road

Collections - for example my Marklin train collection is 1 item for now. And my collection of underwear is one 1 item for now. (Like I'd go down to 1 pair. Give me a break.) But really I don't have a lot of collections. I've always kind of wanted to, cause it seems cool to collect something. I've just never been able to muster the passion necessary.

And stuff I cannot claim as 100% or close to 100% mine, i.e. I'm not going to toss the Hobbit picture hanging in our hallway or chuck the one radio we own, though both happened to be gifts given to me. These things don't really belong to "me" so much as our home. Someday our family might choose to take up the 100 Thing Challenge for home decorations, furnishings, and accessories. But I'm starting this challenge realistic.

Heck, I could have been done the first WEEK if I had noticed that! I guess it comes down to some things you just have to have. Even though it's "your" personal stuff, some of it is just essential. Dishes, clothes. Now this is with counting some items as a collection. DVDs, Books, underwear, etc. So here's what I have left. Using collections I started with 1043 single actual items, most being books and DVDs, down to single actual items
135 and now down to. DA-TA 67 items. I may break some of the collections up after a bit, but this is enough for now.

Kitchen (7) (9 single actual items)

Can Rack
Dog Clippers
Iron
Magnetic Knife Holder
Presto Kettle
Tongs
Knife Sharpener (2)
Chair

Living Room (30) (361 single actual items)
60" Ruler
Baby Gate
Blood Pressure Cuff
Brass Duck
Camera
Cell Phone
Chair
Clock
Coleman Lamp
Computer
Creeper
Desk Lamp
Dog Leash (4)
Dog Pillow (2)
Drill
Ds Lite
DSL Modem (Do I Really Own This?)
DVD Collection (325)
Flash Memory Stick (2)
Hey Kool-Aid Pitcher Being Used As A Penny Jar
Inkjet Combo
Ironing Board
Laser Printer
Mini Ironing Board
Pen Holder
Hand Weights (3)
Phone
Sewing Machine
Smoke Bottle
Video Cam

Bathroom (4) (7 single actual items)
Electric Shaver
Photo
Rug Set (4)
Showers Head

Bedroom (17) (36 single actual items)
Bed
Belt (2)
Blanket (4)
Coleman Lamp
Fan
Fitted Sheet (3)
Flat Sheet
Garbage Can
Hand Washer
Heater
Washcloth (4)
Notepad
Shoes (2)
Towel (5)
Underwear (8)

Hall Closet (5) (5 single actual items)
Juggling Stuff
Power Strip
Hand Saw
Jigsaw
Toolkit

Washroom (4) (6 single actual items)
Brooms (2)
Buckets (2)
Dustpan
Mop

Weight Loss Proof

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:00:00 +0000

I went to get into my car and the radio let us know that there was a seat belt check set up down the road. As long as I've had the car I've never been able to get the seat belt to fit. Today it just clicked in place! Woo-Hoo. It's the little proofs like this that mean so much!

Happy Holidays!

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:22:00 +0000

Happy Holidays
from me and the dogs!

100 item challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Allen Klesh) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 23:15:00 +0000

I'm sure I've talked about this before. It's called the 100 Item Challenge. The idea behind it is too only own 100 items. Why 100? It was a good number to start with. It all started with Dave Bruno's website. Then I found where Zenhabits was thinking about doing it. Here's what Dave had to say:

You'll immediately wonder, what constitutes personal stuff? Pretty much whatever I say. But for now a "personal stuff" does not include:

Books, including maps - likely the stuff-vice I'll carry with me to my grave
Tools - will hopefully get this category down to 100 sometime down the road
Collections - for example my Marklin train collection is 1 item for now. And my collection of underwear is one 1 item for now. (Like I'd go down to 1 pair. Give me a break.) But really I don't have a lot of collections. I've always kind of wanted to, cause it seems cool to collect something. I've just never been able to muster the passion necessary.
And stuff I cannot claim as 100% or close to 100% mine, i.e. I'm not going to toss the Hobbit picture hanging in our hallway or chuck the one radio we own, though both happened to be gifts given to me. These things don't really belong to "me" so much as our home. Someday our family might choose to take up the 100 Thing Challenge for home decorations, furnishings, and accessories. But I'm starting this challenge realistic.

When I first had the idea of doing this I thought, "This'll be easy, I've only got about 150 items now". I always said that everything I owned would fit inside my car. Hoo-Boy was I wrong. I went though the apartment and found 385 items. Not counting the 125 books or the (gulp) 600 DVDs. At last count I'm down to 135 items, counting my clothes as 1 item. I'm down to 7 books and about 150 DVDs. I've been taking the DVD, converting it to a single file, so that I could fit 5 or 6 onto a single DVD.

I had a set of dishes for 8. Now I have 2 each of plates, bowls, silverware. I large measuring cup that I use for everything from soup to oatmeal. The other good thing about it is that forces me to keep the dishes clean. Being a single guy and The Laziest Man(TM) of thelaziestman.com fame I would keep using clean plates until all 8 were dirty!

The hardest part was getting rid of clothes. As you know from some of my other posts I'm following Ayurveda and losing weight. But getting rid of the "fat" clothes was so far because somewhere in the back of my brain there was always the thought "what if..." Finding clothes when you're thin is easy, you can walk into any Wal-Mart and get more pants. But when you wear a size 66 there's only 1 or 2 places in town. At anywhere from $30 to $100 for one pair of pants. I'm putting together a list of what I have left. This time of year is hard because the idea is if you get something you need to get rid of something.