Day One-hundred-and-thirty-five: To do list

Whenever I've found myself under time pressure or feeling overwhelmed with all that I have to do, I address it in two alternative ways: I make a "to do" list both to make sure I am not forgetting things and to give me the satisfaction of marking things off of it; and I go to bed, well, attempt to sleep. Nothing is more tiring to me than having a must do task. Several times in the past I've either stayed up all night doing an overwhelming task or gotten up extremely early after being unable to work the night before and unable to sleep when I needed to be working. Nothing concentrates the mind like a deadline, even an artificially imposed deadline. So, I did both today. I made my list and then went back to bed. I made my bed the second time up so I wouldn't feel tempted to going back into it. My list doesn't have anything on it about resume writing or job hunting. (I think they are related and reflect my reluctance to find another job. If one of the things I like to do don't start paying off, I will need to get a job of some sort by 2010.)

Now, while my must do tasks can vary, I do have a serious, if self-imposed deadline. Adding tasks to my list that must be completed before that deadline is a further time management problem, which brings me back to Comcast and their lack of cutting off my TV. Maybe that is their plan, keep stringing the addict along. I did find out that my son also canceled his cable. Further he now has a specific day for his return to California.

Yesterday, during my ride, I kept thinking about how it was Veteran's day and how my previous company, before it was acquired, gave its workers this day as a holiday. This was really useful when my children were young, and I enjoyed it and Columbus Day off, just not enough to take them off as vacation days when they were no longer holidays for me. Even the memories were pleasant since, once again, I had the day off. The memories didn't stop me from checking for mail when I got back home even though I know that there is no mail delivery on Veterans Day.

My prize for the raffle for making more than 100 calls for Obama came today: two bumper stickers, a button, and a Starbuck's gift card. There were millions of these things out there and these were left over, so I doubt that they have any real value, but I will save them, along with the November 5th newspaper front section, as best I can, except for the Starbuck's card. Maybe my great grandchildren will see some value in them, that is if my children start having children.

Endless "to do" lists appear to be a fact of Life after Layoff. I only wish the discipline to get them done were also a fact.

Day One-hundred-and-thirty: Narrowed choices

Today my choices for breakfast were narrowed considerably by what was clean to cook in, nothing.  Rather than delay breakfast until after a kitchen clean up, I had a tomato open faced sandwich on a slice of my Almost No Knead whole wheat bread.  Then I had another slice with honey on it.  Not only was the bread good, eating breakfast this way delayed my kitchen cleanup chore.

One nice thing about cleaning up the kitchen is the hot water.  Yesterday I finally broke down and took my thermostat off of "hold" at 58 degrees, which meant that it was to go to the pre-programmed temperature setting.  When the furnace didn't come on, I checked what the programmed setting was only to discover that it was set for 60 degrees during the day.  This was obviously programmed for a time that I was working.  Rather than re-program everything to be more in compliance with my Life after Layoff schedule, I decided to suck it up, put another layer of clothes on, and find some other way to keep warm.  (I should have done the dishes then.)  Ah, the joys of warm water.

After the dishes it was close enough time to eat lunch but since I had already had my tomato for breakfast, I had Bush's chili beans and a salad.  Then I went out and cleaned the gutters.  They weren't as bad as I had thought they might be but they were bad enough.  Some places even had moss growing.  When I was almost done I remembered the gutter scoop that Marilyn had bought and went looking for it in obvious places.  It wasn't in any of them so I completed the chore the slow way.  At least this time I wore gloves, my bulky leather work gloves on hands that already don't fit very well into gutters, let alone clasp the stuff to get it out.  And finally, I made a start of cleaning the rest of my house.  I'll finish the rest tomorrow, hopefully before my youngest daughter and son-in-law arrive.

The Comcast guy never came, but I had already disconnected the cable box.  It's a lot less tempting to turn on the TV when it isn't plugged into anything.  I called and they suggested I call tomorrow. 

After a long gap I've started writing more of the "memories" I have of Marilyn.  I still have a lot to write and may never be finished but I was running out of prepared topics for the blog.  My daughters were right to ask me to do this.  It is good to remember the joy.

Day One-hundred-and-twenty-seven: New life

Now I can get on with my Life after Layoff.  My election addition has come to an abrupt "cold turkey" end.  I will leave my TV off tomorrow even as I contact Comcast to cancel my cable TV.  This will give me so much more time to do all that I have been procrastinating:

• My resume' or curriculum vitae
• A Marilyn Westbrook Garment Fund flier for posting in my cross-country trip
• My Toastmaster speeches
• All of the housework / home improvements
• Trip planning
• Writing, my blogs and more...
• Business research
• Investment management
• Personal development
• Reaching out to current friends and making more friends
• ...

I did do some things today.  For example, I took a trash bag of styrofoam packing in for recycling on my way to pick up a vegan burrito and some groceries.  (While I was out, I also picked up the equivalent of vegan junk food and proceeded to eat it.  I figured it was appropriate couch potato food as I did spend most of the day in front of the TV, even when I was sleeping on the couch.)  And I did sleep on the couch starting at about 3:00 AM this morning.

I am about to take a break and do my meditation, hopefully in the sky chair even though the outdoor temperature is currently 51 degrees.

In my store run, I bought more flour but will need to wait until Thursday night or even Friday to make it.  I don't want to mix it up tonight because I will probably want to eat it tomorrow.

I'm relieved the election is over and glad that the person I voted for has won.  I was glad to see that all the states that I made calls into also went for Obama and feel that the money I donated was used well enough for him to win.  I do feel for his loss of the person who mostly raised him yesterday as I am still feeling the loss of my wife daily.

Still, I am looking to the future, including the immediate future.  I can't wait to get on the road for my longer visit with my and my wife's families.  I am not necessarily looking forward to returning, particularly to the jury duty jeopardy February 2, 2009, but overall I have a lot that I want to do, which requires returning, at least for a while.  After all, I don't have any other base, yet.