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Ready to Start my Healthy Information Diet

March 19, 2012 · 1 comment

After leaving my day job in mid-December, I’ve taken a big, big step back from the computer. You may have notice that I haven’t been blogging as much and there have been days I haven’t touched Twitter or Facebook at all. Sometimes I wonder if I was physically and/or mentally sick of sitting at a desk all day.

I even quit my once beloved Google Reader. I had hundreds and hundreds of feeds streaming into it and then I pruned that down to 76, and then I just quit checking it at all for months.

Now when I wonder to myself, “Hey, what’s going on with [insert name of person/name of blog]“, I pop their URL into their address bar of my browser or do a quick Google search and actually visit their website.

I think I’m done with my social media semi-sabbatical now.

the information diet book coverI just finished reading The Information Diet and am ready to ease back into to a reasonable amount of conscious web consumption. Here are a few key ideas I picked up from the book that hopefully inspire you to pick it up too.

Regarding “information” in general:

There has always been more human knowledge and experience than any one human could absorb. It’s not the total amount of information, but your information habit that is pushing you to whatever extreme you find uncomfortable.

Regarding news:

Instead of grazing on global and national news, and information about people you don’t know and who don’t care about you, shift your information consumption to local news and people who do care about you.

Regarding Facebook, Twitter, and Google+:

Create a group, list, or circle for family members, another for close friends, another for work colleagues, and another for people you’d like to get to know better, and read those posts consciously during set periods of the day, rather than plunging yourself into an ever-growing stream of incoming media that your brain will be unable to resist.

How do you decide what media to consume and participate in when there’s obviously so much you’ll never get to it all?

Disclosure: Some links in this post are my affiliate links. For more information read my disclosure policy.

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How Often Do You Check Your Email?

March 12, 2012 · 1 comment

No new mail!

Inspired by Amy, I’m reconsidering how I use my email.

I used to check it whenever I sat down at my computer, whenever I was bored, and whenever I got a sound or popup message that I had a new email.

No more.

A few months ago I turned off all my email notifications on my iPhone, and then I eased in to turning off the sound and from/subject line notices with the Gmail notifier on my computer, and this past week I turned off the Gmail notifier completely.

Now I have an item on my to do list that repeats every day to check my email. And after it’s checked off, that reminder doesn’t come back again until the next day.

While I’m checking my email, I read and reply to emails that take less than 2 minutes, I archive or delete emails I don’t need to keep, I unsubscribe from any mailing lists that I really don’t want to read, and I make notes of all the things I need to do based on what I read in my other emails.

And after I check my email that one time, I’m done with my email inbox for the day. (Once upon a time, I used my email inbox as my to do list; for example, I would keep my Paypal payment notices for eBay items in my inbox until I shipped those items.)

I keep a little program called Rescuetime running on my computer. I’m obsessed with statistics and it collects statistics on how I use my time at my computer for me. It just runs and I check the stats from time to time when I want to find out something. So this morning I checked my stats and was surprised to see that in recent weeks I had usually spent 1 to 1.5 hours in Gmail. Last week, after turning off that Gmail notifier (and doing that even only part way through the week), I spent 34 minutes in Gmail. For the whole week. Combined. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. That averages out to less than 5 minutes a day.

And I didn’t miss checking my email more often at all. I was even a little disappointed that some days like Saturday I didn’t really get any emails that needed anything other than a good deleting. But that left me with more free time on Saturday which is always a good thing.

Tell me about your email habits. How long do you think you spend on email each week?

Disclosure: Some links in this post are my affiliate links. For more information read my disclosure policy.

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How I’m Trying to Stop Stressing Myself Out

March 9, 2012 · 1 comment

You would think the almost three months since I left full time employment would have given me enough time to relax and get myself into a solid routine, but I’m still struggling with feeling a little lost.

I’m going to the gym most mornings, getting most of my chores done, and getting errands done. I’m getting my post-cancer follow up appointments taken care of: two times through a series of deep cleaning treatments at the periodontist and it still hurts to floss in some places but I don’t get that faint-y feeling just thinking about flossing so that’s an improvement (when you have no immune system, flossing, which could easily lead to bleeding and a way for infection to get into your blood stream, is a no-no). I finally got around to shopping for a new refrigerator which really needed done when I moved in to this place which might have been about 2007 or 2008.

I’m getting a ton of stuff done but I’ve still been feeling overwhelmed with things to do about 90% of the time. And I thought not having a job would leave me with more time to blog but I’ve actually felt like I’ve had much less time (I started my first blog that I called a blog in downtime at my first real job several years ago and most of my blog content development – the thinking and the writing – has happened in similar downtime in an office space with little to do other than fiddle around on the internet).

So I’m experimenting with Getting Things Done, OmniFocus (a GTD inspired to do app for Mac), and Flow. I just finished reading an ebook called Creating Flow with OmniFocus and I’m feeling better about all the things I need and want to do already.

Some key things I’ve learned:

  • stop making up false due dates, they just stress you out – taxes are due a specific day, bills are due a specific day, my wedding is happening on a specific day and vendors have given me due dates for deposits and headcounts but all the other wedding related stuff just needs done before the wedding
  • make creative time, like blog post writing, a daily task that you do for a minimum amount of time even if you aren’t inspired – sitting down with the mindset to do the creative activity is what counts (and don’t cheat on that time and surf the web)
  • if you keep avoiding doing something because it’s too big, break it down into smaller chunks – testing the smoke alarms is something I know I need to get done but I’ve been avoiding it because I’ve been thinking of it as an all or nothing project – now I have a separate to do item for each alarm so I can do just one and that counts as progress and I know where I left off next time I’m ready to test another
  • if you don’t think you can finish what you can even define as one piece of a project, “do a lap” – set a timer, do what you can, check it off your to do list, and do another lap again on another day

How do you handle feeling overwhelmed with too many things to do?

Disclosure: Some links in this post are my affiliate links. For more information read my disclosure policy.

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First Check In on my 2012 Goals

February 27, 2012 · 2 comments

With February coming to an end we’re a good chunk of the way into 2012 and I thought it’d be a good time to check in on my goals.

  1. Try yoga again. Unless we count me on the treadmill or the stairmaster looking in through the window at a yoga class I’ve made zero progress on this goal. The classes at the gym are always packed full with a waiting list full of people who know what they’re doing and one thing I didn’t like about my last yoga class was being the only person who didn’t seem to know what they were doing. I’m thinking it might be time to give the Wii Fit and it’s yoga options another go to make some progress on this goal.
  2. Go on vacation and completely unplug (this is a must for my honeymoon in August but my fiance and I will probably do a long weekend in the spring for me to practice). A March two day trip is on the books and I’m quitting Foursquare cold turkey now so that I don’t feel tempted to turn my phone on just to check in. I might even go so far as to pack paper books (I’m working my way through that giant box of Star Wars books) and go without my iPad too.
  3. Read a book a week or more. My Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge has me pacing at 10 books ahead of schedule! Win, win, win on this one.
  4. Walk Lucky more. Get my fiance to go with us more of those times. We were doing really good until Lucky sprained two legs last week (he got a little too focused on chasing a tennis ball at the dog park, jumped, bounced off a bigger dog and landed funny) so we’re off walks for a week (and off the dog park for three weeks) per the doctor’s orders.
  5. Make homemade bread every week. Win, win, win on this goal. I’d say it’s also time to check off #9 on my life list too. We got our starter started with a packet from Goldrush [Amazon affiliate link if you're interested in buying the same one we used] and after our first several attempts died we took a trip to their San Jose corporate office to pick some brains. We got another packet while there and learned that the secret the getting the starter well established was to keep it in the oven with just the light on for the whole first week (this lead to burning out the bulb and having to figure out how to replace that). Now we keep it in an Oxo pop top container [again Amazon affiliate link if you want to use the same container we've had success with] in the fridge, feed it once a week, and use the 1 cup of starter we take out when feeding as a substitute for 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup liquid in whatever bread recipe strikes my fancy that week (no knead bread and The Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book dinner rolls are our favorites). Even with the sourdough starter for flavor, I still use the standard amount of yeast my recipes call for because I like light and fluffy textured breads.
  6. Focus on quality over quantity. In how I spend my time and my money. Not so solid a win here, I’m still working through that post cancer I want quality and quantity thing but after reading The Money Saving Mom’s Budget [another Amazon affiliate link] my fiance and I are having long, long talks about what our goals for the future are, how we want to budget our money, and we’re getting things sorted out so we can move in the right direction.
  7. Declutter something every day. Regularly list those items on eBay or donate to Goodwill (in which case be sure to get a tax receipt). Another solid win in this department even though there have been a few days that I haven’t done any decluttering. I’ve been listing things on eBay about once a week and made over $500 so far this year. Just this past weekend I took a trunk load of stuff to Goodwill, made a detailed inventory of it before leaving the house, and got my tax receipt. And I’m playing with an idea of a spreadsheet to keep track of which clothes I really wear so that this time next year I can easily eBay or donate everything that I haven’t honestly worn in the past year (I’m also hoping that spreadsheet will help me make better decisions on what to add to my wardrobe in the future).
  8. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Ideally at least one with each meal. Making progress but still not where I want to be. I had 5 servings today – one each with breakfast, lunch, and dinner and 2 servings of fruits as snacks but that’s still the exception and not the rule. I’ve been experimenting with Planet Organics for produce delivery and while I’m overall very pleased with their service, I’m going to be going back to getting my produce at the grocery store or farmer’s market because their $32 minimum is just too high for our household where I’m the only one who eats anything other than potatoes and carrots out of that $32 order.

How are you doing on the goals or resolutions you made at the New Year?

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How I Met My Fiance on eHarmony & A $100 Visa Gift Card Giveaway

February 14, 2012 · 169 comments

The giveaway is now closed. The winner is #65 Lee.

After the whole cancer thing, I knew I wanted a family of my own, and it was time to get serious about finding the right person to start that family with. I finished my treatment in July 2010, and by late August I was considering my online dating options. I’m an introvert, but I’ve had years and years of practice talking to people online. Forums, blogs, and social media are easy and fun for me so it seemed like a natural step to apply those experiences to dating.

I debated and debated about which service was right for me and when I should sign up.

At the time, I had about half an inch of post-chemo hair and was still really uncomfortable with having my picture taken. I knew I needed a recent picture to get started. I couldn’t post only pre-chemo long haired shots and then shock someone the first time I met them in person with short, short hair. I had a hair appointment scheduled for late September and planned on having my mom take a new head shot for me after getting my hair done. But then one slow Friday afternoon, I was surfing the internet at work and noticed an ad for a Labor Day weekend special where you could try eHarmony for free and not only see who your matches were but also start communicating with them.

I love algorithms and smart technology so eHarmony’s technique appealed to me, and a free weekend sounded like a pretty good reason to start then (even though I didn’t think my hair was ready yet), so I spent the rest of the afternoon filling out the questionnaire. Saturday morning, bright and early, I had my mom take a new head shot, got my profile completed, and started browsing my matches and going through the ice breaker questions with anyone who looked appealing. I liked the process enough that come Monday and the end of the weekend freebie, I decided to sign up for a 3 month subscription.

I figured that at the end of 3 months I could try another service if eHarmony wasn’t right for me. Little did I know how right it was going to be. eHarmony sent me about 10 new matches to peruse per day even though I had my preferences set very tightly to men within a few years of my own age, taller than me (which means taller than 6′, and those tall guys aren’t all that abundant), and who lived within 25 miles of me.

September 12th, 9 days after I initially signed up for eHarmony after browsing about 100 profiles, one of my matches was Stewart. We started communicating with each other via eHarmony’s guided communication: eHarmony starts with multiple choice questions you can ask each other, then moves on to short answer, and then moves on to an open stage that’s similar to email without having to give out your email address. It gently eases you into talking to your matches which is particularly awesome if you’re not sure what you should say. I only reached that final, open stage of communication with two people, Stewart being one of them.

Stewart and I moved onto talking on the phone and then met for lunch about 2 weeks after we were first matched. We talked for hours about everything from World of Warcraft to dogs (I had dogs on the brain after that conversation and got Lucky within a week). We continued to see each other each weekend and then a few times a week, and by mid-November we were already talking about if it was crazy or not to be thinking we would get married (note that my 3 month eHarmony subscription had not even run out at this point).

We knew Stewart was about to be transferred to another location for work (which could have taken him anywhere in the country), and we didn’t want to rush into a long distance relationship so we waited his transfer out. In January we found out he was being placed to work in Palo Alto (the closest possible option in the entire country to my home), and that stroke of good fortune sealed the deal—we got engaged later that month. We are currently planning our August wedding.

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