Working The List

I have been clearing off my todo list after a week or so of ignoring most of it. It feels much better to actually clear things off. Not quite as good a feeling when you finish a project like cleaning a room or building something but still good. I was surprised how much dirt that you can't see got picked up my the sweeper today.

I have been cleaning out some things that have been sitting around for years in some cases. Obviously I am not going to use these things, so it is time to move them along. Once I get the main level cleaned out then it will be on to the basement & attic. I have been trying to locate some old cassette tapes but I have not been successful. I am not as concerned with those areas though.

I have been getting things done that are not on the todo list as well. David Allen might hit me, but there are some things that just do not appear on my list that I still need to do. This has been a slow process.

Clearing Out The To Do List

Oh, and I am with kittens.

I have been slacking off for the last week or so with getting things done. Yesterday started a new week and I am really getting caught up with things. I finished off a book that I have been wading through. Great content - just very dense with information! I will talk more about that yesterday.

Last Thursday though was the big day for Buddy - she finally had her kittens. Five of them unfortunately which means that some of them will have to go. I have a 3 cat limit, although with one being 17 I am going to keep 1 of the kittens. Sure some cats live to be 20, but with her early life I doubt she will make it that far. I would keep 2 if need be, but I would prefer to limit myself to 1 of the kittens. Next I need to find out when I can take Buddy to be fixed and when I can start to get rid of some of them. It might sound cruel, but I do not have the money to make sure they all get fixed to stop this from happening again. Plus I do not want to get too attached :).

I Voted Today

I voted early in the mayoral recall. The process was mostly painless but took a little longer than I expected. Given the HUGE ballot of 1 item I would have thought things would have moved along quicker.

I voted against the recall. The biggest reason is that the people FOR the recall have not made a good enough case to roll the dice on god knows who.  Even worse the election is costing the city money that they claim is being mis-managed currently.

I do agree that our current mayor suffers from foot-in-mouth disease a little more often than he should and tends to let ego get in the way. And maybe after 20+ years we could use a different ways of doing things. None of that is just cause to remove the mayor midterm, in my opinion. If you did not like the mayor, maybe you should run against him at the next election.

I do not care what party people are from. I vote for the person I feel will do the job best. So far no one has offered me a good enough reason to vote for them as mayor of Akron. At least I know what I get with the current mayor.

Glad Crazy May is gone

May seemed to be the psycho month. Lots of weirdness - spent a lot of time helping my brother on some must do projects, dealing with a pregnant cat and one who seems to be incontinent. Also getting 100+ emails a day has made for a busy month. Now it is behind me and I can get things back to normal. (We will see about the emails...)

On the cat front - I knew that Buddy had gotten out before I could get her to the vet. I was hoping that nothing happened, but just like a horny teenager she hooked up, probably multiple times. Yea, I know having a female cat named 'Buddy' is weird. That is what my nieces & nephew took to calling her before we found out it was a her. My guess was she was not too far off of being weaned when they found her. Friendly enough cat (as can be seen from her current state :)), and see seems to get along with Fuzzbutt. If nothing else she is the first cat I have had that actually uses the scratching post! With any luck she will have just one kitten. As I told my brother, if it is just 1 I might keep it since Bright Eyes is 17. It would violate my 3 cat limit, but like I said Bright Eyes is 17. Still cranky as ever, but 17 is getting on there for a cat. Once the kitten(s) are weaned though Buddy gets to see the vet.

I have been programming. I found out how to set the playback speed on Windows Media Player (WMP) to 2x, so I am back to using that when I am at my machine. Great for listening to Podcasts, however I still have the problem of maintaining the play count between iTunes & WMP. Fortunately with a little digging on the Internet & some quality programming time (in 15 minute increments :( ) I was able to update the play count between both programs.

Next I want to add deleting podcasts that I listened to 2 or more months ago. This is the same criteria I usually use for keeping my email clean - after 2 months if it is in the delete or sent folder I kill it off. Important emails are saved out of the email system. I want to do the same with podcasts. The big problem is that the last played date is read only in WMP. I have not tried updating the field in iTunes, but it is easy enough to check either date. The one variation I do want to create on this one is creating a file for what will be deleted with the next running of the program. That way I can take the time to move any files that I may want. I would say 99% of what I listen to can be deleted afterwards, but there are a few shows, such as Manager Tools, that are nice to go back and listen to.