Today I had breakfast with my dad, got a haircut, bought some toiletries, got SEPTA tokens from PNC, bought groceries at TJ's, watched À Bout de Souffle, sent some e-mails, did some Christmas shopping, checked e-mail, ate dinner, and went for a work-out.
Doing all of the above was a pleasure today, as I didn't feel compelled by tight deadlines. It's odd--I really did accomplish a lot, but it seemed like a day off in comparison to what I'm used to. The movie was excellent. The first time I watched it I thought it sucked, but I really liked it this time around. Also, with my e-mails, I got back down to zero unread e-mails for the first time since October. It's such a relief to have finally gotten to the end of them.
Tomorrow I'm going to order a present, do some French, maybe deal with some BS with Sprint, and possibly mess around with GIS. Ben is coming up tomorrow night, and earlier I might hang out with Bjorn. It should be a sweet day.

There were a couple of things that happened yesterday that were so nice that they deserve mention. First, Shiva and I went to Fugakyu in Brookline for dinner. The place had a hilarious interior--it was colorful and almost looked like Japanese Disney Land. Some diners had private rooms with sliding doors covered with translucent material. The food was excellent, and it was the first incredible meal I've had so far in Massachusetts.
Later I had a lovely moment where I was doing paperwork at my desk, listening to Rachmaninoff, having a little bit of brandy, and outside my window it started snowing. It was perfect.
Today I left Cambridge in the morning, spent most of the day on the train, got dinner with my dad at the Indian place in Media, and came home and unpacked. The train is definitely the most pleasant option between plane, train, or bus. I read the latest issue of Philadelphia magazine, which was quite good. They managed to make yet another article about cheesesteaks interesting and relevant beyond food--nice job.
Tomorrow, and during the whole break in general, my primary goal is to relax. This means sleep, reading, eating, and hanging out. However, there are a few things I need to do. Tomorrow I want to get a haircut, pick up some groceries and toiletries, use my Amazon gift cards possibly to get some people gifts, and write to some people in Kyoto about possibly meeting up with a design/planning student there. I'm going to be in Kyoto for a few days after Tokyo, and I think it would be cool to meet someone there and have them show me some interesting stuff and make a new friend.

Depending on how you look at it, Rollins may have been right about 100 wins. If you include the post season, I think the Phillies have won 102 games. Now let's see one more and I'll party like it's 1999.

I spent today working on my mid-term, hanging out with Shiva, meeting her sister, and discussing readings in my Gateway recitation group. My focus is on one goal tomorrow: finishing the Gateway mid-term.

I'd like to try to do this again. Documentation, reflection, and planning are all important activities.
I had Gateway this morning, did some work, went for a bike ride, had cake that Shiva brought me, watched the Phillies win game 1 of the World Series, and did some reading for tomorrow. I really appreciate all the birthday wishes that I got today, so thank you for anyone included in that group reading this.
The main focus of the next few days will be the Gateway take home mid-term. I have Econ and EPP tomorrow before lunch. Tomorrow afternoon I plan to work on the final GIS project in CRON, although I may spend most of that time reading about the LEED-ND indicators. I'm not going to stress too much about that until after the Gateway project is over.
I'm going to see if I can move my research work and meeting until early next week, again, for the same reason that everything else is being de-emphasized. One non-school task I would like to accomplish tomorrow is to set up proctoring at the local Kaplan center. Tomorrow night is another Phillies game, and since this is the World Series, I'll be watching again.

Today was registration, which was pretty straightforward. In a surprising twist, registration was actually simpler here than at SJC--the one and probably only time MIT will be less complex as an institution. I over-loaded up front to "shop" classes, as the upperclassmen recommended, but I'm sure I'll be down to a normal schedule very soon.
Later in the day I went to a Civil Engineering BBQ. I'm not sure I was supposed to be there, but it was great, because I got to meet people whose work has some overlap with what I'm interested in. I met some professors (some of whom teach in DUSP), and it was overall a great event.

I went and had dinner with two Johnnies tonight, as well as a group of their friends, and it was very nice. They were mostly from a lab that I think is called the Comparative Media Lab, and in reality I think they're mainly studying video games. Hearing their talk made me think I picked the wrong field. They spend lab time playing video games, watching movies, and reading comics, and then doing studies on their impacts on society. It seems there's a lab for most anything here.
Creating lists and things of that nature to manage my time seems silly right now. I know what I need to do--basically, complete my next assignment--so I'm trying to adapt my system to the situation that I'm in. Plus, the reviews and evaluations take tons of time, and it's not as if there's that much room for creative decision making here.
My room is starting to come together. I wish I could have had a week to work on just this aspect of moving in. Tomorrow is registration, and after that, things will be insane, so I hope that I don't still have boxes sitting around my room in November.

The time is going by quickly. I attended a math review for the econ class, continued setting things up, went to a computer workshop, completed the IT assignment, set up some software stuff, and worked my way through a back-log of e-mails.
I really enjoyed the math this morning, though I was probably one of few. It made me realize how much I miss the math we did at SJC and how sweet it was to be in a place where everyone was pumped about math. Of course, I could walk one building over and find more than enough people at this institution fitting that profile, but still, they're not in planning. Regardless, it was sweet, and a little logarithms and calculus made for a sweet morning.
The computer workshop was also cool. I feel like I'm learning an immense volume of things while I'm here, which I guess is the point.
Tomorrow I'm going to let myself sleep in a bit, do grocery shopping, work out the budget transition from the summer to the academic year, start ordering text books, work on MORE admin (I know, it must sound like I'm making things up at this point, but there's so much involved her), and then maybe hang out in the evening.
I applied to 3 research positions so far (I can't remember if I posted about that). I should know the results from those applications by next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Network failed at my apartment, which threw my schedule into chaos. I'm just wrapping up an application for another RA position (the third I've applied to). They all sound great, two of them have incredible compensation, and the third still has really good compensation. It would be amazing to get any of them. We'll see--updates forthcoming.
Being social again is fun. So many people, and everyone seems really cool. We had a big dinner tonight with all the grad students.

Today was a bunch more orientation. I got to meet some more people, and SCC hosted a dinner for us which was really nice. So far this week I've increased my push-up and pull-up reps in my work-outs to a higher amount than normal, and it's seems fine, which is great. Tomorrow I'm going to do cardio, and for that exercise, I plan to bike around Cambridge to get a better idea of the layout of my neighborhood.
Tomorrow is a lot more orientation. Hopefully I can get my loans more under control admin-wise, plus I want to call about a research opportunity, get my credit union log-in problem fixed, mail in some rebate forms, and set up the utilities in my name. Fun fun fun.

Today was the first day of orientation, and it was great. We broke out into small groups and went on a kind-of scavenger hunt through different neighborhoods in Boston. The point was for us to make friends with each other, and we did. After we got back we had group discussions about the neighborhoods we visited, then we all went over to a campus bar and hung out. Later I worked out, ate dinner, responded to some e-mails, and took care of more of this seemingly endless admin.
At the moment I'm trying to finish things, at which point I'll go to bed, and when I get up, I'll make a schedule, but mostly it'll be dominated by orientation activities.

I followed my schedule pretty closely for today. I got up, ate breakfast, cleaned the house for a bit, walked toward Kendall Sq while checking out the Carnival, went shopping for some clothes, went to the graduate student welcome BBQ, and did an hour of French.
Carnival was crazy. It was like the African festival in Philadelphia. The outfit the girls in the parade were wearing were insane. There was a lot of music and barbeque--it seemed cool.
Shopping was nerve wracking as always, but I'm happy with the way things turned out. Consciously selecting how to present yourself to the world is both exciting and scary. Anyway, I think it was fine.
The BBQ was nice. I went with John and met up with some other DUSPers. I also managed to meet some non-planning students, which was cool. Two were electrical engineers, one was in architecture, and another was in "science writing".
Tomorrow my orientation starts, which is crazy to think about. We have a variety of events, which all conclude around 7. After that point I need to call Direct Loan Servicing Center, go for a workout, call Citibank about deferring my SJC loans, do a bit of paperwork, and hopefully get to study Economics.

Today I worked out budgeting and finance planning, downloaded some software, went for a jog around the neighborhood, did a partial work-out set, picked up some misc. items at Wallgreens, spent 1 hour doing Economics, spent 2 hours doing French, synced my iCal with the department calendar, and set up a department RSS feed.
Overall my day was solid. I got up 3 hours later than I wanted to, even though I went to bed on time. I was willing to let that slide since I'd been getting such little sleep before that. I felt anxious when I was working out my budgeting and administrative stuff. I think I've been pushing myself too hard lately. I had a nice talk with Ricardo when I was making dinner. When I went to Wallgreens I allowed myself to get a bit of junk food with the intention of eating it moderately over time, and today I was successful at it, though it was challenging. There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to eat snacks so long as they're eaten in harmless quantities. In fact, it'll make me better off since I'll be happier.
Tomorrow I'm going to help with the house clean, go shopping for new clothes, attend a grad student BBQ, and put in another hour each on French and Economics.

I continued my administrative work today. I signed the lease, met with the housemates on some planning issues, updated some of my accounts with new addresses, did other misc. admin, and had dinner with Eric.
I'm feeling more settled than I was. If I get a solid sleep tonight I should be approaching the threshold of healthy sleep balance. Meeting with Eric was nice. We had falafel in central square and talked for a while about various things. I already feel like I'm building a community the likes of which I haven't had since SJC. That's a huge benefit of school. I also randomly saw my instructor from last summer's program.
I think having gone to the open house is having a huge effect on my state of mind in these days preceding the start of school. I'm not really nervous, and I feel like I already know so many people. I probably felt more nervous last summer for my program than I do now entering grad school! Anyway, that's good.
I've noticed a phenomenon with my own working habits. Let's say I have two sets of endeavors, A and B. Let's say A is something like, "study the economics book in preparation for the test-out", and let's say B is something like, "get all of your paperwork in order". It's better to do a some A and some B simultaneously than it is to plan to do all B first, until it's finished, and then do all A. You would think that it wouldn't matter. Let's say I have 50 hours to spend in a multi-day period. If I spend the first 25 on B and the second 25 on A, that should be the same as if I spend every other hour in sequence alternatively between B and A, right? Actually, it doesn't seem to work out that way. The net productivity seems higher if I alternate or do them both at the same time.
In light of that, tomorrow I intend to do some economics and some administrative work. Part of my admin is downloading some software, updating some remaining accounts with my new address, and sorting out the new rents at the apartment.

Today was more administrative tasks, mainly. I went to the realty office to start the process of getting the apartment paperwork finished, then I went grocery shopping, took a nap, and helped John paint his room. I'm still in a huge sleep debt, which I intend to make up in the coming days.
I met two of my other roommate, both of whom seem cool. This should be a good house to live in.
Tomorrow will basically be more admin, which is the bulk of what I'll likely be doing for now.

Quick post, because I'm exhausted. I moved up to Cambridge today after a long night of packing, cleaning, and painting. I'm extremely grateful for all the help people gave me at various times during the process. The place looked beautiful on the way out.
The ride up was decent. Once I got there I moved in, returned the rental truck, got set-up on a basic level, did some book keeping, and wrote some e-mails. The apartment is sweet, and the roommates I've met so far are really nice. Being in Cambridge seems kind of familiar at this point, like when I got here, I was thinking, "ok, you're back here again, cool. Let's get back to work"

I saw Radiohead tonight, which was great. Here's the set list: http://www.ateaseweb.com/2008/08/13/radiohead-live-in-camden-nj-live-report/ . I was pleased with the song selection overall. They played two of my favorite songs from Hail to the Thief (There There and Where I End and You Begin), and the version of the Gloaming they did was awesome. I was shouting for them to play Polyethylene but no luck with that one.
As much as I expected the show to be good, I didn't expect the ferry ride to be such a pleasure. The Camden waterfront is actually pretty nice, and at night, hanging out by the water and looking at Philadelphia, everything was lovely. It would make for a romantic night to take the ferry over for a show, hang out in the park, and then take the ferry back.

I'm back where it all started. Right now I'm in the St. John's College library in Annapolis writing this post. This is the exact seat where I was sitting 3 years ago when I started using the blog. Back then I no job, car, internet, or phone. A lot has changed since that time, mostly for the better. I can still remember exactly how I felt then--overall, I'm glad it's now and not then.
On Wednesday I hung out with Dan. That night we went to Horizons, which was sweet. I thought Dan would be blown away by the Seitan BBQ wings, but he didn't think they were that great. He did, however, really like the setain steak, so that was good.
Yesterday I came up to Annapolis. I said hi to my old co-workers and then went over to Andy and Laurel's for dinner and to stay over. The 3 of us plus Jin played Badminton in the yard and just generally had a nice time hanging out and talking.
Today I came back into Annapolis with Andy, said bye to my co-workers, and in a bit I'm going to meet up with Mark and hang out for the day.
There's an opening for a research position at school that offers full tuition reimbursment and a stipend, so I'm definitely applying. I bet the competition will be tough, but whatever, I'm going to apply and see what happens.
PS: the Baltimore Greyhound station is still an insuffrable dump.

Hallelujah. The universe spared me from two more meals of rice and beans. I ended up meeting Amnon and Avital in the afternoon, which resulted in being taken to Monk's and La Colombe, and then at night, I stopped into the Kaplan center to drop off the tests that I proctored, and there was a bunch of extra pizza sitting on the counter. I warmed it up in my oven, had a glass of wine, played Charlie Parker, and my malaise was instantly lifted. Spartan regimes have a major drawback in that they're depressing as hell. Vigor, happiness, and excitement add a lot to any endeavor. Once again, I've been shown that eating good food and treating the activity as something special, is highly important.

Some days you're on a roll and other days it's a battle. The day started out pretty well--I basically prepared for my lesson, got myself ready, and I also ended up talking to a potential tenant to take my place once I leave. He seems like a cool guy, I hope it works out for him (and for me too, if he decides he likes the paint job so I don't have to paint it back to white). Class itself went well, and when I came back, I finished my exercise and capped a strong first half of the day.
It was after my class that I started to falter a bit. I was desperately craving to go out and get some food, maybe get some snacks, and watch a movie or something, just chill out. I mentioned before that I've been eating beans, rice, and vegetables for lunch and dinner exclusively for the last week or two, both to save money and for my health. Of course, eating out violates both of the principles that motivated my current regimen to begin with.
My first response was to use my free Potbelly's Sandwiches gift card for dinner, thereby ending my craving without spending money or getting anything too unhealthy. I walked to the place, but it was already closed when I got there. It's an absolute miracle that I didn't collapse right then and there and get some junk food or something. I walked back to the apartment, pulled out my beans, rice, and vegetables, and tried my best to be positive about the whole thing.
After dinner the cravings didn't end, but I kept battling. I let myself mess around on the internet to try to distract myself. I ended up watching player interviews from Eagle's training camp, and that actually helped me to stay focused. I saw Brian Dawkin's mad face looking at me if I gave up my program and went to the corner store, so I held tight. In the end, I didn't cave in, and I even got a little bit of work done, so I can count this as a victory, though not an easy one.

I worked all day Friday and Saturday, which is why I didn't post. Earlier today I proctored a test, during which I prepared for school, and afterward I did laundry, planned some things for next week, talked to my mom, made food for the week, and watched Au Revoir Les Enfants.
The movie was powerful. Somehow this one affected me more than other films depicting the horrors of war. I felt anxiety and helplessness watching it, but then I realized that there are events like the Holocaust taking place right now, such as in Sudan. I've often thought, "how could all those Americans sit back during the Holocaust and not do anything?". I'm flabbergasted when I think about the apathy. Well, tonight after watching the film I realized that I'm one of those very people that flabbergast me. Even after I read What is the What, I still failed to recognize the reality of what's happening and my own lack of action.
Then I wondered what to do--where do I go from here? Make a donation? To begin with, I plan to write to my political representatives on all levels. Maybe I could talk my parents into adopting a refugee child? Maybe I could adopt a refugee child.
It's really shocking for me to meditate on the fact that events equal or greater in magnitude to the Holocaust are currently taking place. How can humanity continue to tolerate this? We all have a responsibility never to cease fighting for the principles of peace, justice, freedom, and understanding.

I'm posting early because I expect to come home late tonight from proctoring, and since I'm getting up early for work, I want to be able to go straight to bed.
This morning I prepared my loan documents as far as I was able, created an internet posting to sell my drafting board, made a flyer for it, biked to Penn, Drexel, and CCP to post my flyer, did some push-ups once I got back, continue analytically reading the Klosterman article, checked my e-mails, and after this I'm going to make some dinner and go to the Kaplan center.
It was cool seeing Drexel and CCP more in depth than I had previously. Each is an entirely separate world of students, teachers, projects, concerns, money, etc. Like discreet cities within the city. Penn gets most of the exposure, but the others seemed quite vibrant (at least socially).
Analytical reading is so rewarding. Sometimes I wish I could go through St. John's again and spend even more time analyzing and carefully reading the books. I mean, I did well, but it fell short of my ideal vision of Program immersion. In any case, it's gratifying to be resuming my reading activities in some form similar to that at St. John's, though I think the pieces I'll read from now on won't be as colorful or as imaginative.

I prepared for my class, biked to Temple, taught my class, biked back, did some pushups upon returning, ate dinner, posted my PDA on ebay for sale, filled out more forms for my loans, figured out some practical stuff, and responded to my e-mails.
I can't say strongly enough how much I'm enjoying my Charlie Parker CD. I remember someone once said in Senior Math Tutorial, "How did Einstein see it this way? What could have possibly lead him to envision the universe in such a fashion?", to which another student responded, "who knows--where do the notes come from that Charlie Parker plays? They're completely inconceivable". Yeah, so anyway, since then I've wanted to listen to more Charlie Parker, and I'm glad that I have.
It's hot in herr these days. No air conditioning or fan in my living room. I guess I could get a fan, but I feel like it's a waste of money for such little time remaining.
Eva's sister didn't end up coming here because her flight was delayed, so the stuff is still in the apartment. I'm not worried about it, just so long as I don't have to do something with it when it's time for me to move.
Tomorrow I'm proctoring at night, but other than that I have the day free. I might invite Lizzie over for coffee if I talk to her again. Otherwise I want to work on my loans, get my other items for sale up on the internet, and if possible, spend some time working on my pre-work.

I worked on loan applications, cleaned my MacBook, did some academic assignments for MIT, worked out, ate dinner with my dad at Sahara, and continued doing loan stuff later on.
Most student loan articles that I've read recommend the PLUS loan because it has a fixed interest rate, unlike others that are attached to an index. Ok, that's fair, but what about the fact that the interest rate sucks? 8.5% is pretty bad. I got pre-approved for a private loan at (prime rate - 0.5%), which would make my current rate 4.5%. With bonuses and stuff, and I could get that down a full point during repayment. I know the prime rate goes up, but it would have to go up to 9% to even equal the PLUS loan, and I was looking over the historical trends and anything greater than 9 is very rare. At this point, I'm inclined to take the 4.5%.
Last night before going to bed I finished the excerpt of Ebeneezer Howard's Garden Cities of To-Morrow in the City Reader. That one seems right up there with Jane Jacobs in terms of inspiration factor. His general idea about bringing many of the positive qualities of the country into the city, such as fresh air, trees, and clean water, is one of my basic values in planning. Today I read an op-ed piece by Charles Murray about the impending white underclass arising from increasing illegitimacy rates, and later I read Arguments For and Against Planning by Richard Klosterman. Both readings were assigned as summer work, and they asked that we follow a method similar to the HTRAB method in analyzing them. It was sweet--I feel like I can say that I have inspectionally read both pieces and analytically read the first. Tomorrow I'm going to finish "analyzing" the Klosterman piece.
Everything else was good today. Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser really does work well on the MacBook's palm rest area. I cleaned the palm rests, keys, screen, repaired the main disk and permissions, and took care of my updates. It's still a pleasure to use this computer.

I visited my sister and her boyfriend in Devon, which was cool, but the dietary discipline flew out the window for that time. Once I got back, I studied my lesson, biked to Temple, taught my class, biked home, got Radio France working on my computer, made a round of beans, rice, and vegetables that should last a few days, planned my trip to Annapolis, made granola, e-mailed some people, and next I'm going to read and go to bed.
Tomorrow I want to work on securing my alternative loan, get in a good exercise session, and work on my academic pre-work. I basically have the entire day to get stuff done, which should be fantastic.
Watched L'Avenue Montagne, which was good. The visuals were pleasing and the characters were charming, but the narrative seemed a bit weak. Apparently Paris Je T'Aime is the same movie except way better.
I spoke to Eva tonight. It was nice to talk to her but it was weird as I would have expected. I actually don't want to get too much into stuff so personal on here.
While I was eating I listened to Charlie Parker's Complete Verve Bop Quintets. It's so good, but I'm in such an undeveloped stage in my understanding of jazz. With regard to jazz, I'm in the same place as I was with regard to classical music in about 2001. At least I know some of the basics, I love it, and--thank you Mr. Franklin--there are glorious libraries making CDs like the aforementioned freely available to me.

Today I had my final dentist session in the morning, taught my GRE class, took care of some administrative work, and later I'm going to do some reading.
My class went well. My lately improved sleeping and dietary habits are allowing me to be more effective in all aspects of my life, including my teaching. In fact, I finished a typically difficult and time-consuming lesson with time to spare, and everything got covered thoroughly.
I'd recommend watching the following video: http://www.wecansolveit.org/content/pages/304/ . It's a speech by Al Gore about shifting our energy use away from carbon based fuels completely in 10 years, why it's feasible, and why it'll help many of our current economic, environmental, and national security problems. Much of it is already floating around in the pool of contemporary knowledge about such things, but I thought it was a powerful and motivating speech nonetheless. It's especially apropos Derek's admirable new consumer ethic.
Earlier today I was reminded of the joys of biking in the city, specifically in Center City Philadelphia. I'm not being sarcastic--I really enjoy it. It's such a rush to thread between rows of cars in a canyon of gleaming skyscrapers and stately old buildings, moving nimbly through dense traffic and crowds of people, and swinging widely around turns wrapping wide avenues, fountains, and monuments. It was glorious, and I look forward to my future rides.
The reason for my ride is that my GRE class is held at Temple, so if I need to stop at the Kaplan center before hand, which I needed to do today, I ride down Locust, around Rittenhouse, north on 16th, stop at the center, continue on 16th to Race, east on Race to Broad, and then north on Broad to Temple. Doing this I finally got a good look at the Divine Lorraine, which is a beautiful building.
I'm reading an essay by Frederick Law Olmstead, and I might finish it tonight.
Tomorrow I have some administrative tasks to complete, but mainly I will be working on my academic preparations for school.

Tonight I had the best food that I've ever had in my life thus far. No exaggeration. It was the BBQ Jamaican Seitan with spicy scotch bonnet crema at Horizons in Philadelphia. In fact, Leslie and I both declared, decisively, that it was the best thing either of us had ever had. The whole meal, by means of its masterful composition of sensory elements, transcended the senses and inspired us the way a great work of art might. This might sound excessive, but it really was amazing. But I'm going to stop now, because the words just sound like mystical hyperbole, which dishonors the meal.

Summary of the Day:
In the morning and early afternoon I cleaned the apartment and got ready for Leslie to come. The only other thing I had a chance to do was to check my old computer, which looks fine, although the fan isn't running. I'm going to try to get the Hill-Burton application into Penn tomorrow.
Once Leslie got here, we walked around Center City, ate at Singapore, walked around the City Hall area, went up to the top of the Club Quarters building to see the view from the balcony, chilled in Rittenhouse Square for a bit, and then came home. Singapore was awesome--it was a good decision to go there. We got orange beef and General Tso's chicken, which are both reliable Singapore classics. The orange beef was good, but the GT chicken was awesome. I think it gave Derek's Human Beef a run for its money.

Plan for tomorrow:
Breakfast, then bike around Center City and UC, drop off Hill-Burton app, hang out at Green Line café for a bit and do some work, and then ride back into Center City and get Gianna's cheesesteaks for dinner. At some point I want to finish making her a reference list of places (I got the map done), and we also need to get some groceries.

I've been slacking off with my posting, but I want to fix that. Planning across concrete and regular interviewsof time has already proven itself beneficial to me, and requiring myself to actually write out those plans—one of the functions of my blog—has made their benefits even greater via increased clarity.
When I wrote my senior essay at college, I discovered that writing isn't merely a record of thoughts that are complete by the time they get to the paper. To think this is tempting, but in fact, the paper holds us to a higher standard than our brains do. Merely thinking about something allows us to make all sorts of mental leaps and smudges that we either let slide or do not see. When you write, and you're forced to read back to yourself your own line of thinking, errors become more apparent. Therefore, writing and thinking are dialectical, not linear.

Plan for the Remainder of the Year:
The most important thing is that I want to complete a strong first semester at school. Academically, I want to get as far as I can with my course-work by taking advantage of the test-out opportunities for some of the entry level classes. Also, I want to have gained a sense of focus within the field and begin building toward specialization. By the end of the first semester I expect to have a decent grasp on the general issues in the field and where I can go from there. Non-academically, I want to get a good handle on the funding resources available to me and to begin the process of procuring those funds.
Also by the end of the year, I intend for my fitness tug-of-war to be over and for me to have achieved a level of fitness that I find acceptable. This means by the year's end, I will have sustained a healthy diet and exercise for longer than a week or two, and as a consequence, I will have broken whatever reliance I have on sugar.
Once my fitness goals are achieved, I'll be more inclined to cultivate a wardrobe so I can end my riff-raff appearance once and for all. The only limiting factor for this goal is money, but even so, I think by the end of the year I should be able to put together something more respectable than what I have now. Not to mention the fact that I've been working more than I planned specifically with the intention of spending that money on new clothes.
Beyond fitness, I want to increase my computer savvy. First of all, my new computer has inspired me to learn more. Performing tasks and getting new information has seemed easier and, just as important, more fun. I know it's cliché, but on some basic level, the fact that my new computer simply works most all the time makes my use of it so much more satisfying.
Aside from the fun and inspiration that my new computer has caused, the technological resources that will be available to me at school will be so immense, that I want to be able to tap into them and participate in some way.
In regard to habits and routine, at some point, tightening my discipline will no longer be simply desirable but necessary. That time might be once I start graduate school. This means regularly making plans, schedules, and policies and sticking to them. My intention is for that to be automatic by the end of the year.
Regarding French, by the end of the year I want to be either nearly fluent or totally fluent. My skill level was rising rapidly during the summer and fall of 2006, but then it started stagnating after that. It's possible that my skill level has even declined slightly since that time. Now is the time to “go in for the kill”, master that thing, implement some way to keep it fresh, and move on.
To accomplish this I have three general strategies that I plan to use during the next few months. First, I will put in at least 3 hours of work per week doing reading, grammar practice, or some combination of the two. Second, I plan to watch French movies in at least a 1:1 ratio with non-French movies, if not a 2:1 ratio. Third, I will seek out conversation partners and groups and utilize them routinely.
Another skill I want to cultivate is dancing. I'm waiting until I get to school for this, since there will probably be free lessons available to me there. Not only is it fun, but it seems like one of a gentleman's basic refinements, and since I'm striving to cultivate the character of a gentleman, I intend to learn how to dance.
Continuing the ideas of character cultivation, I want to become more social and less judgmental. Getting with the 21st century and creating a Facebook was one way of accomplishing this. Others include creating my contacts list, resurrecting my AIM account, participating in the conversation groups I mentioned above, going to parties, and looking into Couch Surfing. At least as far as parties goes, the house I'll be living in apparently hosts many of the department parties, so that'll make it fairly easy to accomplish that goal. By parties, I don't mean out-of-control college keg stands, but something more subdued.
Another activity I want to get back into is playing music. I don't want to take it too seriously or spend too much time doing it, but something small on the side would be nice. I miss it, frankly. I was imagining playing a guitar-and-vocals set at a local coffee shop, something like that.
One final goal is to make volunteering routine. Once I get to Cambridge, I'm going to look into volunteering programs run through the school as well as the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. The latter sounds like something I would both find satisfying and something that would make a significant positive impact on the community. Regardless of what I end up doing, volunteering should be a given in my life by the end of the year.

Plan for the Month
I decided on a fairly major departure from my previous plan concerning my life-style between now and the beginning of school. Because time is so limited, and since I really want to do this right, I'm cutting back on social activity and the level of energy and time that I'm going to invest in food preparations. Socially, I don't feel as lonely as I did before, and there really isn't much time left before school, so I think I can tolerate retreating into my work a little bit.
Food-wise, I'm planning for a fairly austere regimen. For breakfasts I'm going to continue eating fruit, granola, yogurt, and an egg, although I'm not going to have coffee anymore as a routine item. For lunch and dinner I'm going to start having brown rice with beans and vegetables. It will help me save money and get into shape quickly. Although it sounds harsh, I did that for several months in Annapolis last year, and it wasn't that bad.
Having said this, one major exception to this will be the period of time between this Tuesday the 15th and Tuesday the 22nd. Leslie is coming to visit, which is awesome, but there's no way I'm going to act like St. Jerome while she's here. I'm going to take her out for all the classic Philadelphia foods and attractions, so during that time, I'll be in a relatively leisurely state.
By the end of the month I want to be deep into my course work so that I can attempt my test-outs. I should have a detailed sense of what information I need to learn and what resources are available for me to learn it. At that time I want to have a schedule made that will carry me until my move-out date.
Funding research should be done by the end of the month. It looks like there aren't any scholarships taking applications before school starts, but if I find any, I also want to be deep into the process of completing those.
Other than jumping into my course work, I want to continue chipping away at my task list and maintaining my routine tasks, like French. Task-list wise, it seems plausible to finish my loan paperwork and sell my old computer, PDA, and other miscellaneous electronics before the month's end. Of course, another crucial, on-going task is doing what I need to do to prepare for my move to Cambridge. I refuse to let this move be as rushed and stressful as all my previous moves have been going all the way back to the beginning of college. I have already set aside an entire week to complete the majority of the specific logistical tasks associated with the move, as well as the move itself.
The only thing I should mention here is the possibility of my Annapolis trip taking place around the weekend of the 25th. The other time I'm considering is the weekend of August 8th.

Plan for the Week:
As I mentioned in my plan for the month, Leslie is coming this Tuesday and will be here for the remainder of the week. This should be a blast, but it means that the change in my food policy won't happen until next week and also that there will be a greater quantity of fun in the balance between work and fun.
Stuff we'll do will probably include biking up Kelly Drive and into the park, going to University City, hanging out in Rittenhouse, going to coffee shops, checking out some historical things, going to some of the museums (including the Barnes, Art Museum, and maybe the Franklin), doing architecture tours, going to a concert at the Curtis institute, and eating a lot of food. In preparation for her arrival, I intend to print out some maps and information for her.
To further my primary endeavor at the moment—my academic preparations—I plan to spend 4 hours Wednesday, 4 hours Sunday, and 4 hours in smaller sessions throughout the week doing course work and funding research.
Work-wise, I plan to go into Media all day Thursday and part of the day Friday. On Saturday I'm proctoring a test for Kaplan. My previous GRE class ended on Sunday, and my next one isn't starting until next week.
In terms of other work, one major thing I plan to do is to clean the apartment before Leslie gets here. This includes cleaning the bathroom, washing sheets and pillow cases, moving all of Eva's stuff, and doing a general cleaning. I also need to do some grocery shopping, but I think I'll wait until she gets here to take care of that.
Some individual things I want to do this week include getting my Hill-Burton application to Penn (they lost the first one I sent them), doing another diagnostic check of my old computer to get ready for its sale, and to advance whatever I need to advance to take care of my loans.

Plan for Tomorrow:
The first thing I plan to do is to take my Hill Burton application to Penn. Then I will pick up wherever I left off with my house work and other preparations for Leslie's arrival. She comes at 5:30, so I think I'll be able to finish getting ready with some extra time left over before she gets here. With that extra time I want to test my old computer, do loan paperwork, and possibly get a head start on that extra four hours of course work.
Once Leslie gets here, I was thinking we could go to Singapore for dinner, stop at Trader Joe's for groceries, and maybe go to a coffee shop afterward.
I debated with myself about which vegetarian chinese restaurant to go to, and I eventually chose Singapore. I chose Singapore because it has been the best overall on a consistent basis.
Despite the fact that Kingdom gets the most hype, I've only had one thing there that I liked out of going there 4 different times and trying multiple things each time. That one thing also happens to be the most expensive thing on the menu. Furthermore, their food always seems to be luke warm when it comes out.
Charles Plaza is good, but it isn't dedicated to vegetarian food 100%, and sometimes that seems to hurt the quality of their veggie stuff.
Su Xing is good, but not as consistently good as Singapore.
Finally, there's Harmony, which is a close second to Singapore. In their favor, the best vegetarian chinese meal I've ever had in Philadelphia was at Harmony, but on the other hand, one of the worst vegetarian chinese meals I've ever had was there as well. It just seems inconsistent. Singapore is almost always at least solid, and I'm quite familiar with their menu at this point so I have a couple dishes I can order that I know will be excellent.

From Mr. Emerson:

"It is for want of self-culture that the superstition of Travelling, whose idols are Italy, England, Egypt, retains its fascination for all educated Americans. They who made England, Italy, or Greece venerable in the imagination did so by sticking fast where they were, like an axis of the earth. In manly hours, we feel that duty is our place. The soul is no traveller; the wise man stays at home, and when his necessities, his duties, on any occasion call him from his house, or into foreign lands, he is at home still, and shall make men sensible by the expression of his countenance, that he goes the missionary of wisdom and virtue, and visits cities and men like a sovereign, and not like an interloper or a valet.

I have no churlish objection to the circumnavigation of the globe, for the purposes of art, of study, and benevolence, so that the man is first domesticated, or does not go abroad with the hope of finding somewhat greater than he knows. He who travels to be amused, or to get somewhat which he does not carry, travels away from himself, and grows old even in youth among old things. In Thebes, in Palmyra, his will and mind have become old and dilapidated as they. He carries ruins to ruins.

Travelling is a fool's paradise. Our first journeys discover to us the indifference of places. At home I dream that at Naples, at Rome, I can be intoxicated with beauty, and lose my sadness. I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea, and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from. I seek the Vatican, and the palaces. I affect to be intoxicated with sights and suggestions, but I am not intoxicated. My giant goes with me wherever I go."

Hell yeah. First of all, I hope that I can fill my life with good works on behalf of my home, Philadelphia, and make it another England, Italy, or Greece. I have been and will continue to strive to be the axis that Emerson talks about.
Next, I had a great experience today with regard to one of his latter points. I was in the suburbs at my grandmother's house, and I felt tranquil in her yard amid gardens, trees, and sun. It seemed idyllic, and I was happy. I figured my trip back home would be grim in comparison, as I'd need to ride on the El Shuttle through the more rundown sections of West Philly, breaking the bucolic setting of the garden.
However, to my delight, once I got to 69th street and boarded my bus, I felt at home again for the second time, and more than that, I felt tranquil again. I loved the citizens on the bus, the shops in the streets, and the murals as much as I did the flowers, trees, and birds earlier. Then I realized, the tranquility was not a function of external factors--it was from within. Assuming that that's an accurate reflection, I don't know whether I can take credit for that or not. I guess Emerson would say that I can and should take credit for it, and it's not as if I haven't been striving for years--almost a decade at this point--to cultivate an excellent character and tranquility of mind. Maybe I'm starting to enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Pittsburgh Trip:

On Thursday Dan and I walked around downtown Pittsburgh for most of the afternoon. We checked out the CSX building, the PPG building, the Mellon Center, some of the church's (though we were barred from entering the one I wanted to see the most, the First Presbyterian Church), the Gulf Center, several of the parks, Point Park, and several other buildings. We randomly got a chance to tour the office of Urban Design Associates in the Gulf Center and hear about some of the projects they're working on.
The downtown somehow reminded me of Minneapolis's downtown architecturally. It looked old and industrial, which is beautiful in a way. The modernist buildings from the 30s were cool, but much of the newer stuff looked ugly to me.
Culturally/socially, it was pretty cool--much more vibrant than, say, Baltimore, but more desolate than Philadelphia or New York. Renewal projects are plentiful and conspicuous. It seems like the city is trying hard to improve their downtown.
Later that day we got pizza and coffee in Squirrel Hill. For dinner we went to this Thai restaurant with Kumiko. After that I was completely beat so I went to bed early. The night before I had only gotten 4 hours of sleep.
On Friday we met up with Kumiko again and got breakfast in Shadyside. Afterwards, Dan and I walked to CMU, toured the university area, headed over to Southside, and walked down Carson Street to the tram up Mount Washington. We went up to the top, checked out the views, and then came back down and hung out at Crazy Mocha. Then Kumiko met us and we went to Double Wide for dinner. I got their pulled seitan BBQ sandwich, which was great. It was one of the better fake meat dishes I've had.
That night we went downtown to watch the fireworks, which was cool. Much of the park was closed off, which was annoying, but it was still a good time. After that we watched Cinema Paradiso at Kumiko's and then went to sleep.
On Saturday we ate breakfast at Square Cafe with Derek and Kumiko. Dan got this killer nutella and strawberry crêpe, and though mine was good, I probably should have gotten that. Afterwards Dan and I walked through Frick Park en route to Schenley Park where the four of us met up again. We messed around in the park, playing frisbee and stuff like that, and then we went and watched Wall-E. I thought the movie was great and that it deserves all the hype it's been getting.
For dinner we went to a vegetarian chinese restaurant, which was incredible. It was among the best I've ever had. Derek's Hunan "Beef" was the best thing I tried during the entire trip.
After dinner we went to a coffee shop and then a bar later. I played darts for the first time at the bar, which was a blast. Kumiko had a crazy dart style reminiscent of Mitch Williams from the Phillies. If the darts were real, she would have taken out the game screen numerous times.
On Sunday we ate breakfast at Pamela's, which was good, and then we headed over to the train station. The station itself was beautiful and had a sweet vaulted entrance. The train ride home was ok--I was working on Kaplan, so it was basically "work", and there was this girl talking on her phone right behind me the entire trip (about 8hrs), which was distracting. The countryside was beautiful though. Also, at one point I went to get something at the snack car, ordered up my food, and then when I was trying to pay they told me the credit card machine was broken. I only had $1, so I told the guy to forget it. Just then this guy standing next to me asked me how much I needed, which was $2.50, and then he just handed me the difference. I was blown away at his generosity. I will strive to return it to the world in whatever way I can. That was the highlight of the train ride home, and one of the highlights of the trip really.
Overall I had a great time. Dan provided excellent hospitality, and it was great to see everyone over there. The city itself was cool. I had plenty of excellent food, and in many ways, it's a gorgeous city. The landscape is one of its best features. It's surrounded by forested mountains and rivers on all sides. It's like the rainforest version of San Francisco landscape-wise (well, except for the ocean and bay part). Ed Rendell was right--I did enjoy Pittsburgh.

Today: Got up late, which was ok since I was severely sleep deprived for the last few days, picked up my dad at 30th street, got a haircut, worked out, wrote a school-related e-mail, made a lovely dinner, and now I'm going to post, read, and go to bed. My dinner was salad, homemade baguettes avec beurre, and cauliflower gratin. Also, I decided to buy a book today. I've been sworn off buying books since sophomore year in college, for two reasons: 1) I move so much and moving all my books was starting to be a giant pain 2) it saves tons of money to just get them from the library. Well, I'm not done using the library, but I want to start buying books again. I even regret selling the ones that I did from St. John's. My policy was good while it was in effect, but now I think it's time to start again. Aside from the obvious reasons that they have a valuable use and that I love books as objects, I think they are a beautiful aesthetic element of a space. That might strike some as a stupid/shallow reason, but I find it compelling. I get so much pleasure walking into a room that is stacked with books, especially great ones. I want to look over from my table and see books, have them physically around me. At the moment, my book collection is paltry. I had the illusion of owning a lot of books while Eva and I were together, but most of them were hers, and now I have this depressing, empty shelf looking at me all day. Anyway, the book I bought today was The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs, a classic, and a nice one to set me back on my journey of accumulating an excellent library.

Tomorrow: All day work marathon with some French en route.

Week in Review: I took care of my basic, day-to-day tasks last week but not much beyond that. I'm ashamed that I couldn't advance my non-routine tasks more than I did.
That being said, one great piece of news is that I secured an apartment in Cambridge that sounds awesome. Location, roommates, and price are all excellent.
My trip to New York yesterday was fun. Not only is the bus $1, but it has free wifi too. Once I got there, I walked up toward Washington Square to meet Ben. From there we walked to Greenwich Village and checked out Jane Jacob's former house and block. It's so different than it was when she wrote The Death and Life of Great American Cities that visiting wasn't as cool as I thought it would be. The area seemed nice though. Frankly, I prefer Rittenhouse Square over it.
Next we visited the Met with his friend and a friend of his friend, which was great. Ben and I went really slow, studied, and discussed a small number of the European sculptures, checked out the roof garden, got an overview of some of the painting galleries, and moved through the 16th and 17th century European room re-creations and the arms gallery. Many more trips would be required just to look at everything once in a cursory fashion, let alone study each piece.
Afterward the four of us had dinner, and then Ben and I walked to downtown, checked out a few of the neighborhoods down there, and then I took the bus back.
The upper east side around the museum was stunningly beautiful from an architectural point of view. I was really blown away. The majesty of the buildings and boulevards there is unsurpassed by anything I've seen in the US. On the other hand, I was reminded of how ugly I think much of the lower east side and downtown are. Some of it is downright depressing. Overall it was a great day and it was very nice to see Ben again.
Earlier in the week I had another adventure when I took my mom out to Susanna Foo and the Orchestra. The restaurant pulls-off "asian fusion" in a way that actually works, unlike most others that try for it. It was very nice.
As good as the dinner was, the Orchestra was the highlight of the night. They played a sampling of pieces from 19th and 20th century Russian composers. I had never been to the Kimmel Center before, and I was struck by its interior beauty and the acoustics of the concert hall. While I have mixed feelings about the exterior, the inside is great and overall, it's a world-class feature of the city.
A big reason for the low productivity was a re-ignition of my grief over the breakup. It messed me up, and by the time I felt ok again, it was late in the week and I just had enough time to work and go to NY. The extent to which I feel better right now is greater than it has been since the event occurred. I expect the pain to diminish from this point forward.

Plan for next week;
I deliberated about whether or not I want to work while in Pittsburgh, and I decided that it would be best to take a complete vacation. I haven't done that in long time. The opportunity has been there before, to be sure, but it usually gets undermined by my neurosis about not getting enough work done. Not this time! I'm chilling from Thursday to Sunday morning.
Because of this, next week will be a short week work-wise. Tuesday morning through Wednesday evening will be a work block, and I also plan to spend 9 hours on Sunday preparing my Kaplan lesson.
With the time left over, I want to cut into some of my tasks on Moday, which I'll get into with my plan for tomorrow.

Summary of Today: I got up and taught my class, took care of admin, ate a lovely dinner of vegetable soup, french bread, and avocado salad while listening to Debussy, cooked some food for next week, and just did general end of the week type stuff. The highlight of the day, by far, was that I successfully baked my own baguettes. It was my first attempt, and although they're not picture perfect in appearance, they taste delicious. I made a sample one and cut it open, spread some butter on there, and enjoyed the warm, airy interior and the hard, crusty exterior. It's satisfying to do something yourself that people usually rely on someone else to do.

Plan for tomorrow: Haircut, _____, funding research, call about insurance. test old compy., copy wall calendar to new compy.

Plan for Today (End times in parenthesis):

Look at housing (look at craigslist and survey other sources of info, like local newspapers online, mit bulletin boards), reply to housing questionnaire, e-mail John: 1 hour (2:20)

meal planning and shopping: 1 hour 45 minutes DROP OFF COOK BOOK AT LIBRARY, PICK UP DEBUSSY CD, AND NETFLIX IN MAIL BOX. (4:05)

Kaplan: 2 hours (6:05)

Exercise: 30 minutes (6:35)

Read: 30 minutes, in public place preferably (7:05)

Dinner: 1 hour 30 minutes (8:35)

Drink with Juan: 1 hour 30 minutes (10:05)

Blog/Email: 30 minutes (10:35)

Meditation: 30 minutes (11:05)

11:10 bed time

30 minutes isn't enough time to cook, eat, and clean up from breakfast. I tried 45 minutes this morning, and that seemed better.
This last week was tough, for obvious reasons. After the initial shock, I started feeling better, but then at the end of the week my mood started going back down.
I think part of the reason this happened is that my activities are too isolating. I work better when I can work with other people, and especially now, it's not good to sit in my apartment alone. I want to make more of an effort to be social and to make solitary activities into group activities wherever I can. For example, I'm considering seeking out a French conversation group to replace my solitary study (this was Will's suggestion actually). Other possibilities would be group parkour and studying in public places.
Whatever may be going on, for better or worse, I did two things that should be fundamentally prohibited--I completely gave up my discipline and didn't post, meaning, I didn't spend time reflecting and planning. Some might argue that I should be less harsh on myself with my notions of discipline, but here's the problem: if I don't control myself, I eat junk food and play video games, in solitude. That's it. That's my default activity. So what should I do? I believe that I need to exert control over myself because the alternative is completely valueless, and in fact, destructive.
The posting was the second duty that I neglected. This should be automatic, every day. I need to keep trying, keep thinking, and never give up. It'll be a fight, no doubt, but the fight needs to be made, otherwise nothing will happen.
Another thought is with continuity of program. If I change up my agenda and personal management techniques too frequently, I'll never give anything a chance, and I won't have actual test cases that I can learn from. If I start a new program, and it works for a few days, but then things get horrible, normally I stop. For the short-term that might be a good response, but in the long-term, I end up cycling between the same solutions, never giving each one its full trial. What would have happened if the colonies disbanded and gave up after the Articles of Confederation debacle? At least they rode it out, studied it, and implemented an evolved program that was conceived judiciously and carefully. I want to emulate this. I have a decent program now, so I need to stick with it, truthfully reflect on what's happening, and move forward with care.
One thing that I have done for long enough to be able to critique, and which I want to eliminate, is starting each post with tallies from my to-do list. It's not representative of my effectiveness. It makes me focused on reducing my task list instead of doing what needs to be done, and although it sounds like these should be the same things, let me explain. It's like judges accepting politically motivated plea bargains because the only thing they're focused on is getting convictions to be re-elected, as if the criminals and the justice system are making deals with each other for their mutual benefit. As I have said before, it's possible to have a highly productive day in which the net task balance rises and a weak day in which the task balance lowers. I should be focused on doing what needs to be done and doing it well. I shouldn't hesitate to put things on the list because it'll raise the count, and I shouldn't put aside the more lengthy, challenging tasks in lieu of quicker things that can produce more immediate results.
In terms of material accomplishments last week, it was amazing to me in the first place that I rebounded in any kind of way from the breakup earlier in the week. By mid-to-late week, I was on schedule again and getting things done. There was also the work that had to be done to "shut down" the relationship, namely, dealing with things like dividing up belongings, figuring out money, copying pictures, and attempting to reconcile ourselves with the situation emotionally.
Other accomplishments for the week were getting the process started on a possible summer internship, putting together a nice Father's Day dinner with my sister, advancing my knowledge about my new computer, finishing the French course, and getting my teaching completed effectively. In the beginning of the week I figured that my class would be able to tell that I was upset about something, but I think I managed to keep myself completely together, at least externally.
One big frustration with my effectiveness this past week is that I feel like so much time gets put into routine tasks that I'm not actually moving forward on really important things like finding funding or housing for school. Maybe I should cut back my standard of living to be more effective with that stuff. For now, I want to continue making home-cooked meals from fresh ingredients. I'm always tempted to eliminate this, and it would be easy to do so, because it's not yet routine, and I grew up eating instant food. However, I've come to believe that this is one of those cornerstones of human life (yes, I think it's that important). It may sound silly, but I have come to believe that cooking a fresh meal with real fruits, vegetables, fresh cheese, and home-baked bread, sitting down with whatever family you have around, and having a real meal is essential to mental and physical health. Ultimately, I know how many hours there are in a day, and I know what I need to do. When constructing my daily schedule the night before, I need to parse my time in a way that is consistent with my priorities, and then the following evening, I need to check, #1, if my time allotments were accurate, #2, see what happened, and #3, re-evaluate my time budgeting and priorities for the next day.
Last night I did end up going out for Father's Day, and that took most of the night. I only got back at 10:15, which left enough time to do some accounting, plan my work hours for the week, do laundry, and install some things on the computer. But then I fell apart later in the evening, which meant that I ate snacks and played games on the computer until 2 or 3 in the morning.

Non-routine stuff that has to get done this week:
Sunday Letter
KBS System/E-mails to students
Searching for housing in Cambridge

Non-routine stuff that I really want to get done/work on this week:
Get cooking pot
Plan Annapolis trip
Find a French Conversation Group
Spend time learning the computer
Survey funding options for school
Hang out with Juan tonight

Plan for the rest of the day: Pick up at least 2 cookbooks from the library, figure out how to run KBS and e-mail my students, pick up cooking pot, plan meals, go shopping, e-mail Eric back about housing, and go out with Juan.

*POST FOR SATURDAY JUNE 14*
Items Added to Task List: 0
Items Removed from Task List: 0
Items Combined With Other Tasks: "Getting CSA in Boston" eliminated and moved under, "Boston Move"
Active Items Remaining: 35

Summary: I went to a going away party for Eva and one of our mutual friends. She wanted me to go, and it seemed like the decent thing to do, but it was surprisingly upsetting. I had to leave early, actually. I had a ride there, but I left and walked home, from around 8th and Fairmount. I don't want to get into this too much on here, but it's tough, and it's making it more difficult to be on point.
I mostly was disciplined today, with a few exceptions: I had too many desserts at the party before leaving (though the walk back mitigated that), and I watched two episodes of the Wire, when I really only wanted to watch one, and maybe I shouldn't have watched any. However, I finished my preparations for tomorrow, worked out, mostly ate healthfully, thoroughly cleaned the kitchen, read more articles for 30 minutes, finished the French, and did some planning for Father's Day. With the completion of today's French, I have now completed Living Languages French Beyond the Basics for the second time. I might do it a third time at some point, since I think I still haven't mastered everything in the course.
My task to focus on today was getting new shoes. I spent a while looking on-line and visited two shops, but no one had anything that I was looking for. I'll have to pick that task up again at a later time. I don't feel bad for not finishing that, since I put in a good effort.
The one thing I do feel bad about is not spending time setting my computer up with the network. That should have been worked on during the hour when I was watching the second Wire episode. Oh well. Honestly, I was close to making a chip, soda, and Tastykake run on Old Nelson's and giving up for the night after I walked back from the party, so the fact that I rebounded at all is decent.

Plan for tomorrow: Get up at 10:45, eat, get ready, go over my notes from 12-1, teach from 1-3:30, and then after that the day could go one of two ways. One possibility is that we do something for Father's Day tomorrow, in which case most of the rest of the day will be spent on that (traveling to Media, eating, traveling back--easily 4.5 hours). The other possibility is that we do something at a later date, and I spend tomorrow afternoon working on things.
In the first scenario, upon returning, I would take care of the essentials. This means planning meals, food shopping, doing laundry, making a CVS run, and setting my agenda for the week.
In the second scenario, I might be able to knock off several of my tasks on the to-do list. These include: getting soap, getting cellophane tape, ordering/picking up a new pair of shoes, setting up the printer, copying recipes, getting a book for keeping copied recipes, as well as doing the other things I mentioned in the first scenario.

*POST FOR FRIDAY JUNE 13*
Items Removed From the Task List: ?
Items Added to the Task List: ?
Active Items Remaining:?
*The old computer isn't booting up right now, so I can't access my task list*

Summary of the day: I got up late but was disciplined after that. I listened to All Quiet on the Western Front during breakfast and lunch. I love it so far. During dinner I listened to NPR.
I alternated between Kaplan and my other tasks. My prep for Sunday is almost complete, so I should be able to get a head start on next week's class before next week begins. I did my accounting, French, replied to e-mails, and started planning for Father's Day. I need to talk to my sister about this tomorrow.
Later I watched another episode of the Wire and read some articles that my neighbor sent me. One was on "green jobs", another was on green roofs, and the third was on government surveillance. The first was the only one that contained substance that seemed to attain any depth. The last two I'd heard before. As the author of the first article said, more data is needed about the net gain or loss of jobs when switching traditional market sectors to green modes of operation.
Is there a net increase in jobs when switching to cleantech? If so, how long will that last? And why are there more? One argument I've heard is that cleantech is more labor intensive--does this mean the costs are inherently higher? That seems to deflate the argument that some make about green building being better both for the public good AND for the bottom line. And if the argument about net job gain is based on the observation that jobs will be created in the plus column, without considering anything else, that just seems foolish. Of course, I think these things should be done because they're the right thing to do, but other reasons are being sought out to convince people who either don't think it's the right thing to do or that think it's the right thing to do but won't act on that, and these reasons, if they exist, need to be clarified and transmitted.

Plan for tomorrow: Too bad I can't look at my task list right now while making my schedule. Here's what I can say in general: get up at 11:30, work on Kaplan until the Sunday lesson is complete, work on plans for Father's Day, possibly complete two short or one medium length task on the list, spend as much time as I need to finish the French (it'll be less than 1/2 hour), possibly go to that BBQ in the evening, watch another episode of the Wire, and continue setting my new computer up with the school network.

Active Items on Task List: 36

Initially I had planned to go to bed at 10:30, but once I thought about it more, that seemed kind of unwise. I've been going to bed at 3 or 4 am, so lying down at 10:30 won't accomplish anything other than me lying in bed for a few hours. Instead, I decided to work on Kaplan until I get tired or until it's 2, whichever comes first, and over the next few days, I'll gradually scale back my bed time.
Here's an analysis of my time expenditures. What follows is my plan for the day and a comment in caps about how accurate my time allotment was: "1 hour to plan out meals 5:00-6:00 TOO MUCH TIME, I FINISHED IN 30 MINS/ 45 minutes to go shopping, 6:00-6:45 TOO LITTLE TIME, THIS TOOK AN HOUR/ Exercise from 6:45-7:15 THIS WAS RIGHT ON THE MONEY/ Dinner after, 7:15 to 8:30 THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE EXCEPT I HAD DISHES PILED UP FROM BEFORE, SO TODAY I JUST DIDN'T CLEAN UP ALL THE WAY. NORMALLY, IF I WERE TO MAKE WHAT I MADE TONIGHT, 45 MINUTES WOULD BE FINE FOR COOKING, EATING, AND CLEANING/ Watch 1 episode of the Wire, 8:30-9:30 THIS WAS EXACT, read for 1/2 hour 9:30-10:00 THIS WAS ALSO EXACT post/email/brush teeth 10-10:30 THIS WENT WAY OVER. I GOT A CALL, AND THEN I THOUGHT OF A FEW EMAILS THAT NEEDED TO BE WRITTEN. 10:30, go to bed THIS ISN'T THE PLAN ANYMORE"
The whole post/brush teeth/check emails thing is a little annoying. Some nights it takes 15 minutes, other nights it takes 2 hours. Theoretically I shouldn't do anything during that time that takes more than 5 minutes, and if something comes up that takes more than 5 minutes, I add it to the task list. Tonight it was partially because I forgot about that and partially because the e-mails seemed urgent, at least one of them. I didn't want to wait until tomorrow to write it. Typical week-day posting can be performed in 5-10 minutes, my oral hygiene takes maybe 5 minutes, and 15-25 minutes should be enough to Inspect my e-mails, i.e., see what I got generally, reply to some quick ones, and table the others to my task list. For tomorrow I'll try to be more strict about that.
During my reading time I inspectionally read Visions of a New Reality: The City and the Emergence of Modern Visual Culture by Frederic Stout.
Tomorrow: reply to housing e-mails, work on plans for Father's Day, spend 1/2 hour on French audio, work on Kaplan, check Visa statement for accounting (and write in routine audit day on calendar), plus the normal stuff. The order of priority if I finish my lesson is setting up my new computer with the MIT network and software, then transferring files, but I doubt I'll get that far.

Plan for the week: In general, I need to get back into a normal schedule. First I need to plan out meals and do any grocery shopping that's necessary. I've been eating out and living off of Tastykakes for the last few days, so I really need to get back into a decent routine.
Next, I need to finish preparing for my class on Sunday.
Beyond this, I need to monitor continuously my e-mail so I can respond if I hear something more about the internship. On Sunday my sister and I are planning something for Father's Day; more planning is still necessary.
Once I finish preparing the lesson, I need to set up my computer with the MIT network and software. I also need to transfer some files from the old computer. Next I want to set up my printer/copier and start copying some recipes in books that Eva will be taking.
Eventually I want to reevaluate my organization system now that I just got the iPod touch. Maybe I'll start writing down appointments in there as opposed to on my wall calendar, although I like my low-tech planning method, so we'll see. Either way, I want to look at everything again. This too has lower priority than lesson preparation.

Plan for today: 1 hour to plan out meals 5:00-6:00. 45 minutes to go shopping, 6:00-6:45. Exercise from 6:45-7:15. Dinner after, 7:15 to 8:30. Watch 1 episode of the Wire, 8:30-9:30, read for 1/2 hour 9:30-10:00, post/email/brush teeth 10-10:30. 10:30, go to bed.

Disclaimer upfront: I'm super tired while writing this, so excuse any extra incoherence.
A lot has happened since the last post. The biggest news is that Eva and I broke up. This isn't the appropriate place to explain the reasons in detail, but I will say that the breakup wasn't precipitated by a single, negative event, it was amicable, and we still plan to be a significant part of each other's lives.
Not only has this been emotionally consuming, but it has also been time consuming, as we have had to figure out how to separate materially. Thankfully, that's mostly finished.
A second piece of news is that a sweet internship might be in the works for THIS summer, before going to school. I'm going to keep this discreet until things reach a more certain point.
Third, I just got a brand new computer--a Macbook--partially motivated by desire and partially motived by need, since Eva is taking the one we shared (it belonged to her initially). I'm actually writing this post with the new computer. It's been fun playing with the features so far. I also got a free iPod Touch as part of a deal for students, which is nice. I always wanted an iPod but could never justify the purchase.
Tomorrow I'm going to take it easy in the morning and let myself sleep in. Once I wake up, I'm going to start planning and scheduling and getting back into a productive mode.

Plan for the Week: Fixed events for the week include Eva’s parents visiting this weekend, my Kaplan class on Sunday, and my dental appointments. I still need to finish preparing the Kaplan lesson, and I’d like get a head start on the following week as well.
The big focus for this week is working on funding and administrative preparation for school. At this point that means sending my consigliore my CV, e-mailing the department about any new opportunities that may have come up, filling out the internship form, and writing about being a TA.
While funding/admin for school is my top priority work-wise this week, setting my health insurance/PCP is going to be my next most urgent priority. It’s great that I have dental appointments set up for Monday and Tuesday so I can get that taken care of, but the other health stuff needs to be addressed.
On the diet/fitness side of things, I want to maintain a fairly austere regimen to get in shape for Argentina at the end of the month. Especially if I go on vacation in a place like Argentina, I want to feel as comfortable as possible walking around in my own skin, so I’m stepping up my fitness and diet goals for the month.
With French, yesterday I finished all the bookwork for the advanced program, so now I only need to listen to the audio for the last two lessons. This I will get out of the way early in the week, after which I’ll move on to my next French project: finishing French For Reading Knowledge. I plan to devote about 3 hours per week to that project and finish in about a month.

Plan for Tomorrow: Trip to CVS, go to dentist, e-mail Mark, finish French audio, see if I can schedule Mantoux test (or find out if I can waive it), deal with library books, and work on paperwork for school for the rest of my time.

New York Recap Written a Few Days Ago:
I just got back from a weekend in New York. On Friday we met Claire in The East Village for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. While the food was decent, the Vietnamese coffee was excellent.
We stayed at Claire's overnight, and the next day I met up in Brooklyn with Nunu from my summer program. We walked over the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan, hung out in Chinatown, ate at a vegetarian restaurant, got bubble tea, walked to Midtown, and checked out Bryant Park. The vegetarian restaurant was good, but not any better than the ones at home.
After saying goodbye to Nunu, I walked back to The East Village, visited the Strand, which was impressive in its inventory size but ironically didn't have the book I was looking for (Flaubert's L'Education Sentimentale in French), and hung out in Tompkins Park and watched skateboarders (all of whom except 1 were mediocre). From there I walked to Klong (Thai restaurant) to meet Eva, Claire, Hadar, and Sheldon.
Dinner at Klong was great--it was one of the best Thai restaurants I've ever been to. Afterward we took a cab to Hadar and Sheldon's place. It was nice to finally meet them.
On Sunday, Eva, Claire, and I visited Columbia, and ate at this cafe by campus for breakfast. Afterward we took the subway to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, which was awesome.
After The Gardens, I walked to Avenue J to try the famous Di Fara's pizza. The wait time for a slice was ridiculous (45 minutes), but the wait and the price notwithstanding, it completely blew my mind. It's easily in the category of Tacconelli's, i.e., pizzas seemingly handed down from the heavens.
After pizza I took the train back into Manhattan, walked around the Lower East Side, and got on the bus to come home.
The city itself impressed me greatly on this visit. First of all was the impression of vibrancy. Countless streets were packed, seemingly 24 hours a day. It felt like a continuous party everywhere.
Next was the incredible ethnic diversity. The melting pot moniker is aptly given to New York. It was like taking a bunch of shops, faces, and street carts from every nation on earth, shaking them together, and tossing them out in random, dense sprawl. The intensity and variety of social stimulation was wonderful.
From a planning and design perspective, I noticed a couple striking things on my trip. First, and given street will be much wider than any given street in Philadelphia, often with "malls" constructed down the center, consisting of trees, gravel paths, benches, and chess tables. The effect that these streets create is one of a grandiose place, and I like it.
Next, the buildings are taller on average than in most other places. I'm not talking about the skyscrapers, because they aren't necessarily taller than other cities' skyscrapers, and not more impressive either (the skyline is nice, but it doesn't blow me away). No I'm referring to the brick apartment buildings that line seemingly every street in the city. Their size is impressive, again creating a feeling of the grandiose and perhaps also the cosmopolitan.
Third, fire escapes are common everywhere, mainly on the aforementioned apartment buildings. In Philadelphia they almost always appear at the back of the buildings, leading into an alley. In New York they are on the front. This doesn't strike me as positive or negative, just different.
Fourth, the city seems to have far fewer trees on the sidewalks than other cities, like Philadelphia. This is a negative, in my opinion, but it didn't bother me as much as I would have expected it to. I should mention though, I was impressed by the multitude and quality of the small and medium sized parks throughout the city.
Fifth, certain parts of the city, like the Upper West Side, feature noticeable topographical variation, which I like. It wasn't San Francisco, but the sloping streets by the Hudson provided lovely visual variation to the cityscape.
One final comment--I don't see why people compare Brooklyn with Philadelphia. Maybe the similarities these comparisons reference are demographic or sociological--perhaps--but visually, they don't look similar to me. Boston and Philadelphia look visually similar to me, but not Brooklyn and Philadelphia.

Items Added to Task List: 1--"AAA Batteries"
Items Removed From Task List: 1--"Scouring Pads"
Active Items Remaining: 38
Items Added to Routines: 1--"Check Argentina Ticket Pricing"

Summary of Week: First of all, I had a complete week in terms of routine tasks. This means I worked out 6/7 days, read for at least 1/2 hour each day, kept on top of cooking and cleaning, did 1 lesson of French, worked all my hours, got good sleep, and practiced good hygiene. From now on, unless otherwise stated, the completion of those types of things will be assumed, and I'll only address them when there is a change in the program (for example, switching French programs).
In terms of advancement, the creation of the summer budget was the biggest event. This not only laid out guidelines governing the expenditure of money, but it also more or less laid out the program for the summer's activities. In other words, if I put something into the budget, that means it's concrete now and will be much more likely to happen. New York, Annapolis, Pittsburgh, and Argentina all went into the budget, and I made headway with all four in terms of logistical planning.
Other advancements included planning a night out with Mom at the orchestra in June and starting and nearly finishing Les Femmes Françaises Ne Grossissent Pas. I got a good start on I Claudius on audio book as well. I also chipped away at several long-standing items on my task list. I won't mention them all here, but I predict that I will eliminating items much more rapidly in the coming weeks.
In terms of effectiveness, I think the week was good overall. I'm just learning to trust my system, and it will take time to make it habitual. As always, anxiety is a major obstacle, but toward the end of the week this was much better as I came to trust the effectiveness of the system (and it was indeed effective!).

Plan for next week: Not only do I want to execute my program faithfully, or even calmly--I want to execute with vigor. I should seize the opportunity to work and strive for virtue, not drag myself through it.
In terms of specific advancement goals, I want to move ahead on the administrative work with MIT as much as I can. I want to develop my CV and send that out. Also, I want to begin getting information about the classes I can test out of and what books/resources I can use to study for that.
Aside from MIT, I want to get the ball rolling on the medical and dental stuff. I already started with the dental. Medical might not be possible until my new insurance takes effective, though that shouldn't be long now.
Finally, at the end of the week Eva and I are going up to New York, and I'm looking forward to making that as fun as possible.

Summary of the day: I taught my class (which went well), prepared for future classes for an hour, listened to my French lesson, planned my meals for next week, made plans for visiting a dentist, made an initial attempt at purchasing plane tickets for Argentina, read for 1/2 hour, went to Trader Joe's, and watched the Wire with Eva.

Plan for Tomorrow: In addition to normal activities, check up on Penn move out day, arrange second Philly Car Share reservation for orchestra night, call about health insurance, work through MIT admin materials as far as possible, and send CV for editing.

Great show on hour 2 of Radio Times today about cognitive dissonance and justifying one's actions. Feedback systems are critical. Whether it be the idea that we must continually extract ourselves from our interior psychic space by immersing ourselves in the world, that we are best off if we can absorb stimuli from as diverse a set of sources as possible, or that we are better off in the long run if we find people who can give us constructive feedback about ourselves. As painful as it can be, honest feedback--both from within and without--is essential. Without it, you manage your soul like the Soviet Union, attempting to exert absolute control and authority over everything, living a delusion of grandeur while your reality is grim and horrible. The reference to Lao Tzu in the program was also sweet.
Unfiltered copy of notes:
Sat after Eva leaves for work:
Finish French
4 Hours Kaplan
Clean Bathroom
Exercise
½ Hour reading

Sun:
Grocery planning and shopping for next week
Look up healthcare details about start date again
Find dentist
Make 2nd Car Share Reservation for Mom
Purchase Argentina Plane Ticket

Items Added to Active Task List: 1--"Remind..."
Items Removed From Task List: 3--"Rat Traps", "SJC Alumni Contribution", "Budget"
Items Remaining: 35

Summary: I met the rodent exterminator, went to the DMV with Eva, checked out the lobby of the PSFS Building, had cappuccinos, filled out paperwork for MIT loans, did calisthenics and went for a run on the Schuylkill Banks Trail, made dinner and soup stock for later, read a bit, finished making the budget covering the time between now and the Massachusetts move, and filled out my SJC alum contribution form.
Planning the budget was probably the biggest development in the last few days. The outlook is good. There are a few trips on the horizon--I'm meeting Eva in Argentina at the end of June, going to Pittsburgh, going to New York, going to Annapolis, and a few other things. I made sure to apportion liberal amounts for moving expenses because I want to do this in a comfortable and reasonably ordered fashion, unlike any other time we've ever moved.
Here's a passage from a book I'm reading now that I think contains a lot of wisdom: "Complete control of the mind over the body is undesirable; it suggests a lack of openness to the spontaneous delights of the senses". I would extend this idea beyond sensation. There is a tricky balance between structure and spontaneity. Rules, strategies, and plans are always going to be better than some alternatives and worse than other alternatives. To be completely unstructured and lacking in willpower would be worse than having a decent plan and executing it, but the further entrenched you get in your plan, the less likely it is that you'll discover whatever better alternatives might be out there. I reflected on my 3 part model that I described a while ago--step 1, report honestly what happens, step 2, analyze the events, judge them, and bring them to bare on developing a strategy and agenda for the future, step 3, execute the plan, being open to on-the-fly adjustments without being weak-willed--and I still think the model is a good one. It allows for changes in approach, both when planning for the long-term and in individual moments. It requires us to be honest with ourselves. And it allows us to have structure and foundation.

Plan for Tomorrow: Other than working on Kaplan and visiting the night class, I want to check out that program Dan sent, get some audio books from the library, and plan the Orchestra/dinner excursion for my mom.

Active Items Added to Task List: 1--"Photograph bureau and go to antique appraiser"
Items Removed From Task List: 3--"Dental floss for shop", "Call Dad to remind him...", "Call Mom-Mom about Bureau"
Active Items Remaining: 36

Summary: Had a lovely albeit rushed breakfast and then went in to teach my class. The session went well. It's a small class, which is nice in a way. Later I ran some errands, did laundry, started an e-mail to Nutter and the Streets Department about my volunteering idea, planned meals, made a shopping list for next week, went out to dinner at Tiffin for Mother's Day (which was lovely), went shopping, finished my e-mail, and later I'll watch the Wire with Eva and spend 30 minutes reading.

Plan for tomorrow: Tomorrow I want to make a budget, work on Kaplan, call the landlords about logistics, figure out my contribution to the SJC alumni fund and general fund drive, audit the Kaplan class, and otherwise live a normal healthy routine.

Active Items Added to Task List: 4--"Rat Traps", "Orchestra for Mom", "Dental Floss for Shop", "Check Pay for Tomorrow"
Inactive Items Added to Task List: 1--"Short Story #2"
Items Removed From Task List: 0
Active Items Remaining: 38

Summary of the day: I worked until about 7, finished reading the Beautiful and the Damned, ate dinner with my dad at Tamarind, dealt with some administrative tasks, and later I might go dancing with Eva and some friends.

Comments: I came up with a plan for volunteering. I want to clean up the areas next to the Amtrak tracks. They give a terrible impression of the city. For people passing through on a regular basis via rail, I imagine that the sites along the tracks discourages further exploration into the city. This is our face to the world in many respects, and it happens to be one of our worst parts. I'm personally appalled by the sites along the tracks whenever I travel on Amtrak.
Certainly I could pick up garbage, but maybe I could even remove graffiti or help demolish old structures. I'm going to write to a couple different people in the city government about my idea to get feedback and possible support.
Other than thinking about volunteering, I finished the Beautiful and the Damned. Much of the writing was brilliant. It makes me want to go back and re-read the Great Gatsby. I wasn't analyzing it (in the HTRAB sense), so I'm not going to get into it too much. The characters were compelling. It got pretty emo, but not as emo as Jude the Obscure. Fitzgerald depicted Anthony's depravity in a much less corny way than Hardy did Jude's, in my opinion. I loved the two friends--Richard and Maury. Apparently there's a movie version of the book by an Australian director that has either been released recently or will be released soon. I'd be curious to see it, and specifically to see who plays Gloria.

Plan for tomorrow: At 1 I have my class, which goes until 3:30. I'll probably wake up late and spend the morning preparing for that. At 6:30 we're going to Tiffin for Mother's Day. Between events, I'll probably help plan food for next week and maybe read. Any extra time I have at the end of the day I'll use to compose correspondences about my volunteering idea.

Tasks Added: 3--"Pick up facewash, soap, and shampoo", "Research funding options for grad school", "Econ, stat, and excel study"
Tasks Removed: 1--"Look into switching energy companies"
Tasks Moved to Inactive: 3--"Find accountant/financial adviser", "How To Read A Book Lam Sheet", "Investing"
Current Active Tasks: 39

Summary: Worked, then went to Trenton to see Lazlo. We had some awesome tomato pies from Delorenzo's. I was solidly disciplined, but I could still do better. Radio Times had a great program on cognitive science. I also got into The Beautiful and the Damned, which seems great so far.

Plan for tomorrow: Go to Rittenhouse Row Festival tomorrow afternoon and then work on Kaplan all night until Eva gets home.

Current Active Items on Task List: 50
Items Removed Today: "Check Kaplan Hours/Direct Deposit Amounts"
Items Added Today: "Reply about availability to proctor exams", "Plan NY trip", "Plan Pittsburgh Trip", "Plan Annapolis Trip", "Figure out feasibility of Israel/Argentina trip", "Research past years' IAP".

Summary: Our new sink, cabinets, and dishwasher were being installed from the morning until the mid-afternoon, during which time there wasn't any water in the apartment, so I couldn't shower, shave, make food/coffee, or get a glass of water. Not having these things emphasized how important they are--I basically felt gross without the first two and deprived without the second two.
The only significant accomplishment today was submitting my application for health care through Kaplan. I haven't had insurance in nearly 3 years, and it's good that it's finally being taken care of.
Later tonight Dan and I have plans to set up my computer for GG data collection.

Plan for tomorrow: Kaplan, exercise, meal planning, reply about availability to proctor exams, audit Kaplan class at 6pm, begin the process of investigating AIP and haircut.

Plan for the Week: It’s been a while since I’ve gone a full week with a comprehensively healthy routine. This means full nights of sleep, nutritious meals that are primarily home-cooked, staying on top of day-to-day cleaning and administration, and substantial physical exercise. This is what I’m aiming for next week.
By the time I start school again in the fall, I want to be as habituated as possible to healthy living, so renewing my efforts now are an attempt to start cultivating those habits.
One aspect of healthy living that I want to improve is my community service. I wrote about this before, but I never committed to a program. This week I want to try again. Other than laziness, my biggest barrier in accomplishing that goal is that I get stuck trying to find the activity that’s maximally productive in terms of its contribution to society. That probably sounds silly, and it is silly after a certain point. Of course I don’t want to waste time, but it’s more important that I get out and do something for a few hours each week, even if it doesn’t match my ideal concept of maximum service contribution. And indeed, community service is in large part about the sense of good that one experiences simply from helping in some way, regardless of the specific contribution.
One more comment about “healthy living”. I’ve been thinking about the busy nature of modern life and the multitude of information that surrounds us. It seems to me that there is only so much a person is capable of, in terms of input/output. For example, sometimes I see people in cafes or university lounges with books beside them, a laptop in front of them (on which they are browsing the internet and using IM), a TV broadcasting somewhere in the background, people moving and chatting around them, and sometimes they are listening to music on top of all that. Such a person cannot possibly be engaged in any one of his tasks in a serious way. This seems to be common in our society. There are effectively infinite sources of stimulation and information, but do we give them the attention to digest them properly? Contemplation is a verb that seems lacking in our contemporary vocabulary.
Because of the mismatch between the quantity of information accessible to us and our capabilities, I think it’s important that we limit ourselves. For example, I feel anxious whenever I walk into a bookstore and look at the newly released titles. My desire is to read and master all of them. This desire is fed by the respect that we have for quantity, as in “I read 4 books this month as opposed to 3 books last month, so this was a better month.” Or, more to the point, if you gave the average person the option between reading 10,000 good books at an average-to-poor level of comprehension in his lifetime, or reading 5 great books at incredible depth, wouldn’t most people choose the former? Even if they say they would choose the latter, don’t most of us choose the former with our actions?
I’m not arguing for any specific reading quotas or restrictions, but I want to increase my awareness of my limits and the requirements for time spent meaningfully. This means a general trend toward doing less at a higher level of quality. I guess “inspectional reading” is meant to allow the reader to browse the sea of information to filter out things worth reading at a greater level of depth, so one solution is to continue practicing that skill. Regardless, I want to be aware of this issue.

Plan for Tomorrow: Tomorrow I’m going to let myself get up naturally, meaning without an alarm clock. I’ve deprived myself of sleep for the last three nights, and I need a night to catch up. After waking up and getting ready for the day, I want to work on Kaplan, exercise, make a plan for meals this week, go grocery shopping, and spend one hour looking at health insurance plans.

I got back from Minneapolis today. I appreciate Jewish traditions--the ceders were great. It was nice to see Eva's family again, and I hung out with Lila, whom I haven't seen in years, and that was also nice.
On Monday, Eva, Max, and I drove around Minneapolis looking at architecture. We went to the Basilica of St. Mary, City Hall, the downtown area, the Weisman, and the Guthrie. I'm noticing a trend in my architecture tastes--classical and Gothic buildings excite me with their surfaces, materials, and ornamentation, yet bore me with their use of space. On the other hand, modern buildings that I like tend to excite me with their use of space and the experience of the user from within the building but make me cringe with their materials and overall appearance from the outside. The Basilica and the Guthrie fit that pattern exactly.
Once I got back I voted, worked out, cleaned a bit, and went out with my dad, Mike, and his girlfriend to Tiffin. That place is incredible; I wish I had discovered it earlier. Afterward we stopped at Azure and caught the dramatic finish to the Flyer's Game 7 win over Washington.
Tomorrow after breakfast I am going to make a plan for the rest of the day as well as the rest of the week. My tasks will probably be administrative tomorrow.

Items Removed From Task List: 0
Items Added to Task List: 0
Items Currently On Task List: 29

Summary: I got up a little later than I wanted to, meaning I slept beyond 8 hours. I slacked off a bit in the morning, but I got on track eventually and spent time working on Kaplan. In the evening I gave my class, and after writing this I'm going to do a bunch of dishes.

Comments: Like I did with breakfast, I'm timing how long it takes me to blog at a comfortable yet vigorous pace. This test will give me a more realistic picture of the time requirements of this activity.
I was dragging my feet a little this morning, and I'm sure part of that had to do with my breakfast, which was kind of half-assed. I only ate my fruit and cereal, but not my egg or my yogurt. The importance of eating a complete, healthy breakfast in order to achieve my work goals cannot be understated.
I reflected about this later while I was walking to Penn (not breakfast specifically, but about energy). There are some exertions that demand rest. Physical exertion is one such type--you can only push your body so hard before you collapse. I think there's also a type of mental exertion that has concrete limits. Doing focused mental work can sometimes bring me a state in which I can no longer continue thinking clearly; it demands that I cease my activity for a time. What I was wondering about was, how many types of exertion like this are there? Is there a kind of "motivational exertion" that falls into this category? Suppose you exerted yourself physically for a while, then switched to a mental task, and then switched back to a physical task, would it be possible to continue this pattern indefinitely, provided that neither type of energy were ever brought to the point of exhaustion? In the past I have said no, but I am willing to consider that you might be able to, provided that you maintain the right attitude. If you strongly and continuously resent your activities, I doubt that you could sustain them indefinitely. I'm just going to keep this in mind for a while and see what information my future experiences can bring to bear on the problem.

Plan for Tomorrow: Alternate between dishes and Kaplan, with an exercise session thrown in. I will call my contact at Penn again tomorrow (he didn't answer tonight), so that will enable me to eliminate one item from my task list. Raffe is coming over later, so I need to do some work to prepare for that. Also, if I have time, I would like to do some French.

***It took me 15 minutes to write this blog entry. I think 15 minutes is a manageable length of time. Now let me see if I can be satisfied checking my e-mail and reading blogs/message boards within another 15 minute span of time. ***