We’ve all been there.

Wow, I’ve been watching this movie marathon for three hours already!? I should start cleaning the house. Oh, but it’s just getting to the good part…

That no-man’s land between having a great thought…

Excellent idea, James! Now, who wants to spearhead the research on this proposal? Anyone? … Anyone?

… and doing something useful with it.

I’ve slept in too long already, but this bed is so comfortable…

The Black Hole.

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Those of you who have been following the Resolutions 2007 project know that I made a New Year’s Resolution that, by the end of the year, I would be spending 20 out of 24 hours of every day doing “productive” activities. At the time I made the resolution, I issued a challenge to readers to try it themselves. I don’t think many of you took me up on it. But I’m here to convince you that it’s not only possible, but easier (and more fun) than you may think.
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Slumps — those annoying periods of time when we seem to… suck at life, for lack of a better phrase. From athletes to chefs, politicians to poker players, nobody is safe from the occasional slump. In fact, I seem to be having a slump of my own this week; careful scrutinizers will note that I not only skipped a workout day on Wednesday, but on Friday I also failed to write a post in accordance with the Supreme Laws of Write, Write, Write!

While annoying to perfectionists, slumps prove that we are merely humans, and none of us are perfect (or at least very few of us ).

I can’t say for certain that slumps can be readily avoided, but the best way to pull out of one is to apply some motivation. Obviously, someone in a slump is going to have a hard time finding that motivation. You can start by reading some other posts which weren’t written while I was in a slump of my own.

Okay, technophiles, this is the project you’ve been waiting for. If you could conjure up your perfect “Dream Machine” computer (your only limitations being that you must use components that actually exist), what would it look like? Most tech-savvy people I know would think of a monstrous, top-of-the-line gaming PC, complete with a 40″ LCD (maybe even twin-screen), wireless Surround Sound speakers, and about 20TB (roughly 20,000 gigabytes) in disk space.

I, however, have other ideas…

This Dream Machine will be:

• Portable (in other words, a laptop)
• Powerful (with higher-end specs)
• Flexible (hardware and software incompatibilities should be nonexistent)

The requirements are straightforward, but my standards are high. In a nutshell, I want this laptop to be able to handle anything and everything that I might throw at it from now through the foreseeable future — and to do it quickly and easily. In an ideal world, I would be able to buy this computer and not even need to make a project out of the whole thing. Not that I won’t enjoy this, of course. Unfortunately, no vendor exists which sells a universally flexible laptop (I’ll go into more details on that later), so I’m going to have to build one… however, not in the case-modding, massive desktop-constructing sense; my definition of “build” might correspond with anyone else’s definition of “organize.”

The Laptop:

• 15″ Macbook Pro
• Quad-boot:
• OS 10.4 “Tiger”
• LFS, a “roll-your-own” distribution of Linux
• Windows XP
• Windows Vista
• Virtualization:
• Windows-on-Mac
• Windows-on-Linux
• Mac-on-Linux
• Linux-on-Mac
• (For security, stability, and sanity reasons, I’ve chosen not to do any “X-on-Windows” virtualization)

The Project:

• Target completion time — Two weeks
• As tech-dummy friendly as possible! (I will need feedback on this!)
• … I’m serious. What good is a fantastic project if nobody else understands it?

Premonitions of Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers):

• Why a Macbook?
• In the end, I made this decision primarily because of OS X. Yes, I am aware of the OSX86 Project (a project to make OS X run on non-Apple hardware). I really wanted a strong “base system” in the event that something goes wrong and I need to reformat the hard drive (which will happen at least once during this project). The Mac hardware/software combination is the only one which provides this; Linux is known to have questionable driver support when it comes to laptops, and Windows… well, let’s face it — I just really don’t like Windows. With the Macbook, if I need to revert back to a 100% working laptop, all I need to do is format and reinstall OS X.
• Why quad-boot? What on Earth are you going to do with four operating systems!?
• OS X: Media of all sorts (image/video editing, etc.), website work, daily use
• Linux: Daily use, schoolwork (mostly technical assignments), pretty much everything
• Windows XP: MS Office (OpenOffice is nice, but sometimes just doesn’t cut it), non-Vista-compatible software
• Windows Vista: … Games.
• How is all of this going to change the world? It sounds more like a “fun project” for Scott.
• “Fun project,” huh? Well, let’s be honest… that’s a big part of it. However, I’m hoping that a new computer, especially with OS X, will allow me to add some different types of media to the site. The Linux desktop on which I’ve been working, being three years old and also the same computer on which this site is hosted(!), is somewhat limiting in terms of how much power is at my disposal. I love writing, and I’m sure you all (occasionally) love reading it, but there are larger steps to be taken on this path…

I placed the order yesterday. The project will officially commence once the laptop hits my doorstep. Until then, may your world-changing efforts go well and may your Windows laptops survive another week.

I think there’s a reason that college students, generally regarded as some of the most intelligent people in our society (by and large, not to say there aren’t plenty of dimwits out there), have so much trouble keeping their dorms and apartments clean. And it’s not because they have lower standards and are more tolerant of messiness, though I’d assume that to be true. College students need room to grow and thrive, and taking time out of their constantly-morphing schedules to do menial things like clean house requires a lot of overhead.

You might argue that having a clean and organized living space might let students work more quickly and efficiently, even if there’s an initial cost in dissolving the chaos. I would tend to agree, but I also offer the following counterpoint — How is it that messy people can still manage to get things done, despite not having any human-recognizable system of organization? (I’m proud to be one of those people, and I prefer the term “organized chaos.”) In my opinion, the brain eventually adjusts to this chaos such that it can locate items and do whatever else it needs to do with little to no delay compared to your average neat freak.

Now then, on the flip side — What exactly is wrong with organization? Nothing… that is, if you don’t mind spending 10% of your time to garner a 2% increase in productivity (yes, I completely made those numbers up). My point is this: The reason that college students so often prefer chaos is that having a strict system of organization limits their ability to change that system. It’s really quite intuitive; when was the last time you saw a bill run through Congress in less than 60 seconds? Most likely never. But if the United States was run by a dictator (Bush, while almost there, doesn’t quite make the cut; and no, I am obviously not advocating this system of government), laws could be created, changed, or repealed in no time flat.

It’s just something to think about. All through adolescence, we were told to keep our rooms clean, our beds made, and were forced to help with a large-scale scrub-down any time company was expected. How certain are we that the benefits of this overrode its drawbacks?

I have a problem. Two problems, actually; two problems that, when combined, form one particularly nasty problem.

1) I am a perfectionist, especially with my own work (even more so with writing).
2) I am impatient.

Such problems can be detrimental when one is trying to change the world… or provide content for a website. Sure enough, I often run into major difficulties when writing a new Don’tASQ “blurb.” I may spend several hours drafting, revising, and nitpicking any given article, only to get sick of doing so and release it “unpolished.” Or worse, I may write part of an article, save it as a draft, and refuse to finish it when I realize that the first draft just didn’t live up to my standards. (There are three such drafts hidden in the database at this very moment.) I have yet to actually publish an article that hasn’t been written in just one session. Combine this with the fact that I’ve got 30-40 ideas sitting around on post-its and paper scraps which I still haven’t fully developed, and you may wonder how I ever get anything done at all. I often wonder that myself.

Enter Creativity Boot Camp. The process is simple: Just write something — every day. I’d thought about such a task numerous times, but something about that post inspired me to actually do something about it. (I’d highly recommend giving it a read if you’re into any sort of creative work.) And I’d never considered making it into a full-blown project… until now.

*ahem* Introducing… Write, Write, Write! In short, I will write at least one Blurblog post every day for the next 30 days. I will make every attempt to write quality material, but I obviously won’t be able to put in the time I would normally prefer. These posts will all be included in the “Write, Write, Write!” category, and I cannot guarantee that they will be insightful, unique, or even sensible… but I will take full credit if they are. Otherwise, not much will have changed (other than the frequency of new posts, obviously). Hopefully, this next month will allow me to dust off some of my notebooks and whiteboards and bring some novel ideas into the limelight. And I hope Creativity Boot Camp is more enjoyable for you than it will be for me!

For more information about my year-long Resolutions project, check out this post and this one.

For May’s update, we’re going to try something new and give you all of the bad news first. Read on, and you’ll see why…

• 20 Hours (of Productivity): 3
• The Bad: Despite getting a “free” 8 productive hours five days a week, the rest of my time has pretty much been wasted.
• Finances: 3
• The Bad: My co-op ends in less than three months, and I will have absolutely no income after that. Not that I’m completely broke, but it’s going to take some willpower to sustain myself until I graduate college.
• Fitness: 8
• The Bad: … Building muscles takes time. Lots of time. (Yes, I could have included some good news here, but I had to stay with the theme, right? )
• Social/Relationships: 1
• The Bad: Sometimes I’m pretty quiet, but my summer roommate is even more of a hermit. Combine that with the fact that I’ll be in work/class for over half of the day, and the social prospects are looking pretty dim.
• The Good: The theme of the month is “it’s in the works.” April and May were both fairly rough for a number of reasons (I’ll blame it on Spring Fever ), but things will improve… for your sake, if not mine! For starters, I’m going to keep better track of time, if for no other reason than to prove that I really am taking the “20 Hours” thing seriously. The Fitness Project will be ramped up even more, and a number of new projects will come into existence (I’ve got at least three on the cards right now). One of the summer’s big challenges will be seeing if I can combine the Financial and Social/Relationships areas into one really cool project… but you’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you?

The only thing missing now is a kick in the pants… but that’s most effective coming from you!

Three weeks ago, I launched the Fitness Project. The project page still doesn’t list much other than my exercise routine, and I did promise more details… not to mention that I’d really like to gloat about how I haven’t quit yet. Therefore, in typical Don’tASQ fashion, it’s time for a status report!

Commitment: I’ve so far completed nine full-body workout sessions and two short jogs. (Do you see anything wrong with this picture?) The original plan was to work out on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and to jog on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Recently, I’ve had a lot of trouble waking up early; I have no qualms about lifting weights at any hour of the day, but somehow I just can’t bring myself to go running in broad daylight. (There must have been a vampire somewhere in my lineage. )

Workout Details: On the project page, you can see a list of the exercises I’ve been performing. The workout usually lasts about an hour — give or take ten minutes — and I try to make it as intense as possible while still doing the exercises correctly. Since I’m a poor college student (and/or cheap), I’m limited to doing the entire workout with a 40-pound adjustable dumbbell set. Granted, I may be a twig, but 40 pounds won’t even take me that far. Within the next several weeks, I’ll probably look into a gym membership.

Injuries: On Friday (4/27), I suffered a minor back injury while doing the Dumbbell Deadlifts. Because of this, I performed only half of a workout on Friday, and the other half on Saturday. I’ve also decreased the weight for both back exercises as well as the Calf Raises. I’ve suffered back injuries in the past, but it’s a bit disappointing that I suffered one while doing the very thing which should help to prevent them. I’m hoping that this was a one-time shot due to overexertion, and that it won’t be a continuing problem.

Results: I still look like a twig, but I feel slightly stronger and more energetic. A couple of the more difficult exercises (e.g. Iron Cross and Shoulder Press) have become less exhausting. I didn’t expect significant results this early on, but it is encouraging to notice at least some improvement.

Assuming you haven’t lived under a rock for the last five years and have wasted a reasonable amount of time surfing the Internet, you’ve almost certainly run across a blog or two. You know, blogs - short for “weblogs”, kind of like journals or diaries, but in a digital format. They often remain personal in content, but rarely in audience. So, if you don’t mind my asking, what did you think?

Were any of them particularly enlightening? Were any of them good enough to bookmark and share with your friends? Did they inspire you to change careers, or to propose to your sweetheart, or to give away all of your belongings and devote your life to priesthood in Fiji?

If you could honestly answer “yes” to any of the above questions, please tell me where these blogs are. Blogs, while highly conversational, are usually devoid of meaningful content. In other words, they’re easy and often pleasurable to read, but don’t provide their readers with much value… kind of like Cosmo. Blogs come in several flavors: News/Politics (they’re almost indistinguishable nowadays), irrelevant personal anecdotes, collections of numbered lists…

Yes, that’s right - I said collections of numbered lists. Anyone who’s ever surfed the Internet for websites about a personal development topic (such as health or personal finance) has undoubtedly come across a few of these. You know what I’m referring to: “Shed 50 Pounds Before Summer With These Five Great Tips!” As an example, I’m currently looking at one of my RSS feeds (name of the blog omitted to protect the guilty), showing the titles of the latest nine posts. Of those nine titles, seven contain numbers: “Ten Commandments”, “22 Tips”, “Four Profound Agreements”, “44 Longevity Tips”, “9 Easy Ways”, “10 Timeless Lessons”, and “207 Great Tips”. Collections of numbered lists aren’t inherently bad, but they can make the wrong impression - that following these “Five Great Tips” will result in a painless overnight transformation. They won’t, nor will anything else.

How many blogs have truly changed your life in some positive way? It doesn’t even have to be a major change (like giving away all of your belongings and devoting your life to priesthood in Fiji); something as simple as learning to cook would be great. My count is probably hovering around the 3-4 range - and I’ve spent a lot of time on the Internet. Most blogs seem to exist primarily to waste our time. Don’t get me wrong, they do a great job of that, but if we’re already spending all of that time reading other peoples’ scrawlings, wouldn’t it be best if we could acquire long-term benefits from them?

Any blog worth reading should provide some value beyond the text. In other words, if it’s not changing the way you think, feel or act, or inspiring you to go change the way someone else thinks, feels or acts, drop it. The idea seems harsh (and probably is), but I can guarantee that it will be a huge time saver, if nothing else. As a personal example, I started this website with a clear mission in mind - to change the world, first in thought, then in action. I’m barely just getting started on the thought changes, but you might think of this website as Phase I of Scott’s Master Plan (for World Domination). Jokes aside, my point is that this website has a purpose beyond simply making money or being an outlet for mental turbulence.

With that said, it should be obvious by now that most blogs aren’t worth reading! Stop wasting your time with them; you should be able to tell within a couple of minutes whether you’ll ever return. And shedding 50 pounds in six weeks isn’t healthy, so you can stop Googling for that, too. Get out of that comfy chair and go contribute something to the world. If you’re not sure where to start, try discovering your purpose first. (FYI, Steve Pavlina’s blog, the one I just linked to, would probably be one of my “worth reading” choices. Spend some time there; it might become one of yours, also.) Remember the old adage, “One reaps what one sows.” For a less kindly-worded motivator, read my Thoughts on Apathy post. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to catch a one-way flight to Fiji.

For more information about my year-long Resolutions project, check out this post and this one.

In the month of March, I wrote a grand total of three Blurblog entries, which is even fewer than the number I wrote in February. But considering that I spent two weeks of this month upgrading the server, and a third week in New Orleans, I’d say that’s not half bad.

Rather than simply writing a sentence or two, from this point forward, I’m going to attempt to rate my monthly progress on each of the four resolutions on a 1-10 scale.

• 20 Hours (of Productivity): 6
• The Good: You’re reading this. The fact that I was able to meet my self-imposed deadline for getting the server back online scores major points. It wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped…
• The Bad: Earlier this month, I officially stopped sleeping polyphasically, which obviously caused a dip in productivity. I’d been struggling with it for awhile due to my work schedule, but I knew it would be nearly impossible to keep up with it in New Orleans, anyway. As you might expect, though, the hiatus will not last long…
• Finances: 5
• The Good: I haven’t been fired yet!
• The Bad: I haven’t secured any income yet beyond the job. Not that that was a goal, but since I’m only working full-time until August, it would be best to create some long-term earnings potential. Tuition will also be due soon. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
• Fitness: 3
• The Good: Early this month, I began a morning exercise program.
• The Bad: Two weeks later, I halted it… and haven’t looked back since.
• Social/Relationships: 4
• The Good: I met a lot of people and formed some great ties over Spring Break.
• The Bad: Since then, I’ve pretty much been a hermit. A large part of that is, of course, due to the server upgrades, but I’m not going to allow myself any excuses from now on.

We’re now three months into 2007, and I’d like to find out how many of you are still keeping up with your New Year’s resolutions. Did you make any, and if so, what were they? How are you progressing, or how long ago did you surrender?