As part of my commitment to get to know my neighbors better (I've not done much so far) and help contribute to a sense of community in my neighborhood, I secured a domain name and built a bare-bones website for my neighborhood homeowners association. I got the domain name on Friday evening, then built the site yesterday. I say "built" the site, but what I really did was use a pre-fab theme, threw in a few bits of information about the area, and posted it. I could have literally built the site and uploaded it with FTP, but I don't have that level of commitment to this particuar project.
I'm hoping other neighbors will pick up the development of a really informative/useful site and will handle regular maintenance. Of course, I did this without authorization from the association's board and did it with my own money...but I hope to get reimbursed. My philosophy on this little task was to ask forgiveness, not permission.
So, I'm making little bits of progress on my "to-do" list for the year, but I have done nada to become modestly proficient in conversational Spanish, one of my more ambitious objectives. That has to be a higher priority for me. And my plan to submit some fiction for publication...well, that's still on the list.
My little list of things to do this year is short and simple and should be easily accomplished. But I'm finding that the little free time I allow myself to get away from, and forget about, work leaves me wanting to do nothing more than decompress, unwind, and relax. I'm usually not in the mood to do something like fulfill the commitments I've made to myself...to much work. This attitude has to change. Intellectually, it is clear why I should rearrange my priorities, but practically, it's a bear to make it happen.
OK, what to do today? After having written what I did, you'd think my priorities would be back in line and I'd be sharply focused on my "to-do" list today. Not so. Today will be one for deliberate relaxation involving, very probably, a short road trip with my wife. We used to go out almost every weekend, driving (and using up enormous volumes of gasoline) through the countryside, which we found extremely relaxing and informative. We'd learn about new places, stop in small towns and wander around aimelessly for hours, checking out their cafes and hardware stores and libraries and drugstores...just unwinding and enjoying where we were. That's rare for us these days, both because we are much more conscious of our use of fossil fuel and because we have precious little free time these days. But today, I just feel it's a good thing to do.
Today's a good day to indulge ourselves. That is, if my wife does not sleep in too long. She does love sleeping late when she does not have to go to the office. I'm the opposite. I have a hell of a time dragging myself out of bed to go to the office during the week, but pop up early with no alarm on weekends.
Until my wife arises, I'll savor my very strong French roast coffee and learn about the world's wonders by reading blogs, MSM, and taking a side trip or two from news into information. Speaking of which...
My wife caught a Weekend Edition piece that I missed yesterday and suggested I listen to it. It's an interview by Lynn Neary of Steven Weinberger, a linguist who has created the Speech Accent Archive, a web site with samples of the accents of non-native English speakers (and some native speakers) reading paragraphs in English. It's fascinating!
Oh, one more thing: I just read an interesting perspective on Al Gore's upcoming trip to Chile (in May).
3 comments:
Bev, I'll keep you apprised of progress (if any) on the compound. I do think you're making more progress on your list than you think. The photo catalog, alone, is a huge undertaking and you've obviously made a great deal of progress. I have read of your ecology monitoring activities...that's a sure-thing, I'm guessing. And your vegetagle garden...I'm envious! If anyone should have started, it should have been me...in warm north Texas. But I have done nothing, not a whit, but I think I shall soon if I can convince myself to spend at least half a day on the weekend working on it instead of going to the office.
I've been thinking about you and your garden. You know, maybe putting in a small vegetable garden - even just some container plantings of tomatoes, peppers and herbs, could be a good thing for you. Even if you don't grow all of the vegetables that you require, it's nice to know that you *could* if you wished. Also, in my opinion, there are few things so relaxing and meditative as working around plants. It might provide a nice balance to all of the office work you do.
Oh, I think dropping the word "nada" into a blog post means you're well on your way to becoming proficient in conversational Spanish!
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