30 July 2000

Reading:  The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav.

Another weekend is shot, and I have no idea where it went.  So I decided to analyze today and see.  Below is what I have done today, with approximate times.  In parentheses, I have noted time spend on what I am calling, Stupid Shit (tm).  Stupid Shit would be things like my having to waste time driving across town to return a defective item because somebody sucks at his job, among others.  Here we go:

09:00 Woke up and began reading online newspapers

09:45 Fed and Walked Kiwi

10:00 Finalized 29 July 2000 journal entry and uploaded

11:00 Answered some emails, did a few minor tweaks on 8 More Miles.

11:30 Went to west Houston for brunch at Rio Ranch Texas, followed by trip to Wal-Mart (0:50 total Stupid Shit, itemized by 0:20 Driving Time Stupid Shit times two for both ways, and 0:10 Waiting in line at Wal-Mart because only 4 checkers were working and everyone else was busy talking Stupid Shit)

13:00 Discovered the grill I purchased at Wal-Mart was missing parts needed for assembly (0:10 Stupid Shit).  Put away other items.

14:00 Drove back to West Houston to Wal-Mart to get refund on grill, then to Albertson's to shop for groceries since we were already in West Houston (1:00 Stupid Shit, which excludes 30 minutes spent shopping in Albertson's)

16:00 Put away groceries.  Read the Houston Chronicle Sunday edition (debatable if that last should be counted as Stupid Shit, since it's such a horrible paper).

17:00 Paper put me to sleep.  Went to take a nap.

18:30 Woke up, and prepared about a week's worth of meats to grill on the grill I purchased WITH NO PROBLEM at Albertson's.  Said grill was $10 more than comparable Wal-Mart grill.  However, since Wal-Mart cost me 1:10 of Stupid Shit today and I am worth far more than $9/hour or whatever the figure comes out to, I came out ahead on the deal).

19:00 Fed Kiwi, lit the charcoal, took Kiwi on walk.

19:15 Started grilling.

20:00 Pulled everything off grill.  Prepared salad.  Ate a wonderful steak and salad.

20:45 Put dishes in Dishwasher.

21:00 Sat down to do some web stuff.  DSL is horribly bogged down, which happens about once a week.  Sent about 8 detailed emails to tech support, with screen shots of ping times, ftp info, etc.  (0:15 Stupid Shit)

21:15 Played around some with the MP3 Reckless Kelly files Callie's been working on.

21:30 Took a shower to get rid of grilling smell.  Gathered up dirty clothes from gym bag and elsewhere.  Prepared gym bag for the morning.

22:00 Surfed the web a bit.  Began working on this journal entry.

22:30 Software crash trashed the journal entry, requiring me to start over.

23:10 Finished rewriting the journal entry.  (Stupid Shit:  0:30)

23:30 Uploaded the journal.  Time for bed.

So there you have it.  By my calculation, I have spent 2 hours and 45 minutes on Stupid Shit today (calculated in my head, but I think that's close).  I have not worked on the dissertation.  I have not done any file conversions and uploads of MP3s to 8 More Miles.  I have not done much decent reading.  I have done very little writing.  And the weekend is gone.  So for those who occasionally ask if I am ever going to finish the dissertation, see above and tell me what I should do differently.