Monday, January 22, 2007

Am I boring or unorganized?

"...If you're bored then you're boring..." is a line in a song of which I can't recall the title or artist. But it's come to my mind several times recently and I fear it could possibly be applied to my life presently.

I've been feeling bored at work many times in recent weeks. I wonder, though, if it's really boredom that I'm experiencing, or something else. I seem to have plenty of things that I need to do, but most of these tasks I have no desire whatsoever to accomplish. Things like...
  • contacting my auto finance company to settle a dispute I've been trying to settle with them for nearly a year;
  • contacting my wife's health insurance company to inquire as to why they debited my account two weeks before I expected them to;
  • shipping some books back to my book club for credit;
  • organizing the cluster-fuck that is my desk;
  • et cetera.

I also have plenty of things that I want to do as well. These are in much more abundance and have a much wider range of importance and urgency. As varied as...

  • taking some required paperwork to the financial aid office at the college I'll be attending;
  • continuing in the current book I'm reading;
  • studing the Arab-Israeli conflict;
  • writing letters about many issues to send to government officials;
  • editing and updating Wikipedia articles;
  • packing and mailing some film to Snapfish;
  • et cetera.

So I've come to this question: if I'm feeling bored, am I boring, or just unorganized?

I don't have a problem taking care of tasks associated with my job. I usually take care of those things immediately. Business, however, hasn't been as fast as it used to be, so there is a lot of down time.

I don't mind the down time, but it has to be organized. I have to find a way, a method, to organizing and prioritizing the tasks I need to accomplish.

I found a great quote from The Quotations Page, attributed to Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), which says, "The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

Have any tips or suggestions? Leave a comment!

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

A good Wednesday

A few very good things have already happend today. Even though I slept too late to make my 8:15 AM doctor appointment, I rescheduled it for 3:15 PM and it worked out fine. After the appointment, I dropped my prescription at Walgreen's and went home for a few minutes.

I grabbed the mail and opened an envelope from Target. I had recently applied for a Target credit card, so I expected it to be a letter stating that they could not "extend any credit to [me] at this time." I was wrong; I was shocked! Enclosed in the envelope was a Target charge card. It seems that I am moving up in the world.

Monday, January 15, 2007

An Eventful Weekend

A family visitation
After my wife, kids, and I have been living here for eleven weeks, my sister was finally able to visit Chicagoland. She and my mother flew up here last Friday morning. It was good to have family visiting again.

Unlike when my mother visited during Thanksgiving, the weather during this visit has been horrible, filled with gray, wintry skies overflowing with misty rain, sleet, ice, and flurries. A noteworthy accumulation of snow, the one winter result we did want, did not make its expected appearance.

Also due to the weather, I wasn't able to take Priscilla to see the city. It would not have been a pleasurable experience under the conditions. Her tour of Chicagoland was limited to downtown Elmhurst and the surrounding areas. Next time, hopefully, will be much different.

I finally meet Roscoe
After having received his phone number from a mutual friend, and after speaking with him many times and trying to find the opportunity to "hook up", I finally received a call from Roscoe Brown on Friday (the same day my mother and sister flew in). As soon as I saw his name on the caller ID I said, "Yessss!!"

Roscoe is a really cool guy, and he lives in a real cool part of Chicago near the lake. I hung out at his place for a little over half an hour talking until I had to leave.

Hudson and I visit Houston
Around February 5, I have to take Hudson back down to Houston for a minor surgical procedure at Texas Children's Hospital. We will probably stay down there for about a week. During that time he and I will be able to visit family and friends.

In addition, I will be able to make the Family History Research trip to Tyler County that I've long been wanting to. I plan for this to include visiting my oldest relative, whom we call Uncle Lee Roy, who can answer questions about my families history and tell some stories that are perhaps unknown or not remembered by anyone else in my family. It is necessary for me to document this priceless information before it's too late.