I Like to Play Video Games. Sometimes.

I have a very on-again/off-again love affair with Video Games.

When I was but a wee lad, my father had the Magnavox Odyssey 2. If my brother and I were very good, we had supervised play sessions with that system, playing games like Pickaxe Pete, or Speedway/Spinout/Cryptologic. However, we had more fun playing out doors, or playing with our GI Joe, Star Wars, and/or Transformers toys. Sure, we'd occasionally see an Atari at a friends house, but from what I recall, it never made a lasting impression.

Need More Time

You ever think that you really need some more time?

Let's just discount stuff from work for a second, although I have a LOT on my plate there.

Outside of that, I have blogs. I have this blog, and Geeking in Indiana. I kind of have a need to create content for these blogs, like I'm doing right now. However, while this blog is easy, I essentially find a subject, and I write until I'm done writing, Geeking isn't as easy. It has a focus, and I really don't like to stray from that focus. The problem is, finding the time to get information for those posts, and the money to make it to parts of Indiana so I can gather the content? That's not easy, and it's why that site is in a lull.

Pickin' and a Grinnin'

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the desire to learn something new. In that post, I wrote about my desire to acquire and learn how to play the 5 String Banjo. Well, after a tax refund, and a LONG discussion about it with my wonderful, beautiful, caring, smart, and lovely wife, I traveled to the Guitar Center in Castleton, and I am now the proud owner of a Mitchell MBJ200 5 String Banjo.

Questioning

Hotmail. Yahoo. Gmail. Outlook. Juno.

How many email addresses does one need?

Blogger. Wordpress. Geocities. Tripod.

How many websites have you built? How many blogs do you need to write?

The Desire to Learn Something New

They always say that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Well, this dog isn't that old. I'm only going to be 36 in May, and provided that I remember to look both ways before crossing the street, and we're able to hold off the zombie and/or robot apocalypse, I'm doing my best to keep on for a while. I've been smoke free for almost 4 years, I'm trying to exercise, and I'm pondering improving my eating habits.

Maybe when Taco Bell stops being so dang delicious...

Challenges

Sometimes, there is a challenge too good to pass up.

For some, it's one that they saw on "Man vs. Food" involving a 72 oz. steak in Texas. For others, it's a marathon. For yet others, it's writing.

For the past few years, I've had friends put forth challenges on The Twitter and on The Book of Face. I'm not talking about those challenges like "98% of people on Facebook don't have the courage to share this picture of a kitten that looks like Fred Savage." Instead, I'm talking about good challenges. "Join me in the Couch to 5K Program." (Failed) "Join me in a 4K that involves beer!" (Success) "Make a pie for charity that involves a donut." (Nailed it) "Do a plank a day!" (Why not? I'm doing mine when I'm done with this post.)

Now I'm on another challenge.

A Little Wednesday Randomness

Sometimes, I like to sit here at work with a blank word document open, just to see what happens. More often than not, it’s about as successful as getting a bunch of monkeys together on typewriters and trying to get something other than feces thrown at you. Other times, I get a semi-coherent thought or three to put up here. Right now, I’m a bit distracted to put together something coherent, but let’s see what I can do.

Cramping My Style

Okay, I lied. I have one more fitness post for this week, mainly because of something that happened at the gym last night/this morning.

Normally, when I’m at the gym, or fitness center, at my apartment, I take advantage of 2 pieces of equipment: the treadmill, and the recumbent bike. There is also an elliptical machine, and a weight machine, but I’m intimidated by one and feel goofy on the other.

I’ll let you decide which is which. However, they are pretty interchangeable.

Monday Goal Update

Well, I'm glad that I didn't have "Post more on the blog" as a goal for 2013. It has been a very busy beginning, but I have already started on some of my goals.

Welcome to 2013

So, here we sit on the second day of 2013. Most people threw out their resolution blog posts yesterday, but I was spending time with my family before they took another trip to Southern California earlier this morning. So here I am, late in the day on the second, taking breaks between reviewing call recordings to let you know my plans for 2013.

I do recall that I did one of these last year, as well. That one had some weird stuff on it, like learning to knit. Yeah, that stuff didn't happen. However, I did follow through on exercising more, even though it was inconsistent exercise. And that is something that I'm going to keep up on through 2013.

Now, before I begin, this is NOT a list of Resolutions. This is a list of goals, of tangible items that I'm starting on, and intending to work on through 2013. Will I achieve them all? Yes, yes I will. If I think otherwise, then they are doomed to fail. "Don't just dream, do." is a little something that I posted on The Twitter on New Years Eve, and I really believe that. I guess it's kind of a play off of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, "Don't dream it, be it" but you can't say "Don't drink it, Rocky peed in it" to it.

Anyway, some of my goals in 2013, in no particular order:

• Walk 500 miles - I try to go out when I can, and walk. Well, Runkeeper lets you set goals. For some reason, and this might be the fault of The Proclaimers, I believe that I can walk 500 miles. And then, perhaps, I can walk 500 more. First, though, 500. That is about 42 a month, be it on treadmill, on the road, or where ever. I shall walk 500 miles in 2013.
• Bike 1000 miles - I need to use my bike, that is a fact. Normally, I can bike about 3X the amount I can walk, so I figure that 1000 is not unrealistic. 84 miles a month? Too bad I don't feel safe riding into work, that wouldn't be a problem.
• Cooking - Every month, money permitting, I want to learn how to cook one thing I've never cooked before. In 2011, it was the Thanksgiving Turkey. In 2012, I ventured into beans, slow cooker whole chicken, and making a weeks worth of freezer meals from scratch. In 2013, I'm going to be looking for something new, different, and not too expensive. What it will be, I do not know, but hopefully it will be tasty, and not make me sick!
• Social Media - I'm trimming the fat. Be it on Twitter, Facebook, or Google Plus, I'm going to trim down the number of people I follow that do nothing but post negativity. Since before the election, I'm sick of seeing politically charged posts from all camps. Since the shootings, I'm tired of seeing "'MURICA = GUNS!" posts. I deal with enough negativity in working customer service, I do not want to willingly follow it on Social Media accounts. So, if you see that you've lost me, just deal with it.
• Email - I've got too many email accounts. Hotmail, Yahoo, multiple Gmail accounts, and all of them have been signed up for mailing lists throughout the years. Lots of mailing lists. I've been hitting unsubscribe for many of them since the 30th, but they're still coming. And yes, I'm keeping track of the ones I've unsubscribed from. If they're still coming after a week, I'm sending to spam. I want to give the benefit of the doubt, first.
• Finally, my blogs will probably end up being cleaned up and rethemed. I'm still debating whether or not I want to merge this one with the Troxell Pack blog on Wordpress or not, though. Either way, this one needs a new layout, I need to get the pages not to show the whole posts, and I have some posts that have really wonky colors and backgrounds, and I have to figure out how to clean that up.

Oh, and I promise to only occasionally blog about how I'm doing on these goals on here. I did too much "Last night I did the treadmill. Again." posting last year. This year, I'm going to focus more on something that might be more quality, and less of a space filler, because I feel like I have to post every day.

I'm looking forward to what 2013 might bring, and I'm looking forward to scratching off some of these goals as the year goes on.

How about you?

Tony