WorldWideWaterCooler

It was about a month ago when I bought the Getting Things Done book and began trying to implement it as an overall productivity system.

And I’ve gotta say - it’s working out pretty damned well. I’m certainly not any sort of crazy program evangelist, or going to start a productivity blog, but for my personal needs (getting stuff out of my head that’s driving me crazy, getting things done, keeping track of the bajillion balls I generally have in the air all at once), it’s working out pretty well.

Plusses so far:

I achieve inbox zero at least weekly. If not at zero, it’s at around 30 messages. A lot of this is because I’m already a neurotic email archiver, and I also purchased the GTD Outlook plugin to manage emails and tasks.

I’ve stopped worrying about forgetting things. I do still think of things at moments when I’m ill equipped to do anything about them (mostly in the shower), but those thoughts are usually followed up by “oh, right, it’s already on the list.”

With a portable file system to separate and hold items that are In, for Home, for Office, to Read/Review or are Action Support (all GTD file name suggestions) for the project I’m traveling for, dealing with things on the road and once I’m back now take a fraction of the time (and crazy-making brain real-estate) that they used to.

The Minuses:

It’s still difficult, and occasionally frustrating, to think of things in terms of the “Next Action.” I will often procrastinate processing my inbox because of this.

Overall though, I think it worked so well for me because I’m already a list and calendar person.

I kept lists of ongoing projects and tend to live and die by my calendar (outlook on my computer and my smartphone). Implementing GTD just expanded that particular tendency and helped me with a mechanism to put all the tasks associated with projects in appropriate places so I wasn’t thinking of and trying to remember them at inopportune times.

Next Steps:

Finding a good mobile solution to integrate with everything else. I tried Jott, but am not really keen on phoning in my random to-do list while I’m on the bus, etc. Next try is Remember the Milk which (if you get the paid version) syncs with Outlook tasks.

I also definitely need to work harder on my home solution. Part of the delay is the lack of storage in the office (which will be remedied by the end of August) for files, etc. And also just the time to be home and really get into it. I’m sure it’ll all come together soon.

In the meantime, I’m pretty happy with GTD as a system. Has anyone else’s experience been similar? Drastically different?

(photo courtesy of Mel)

All in all, a not-too-shabby way to ring in my 28th year.

**Note** I’ve been working on this post for a few days, still not happy with it, but having just signed up to volunteer at BarCamp in September, figure I should probably do the social media thing and blog already.

I went to my 10-year High School reunion this past weekend.

It was, in a word, surreal.

I’m not sure what I’d expected of my graduating class - maybe that everyone had moved up and out and changed as much as I think I have since High School. Maybe that I’d be surprised and everyone was wildly happy and successful.

But really, everyone was exactly the same.

The people who seemed most likely to succeed have certainly done that (and it was nice to reconnect with some of them), and those who seemed to have no particular path they were following are still meandering along without any indication of much purpose.

I went to High School in a pretty small town 2 hours outside Vancouver. Population about 8,000. My graduating class was one of the bigger groups in recent history at 97 students. After I left, I kept in touch with exactly no one.

And I’m trying to write this without coming off as a complete asshole, but I think I’m going to fail - so I may as well just go for it.

A great number of people back there are seriously fucked up.

Normal there is to not bat an eye when people have multiple babies with multiple partners.

Normal there is to hold no curiosity of the world at large, and to aim only as high as next weekend, where levels of drunkenness will be compared to those of weeks before.

Normal there is to go to the local bar, and have the unease of feeling like a brawl could start up any second, because that’s just how disagreements are dealt with.

Normal there is to have truly peaked at 18, and still live life as if that’s how old one still is.

And sure, everyone laughs at Blue Collar Comedy thinking “heh, amusing, but this is made up. People aren’t actually that backwards or ignorant.” Newsflash: they are.

I moved there one week shy of my 13th birthday, having just started to figure out what I want out of life. I was stunned and disappointed at the lack of possibility and potential I was suddenly surrounded with. I also wasn’t particularly shy about my disappointment with where I’d landed at the time, which made me a social pariah for most of my time there.

I guess over the years I lived there I got a bit used to it - but damn, the confusion and alarm and just wrongness of it all smacked me in the face all over again when I returned.

So yes, it’s completely judgemental of me - but, to put it mildly, even though I spent 5 of the most formative years of my life in that town with that crowd: they are not my people, I do not belong, I’d rather never go back.

Has anyone else had as traumatic an experience with their High School reunion?

In all the travel I’ve done, I’ve noticed one near constant (at least in North America):

Cars that take you to the airport (especially when they’re pre-arranged) are generally very nice. In Vancouver I always end up with a nice, new, clean cab. In other cities I’ve had everything from nice taxis and shuttle vans to Town Cars and Escalades.

In contrast, the cars that pick passengers up from the airport are generally god-awful and potentially dangerous.

We had one van-cab in Orlando where, when the side door was slid open, it FELL OFF.

Without fail, whenever I end up queueing for a taxi at an airport, the taxis are crap and the drivers are surly. And it still completely affects my impression of the city (even though I always discover that these dirty deathtraps are usually the exception rather than the rule).

But it’s always the worst when I come home. I know how the taxis here work. I know that out of the dozen or so cab companies that service the area (and thus the airport) there are only four that are licensed for pickups in Vancouver proper. And none of them are ever waiting at the airport taxi stand.

Instead there are taxis from the surrounding suburbs: Burnaby, Surrey, Delta, Richmond. And when I get in one of those cabs (because as an arriving passenger at the taxi stand, I must simply hop in the car that’s next in line), I inevitably get an incredibly cranky driver. He now has to drive my ass all the way out to the West side of the city and then back either to the airport or his licensed pick-up area, fare-free.

And yes, driver, I understand that part of things certainly sucks. But it’s not my problem that you’re doing to have to do at least $60 worth of driving for the $30 I’m going to give you. So quick being a cranky dick and just get me home.

Anyone out there able to explain the crappy arrivals cab phenomenon?

There have been a few times when people have asked me “how’s married life” and I’ve answered “Uh… I’m not really sure.” I’m sortof joking because for the most part I think married life is grand and really not that different from living in sin (with a delightful lack of disapproving “tut tuts” from those who, well, disapproved of living in sin).

We also joke that there’s no way we could know, considering that since we’ve been married, we’ve spent more time apart than together. While we’ve both been travelling far more than usual, we didn’t actually think that was true. But this latest round of voyages have been getting me down, so I started doing the math (because I have nothing better to do while sitting in yet another hotel room).

Neil and I were married on March 29th. We left for our Honeymoon the next day and returned to Vancouver on April 19th. I left for my first business trip on April 20th, and it’s been pretty nonstop for both of us since then.

I’ve taken five trips for a total of 34 days away from home since the honeymoon.

Neil’s taken two for a total of 13 days, plus a 9-day trip starting Saturday for a grand total of 22 days away from home by the end of July.

That means the two of us have been home together for all of twenty-nine days in the 3 months we’ve been married. The longest stretch during that time was 16 days.

Sure, you can add the four days in Orlando when Neil flew out to visit over a weekend while I was on an extended trip there, which brings our total “together time” to 33 days.

And you can even count the 22 days we spent on our honeymoon. But as of the 27th of July, the first day we’re both home again for at least a week, that would still bring us to 55 days. One day short of the 56 days we’ll have spent apart.

And frankly, that kindof sucks.

I’m now more used to sleeping alone than in bed with my husband. Which means I sleep like garbage when we’re together, making me grouchy and not particularly pleasant.

We’ve been trying to go out for a nice dinner (I’ve pegged the tasting menu at West, and an evening at Raincity Grill as my top two goals) ever since we got home from the honeymoon - but for the time we’ve been home together, we’ve been exhausted and sick of eating in restaurants anyhow.

The dog is turning completely neurotic (goldies are notoriously sensitive, and don’t like it when their entire pack isn’t around), and now goes away to pout and whine every time a suitcase comes out.

Between moving and unpacking in January, chaos through preparing for the wedding, and the chaos of just never being home since the wedding, our house is in complete shambles. We’ve been in eating/sleeping/laundry survival mode, and feels less homey than most of the hotel rooms I end up staying in. Case in Point: we’ve lived there for six months, and just hung some art last weekend because we couldn’t stand it anymore.

And the reality is, it doesn’t look like the situation is going to change any time soon.

We thought August and September would finally give us a break, but Neil’s got at least two weeks of trips during that time. I don’t have anything scheduled yet, but with a new project on the horizon, that could all change. And I’m definitely out of town again for at least two weeks, maybe three, in October/November.

But don’t let that fool you into thinking I’m complaining!

I love the work I do. I love the travel component. I love seeing new cities and managing events around the continent.

I do not love that I have not quite figured out how to stay sane during the in-between times. I do not love that I feel so disconnected from my partner these days.

So anyone who travels a lot and wants to weigh in on how you stay grounded and functional with your partner and family - I’d certainly appreciate it!

And for those who’ve seen me, and noticed I’ve been a bit on the cranky side, it’s only because I felt like my life was being turned a bit inside out.

Because it is. And I’m still figuring out how to right it.

I was going to write something substantial, but I couldn’t thing of anything. So I give you this:

Found at Lifehacker. The Emergency Party Button

Cruise Ship Passengers
Make the worst airplane seatmates
DEPLANE ALREADY

Return home to find
My plants all look dead, again.
Hubby can’t water

The dog smells real bad
But it’s still so very nice
To be home with her

Houston is a place
I could be very happy
Never to return

So good to be home
Unfortunately Next Week
I’m away again