I think this will be really boring, but I feel pretty good about things right now.

If we're considering weekends to start when work ends on Friday (5 p.m.), and to end at the time one should be in bed on Sunday (midnight), and to not include the approximate time one should be asleep on the weekend (let's say, 2 a.m. until 9 a.m., which seems reasonable enough), then weekends last 41 hours. I am writing in hour 41 of the weekend. Had I written at any time before, say, right now, I'd be whining about how this weekend was a bust and how I'm still wasting my time and how I've still gotten nothing done...

And, really, I've still gotten nothing done. But, about six weeks late, there's a plan in place. And a lot of the grunt work is done...the entering of personal information and the entering of transcript information and the entering of community involvement and all of that other Vital Statistics kind of stuff. It's done. Fin. Complete. That part of my applications is [mostly...well, largely...well, probably 40 percent] done.

I had a very productive Tuesday last week, and have the majority of my four Northwestern essays done. I have nothing in terms of essays for the other schools, but, in many cases, they're repurpose-able. Not really, and that's not an encouraged tactic, of course, but a lot of what applies to one question at one school can apply to another question at another school, of course. And I'm pretty shifty, so I figure I can get it done.

- - - - -

Now, I'm not the cleanest of people, as you might know. Things like mail tend to build up on my countertops, and semi-dirty laundry winds up on my bedroom floor, and I tend to go several weeks without sweeping my floors, and several months without...scrubbing them. I'm not sure I had cleaned my bathroom since July. Really, except for a toilet scrub and some "wiping beard hair out of the sink."

[As I read this, I realize I'm a disgusting, disgusting, disgusting person. I use a lot of polysyllabic words, but I have the maturity level of a...13-year-old.]

Now, if I'm having friends over, they're generally kind-of unclean friends, anyway, and we'll probably be drinking a lot so, by the time my friends use the bathroom, maybe they'll be too sauced to notice. I'm not sure if this is or is not the case, though I'm a bit embarrassed to ask, as I think about it.

But, on Saturday afternoon (about 2-6) and on Sunday afternoon (roughly 2-5), I did some serious, serious, serious cleaning. On my knees, sweating, cleaning. Scrubbing corners that I would've never noticed could be filthy, because I never see them. Good freakin' cleaning, probably good cleaning because I rotated through some music I hadn't listened to in a while and because I was bolstered by (on Saturday) a solid Cats win and (on both days) a strong, strong desire to still not worry about getting my applications done.

And though, as a step towards the November-December-early January goal of completing these applications, this activity could be considered a bust, I think it's good to get to know what it feels like to accomplish something. Because, really, I haven't accomplished anything since October, otherwise. (That's when I kicked ass on the GMAT...and to think, had I not kicked ass on the GMAT, I'd've not been stressed about any of the rest of this crap.)

And, you know, it's also nice to not have eight weeks' worth of receipts on my dresser, and two months' worth of [paid] bills on my kitchen counter, and two months' worth of Newsweeks on my nightstand. And it's nice to have balanced my checkbook and to have confirmed that nothing's past due. It's just...better.

Cleaning things accomplished:
Bills organized, paid, filed
Receipts filed. (I keep receipts. I'm such a dolt.)
Junk mail trashed.
Trash trashed.
Old magazines stuffed into the magazine rack. (Why I don't throw out old magazines, I'll never know. Eventually they get thrown out.)
Kitchen counters scrubbed.
Dishes done, several times. (I own a dishwasher, but I only use it as a drying rack. I kind of like doing dishes, for some reason. I've not run the dishwasher for at least three weeks, which is idiotic.)
Living room furniture dusted.
Toilet scrubbed. Really scrubbed.
Bathroom counters scrubbed.
Tub cleaned. Really cleaned.
Four loads of laundry - cleaned, dried, hung/folded. (This includes a load of towels.)
Bathroom and kitchen floors swept, then scrubbed, then swept again.

My bed still isn't made. And my sheets haven't been washed for a few weeks.

But, generally, my place is presentable, and that's just awesome.

- - - - - - - -

Two stresses for December.

1) Gift-buying. My list is small. Family only, really. I've only purchased one gift so far, but I'm half figured-out. This is huge. (I may have been done by this time last year.)

2) Resolution-making. This is less stressful and, really, doesn't have to be done until January 1. However, I've figured mine out. It's reasonable, worth pursuing, will improve my life, and it relates to the above. I'll also start working on my resolution tomorrow, the first opportunity I'll have to do so.

"Dispose of junk mail in a timely fashion."

This is my goal. I often open my mail, like, once a week. It builds up and makes messes. I don't want to do this anymore.

I'm a huge, huge proponent of the Two-Minute Rule. The Two-Minute Rule is great, and it dictates that, if something takes less than two minutes to accomplish, one should do it immediately. This is because the stress associated with keeping this thing on your "To-do" list or with simply remembering to do it is far more than the stress associated with putting off whatever you were about to do in the interests of the imminent, easy-to-accomplish task. I think the Two-Minute Rule is great, and I'll start to apply it to junk mail disposal. Or to putting non-junk mail in its appropriate place.

Last weekend, I had a talk with a friend about her resolution. Her resolution for this year was to "Have cat-like reflexes when catching things." This is a pretty good skill to work on, I guess.

- - - - - - - -

Back to the application thing. They're not done, but, as of right now, there's a plan in place for this week. I've got at least three days' worth of dinner [my first taco soup of the season!, I think] in the fridge and, as a result, I'll be able to get home after work, crank through dinner, and go coffee-shopping to work on things. I'm far more productive at coffee shops, owing to the fact that I can't walk around coffee shops in my underwear, occasionally pausing to watch TV or open up Sports Illustrated or reorganize my CDs. (Walking around in my underwear, watching TV, reading Sports Illustrated, and reorganizing my CDs are my main barriers to productivity at home. I don't John-Cusack-in-High Fidelity reorganize my CDs or anything, but I generally grab a new CD every time I get in the car, and, generally, these CDs wind up on my kitchen counter or my coffee table. Not on the bookshelf where they belong.)

So, at least for Monday and Tuesday...
Home by 5:25.
Done eating dinner by 6:00.
At the coffee shop by 6:10.
Working. Seriously. Working until 8:30 or so.
Gym at 9.
Home, feeling good about having accomplished something, by 10.

I don't know if this is feasible, but I think it is. And if I get proper amounts of sleep, I really, really think I'll be able to do it. So right now, at this precise moment, 11:41 Eastern Standard Time, I feel great about things.

(Also, this timetable is probably a bit infeasible. Done with dinner by 6 is probably optimistic. But at the coffee shop by 6:30 is reasonable, and I think the coffee shop I'll work from is open until 9. Maybe even 10.)

[A Sports Illustrated-related aside: I don't know if you care about the death of Sean Taylor - it's really sad, I think - but I think that Sports Illustrated's Jim Trotter wrote a real well-done story about it. It's here, and, if you care a bit about sports, or a bit about issues of race and issues of media, then it's worth your ten minutes.]

- - - - - - -

On Saturday, I also made the best dinner I've made for myself in a long, long, long time. I created this honey-ginger-lemon marinade for halibut, and broiled it, and ate it with lemon-oregano spiced roast red potatoes. And peas, because I always eat peas. This was highly satisfying, and I'm really looking forward to eating the same for lunch on Monday.

Then I played marbles with a friend. I wish I were joking. Marbles is hard. I still wish I were joking.

- - - - - - - -

I've reintroduced tea drinking to my life. I drink tea in spurts.

I've got cinnamon stick, two raspberry flavors, and a cherry flavored one. I'm pretty happy with this selection.

- - - - - - -

Net fantasy football investment, 2007: $10.
Net fantasy football winnings, 2007: $0.

R.I.P., Willie's Destroyers.
R.I.P., De Stijl Curtain.

I think De Stijl Curtain is one of the greatest fantasy football nicknames ever. I'd highly encourage you to use it, if you'd like, next year.

- - - - - -

Ever-so-briefly, on Northwestern hoops.

No Big Ten school should consider it an accomplishment to win, on the road, against a MAC school. This is what Big Ten basketball programs do, if they have such little pull that they schedule road games against MAC teams.

But, when it comes down to it, Saturday's win against Western Michigan was a really nice one. Western Michigan is a good MAC team, I think, and they return the same players who took NU to overtime in Evanston last year.

NU is still without its best player, and continues to play a freshman point guard, and continues to play without any true post. But they trailed early, shot well, forced quite a bit of turnovers, and eked out a win on Saturday, and I feel really good about that.

I've not analyzed the schedule, but NU won't win more than five conference games. I forget, though, that they won only two, I believe, last year. And it's annoying to always, always, plan for next year, but this could be a building block to something real next year.

The fact is that, come the start of the conference season, NUs rotation will look like this:

Starters:
F: Coble, sophomore
F: Ryan, sophomore
G: Moore, junior
G: Williams, junior
G: Thompson, freshman

Bench:
G: Okrzesik, senior
F: Baran, freshman
F: Capocci, freshman

Deep Bench:
F: Melchoir, junior
F: Peljusic, freshman

Injured, status unknown:
G: Nash, sophomore

That's one senior on the roster. That's freshman as three of the top eight. That's a sophomore and a freshman as the top player.

Next year, NU welcomes a 6-8 power forward, John Shurna, who Bill Carmody expects to start immediately. They welcome a 6-5 wing, Nick Fruendt, who is expected to contribute immediately.

Every starter is back.

I'm probably hopelessly optimistic, but I think - think - that there's something building. And, if he builds something, Bill Carmody is a genius.

They say Tavaras Hardy is a hell of a recruiter.

I'm the biggest geek I know.

- - - - -

So, with that, I'll go to sleep.