Excellent Day Trip

Today the girls and I visited the Botanical Gardens, went to eat at the Getaway and biked a total of 6.5 miles. Tomorrow we go berry picking. That has been the high point of my day.

The low point has definitely been the house. It is not that messy but it looks pretty bad. I just haven't had the energy to clean. There are a lot of items that need to be donated or thrown away. Doing this has been a supposed top priority but progress has been painfully slow at best. The scary thing is that when I look at many of the items I own I know that I don't need them. But I am unable to get rid of them. I don't even want them. I just seem unable to get rid of a lot of things. I think of how much they cost or what my wife will say when they're gone. I fantasize about giving them to a friend who will use it or selling it.

Economics and Math

I am pursuing my PhD in Mathematics but I am working with an Economist this summer. It has been an interesting experience so far because I am seeing first hand how this other groups of academics (Economists) are using and abusing math.

I've met several Economics grad students because they sat in on one of my Real Analysis courses. But I have had little opportunity to speak with them about math or find out much about their mathematical knowledge. I also have several friends in the Humanities whose fields currently place a large emphasis on statistical analysis.

Currently, I'm reading about Optimal Control Theory. In particular this book. On first glance the material is quite deep. I wonder what depth of mathematical exposure the typical Economics student has but I think that most don't have enough to appreciate the material. The papers I'm reading seem to confirm my suspicions. The "math" part of said papers usually read like this, "Solution to the [constraints] is gauranteed by the treatment in [author, author year]".

Goals

I have several goals for the summer not in a particular order:

1) Simply my life, mostly by minimizing my possessions.
2) Prepare for and then pass my qualifying exams that are coming up .
3) Ride my bike a lot.
4) Perform well as a research assistant.

Another Year...

El hombre debe caminar con la cara al sol.

Simplifying for what?

I have noticed that minimalism/simplification blogs encourage would-be simplifiers to evaluate their priorities. For instance David Bruno wrote that one should evaluate his priorities to aid in cutting down to 100 personal possessions. I mostly ignored this--thinking that if I only had 100 items that it would just magically simplify my life.

Instead I have ~100 interesting (and non-related) items vying for my attention. Now that I have less stuff, each item I own is more noticeable and ergo wants to be used more. I can now appreciate the reasons to simplify priorities before possessions. It is easy to get rid of something when it is just an item. It is hard when that item stands for an activity or idea. I can get rid of my laptop--it is just a laptop but then I start considering that I won't be able to check my email, RSS feeds, browse the internet, chat with friends, etc.--it becomes difficult. Do I want to simplify those activities out of my life? This is especially hard to in a time when few items serve so many purposes. How does one decide that browsing the internet is not worthwhile and keep a laptop for other things?

Current List

My not-yet-complete list (100 items) (I may not include many at the end) broken into at home and at work segments.

At home:

1. Notebook
   
2. Reading light
3. Yoga Mat
4. Kleene Canteen (27oz.)
5. Pentel P209 with lead
6. Reading Glasses
7. Planner
8. Planning Folder
9. Extra Folder
10. Healing Prayers
11. Small Box (gift from wife)
12. Swatch Watch
13. Watch currently wearing
14. NSRV Bible
15. Headphones Sony
16. Gift from Grandmother
17. Journal
18. Cell phone with charger
    
19. Swiss knife
20. Laundry bag
21. Highlighters (2)
22. Palm Zire
    
23. Rock climbing shoes (5.10 Galileos)
24. Chalk Bag
25. Carabiners
26. Aleo Vera hand lotion
27. REI adventure pants
28. Exercise shirt
29. Belt
30. Fancy Belt
31. Pants
32. PJ's
33. Sweater
34. Toiletry Bag
35. Deoderant
36. Electric Shaver
37. Razors
38. Tooth Brush
39. Pants
40. Shorts
41. Pants
42. Underwear (8)
43. T-shirts (7)
44. Desk
45. Desk lamp
46. Many books
47. Neti Pot, 2 Ikea Droppar jars (salt and baking soda) and measuring spoon
48. Jacket
49. Jansport backpack
50. Italian pants
51. Italian pants
52. Light sweater
53. Leather jacket
54. Parka
55. Sneakers
56. Morrocan sandals
57. Dress Shoes
58. Loafers
59. House Slippers
60. Calligraphy pens, pen points and ink
61. Dress shirt
62. Dress shirt
63. Dress shirt
64. Dress shirt
65. Button down shirt
66. Button down shirt
67. Button down shirt
68. Button down shirt
69. Button down shirt
70. Pollo shirt
71. Pollo shirt
72. Long sleeve pollo
73. Le Coste pollo
74. Climing shorts
75. Pullup bar
76. Camera Sony
77. Filing cabinet
78. Eraser

At work:

1. Clock
2. Teapot
   
3. Ikea cup
4. Trivet
5. Britta water filter and pitcher
6. Fork and spoon
7. Tea filters
8. Tea canister
9. Picture frames (2)
10. School papers (needs to be included?)
11. Ti-89
12. Sandals
13. Swim suit, googles, buoy and bag
14. Computer
15. Hand Cream
16. Clean well hand sanitizer
17. Plate
18. Plant and pot
19. Post-its
20. Index cards
21. Umbrella
22. Paper

Office Supplies

I have a lot of office supplies and I'm not sure how they should be counted in the 100 things challenge.

When I first threw some clothes into a bag and decided to live simply I also included a Pentel mechanical pencil as my single writing instrument. But reflecting upon my day to day activities, I realize that I require a bit more: pencil, pens (black and red), paper, stapler, tape, and bookmarks at the least. I also often use: index cards (counted as one item?), post-its and a variety of notebooks. The list seems to keep growing (the "essential" items number at least 7 counted individually).

After looking at the 100 things challenge page, I see that that Dave (or whatever his name is) didn't bother to include paper in his list and has no other office supplies other than desk and computer. I guess that he has no exclusive supply of paper.