jonathanhickman.com

What do you do with collectibles?

When I was a kid, I bought stacks of comic books and baseball cards. Some of it was entertainment, but some were an “investment.”

And now whenever I think about them, I get pangs of guilt. What do you do with stacks of old comic books and baseball cards? I have no doubt some are worth something, since they were at the time - at least sorta. But I don’t ever want to deal with them. I’ve thought about taking them down to their respective collectible shops and have them just give me some $ for them.

What do you do?

Distractions

Today I really need to work at least six hours. But I made the mistake of thinking I should work in front of a nice fire. And since I didn’t get up particularly early this morning, and the fire took a good hour to get going, I was just starting to sit down to work around 10:30. And then I realized I needed to find the remote for the radio. The Granju clan likes to eat remotes, and it’s a constant struggle for me to keep them from disappearing. I had no luck with this particular remote and realized I needed to give up and get started working.

But I’m going out to eat for lunch with Katie and her sister, so not only am I going to lose that time, I’d bet I’ll have to get the fire started again this afternoon.

I went to college. I know all about procrastination. I should’ve seen this coming.

One of my least favorite sounds:

Dogs on hardwood floors.

Ugh.

Smoke free, drink free show

Tonight, Katie and I are going to (try to) see Christabel and the Johns. I think the show will be a good one, but I’m a bit wary.

They’re playing at a small theater near campus. It’s a cute place; it was built as a Presbyterian church, now long defunct. And all their shows are no smoking. And no drinking (I can’t remember if brown bagging is ok or not).

While the band is good, I’m not terribly excited about the show, and I have a fear that I’ll be sitting in a folding chair in a church for a couple of hours, without a drink or anything reminding me I’m at a concert (except the band). I have an image of myself sitting on one of those chairs, trying to daydream without falling asleep.

For me, concerts involve standing, putting up with cigarette smoke, drink in hand. This show sounds reminiscent of a high school chorus concert.

With dancing.

I’ve got to remember

I’ve got to remember to bring in more firewood tomorrow.

Winter is expected to make another appearance, beginning with rain changing to snow early Sunday morning. If you want to see the snowflakes, the National Weather Service is predicting they will start falling after 2 a.m.

Snow showers are possible until noon Sunday, with a high of 38 forecast.

Sunday night it will be frigid with a low of 21.

Monday will be mostly sunny but cold with a high of 38.

Through Thursday the temperatures will range from a low of 21 to a high of 42, with a slight chance of rain or snow showers Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

I don’t believe the snow forecast for a minute, but I don’t doubt the cold weather. And I’m looking forward to some winter.

I am so far behind

I thought I was going to sit down last night and get caught up in my online reading, but as I sat by the fire sipping a cold drink, I just couldn’t open my computer. Work has been too busy lately for me to spend any time reading. I glance at some headlines but don’t have the time to do more.

I can’t figure out if I should just write off until May 90% of the blogs and news that I read, or if I should find a way to squeeze them in.

My wife just sent me this link

My wife just sent me this link from the other room:

Study: Americans spend more time with computer than spouse.

Hmm … nah!

Buy the book

I forgot to mention this earlier.

You gotta know where to buy the book.

(Especially if you want a signed copy.)

(edited for typo in link)

One of my favorite authors

There’s a fun little article in the NYT today about one of my favorite authors, Jim Harrison. I’ve always thought my tastes in literature unusual. If I were forced to list my four favorite authors, they’d be Jim Harrison, Cormac McCarthy, Charlotte Bronte, and Jane Austen.

Jim Harrison has been putting out books faster than I can read them lately, although I’m not blaming him for that; I spend way too much time online. But I’m looking forward to getting caught up. I love how Harrison’s work pulls me in. And I love his interspersed cooking stories. It almost makes me want to be a foodie.

There was plenty for dinner nonetheless: some doves he had killed a day or two before, antelope from a recent hunt up in Flagstaff and elk loin that a friend had sent from Montana. Mr. Harrison, a self-described “food bully,” has very particular ideas about cooking. He thinks rosemary should be banned. He has no use for huge restaurant-style ranges: “Why should I spend $7,000 for a stove when I could spend $7,000 on food?” And he doesn’t believe that game, birds especially, should be tarted up with elaborate sauces. “As the French say, game birds taste best at the point of the gun,” he said.

I think I could handle the eating and drinking. It’s the cooking part I couldn’t do.

I’m looking forward to checking out this new book.

I didn’t think this out too well

I got to sleep in this morning. I have nowhere to be until 9 o’clock.

But instead of sleeping as late as I could, I decided to get up a little early and have some quiet computer time.

What I didn’t realize was that “quiet computer time” in the morning translates to “struggles to stay awake on the couch while staring blankly at the computer.”

SOTU thoughts

I watched last night’s State of the Union address.

I kid you not - I got the best night’s sleep last night that I’ve had in at least a year.