Happiness

Happiness is finding and deleting the largest unused files on your hard drive.

Have you ever found yourself in a hard drive crunch? You may know that there are large files still hiding out on your computer that don't need to be around anymore. Perhaps you've ripped dvds to disc or done something else that takes lots of space that I can't think of right now. I've been there - today in fact. I've been hovering around 10GB of space on my hard drive and thought, "I should have more space than this. It just feels too full for what I've been doing lately."

I found a new tool called Folder Sizes which really made my day. I downloaded it on a 15-day trial, but it is fully functional even on the trial basis. If you know you've got some old files and folders around taking up a lot of space and you're feeling trigger happy with the Delete key, then I'd give this one a whirl.

It's a small download (3Mb) and unpacks quickly. Upon first run, there are several well written and placed help boxes (which I immediately clicked through). You can turn them off simply by changing a setting on each box. It works in a similar manner that you'd expect a virus checker to work. I was able to narrow my report to one hard drive right away. As the report comes back, I could see which root drive folders were largest. I picked a culprit and drilled down into the folder. Each time I did so, the report was updated with the largest subfolders and files. I found a number of installs as well as temporary files I no longer needed and in less than 15 minutes I had freed over 30GB of space.

Now there are a number of other features, but I didn't even get into them. I saw disc reports and defragmentation information. It didn't matter. I was super happy just to find the largest offenders on my hard drive and destroy them. It definitely made my day. Maybe it'll make yours.

"Doctor Tiki" Podcast

If you don't have iTunes yet, get it. I'll wait.

Ok. Now that we're all on the same page... I found this pretty funny podcast while avoiding doing other things I should be doing. It's called Doctor Tiki. It's a humorous blend of dumb antics, drinking, and hawaiian parafonalia. In short... it's an a cappella song short of a typical BCS party. The lead charcter could easily be Fetzer. I highly suggest anyone with a short attention span or a need of distractions to check out. If you have a short attention span AND a need of distra-- hey you! Focus... focus.... there. You need to watch it twice. Damn kids and their Ritalin.

suroviec's blog

Be sure to visit a fellow Dave's new blog. It's already got some fun drawings to check out. I'm sure it'll be filled with all sorts of general Dave goodness. You can visit it by directing your browsers to this url: http://davipalooza.blogspot.com/. Or you can simply use my "Friends' Blogs" section and hit up Davipalooza!

Assimilation

We live in a one bedroom apartment with some decent closet space; however, no amount of closet space is going to store all the crap we have both gathered over the past 9 years together. Anne has a vast collection of teaching references and materials - sometimes I feel like I live in a arts & crafts store. I have computer equipment and Boy Scout equipment and other general ... equipment. We both have pictures of friends and diplomas and fun trinkets to display. In all we indeed have too much stuff.

We're both are fans of a TLC show called Clean Sweep. It's a reality program (oh the reality tv) about turning horribly cluttered rooms into nice Trading Spaces-esque rooms by pitching and yard saling away much of the room's contents. (ok no more TLC plugs today) And while we're no organization professionals (you can see for yourself if you come for a visit) last night Anne and I (I think) were beginning the long road to assimilating personal belongings into "our belongings" (dun dun daaaaah).

While cleaning, I came across a number of minor epiphanies: (which I think is an oxymoron because an epiphany is supposed to be large I would imagine)

• I am a hoarder (ok that I knew way before last night)
• I have too much stuff
• I don't seem to finish things I start very easily

So after an evening's worth of work, things of hers that were pulled out are now neatly put away and things of mine are sitting in piles on our coffee table. They will undoubtedly get put back into a box or crate and put into a corner to sit and await the next day when Anne and I decided to clean house a little bit. I guess I'll never learn.

I won't lie and say I enjoy cleaning and organizing - I don't like doing it one bit. There are so many other things I'd rather do with my time ... like type in a random journal kept online for a small handful of readers. But I don't' avoid it either. I will tell myself to pull things out and tidy them up occasionally. However I don't find it cathartic like some wierdos out there who get their jollies by throwing their things out. I'm paranoid - worried I may throw out the one shred of my past that will reunite me with a fond and hazy memory. Just last night while cleaning up, I found some pictures of me when I was pretty young. (Anne says I was the cutest baby. I'll have to post a few for the reading republic to judge.) So there I was thinking about "the way it was." Now I didn't throw away pictures - that would be criminal - but I did let go of some things which had been in a trunk or crate for a long time. I don't feel any better than when I started and what do I have to show for it? One empty crate which its contents were assimilated or trashed. Now all I have is an empty crate. I still don't' know what to do with it. Oh I know... I'll just put all the crap that's on my coffee table into it and put it in a corner.

I guess that brings me to another concern. During the long process of melding properties, decisions are made. At some point some one has to decide, "Hey! Your piece of crap is not good enough. It didn't make the cut. Get rid of it. Yours is the weakest link. Go directly to jail. Do not pass 'Go.' And certainly... do not collect $200." Maybe I'm being a little sensitive to the issue, but I think that's a deeper part of it. Many people will judge you by your belongings. "Oh my God, how could she wear that?" "I've got the super-wowie-zowie newest video card in my computer." "Who's driving that Porche?" And I think trying to decide which of our personal belongings makes the grade to become our mutual belongings is also the decision that "your link to your past memory isn't good enough to stay around."

So in conlusion, since I don't know how to bring this around to a clean ending ... um ... *looking around* ... er ... LOOK OVER THERE!!! *points over there*

*runs away*

Basha Kill

If anyone reading a few days ago really wanted to know where I went hiking (the place that I couldn't spell), I've found it again. Here's a resource on the Basha Kill Wetlands. I think the father-son-dog picture here is just oh so cute too.

This picture was taken in the city of Boston the night of Jeremiah and Jen's rehearsal dinner. Heather just sent it to me. I loved it so much that I had to share it - so enjoy.
Posted by Picasa

i'm a freakin' machine

This morning I got back from a hiking trip with Scouts from Boy Scout Troop 273. That was my old troop I belonged to before I went to college. I had a great time with the younger scouts (who I had basically just met).

This was the second of two hiking trips over the past two weeks. Last weekend we went hiking to someplace I can't spell and thus cannot find any reference material online. It was 10 miles and it was good. That is all I can think of to say about that.

However this weekend we went to Sam's Point in Cragsmoor and then followed the Bear Hill Trail. Another 10 miles. It was perhaps the most challenging hiking I've ever endured. We'd climb down these steep, steep hills only to cross a stream and turn back up to get on top of the ridge. This time we stopped a 1/2 mile from our destination and camped out for the night. We woke this morning (late), packed our belongings and then head out. It was a great time. The views from Sam' Point were amazing. And we were able to visit an awesome sidestop at the Sam's Point Dwarf Pine Barrens Preserve called the Ice Caves (the picture doesn't do them justice). They are these caves created by HUGE rocks shifting when glaciers passed through and removed softer rock from underneath these larger rocks. The large rocks could not support their own weight over time and eventually cracked and created large crevices for us to walk through which we now call the Ice Caves. If anyone in the area wants to check them out, it's a 3 mile hike (quite feasible for most) round trip for some really cool sights.

In the meantime, I've shaved off quite a few pounds in the last two weeks. I hope we can get out more often because, while my feet hurt, lightening my personal load would be great :-)

I'll post pictures when available.