Nothing funny about feldspar

I’ve always disliked to-do lists, mainly because I’m not very good at making them. Whenever I get into Organize! mode, I’ll make a list of absolutely everything I think I have to do… and then after doing this for a few hours, my good intentions evaporate away in realization that I’ve lost another day and it’s time to start cooking dinner.

However, I do find I need to write things down so I remember to do them. So I’m trying to find a good way to make rational (doable) lists. (Don’t talk to me about that Getting Things Done guy — I don’t have staff.)

My thought this gray Monday morning was to make a short list of stuff I’d like to get accomplished this week (by the end of Friday). Chores can’t be on it, and neither can things like “Go to the pub with Plagioclase” ’cause those things I’m pretty good about making sure get done (though not always, especially when it comes to laundry).

And since everybody blogs their lists, so they have some sort of impetus to actually try to work on their stuff, I naturally thought of posting mine here on Nfaf.

So here goes:

• Repair the hall toilet (the problem with having so many bathrooms is that one doesn’t have any reason to fix toilets right away, but we’ve had the parts for weeks now and just haven’t done it)
• Repair the paper roll in the downstairs toilet
• Write a description of a complex database query well enough so the database person can translate it into an SQL query that will get me the data I want
• Make reservations for a conference
• Call the health insurance company (for some reason, they don’t think we paid for September)
• Call some roofers (luckily the leak is only in the garage… for now)
• Write a post comparing the reception of independent scholarship in the sciences and in the humanities
• Clear the boxes out of any one room in my house

I think that’s a good start. And lest you think I’m being too easy on myself, remember that I have phone phobia, so it’s really hard for me to make calls. Building up the nerve is going to take a while.