Thursday, April 29, 2010

Time.



There is basic algebra scribbled all over my walls. There has to be a solution to this problem. 24 seems like such a large number. An hour is such a long time. How come I can't get anything done? Everything I do is planned days or weeks ahead of time. Relaxation comes in 5 minutes spurts, constantly being interrupted by the guilt of not being productive.

Work.

Last year I worked a job I hated. I made it bearable by "working" from home Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I swindled/scammed myself into about a 14 hour work week, which finally paid off when I got laid off, on June 1st. Perfect. I had all the time in the world, the whole summer to myself.

This year I have a job I really enjoy, but a 9 hour day is the best case scenario. Weekends are no longer a given. I rush to start rushed workouts. I am late to everything. All the gaps in my calendar are filled.

Life.

I'm a new home owner. The ownership is new, not the house. The house is over 100 years old. Everything breaks always. I have a lawn, it does not have a pause button. My maid/chef/secretary quit right as the days started getting shorter and work hours started getting longer. I am building a death star in my basement. My MTB components are going on their 4th year and now require an hour of maintenance for every hour of use. Dogs can be trained to do just about anything, a dog's "evacuation system" cannot be trained to "fire" any less than three times a day. Trust me on that one.

Solution.

Haven't figured it out yet. But I'm close. I've started trimming. A corrupt commissioner allowed me to give up my fantasy basketball obsession, which I'm proud to say was good for about an hour a day. I've made tons of cuts to my google reader roster. Blogs with too much content, too many updates, and no direct tie to my daily life are gone. Bikesnob, Dicky, Stevil, BKW, I love you, but I ain't got the time. I cut out every email newsletter and mailing list, now work time is spent working, which only gets me out earlier.

I have time to do almost everything that needs to be done. Since I haven't started training yet, my neglect of the squirt gun show is the most troubling aspect of my crowded schedule. Trying to maintain chronology is one of my biggest problems/excuses. If I race, I can't write about anything until I write up the race report. Which brings us to our next subject...

The race reports are the real problem.

Problem is I don't like to write boring shit. Let's face it, when you race 30 or 40 times a year, it gets hard to come up with a new "angle" for your race reports. I can't stand the same old boring race reports. "i had a bad start, i passed so and so, i crashed, i finished 11th" don't care.

However, as Router points out, race reports are one of the few things that really matter for a bike blog. It's like the ante; like it or not, you need to do it or you're not in the game. Writing a witty report, with a fresh angle, that is bigger than the race it describes isn't possible when you race damn near every week. The amount of mental effort required clear a bar that high is enough prevent updates all together.... and THAT seems to be the issue here.

Lowering the bar.

Yeah. That's what going to happen. Deal with it. Races will be acknowledged. The ante will be paid, and I will remain in the game, but they're going to be quick and dirty. I'm thinking of going with a form-letter approach. That should free me up to write about topics other than races (aka topics that actually require thought and creativity.) If you want lap by lap reports, there is no shortage of them, and they aren't hard to find.

I got a counter.

I know which posts you're looking at, I know how long you're reading them for, and I know how often you read them. Google searches that lead to my many USAC rants are still my largest traffic generator. My most popular entries? anything that starts with "Dear Cat x Men..." Race reports? Not so popular. To be honest, the number of hits is directly proportional to the enjoyment I got out of writing the entries. (Fun fact, 2nd most popular search term? "brian wilichoski" no joke.)

Summary.

I've got so much I want to write about. Let's get too it. Right after I fix that part of the kitchen floor that keeps putting holes in my socks, mount a new rear tire on the mtb, replace the dysfunctional front door knob, hang the new curtain rods in the dining room, replace the crawlspace door, do laundry, unclog the front gutters, and wake up at 6:05am so I can not train before going to work.

(2:39 to write this. no coincidence that it is 40 degrees and raining right now.)

3 comments:

  1. Personally I read your posts for the venom and the poop that you like to fling. Mostly for the poop.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That was the worst race report I've ever read.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Drop your internet and you will find more hours to fix stuff.

    ReplyDelete