I have a very hard time dealing with handling my own dining.  I can handle cooking, and while I have a difficult time getting to the shops I do manage to keep food around.

My biggest problem is figuring out what in the world to eat.  Cook or not.

Breakfast is the easiest meal.  I like eggs, I like bacon, I like english muffins.  I could eat this for breakfast every day (until my doctor advises against it), but the simple fact is I don’t have time to deal with breakfast during the week.

Lunch is fairly easy as well.  Near work is a variety of options, and if I did better at grocery shopping I could even bring in sandwiches.

Dinner on the other hand is a great strain in brain power.  There are a few take-out options that I enjoy with my girlfriend, mainly sushi and Indian.  Fridays and Saturdays it is easy to end up with friends going out to eat.  But the majority of the week is trying to find the answer to the question of What-Do-I-Eat.

I can ask myself, “If I could have anything in the world, what would I have?” and be overwhelmed with options that don’t actually make it into my conscious thoughts.  It’s a good way of drawing a total blank.

A basic solution is to have cookbooks and flip through them.  Having my own menu like that is very difficult though.  I haven’t found good cookbooks/recipes to build up in such a fashion.

Computers don’t do a good job of solving human problems like this, but they could help.

Online Recipes

Have you ever tried to find recipes online?  It’s horrid.  The sites out there are difficult to use and loaded with junk.  It’s hard to organise recipes in a way that makes sense, and I think a big part of it is the inability to generate revenue from giving away recipes.

I think it was in Popular Science decades ago and re-printed around the year 2000 perhaps, with the basic idea that your fridge keeps track of what you have.  Who really wants to scan bar codes of food as they bring it home though?

If only the supermarkets could be more helpful.  They are gathering my shopping habits anyway.  Why can’t my supermarket receipt data get into my fridge? Why can’t my fridge track what I make for dinner, and allow me to rate my meals so it can also suggest what to eat?  If the whole system was linked in full circle, I should be able to get my shopping list generated for me containing not only what I normally stock up on and need, but with suggestions for things that I might like to buy to make new dishes.

Stop&Shop, SuperValu, Kroger, A&P, etc etc etc….. this might be a good way for them to leverage the mountain of data they’re collecting and relate that data across chains and other services…. If it makes getting food in my belly easier each night, I am fine with making their data more valid.

I had my wisdom teeth out on Wednesday.  I’m pretty much out of pain killers at this point, and not sleeping very well thanks to the discomfort.  Last night I had particular trouble allowing my head to be anything but upright.  Something about how the blood shifts in my head makes laying back or forward quite uncomfortable.

So sleep has been difficult, and throughout most of today I’ve been in and out of bed.  I don’t have web sites to surf really so the laptop is boring me a lot.  There isn’t much on TV, so I finally finished watching the Incredible Hulk movie (had watched the first half a few weeks ago) but I was barely able to pay attention to the movie.

The most difficult thing right now is not being able to focus on anything.  Whether it’s watching TV or doing anything else, my attention span wavers constantly.

I’m not much of a blogger, I’ve posted very few things onto this blog during 2008.  I would like to write more, both about my daily life and fiction.  I was reminded at my high school reunion how much I enjoy writing fiction thanks to seeing some of the artifacts from school.  I’m not saying I’m any good at it, but it’s fun… but I can’t justify the time spent on endevours like that when I’m not spending enough time on many other things.

I wish I could bring myself to write daily.  I used to, years ago… right now I do keep a bit of a light journal that basically tracks more major events.  But I used to write about the mundane events in my life which was a good release.  It’s nice to get these thoughts out of your head.

Now, this weekend I’m out of it thanks to the wisdom teeth.  I was put out for the removal of the teeth.  One was partially impacted, and it had to be cut up and removed in pieces.  During the process, the dentist ended up slicing up the inside of my cheek which required stitches and is the primary source of my discomfort today at least.  My jaw itself hurts too.  The end result: I can’t focus and I am writing garbage.

I’m probably rambling, but I’m bored and no one is around.. not that I have anything of real substance to say.

Cleaning out my old blog is easy when starting from scratch.

The key to coming back to work after a long weekend is unknown to me.

The impact on business culture by the internet is not as I would expect. Too many great companies are neglecting some valuable ideas.

I get asked about my job a lot. It’s one of those questions that people seem to ask when you’re over a certain age. Right after high school, the question was always “What’s your major?”. Very soon after, that question stopped as the majority of kids changed their major, their school, or dropped out altogether. I don’t recall the school guidance department giving much of a heads up to that regard, though I don’t recall the school guidance department giving much guidance at all.

The fortunate ones have careers they like by the time they reach thirty years of age. I like to think that most of the folks I know in their late twenties have some idea of what their careers will be. Many seem to fall into careers by accident, or have them forced on them for one reason or another.

For me, it was natural to go the path I went. I’m not normal. I suppose the phrase I should use is: I’m unique.

The past six years I spent working for myself, which is to say I was working for a lot of different people. I can now affirm that working for clients is no different from working for a single employer. I sort of accidentally found myself properly employed this year. The right opportunity presented itself.

I can also say that the stress level working for a single employer is significantly lower. I have yet to see whether working for a single employer is as rewarding as working for myself.

I’m used to having a flexible schedule, traveling whenever I feel like it. Things like sick days, vacation days, and a regular pay cheque are completely foreign to me.

One thing that I think more employers should do to keep their employees happy is offer that flexible schedule to salaried employees. I’m not talking about flex-time, I’m talking more like what Best Buy corporate has attempted. Laptops and wifi allow me to function just about anywhere.

I should be able to telecommute from South Africa for two months, Los Angeles for six months, etc.

Right now my job is requiring a lot of face time, but if I do my job correctly during the next few months, the rest of the year will require virtually no face time. We’ll see how it plays out.