1000 buffalo stampede

I took that extra fall back hour today (and then some) and slept in for a good long while. It’s the one day where you can get away with it, and still feel like there’s a whole lotta day left to spend. Mine rolled into a three-cup o’ coffee (some decaf, yes) and catching up on podcasts.

I managed to listen through the first four 43 folders episodes with David Allen. Some great thoughts on procrastination and teamwork especially. The Wasting Time episode with Ian Sholes is pretty damn funny. Needless to say, anytime I listen to (or read) inspiring GTD stuff, I wind up cranking through my action lists and in-baskets.

For me, one of the more interesting take-aways from any decent GTD article, tip, or hack has been the reinforcement of the fact that we’re not in this alone. I’m generally stuck up in my own brain – being reminded that I’m not dealing with unique issues is a big reassurance for me.

At risk of being inappropriately evangelistic, Getting Things Done is a fantastic system. If you’re feeling out of control, stressed, or are a knowledge worker of any type, I highly recommend GTD. It’s had a profound effect on both my stress level and productivity.

I also managed to catch up on the Battlestar Galactica episode commentary podcasts, and some Have Games, Will Travel ‘casts as well

I also discovered that my external media hard drive is completely full, and handle so much as a single tiny podcast more. Looks like 40gb is no longer sufficient for my music, video, tv show, podcast, and movie habit.

Not a tense morning, but one of more running around to stand to still. Today was my much awaited (after being much put off) appointment with the orthopedic surgeon to talk me lurch around the past few months, has been, er, lurch-inducing.

The result was a good bit of patiently waiting around – not particularly stressful, but neither was it particularly interesting.

Finally, the consultation, review of the x-rays, and the diagnosis – which was that there seems to be very little wrong with me, at least as far as my knee and ankle goes. The fix is some physical therapy, and nothing particular rigorous at that, and some anti-inflammatories for the bad days, with a follow-up in about two months.

Which leads me to relax (briefly) with a cup of coffee before heading into the office.

All-in-all, I’m certainly not going to complain (until I’m 40 minutes in on the stationary bike, I’m sure).

Battlestar Galactica Season 3 is up on the iTunes Store – thankfully. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see it, and gladly laid down my $2 to get it. But, it’s nearly a week late.

I collected Season 2 episode by episode on iTS, with each coming out Saturday night – 24 hours after the episode premiered on tv. Called me spoiled, but expectations are a bitch. I was not pleased when last Saturday night came around, and there was no season premiere for the downloading.

Sure, I caught the freely playable first scene on BSG website. And, yea, I watched the original content 10 free webisodes (“The Resistance“) leading up to Season 3.

And while I was waiting, I watched some episodes of The American Revolution (History Channel).

I’m just saying … nearly a week late.

WTF.

I picked up “The Surrogates” earlier this week, and read it through twice or so. It’s a nice piece of science-fiction with cop genre. Really enjoyed it.

“The year is 2054, and life has been reduced to a data feed. The fusing of virtual reality and cybernetics has ushered in the era of the personal surrogate, android substitutes that let users interact with the world without ever leaving their homes. It’s a perfect world, and it’s up to Detectives Harvey Greer and Pete Ford of the Metro Police Department to keep it that way. But to do so they’ll need to stop a techno-terrorist bent on returning society to a time when people lived their lives instead of merely experiencing them.”

It’s a graphic novel by Robert Venditti (writer) and Brett Weldele (artist). I thought both the art and story were catchy. Recommended if you like good science fiction and art.

Saturday was a milestone celebration. EndGame, my friendly local game store, celebrated their 5th year in business with a day-long party. It was a great time – pretty busy, lots of people (I caught up with a lot of friends, not surprisingly), and lots o’ games.

For my part, I helped by running an adventure for Green Ronin’s True 20 RPG, with Chris Pramas, founder of Green Ronin, attending. No pressure, eh? The game was pretty successful, I’d say – everyone seemed to have a blast, and we clocked in at about 4′ish hours of play.

The fun for me actually started the night before, when I joined Chris Pramas, Chris Hanrahan (of EndGame), and my friend Bruce Harlick (of long-time Hero Games fame, among others) for dinner at Bouchon. Driving up to Napa to meet Bruce, Chris H (ok, this trend of me having multiple friends with the same first name is getting a bit cumbersome) took us for a bit of wine tasting. Properly relaxed, we then all met at Bouchon and had a fantastic dinner.

Since BaddKarmma will give me a hard time if I don’t provide the details, here you go:

My starter was the tomato gazpacho – a fantastic cold soup just bursting with flavor. Bruce and Chris H has the pate, and Chris P had the charcuterie. For the main course, I went with the steak frites, Chris H had the veal, Bruce the boudin noir, and Chris P the sea scallops. Everyone’s meal was great – my steak was cooked perfectly and delicious. I ended off with the chocolate mousse.

For contrast, I’m having a cup of coffee at the moment. Black. For greater contrast, I’ll be fasting tomorrow.

Nothing like going to extremes, eh?