Tossing It Out Tuesday: Getting Organized

            Since coming back from vacation and trying to catch up with everything that's accumulated over three weeks,  I've been having a time management problem.  I've decided that I need to simplify my life and start tossing out the things that complicate my time schedule.  I'm going to start with my clocks.

             Also I've been distracted by something that's happening next Wednesday January 26, 2011.  Be watching this blog for a surprise announcement.  I can hardly wait!




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Tossing It Out Tuesday: Out With the Old, In With the Next Idea

         The fall television season of 2009 saw the debut of a new television show that I immediately became hooked on.    FlashForward had all of the qualities that I like to see in a story--apocalyptic visions, time travel, action adventure, cerebral crimes, and mysterious conspiracies.  I faithfully watched every episode until the season conclusion in May.  I was anxious for the show to resume this fall.

         As fall approached I was seeing no promos on television for the show.  I checked it out online and discovered that FlashForward would not be returning.  That's one of the reasons I don't usually watch too much television anymore.  It seems like when I get caught up in a show, the network will unceremoniously dump it without ending it or with an unsatisfactory conclusion.

         It's probably mainly an issue of money and ratings.  From a business standpoint it makes sense for a network to toss out a show that lacks the potential of paying for itself.  Business will typically do this. If a product is not selling, the line will get dumped.  If an author or another artist is no longer popular, they might lose their contract.  It's disappointing to the fans who have remained loyal, but most companies don't stay in business catering to the few.

         I ran into this situation yesterday at the supermarket.  My favorite Colgate toothpaste flavor, Cinnamint, was nowhere to be seen--not even an empty space.  I hope Colgate hasn't discontinued the line and it was only a decision by this particular supermarket.  I guess I could complain to the store manager, but I buy maybe three tubes per year.  I'm not really a consumer with clout.  This is probably the wrong attitude.  I should be the squeaky wheel more often.

          The point that I guess I'm trying to make in this post is that if my daily blog were rated according to viewers and marketability, then the days that I've "tossed out" are the posts that would be less appealing to advertisers and be the least revenue producing.

           I know that's a heck of a way to look at my blogging activity, especially considering that there is actually no advertising invloved,  but as they say "Time is money" and I have to think about what the best investment of my time is.  Today's post is merely a variation on a theme.  This explanation, complete with examples, gets to the gist of why I am tossing out blogging days.  

           Are there any favorite television shows that you have followed that were canned, much to your disappointment?   Have you had a favorite artist (author, musician, actor, etc) who was tossed by the wayside due to lack of sales or commercial appeal?   Has there ever been a product that you liked that a company stopped producing?   What have you tossed out of your life because it was taking too much of your time, costing too much money, or not being worth your effort to keep doing it?

         

         

Blog Boggled: New Blogging Schedule

             Readers have spoken.  For the past few weeks I have had a poll on this blog site to see which of my daily features were the most popular.  The results were as follows--with day, topic, and percentage of votes for the favorite topic:

Sunday Bible Study (20%)
Monday Blogging and Writing Topics  (68%)
Tossing It Out Tuesday  (50%)
Wednesday Human Interest stories and memoirs  (31%)
Thursday Debate Day  (31%)
Friday Mystery Topic  (43%)
Saturday Review and Preview  (11%)

         Percentages are over 100% because I had asked readers to pick the top three favorites.  I may have skewed things by including the day of the week since the percentages correspond with the most active days on this blog.  Still the numbers are pretty much what I had expected based on my analytics stats.

         The new schedule for Tossing It Out will eliminate the Saturday preview and review since that was pretty much of a throw away day anyway.  As I mentioned this past Saturday, there will still be occasional special Saturday posts for awards or whatever else special comes along.   These days will be unscheduled surprise days.   Also, the Sunday Bible Study will be taking a break as I re-evaluate what to do.  Alex J. Cavanaugh suggested that I might want to collaborate with other bloggers to create a separate Bible study blog where we can all contribute.  I'd be happy to discuss this with any interested parties.

         Here is the new schedule for Tossing It Out:

Monday:      Mostly Writing Monday is a day that may include Blog Boggled or Persnickety Penman features, reviews, or stories and poetry on some occasions.  And every now and then I might toss out a top favorites list.

Tuesday:   Tossing It Out Tuesday will continue with a mash up of Debate Day, my continued effort to get rid of stuff, and any other thoughts I want to toss out to readers to hear what you have to say.

Thursday:   The Thursday Mind Excursion will combine my current Wednesday human interest and memoirs with fiction and strange stories like I have been presenting on Fridays.  I might even experiment with Bible studies in a totally different way as suggested to me by Stephen T. McCarthy--I'll have to think on that one.

      
         I'll try the three day a week schedule for a while to see how that works and provide feedback to readers after the first month or so in case you're thinking about making your own changes.   And this is not to say surprise posts may occasionally pop up on other days. 

          Currently, I already have a couple of Wednesdays scheduled for book tours.  On Wednesday October 27 I am scheduled on Marvin Wilson's book tour for Beware the Devil's Hug.   Later, on Wednesday December 8 I am scheduled on Tamara Hart Heiner's book tour for her book, Perilous.

          As always, I would appreciate any comments or suggestions you can offer me.  And as the weeks go by, if there is anything you miss or would like to see more of, please let me know.  I do enjoy your ideas and you may have noticed that I do often use some of those ideas.

          I've tossed out my plan to you for your consideration, now how about you tossing me back your thoughts on anything I've said here.

Tossing It Out Tuesday: Myth or Reality?

          Dragons and unicorns, fairies and leprechauns, a myriad of other fantasy creatures--many of us want to believe.  There are entire entertainment franchises based on vampires, werewolves, and zombies.  With Halloween coming we will soon see many of these characters depicted by children and adults alike.  These characters have been much beloved as the fanciful fear of fictions and the romanticized representatives of the netherworlds.   They are the stuff of legends of ancient times and the what-could-be if we just stifle our sense of logic.

             Why have these creatures been increasingly embraced in modern literature?  The Dracula character is said to have been inspired by one Vlad the Impaler from 15th century Romania, and not a decent human by any means.  Stories of vampirism probably go back to prehistory.  

           Why is vampirism considered to be "romantic"?   If you really think about it, sucking the blood of another human seems rather perverse--to me at least.  The true vampires of mythology were pretty horrid, disgusting creatures.   In recent depictions those negative perceptions have been tossed out in favor of the brooding beautiful vampire.  Which depiction should really be tossed out?    Are these supernatural creatures of modern lore healthy for our young people to be embracing?

          When I was young I was a big fan of horror movies.  Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, and other monsters of those days were spooky, but not really graphic.  Blood was rarely seen and much of the time killing was off-camera.   Somewhere in the 50s or 60s things began to take on more reality.  By the 70s special effects started achieving highly realistic levels.  There has been no turning back since that time.

          Today's younger generations take gore and graphic violence for granted.  They also have an open minded acceptance for supernatural realms that once might have been considered to be of a dubious nature. There are some styles, entertainment trends, and philosophical or spiritual outlooks that parents might want ask if they want their children to be embracing.   Should any of this be tossed out?  Or is it all just harmless fun?

         Tomorrow I'll be considering the Bigfoot legend as I report on my recent visit to Ghost Fest 4, a paranormal expo held at the Queen Mary, and my visit with Philip Morris, an expert on the famous Bigfoot film footage.   I hope you'll join me for this post and then return on Thursday to join the debate on whether Bigfoot really exists.

Tossing It Out Tuesday: Work Clutter Chaos

         What keeps you from working more effectively?  Perhaps it's time to toss out some of the stuff and the time wasters that keep you from getting your work done on time.  The suggestions I'm going to make will be applicable to writing and blogging, but they would be just as applicable on the job or at home.  And since I sometimes feel like the King of Clutter, the Dean of Disorder, the Maestro of Messiness, and the Sultan of Workstation Salmagundi I am talking to myself as much as anyone else.  Today I'm back to my E-mail box.

                            E-Stuff

          In a previous post I discussed the problem of accumulated e-mail.  Last month I went from a high email count of 1825 new emails to a low of 12 new emails.  This was achieved through deletions and dispersal into files.  I have been faithfully keeping this system while deleting and consolidating files as I have time.  However, an old problem has resurfaced to throw a monkey wrench in the workings of the e-mail box. So here I am back over the 200 new email mark.

        Now it's time to raise the old Shakespearian question first raised by Hamlet. "To Blogfest or not to Blogfest?"  Just in time for this long weekend two blog events converged to bring about the perfect email storm.  First there was KarenG's BBQ:  a lot of you got suckered into this one and most of you probably added a lot more than the 20 new followers that I added.  Sorry I couldn't resist joining in and I found several cool new blogs and several bloggers found Tossing It Out.

       Then on top of that, there was the Trifecta staged by Alex J. Cavanaugh, Elana Johnson, and Jennifer Daiker which coincided with my related blog post of yesterday which meant more comments on my site and more blogs for me to investigate.  As a consequence of all this I was inundated with hundreds--maybe thousands--of emails that I could barely screen and delete fast enough over the course of this extended weekend.   Is it madness?  Or is it just part of the blog growing and maintenance that all of us were talking about and striving for.  Yes to all of the above.

        At some point the Blog events have to be curtailed or tossed out.  This said after having signed up for Alex's   Top Ten TV Show Blogfest.  Just one more!  I swear it can become an addiction, but its a quick fix for getting more followers.  In the future I may have to just close my eyes to all the blog fun and focus on doing what I need to do to control all of the E-stuff like festing, visiting, and trying to find new blogs.  Perhaps lie fallow for a while and see how that works.

         Did you participate in any of the above events this past weekend?  How many followers did you add?  Does being a part of a blog event play havoc with your time?   What are your favorite blog events that you like to join in on?

          If you missed any of the above events and would like to try to gain some followers, check out the above links and check out the comment sections of each blog.

                                                          

                                                       

Train Trip Terminated, Now Back to Work

            Many of us in the United States are enjoying the long Labor Day weekend.  We often think of Labor Day as the end of summer as we gear up for school and holidays to come.  The summer vacations are over for the most part and this gives us one last day for picnics, backyard cookouts, trips to the beach, and other fun activities.

             Originally Labor Day was a time to recognize the labor movement and organized labor.  Many countries throughout the world have a day designated as Labour Day.  Most workers would prefer to just forget about work and have a time of recreation, but occasionally one might find organized rallies and political or union events held in conjunction with Labor Day.

               Here on Tossing It Out it will be business as usual.   We had an entire week devoted to (or at least with allusion to) trains.   This past Monday Blog Boggled continued looking at the topic raised on Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog about blog content and comments.  The remainder of the week was devoted to public transportation with a particular focus on trains and light rail.

               Upcoming this week the theme will be work in honor of Labor Day.  Monday's Blog Boggled will be asking the questions of how much work you put into blogging and is blogging work?  Then on Tuesday we will continue with a Tossing It Out Tuesday look at some of the bad habits that some of us need to get rid of in order to work more effectively.   Wednesday will be a memoir reflection about working.

               Thursday's Debate Day topic will consider what the future of work and jobs looks like here in North America as well as the rest of the world.   Finally, on Friday, I will tell you a little story about Kermit the Carny.   Hope you will stay with me in the countdown to the one year anniversary of Tossing It Out coming up the week of September 20th.

                 What are your Labor Day plans?  

Tossing It Out Tuesday: How's That Commute Working For You?

              Do you commute to work?  If so have you ever considered public transportation?  In some places such as smaller communities and primarily rural areas this may not be an option, but the traffic problem is probably not like it is in an urban area either.  For those of us in the city though, the traffic can be not only a nuisance, but also can be detrimental to our heath.

               Most of us own a car or even two or more vehicles.  In most locales it is almost a necessity to have some sort of personal transportation.  If you live in an urban area like New York City, vehicle ownership may be cost prohibitive.  In these settings public transportation is a given--nearly everybody is using it.  In the more sprawling areas like Los Angeles, Miami, or Houston commuting in one's own vehicle is more the norm.  But perhaps some of the economic factors should be considered.

               On the average, owning a newer vehicle will cost the owner $400 or more per month once you have factored in payments, insurance, registration, gas, and maintenance.  Additionally some drivers who are commuting to a workplace may be paying highway tolls and parking, which can be up to $100 per month or more.  This can all add up in a years time to $4000 or even much more than that.

              Carpooling can be a great option for some, but it's not always a practical solution.  If you have easy access to a public transportation line or are near a park-and-ride lot, commuting in this manner can save a considerable amount of money.  Monthly transportation passes are less than $100 in most cases.

              Now some may argue that riding public transportation is inconvenient.   So you might have to walk a few extra blocks--the exercise can be beneficial.  You do have to run on a schedule, but that is not so much a matter of inconvenience as it is adaptation.  Consider that you are no longer wasting time behind the wheel sitting idly in traffic.  Now you can read, do paperwork, or even sleep.   And if you enjoyed the traffic time for listening to the radio or books-on-tape or whatever, you can still do that while being able to relax and really concentrate on what you are listening to.

            Other arguments may include having to ride in unclean vehicles or with undesirable people.  When's the last time you took public transportation?  My most recent experiences have been rather positive.  The trains and buses that I have been on have been well maintained and clean.  As far as the people, what can one say?  You never know who you might meet and this is a time to learn some tolerance.  The public transportation is a microcosm of the city streets, the businesses, and your place of work  The people come and go and we deal with that everywhere.

           One of my main concerns is getting some of the traffic off the streets and highways.  Does everybody really have to be there?  Most of the cars I see on the freeways usually have only one person in them.  I very rarely drive on the freeways, but when I do I am amazed by the amount of traffic and I'm quite sure most of those cars aren't just there like I am for a casual jaunt.  I am pretty sure that many of these drivers are commuting.

            I've been fortunate in that I've never had more than a five mile ten minute drive from home to office since I've lived in California.  I have occasionally taken the trains to go to places like Hollywood and downtown L.A.   This has been my normal approach when I've had out of town visitors who want to go there.  There's no traffic and no parking hassles to worry about.  It's fun and convenient.  If I had to work in any of those areas or any other areas accessed by public transportation, that would be my ride to work--forget driving.   If you are familiar with Los Angeles traffic or the congested messes of any other urban areas you probably know what I'm talking about.

             Tomorrow I will be giving you my report on my recent tour of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority's light rail system.   My Thursday Debate Day topic will be focusing on light rail as a transportation option.  Whether you have had experience with light rail or not, I hope you will weigh in with your opinions about this mode of transportation.

              If you have more than one vehicle and have the public transportation option, would you be willing to consider tossing out a vehicle to use that option?   Do you use public transportation now?  Have you had any experience with public transportation?  What are the positives and/or the negatives of public transportation?  What transportation options do you have in your community now?   Do you have a good public transportation story that you would like to share?

Tossing It Out Tuesday: Ditching the Dog

      Florida Neighborhoods Invaded By Giant Pythons

          The southern area of Florida near the Everglades has been having a snake problem.  These are not the snakes that are native to the area, but giant non-native snakes like Burmese pythons.  The population of giant snakes in the Everglades is growing so rapidly that these snakes are starting to appear in neighborhoods near the swamplands, where they are a threat to pets and humans.  These are snakes that can grow to 20 feet in length.

           How did these non-native snakes show up in Florida?   They were once pets that had perhaps become too much for their owners or for some other reason tossed out into the wilds of the Everglades.  Perhaps the former owners thought they were showing the snakes a humane gesture by sending them into the wild.  Apparently these people did not realize or maybe they did not care that they were creating an imbalance to the ecosystem.  Now hundreds of these giant snakes are captured or killed each year.

                          Something's Fishy In The Ecosystem

          The problem extends from the Everglades to other water systems of lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams as people have dumped non-native fish species.   Certain breeds of tilapia, carp, and other fish threaten the habitats of native fish and often are ruthless predators that threaten to eradicate other species. 

                                                 Fowl Play

           The story I heard about the duck pond in Alcoa, Tennessee was that people would buy their children baby ducklings at Easter and when the ducks got bigger they'd be taken to the duck pond and dumped.  What ever the true story may be, these birds have adapted well to their habitat and have not been a threat.  However, other exotic birds have either escaped or been turned loose into urban environments.  They too may have adapted, but there is concern as to the potential harm this situation could create.

                                                   Wild Cats    

            We might think of ocelots, bobcats, and cougars when we think of wild cats in the United States.  The bigger problem is the population of feral cats.  These cats may have once been pets that were abandoned or they may have just been born into the wild.  Sometimes un-neutered cats will spew out uncontrolled litters of kittens that are eventually turned loose.  These cats may roam in packs.  They can help control rodent populations.  Disneyland in Anaheim, California keeps a population of feral cats that are released nightly to control rodents (ironic for a kingdom ruled by a mouse).  But urban cat populations can also pose a nuisance and a health hazard.

                               The Responsibility of Pet Ownership 

         Many people take pet ownership rather lightly.   They do it for their kids, or because they think it would be cool to have a ferret, or a monkey, or some other animal.   Then when they discover the responsibility involved the novelty wears off.  There are the issues involving feeding, animal waste, veterinary care, grooming, and many other issues to consider.  Sometimes the easiest solution of pet disposal is to carry it off and dump it off at the side of a road somewhere-- bad idea!

          If you no longer want a pet, see if you can find someone who you know and trust to take the animal.   Do not just give it away to any stranger who claims they will give your pet a good home.   You don't really know what kind of plans they have in store.

           Contact  a veterinarian or an organization like the ASPCA for advice.  Realize that the animal may end up being euthanized, but at least an effort will be made to find the animal a home.  Some pet shops may take your unwanted pet.  If the animal is exotic, like the Burmese Python, offer to give it to a zoo--they may be able to find a place for it.   If you feel that you must toss out a pet, then toss it out the right way.

            The bottom line is to realize what you're getting into before you take a pet as your responsibility.  Be aware of the costs and upkeep of the animal, the eventual size it will attain, what kind of personality the animal might be expected to have--in other words, be ready for whatever problems you might encounter and ask yourself truthfully if you want to deal with all of that.   A pet is not your personal plaything or your child's toy, but it is a living creature.

            What pets do you own?   Have you ever had a pet run away or disappear, never to be seen again?  Do feral ex-pets live around your home?   Do they cause any problems?   What is the strangest pet that you or someone you know has?    What is your opinion of owning exotic pets?

         

Give the Dog a Bone

Dog Days

                                    

          I guess some parts of the country are experiencing what are called the "dog days".   That's the time of summer when it gets hot and humid for a period of time and from what I've been hearing some of you have got it now.  We don't really get dog days here in Los Angeles, speaking weather-wise that is.  Oh, we get some occasional times of heat and humidity that might be classified as dog days, but not like you folks back east get.

             Then I've been hearing how summer is going so fast.  Gosh, ain't it truth!  Some schools are already back in session.  My wife's getting ready to start back to her teaching job.   Why, heck, life goes fast enough without our summer having to speed by.  Can someone just throw the old hot dog a bone so he can cool off and lazily slow down and chew on these last summer days?  

                                      

          
                                  What's Up, Dog?

           Things have been cool here in L.A. so I can't complain.  I'm still Tossing It Out on Tuesdays.  This upcoming Tuesday I'll be doing some recycling California style.   On Monday I'll tell you where I am on my email clean-up and address some of the points in Alex J. Cavanaugh's post about Blogging Idiosyncrasies.

            On Wednesday I'll talk about some dogs that influenced me (and I do mean the four legged kind).  On Thursdays it gets a little hot on this blog with my Debate Day topics, but that's cool.  This coming Thursday I'll be presenting another doggone topic for us to bark at.   Then coming Friday will be a mystery.

              Someone Threw Me a Bone

           Friday the 13th was my lucky day as I received a special recognition from Yvonne at Welcome to My World of Poetry.   She included me as one of the bloggers who help support her.  Well, the support has been mutual.  I have praised and given Yvonne credit in the past for always being there with her kind comments.  So, Yvonne, here's a right back atcha with this kindness.

            And to acknowledge some people who have been very special in their support and loyalty to me, you can play the award game if you like, but there is no obligation to pass it on or recognize it in any way.  I just want to let people know about a few of those who have been ongoing strong supporters of mine and whose work I highly respect.  Several were the ones Yvonne listed, but here are a few more:

Stephen T. McCarthy's Stuffs and Ferret-Faced Facist Friends  -- Sorry, Stephen, I'm not really giving you any award, this is just a way for me to plug your excellent blog.  If any readers have never yet checked out these blogs then you should do so ASAP because they are worthwhile. You might be entertained at times, but more importantly you might receive some important education.

LC at Disc-Connected and Back in the USSR --- Larry, I don't know if you like the awards or not either, but I appreciate your input on my blog and the work you do on your own site.  Take your choice folks--one site is for music and one is devoted to issues that are important to us all.  Check them out.

Sig at Beadedbear's Nonsense and Complete Waste of Time -- Sig is a talented beader and she does posts on that topic part of the time.  She also has some other important things to say.

Dezmond at Hollywood Spy has plenty to say about the entertainment industry on his blog, but he also leaves some very thoughtful and encouraging comments.   Thanks Dezmond.

          There are so many more of you that I could name-- I appreciate all of you who read and comment on my site.  I could go on with a much longer list but my dinner bowl's out and I need to go.  Arf, arf!

                                                

Tossing It Out Tuesday: Bad Medicine

         Some of you may have some expired medicine in your cabinets.  We try to regularly weed through and toss out prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs that we have not finished.  Pictured here is our latest crop to be disposed of.   We never have a huge supply of expired pharmaceuticals on hand--not like some people I've seen.  Don't get me wrong, I don't pry into people's cabinets, but I have occasionally seen drug products in such vast quantity that I'm sure they aren't taking all of them and many have been there for a long time.

        In our case, we have had drugs that we just never finished for some reason or other.  For example, one of the prescriptions pictured above had given me an adverse reaction so the doctor prescribed an alternate drug, which left me with a sizeable supply of the old drug.  Others were drugs that had just run their course and we didn't finish them.  In all of these cases the leftover supply remained in the cupboard.

       Or take the case of the giant bottles of vitamins and calcium that my wife purchased at Costco.  Her intentions had been good in buying them, but she just never got in the habit of taking them and they sat on the shelf for several years.  When we decided that she should really start taking them we realized that they were expired by several years.

       The drug companies are required to put the expiration date on their products partly for safety, partly because there is a good reason, and partly because they want you to buy more.  In the case of the vitamins, there is a good chance they had lost their potency and were no longer useful.  Drugs like aspirin probably are good way past the expiration date and it is unlikely it would hurt you to take them.  Other drugs could potentially become affected to the extent of being dangerous to take.  Over all, if you aren't using the drugs and they are expired it is probably safest not to take a chance with them.  The best rule is if your life depends on the drug, get rid of it if it is expired and get a new prescription.  No point in taking any chances.

       As far as disposing of drugs, many prescription drugs are considered hazardous waste.  If you throw them in your trash they can go to the landfill and seep into the soil.  The old recommended method of flushing them into the toilet is now said to pose a potential contamination hazard to the water supply.  Here in Southern California and probably many other areas there are hazardous waste round-ups where household chemicals, electronic waste, and old pharmaceuticals can be taken for proper disposal.  I wonder what they do with it?

       Some pharmacies will also take back old medicines to be disposed of in an appropriate manner.   A Google search may also find charitable organizations that will take expired prescriptions to be tested for safety and shipped to poor countries where they could still be administered if usable. 

        I dumped the vitamin E and the calcium tablets in my garden.  I don't know that it did any good, but I don't think it would have hurt anything.  The other pills have been put together in one bottle and are sitting in my garage in a safe place with other hazardous items to be disposed of at the next hazardous waste round-up.  We are pretty good about not accumulating much in the way of drugs or other drug store items.  We try to use them and if we don't, we toss them out.

       Do you have any horror stories about "bad medicine"?    Do you have a lot of old medicine in your house now?   What do you do with the old medicine?   Do you take vitamins and supplements?  Do they help?

How About Some Ketchup With Those Fries?

           Company's gone and summer's big event in our household is over.   We had a wonderful time with our daughters and their families over the past couple of weeks.  Our soon-to be two year-old granddaughter kept us on our toes, but kept us thoroughly entertained.  She doesn't live far from us, so we do get to see her now and then, but nowhere near as much as we did when the small fry and her parents were staying at our house while the sisters were in town.  One daughter lives nearby, but the other three are divided between Houston, Texas and New Jersey.

         So now it's back to staying mostly at home and getting back to my regular schedule that includes blogging.  I've had some catching up to do with my blogging activity--seems like I always do.  I'm still working on my tossing it out clean-up mission and have plenty of catching up to do with that as well.  Of course, I guess that mission never really ends for any of us.

         On the surface it looks like I've made headway in my email cleanup as the tally of new email is significantly less than it was last Tuesday.   Much of the email is not gone, but merely moved to files like many of you had suggested that I do.  This coming Monday I'll be telling  you what these files contain and hoping some of you might be able to advise me about some of these sites.   On the other hand, I may be introducing some of you to some great sites that you don't know about. 

          This week's installment of Tossing It Out Tuesday will be addressing the topic of Bad Medicine.  And on Wednesday I'm going to talk about a bit of foolishness from my younger days that I now regret in many ways.  Thursday will be another Debate Day topic--by the way, thanks for all the stimulating discussion from last Thursday's Debate Day.   Friday will be a mystery.  

            The weather is still rather pleasant here in Los Angeles--not as bad as I've been hearing about in other parts of the country.   If you're one of those who are frying in the heat, I don't really envy you.  If it's too hot outside, don't fry, turn up the AC and stay inside and play catch up with me.

Tossing It Out Tuesday: Innundated By E-mail

           My email is officially out of control.  Yes, this is actually how much was in my e-mail box as of a week or so ago.   I keep deleting mail and it keeps getting replaced by new mail.  When I look each morning the count is right around what you see in the picture.  By the time this blog bit is posted it may have gone higher since I may have not had time to manage mail as well with company visiting us.  If it is lower, I don't know that it will be much lower.  I am inundated with e-mail.

            Believe me, I read and delete mail throughout the day, but the next day it's back where it was.  Prior to my starting active blogging last September my daily e-mail box count stayed at about 100 and I thought that was too many.  Part of the problem was hanging on to mail that I wanted to save, but not putting it in any kind of file.  That needs to be a priority, but I also probably don't need to hang on to so many of those e-mails anyway.

            What is all of this e-mail anyway?  There is little if anything that I would consider spam here--I get rid of that immediately and usually without reading it.  There is a fair amount of family and friend correspondence that I sentimentally hang onto. This should find a file.  There are several "newsletters" and informational articles that I intend to read--but let's face it, if I haven't read them yet, I probably never will.  Those should be some of the first e-mails to go in my clean-up efforts.

           Then there are special offers from airlines, car rentals, hotels, restaurants, and various merchandisers that I just might want to take advantage of in the future.  Since I receive offers on a regular basis from the same companies, I try to clear out the older ones and anything that has expired.  

           Finally, there is blog e-mail.  This seems to come in almost as fast as I can get rid of it.  This mail caused my mailbox to double in size in April when I was administrating the A to Z Blog Challenge.  Since the end of that challenge, my email count has tripled.   The reason for this activity is mostly due to my commenting activity.  When I comment I request a notification each time a post is made so that if a reply or counter-comment is made to my original then I can read it.  So you can see how this can cause a great influx into the mailbox.  I weed through these comments quickly, but it still takes time. 

           My biggest problem is saving certain things to go back to later.  It's the same problem I have with my junk mail and some of my other clutter.  The solution to this problem is to get rid of as much as I can as quickly as I can.   I'm working on the e-mail and now it's to  the point where I might just have to set aside some time for organizing my mailbox and then not let it get like this again.  Perhaps this is easier said than done. All I know is that I've got a lot of e-mail to toss out and I've got to keep tossing it out.

            Do you have an e-mail problem?  If so, tell us about it--how did it happen, how do attempt to manage it, and what is your plan for your future e-mail?   Do you have a good e-mail management system that you would like to share?  What is your least favorite type of e-mail?  What is your favorite?

A Week Abounding in Blog Surprises

         Things have been changing believe or not.  My clutter is being culled about as quickly as my blog has been changing.  In other words progress is so slow that it's barely noticeable.  That's not really a bad thing in my case because it means a couple of things.  For one thing, I'm being careful about what I do when I make the changes on my blog so I do it right and don't screw anything up.  And the clutter that I am talking about in my house and in my life is not a situation that calls for any kind of intervention.  In other words I'm doing detail work.  Detail takes longer than just running your car through the automatic car wash.

          Also, things are going slow because I am trying to keep up my blog posting and some commenting on your blogs while having some busy summer events coming my way.  Forgive me if I've missed some of your posts of late, but I'm trying to do my best.

               Last Saturday I was reading a lovely post by Jules at Trying To Get Over The Rainbow and I was thinking about how much what she was saying related to what I had been thinking in recent days, then lo and behold here she gives me a shout out.  This was just one of those cool things I had to mention on my blog.  Check out her blog and give her a hello.  I always enjoy reading what she has to say.

           My Tossing It Out Tuesday feature began this past week with the topic of Junk Mail.  Ellie from Ella's Edge showed how one can turn junk into Recycled Treasures-- a far better solution than merely tossing it out.   I don't know if she'll come up with a way to recycle my next topic for this coming Tuesday when I'll be talking about junk e-mail.

            This past week had several surprises for me.  One was Yvonne Lewis's tribute to my Wednesday post, My Grandmother's Air Baths.  If you missed it, check out Yvonne's hilarious poem, Air Baths.  Yvonne always amazes us how quickly she can get a topical poem onto her blog.  Next Wednesday I am going to tell you about the first public performance of one of my musical works.

            As always, I'll be having seven days of eclectic blogism to share with all of you so I hope you'll join me right here at Tossing It Out.

           Alex J Cavanaugh is holding a contest to celebrate reaching 200 followers.  By the time you get there he might already be at 300--excitement about his upcoming book CassaStar is abuzz as the chatter is all over the blogosphere.  And if you haven't seen it yet, check out his CassaStar book trailer.

            On a sad note, Blabbin' Grammy Ruby's husband (Gramps) passed away this past week.  Many of us have been keeping track of Gramps and Grammy's life and know that Gramps has been dealing with a lot of suffering of late.  If you haven't done so already, please stop by to express your condolences to Blabbin' Grammy.   We love you, Ruby, and are praying for you.

            Have a nice weekend and enjoy your summer--it's going fast!

Balance

       Recently I read a post by Stephen Tremp about The Junkyard.  Stephen was telling about how he essentially keeps a file on his computer that contains snippets and passages that he has removed from the manuscripts that he is working on in order to save them for possible later use.  This post happened to come as I have been in the midst of literally cleaning my house in tandem with my Tossing It Out Tuesday posts.

        Like some of you, I sometimes write down things on whatever piece of paper I can find and set it down to have it disappear into other papers and scraps that accumulate in my office or elsewhere.  As I was going through a box of papers I found the poem that I am presenting today.  I don't remember when or why I wrote this poem.  I must have been in an ecological frame of mind when I wrote it.  So for today's post I present this poem out of my "junkyard".

                                     BALANCE

    

                             Flowers bending in the wind

                             Sun, and rain--

                            To all elements exposed.

                             We--you and I--

                             All different, all the same,

                             In fragile vapor enclosed.

                             Human and plant and animal

                             This same earth share,

                             Yet engaged in timeless warfare.

                             Who will win if we lose?

Tossing It Out Tuesday: Junk Mail

            If your household is like mine, I'm sure you get your fair share of junk mail.  My wife and I try to dispose of as much as we can as it comes in, but sometimes it just gets set aside if it looks like it might be something I might possibly want to check out.  I know what my regular bills look like and I recognize something personal from someone I know, so those are easy to separate and take care of immediately.  But there are those other curious pieces of mail that might be worthwhile and need further investigation.

             There is that mail that looks "official" or otherwise important that one discovers upon opening is really a sneaky attempt to extract money from their wallet.  I've gotten pretty good at spotting those, but some pieces still end up in the "to be checked later when I have time" pile.   And there are certain special offers that maybe I might be interested in but I don't have time to look right now.  They also go into the "look at later" pile. Eventually after a few days I have a small stack of mail over which decisions need to be made.  Out of this pile may evolve another "I really don't have time for this right now and I'll look again later" pile which accumulates on a kitchen counter until it is moved into my office.

             Much of this eventually turns into an "it's been so long that now I don't remember what it is, but I must have saved it for a reason and it could be important" pile that gets shifted into a box.  By the time I usually get to this mail, it is usually so outdated that if it did have any importance it is now irrelevant.  I need to learn to stop the flow before it ever gets this far.  Tossing out the unnecessary mail needs to be completed before it ever makes it to the kitchen shelf.

             In any case, I've been trying to cull through old mail in my tossing it out cleanings and break my habit of setting aside these things that I might think are important.   Actually the culling process started several years ago, not only by me, but also by the companies that send the mail.  Many of the companies now send offers electronically through e-mail, which certainly saves paper waste.  Also, I've stopped ordering as many things as I used to, entering contests, making inquiries, or using certain credit cards, which has apparently caused some of the companies to lose interest and stop sending as much junk to me.  Maybe they think I died or moved to another country or something.   Maybe a lot of those companies have gone out of business due to the bad economy.  Whatever the case may be, my junk mail has decreased tremendously over the past several years.  Each of the photos in my post represent about one average week of junk mail.  In the past, I have seen some days where there was this much mail.

             Still, there is some junk mail that remains and now my mission is to track it down and send it to the recycling bin.   Currently, as I am organizing papers in files, drawers, and boxes, I am discarding all irrelevant junk that had been previously set aside.  Since keeping the junk mail in check is something that has been ongoing for many years,  the problem is not extreme by any means.  Lest anyone has concerns there is serious hoarding going on here please be assured that the accumulation is minor.  But there is some junk that still needs to be tossed.  The clean up continues.

             How is your junk mail situation?  Have you taken any steps to control it?   Have you found any creative uses for junk mail?   What is your favorite junk mail?    What kind of junk mail do you dislike the most?

          

New Feature: Tossing It Out Tuesday

          A while back I had mentioned that some changes were going to start happening on this blog.  Some of you who follow regularly may be thinking that you haven't really seen anything changing yet.  They have in small ways.  I have been tweaking.  I've played with this or that and some things go, some come back, and some just get rearranged.  One of the changes will be an upcoming new feature.

          Tuesdays on Tossing It Out have often been a time for reviews or commentaries in which I talked about my opinions of various products, music, books, movies, or whatever else I might have wanted to expound on.  Today I am announcing what will be a new feature--Tossing It Out Tuesday. 

          Let me explain what that means.  My blog name was originally intended convey the imagery of juggling from the standpoint of tossing about ideas and having an exchange between me and readers.  However, "tossing it out" can also mean getting rid of things that are no longer needed or useful.  On Tossing It Out Tuesdays I will be getting rid of things in my blog or in my life and discussing them in hopes it will be somehow meaningful in your life as well.

         As I said in a previous post, it's time to clean up  so I can get rid of clutter and become better organized.  Perhaps in doing this I can get some helpful tips from you or I can in some way open your eyes to seeing what clutter in your own life needs to be gotten rid of.   Efficiency is the quest.  On each Tossing It Out Tuesday I will be attempting to deal with one thing that needs to be tossed out my life or tossed out into the open for examination.   And if this idea doesn't work, then I'll be tossing out Tossing It Out Tuesday.  We'll give it a try and see what happens.

          What are some things in your life you need to toss out?   Do you find that you have daily clutter that is keeping you from operating in your most optimal way?   Is some clutter advantageous?  Do you struggle most with the physical clutter of stuff or the intangible clutter within in your mind?   Does the clutter of others interfere with your life?  If you had more space to use for organization, would you just end up with more clutter?

            My thanks to all of you who participated with lists or comments in the Soundtrack of My Life blogfest.  The Linky list is open until tomorrow night if you'd still like to add your list.