-{ redgeek.net }-

I own a condo and I want to travel. I want to travel for many months. I no longer want to own a condo. So, come summer, the condo’s going on the market. Because of this, quick trips to the kitchen or bathroom are now viewed as Tours of Accumulated Crap. Where the hell am I going to put all this while I traipse around the world for six months living out of a backpack? I mean, damn, I’ve got a lot of crap. What to do with it? Send me ideas. This is what I’ve got so far:

• Donations: Goodwill should be seeing a full truckload a in the near future. Perhaps cut the (now) largely-unworn black T-shirt collection from 70 down to 10, and toss out various old jeans and shorts that are now either too large or too small for me. (Yes, it’s been long enough that I have clothes on both ends of the poorly-sized spectrum.)
• Sales: I’ve decided I’m going to sell my stereo (gasp!) – yes, the high-end audiophilic masturbatory device I so treasure. I’m just not home enough anymore, and once I’m out of the country, I’ll be listening to it even less.
• Giveaways: I’ll be bringing boxes of various old computer bits and pieces to the local 2600 meeting for the taking after I see if I can cobble together a working machine to donate to the local elementary.
• Bonfire!: Who needs huge books dedicated to the administration of decade old versions of sendmail? Not me. I’ve got tons of outdated information security and administration manuals – even a 1991 copy of “Practical Unix Security,” before they changed the name of the next edition to “Practical Unix and Internet Security.” Sendmail’s more useful as as a fire starter anyway. Potential 2600 material here as well….
• Storage: I’m not really down with selling my 150 year old antique Chinese credenza, nor the coffee table, end-tables, wall-hangings, and CDs. (I want to keep the CDs around as backup in case my iPod dies.) There’ll also be a good number of books I can’t bear to part with. Anyone have tips on good cheap long-term storage companies? How are those ones that drop off/pick up at your house?
• Friends: Anybody want to borrow something of mine for a year? Perhaps my outdoor table and chairs, or some of my power tools? You just have to return them in comparable condition.
• ???: What do you do with crappy but usable kitchen gear? I’ve a bunch of pots and pans and whatnot that are probably near the end of their usable lifespans – is donation acceptable? Something else?

Of course, the travels are still at least a year off, and I’ve got to sell the house and work out all sorts of logistics first, so I’ve got time. But just the though of moving is providing me for the emphasis on this winter-cleaning, and I thoroughly believe in some significant change at lease once to years to spurn a minimization process. Much more effective than an empty “spring cleaning,” which typically just becomes not-quite-completed chore.

Saturday was boys night out, and we hoofed it down to Tower23 at the JRDN restaurant to start out the evening. I’ve eaten at JRDN’s before – the steak was excellent although I’ve heard the fish is somewhat lackluster – but had never hung out at the bar before. (I had the sirloin with tri-peppercorn rub in a Cabernet reduction. Try it.) Overall, they’re going for the South Beach style trendiness I find a little irritating. (Yes, I’ve been to South Beach – briefly – so I’m not talking completely out of my ass here.) There were plenty of beautiful women, although mostly appeared attached or uber-maintenance. (Surprise.) Despite the downtown-prices of drinks ($8 to $10 well drinks), the bartenders where quite amiable although very busy. After buying the first round, I figured I didn’t have to pay for the rest of the night.

Now, when I’m out with this group of friends, I usually find myself drinking entirely too much. We usually close down the bars, and my next day is seriously compromised unless I manage to wake up, train, and sweat out the hangover. It’s not their fault, somehow I just lose all common sense and keep consuming, perhaps because they’re so fun to chill with I forget I’m drinking. Well, considering I don’t really like getting tanked, I’ve adopted a bio-chemical approach to these outings that’s worked rather well for me: red wine. Not only do I enjoy wine, but I can’t drink a warm red very fast. We rolled in around 10pm, left after 1am, and in total I had two glasses of wine. Went to bed sober, there was no fogginess of recollection, and I awoke refreshed enough to hang out with my sister, help my friend move, take care of errands, and do my Japanese homework. I think I like this plan. Oh, and it also gave me a new perspective on the whole female introduction/approach thing ….

As I said before, I enjoy drinks, but not getting ripped, but by the time 11pm on Saturday night creeps up, I’ve definitely got a little buzz going. Enough to see failed pick up attempts (mine and others’) as more entertaining than anything else. I must say, they’re even funnier without the buzz. Top two lines that night that made absolutely no contribution to continuing the conversation (neither spoken by myself):

1) To a very tall girl: “Hey, wow, you’re really tall. Hey, wait, where’re you going … ?” (Duh.)

2) To a girl we just barely met:

Girl: “Wanna hear a dirty joke?”

Guy: “You’re a stripper!”

Girl: …

Um, yeah, that went over well. Especially when she’s 5’ 2” / 100 lbs. with DD’s. Maybe (or may not be) accurate, but not complimentary. Thanks for helping me out, guys.

As a side note, considering that a bunch of us had just seen “40 Year Old Virgin,” the (non-PC) theme of the evening was finding variations on “You know how I know you’re gay?” (If you’ve seen the movie you know what I’m talking about.) Unfortunately, the best cut-down to come out of it was from me against myself, when Frenchie was getting me my second glass:

Chris: You know how I know you’re gay?

Me: Because a French guy at a bar is buying me wine?

(Groan. Didn’t translate. Well, par for this post so far. Narative’s as tightly woven as goatse’s ass.)

On the upshot, I met a good looking girl, T–, that’s a bit of a music junkie (and works for a local indie station), skis, is interested in travel, all sort of good stuff, so hopefully we’ll hook up this weekend. Also got a date planned with B– from last weekend.

Was there a point to this post? Well, I think it had something to do with finding applicability of various strategies in different areas, but I really didn’t develop this post ahead of time, so it pretty much sucks reindeer balls. Deal with it.

I’d been out writing at the coffee house for a while, lost in a self-imposed forrest of introspection. It was nearing midnight on Friday and I felt the need for some sort of social interaction. Time to see what the last hour or two of debaucherous drunks in PB were up to. It rarely fails to be entertaining.

I headed out to my local pub – there was a pretty decent Stevie Ray Vaughan/surf rock/classic rock band playing – but I excused myself for a few to hang with the doorman and check out his new tattoo-in-progress. We were talking about the symbolism of the koi and dragon when I was approached by a young lady in line.

“Hey so how are you what’s going on tonite are you chewing gum can I have some?”

“Good, a band, and yes.”

“Because I’m a smoker but I’m going in and I’m cold so I don’t want to stand out here and have a smoke so some gum would be cool ok thanx.”

“No problem.”

“So I’m going in and are you going in and are you going to also and do you want to buy me a drink?”

I can practically smell the coke seeping through her pores. Without a moment’s hesitation, I respond.

“Probably not.”

It’s a form of a polite but sturdy “absolutely not,” for me.

She waves me off and prances inside.

It’s good to have standards.