My name is Matt, and I am a packrat.  But I’m working on it.

Partial solution: nostalgia is preserved almost as well with a picture.

I like to keep anything tied to a memory.  Water bottle from random bike race?  That’s a keeper.  Damaged beyond repair backpack you got in middle school?  Let’s keep it forever!  Blue plastic trash can you’ve had longer than some of your siblings?  Eh, ok that too.

The biggest offenders are free t-shirts that remind me of a project or event, and any piece of clothing I wore enough to sprout holes from overuse.  Needless to say, these started to fill more than a single box as time trudged along.

Enter the smartphone.  Now I always have a camera with Internet on my person.  Hence, the epiphany (partial solution) above.

You really only need a camera to execute this. But don’t worry, you’ll have a smartphone too someday if you don’t already. They’re lifechanging, and deserve their own posts.

Now I only keep things with an extremely high nostalgia value (e.g. diplomas, trophies).  The rest get a picture saved in the interwebs, and a new home at the local Goodwill.

Sometimes I wish I’d kept my elementry school alarm clock.  At least I have a picture.

High school freshman is not many people’s favorite year, and I am no different.  I’ve repressed a few choice memories at this point, but one never fades away.  The sport was baseball, the misstep was fashion.

It hadn’t taken me long to perfect a quick scurry down the hallways between classes, never making eye contact or taking in much detail as I made for point B.  If crimes were committed, the CSI’s had best find a different nark.

It was this head-down speed walk that allowed me to seemingly ignore an upperclassmen heckle one morning as I veered between congregating cliques.  “Hey, pick a side!”  All I can tell you is the brute was crouching over a backpack 10 feet away at my one o’clock.  I gave him a wide berth.

Braves v. MarinersWhy was this so memorable? It was my only conversation with someone from a different grade that year, so that helped.  I didn’t enjoy picking out clothes as a kid because I never had the “cool” stuff, so that helped too.  This memory gets another play now and again when I see clothes for sale, and I think fondly of the helpful vogue hooligan.

I’ve made moderate progress since then, mostly around matching the color of my shoes and belt.  And, I support one team at a time.

Lesson learned.

I first heard of the term “ebay storage” over the holidays and it has changed my life, mostly on the philosophical side.  But, a bit on the practical side too.

First, what the heck does this mean?  Why are you buying stuff on eBay just to put it in storage?  No, I overheard it used in the opposite direction!  For example, “I’m putting this roller hockey stick in eBay storage.”  Wait, what?   Ooh, that’s kind of weird, and clever.

At least that was my initial thought.  However, I kept thinking about this off and on over the last month or so, and finally began to understand it’s brilliance.  Things that are not unique and do not increase in value faster than a mutual fund can be put in eBay storage.

eBay Storage: Selling stuff on eBay you don’t currently use, and buying the equivalent back when you need it.

Time for a convincing example.  I have an extra Kinect sitting in my closet.  I do not need it now or in the near future, because I only have one Xbox to plug Kinects into.  I can sell it for $100 on eBay.  Now I have $100 to plug into Star Wars, or a Wilco concert.  Or realistically, groceries.

If I do need that Kinect later, you can guess where I’ll find one.  That’s right, eBay.  And, it will probably be cheaper.  Or, there will be a newer version, making my old one worth less than $100.  But, I’ll probably never need another one.  Everyone wins with eBay storage.

So what’s the philosophical shift?  When I’m storing something now I have a new question to ask myself:  How often do I use this and am I attached to this specific one?  If I don’t use it often and I am not attached to it, it goes into eBay storage!

I’m a minor hoarder.  I’d rather put things in a labeled box than get rid of them.  You never know when you’ll need half a dozen extra computer mice.  Also, I hate disposing of books.  I was on track to be buried with my own little library of accumulated books, some of them even read by me.  However, eBay storage has saved me from a life of increasingly heavy residence changes.  Now I can pack light(er) for the next move.

On the book front, I’ve made two changes this January.  First, I sold all my law school textbooks from last semester on Amazon.  Amazon storage.  I will always be able to get equivalent books back, and that won’t be necessary anytime soon.  Second, I got a library card and have been using it.  I am no longer attached to a specific copy.  Instead, I am keeping track of my books on Shelfari.  Virtual bookshelf ftw!

The next time you’re putting something away, don’t forget the eBay storage option.  Now, is there anything in eBay storage I need retrieve…

It’s Wednesday, hump day as some would say.  A fine time to to talk about beer, not wine.  No need to rhyme.  I enjoy beer, but I don’t know how it is made.  I have friends that brew, but knowledge I did not gain.

Just fermentation and hops, right?  Who knows!  I’ll do just enough research to justify referencing my favorite Seattle-area brew, Mac & Jacks.

Background: Beer has been around for thousands of years.

Basic ingrediants: water, fermentable starch (e.g. malted barley), brewer’s yeast, flavoring (e.g. hops)

Basic process: There are a lot of great diagrams out there, and the basic steps all seem to be about the same.  However, not all of them had a cow, so here you go.

• Milling: grinding the grain
• Mashing: add water and stir
• Lautering: separate the grains from the sugar water (wort), feed spent grains to your pet cow, Lucy

Fun facts:

• In the past, beer has prevented illness when used as a substitute for drinking water because it is sterlized during the brewing process.  There is a great book called The Ghost Map that touches on it, while telling an interesting story of cholera in 1800′s London.
• Coors Light unseated Budweiser for the No. 2 top selling beer in the U.S. in 2011.  Bud Light still reigns surpreme as No. 1.  Article here.

Who’s thirsty?

I read the Hunger Games over the winter break in the span of a couple of days, mostly because other M loved it and was going to drag me to the coming movie in March anyway.  I really don’t like watching movies if there is a chance I’ll read the book.  In general, the medium that came first is always better.  I can’t speak to novels that come after a movie or video game, but someday I’ll ready the Doom novel and report back on it’s relation to the famous video game.

Hunger Games turned out to be a great, yet quick, read.  The action movie translation should be straighforward.  I won’t spoil it, but if you like outdoor survival adventures with some hand-to-hand combat, check it out.  It successfully reignited my interest in fiction books.  For some reason I’ve been reading primarily non-fiction for the last few years.  I always feel reading non-fiction is more productive, so there are some conclusions to be drawn there.

Alas, while drowning non-fiction with fiction, productivity reared it’s ugly head.  SO, my 3 month reading goals are: 6 books of fiction.  My first book is Game of Thrones, and the recent HBO adaptation helped tremendously in my selection.  I often select a movie to watch based on the cover’s imagery and/or actors.  No summary reading for me.  Wesley Snipes with guns or fire?  Yup.  Julianne Moore playing a cop or doctor?  Oh yeah.  Cop, law, or medical drama?  Definitely.  Gary Oldman in anything?  Done!

Sean Bean in medieval garb, contemplative, with a longsword?  Thanks, that’s all I needed to know.

I’m about 150 pages into the total 800, and it’s awesome, so far.  Hunger Games was a tasty little appetizer preceding the delicious feast that is Game of Thrones.  The training wheels are off.  Both books are engaging, but GoT has more going on.  More heft, more mass.  It’s prompted me to think about features or themes of a story I enjoy.

• Many characters with unique abilities and backgrounds (e.g. Lord of the Rings)
• Medieval setting => enemies inevitably resolve disputes up close and personal
• Backstabbing politics
• Hidden agendas
• Epic historical background  (i.e. this has all happened before, sort of)
• Suspense

I’m sure there are more, so I may have to revisit between books 1 and 2.  Thankfully, both books are the first in a series.  Add it to the list!