Nermo

I’m pretty sure Amazon’s Kindle Fire will be my ultimate kitchen gadget.

It’s not a robust laptop replacer, but it will likely save my laptop from total destruction. I always have it with me in the kitchen to check a recipe, jot notes on whatever I am making, listen to music while I cook, or watch Top Chef while I wash dishes, and it always comes precariously close to total destruction.

The Kindle Fire can manage all those tasks and costs $200 (not cheap, but a lot cheaper than replacing my laptop), and it has extra-durable and scratch-resistant glass. It’s also flat and light, so I am probably going to just stick a strong magnet on the back so I can just slap it onto my fridge or the steel hood over my stove while I’m in there.

Update: I’m finally posting this midway through the month, and I am doing better than usual, but I’m no saint.  I’ll try to push through with this until I head to Portland at the end of October.

My plan is to spend the month of September spending as little money as possible.

This will likely lead to a lot of time at home, which I will try to spend simplifying my life, ideally:

• Getting rid of things I don’t need
• Finishing projects that remain incomplete
• Cooking and eating healthy
• Give extra attention to those who mean most…that’s a lot of people, so a few at random every month
• Digitize 30 years of notes, sketches and scraps of paper.  I have a lot of scraps of paper
• Hydrate!
• Respond to concerns as they arise, immediately and in the moment
• Generally don’t procrastinate on anything
• Pick three projects, one personal, one professional and one creative and attack them like a hungry piranha
• Deep breaths while commuting… unless the train smells bad, which is often
• Do one thing at a time
• bias toward action!
• Organize, compartmentalize and itemize (label)
• Read the several months of backed up papers and magazines. Don’t renew subscriptions… except NYT
• Unsubscribe, unsubscribe, unsubscribe (I’m on a lot of email lists that I delete without reading)
• Don’t make so many damned lists

If you have any advice or words of encouragement, feel free to share, and if you feel like buying me a drink, call me in September.