Date: 2004-02-18
To: The Underworld
Miles today: 0.0

It¢s about 8PM and I¢m settling down from a day of high activity. Today¢s mission, you ask? Seek and destroy the basement storage area. My storage area contained both little and grande sized chunks of my past 14 years. Pretty much from the time I started working up ¢til the present. I actually found all the programs and flow charts (who does those?) I wrote for the PACE program at my company. PACE is the training program I had to take when I was hired, even though I was a 14ber programmer out of college. Well, that stuff got pitched. I found lots of old clothing, some electronics do-dads that didn¢t work anymore, xmas lights, a holey RECTANGULAR sleeping bag¢¦ pitched!The more I sifted through the basement wasteland, the more odd insights I got into myself.   It looks like I keep things for sentimental value or because I might need some thingamajig later on. For instance, I had all my karate gis (uniforms) and all the belts I had received over the years. I don¢t do karate anymore and don¢t expect to pick it up in the future. Why hold on to this stuff? Part of me thinks that if I do karate again, I won¢t have to spend money on new clothing. So, like I¢m afraid I won¢t be able to buy new karate clothes? Is that what I¢m learning about myself here?   I¢m a ninja pack-rat because I believe there won¢t be enough $$$ in my future to buy new clothes? Time to get over this. Pitched! By the end of the afternoon, I had nearly filled the dumpster at my apartment complex. Man, did that feel good. My storage area is now a vacant memory. I haven¢t had the time to workout before this trip, but I¢d estimate I got 300 vertical feet in today just going up and down stairs. :-PSpeaking of ninjas, goldberry sent me an email containing some great thru hiker wisdom. She said I could post it for all to enjoy:10=things still important but top of the list. 1=super importantTop 10 things you should really enjoy BEFORE hiking the AT:(some of these you can get in towns)#10 Wearing Cotton#9 Soda/Juice/Beer#8 Pancakes#7 Pizza#6 Ice cream#5 Fresh Fruit#4 Clean Clothes (A fresh pair of socks)#3 No Lack of Toilet paper#2 Water#1 Friends and FamilyTop 10 things you should really enjoy WHILE hiking the AT:#10 Snickers and Fruit Gushers#9 Hiking all day#8 Eating as much of everything as you want#7 Simplicity of it all#6 The changing environment as you hike north#5 Views (keep your camera handy always)#4 Trail Angels and Magic#3 Nature/Trees/Flowers (and their smells and touch)#2 People (thru-hikers, random day hikers, anyone)#1 Finding out that ¢Everything works out no matter how much you worry about things¢Ain¢t she great? (where can I buy fruit gushers? Never had them.)I¢ve also been collecting a box of financial papers and old checks to be sent to the shredder service in South Windsor. I was thinking of pitching the whole box but a neighbor said identity theft is on the rise and I should have them ground up. Ok, that will be tomorrow¢s adventure along with taking my motorcycle off my town taxes and asking the town if I have to pay taxes on my truck for the 6 months that I¢m not in town. Seems like I shouldn¢t have to, since I¢m not consuming town services. We¢ll see about that.