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‘Deep Thoughts’ Category

  1. Progress?

    February 11, 2012 by Nicki

    It’s the final stages (are you guys sick of hearing about this yet?) of my caffeine step-down, and I have something to say.

    Oh my god it’s going well.

    But you know, it’s like announcing a tentative raise to your family. What if it doesn’t happen? What if what you’ve heard isn’t concrete?

    What if this amazing wakefulness, even at late hours and especially at early hours is some sort of fluke? What if in a week or three I get used to it, and I go back to struggling to stay awake on my drive home and two hour naps during the two hours I have with my family each night?

    I’m afraid to get excited.

    But still…I am excited.

    Who wouldn’t be? I’ve been a hardcore caffeine addict since high school. Sodas, especially Mtn. Dew and Diet Pepsi, and most recently Amp, have been a constant presence in my every day life. Of course I can’t really compare it to a 20 year smoking habit, but…it sort of feels like I imagine that would be.

    Okay, I promise I’ll think of different, more varied topics to post about from here on out. I just thought…wow. This week is just wow.

    I hope it lasts.

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  2. The Right Tool for the Job

    February 9, 2012 by Nicki

    I was sick this past weekend, and it sucked. I felt it start to come on Thursday night into Friday, but it really kicked my button Saturday and Sunday.

    Of course, not being one to deny myself some over the counter medications, I started taking NyQuil just before bed. It was the red stuff, the color I usually take (not the green), for cough.

    But I didn’t have a cough.

    And the NyQuil didn’t make a dent in my cold.

    What I really needed, and finally got Sunday evening around 6 p.m., was NyQuil; the night-time sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, so- you-can-rest medicine. And indeed, within about an hour, I was on the mend.

    Of course you always want to use the right tool for the job. You don’t take acetaminophen as a contraceptive, after all. And you don’t pound nails with the sole of your father’s loafers.

    But sometimes you may pull staples out with your fingernails. Or punch holes with the binder instead of the puncher. Or maybe you’re trying to open a can of beans with a bottle opener.

    They’ll work, eventually, but they really aren’t the best tool for the job.

    What other kind of tools are you using that aren’t the best for the project at hand? It all depends on the person and the job.

    For instance, perhaps you’re working on multiple computers at different times of the day, and are constantly being forced to save things to thumb drives or printing copies so you’ve always got the most up-to-date files on hand. Why do that, when you could be using Dropbox, which will transfer files saved on one computer to all computers that you have installed the free program on?

    Or maybe you’re trying to blog on an iPad, but you need the feel of a keyboard in front of you to really let the letters fly. Why not save for a $30-60 bluetooth keyboard that will allow you to really be productive?

    Or do you dictate your novels, but don’t have access to a great speech-to-type translation program? Same as above.

    If something seems awkward, jarring, or needs to be forced, think about the tools you’ve got, then think about the tools you need. It might just be that the two sets of tools aren’t the same.

     

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  3. Beating the Tail End of the Devil

    February 5, 2012 by Nicki

    That's supposed to be my foot. It's big, and apparently I wear bobby socks.

    I’m at the end of my caffeine step-down. It’s just me and giant bottles of barely caffeinated Arizona Green Tea. Very delicious, but after two days I’m sleeping in the afternoons again.

    Let’s just say this isn’t good for anyone, much less myself.

    What does one do when they’re at the end of a goal? Picture weight loss. You’ve gone to the gym, you’ve adjusted your diet, you lost a significant amount of weight.

    Then, the plateau hits. Steady weight, maybe even a little gain. Frustration, irritation, and the urge to give up all swirl around like a dust devil sending the corn flying on a late summer Iowan day.

    Seriously, how do you deal with this?

    Well, the weight thing is easy – change your routine. Eat differently, maybe change your splurge day, or add a meal that on the way down the scale would have been forbidden. Make your body guess a bit.

    But caffeine? I don’t see the correlation yet. I can’t add caffeine back in…can I? The point is to get rid of it, but the naps have also got to go. I can’t afford to be sleeping during the only two hours I have with my family. I need to be awake and active then, making supper, helping with dishes (the worst), getting the kids through the shower.

    I need a different afternoon routine, that’s for sure. Something to think of or do immediately upon arriving home so I don’t immediately think of drifting off. Something that, additionally, doesn’t cost any money.

    Does anyone have any ideas?

    Category Deep Thoughts | Tags: ,, | 2 Comments

  4. Stepping Down

    January 24, 2012 by Nicki

    Gone are all my lovely posts on my resolutions and goals for the year, but I’m not dwelling on that now. Honest.

    What I am dwelling on is the novel idea that my plan (which is working, by the way) to cut out caffeine will most likely also be the best plan to get my daily wake-up time to be 5 am instead of 6:30 am.

    It’s stepping down, slowly but surely, to change the habit. While others may work best going cold turkey (and I must admit I like that idea much better myself), slowly stepping back from the problem is actually working much better for me.

    As evidence to that fact, I am now in week two of my diet soda phase in my cut out caffeine resolution/goal/thing. I stepped down gradually from serious energy drinks to highly caffeinated soda, to where I am now, and the next steps will be canned green tea and then flavored water and water.

    I don’t feel deprived. I’m not even frustrated that I can’t have the energy drinks I used to down (sometimes) twice daily. I’m not saying it’s going to b easy once I get to the non-caffeinated days, but it will certainly be easier to deal with after already given up so many other forms.

    So why not make this process work with other things?

    Like waking up earlier so I have dedicated time for writing. Currently I wake up after my husband is done in the shower, at 6:30. At this point he has to take off immediately, and while I have more time than I used to have to get ready for work, I don’t have a ton of time. Certainly not quiet time without the kids to actually try to be creative.

    I’ve tried to make the direct switch to 5:00 before, but that alarm goes off and I just hit that snooze, and that’s the end of it. But 15 minutes…I could force myself to get out of bed, or at least be awake, 15 minutes earlier for a week or so. Definitely. And then waking up when DH needs to get in the shower, maybe for another week.

    And so on and so forth.

    I will definitely post notes on my progress, in case anyone is either interested or wants inspiration to tackle this themselves.

    Good luck to us both!

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  5. Reboot

    January 20, 2012 by Nicki

    Restart it all over againSo you see…I dabbled where I should have simply stood back and complained, and now I have a brand new WordPress installation and layout!

    Yay!

    Right?

    At any rate, I’m here and since I’m a little bit cranky about this new turn of events, I decided to be a little less formal with things. You might notice. You might not.

    As I choose my new window dressings, I had a hard time finding an adequate layout. Not that I had a hard time picking my favorite from among hundreds – I had a hard time finding one at all! I’m just so hard to please when it comes to my layouts.

    It made me think about how this blog, while it is an attempt to draw in readers and eventually become a platform to publicize whatever books I may decide to publish, it’s really all about me. It’s about how I like it to look, it’s about how I want it to function…I’m not thinking about visitors or SEO or how to integrate Twitter so I can get more followers.

    I’m thinking, how can I get a big footer in my layout? I like big footers.

    That is not at all to say that I don’t care about you, dear reader. I do. I really do. I want more people to read, so I want to create good, regular content (the winning combination for any blog, by the way – just in case you’re curious) that will keep people coming back for more.

    I’m just not worried that you won’t like how it looks.

    I’m off to make more adjustments tonight. Things will start to really take shape over the next few days, and as long as my hosting company keeps things running smoothly and doesn’t slow my site down to the consistency of molasses, I think we’re all good.

    I will see you here in two days! (See? Schedule, good!)

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