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How Far I’ve Come

30 Jun

I’ve been spending a bit of time lately with the me I used to be.

Freshman year of high school, my English teacher, Mr. Montgomery, assigned us a class project to begin keeping journals.

I was so into it that when the official assignment was over, I kept on writing for myself.

I checked in almost daily, beginning each entry with “Hey Mont,” which was what I always said when I walked into class or saw him in the hall.

I wrote in my journal all through high school (and over the summers), and when I left for college in the fall of 1992, I left behind eight notebooks that pretty much documented my life over those four years. As you might imagine, it’s something I’m really proud of.

The collection (plus a couple of failed restarts) is one of my most significant possessions. Continue reading →

I Resolve To …

1 Jan

Like it or not, January and 2010 are both here.

Among other things, that means it’s time to stop looking back and start to look forward.

In most cases, that also means coming up with some resolutions for things to change in the new year.

Generally, I don’t make New Year’s resolutions because I’m never able to keep them.

But this year I’m going to publish my list of resolutions here, and I’m hoping that the public declaration will help me stick to them.

So with that in mind, I resolve to … Continue reading →

Another Great Clean-Up

27 Dec

One of the nice things about not going away during the week between Christmas and New Year’s is that it gives me a chance to tackle some projects I’ve been wanting to work on for a while.

Monday I went into the office to clean up my desk and get organized. And now I’ve begun tackling my closets here on the homefront.

You may recall that two years ago on New Year’s Day I began the Great Clean-Up of 2006. Things have not gotten to be as bad as they were then, but parts of my apartment surely needed a spruce-up and that included my bedroom closet.

So, after taking everything out — all my pants, shirts, sweaters, shoes, etc. — and going through it to see what was old (i.e.: anything with a Structure label) or dirty or what I had too much of (hello, blue shirts), I have plenty of “new” clothes I had forgotten about and a much cleaner, more organized closet.

Sure, I could have gotten rid of more clothes than I did, but I’m just too much of a packrat; that said, I expect I’ll continue to get rid of some shirts as I try them on and realize they don’t fit all that well anymore.

Next I’ll tackle the linen closet and my overflowing CD collection (I went to Target today and bought a container for under-the-bed storage).

And this is good news for other people, not just me. For example, the Big Brother Big Sister Foundation is going to get a large donation — five garbage bags full of shoes, sweaters, shirts and pants.

And the cleaners is going to get my business.

And if I ever do move (and hopefully I will sometime in 2008), the movers will have less to take over to the new place for me.

But of course, I’m the real winner here because I’m enjoying my week off from work and taking care of some good stuff that’s making me feel really productive.

I’m going to say it again: It’s so nice to spend a vacation at home, where I can do my own thing and relax and just catch up with life, and work on things like this that I never seem to get to during the rest of the year.

(That’s all. No great drama or discoveries to report on.)

I Guess I Just Didn’t Do It

26 Feb

I suppose it goes without saying that I never joined the gym. If I had, you’d surely have read about it here.

My heart just wasn’t into it, and I took too long to act on my initial enthusiasm. So, I took that as a sign that it wasn’t meant to be and I decided not to join. Continue reading →

ARGH

4 Feb

You know what sucks about cleaning up? Not being able to find something you need. It was so much easier when all my crap was out on my kitchen table and all over my apartment.

A Floor So Clean …

31 Jan

Anyone want to come over tonight and eat dinner off my floor? It’s just that clean. I tell you, it’s been a long time since my kitchen floor shined like it’s doing now. Getting the place cleaned by MaidPro was money well-spent.

And that, my friends, is what I hope will be the last posting about cleaning my apartment. As far as this blog is concerned, end of story. From here on out, my attention turns to actually joining the gym.

The Cleanup Continues

22 Jan

I really like how every day I spend cleaning my apartment is like a day I’ve gone shopping. Last week, after going through my clothes closet, I had all kinds of “new” sweaters and shirts to wear. Tonight, after spending a few hours finally cleaning off my kitchen table, it’s like I have a brand new piece of furniture to eat dinner on.

There was stuff on my table from as far back as February 2005, which had been piled underneath bills, direct mailings, magazines, birthday cards, Rosh Hashannah cards, Hanukkah cards, birth announcements, more bills, 401k statements, magazine subscription renewals … you name it. Suffice it to say, all that old stuff has been thrown away. And sure, I could probably have just lifted it up and thrown it all away in one fell swoop, but I did go through each and every thing that was on the table, just to make sure I didn’t need some of it and to make sure it was safe to put in the trash. I double bagged the garbage bags and everything.

And for good measure, I also went through the stack of mail that I had put in my bedroom (under my bed) last year to make room for my Super Bowl party and hadn’t gone through since. Alls I know is that it’s a good thing companies send “reminders” when you haven’t paid your bills, or else I’d be severely in debt right now. Despite the number of and age of the bills I found today, nearly all of them had been paid already.

So now, after cleaning up my dresser, my two closets, my kitchen table, and my DVD/VHS tape collection, I suppose the next step is to hire a cleaning company. That’ll be this week’s project. I’m looking at MaidPro. Does anyone know anything about them? Of course, before they can come, I need to get the stacks of CDs off the top of my bookshelves and entertainment unit, and the books off my floor. I also want to clean up a little bit under my bed and get rid of some of the pictures and posters that have been there since I moved into my apartment four years ago.

Point is, for a change, I’m actually sticking with something and seeing it through instead of dropping the ball midway. I’m walking the walk, instead of just talking the talk. This bodes well for the rest of the year.

I’m Just Going to Do It

12 Jan

The last time I belonged to a gym was about 6 years ago, when I joined simply out of boredom. I was living in Allston, around the corner from a Boston Sports Club, and it was March — the time of the TV season after February sweeps when everything was in reruns. Because I was coming home night after night and not doing much more than channel surfing, I figured I might as well do something better with my time. So I got on a mild fitness kick, started to eat a little better, and actually worked out three days a week.

That lasted maybe a couple of months, until the middle of May, when the weather got nicer and my life became busier again. Then I just stopped going to the gym altogether. Every month the fee would be taken out of my bank account automatically, but I didn’t seem to notice. It was like that episode of Friends where Chandler had a hard time quitting the gym. I put my membership on hold, but that was only for two months. It wasn’t until sometime in September or October that I actually quit the gym for good. And I haven’t really thought seriously about re-joining a gym ever since.

Until now.

My company’s offices recently moved right near a FitCorp (it’s practically next door). As if I needed more reasons to join a gym, what with my sister’s wedding coming up and my general wanting to get in better shape, we’re getting all kinds of incentives to join FitCorp (free initiation fee, one free month, discounted monthly fee, etc.). We just had an info session, and I realized that I could ask all the questions I wanted to — When do we get billed? Can I use any location in the FitCorp network? Is there parking? — but it didn’t change the fact that I already sort of know I’m going to join eventually, and sooner rather than later so I don’t miss out on the deals.

Of course, you may be wondering why I didn’t just join right then and there, like some of my coworkers did. Well, I still need to make that mental shift to being a guy who goes to the gym, as opposed to someone who eats poorly, doesn’t exercise, and wishes he went to the gym. I also need to be more of a person who just does things, and doesn’t write on his blog about “mental shifts” and that kind of B.S.

I suppose one reason I never really enjoyed going to BSC was because I didn’t have anyone to work out with, and now I can go with friends. And the Allston facility of BSC was not the nicest of places, so these gyms will be more encouraging to walk into. And I can also go right from the office or to the location closer to home in the medical area.

As I said, I really don’t need to convince myself why I should join the gym. I just need to do it. And then I need to keep on doing it. The Great Reinvention of Martin Lieberman continues …

First I Binged, and Now I’ve Purged

9 Jan

I’m happy to report that “The Great Clean-up of 2006” continued this weekend.

It was a big day of purging yesterday — and of realizing just how much of a packrat I am, and of rediscovering some stuff I haven’t seen in years and was truly baffled that I’ve hung onto for so long.

For example: Continue reading →

A Very Good Place to Start

2 Jan

To quote (sort of) the great thinker Michael Jackson, “You wanna be startin’ somethin’? You’ve got to be startin’ somethin’.” And you’d have to agree that ain’t no time like January 1 to be startin’ somethin’.

So, I’m happy to announce that The Great Clean-up of 2006 — step one in “The Great Reinvention of Martin Lieberman” — has begun. The top of my dresser is now clean and my laundry bags are now empty. Of course, this means that my closet and some drawers of my dresser (particularly those containing socks and t-shirts) are now over-stuffed. But small steps, people. Small steps.

Today I hung up a ton of shirts and pants that had accumulated over about a month and a half, probably more. That’s a lot of clothes. And thank God for Brooks Brothers‘ no-iron shirts or else much of it would be wrinkled. Also, I’m ashamed to admit that one of the two laundry bags (full of now-clean clothes) included a mix of loads that were at least three months old — though it’s likely some were closer to five. Oh yeah, and I also threw out a bunch of junk — including old issues of magazines — and picked up a lot of dust bunnies off the floor. All told, a very productive day.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions this year is to take better care of my apartment. Today I tackled the dresser, laundry bags, and floors, not to mention the magazines that were strewn across my coffee table. Next comes going through my clothes and either throwing out or donating old stuff I don’t wear anymore (depending on what state they’re in). After that, I’ll finally tackle the clutter, whether it’s the stacks of mail on my kitchen table, the magazines under my coffee table (again), or my multiple bookshelves, DVD rack, and CD collection. And somewhere in there, I plan to hire a professional cleaner to make this place shine once again. (Anyone have any recommendations for a cleaning person? Seriously.)

If you know me at all, you know that this is quite an ambitious plan (if you can even call it a plan), especially since I’d love to have much of it done by February. But perhaps by putting this in writing and not just saying it, I’ll actually get something done for a change. As I said, you’ve got to start somewhere.

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