Keep in mind that I had previously spent about 12 hours shredding papers about two months ago and just never finished until now.  I’d say that I cut down the clutter by about half that time, so what remained was the last vestiges of every contract I’d made, a ton of bills, all my old employment info, and every doctor visit.

I started with my bag-o-manuals.  This contained every manual to every product I’d ever purchased and considered worth keeping.  Needless to say, there were a lot of friggin’ manuals.  I ended up just throwing these out – but I did find the manuals to three microwaves, two phone systems, two toasters, and something which I could not identify because the manual was printed through-and-through in Chinese and had no pictures or branding.

I did manage to find something pretty good, though: the manual to my shredder.

At one point, even Yoda got in on the action.

The worst part was going through the cable bin – I found six AC adapters to objects that I do not own.  I found two RCA cables for VCRs that I no longer have.  I found FOUR motorola chargers with that annoying little mini-usb connector.  I found two bluetooth headsets (which I never use), cables to my unused GPS which I never knew I had in the first place, a print server, and a 5 port ethernet switch.

Somehow, there was also a flat elastic band, 3 meters in length.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say I was up to some serious shit.  Just think of all the crazy ninja crap you could do with a 5-port ethernet switch, a 3-meter elastic band and four motorola chargers.

The end result was four trash bags worth of shredded documents and miscellaneous office junk (adding the three other bags from 2 months ago makes a grand total of seven).

All in all, I would call this a very productive Saturday.  Woke up at 6AM to see Leslie off to Wyoming and then slept in until 11:30 AM and now going to bed at 5AM Sunday.

I will say one thing, though: it feels really good to be free of the nightmare of paperwork I thought was important.  I don’t know why I thought having utility records for every place I’ve ever lived was important… or cell phone usage data for every carrier… or employment, rent, leasing, and payment information for any contract I’d ever signed.

I kept the important stuff: only the most recent lease.  Only the most recent insurance contract.  Only really-relevant health information.  Only bills I hadn’t paid yet.  Contracts and service plans that still had some life in them (or that I might need to remember to renew).  All in all, I only kept what I feel I can really use.

I’ve still got a bit more to do.  I need to get rid of my old Xbox, my old TV, old books, and old laptop.  The Garmin Nuvi, bluetooth headsets, print server, 5-port ethernet switch, and an LCD monitor went up on Craigslist for some quick cash.  I have a closet full of old boxes, miscellaneous clutter, a lamp I don’t use, and these Star Trek: The Next Generation tapes, that – as much as I love TNG – take up a horrendous amount of space.

Tomorrow – I’m gonna try to do my taxes, finish the WTF Marketing website, and write some Star Trek: Dimensions.  If I’m able to focus, I’ll also try and get through The Consise Guide to Dojo (an AJAX framework).  It looks like a lot of fun from the demos on their site and I’m excited to play with it.  I’d also like to finish my Head First Ajax and C# books, if only to prep better for my new position!  And… I’m kindof excited to get to the next chapter of that C# book… the exercise is building a fun-looking game with some collision detection!

G’night everybody!