.IF DSK1.C3 .CE 5 *IMPACT/99* ^^^^by JACK SUGHRUE ^^^^Box 459 ^^^^East Douglas, MA 01516 HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE I love the questions people ask me in letters. Though the advice I give is usually as valuable as pyrite, I give it anyway. Most readers of these articles these past seven years know I teach fifth grade, that I write books, that I drive very inexpensive standard shift cars (my four kids were in college at the same time a couple years ago), that I love to read James Joyce, P.G.^Wodehouse, and Gertrude Stein, that my favorite musician is Keith Jarrett, that I love to watch movies and cook and swim and create string figures. But mostly I love to teach and do things related to teaching and TI computing (writing programs for school; creating environmental tools [like PLUS!] for adults on the TI, still my favorite computer and my favorite tool/toy). All of which is a long way around the questions I've been receiving of late. At least fifteen 99ers this past half year have asked me how I can organize my life in such a way as to accomplish all the different things I like doing. "Where do you find the time to do everything?" is often the way it's finally expressed. Well, let me tell you how to organize your life. Let's go back a year or so. My computer desks are always in a shambles. Stuff is piled all over the monitor and PBox and printer. Before I compute each day I gather up and take this stuff to other parts of this room and add to the piles there. I can never seem to get ahead of this. Those TI friends who've stayed overnight in this "spare room" have only seen it in the cleaned-up stage. Or almost. The bed is cleared off for the occasions. I asked myself, "What IS all this stuff?" Being modemless, I write LOTS of letters. About 35 a week. Many to fellow 99er computer loonies. I get lots of mail back I really look forward to and lots of mail I'm really sorry to see: the kind where you get on so many mailing lists you grow concerned over the world's tree population. The using up of the world's paper supply for the kind of junk mail I get is incredible. As soon as my Fairware PLUS! disk was reviewed in MICROpendium and COMPUTER SHOPPER with my address, I began to get on lists of all the Bughouse Batties. Get rich schemes are the most frequent: send just $5.00 and mail the enclosed form to just 10 other people, etc. A modern-day version of the illegal pyramid clubs of the 50's. Then there are the "contest winner" or "you have been selected to receive" at some nominal cost or required purchase a "prize." The next most popular junk is to contribute to somebody's religion (preferably converting in the process - but not essential so long as the money is there). The fourth-most pile of junk is the catalogs. I get put on lists for the most extraordinary catalogs (provocative longerie, crocheting implements, tulip bulbs directly from Holland, abrasives [I figure MY personality doesn't need any.], joke items [like plastic doggie doo and bow ties that squirt water], and so on). And, lastly, the charities. Now, like most Americans, I contribute to quite a few favorite charities such as Greenpeace, Common Cause, Amnesty International, Cancer Fund. But, a few years ago I started sending my contributions in with misspellings in my name. Jack Zughrue or Lughrue or Dughrue or whatever. Now I know exactly where any new piece of junkmail got my address and I just don't contribute there anymore. (None of the above, by the way, has sold my name yet.) So a lot of this kind of paper garbage comes in every day. And I usually toss it on top of my printer desk or on top of my computers. If I take a minute before supper to sort the stuff out, I usually dump my briefcase full of my mail and papers to correct from school on the desks first, then put ESSENTIALS on top of the computers, so I won't start anything without having to remove these piles first. Then I put the next pile right next to the computers as this stuff has to get done later, though still immediately. The next piles are for the things that can wait. They just join the already waiting piles. The last pile or two is composed of stuff I will probably throw away if I take the trouble to look at it: most of what was mentioned above. I really organized myself last fall and got grocery bags and marked them "#1" and "#2" and all the way to "#6", as I had six large piles by that time. The #1 bag had to be dealt with right away. And so on. This seemed to be working okay, except the bags numbered 3 and higher began to overflow. My computer room took on a look of post-Apocalypse desolation, and, Elaine, my patient wife was having difficulty with the patience. "Aha!" I thought. "I'll use the Sughrue Method of Educational Organization": what I do in my classroom. Why I hadn't thought of it before I don't know. I jumped in my VW Fox Wagon and zipped down to the nearest supermarket and asked for a dozen banana boxes (which they throw away, so I was recycling to help the environment), loaded the car, and raced homeward. I don't know if you know what a banana box is. It's a wide, squat, very sturdy box with handle slots and an equally sturdy cover. I keep ALL my disks catalogued in banana boxes for nice storage and easy access. The boxes can be stored under beds or safely atop one another. Just about anything fits into them. You can paint or wallpaper them to match anything. My fifth-grade students refer to them as "wicked-awesome cartons." And so by last month I just finished putting the contents of Bag #1 into Box #1, Bag #2 into Box #2; all the way up to #8. (By this time I had two MORE bags I called "MISC.") The other four boxes are for all the good things: TI newsletters, personal mail, manuals for the disks that require them and things relating to PLUS! and the public domain programs I write. These four kinds of things I sorted first using alphabetized file folders. The only trouble is, I've had to add TWO MORE banana boxes this past month to house the overflow of Boxes #3-8. Now here is the secret to How To Organize Your Life: Once you have done all the above - from piles to bags to boxes - you will have noticed that the tops of your desks and computer equipment stay relatively clean. Then take Boxes #3-10 to the dump. Save the empty banana boxes for later. Use the time you would have wasted dealing with the stuff in Boxes #3-10 by taking piano lessons or teaching your aardvark to fetch. It's amazing what you can do with all that spare time. You might even get back to Video Chess or some of your oldies but definitely goodies. (Diablo and High Gravity being my two favorites.) Matter of fact, I think I'll play with High Gravity right now. See how easy organizing your life can be? [If you print any of these IMPACT articles please add me to your newsletter exchange list. Thank you. J.S.] Հ