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The article in Time Magazine appeared a month ago, but like most things in Time, the real action started much earlier. Dave Bruno began this now-almost-famous 100 Things Challenge months ago, as a test to reduce his own consumer footprint on the world. It is, more than anything, a novel way to place our role as a consumer front and center in our consciousness and -- perhaps because of economic conditions -- it has resonated with so many people.

Including myself. I've decided to set a goal of having just 100 Things by the end of the year. I've started my list and have begun to appreciate just how challenging -- and fulfilling -- this could be.

I have a few motivations for this. One is my children. They need at least one role model of restraint to counter the hundreds of others that encourage them to long for, buy and acquire. Another is a desire for simplicity. "You don't own your possessions; they own you," goes the refrain, and I could not agree more. Finally, I am intrigued to discover just how few things I need. When I have sold, broken or lost something in the past, I am always at first sad, but then quickly notice that the remorse is replaced by an easing of a burden. One less thing, one less thing to worry about. Can I manufacture this sentiment?

So, first, a few ground rules:

1. The goal is to reduce my personal possessions to 100 things. Things I share with family are excluded. For now, at least; we'll see how this goes.
2. In most cases, everything will be counted individually. There are a few exceptions, however, in regard to things I think of as "systems" or "sets." My set of wrenches, for example, is one item, rather than 17 individual things. It's imprecise, but the rule of thumb here is that if I can pick it up as one thing, it will be treated as one thing (my wrenches come in a case). Sure, I could throw 50 things in a box and consider it one item on my list, but that is hardly consistent with the spirit of the challenge. Another example might be "socks."
3. Everything I decide to get rid of will be sold or given away if at all possible. The point here is not to generate more waste, after all.

In an upcoming post, I will share my current list. I'm still working on it.

One of my first discoveries is that inventorying all of your own personal possessions is an eye-opening experience. How in the world did I ever acquire so many backpacks and duffle bags? Why do I need so many screwdrivers? Why am I still keeping those ten Ethernet cables? How deep does the dust on an old pair of out-of-style shoes need to get before it's obvious they should be discarded? Stunning, really.

Thanks, Jamie. I just blew a half hour getting sucked into the oh-so-addictive geo-nerd game, TravelPod.

Must turn off computer...must...stop...playing...nnnghh!

Today I received the email at right from Porsche USA hocking some of their logo'd merchandise for Christmas. What caught my eye, however, was the scary subject line warning me about "Last minute" gift ideas.

Perhaps I am betraying my own time management techniques here, but since when does three weeks before Christmas constitute "last minute" shopping? This isn't the rant of a gift-buying procrastinator, either; in fact, I'm almost done getting all of my presents.

So what, then, represents true "last minute" shopping? I would suggest that any shopping done in December that takes place on a two-digit date starting with a "2" is truly cutting it close. In the interest of even more clearly capturing the spirit of giving represented by those who run it down to the wire, I suggest the following labels for those final five six days:

Dec. 20: "Last-minute Shopping"
Dec. 21: "Time-daredevil shopping"
Dec. 22: "Over-confident-in-one's-ability-to-find-something-not-sucky shopping"
Dec. 23: "Dude,-you're-getting-a-gift-card Shopping"
Dec. 24: "You-obviously-don't-care-or-have-been-in-a-coma Shopping"
Dec. 25: "Where-did-you-get-that-thing-7-11? Shopping"

The first season of WKRP in Cincinnati is now available on iTunes!

"WKRP" was a staple of daily after-school life for me for many, many years. Johnny, Les, Herb and Venus were shown in a back-to-back 90 minute chunk, spread across two channels every afternoon from 4:00 to 5:30. The show didn't have the longest run (5 years), so I probably saw every show in the series seven or eight times. I knew all of the plot lines (who can forget the fantabulous turkey-helicopter show?) and had an arsenal of one-liners like so many of my friends ("As God is my witness...I thought turkeys could fly."). I also had a slightly unhealthy crush on Jan Smithers.

So good to see these old shows showing up in a new format. I may have to buy one episode just to see if it was as good as my memory thinks it was. I'm sure it's not.

Booger!

Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist. Creator of Mike and Ike, Lala Palooza and other comic series at the turn of the century, his famous "Rube Goldberg Inventions" were the product of another of his characters, Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts. Yes, "Butts." My three-year old would be much amused.

A Rube Goldberg invention was an intricate, elaborate machine created to accomplish a simple task. A commentary on the value of technology, perhaps.

His legacy lives on with an absolutely stunning video that made its way onto the intertubes today. My favorite sequence shows the contraption sending a text message to another phone, whereupon the vibrating notification sets off another sequence, presumably at an entirely different location.

Source: College Humor (Note: Much on this site is NSFW)

This video may just replace the Rube Goldberg machine from the Honda commercial, Cogs, as my alltime favorite. Click here to check that one out.

Yesterday, I bought a pickup truck. I'd promised myself I'd never be "one of those people," so clearly I've hit an important personal milestone. What that is, I'm still not sure. To make matters worse, I ate a burger and fries from McDonald's in the truck on the way home. I'm a case of Schlitz and a gun rack away from moving to Texas.

What better or more auspicious time, then, to (re)start my blogging.

my name is taken is, like any new blog, an exercise in talking to myself. Over time, it is my sincere hope that others will find what I write here interesting, entertaining and maybe even useful. Time will tell.

My goals for MNiT are simple: to meet some new people and share my thoughts on subjects I care about. I will cover topics that are of interest to me, on the conceit that there are others that find these subjects interesting, too. I will write about technology, architecture, design, cars, photography, cooking and travel. Aspects of my life that are likely to show up here include my job at Microsoft, the design and remodel of my house, my love/hate of Formula One and my constantly-changing collection of sports cars. And pickup trucks, I guess.

Here we go.