Perfect Timing

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I’ve long suspected that cats are a lot more intelligent than they’re given credit for. Here’s another bit of circumstantial evidence for it.

Ever since we got our Litter Robot self-cleaning litter box last year, we’ve had a minor problem with one of our cats: he doesn’t always get far enough into the globe before he goes, or sometimes only gets his front half in, and the resulting liquid drips down the front of it. Because of the excellent design, it’s immediately caught and channeled into the waste drawer, so the mess is completely contained, but it’s still an irritation.

This is a problem that a lot of cats seem to have with this litter box, and a few months ago I heard that the Litter Robot’s makers were working on a solution. A couple days ago I checked their website and discovered that they’d finished it: a wider rubber “lip” for the front of the globe, to catch any such “misses” and redirect them into the globe (and the litter) instead of down the front, and a small gate that fits into it to prevent litter from being kicked out before or afterwards, and to encourage the cat to get all the way in and turn around before doing his business. I immediately ordered both.

Quite happy about it, I poked my head into the room where she was reading and told GoddessJ. The aforementioned cat (Winston) was there as well, but I thought nothing of it… until a few hours later, when I discovered that he’d done it again. And this time he’d aimed just right: the liquid had seeped into the panel at the front and killed the circuit board that controls the whole thing.

Go ahead, try to tell me that’s coincidence. I dare you.

Fortunately, I was able to order a new circuit board as well. It should be here the day after the other new parts. But I’m sure that Winston is chuckling under his breath every time I turn my back on him.

It really wouldn’t surprise me to discover that cats secretly rule the world. They’re sadistic little bastards.

“How many PCs are enough? 5? 10?”

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Enough? There’s no such thing! 🙂 There are two laptops, a netbook, and two desktops at our place — not counting several other devices that could technically be called computers, like the iPod Touch (a small computer itself) and the two network-attached storage systems (both special-purpose Linux computers). And then there are the several dead computer carcasses that need only one or two parts for their resurrection.

Even among the working ones, several of them are rarely used. One of the desktops is a 64-bit system that I only fire up when I need to do some debugging on the 64-bit version of Project Badger… I don’t think I’ve turned it on in more than six months. The netbook and one of the notebooks rarely see much use now either. We really only use one notebook (my main system) and one desktop (GoddessJ’s) at present. We could easily clear out a good third of the office if we had a reason to, without giving up anything we actually use.

Hm, maybe I shouldn’t publish this entry… GoddessJ might decide to order that space cleaned up. 😉

Know Thyself: Goals, Context, and Purpose

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A few months ago, I thought I’d found the answer to my motivation problems. A tweak to my purpose, thought I, and all would be well. As usual, things weren’t that simple… it helped, but after the initial surge of enthusiasm wore off, I discovered that it didn’t make enough difference to keep me moving.

Earlier this week, while working through my read-it-later list, I came to an article that perfectly described the problem:

Goals do need a context as well; otherwise, they’re irrelevant too. A goal without a meaningful larger context is pointless.

One context that makes goals matter is human need, branching from the basic root need of survival. […] But if all our goals occur only within the context of physical and emotional needs, then all we really get out of life is survival and mediocrity. […] The second problem with having need as your only context for goals is that you’ll have a hard time pushing yourself beyond the point where you feel your needs are already satisfied. […] for most people, at some point that context of need runs dry. You can tell if this has happened to you if, when you think about big goals, they just don’t seem to matter; they appear to be more trouble than they’re worth.

When I read the sentence that I’ve highlighted in bold, I felt something akin to an electric shock run through me. That’s exactly the problem that I’ve been having! I don’t have anything in particular to fear anymore. I have achieved financial security, which in itself eliminated most of the fears that drove me most of my life. And I have the freedom to do pretty much anything I wish, which was my second-largest desire. Project X, which seemed so compelling to me since my teenage years, seemed the perfect path to fame and fortune… but since I’ve realized that I already have enough fame and fortune, it has lost a lot of its allure. I still want to do it, very much, but the reasons that fueled that desire have lost a lot of their strength.

When you reach this point of stuckness, it’s time to move beyond the context of need. […] if you’re now living in a situation where your needs are adequately met, and you don’t seem to be getting any more mileage out of need-based goals, then you need a new context for goal setting. […] The next context beyond need is purpose.

Nice idea, but I thought I already had a purpose: dealing with problems. Project X is an attempt to preemptively deal with a whole class of problems, knocking out hundreds of birds with a single stone. But if it doesn’t inspire me to action, then what does that mean? That Steve Pavlina is wrong? While that’s certainly possible, a lot of the articles he’s written have been a perfect match for my own experiences, and take their ideas even further than I have. If he’s wrong, then I probably don’t have much chance of finding a solution. Assuming that he’s right though, the only answer is that I haven’t discovered a purpose that inspires me yet.

The more I think about it, the better that idea looks. I have some thoughts on where to look for one, which I’ll describe in a later posting, after I’ve had a chance to explore them further.