Labour Day

There's less than two days until the Labour Day weekend, and I'd be lying if I told you that I wasn't damned happy for it to get here. Andrea and I are head out to the cottage on Friday afternoon, and we're not coming back to Ottawa until Wednesday.

We'll be joined by a few friends for part of the weekend, but the lion's share of our time away will be with just the two of us. After starting to feel as though I'm suffering from information overload over the past little while, I'm excited about losing the internet connection in favour of a good book. It's been a long time.

Really, I've no one to blame but myself. I spend my day behind a desk, then fire up the internet and cable news once I get home, when I could be hitting the gym, going for a run, doing some sketching, or even working on my writing. All things that involve some form of creativity, without having lots of flashy images, words and sound piping through my senses.

Two nasty habits that I've developed over the years are my propensity for procrastination and the ease at which I can be distracted. For instance, while I was writing this blog post (which, in itself, is procrastination from doing laundry, filling out my passport application, having posters mounted, updating my iPod, etc.), I decided that I wanted to see how much my ideal summer car (read: 1967 Shelby Cobra 427) would cost. This lead me to browsing used Ferraris and Lamborghinis, which in turn took me to eBay.

A few minutes later, and I ended up looking at the U.S. Treasury Department webpage for seized goods auctions (because, of course, there are many Ferraris and Lamborghinis being auctioned - crime, apparently, does pay up until the point you get busted, and your assets get auctioned off).

I've included the link for you here.

I'm not sure which is more amusing - seeing all the stuff they have for sale, or trying to imagine the circumstances under which it made its way into government hands. Either way, fascinating. Thus far, I think my favorite is the 7,200 bottles of Pirat vodka in a warehouse in New Jersey. And the animated gavel on the main page? Mesmerizing.

Back to the topic at hand.

It's going to be good to get away for a few days, and perhaps take some time to map out what it is that needs to be done in September if I'm not going to slip further and further behind as far as errands are concerned. I want to figure out how to pursue my long-term career aspirations, spend time with Andrea and my friends, learn a second language, keep things neat and tidy... etc., etc. Always so much to do, and so little time.

So, for all the procrastinators out there: did you ever find a way out of it? Or will you be getting to that soon?