Reduce, Redux, Refine

I got back up to the Bay on Wednesday and since then I've been streamlining my life and more importantly, my electronic existence. I have like ten email addresses. Seriously. Maybe eight that I use regularly but then a few junk ones I have to check periodically. I'm not admitting this to brag since no social cachet is earned from "Hey, I have more email addresses than that guy, wanna be friends?" but to reveal that I have a problem.

During my hallucinations when I knew everything about the world and purpose of all the little creatures within it, I realized that I compartamentalize everything. Most importantly, I compartamentalize my friends, my faux-secrets, my family, my life, my everything. I'm like the human version of Crate and Barrel -- or a Chinese nesting doll. I have folders inside folders, boxes inside boxes, and shelves hidden underneath shelves. I love things that hold other things; it's a sickness. It's a Virgo thing. This is all fun and games until I actually need to actually find something; or more importantly, when someone else has to find something without me.

I'm of the opinion that you can't have enough of a good thing. Love Gmail? Get six. Like this type of friend? Split and double down. Why have one when you can have five? It's kind of a problem. It speaks of defensive mechanisms, insecurity, and a fear of loss, but that's another story. Anyway, I've decided to make my "office" entirely mobile.

How do I do this? I'll start by making my music portable as hell. I'll go into more depth later but the iPod Shuffle has really revolutionalized my life. $100 has completely changed the way I absorb my music. It's so deep I need to dedicate an entire post to my new status as "Music Ninja." I also need to find a better term for that. "Music Ninja" sounds pretty stupid. "Music Ambassador" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue either.

Clearly, I don't really need an office -- just a friendly couch, cable tv, and the Internet -- but humor me while I attempt to make my life office worthy. I've already been using Gmail as my online storage. I email things from one account to the other so I have a copy of any file I need -- plus everything is time stamped, which is infinitely useful.

That means any computer I sit down at, I download Firefox and AIM to get up and running. I just found out about Meebo, which eliminates the need to download AIM. I've decided to use my Sidekick as the hub that will hold my spokes together. I was already doing that but not hardcore. Now I'm hardcore. If you thought I loved my Sidekick (too much) before, that was nothing. I should look into cybernetically implanting a Shuffle and Sidekick into my body somewhere. Not that I have a lot of real estate...

Anyway, here's what I've decided to use to run my new (mainly Google powered) life:

• 2 Gmail accounts (one personal, one for work)
• 1 junk Gmail account
• Google Docs
• Google Reader
• Google Calendar
• iGoogle as my new start page and To-Do list
• Grandcentral.com for my cell phone
• Just two blogs, one personal and one less personal

I also found out about Google Browser Sync from this new blog, fortuitous. It's kind of ridiculous. You can essentially log into any computer (with Internet access) and have everything set up just like you had it at home -- or vice versa. With this new tool, I discovered the power of using bookmarks. It's ridiculous. I feel like a new man. I test ran Browser Sync for a few days and it may just change my life. Like whoa. Check it out.

The thing I need to do first is come up with a new password system/hierarchy, the old one is now totally useless. With this infrastructure in place, I hope to be truly nomadic -- in spirit if not literally. I'lll walk the Earth, meet people, get into adventures. Like Caine from "Kung Fu."

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children.

And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."
-Ezekiel 25:17-