Getting Things Done Faster

What's amazing to me is that people spend so much time learning about "time management." My attitude has always been that people should quit screwing around learning about "time management" and just spend their time doing stuff.

Nevertheless, I am currently reading David Allen's Getting Things Done, as it comes highly recommended by various friends. My basic evaluation so far is positive, but I think most readers could save a lot of time by skipping much of the book.

Basically, the entire first part -- the first 81 pages -- boils down to two points.

1. To reach your goals, you need to define your goals and figure out effective ways to reach them.

2. You need a good way to process information related to your projects. You're getting all sorts of ideas and information coming at you, all the time, from many directions. Moreover, you do a lot of good thinking at odd times. You need a good way to capture and organize all this information and all those ideas, so that you can effectively use them, and so that you can work in a more relaxed, enjoyable way.

Part 2, which I've just started, explains specifically how to accomplish the second point. I really don't think I would have missed much if I had simply skipped the first part. It seems to me that much of effective time management is about figuring out what not to do.

Tomatoes Yum

Jennifer and I planted 48 tomato plants in the spring. I dried several batches of the produce in our handy Excalibur.

These dried tomatoes will be great in a variety of cooked dishes.

And we should do better next year, once we get the back yard in better shape.

Muscle Versus Concrete

So I called the local machine rental shop and got a quote for $48 for four hours on the electric jackhammer.

But I drove down to the shop and found that $48 rents only the puny 35-pound machine. The big boy costs $60. Plus, I was annoyed that I had to rent the machine for a full four hours, when I only needed it for half an hour (plus commute, so still under two hours).

I figured, hell, for $48 I can do it myself with a sledge hammer. So I did.





Was it worth it? Well, per swing I didn't save too much money. (It took a lot of swings.) The middle was a lot thicker than I thought judging from the edges. But it's not like running a jackhammer is easy work. Plus, I saved an extra forty minute commute back to the rental shop, plus gas.

And, of course, I can say I broke up a concrete pad with nothing but a sledge hammer.

Garden Meals

I was so impressed with our recent meals that I thought I'd photograph and post them. Shown are tomatoes and squash from our garden, fresh basil from our herb pot, and purchased meats, cheese, olives, pine nuts, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.

Ordering a Blood Test

For reasons that probably won't interest the reader, I want to order a blood test that measures the basic cholesterol readings. My difficulties in ordering a test illustrate a major problem with our third-party health payment system: it largely shuts the patient out of the process.

First I called a lab that does not offer the blood test but that helpfully told me that the two main testing facilities in the state are Qwest (of which I was already aware) and Lab Corp.

So I started with Lab Corp. The first fellow I talked to was helpful, but he couldn't answer questions about specific facilities, so he sent me on to a general customer service number. There I got the number to the Broomfield facility.

The Broomfield office was basically helpful, except on two counts. First, for reasons that nobody could explain, Lab Corp requires a doctor's order to conduct any test. You can't just go in, as though you were an adult in charge of your own health, and order up the test of your choice. No, no, no. You've got to ask for permission to get tested. (I imagine this has a lot to do with liability nonsense.)

Second, the woman on the phone said she didn't know how much the blood test costs, nor would she figure it out for me. Moreover, she didn't have time for me to give her any "problems" over the matter. She was unfazed when I pointed out that every other business in the state can tell me what their services cost. (True, auto mechanics sometimes don't know the final tally until they discover the nature of the damage, but a blood test is the same every time, so you'd think they'd have a clear idea of the cost.)

So then I tried Qwest, which also requires a doctor's order. At least Qwest could tell me the price: $58 plus a $15 draw fee. The woman at Qwest did helpfully point out that "Any Lab Test" might be able to fill in for the physician on the ordering end.

It turns out that neither Lab Corp nor Qwest actually requires a doctor's order, as they claim on the phone, if you use a run-around method of ordering the test. (The first fellow I talked with at Lab Corp did mention this.)

Any Lab Test has two Colorado offices. You can go in, pay $49, and the office will draw your blood and ship it to a Qwest center in Kansas.

Or you can go to PrePaidLab.com, which contracts with the local Lab Corp. You can order a "Lipid Panel" for $16.05 (plus a processing fee of $9.50) or a "Lipid Panel With LDL:HDL Ratio" for $43.65 (plus the fee).

King Soopers will also conduct an instant, "finger prick" blood test for $20; however, my wife's doctor lacked confidence in the "finger prick" test. I called Lab Corp back, and a representative confirmed that both of their lipid tests involve a full blood draw. The rep. said that both tests are equally accurate, though one provides more information.

Imagine how much better life would be if politicians hadn't pushed us into a third-party payment system for health care. (Obviously, I favor third-party payments when they involve real insurance, but not when they involve routine care.) Health providers would actually tell us what they plan to charge us for their services. Doctors and clinics would be more responsive to patients.

While politicians have seriously damaged the market in health care, enough freedom is left that proactive consumers can still shop around and find services that largely fit their needs. We should expand that freedom, not further diminish it.

[September 8 Update: My wife used Lab Corp through PrePaidLab.com, and she got good, fast service. September 9 Update: Lab Corp had the results back the next day! That beats the pants off of Qwest, in our experience.]

What is a Christian Libertarian?

On August 28 the Centennial Institute of Colorado Christian University sponsored a talk by former business professor Kevin Miller titled "Christians and Libertarianism." So what is a Christian libertarian?

Miller presented two basic, conflicting views without revealing which view he personally endorses. One view is that Christians should seek to enforce religious morals by force of law, as by banning gay marriage. The second view, which Miller articulated at greater length and with more passion, is that Christians should advocate political liberty for all and take advantage of liberty to evangelize.

Notable is Miller's reason for endorsing liberty. I believe an individual needs liberty in order to pursue his happiness, act on his own best judgment, and apply his reason to the task of living successfully. Such analysis was absent in Miller's presentation. Instead, the value of liberty for a "Christian libertarian" is that the state will not seek to control or inhibit religion, leaving the faithful free to advance religion.

Miller got himself into a number of problems, as by denying natural law and advocating abortion bans on the grounds that a fertilized egg is a person. But what most interested me was his view of "prudential" Christianity. (Unfortunately, I was not able to ask a question on this matter before the event formally ended.)

Miller argued that what was prudent in the age of Daniel is not prudent today. In Daniel's age, it was appropriate to serve a king. Now, the prudent Christian endorses liberty so as to further the Christian goal of converting others to the faith. Miller also pointed out that American culture is currently "unregenerated," meaning largely not under Christian influence.

But what does that entail for the future of liberty if Christians manage to "regenerate" the nation? Many of Miller's concerns focussed on possible ways the government might impede Christianity. But what if Christians solidly control the government? Those concerns disappear. Would it not then be "prudent" for Christians to advocate government enforcement of strictly religious convictions? Miller offered no answer to this.

Nor did Miller answer the most powerful rebuttal to "Christian libertarianism," which is that, by appealing to faith for ultimate truths, Christians place those truths beyond human reason and into the hands of some authority. When an authority decides ultimate matters of truth and morality, the logical conclusion is an authoritarian political system.

Liberty ultimately depends on the independent reasoning mind and on independently pursued values. We can discover objective truths about our world and about right and wrong, we can apply our knowledge in the pursuit of our values, and we can seek to persuade others through rational argument. The proper role of government, in this view, is to protect our liberty to think and to act, protect us from the initiation of force, and otherwise leave us free to go about our own lives.