Monday, December 19, 2011

Burning old dreams and goals

It's hard to believe that it's almost Christmas.  My wife has been diligently working away at Christmas cards and such, but we have forgone the normal holiday decorations this year.  On the 5th I went in for some hernia surgery and now under doctors orders I have disallowed from lifting more than 15 lbs for the following 6 weeks.   This includes crawling in the attic to retrieve a Christmas tree. In search of projects less than 15lbs we decided to attack the office.  It is amazing how much paper we have gathered over the years.  Those who know me would probably not be surprised, but I found folders and files for information long irrelevant dating back over 20 years.  


It would have taken ages and ages to shred all that paper, so we went to the grey play field both Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon to burn the record of my youth.  I had notes and manuals from my favorite computer and history courses as well as income tax returns from when I was still in school.  In a way it was a little sad to see my old essays and course projects go up in flames, but the material hadn't been been opened in years.   As with most things in the computer world, it had quickly become dated.


I guess the work I have done since and the man I have become is more of a testament to the efforts I put into my education than some computer projects that I embarked on back in the day.


And thus begins our war on paper, and other needless things that have built up over the years.  We still have a lot more to go through. Ricky and Kassa are enjoying this war as happy observers.  After all,  it means more trips to the grey play field for them.

4 comments:

JLM said...

I think I still have papers from high school in my attic. I should follow suit and get rid of them. I gotta say, this looks like a really fun family outing!

Maeflower said...

Hahaha if I followed suit, I could burn enough to heat New York City for years!! If you breathe the smoke, do you get a remedial refresher to all that coursework???

houndstooth said...

My dad has saved so many things over the years. He still had his first 4H projects in the attic. A few years ago, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's and he's been on a mass purge this past summer and fall. I always know when he calls that he has more stuff for me to take for him! lol It gives him peace of mind to know that some of it isn't just disappearing into the ether. It's amazing how much "stuff" we can acquire, though!

Hiking Hounds said...

I still have a lot of my papers from school, and I've even thinned it out from it's original size. It looks like a much more fun way to get rid of paper.