Basically I start trying to plan out some structure that is used to capture the main things I need capturing, which anyone can tell you are a list of your projects. A list of your next actions. And some sort of calendar to capture the hard landscape of what is happening. And finally a reliable reference file. Where to store stuff you may need to reference later, reliably, in a form that is easy to look up.

Well as a guy who builds systems and programs this is a nightmare, I start thinking this is simple enough to build something. Well it isn't, because all of the sudden I have something way more complex than the [37signals](http://37signals.com/) people have built, and it will take me a good 8 or 40 hours to put together. And then I start thinking about backup, because hell if this is my life I better be able to back it up. And of course I don't have time for this because while I am thinking about this I am shirking all kinds of other responsibilities, and the fires are growing all around me. Then I run around for 3 days putting them out and long for an uninterrupted month where I can construct this super-duper life runner application.

Well I am a father, and I work, and I have hobbies, there is no uninterrupted month coming any time in the forseeable future, which I can't really see much of anyway because I am so busy running around putting out fires, or planning for the utopia in some distant future. I really need to work on my middle game.

Anyway, starting today, I am going to errect a little bit of scaffolding to try and hold my life together. I am going to spend about 10 minutes thinking about the simplest system that can possibly work.

*I am picturing a calendar and a notebook.*

I think the biggest thing here is consistency of putting everything there, and to get in the habit of looking at it several times a day. Maybe I can trick myself and write "email" or "bloglines" on the cover, since I typically look at both of those several times an hour.

I have to convince my brain that it doesn't have to be perfect to start using it.

Basically it involved taking dow the vinyl cap that was covering the underside of the eaves, and snapping 2 chalk lines 2 inches apart, using my new circular saw (got it for $45 on clearance at Lowe's) to cut a hole, affixing the vents and replacing the cap. It gave me a chance to clean up all the dirt and caccons and crap that were on the hidden side of the caps, and I noted that some previous owner had 24, 2 inch diameter holes drilled into the soffit to provide some ventilation. Of course they didn't put any kind of vent plug in there, so I bought some of them and popped them in also. And I am pretty sure the free space provided by the holes was not sufficient.

To get the how-to on doing this job I searched google for soffit vent installation. And read the first 20 or so pages returned. I basically followed the instructions from here. Now the only concern I have is that the vinyl caps aren't allowing enough airflow, in that case I will have to find new caps that are more air permissive. And go through the pain in the ass job of cutting it to fit.

Hopefully it isn't raining on Saturday, and I will be able to do the back and finish the job.

By the way, I also purchased a Canon PowerShot S410 camera this weekend. It rocks! The pictures above and other pictures of the job were taken with it, and can be found in my gallery. However, there is no way this expensive piece of equipment will be capturing the glory at the bike race, that is a job strictly for the much more inexpensive pen-cam.