Traffic and Weather on the Nines

I have a sixty minute round trip commute. I don't mind it--having an hour a day to listen to a book on tape is a delight. I like having some time to transition from work to home. I also make big plans at the beginning of my drive home--do laundry, clean the bathroom, make two casseroles, and do some yard work--which dissolve into a puddle of non-energy by the time I pull into the carport. But I digress.

This post is about my short attention span.

As soon as I get into Opal I turn on the local news station to catch the latest information about my commute. Every ten minutes 'on the nines' there is a traffic and weather update. I can't tell you how many times I get in the car at 5:55 and miss the traffic and weather at 5:59! Even though I'm really invested in an update of the traffic situation (weather is kind of, well, look outside and see), I can't keep my mind focused long enough to find out if there's a delay on northbound I-15 that I could avoid. It's so frustrating! Luckily, it takes me about ten minutes to get to the freeway, so I can try to catch the next 'nines' for my update. More than once I've entered the freeway to find myself in a bumper to bumper situation I could have avoided with more diligent listening.

I suppose it's not the end of the world that I continue to do this.

What I wonder is if this is similar to my food addiction and healthy eating focus. I really want to pay attention. I am invested. But more often than not I get distracted by one thing or another.

Crazy, huh?

Happy commuting!

Connect & Update: A Lesson to be Learned

I bought a Windows 7 phone over a year ago (January 2, 2011 to be precise). I love it. When I bought it, I was told to download Zune to keep my phone updated. I didn't. For a while, I couldn't. My old computer just didn't have the chops for Zune, my work computer was network restricted and it was too much of a hassle to talk to IT about it, so I just kept using my new phone without any updates. Occasionally the phone would say "Updates are available," but I would ignore it. I mean, how out of date could my new phone be? About a month ago I decided I'd like to update my phone. I have a new home computer, so that shouldn't be a problem, right? Correct--but the cord to connect the phone to the computer was at work where I had last attempted to update. Finally, I got my phone, cord and computer all in the same place, so last night I connected and updated. It took nearly 2 hours, and I was instructed to leave my phone alone during the process so it could be updated without interruptions.Thirty-six updates later, my phone is functioning like a charm!

So, why am I sharing this fascinating story? The whole process made me wonder about my own functionality. When was the last time I gave myself permission to connect and update without interruptions?
How much better would it be if I did this regularly instead of once every 14 months?

Things that make me go hmmm.