Buy our house.

Or something like that.

I'm not good at sales. I would like to believe that "not good" part is because I haven't tried. Unsure, though.

Anyway. I just finished the website for 506 Campbell St, Valparaiso, Indiana, 46385. It's currently under renovation and for sale.

The house is my (our) first flip. I will make the bold step and say that it is also my last flip. Some people are good with real estate. Some people are not. Some people are willing to try different things in real estate in order to figure out which group they are in. I'm in that last group, the trying one.

It's a lovely house, though not one I would likely live in because the kitchen doesn't open into the living space. That, and it's in Valparaiso, where I will likely not live again.

It was a fun website to build, though.

Okay, this ad showed up in my browser, on I don't know which domain or from what ad network:

Clearly the ad worked in catching my attention, because my reaction has been "WHAT THE GD F---?"

Yeah, I have no idea what the "God Vitamin" is, but I completely and totally do not believe that "Scientists" recommend it.

And to only people over 45? What about all of us under 45?

Who writes this crap and what the hell is it supposed to be saying?

I've been contemplating my next n {tasks} in n {time unit, plural} goal. Something like "7 themes in 7 days" or "30 web applications in 30 days" or "10 tutorials in 10 days," or similar. I've mentioned this contemplation to a few people, all of whom have been confused by the idea. First question asked every time has been, "Why?"

Indeed.

Why?

Because it's a challenge. Because it's hard. Because it's outside of my comfort zone. Because it forces me to be organized and intense with my time.

I could likely come up with another 10 reasons (oooooooo! 10 reasons in 10 minutes, why this is a good idea), but it all boils down to because I want to do it.

Challenges like these that I give myself are often short duration, and I'm pretty sure I've failed at nearly half of them. They are sometimes ill-conceived (ooooo, that sounds good, let's do it! oh my god what am I doing?), or ill-planned (I have to do what again today? oh god), or ill-timed (sure, I can commit to this the entire month while I have these two deadlines at work and playing ultimate three times a week and helping two friends with their projects and there's communal dinner, no problem fitting in this two-hour a day project). They are always good-intentioned, though, and I'd like to think that the inspiration becomes enthusiasm and even in my failure, I've accomplished something. That's often true.

[Sidenote: huh, this may have been stewing in my head because of the #100days project on Instagram.]

The second question I've heard is, "Well, what's your goal?"

And this one takes a little more thinking.

If I want to do "7 themes in 7 days," clearly I'm building my toolbox on theme-building for whatever platform I'm working with, and honing my skills with some framework, so that learning would be my goal. If I'm writing "100 Scalzi stories in 100 days," then my goal would be to become a better writer. Learning and becoming better at something is a nice goal, but what if there isn't a goal.

What if I just want to make things?

What if I just want these things to exist in the world?

What if I just want?

And so what if there is no goal in these challenges? They are fun. They are interesting. They increase the quality of my life by increasing my delight. No end goal of "being the best" or "making money" or "getting a new job."

They just make me happy.

And that can be enough.

That is enough.

Now to figure how what I'm going to create n of in n time units.

Years ago, I kept a food journal for a nutritionist to review. After I handed it to her and she reviewed it, her first question to me was, "Do you ever eat protein?"

Eh?

Of course, I do, it's right... um... uh... it's on... I did... well, shit. No, not really.

It's not a conscious choice, I just don't eat protein much.

So, in an attempt to fix that (even years later, I don't by default have much protein in my diet), I try to have a protein drink daily. The difficulty with doing this, however, is finding a protein powder that I like. Egg protein, while the best to eat nutritionally and minimal-side-effects wise, is just plain gross. It doesn't mix well and coagulates into a disgusting mass. Whey protein causes digestive tract issues, so that's out. Soy protein has the unfortunate side effect of altering estrogen levels, so that's out. Rice protein is a little gritty, but is currently my top pick. Hemp protein tastes pretty disgusting. I haven't had pea protein for any length of time to have an opinion on that.

The biggest problem now, however, is finding a protein powder without the disgusting Stevia in it. HF, is that hard to find. Stevia is one of the most ubiquitous nutritional additives, which is surprising, as it tastes disgusting. And finding anything without it is ridiculously hard.

Which means, I ended up buying hemp protein this last time. It was the only protein powder in a giant nutritional supplement store that DIDN'T have the Stevia-shit in it. This stuff is disgusting, too. I'm not likely to buy this kind of protein ever again, I'd rather eat a dozen eggs a than drink this stuff again.

But you know what?

As bad as the crappy hemp protein tastes, it's better than that Stevia crap.