Path of Least Resistance

Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions.
- Sun Tzu

I have recently discovered (no I haven't, I've known this for years) that any productive activities which I engage in are a result of a painstaking setup process in which past-Mike makes it impossible for me to NOT do those things.  This puts me on par with the universe, according to Mr. Hawking's book that I'm still reading.  I just got to a really interesting (as in- I don't really understand it yet) part which explains how planets are really orbiting in a straight line if we look at the universe in four dimensions and take into account gravity's bending of space-time and the geodesic orbital path which comes most naturally along that bend.

The general idea, I think, is that all things in nature travel along the path of least resistance, even in four dimensions.  Water flows downhill and the like.  I tend to be more active throughout the day when I have a standing desk.  I know this for certain now because I recently had to convert my standing desk back into a sitting desk.

During the month I used a standing desk I:

• Ran almost daily (gave me something to do besides standing up at a desk.  My legs get antsy.)
• Went to sleep at a reasonable hour (11 or 12 at the latest, and I always read a book.  If nothing super-important needed to get done, then I was tired of standing up and wanted to get in bed.)
• Woke up at a reasonable hour.  
• Got more work done (because I didn't want to be standing up and if I finished something I could go sit on my couch and watch TV)
• Ate healthier and more often (seriously, anything to stop standing in one place.)
• Exercised (ANYTHING to stop standing in one place.)

It's been eight hours since I converted my desk back to the old version which utilizes my nice leather chair, and in that time I've managed to forget to eat at least once and- oh, look, it's 2AM.  It's just too easy not to get up once I'm already sitting down.  Oh well.

If I consider myself in four dimensional space-time, however, then I can predict that I'll just move in a straight line in the future based on where gravity (or an object I place intentionally to bother me) leads me.   

Resolved: I'm reestablishing the standing desk as soon as I get something new on which to mount my monitors.  Also, I should look for more things that will encourage me to do other things I need to be doing.  The ideal thing (vague, but it can be anything I guess) should take a while to set up and then annoy me enough into doing the right thing but NOT so much that it encourages me to dismantle whatever the thing is.  

Indirect annoyance encouragement- it could be the next big thing in the motivational speaking circuit.

In actual news, I'm going to Philly today to see Brian and Kayface (and Kayface in a show!).  Very excited.