In the past several years I’ve been making great leaps in the pursuit of a less cluttered existence. The idea of owning fewer physical objects is extremely attractive to me even though I’m something of a collector.

With the availability of reasonably priced, high-capacity hard disks and cheap, always-on broadband connections, numerous digital media services are popping up. Companies like Amazon, Apple (iTunes), and Netflix are offering digital downloads and streaming servers for audio and video at prices that dramatically undercut that of traditional physical media (and often without DRM.) As a result of this, Julian and I have begun paying for these services and buying or renting our media on demand. The ability to browse for a movie, rent it, and have it queued up and ready to view within minutes is invaluable to us, as we often decide at the last moment that we want to watch a particular film. It is extremely convenient.

Additionally, since we listen to most of our music on our computers or portable devices like iPods, Julian and I no longer feel the need to own the actual discs. The last 10 or so albums we have purchased digitally from AmazonMP3 for about $5 or more cheaper than the same thing on CD. And unlike iTunes, there is no DRM so we can both have a copy of the album on any device we choose. Similarly, video games are beginning to follow this trend. We have purchased countless smaller titles from Xbox Live and Playstation Network, which get saved to our consoles’ hard drives. Downloadable content for games such as Rock Band extend the game beyond what comes with the physical disc. Services like Steam already offer full game downloads as digital purchases. If this continues, soon there will be no need for a disc at all.

Back in December we got rid of a significant amount of untouched CDs and DVDs on eBay and found that not only do we not miss anything we sold but it has made us realize that we still own a lot more than we use. There is a lot left to get rid of, so hopefully we can cull our collection down to only those things which we play on a regular basis or are rare and/or collectible.

This leaves us with one question to ponder. Now that Blu-Ray has won the HD format wars, will it remain on top, or will downloadable media send it the way of VHS tapes?

I hate shaving.

Despite this, since age 13 I have shaved my legs every day, whenever I showered. As a result I would take 30-40 minute showers, which was an absolute chore. Showering and shaving became almost synonymous in my mind so I dreaded that time of the day. I did a bar soap and water shave so not only did my skin become dry and itchy, but I went through about a bar of soap per week and a large bottle of lotion per month. I hated everything about the process and cursed myself for having such thick hair.

Recently I started looking for other options. Armed with the knowledge that I have a reasonably high pain tolerance, I tried waxing. I really liked the idea of a low-maintenance procedure, one that would only have to be run once a month, so at first waxing seemed ideal. When I actually attempted it, I found it inefficient and more of a hassle than it was worth. I got the wax everywhere including the hair on my head and ran out of waxing strips long before my legs were hairless. It was a complete failure. For the next week I begrudgingly went back to shaving.

The following week I read an online article someone had written about an epilator. I had never heard of such a device before, but I was intrigued. It appeared to produce the same type of results as waxing, but without the recurring cost and mess. After a bit of research on Amazon.com, I decided to try the Braun 5270 Silk-épil X’elle.

That was quite possibly the most wisely invested $60 of my life!

Now I spend 45 minutes twice a month removing hair from my legs rather than 10 minutes every morning in the shower. My showering time is down to ten minutes and my skin is softer than ever. No more stubble on my legs every day by 4PM and no more razor bumps. One bar of soap every other month! Quite simply, this is a life-altering device.

The one downside to this method of hair removal is the pain factor. The first time I tried it, I had never pulled hair out of my legs before (save for the botched waxing attempt), and it hurt like a biatch. I’ve been plucking my eyebrows for years so I know that over time the pain diminishes to the point where it becomes unnoticeable. During that first session I was sweating and nauseous over the pain so I had to take short breaks now and then to collect myself. My skin was red and sore for a few hours afterwards but the next morning felt fine.

The second pass a few weeks later proved the theory that it should be less painful over time. The hair grew back thinner and softer and pulled out from the root with less resistance so it hurt far less. Now it’s only the areas of sensitive skin that give me pause.

One other caution I would like to stress is the tendency to develop ingrown hairs. This problem is diminished and almost completely negated with a good pair of tweezers and the right cream. I have been using a product called Princereigns Ingrown Hair and Razor Bump Gel and it has worked like a charm. It’s a bit on the expensive side but a little bit goes a long way and it saves so much time and hassle because it actually does what it claims to. (Imagine that!)

For the first time in ages I feel content with being female with regards to the maintenance requirements. :D

On our way downtown on Saturday we passed through Pioneer Square where dozens of men wearing kilts were puffing away on bagpipes and a row of Deloreans sat parked along the street. This appeared to be related to St. Patrick’s Day but the overwhelming Scottishness in this celebration confused us a bit.

This past Saturday Jules’ parents arrived for a two-week visit to Seattle! Their first day was quite busy, and we ended up walking from our place past downtown towards South Lake Union.

We were on our way back from Whole Foods Market after getting Jules’ dad some gluten-free foods and across the street appeared “Anonymous” in their Scientology Protest. (For those not in the know, this is a silly internet meme started by Project Chanology (4chan) meant to cause harmless confusion, i.e. Scientology is ridiculous, so our protest will be as well. Their site’s vibe is all about anonymity, hence the group calling themselves “Anonymous“.) They “smiled” and waved at us when they saw me taking photos, then happily moved on.

It’s fun to see these flash mobs and public displays of randomness gaining popularity. It goes to show that people are still creative and interested in having some harmless fun rather than causing destruction and chaos. (See this post from my hero Graham Linehan with the lovely Father Ted reference. Hah!) I would have gladly joined in this one had I not already been having such a great time with the Lancaster family. :D

This year I attended the SharePoint Conference at the Washington Trade & Convention Center in downtown Seattle. It was nice to be able to be out the door and there within 10 minutes each morning! Thank you transit tunnel!

I began the week a bit skeptical about what I would get out of the conference, but it ended up being an excellent experience. I got a chance to see some examples of what other customers have done using the technology and even see some of my own work on the screen! It was interesting to listen to presentations by professionals whose books and blogs I’ve been reading for awhile now and get a chance to interact with them.

I also quite enjoyed the sponsor booths in the exhibition hall. This was the first real trade show I’ve been to so I had fun collecting swag and signing up for freebies from places that I won’t mind being on the mailing lists for. Other highlights included Halo’s Master Chief wandering around in a sea of Microsoft nerds and picking up a Zune t-shirt for Will (a notoriously enthusiastic Apple fan) to give to him as an ironic gift. It was also pretty cool to see Bill Gates give a keynote speech even though I was only in the overflow room. The conference was so big (~3800 attendees) that there were too many people for a single room.

The best news I gleaned out of all of this is that the technology adoption rate is skyrocketing, and MS should reach 1 million licenses sold by June. This means that there will be a ton of work available in the months to come, which is fantastic for our business!

Nathaniel pointed out this unusal parking garage artwork one night when we were walking home from downtown on 5th Ave. Is it supposed to be edgy or X-TREME or just plain sad? Every time we walk by we just think of a dude falling to his doom and feel a bit disturbed.