Purging the piles was time well spent on Super Sunday

Twelve hours of a football watching smorgasbord last Sunday?

Not me. At least not glued to the tube and letting spud roots catch hold in the sofa.

The Fox NFL Sunday pregame show was on with host Curt Menefee running herd on Michael Strahan and the perfect hair twins from another mother, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson. Terry Bradshaw unfortunately missed the festivities following his father’s death earlier in the week.

They filled the time with introspective looks at Payton Manning, Russell Wilson, tear-jerking bucket-list pieces and even a few minutes with Bill O’Reilly trying to make President Barack Obama squirm.

For me, Super Sabbath and the hours of programming that led up to the Seattle Seahawks’ 43-8 dismantling of Denver lent itself as the perfect day to get stuff done.

With new snow covering the lawn, so much for taking care of some left over leaves and picking up after Ringo the beagle. Offers to my wife to vacuum upstairs in advance of having a few friends over to watch the game were declined; guess she doesn’t like to have the Dyson emit those strange noises when I grab the handle.

So to scratch the itch there was no other real option than to tackle my home office with trash and recycling bags in hand.

My current quarters occupy a one-time bedroom — the first room my oldest daughter gleefully laid claim to at age 11 when we moved into the house nearly 23 years ago. After years of having this peculiar “man cave” move from room to room — three in all — based on the whim of the kids’ need for a new bedroom, it’s now settled in the furthest reaches of the house.

And probably for good reason because it is out of sight, out of mind when it comes to needing to be part of the regular house cleaning, and hence, public view.

The walls are lined with shelves, full with books about history, hockey, writing, whitewater and more. Others are dedicated to mass memorabilia, one dedicated to Eastern and others to racing and rafting and sports in general.

My modular Dania desk elements have worked well to be a place to produce, but space to stack, too.

Over 30 years of bouncing in and out of various newsrooms where many reporters have their cubicles and desks stacked high with old newspapers, reports and such have rubbed off. I had stacks of past Free Press copies, sports programs, political and business magazines.

And like the snow in some winters, the stuff tends to pile up but is not fortunate to be subject to the Pineapple Express that magically melt the stuff away.

My youngest daughter joked recently over a Facebook post I made speaking to the irony of Office Depot asking if I want a hard copy of my receipt or simply email it to me. I chose the receipt from the register because I need to file it for taxes. The kid suggested that maybe I join the paperless age.

Old habits are hard for old guys — and dogs — to change.

But on Super Sunday I decided to dig into those stacks and piles, wondering to myself just what in the heck I was keeping a mountain of newsprint for when the info was all just a few clicks away. In the end the heaps were gone, headed to the big blue recycling bin. I had done good things to get some productivity and order back into my life while saving a few trees along the way.

But there were still a few hours before kickoff so attention turned to the closet. Boxes of envelopes both big and small, most partially full got consolidated. Another stack of cardboard that someone can shred and use again, and I thought now I know why the U.S. Postal Service is going through rough times since I just don’t mail much anymore.

Then came time to take care of some old computer and tech stuff that I knew were now square pegs for the round holes of my latest Mac OS.

After several hours of drastically disposing of debris, the purge was complete, the desktops were once again usable, just as guests arrived.

There was a satisfaction of time spent well doing something other than being glued to the tube.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.