Expectations, Letdowns, Progress, and Anticipation

Whew... back from vacation, and it's been an interesting couple of days. I don't understand how people can come back from vacation more tired than when they left. Me, I just try to take it easy, get a lot of reading done, get a little sun, and generally hang out. I was talking with the spouse about that, and told her that my ideal vacation would consist of at least one day of just sitting by the hotel pool/beach/similar water-based location, then showering, getting dressed up, and going to dinner. None of this "pack your day full of activities" junk.

Anyway... yesterday was supposed to be the big day: new assignment, new workspace, new laptop, and new printer. Well, none of that actually happened. My assignment starts in 45 minutes, hopefully after that I'll be able to get the workspace set up, the laptop should be ready by then, and FedEx forgot to deliver the new printer, even though it's been on their truck since Saturday morning.

Then today I get to the bus stop nice and early, but by the time the bus gets there, there is no room for my bicycle. I do a little math -- the next bus would come in half an hour -- and figure, hey, it's about 7 miles, and most of it is a bike route, so it shouldn't be an issue, right? I get back on the bike and take off.

The bike route is nonexistent for a couple of long stretches on the road, and where the bike route is, the air is so foul as to be practically unbreathable. It took a lot out of me, plus, I wasn't prepared for a long ride (no water or warmup or anything). But, I did make it in one piece, and so what if the next bus pulled up to work about 5 minutes after I did? It was a moral victory, although next time I think I'll chance waiting for the bus, or at least take a bus that will at least get me closer to work.

Also, one of my good friends -- whom I have adopted as somewhat of a sister (it's reciprocated), is considering resigning her job for somewhere else. She's going through a rough time, and I wish her the best. She's a great person, and a better Christian than 99% of the people I know, and I'll miss chatting with her on a regular basis if she does leave. She'll make her final decision later today. I told her that she at least has to sign up somewhere where she has AIM and e-mail so we can keep in touch easier.

We'll see. I have to hop back on the bike in 15 minutes. With my luck, there won't be an open bike keeper at the other building...

Goals, Week Ending 6/3/06

Another vacation-shortened week ahead of me...

1. Read Doctrine and Covenants 21-35. I think that's where the goal ends this week, but I don't have the book in front of me. I counted 20 pages though, which has been the average, and that takes me through Section 35. I'll take it.


2. Determine what percentage of income we can save, and set up an account at HSBC online to start saving big. Many, many thanks to the 401(k) class for having taught me the reality of savings.


3. Figure out what is going on with my 401(k) contributions and investments, and get those fixed, as well, to maximize my contribution. Since we're going to need college and stuff for the kids, plus retirement, plus a rainy day savings, plus having 6 months' income saved for an emergency, plus Christmas savings... yeah. The good thing is that we'll be able to dump them all in a "bucket" in that savings account, and have several "sub-accounts" (on paper only) to break them down, but they will all be earning interest together, which will maximize my money's earning power.


4. Radical Mutual-Improvement Exercise #12 should be done by the end of Wednesday, as I set up my new cubicle. I can then move on to the other things on there. I feel good!


5. Oh yeah, almost forgot, THE SCANNER COMES ON TUESDAY!! The paperless office is already set up on the hard drive, so I need to get important documents scanned, and then just start going through the file cabinet and getting things organized. Conversely, need to go through how we receive bills and make sure that what we can get online, is online, and we can save the HTML pages to the hard drive, rather than going and getting mail, then scanning it, then shredding it... etc. (Note to self: add shredder to list of things we need to save for.)

Needless to say, I'm really feeling excited about this week. I've never felt more in control of my life and finances, and it seems as if a lot of things are coming together, which I definitely can't complain about. We'll see how this week goes!

Week in Review, Week Ending 5/27/06

1. I read the scriptures... turns out there were quite a few longer sections in there, but that's OK. I had to rush to finish the goal this morning, and I feel bad about that, seeing as how I used to finish my goal before I would even write them down. But the bright side is, at least I'm finishing them.


2. I didn't make any recipes from the Mario Batali books. Instead, I made a recipe from Alton Brown's cookbook, and it turned out really, really well (although I should have served a vegetable with it). I also borrowed a book from the library (I think it's titled Cookwise) that was in Alton's bibliography, and went through, and marked a whole bunch of recipes in there. I'm going to transcribe them and use them, because there is a LOT of good stuff in there. I can't wait!


3. I didn't do the FAFSA, either, since I'm going to have time to do the Culinary Arts course later on, and I need to concentrate on other things before I do that. Getting out of debt would be one thing, and I am going to have to get out of debt before I start throwing money at a college again.


4. Not only did I fix the dining room chairs, I did it without using the drill! I am MacGyver when it comes to that one... for the really stripped screw holes that wouldn't be fixed (not even with the old matchsticks-and-glue method), I wound up making a strap from duct tape, and attaching the strap to the chair and the cushion. Problem solved, no special equipment needed! Woohoo!

Weekend update

We're at my parents house for the weekend, which will invariably mean some relaxing, which means no blogging. I've brought a couple of books to read while I'm up here, and am looking forward to kicking back, relaxing, and doing absolutely nothing.

I start my new assignment on Tuesday. I'm greatly looking forward to it. I'm lucky in two respects: 1) work is going to provide me with a laptop so I can get work done (and also maintain some things from my previous assignment), and start raking in the overtime. (I NEED IT.) 2) Thanks to the generosity of people at Freecycle, I have been able to borrow a bicycle for a few weeks, while I work on my assignment. This is good, as the other site is not directly on the bus line, and rather than walk an extra mile to work, I will be able to ride on the bicycle to the bus stop from home, and from the bus stop to work. This cuts down on my walking, but also gives me some extra time around the house in the morning (my time to get to work is fixed, as I take the first available bus).

Also, work has been offering some financial management classes, and that has been a phenomenal experience. I took one on making the most of my 401(k) today, and holy poop on a stick! If it's true that the really smart people know what they don't know, I am definitely smarter today, because not only do I know things that I didn't know, I also know things that I still don't know. (Figure that one out!) Anyway, I'm looking forward to making good financial decisions starting immediately, and starting to make my money work for me rather than the other way around. This course actually paralleled a lot of stuff that I have seen on the "I Will Teach You to Be Rich" blog referenced in my sidebar. Good stuff and I am definitely a better person for it.

And one final thing, the three-in-one printer/scanner/fax/copier (wouldn't that be four-in-one?) arrives on Tuesday via FedEx. (At the low low cost of $4/pay period for two years, which I can pay off at ANY TIME. Intuit even ate the express shipping!) This will be ABSOLUTELY AWESOME as we move to a paperless office, but this also will help accomplish one of my older goals, which would be get all of our vital documents scanned and stored on a CD-ROM somewhere safe, in case anything happens to them. They would go in our 72-hour kit, for example, and probably a copy with our year's supply. The camping trip two weeks ago has got me on another emergency preparedness kit, and I keep getting this sinking feeling that we are woefully unprepared, even with doing our best.

Affirmation, Baby

I need to start purging myself of some creeping doubts that have started to show up recently, and since I want to stay positive and succeed with my restaurant-running goal, it's affirmation time!

I am currently working towards my goal of owning a restaurant by organizing my recipes, honing my culinary skills, and getting my finances squared away.  As long as I continue the plan to get out of debt, and continue moving towards a path of organization, I am succeeding.

There, that feels much better.

Something good, and a conundrum

We'll start with the conundrum first. For the past few years, I have done my best to subscribe to the philosophy represented in the following Eleanor Roosevelt quote:

“Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people”

Now, I deal with people on a daily basis who basically, well, gossip. A lot. There are also occasions when my wife will come home and talk about events in her co-workers' lives, or her family's life, and I've gotta tell you -- I'm pretty hard-pressed to care. Part of me knows that this is due to my wife's need to talk about things going on, but another part of me is just irritated that it's even being spoken of at all.
So, am I conceited or pompous for thinking about that? Or am I justified?

And now for the good thing: As A Man Thinketh by James Allen, complete text form, right here, courtesy Project Gutenberg. This is another book that I read a few years back that has influenced me in one form or another, and it is referenced fairly often in Marc Allen's The Millionaire Course. It's made me revisit some of the concepts in there, and I am grateful to have stumbled across it again, and hope to be able to read the entire "little book" in its entirety shortly.

More Radical Mutual-Improvement

I'm not really sure what to do about excercise #10 (tracking personal zeitgeist), so that's going to go on the "skip list" for the time being.  I will make a (sub)conscious effort, though, to see if there's anything materializing in my life.  Unless it's references to the movie "Office Space" in my job.  Then, I'm not going to track that, because I'd just get horrendously depressed.

Radical Mutual-Improvement » Blog Archive » Sit still for 15 minutes a day (Exercise #11)

I'm a big fan of taking a few minutes each day for quiet reflection, even though it may not necessarily be "seated" reflection.  Regular reading of the blog will show that I'm an avid reader of the scriptures, and we are taught to ponder the scriptures and their meaning to us personally.  While I take time (or try to take time) every night to do that, it's also good to take time periodically and reflect upon goals and personal progress towards them.

I don't find it a coincidence that my walks to and from the bus stop take fifteen minutes each way.  I usually use this time to "listen to" a random selection of fast-paced songs, to keep my mind focused on the walk.  However, one of the wonderful side effects of not wearing a watch anymore is I'm not constantly looking at it trying to figure out where I need to be next and how much time I have to get there.  So, without having to constantly glance at my watch and quicken the pace, I have time to clear my mind and see what comes into my head.  It will be a good thing.

And speaking of good things, exercise #12 is coming up, and I'm going to have a great chance to use that on Tuesday, as I am moving my workspace for a few weeks.  I'm going to be doing some software testing for our in-house applications.  As long as I don't have to fill out any TPS reports, I'll be OK.

Crap, there's that Office Space stuff again.

Bonjour e ciao!

J'ai remarqué un peu que j'ai quelques gens d'Europe qui me visitent, alors, je voudrais vous souhaiter un "bienvenue" très fort et sincère. J'espère que tout va bien pour vous sur le continent. :-)

Ho osservato un po' che ho alcuna gente dell'Europa che visitano, allora, voglio porgervi un "benvenuto" molto sincero. Spero che tutto vada bene per voi! :-)

Goals, Week Ending 5/27/06

1. Read Doctrine and Covenants sections 10-20.  I'd best get started early on this, because I know that section 20 is long.
   
2. Select one recipe from the Mario Batali series of books that challenges me, and make it.  I actually tried that yesterday with some homemade pasta, but for some reason, pasta is much, much harder to make than it appears.  I've only ever done it once before (about 5 1/2 years ago), and I had lots of help, so I don't remember exactly.  Perhaps there's a different recipe that comes with the pasta machine -- although I don't see how there can be 48 million different recipes for pasta dough.  Time will tell.
3. Fill out a FAFSA just in case I want to take a culinary arts course at PCC this fall.  The timing will be weird with the arrival of the new baby and all, but I think I should be able to swing something.
4. Fix the dining room chairs.  That's the only "I need a drill for this" project remaining, and it's a doozy.  Have to return the drill this weekend since we're going up to the parents' place for Memorial Day on Friday afternoon.
   

Week in Review, Week Ending 5/20/06

1. Not only did I complete my scripture reading, I completed it early.  Not Sunday-before-I-posted-it early, but early enough.  Saturday morning, I think it was.
2. There's an envelope on the fridge for grocery coupons. :-)  I'm not sure if it's my brain trying to talk me out of work, or if it's the cons of my filing system finally surfacing, but it doesn't seem like that good of an idea anymore.  We'll give it time.  Really, all I need to do is just get the stupid stuff filed.
3. The custom closet space is complete!  Finished that yesterday, and now the random nook in our bedroom is teeming with clothes.  Thank goodness!
4. I have three of Mario Batali's cookbooks.  I've read one, The Babbo Cookbook, completely from start to finish, because it details also what happens inside the restaurant.  It's given me some nice ideas.  I'm also planning on taping every episode of his TV show, but that would require a working VCR, or getting a video card for this computer.  Both of those cost money that I just don't have right now.  We'll see.
5. Still continuing with RMI.  The strange thing is, there was a link to my page posted on the RMI site, and now, all of a sudden, I have hits on my web page.  Strangely satisfying, especially since this just started out as a personal creative exploration and nothing else.
6. The duct-tape wallet is sitting on my desk, half-completed.

RMI #8 - Write out your ideal scene

There are a couple of really good ideas in the comments for this post.  I especially am drawn to the "storyboarding" one, although since I am more of a geek by nature, I would naturally flowchart the idea than storyboard it.  Although maybe storyboarding will help me resurrect the fallen book...

Radical Mutual-Improvement » Blog Archive » Write out your ideal scene (Exercise #8)


Five years from now, I expect to be at Intuit still, but I don't know what I would be doing.  Something more high-level than I am doing right now, which may require moving to a different department.  I will have attended at least two years' worth of culinary arts courses at Pima CC.  A typical day will be me continuing to go to work at an obscenely early hour so I can spend time with my family, or my schoolwork, in the afternoon.  I will spend at least four evenings a week working on a recipe for the restaurant, and testing it on my six- and four-year-old children.  I am contributing to a better world by continuing to remain active in my church, and doing my best to live a Christian life.  I still live in Tucson, hopefully in the same house that I am living in now, and I would like to own the house rather than renting it.  I've discovered again how to open myself up to certain people again rather than just being a closed book, which is helping me cope with the stress of opening a restaurant, going to school, raising a family, and working full time.  My family life sees me enjoying spending time with my kids, with Elizabeth being in first grade and my son getting ready to enter kindergarten in the fall.  Someone close to me will describe me as a good person, who maybe works a little too much, but knows where the right priorities are in life, and how to enjoy the little free time that I have.


Oh, and going straight to RMI #9 - Get a flask. I have no intention of doing this one, as water in a bottle of Gatorade for the walk home works just fine enough for me. I have neither the mindset nor the facilities to spend money on something which more likely than not will turn into something which will sooner, rather than later, be deposited in a dark corner of the kitchen. Also, I don't want to get thrown off the bus for drinking. :-)

...aaaaaaaaaand here comes the spam

Comments, something I never thought I'd get, now have word verification turned on. Thanks! :-)

Assignment: Mario

I have commenced my research on Mr. Batali yesterday, checking two of his cookbooks out of the library. All I can say is, wow... his cooking would be intimidating if it wasn't written in such a conversational style. Also, in one of the cookbooks it talks about the restaurant experience he projects, and gives some tips and secrets that his restaurant uses. It's good stuff, and I have another cookbook on hold at the library, as well as a book on starting a restaurant. I'm going to pick those up in about an hour, when I leave work. I'm really looking forward to sinking my teeth into all of this... both research-wise and food-wise.

I'll add links to all this stuff later. Or, maybe I won't. I'm fickle today.

Quote of the Day

I would adopt this as a mantra, but this seems better as a backup.

"If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error."
-John Kenneth Galbraith

Had to skip #5... for now.

The only thing I had going for RMI #5 was I have/had a PDA... somewhere... and it had a voice recording feature... somewhere... but it's been a couple of moves since I've used it, and I have no idea where it is (the three most likely locations having been exhausted).  I'll look when it's not a bazillion degrees in the Arizona room.

Radical Mutual-Improvement » Blog Archive » Change your appearance (Exercise #6)

This one is easy for me because, once again, I've actually DONE it.  Not just "in the past", either, but recently.  Like, last week recently.  This gets a little backstory.  When I moved to Arizona in the spring of 1999, I was searching for a change in life and to redefine myself as a person.  One of the first things I did was color my hair (purple) and get body piercings (since removed).  When the bleach/dye job grew out, I went to a shorter, more conservative look.  I messed around with that for a while until a couple of days ago (yes, long time for that one look, but it was worth it), and finally got sick of it and buzzed my hair all one length (#4 on the clippers, if you must ask).  I completely felt like a new man, and it's interesting how changes in my life all tend to lead to a different style.

I think it's something along the lines where I'm pushed internally to represent my internal changes externally... be it a shift in focus, or an actual change in direction (job/house/whatever).  It's a liberating feeling, and I think more people do it.  I've also reorganized my space at work as well... and I can't believe how quickly the home space got out of control!  Need to clean that up)

It's also interesting (to me, at least) that whenever someone asks me why I do certain things (new haircut/glasses/furniture arrangement), I usually answer something along the lines of "oh, just to shake things up", or I confabulate a logical reason (henceforth to be known as CLR, assuming I remember) as to why I would do it.  I don't want people to see the inner me, for whatever reason, so I cough up a reason which fits in with others' perspectives on life.  Why the short haircut?  It's easier to get around in 100 degree weather with less hair.  People smile and agree, and everything is happy again.

I have no idea what #7 is off the top of my head, all I can say is that I'm very enthused about this project, and looking forward to it.  I have a slew of Mario Batali books reserved at the library (they will e-mail me when they come in), and I have already started reading about his restaurants.  I took some time on the bus ride home today to brainstorm with myself about concepts.  It was a good exercise, and I really am starting to feel the creative juices flow again.  Great feeling.

More Radical Mutual-Improvement

From today's task:

Radical Mutual-Improvement - Exercise #4 Stop Wearing a Watch

I have to admit that I had mixed feelings about this exercise, as I am very attached to wearing my watch, but that's really just because I got it in France, and it's a pretty sweet-looking watch. :-)    However, it is just a fashion accessory, as demonstrated by the fact that I would swap it with that cool-looking watch I got in Florida when I felt like it.

I also fell prey to the confabulation of a logical reason -- I take the bus to work, so I need to know what time it is.  Well, the bus comes every half hour, like it or not, and me wearing a watch isn't going to affect that... especially if I leave the house at (or around) the same time every day, I'm going to get to the bus stop at the same time every day, and from there it's about a 10 minute wait for the bus.  At work I have a computer to tell me what time it is (I don't have, nor do I want, a cell phone), so I don't need a watch there.

I did come up with a social reason to wear a watch, though -- wearing a watch helps you get out of awkward conversations at work.  All you have to do is look at your watch, mutter something about a meeting or deadline, and wander away.  Looks like I'll have to find a new way to get out of that stuff...

So here goes... no watch until June 15th.  I should even be able to get away with this at church, because even though there is no clock in my classroom, someone generally comes by and tells us when there is five minutes left in the class.

Goals, Week Ending 5/20/06

1. With the New Testament finished off, it's now time to proceed to the Doctrine and Covenants, which will take 14 weeks to complete. This week is D&C 1-9.


2. Came up with a great filing system a couple of days ago: File by month, not bill. Organize the file system to reflect that, and keep an envelope in the file cabinet for receipts. Keep another envelope on the fridge for grocery coupons.


3. The big honeydo project this week is the custom closet space in the master bedroom. I have a feeling that will be able to be completed this week, all we really need is a drill and some patience. :-)


4. In cooperation with my RMI #3 exercise, "Find a Nemesis", I am going to start researching my personal "nemesis", Mario Batali. I figure a good point to start would be to study his style of cooking and recipes, and see what makes them unique and/or tasty.


5. Continue doing the RMI exercises, I think they're up to #14 as of last night, so I should be able to work on a couple. I still don't have that "mantra" thing down 100% yet, but I do say it out loud on my way to the bus stop every morning and on the way home every afternoon, so that does help, even though it's not exactly what was recommended, it's helping me out.


6. Design and construct a new duct-tape wallet, with dedicated space for the bus pass so I don't have to open and shut my wallet every time I want to get it out. It would make me feel a lot better. Many thanks to LifeHacker for the resources.

Week in Review, Week Ending 5/13/06

1. I finished reading the New Testament last night! Awesome.


2. Balancing the ceiling fan in Elizabeth's room didn't work out as well as I would have wanted it to... in fact, not at all. Must be something else. I'll ask Dick next time I see him. Consequently, I didn't do the one in the office.


3. I didn't dig out the rest of the Italian-language material that I have, for two reasons: one, it's been over a week since I've heard from my Italian pen pal, and two, the bookshelves in the office still need to be fixed. Once those are taken care of, I'll get it done.


4. Using PocketMods again. Even found my Italian-language one.


5. I didn't get the pantry thing accomplished, because I was doing other things, most notably getting on the track to opening my own restaurant. What I could use would be more dishes I can make with beef. Had to buy Hamburger Helper last night in order to have beef with dinner, just because I have no idea what to make. Granted, Hamburger Helper was a smaller purchase, financially, than veggies for sweet & sour chicken, but still...

RMI #3 - Adopt a Nemesis

Radical Mutual-Improvement » Blog Archive » Adopt a nemesis (Exercise #3)

I'm having a little trouble with this one... my current long-term goal in life is to own a restaurant in seven years, and I don't really know how to go about researching a nemesis.  There are a couple of people that I have had in mind, but I don't really know how fitting they would be.

The first person I had in mind is David Novak, current CEO of Yum! Brands, former CEO of KFC and other stuff.  I think he's a bit too advanced for me, as I'm looking to be the CEO of my own small 1-restaurant company, not a global chain that encompasses four different brands.

Another person I had in mind was Joe Herrick, my old boss at Pizza Hut.  He was a good manager and got on well with his employees, however, I'm not too sure about his customer service focus, and since he was the restaurant manager, and not the owner, his purview was a bit lower than mine.

The third person, and I feel silly writing this, is Jesus Christ.  OK, the first thing is "One of These Things Is Not Like the Other."  The Lord definitely wasn't known for His restauranting skills.  Second, I just can't picture Him for #3.  #1 and #2 I can definitely do:  His life and good qualities are something that I want for myself, and He is someone I can research.  However, I just can't "imagine [His] smug face doing that task with ease."  I can't imagine His face being smug at all.  Plus, complete and abject perfection, while being an admirable goal, is 100% unattainable and unrealistic.  Even if I take into account His forgiveness if I fall short, I don't think I want a "nemesis" that will say, "That's alright, you did your best."  I don't want compassion from my nemesis.  So once again, not the correct person.

I have done some research on the internet, and the best I can come up with is my nemesis being my 37-year-old self, when I will have reached my seven-year goal to own a restaurant.  I can definitely picture myself being smug and doing things with ease.  Plus, it would be an interesting idea to combine this practice with the proven tactic of visualizing success.

However... it has just hit me who my nemesis is going to be.  It was sitting right in front of me all along, and I have completely ignored it.  That's right... I'm talking about YOU, Mario Batali.

You're going down.

Another update on the personal improvement front

From Ramit Sethi's blog I Will Teach You To Be Rich comes a list of "Ten Things About Yourself That Would Surprise You".  They are:

1. How much $ you spend per month

2. How long you spend talking to your family per month

3. How much time you spent working on the thing you say is your "passion" last month

4. How far you walk every day

5. How much you read NOT from a computer

6. How much time you spend organizing your life (bills, etc)

7. How many calories you eat per day

8. How much time you actually work at work

9. How much time you spend watching TV per month

10. Which of your goals you accomplished last year

This was a pretty interesting exercise for me... as a habit, I'm not very introspective -- I'm more of a "live life on fast-forward" person.  So, with that in mind, here are my answers to the questions:

1.  All of it.  I do track my finances with Quicken (for register and reporting) and a spreadsheet (for budgeting and planning).  I've never had a problem with spending money, it's the saving it and figuring out where it goes that's always given me trouble.  I did just come up with an idea that might work... take a monthly calendar (we always seem to have those laying around), and when a bill comes in, mark it down on the due date, and how much to pay.  Also mark paydays, and then on payday, pay all the bills due before the next payday.  That's probably the oldest system on the planet, though. :-)  One more thing I'm planning on doing is, instead of having 58 million folders for creditors, etc, just go through and file bills by MONTH -- and not just a month, but the month indicated on my bank statement (which I think runs from the 25th to the 24th).  This way it will be easier to track monthly expenses, especially since we're going to be in this house with two children next year... also, we can file receipts by month, too.  But I digress.
2.  All the time, except for most of the time I'm at work.  I'm talking about my immediate family here.  Mom I talk to on the phone once a week, and a couple e-mails per week as well.
3.  The equation for this would be Total Time Awake - Time Spent at Work - Time Spent Mindlessly Surfing the Internet.  Unfortunately, that third variable is the biggest time suck, probably.  See answer #8.
4.  I walk at least two miles every weekday, as that's the distance to the bus stop from home/work.  Plus the time I spend walking around the office socializing, it's easily two miles.
5.  I read at least 10 minutes a day not from the computer.  All hail the scripture reading project of extreme excellence!  I also do some reading on the bus/at the bus stop as well, and of course at least 5 minutes of "personal time" reading every day.
6.  See my answer to #1 (which probably should have gone down here).  I spend adequate time organizing all of that stuff, however, I think it's actually applying all of the planning I'm doing which is the biggest downfall to this.
7.  I think I'm getting all my calories, what I'm NOT doing is drinking enough fluids.  I'm in pretty decent shape, although it couldn't hurt to trim down a bit.  The walking and heat is helping with that.
8.  Um... I could be doing better at putting in a full day's work at work.  I guess a credit to me is that I am not actually writing this at work. :-)  The real solution is finding a way to compile all of this stuff offline (or somewhere), so I don't have to be sitting at the computer to be writing all of this.  Maybe it's time for me to dig out the old PDA, and just start going that way.  Who knows?  I can also stop living my life based on what new RSS feeds have come through, or constantly checking my e-mail to see who has or hasn't written me.  That's something I can work on (as I prepare to load the RSS feed from this page to my Google homepage... it's a neverending loop).
9.  That's easy... I probably spend 15-20 minutes a day just with my wife, because if she's watching TV and I'm sitting on the couch with her, she counts it as time spent together.  Other than that... how often is baseball on?  I watch a lot of baseball.  Other than the occasional Food Network or HGTV show, that's it.  I'm planning on turning the spare computer into a DVR (today, even) so the TV shows that I want to watch can be recorded.  Not too shabby.  Well, actually, it will probably be better to turn THIS computer into the DVR, since it's got the 200 GB hard drive and all that. :-)
10. Another easy question, but for the wrong reasons.  I didn't really become overtly goal-oriented until this year, so last year, I can say I didn't accomplish any goals, because I didn't set any goals.  This year, so far, has been pretty good.  The only goals I've set aside for being unreasonable or unrealistic has been the weight room goal (which has been turned into the "walk myself every day" achievement) and the novel goal (which wasn't coming together at all).  I think everything else is working out, though, it's just that some goals get refined along the way, which is actually a good thing, right? :-)  Oh yeah, and I WILL OWN A RESTAURANT IN SEVEN YEARS.

Exercise #2, RMI

Develop a Morning Routine

1. I have already set my alarm clock to the "real" time.  "Real" time is fairly arbitrary, anyway.  First, there is "Calabresi's Time Displacement Theory":  the more clocks there are in a house, the greater the difference between the earliest and latest time displayed among the clocks.  Second, I've always been sure to set my watch and clocks to whatever time is being observed by my employer; it's just prudent to do that.  However, now that I depend on two schedules, and I'm pretty sure that Intuit and Sun Tran are on two different clocks, it is somewhere between hard and impossible to synchronize the two.  My watch is still set to Intuit time, however, that bus seems to come awfully late every morning. :-)
2. If my alarm was set to the actual time I want to wake up, it would be set for about 6:30.  However, since I have to be at work at 6:15, that wouldn't be a very good idea.  Currently, the alarm goes off at 4:44 a.m., which gives me time to shower, eat breakfast, and mill around for a few minutes before absolutely, positively having to be out the door at 5:20 at the latest.
3. Wake up half an hour earlier?  I just moved my wake-up time a half-hour LATER, and I have more time to do what I need in the morning, instead of rushing out of the apartment.  So, we're calling it even.  I may, MAY move it to 4:30 just to make it even, once my sleep patterns get a bit more set, but we will see.
4. I do wake up at the same time every day.  I may immediately go back to sleep on Saturday and Sunday, but the alarm still goes off at 4:44 a.m.
5. I've been doing this for more than a month now, and it's working so far.  No complaints, and things have been easier in the morning for a while.  I still don't look forward to getting up in the morning, but it's not a total pain in the rear like it used to be, either.

Inspired by Radical Mutual-Improvement

Something new for the people...

In my never-ending effort to improve myself and find some (temporal) direction in my life, I have stumbled across the following blog: Radical Mutual-Improvement.  One of the features that they are working on right now is "101 Exercises For Amplifying Your Life in a Happy and Healthy Way, For the Greatest Good of All, and With Perfect Timing."  (Just called 101 Exercises from here on out, for the sake of brevity.)

Exercise #1 is "Develop a Personal Mantra."  I've never really done anything like this before -- always thought it was a Stuart Smalley sort of thing.  But I'm going to try it.  My main concern with this is it developing into OCD or something like that.  But I wouldn't mind having a slogan, and working towards goals and things like that.

My mantra is going to be, "I will own a restaurant in 7 years."  The effects of this is that it will supposedly open my subconscious up to observations I otherwise would have missed since I'm not focusing on it.  Anyway, that will help me as I formulate a game plan to achieve my goal.  More updates as I do the subsequent exercises listed on the blog.  There are also articles on the blog, as well. 

It will be interesting to see what comes of this.  Of course, I will have to avoid the major pitfall I will be facing as I carry this out:  becoming a self-obsessed a**hole.  But if I work hard on my work-life balance and focus on becoming the most productive person I can be as well as maintaining good family relationships and church responsibilities, that will be nothing but a good thing, right?  Right?

Goals, Week Ending 5/13/06

Wow, halfway through May already! One thing about keeping a weekly journal, is that time just seems to zoom on by...

1. Get caught up with scripture reading! This means reading all the way to Revelation 20 (about 40 pages)... but if I read 6 pages a day (trying to get caught up at night), this shouldn't be a problem. [EDIT: Revelation has 22 chapters. I'm going to finish the NT this week.]


2. We are in a house, so the "honey do" list is starting to take full effect. I need to balance the ceiling fans in Elizabeth's room and my office.


3. Go through the box in the office and dig out the rest of the Italian-language material that I have.


4. After what seems like a three-week layoff, it's my turn to teach the Primary lesson on Sunday, so I should devote some time during the week to prepare for that. (NOTE: it's actually a four-week layoff)


5. Get back in the habit of using PocketMods... this is a busy week, with Dominic on Tuesday and band practice on Wednesday. Note-taking would be a good thing. Also, finding my Italian cheat PocketMod would be a good thing. :-) I sure could use it now.


6. Another project that I'm working on is to build a list of dishes that I can make on a minimal pantry. I'm pretty sure that I have mentioned this before, but I was able to make sweet and sour chicken last night with only having to buy a green and a red sweet pepper, and pineapples (we should have had carrots and onions on hand already). It's not a quick meal by any means, but it's nice to know that we can whip stuff like that out when absolutely necessary.

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Week in Review, Week Ending 5/6/06

Haven't bothered setting goals for the past couple of weeks, unfortunately, and consequently I've found myself rather behind in my scripture reading... actually, I'm only behind one week's worth, which is amazing, but with everything else going on, it's been really hard to stay caught up.

Been riding the bus, which is good... especially since we're at a point where we need gas and can't afford it, so I don't have to worry about getting to work at all this week.  All we have to do is hang in there until Thursday, and we're good.  We even have enough food to get through the week!  Yay!

Heard from my Italian pen pal shortly after I posted last week's entry.  Go figure... Friday she wrote to me asking if I was planning on writing her back. :-)  I completed my e-mail to her, now the ball is in her court!  I made sure to promise to do better at writing back faster... the problem for me is that it is harded for me to feel confident in my Italian, since I'm actually talking about REAL situations here... and I can't fall back to French like I could with my previous pen pal.

Interestingly enough, I'm actually losing time each day by taking the bus.  I need to figure out something that will keep me productive during the down time.  I'm thinking of purchasing some more rechargable batteries, and a CD-RW that I can just re-write to, and doing Italian lessons on the way to work and back.  Hopefully I won't turn into the crazy guy who mutters to himself constantly on the bus...

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Get on the Bus

Day 2 of riding the bus today. It's good to know that it's mostly the same people on the bus in the morning, so I can expect certain things, which is good. I'm also the only rider for the majority of the time on the bus ride home. I like that. I have to remember to bring a bottle of water for the walk home, though. It's a pleasant walk in the morning when it's 70ish, but when it's mid-90's, a mile walk isn't the best thing.

With the shift change and other things, I need to start making a list of daily tasks, so I don't forget certain things... like to clock in, which I'm forgetting again, which is a shame because I hate bugging the poor people in payroll with my missed punches. I think I've had one week where I hit the clock correctly all 20 times.

Anyway, I'm going to make a daily task list and then see if I can't make it my desktop background (through the use of a wonderful web page).

Oh, almost forgot: I have another project: A list of simple dishes that I can make with a basic pantry. For example, we didn't do a lot of grocery shopping this week (just got stocked back up), but I'm already feeling motivated to do some fine, fine cooking. Pasta w/marinara, pizza, sweet and sour chicken, and quiche are all on the list of things I can generally make without any issues or "special foods". I feel with a database, that will make food planning and preparation a lot easier, save trips to the grocery store, and help us build a customized food storage list.

Observations.

Painted the apartment bedroom white again this weekend. Had to bring in an extra light to do it. I know there's some sort of analogy with the Gospel and repentance in there... something about not being able to become purely white without the light. I'll work on it, but I have the feeling that I'm onto something.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but last Tuesday night when we were at the Stake Youth Leadership Training meeting, the thought hit me that "the true measure of a student is how he applies what he is taught." I like that, and hope to be able to use it.

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On a slightly non-spiritual note, I had to come up with a definition of "butt-rock" for some friends of mine, as I had to explain what I thought of the music played on the local "Tucson's REAL rock" station. After much thought, contemplation, and research, here is what I have determined:

• You can picture someone fixing their Camaro to it.


• High male voices. Both lead and harmony vocals. It helps if the singer has such an unnaturally high voice that he has to overdub the backing vocals (see Boston as an example of this).


• Four or five male members with long, feathered hair or mullets


• Wailing guitar solos, distorted guitars, and lyrics about women, sex, drugs, Satan, cars, and/or rock music itself (i.e. "I Wanna Rock", "Detroit Rock City", etc.") (thanks to Mullets Galore for the last two entries)


• Supergroups in general.


• "Southern Rock" or rock with multiple lead guitars, especially harmonizing guitar solos (both Molly Hatchet and Iron Maiden fall into this category)


• Testosterone-fueled and self-important.