indulgences

August 1, 2014 7:11 AM , Leave a Comment ,

An acquaintance of mine is starting to take his health seriously.  This takes me about 4 years ago and to my decision to get fit.  Oh how clueless I was about it all.

So many things to learn, so many things to decide and to actually start doing.  I don’t envy him the learning curve that he’s going to have to go through.  Learning the ropes was a nightmare to me.  But I have to admit that I’m glad I took the plunge and committed myself to a healthier lifestyle.  Without that radical change in my habits I think I would be in serious jeopardy right now as far as my health goes.

The food portion of my plan was and still is the hardest part.  I can get a handle on the exercise portion.  Even though I may complain from time to time I keep to my fitness regimen.  The food though…

Finding something that my system would be satisfied with was a huge hurdle but I was finally able to find something that I could eat on a regular basis and keep my palette from getting bored or feeling empty.  Still, all it takes is one over indulgence to ruin an entire day’s work.

But from time to time you do have to give yourself that indulgence.  Your body is a bit of a child and will rebel if you don’t give in every once in a while.  A couple of cookies here, a slice of pizza there, something from the naughty side of the menu.

The trick is to keep a check on those indulgences.  My acquaintance related how he plans to cut his alcohol intake and only drink a few nights a week.  Hopefully he will learn how quickly calories from alcohol can add up and how slowly they burn off and how long it takes to burn them off on the jogging trails.  Time and effort will teach him.  It taught me.

Posted in: attitude, goals, habits, health

ebb and flow

July 30, 2014 7:11 AM , Leave a Comment ,

3:43 AM

I don’t want to do this.  I just want to skip today and sleep late.  Sit up in bed.  What will it hurt to skip a couple of days.

Sigh

I get up and start changing into my running gear

 

6:57 PM

I finished a chapter last week and I have no clue as to where to take the story now.

Sit and stare, sit and stare.  Nothing comes to mind.

Pace the room, read a magazine, look at a website.  Still nothing.  I start typing something.  anything.  Hope that a story will resolve itself from the effort.

 

9:01 AM

A pile of emails.  Requests, inquiries, return emails, phone messages.  So much to do.  Where to start?  How to start?  Where will I get the enthusiasm to tackle it all?  Start, one email at a time.

 

Energy is like that.  Some days you spring out of bed, fresh as a daisy.  Other days not so much.  When you’re young you have that energy to spare and you can disregard those low energy days.  As you age it gets more difficult.  Exercise and a good diet can help mitigate that to an extent but you also have to admit that sometimes it’s overwhelming.

But the thing is that you can’t give in to the lethargy.  Nothing good comes out of that.  You slip on one day and then another and soon you’ve got a bad habit going.  So you soldier on as best as possible.  If you’ve built up a routine over the years this will help you carry on during these spells of low energy.  Force of habit is a good motivator.  But what will get you across is just a sheer stubborn will not to give in.

You have to stand up straight and continue on regardless of how low on energy you feel.  No dramatic declarations of intent, no promises of rest as a reward at the end.  Just a determination to get things done.

Posted in: energy, exercise, goals, health, motivation

taking the low road

July 28, 2014 6:37 AM , Leave a Comment ,

Can we ever objectively justify doing something of questionable morality or acting in a way that is not within the norms of accepted behavior?  I know that in moments of crisis or extreme temptation that we can justify to ourselves doing something unethical but what about under regular circumstances?

From time to time you may find yourself in situations under which you are not under dire threat or where your direct interests were not under peril and acting in an ethical manner might be bearable if maybe a little personally painful.  You would suffer a little but it would not be a huge loss.  Under these circumstances you might be tempted into using information in a way it was not meant or acting in a way that was not strictly speaking “nice”.  But normally you would turn down the opportunity to act in anything but the most proper way.

Where does an honest person draw the line?  How dire does a situation have to be before you are “allowed” to act in an immoral way and be able to claim exigent circumstances?  Do you feel bad afterwards?  Why?

Do you in fact have a duty to act with noble intent under all conditions?  Are you bound to be honorable even under conditions when you are in imminent danger and bound not to act in defense of your being?

Is a threat to your livelihood, love life, or even just your mental state enough to excuse your actions?  Is it really that black and white and straightforward?  Should it be?  Why?  Are these questions uncomfortable?

Posted in: speculation

please yourself

July 26, 2014 6:29 AM , Leave a Comment ,

I was talking with an acquaintance the other day about various money-making schemes (and lets face it, who doesn’t need a little more extra money these days).  We were bouncing ideas off each other and she told me about the latest thing she was thinking about doing.  A friend wanted her to invest in his start-up manufacturing venture.  She showed me a video and a presentation that her friend put together.

After hearing the details I was not impressed.   The risk was high and the return on her investment wasn’t all that great and would take a couple of years to materialize.  So I told her so.  She wasn’t dissuaded and said she would probably invest in this.

But it was her decision.  All I could do is give my honest opinion.  Fingers crossed that I was wrong.

The thing is though that ultimately it was her money and her decision to make.  I’ve run into similar situations in the past where people try to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do and don’t offer any material support.  Back in college one of my friends had a rich relative that told him not to go to engineering college but instead apply to business school.  This relative didn’t offer any financial support of any kind but insisted business school was the best option.  My friend financed himself through engineering school and now works for a large corporation.

Opinions and advice are all great and always welcome but you need to keep in mind that when it comes down to it, that’s all that they are.  You have to do what you think is right and of course either reap the benefits or consequences.

I wish my friend all the best luck in the world and I hope I was wrong.  But I also applaud her for following her convictions.

Posted in: attitude, business

incompatible

July 24, 2014 6:27 AM , Leave a Comment ,

So I was in a large bookshop the other day just rummaging around in the travel section and reading up on vacation spots around the world when I see a former date over in the romance novels isle.  I didn’t exactly hide but neither did I go up to her.  She was not the worst date ever but we had definite compatibility issues.

Back in 2005 a mutual acquaintance introduced me to Betty (not her real name of course).  She was 20 at the time and was in college and seemed fairly bright and mature.  So I finally got round to asking her out and gave her the choice of where to go.  She picked this “Chinese” restaurant where the food was microwaved and the decor came out of a Pier One catalog.  Midway through dinner she mentioned that she had promised to meet up with her friends at a club and wouldn’t it be fun to do that?

So off to the club we went.  It was called polly esthers.  A 70s style disco where the 20something crowd hung out and danced.

This was ironic for two reasons, One, none of them had even been alive in the 70s, and two, the club had given up on disco and was mostly playing modern stuff.

So we get to the club and her friends turn out to be mostly younger guys.  I made a valiant effort to dance but I’m just not a dancer so I quickly desisted and hung out at the bar while Betty was on the dance floor with her friends doing shots and boogieing down.  After a while I decided this wasn’t for me and told her I was taking off.  She said she was going to stay and grab a ride home with her friends.

Couple weeks pass and she calls me up and says she wants to make it up for the dance club and wants to go out again.  So we settle on dinner and a movie.  I took her to one of the better Vietnamese restaurants so she could sample real Asian cuisine and she didn’t like that.  Something bout too spicy.

I tried to come up with some topics of mutual interest but I was coming up with little to nothing at all to talk about.  Her interests mainly centered around contemporary music, TV, and celebrities.

Then we headed off to the movie that she picked.  This was one of those Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy movies (Ok we get it Jennifer, your marriage sucked).  We settled in and the previews came on.  One of the previews was for the 20th anniversary of “Back to the future“.

I commented “Wow, I was a kid when this came out”, she commented “Wow, I wasn’t even born back then”  and that’s when I realized I had made a horrible mistake.

Betty was cute enough but there wasn’t really all that much common ground there between us and the age difference didn’t help things.  So after the movie we ended the night on a fairly muted note.

Luckily she started dating some other guy and that was the end of my involvement with her.  I was honestly happy for her and for myself.  We could have continued dating but I don’t think anything positive would have come of it.

Back in the present she picked out some romance novel and headed off to pay for it without noticing me.  I buried my nose in a travel guide for New Zealand.

Posted in: activities, dating, life in general

remodeling

July 22, 2014 6:48 AM , Leave a Comment ,
Phase 1 remodeling 2013

Phase 1 remodeling 2013

 

I just started phase 2 of my long-term home remodeling project; the kitchen, laundry, and half bathroom.  Next year it will be the stairs and the second floor.

This house wasn’t a bad buy back in the Fall of 2008 but it also wasn’t exactly what I wanted either. One thing that immediately struck me were the carpets.  The previous owner had put in new carpets to bump up the value of the home to prospective buyers.  I knew from experience how quickly carpets could get dirty and sure enough after a few years they looked terrible.

I was all set to start remodeling in 2011 when the great Texas drought ruined my foundation and all plans had to be put on hold till I got that sorted out.  Call that Phase 0 remodeling.  In many ways that was even harder to take as the repairs took the better part of a month to finish.  Then in 2012 I had to replace the air conditioner.

But I finally got around to doing the first floor last year.  I was extremely pleased with the results but I realized that the linoleum in the kitchen looked terrible next to the new wood floors and it had to go next.  I had several other changes that I not only wanted but needed to make so that this would truly become my home.

It’s not just a matter of making the place look better, but of actually making it more functional and an appealing place to be in.

We often think of houses as inert pieces of the background but in many ways a home is a living breathing entity that needs to have care and maintenance lavished upon it to keep it living and working properly.  It’s not cheap or easy but it is worth it in the long-term.

It’s always a daunting process when the day arrives and the work crew starts working on your home.  Up to that point I don’t think you really realize that people are going to be literally tearing into your living space with hammers and crowbars.

Once the process starts however you feel better and as the old is ripped away and replaced with the new you start getting a sense that things are going to be much better once it’s done.

I can’t wait for the last of the major remodeling projects to be done next year.  I will finally feel that I’m home.

 

Posted in: home, life in general

but the forest IS made of trees!

July 20, 2014 6:52 AM , Leave a Comment ,

“All politics is local”

“You don’t see the big picture”

“Won the battle but lost the war”

All phrases meant to explain our disconnect from viewing situations without respect to scale.  To one degree or another we are all guilty of this at some point in our lives.  We sometimes obsess so much on a particular detail or we look at the overall picture and forget to address  particular details and suddenly everything goes wrong.

Some examples?

Back when I used to be in production I would sometimes become so obsessed with some part of a map.  I would go over and over and over it so many times that I would lose track of time and suddenly I would find myself behind schedule.

And of course the opposite is also true.  You can create the best possible product and do your utmost to create something fantastic and suddenly one little hiccup and one little wrong or missing detail destroys days, weeks, or even months of precious work.

So how to balance this out?  I don’t think it’s so much  matter of striking a balance between being detail oriented and being aware of the broader perspective.  Neither of these is really a negative quality to have in your work.  Being detailed oriented makes your work precise and comprehensive.  Having a broader perspective let’s you keep an eye on what you are trying to accomplish.

Rather, I think it’s a matter of doing both but adding a third dimension to your work.  An independent arbiter in your mind that will look at the project objectively and step in when needed to make the necessary adjustments.  Quality control is often derided as a fussy and unproductive part of the work cycle and it is never appreciated until it’s missing in the final product.

A good dose of quality control will be an important facet of your work in the long run and give you a reputation among your peers as someone who can handle highly complex projects on time and with an eye for meticulous detail.

 

 

Posted in: business, career, work

tablet and education update

July 18, 2014 7:08 AM , Leave a Comment ,

A little over a year ago I posted some thoughts on using tablets in education.

Since that time technology and online applications have moved forward and some school districts are moving along some of the lines I suggested back then.  I thought it might be nice to delve a little deeper into some of the aspects of technology’s role in public education.

One of the more exciting aspects would be the ability to specialize the curriculum to meet the requirements of not just the state but of the actual school district and even the school.  Before the school year begins the departmental staff could gather together and discuss the successes and failures of the last year and decide what needs more focus in the coming year and select from online publisher catalogs as to what should be in their textbooks.

In Texas we have what are called “Magnet schools”,  schools that put special emphasis on certain curricula.  These schools may focus on the arts, on law, on trades, or the sciences. Having texts that are specially keyed in on these fields would help students not only focus on their chosen fields but also allow them to engage with other courses that aren’t in their chosen fields like maths and sciences for art students, or literature and writing for technical students.

We have such a wealth of communications means these days compared to even when I was a student in high school.  In my time most communications to parents came through the student themselves having to ferry notes and grades from the school to the parent.  In rare cases a teacher might mail or call the parent but that was the exception.

Even with the common communications means like texting, Skype, social media, and email there can be robust communications with parents on the progress of a student.  Communications with teachers but with other parents is possible.  Classes can become secondary communities where topics like drugs, alcohol, gangs, or bullying can be addressed by parents.  I think marrying up technology will make it more attractive for parents to become involved in this and help them take preventative measures to help their children avoid these problems.

The last aspect I would address is the fact that computers and internet access do open up so many new opportunities and aspects of life.  We have so much information readily available to us online that we can become inundated with data but yet at the same time if it is managed properly then we can look at this as resource.  Online schools exist that help adults with remedial courses, governments from federal to local now post information and forms online, besides that you have all the data that commercial companies post.

I don’t deny that there are costs involved in all of this or that there are pitfalls to these schemes but on the whole I think this is the direction that schools will have to go to keep pace with the rest of the world.  The tried and true model from the last century of paper textbooks and school binders and backpacks is sadly out of date and needs to be replaced as soon as possible.

 

Posted in: education, technology

Noblesse Oblige, not just for the holidays

July 16, 2014 6:26 AM , Leave a Comment ,

Noblesse Oblige, or the nobility’s obligation.  The idea is basically that those that have more than others have an obligation to share the wealth as it were.  If you found yourself in the enviable position of having more that you have a duty to use that good fortune to improve the lot of those less fortunate.

It’s an ancient concept.  All the major religions have something similar.  The Greeks and Romans considered it part of the upper classes duty to do something for those that didn’t have enough.  The concept even extends to our modern times.  After all, any kid can quote the line from the movie Spiderman “with great power comes great responsibility.

So it’s not all that alien.  But you don’t have to be a superhero or a filthy rich millionaire to do this.  We live in the richest, most powerful country in the world.  In fact in the history of the entire planet.  We have resources, education, and access to information that was undreamed of even a couple of decades ago.  So even the poorest of us can do something to improve the life of someone else.

The holidays are a perfect time for this concept and many people do take the time to do something nice.  But it would be nice if people practiced this all year round.

I’m sure that every town in the US has a food pantry for homeless people or a shelter.  Clean out those closets and get rid of some of that old clothing that doesn’t fit any more or that you don’t like.

Twenty bucks, just scrape together 20 bucks and go to the supermarket and buy some food (and not pumpkin pie mix or canned artichokes)

Volunteer a Saturday morning or an evening at an animal shelter.  Animals need your help too.

If you live online like I do then try a crowdfunding website like Kiva or Kickstarter.

It really doesn’t take all that much to make someone’s crappy day go from bad to bearable.  And you don’t have to do it because you’re a saint or a Dudley do right that says their prayers every night and goes to bed at 8PM or a high society matron that’s trying to get a tax write off.

You can be the most irresponsible party animal in the world, you can drink and smoke with the best of them the rest of the year, but for just for a couple of hours for one day, just do this one thing.

Just do it because it’s the right thing to do.

Posted in: activities, charity, life in general

ratcheting up

July 14, 2014 7:15 AM , Leave a Comment ,

One thing I find interesting is how a few improvements in your life give you a different perspective and change your outlook on things.

I’ve been tinkering with a little side project the last few weeks.  it’s still not ready for unveiling but I have to say that even as recently as last year I would not have contemplated something like this.

My economic situation has only marginally improved in the last year but it has improved and that has given me the confidence to contemplate some things I would have never thought about before.

It’s feels like I’m a prairie dog that has stuck his head outside his burrow for the first time and realized that there’s a whole world out there waiting for me.  I’m sure that it has probably been the same for anyone else in a similar situation.

I have to admit it’s a slightly scary proposition but I have thought it through thoroughly and the situation looks very positive.  Of course there are downsides and potential negatives to any situation and I fully realize and accept the risks.  On the whole however I think that this will have a positive outcome once everything is said and done.

I hope I can share some good news on this project by the end of the year.

Posted in: activities, goals, plans