The other day I talked about my bad flight experience, but I think as far as ‘storyworthiness’ is concerned, Heather’s wins by a mile. Not that it’s a good thing… but it certainly is an interesting coincidence. But seriously… how weird is that story?!
If you can’t tell I love to be organized and lay everything out. I can be very spur of the moment (let me tell you about the time we went skiing at midnight until 2am, slept in my car, then drove to Vail the next morning…) but in general I like to know what the plan is.
I’ve been looking at my schedule (I put it into Excel, colors and all, very fun!) and there’s plenty of empty space. I realized if I don’t put anything in there I will probably sit around, read blogs, poke around on Facebook, etc. I figured that theres plenty I could get done in this time if I just made a schedule…
So, I’ve added ‘working out’ to a few days each week. I had put this down as a New Year’s resolution and I plan to keep this one (in addition to reading a book a month). The biggest step is making something a habit. Since I go to class every day I decided that once I get home I’ll just go work out. I may have to scold myself (‘No Devin! No email until you get back!’) but I think scheduling the time should help.
I’ve actually signed up for CARGO’s BootCamp and found plenty of routines to get me through the weeks. I didn’t even really know what pilates was until I saw this site. In any case, The ‘camp’ is free once you sign up and it has everything you need to get started. The hardest part is starting!
I think I’ll start reading the ‘food’ section and see what I can do about my diet, too…
Back in the good ol’ days I had some funny stuff up on my site. I’ve been prompted to bring some of it back because, well, people miss it. So do I. So, to kick off the fun, here’s an oldie (but oh-so-goodie) entitled ‘Badger Badger Badger‘. Happy Almost-Freaking-Monday!
Wilson Ng shares a funny joke. Read it before you read the rest of this or I’ll spoil it… yes, I’ll wait… Anyway, the unfunny part about thie joke is I was actually a plane when I heard this announcement. One of our engines failed right after take off, the second while we were out over the Pacific. Since we were flying from New Zealand to Los Angeles and it had only been an hour or so, heading back seemed prudent. Unfortunately for the pilot there was no good way to tell anyone the news. The pilots later let us know that one of the wheels had blown out as well. Later, having put two and two together, it was evident that a tire blew during takeoff and debris flew into the engine. We didn’t hear about that wheel part until much later. In any case, landing in the ‘brace’ position was fun… quietest landing ever.
It looks like not only Nike, but Honda also understands how to advertise. The commercial found on their site (skip the flash, ‘Watch’) is a classic example of something so neat it’ll get passed around very quickly. How do I know? Popular demand has made the ‘making of’ video unavailable.. Honda also gets bonus points for making a downloadable podcast version available. No longer does someone have to rip the ad and put it on their site… well, maybe someone should anyway since Honda’s own site can’t handle the downloads.
I’ll be brief, this movie was great. Nicholas Cage’s character, Yuri, is the Lord of War. He rubs shoulders with the worst people in the world and supplies them with, as he puts it, a means to defend themselves. This movie exposes you to the most fascinating … facts or fiction? … of arms dealing. I believe theres many truths to it, and the drama itself is very interesting.
There were a number of memorable quotes from the movie that I’d like to share:
“Governments are changed more often by bullets than votes.”
“After the Cold War, the AK-47 became Russia’s biggest export. After that came vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists.”
I could go on but the movie is certainly worth watching. There’s a touch of humor and history, how could you not like it? It’s harsh, though. Reality sometimes is. You’ll see bloodshed; much of it is actually occuring as you read this (all seven of you).
If I were to give this a rating I’d say 9/10. IMDB users rated it a 7.5 (which is high). Did anyone else like it as much as I did? Maybe I found it favorable becuase it gave me a chance to test out my new electric blanket…
I went skiing today and would like to point out that I’ve been on the highest chair lift in North America. It brought us to nearly 13,000 feet. The wind was crazy but the view was spectacular. In order to construct it they used a helicopter that could lift up to 10 tons of steel (at sea level). They have a video on their site. In any case, if you felt extra-ambitious you could hike up to the very top of the peak and ski down some other bowls… I’ll just say that getting to the top was enough excitement for me today.
Last year I resolved to read a book a month. I fell a few books short of my goal, unfortunately. In hindsight, I’m not sure why. I think the problem was with how I scheduled/used my time and that’s obviously beginning to change this year.
With that said I’m going to go for a book each month again. First on the list is finishing The World Is Flat. I’m about a quarter through it (of 500 pages). As far as the following months are concerned, I’ve got a few books lying around here and then I’ll head over to my own Amazon wishlist. Naturally, I’ll be posting my thoughts and reviews of each book.
Heck, with all my new free time I was able to catch up on 12 magazines. If I fail this I don’t know what I’ll do with myself…
Let me be one of the last people to point out the obvious: it’s about time we had some delete buttons on Gmail.
I’ve always used Outlook to schedule my time and keep myself on task but I’ve found that ‘Calendar’ and ‘Tasks’ don’t do much for me. The interfaces seem outdated and not as easy to mange as I’d like. This is why I actually designed my ‘weekly schedule’ in Excel. Although Outlook helps me look ahead, it doesn’t help me look at my days very easily.
I also found that ‘Tasks’ don’t do much for me. I don’t know, but I decided to try out 37 signals‘ Ta-da lists. The lists are great because I can create a bunch of different subjects (Classes, Work, Projects) and just drop tasks into it. I can quickly and easily arrange the order and then check them off when I’m done.
In addition, each list has a dot next to it which is a graphical representation of what needs to be done. A quick glance tells me I have a lot of magazines to read, a few books to finish and a bunch of tasks to do at work. On the other hand, I don’t have as much course work yet. This serves as a nice reminder that even though X is easier, Y has a lot more than needs to be done. Also, I know which lists are priority so I can quickly look at those before anything else (instead of a mashed collection of tasks).
Going back to what I said earlier, I have all sorts of empty space on my calendar so when I find myself just chatting online I quickly reference my lists. I also made a list of my classes which I can then email to people or myself in case I forget. Lists are so good for me, I’m getting a ton done lately… I caught up on 4 magazines last night!