Is it just me or is eBay the best place to go to boost your ego? Seriously, it’s been a while since I checked my feedback but I can’t help but get a warm feeling reading compliments like “Excellent Guy” and “honest, reasonable, the best!!!!”. It’s like these people really know me.
I feel like the 3984734th person to link to Guy in the last week and a half. Honestly, everything he writes is worth it?s? bytes? ? in gold. I wish I had heard this speech when I graduated high school. I?m off to do some thinking? perhaps I should do some traveling soon. I believe that was Brad?s latest revelation? hmmm.
I just wanted to post this article by Ramit because, well, I love it. It?s called Your College is Not a Technical School. I realize its a bit old but I re-read it today and whole-heartedly agree with everything it has to offer. In fact, it inspired me to add a few things to my quotes page.
I felt some history in my veins today. I visited the Chipotle on Evans and Gilpin (in Denver) today. For those of you not ?up? on your burrito facts, this was the original Chipotle and its a few blocks away from the DU Campus. First off, its very small. Second, the lady making your burrito isn?t right in front of you like the newer restaurants. You have to shout to her back in the kitchen, essentially. Third, the line is always out the door. Fourth, almost nobody stays and eats in the restaurant. Fifth, their storage room is under the restaurant; there?s a trap door/stairs to it right in front of the bathroom. Basically, the restaurant has definitely evolved a bit away from the original.
Ben, at CollegeStartup has written on the importance of keeping track of one?s money. Frankly, I agree with him. Many students aren?t sure how much money they have at any given moment. But that?s alright because those same students typically never have more than $200 in the checking account anyway! Seriously, though. That?s a problem. I?ve been using Microsoft Money for a few years now and couldn?t be more pleased. I actually was a beta tester for Money 2005 and I still use today becuase a) I got it for free and b) I?m most familiar with it.
My point is, it?s important for students to get this kind of software and start looking at how much they?re really spending. With online banking it?s easier than ever. Money will download all my account information for Wells Fargo, Vanguard, IndyMac Bank, my Sears card and even PayPal. What does that mean? Just the mere fact that I can see the value of all my assets at a quick glance.
I personally suggest Microsoft Money becuase I love a lot of the reporting.
Keep in mind that not all of the reports may be apply to you. If you don?t have any investments, your asset allocation is of no use. If you have only started using Money last week, then monthly reports won?t even exist yet.
But, I really like Money becuase it simplifies the act of entering things into the register. For example, Money starts ?remembering? transactions for me. When Wells Fargo downloads a transaction from ?Qdoba? it automatically fills in ?Meals: Dining Out? under the category and all I have to do is reconcile (Accept) the transaction into the register. If I enter a check to my landlord for a certain amount, Money checks to see if this was the rent bill I had scheduled.
Ben, to answer your questions: I don?t think there?s an easier way than reconciling your bank?s downloaded transactions to Microsoft Money?s. You don?t have to do it every day, either. As I mentioned, certain expenses will become ?trended? and even ?remembered?. I actually reconcile only once a week and it doesn?t take much time at all. Plus, I take a few minutes to check how much I spent on meals for the week/month, etc.
A few extra tips:
I realize this is a pretty simplistic view of personal finances but I think it?d help if everyone did at least this. Look to Ramit?s blog this year for an in-depth look at how to manage your personal finances.
It?s been pointed out before how the nerds become the popular results on search engines. Scoble beats De Niro on Google? What has this world come to! In any case, to help my ego this evening I decided to see where I ranked among the ?devins? in the world. Oddly enough there are more than you?d think (and plenty more Devons). In any case, MSN puts me as the #3 devin, Yahoo at #11, Google has me all the way down at #22. Not bad, considering I just ?restarted? this site? I guess. But the thing I don?t entirely understand is why the DenverPost has bought my name for Adwords. Seriously. Search devin reams and you?ll see me under the sponsored links. Maybe it has to do with me being part of the DenverPost Bloghouse?
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Again, a quick Lazy Sunday post. I just had to share the goodness I received in the mail today. |
I’m a firm beliver that organization is the key to success. I never see much of anything useful come from things of clutter or disarray. Sure, it often results in a ton of creativity, but it can also hinder any kind of implementation’ and as we all know ideas are worthless without implementing them.
Tip #1: Make a drastic change in your life (for the better). Re-organizing one’s desk is just one example.
Anyway, as I was saying, organization is very important to me. Which is why I felt my workstation needed a drastic makeover. As you may or may not be able to tell, my desk is a corner desk with one side against a wall and the other adjacent a big window. I love looking out the window. Although my view is basically the alley and townhome behind me I can still see far beyond that. In fact, I can almost tell how much gas is at the Safeway across the street. Case in point, I like the window and my current setup has my LCD blocking a portion of that view. In addtion, the hutch against the wall is taking up a lot of space and not storing much of anything useful. Plus, the desk space under it is rendered almost useless. In short, I feel cramped. I needed to spread out.
Tip #2: Realize what you’d like to ultimately accomplish. Without something in mind you have no idea of telling whether or not you were successful.
First things first, I got rid of the hutch. It mostly acted as storage for a few magazines, CDs I never touched, my stapler and tape, etc. I threw all this stuff on my bed and moved the hutch out. Next, I took everything off my desk, unplugged all cables, and moved everything to my bed. I think a clean slate is best. Instead of reorganizing I feel like I was creating. I had a big empty “L” in front of me and I needed to make a decision on what was to be placed upon it. The following remains:
Tip #3: Start with a clean slate. Don’t re-organize; create. It forces you to make new decisions instead of shuffling around past (bad) ones.
This is a dramatic simplification of what will be surrounding me. Which leaves me with a lot of, you guessed it, workspace. Notice I said workspace not pilespace, or clutterspace. I don’t want to overwhelm myself with objects so it has come down to these simple, yet useful, things. *My phone tree is a decorative (fake) tree that I rest my phone on. I have the charger cord wrapped around the trunk and the hands-free headpiece laying on top of the tree. I feel like I should patent this attractive little tree. Plus, it brings some color to my desk.
Tip #4: Simple is usually better. The less, the better. It forces you to focus your attention or energy on a select few things and eliminates other distractions around you.
Next, was to clean out my 3-drawer filing cabinet. It had mostly acted as a black hole for anything I didn’t quite feel like throwing away. Oh, that and a printer stand. In any case, I figured I should use the cabinet for it’s intended purpose. With that said, I put some of my remaining objects (stapler, ruler, checkbook, envelopes, etc.) into the top two drawers. The bottom drawer (larger) is now a nice collection of hanging file folders (bank statements, bills, paycheck stubs, and other important paperwork).
Tip #5: Organizing by categorizing allows you to quickly know what can be found where. Piles, stacks and drawers do no justice to the papers, notes, and other important items you may have around.
At this point I’m beyond excited. Stuff is getting thrown out in the process, some things are being rediscovered. I already brought my trash can downstairs twice to be emptied. It’s feeling great. I also realized I should put this cabinet underneath my desk (on the side facing the window). This certainly freed up some more floor space.
Tip #6: Throw shit away. If you don’t use it, don’t need it, don’t look at it, then you probably won’t be missing it.
I bought a huge (71? tall) bookcase to put where the cabinet once was. I got a black one to match my desk. I’ll also point out it was only $28 at Wal-Mart and took 10 minutes to setup (including cleaning, etc). This bookcase just created another dimension to my workplace. Instead of having 1-dimensional (x-axis) piles, I can now organizing things vertically as well (y-axis). Shelves are your friend. On top is my cable modem/wireless router, CD spindles, can-of-air, etc. My top shelf now houses my ‘currently reading’ material and archived magazines. My second shelf is where I put stuff like my wallet, keys, sunglasses, reciepts, spare change jar, candy, etc. The third shelf is about level with my desk and has my printer, printer paper, photo paper, etc. The next shelf is for school materials (books, binders, paper) and the last shelf is empty at this point. This is good becuase my other small bookcase is out of space (and I anticipate having to put some books there).
Tip #7: Be thrifty, it allows you to do more. Wal-Mart has a plethora of cheap stuff to help you organize. They have drawers, files, cabinets, shelves, etc.
Tip #8: Keep organizing by categorizing.
Essentially I did nothing out of the ordinary here. I just organized things in a way that made more sense. You look at the shelf and you realize what kind of stuff belongs there. Categorizing makes it so much easier to find things. Just like the file-folders, each one is for a certain purpose. When I start making piles and laying paper in drawers it does me no good in the long run.
I’d like to point out that I put my laptop to the right of me (against the wall) which acts as my Vista testing machine. I used to use this laptop as my ‘desktop replacement’ in the dorms but now that I’m settled into a ‘workspace’ I’m finding I have little use for it. With that said, I’ll be selling it soon and using some of the money to buy a widescreen LCD (maybe 24?) to accompany my 19? LCD.
Oh think of the productivity!
I love a dual monitor setup. It, again, lets me categorize stuff into two screens. In my case, I have Windows MCE and can now put some TV on the 19? while emailing, blogging, etc. on the other screen. While I’m working, I put the distractions (email, instant messages) on the 19? while, again, working on the other.
Tip #9: Design your setup so it helps you eliminate distractions. Distractions aren’t always bad, but if you don’t want them, make it so they can disappear.
Frankly, I’m excited to see how this setup improves my life. So far I love it already! Does anyone think they’ve got a better setup than mine? I’d love to see someone top this.
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