2009 Personal Enrichment Goals

When after last year’s dismal showing, I am hoping 2009 will be much better in terms of self-improvement. There’s a great deal of carry over here but I’ve done some tweaking of those tasks to ensure they actually get done this time around. I’m nicknaming 2009, “The Year Of Versatility”. This is going to be all about doing things in a way that I can adapt to any changes in my schedule.

Total Goals for 2009: 20
Computer / Technology Related: 6
Education: 4
Financial/Home: 4
Leisure: 4
Fitness/Self-Defense: 2

You can certainly tell where my priorities are....See full post for details.

Expanded Exercise Program: Instead of requiring I hit a KM level (which needs an amount of time I may not have to spare thanks to work), I’ve created an exercise program which does require I attend 1-2 KM classes a week, exercise in the morning 2x a week and do 1 “Other” bit of exercise a month. This gives me a good deal of flexibility while also requiring that I get out there and work. The morning exercise routine is something I used to do before I signed up with the Krav Maga Gym but in the last couple of years, I’ve started sleeping later (ie – staying up later) instead of exercising which really isn’t a smart move on my part. Also included on my checklist is to take a multi-vitamin a couple times a week just to ensure my body has what it needs to benefit from the exercise.

Adult Education Classes (NISD): Instead of separate requirements for specific classes, I’m just going with a general adult education category. I hope to take several classes but my requirement is at least 3. The topics of interest to me are HTML/web page programming, archery, pottery, cooking, First Aid/CPR and welding. The specific classes I take will depend on price, scheduling and availability. Hopefully, this way of structuring the requirement will be more successful than previous requirements for specific classes.

Must read 20 Non-Fiction Books: I’m probably going to include this one from now on. I can do reading on potential topics for future goals and generally, I notice I’m a bit more on-the-ball with other things when I keep up with my reading. The requirement is still 20 because I got close to it in 2008 and frankly, I went a couple months without reading a non-fiction book. So, I still consider 20 books a completely feasible goal if I stick with it.

Research Self-Employment: Since I work in the automotive industry, things are a bit uncertain right now. I have no desire to switch jobs as I actually do like where I work. However, it may not be up to me. So, instead of waiting for the ax to fall, I’m going to do a little research on how to get-by if I have to search for a job in the current economic environment. As far as self-employment goes, in the current economic climate I’d like to have the most versatility possible and self-employment is the one option I’ve never done any looking into before. I consider this to be more learning about where the info I will need is and preparing myself to be ready to go if the worst happens.

Blogging Tweaks & Improvement: First things first, I really need to improve my blogroll. The list of actual blogs I read is much, much longer. Using the X/HTML references I collected last year, I’m also going to be looking into either major tweaks or a full-on rebuild of my blog template. It’s looking old to me for some reason. I’m not going to set a post/month goal like I did last year. However, I do want to keep up with posting a bit better. I’ve got some ideas about how to do that and thankfully, one of the goals this year will require I post regularly (see “Poem Of The Week” below).

Clean Apt More Often: I am a terrible housekeeper. I know this. Everybody (including, unfortunately, my mom) knows this. So, this year I’m going to dedicate myself to keeping my apartment cleaner. I’ve added several reoccurring tasks into my Thunderbird Calendar specifically to remind me to keep up with certain things. Also, in the past, one of the reasons I put off cleaning is that I tried to do too much at one time (ie – do everything on a Saturday and whatever doesn’t get done, doesn’t get done). This is a wildly ineffective system. No more. Now, I will purposely do 3-4 things every 2 weeks and spread them out through the week. If I only have to do 1 thing, I’m more likely to get it done after work or before I start playing on the computer on weekends. I hope....

Charitable Education: I’ve long desired to help improve K-12 education either through charitable foundations or my own work. Last year, I discovered DonorsChoose which is a good charity for targeted educational improvement. This year, I’ll continue my donations there as long as I’m financially able but I will also begin research into private or charter schools in the San Antonio area. At some point, I would like to create scholarships for kids at one or more of these schools. This year will be about researching those schools and developing the financial tools necessary to do such a thing. Right now I just have a broad goal of eventually doing this, after 2009 I’d like to have a specific plan of HOW I plan to get this done.

Take Up Shooting: There is a shooting class that I want to take but it isn’t through NISD (although they do have a disarming class). Also, I may attend “open” days at local shooting ranges and / or buy some kind of gun. What I really want is a small rifle. I remember as a kid that I enjoyed shooting a rifle a good deal more than handguns (no idea why). Anyway, this is just one more step in improving my ability to defend myself. I’ll probably start with a rifle and work my way into handguns.

Use Skydiving Voucher: I paid for it, might as well use it. I think I’ll probably wait until Spring. For some reason the idea of jumping out of a plane when it’s really, really cold just makes it more nerve-wracking for me. Still, I do look forward to this. While waiting for the weather to clear when I originally went, they showed videos of other people jumping and it looked insanely fun. Probably not something I’ll do more than once, but definitely something I've always wanted to try.

Teach Myself: Controls Engineering: I got through about ¼ of my book last year. I’m hoping to do at least the same in 2009. The first couple chapters took me a while because I had to do a great deal of reviewing. I’m hoping some of these middle chapters go by quicker now that the groundwork is laid. For the most recent work, I do feel like the material is easier for me because of the review work. I also look forward to making more use of the Octave computer application as that is the closest readily available substitute for some kind of Controls laboratory work.

Ubuntu/OSS Advocacy: In the last 1-2 months, I’ve been advising a coworker who was interested in switching his kids’ computers to Ubuntu. He completed the switch over the holidays. I greatly enjoyed the experience of answering his questions both because it helped remind me of some of the things about Linux which intimidated me at first (the Command Line) and because he asked some really interesting questions. So, I’m adding some kind of open-source or Ubuntu advocacy goal to this year’s list. I’m going to look for a local Ubuntu group to work with and I plan to do (even more) blogging about different aspects of the system from the perspective of somebody who isn’t a programmer. But I really do believe that the open-source model of development results in a far superior product so I’m going to be much more conscious about doing my part to ensure more people know about it. This strikes me as especially necessary after my experiences trying to buy a computer without Windows Vista on it back in September (I don’t see why I had to pay a premium for Vista when I’m going to wipe the HD & install Ubuntu without ever booting into Windows).

Update/Reintegrate Financial Goals: While last year I took steps to improve tracking my finances, my short-and long term goals have languished for a couple years. This is not to say I haven't been completing my financial goals. Only, my financial goals haven’t really been updated in a couple years and when looking at the list, I realize they are a bit dated. Some of them no longer apply, while there are other things I’d like to do that I need to start planning for. So, I will be updating these goals and my 5-10 year financial plans.

Start Using Media Management Software: Last weekend I counted my books. I have 743 (not including magazines and electronic copies, .pdfs). And in the last week, I have bought even more. Needless to say, managing and sorting all those works in a 1-bedroom apartment requires a great deal of shelving and alphabetizing. But I would like to have some way of tracking what I own and what I don’t. This is especially important for some of my sci-fi series where I have trouble remembering what I own and what I still need to buy. And for non-fiction books, I’ve been a little bit haphazard in how I divide them by subject so maybe using a Media Management application will force me to pay better attention there.

Improve PuppyLinux Install: I set this up on a flash drive right before my trip to Japan last year. While for the most part it was a positive experience, they released an update to Puppy shortly thereafter and I never took the time to really tweak the applications. Since the main purpose of having Puppy on a flash drive is to access certain linux applications that my borrowed-work-WindowsONLY laptop does not have, I need to get the drive fully set-up to have all those applications and any useful add-ons. Frankly, I don’t see this taking any more than a weekend or two but it does need doing. Now is the perfect time too because I don’t have any travel for work on my schedule.

Patio Garden – Food: Needless to say my garden revamp of 2008 was a disastrous failure. This year, I’m going to focus on edible plants. I’ve noticed I tend to take better care of plants that are doing something for me. The whole care for nature because it is an inherently worthwhile act isn’t really a motivator for me. In order to be successful this time around, I need to plant earlier (late Feb) and plant things that I will want to succeed (flowers, who cares? Give me a good jalapeño plant any day). I’ve already got some ideas but I need to sort through my seeds to see what’s still good and what I’ll need to buy.

Write 1 Poem A Week: One of the reasons I started blogging was to improve and maintain my writing skills. The more I work in engineering, the more I see the value in being able to communicate properly and clearly . As a teenager, I went through the typical angst-filled poetry phase. However, I actually still like some of the poems I wrote back then. I'm not referring to the depressing self-pitying crap. However, some of the more thoughtful pieces still resonate. In an effort to contrast the dry engineering writing I do every day, I will write 1 Poem a week for the entire year. There are additional restrictions. Over half (26+) must be form poems (sonnets,haikus,etc) as sometimes I work best when restricted. And of the form poems, if I do a haiku I have to do at least two or three as they are so short. Since we’re in the end of the second week of 2009, I’m already behind. But I’ll catch up. The goal is to post the poem on Saturday or Sunday.

Investigate Green Home Design: I do not like how most modern housing is built. I get that it is a business and they have an obligation to drive costs down, but it seems like if you want a certain level of quality, you’re only option is to custom build. This is a prohibitively expensive jump for most people. At some point, I would like to build my own home. In preparation for this, I have been developing some very specific ideas about what I’d want from that home. Green design appeals to me not for its environmental street-cred but from an efficiency standpoint. Green builders are really the only ones thinking outside-the-box in homebuilding today. So, I’m going to do some studying of what’s cutting edge here in anticipation that sometime in the future, I’ll be able to use that knowledge to build myself a nice, quality, energy-efficient home.

Teach Myself: Applications of Interest (MIN 2): I’ve added several applications to my Ubuntu install but haven’t taken the time to really learn them. Even after finally getting why GIMP is so cool, there’s a lot to that program I simply don’t know how to use. So I will make more of an effort to learn some open-source applications involving skills that are important to my future plans. These applications include photo/video editing, CAD programs, programming tools and productivity-enhancing tools. Initially, I plan to focus on GIMP and the FreeCad program as I feel they would be the most immediately applicable.

Improve Language Skills (Spanish & Japanese): I work in a multilingual environment. While I can follow conversations with differing levels of competence, I’m terrible about using the language skills I have and making an effort to improve them further. Part of it is a confidence issue, I don’t want to say the wrong thing but I really need to get the hell over that. So, I’ll be using more Spanish (especially in emails where there’s plenty of opportunity to check your phrasing) and trying to learn some additional Japanese. I think at the very least, I should learn the romanji alphabet as that’s how Japanese renders as lot of words they got from other languages like English. I don’t know that I’ll ever be fluent in any language other than English but I’m certain I have the capability to be functionally conversant.

Rent Larger Apt/Duplex/Townhome: I need more space! In addition to room for all my books, I would like a guest room for my parents and relatives to visit (yes, I actually like hanging out with some of my relatives, crazy but true). I did some looking around in 2008 but didn’t find anything that justified moving. There were a couple of places that appealed but unfortunately, they didn’t have anything available. I’m be keeping my ear to the ground for something better and saving money for a move & some new furniture. I may also be doing some preemptive cleaning to get rid of stuff I don’t want to bother packing up and carrying someplace new. This goal is tentative pending any abrupt changes in the financial situation or a lack of anything available. We’ll see.

Link to full post.

YouTube Is Changing The World, pt 2 Trillion

I know, I'm blogging like a fiend today compared to my usual rate. But this is probably the most concise summary of what caused the current economic meltdown I have seen yet!

Link to full post.

Stereo Decision Making

Last weekend, I was in Best Buy looking for a cable to plug my MP3 player directly into my stereo. After some bad advice and $15 I’ll never get back, my dad finally found us the Y-cable we both needed. Having now used the cable a week, I’ve got to wonder....

Item A: Stereo with MP3 Player Dock = $80 MIN

versus

Item B: Y-Cable to Plug into Current Stereo = $7

Why do so many people go for Item A when B is cheaper and just as good sound-wise? Aside from the cool visual of an MP3 player plugged in, what do you get out of this that justifies $70+ dollars more? *is sorta baffled*

Although, I'll probably be buying this sucker soon as my 20GB MP3 player is currently at 19GB of used space.

Link to full post.

GenY Is Bad With Money? Huh?

This morning, I came across an article about how GenY are financially inept. I’m not quite sure what to think. While I had some financial difficulty transitioning from college into working life, I can’t imagine the pervasive cluelessness of the person in the article. Wouldn’t you expect someone with a background in photography, a profession where most people either operate a small business or work as free-lance contractors, to maybe perhaps receive at university some education about how to run a small business?

Not to mention, I do not understand how you can get through four years on a college student’s income without even the vaguest idea of budgeting! My family had to do this before I even started college to determine if the student loans would be enough to cover the difference between what my parents & I could pay and what college actually cost. Any parent that didn’t bring their kids into that discussion would be missing the entire point of college as “adulthood-lite”. It’s not just about the freedom of living on your own; college is about steadily taking more responsibility for your own life. And the first part of that is being aware of the things you will one day be fully responsible for.

My own problems stemmed more from a lack of planning long-term financial goals. You know, if I want a new car in X yrs then I have to save $Y a month for Z number of months. I do agree with the article that good habits and financial planning aren’t taught enough in schools but I also feel you can get a good education in these topics without taking a class.

Just go to your local library and check out any 5 books on “Getting Your Finances In Order”. Read all five. Then, write a list of what you want to accomplish financially and develop a plan for those goals based on all five books. The odds are you aren’t going to want to slavishly follow someone else’s plan here. Most people’s “financial problems” are actually combinations of smaller problems like personal debt, bad investing habits, no savings or lack of goals. So your recovery plan should focus on the problems you actually have not what some book says to do. For example, it’s pointless to start saving for a house when your credit rating is terrible due to personal debt.

To me, financial planning is common sense and good planning tempered with a bit of knowledge. High schools would do much better to encourage long-term planning skills and the ability to self-teach. Both of these are critical towards successful financial planning. The financial world is very fluid so without the ability to not just make plans but adapt them to changing circumstances is critical for long-term success. If educators simply must to be more specific, perhaps high schools should focus on basic market principles? Don’t most schools teach economics? We were required to take a minimum of one semester which covered markets, running a small business and generating goods/services that customers are willing to pay for. Granted this was an AP Economics class but the non-AP students were still required to take an economics class that covered the same topics, just not as much of the theory of market capitalism. Was my experience really so outside of the mainstream?

Link to full post.

2008 Personal Enrichment Goals

After last year’s trial run, I have high hopes for this year’s list. These build on some of the goals from 2007 but it’s a much more challenging list. Frankly, there’s one or two goals that flat-out terrify me. But, that’s what personal growth is all about, right? *nervous smile*

Full post has list of goals and brief descriptions. Total in list is 21. (Yikes!)
There’s three categories of goals: Work, Study & Self-Improvement

I. Work

1) Attend "Basic PM" Short Course by MPIF: The MPIF has an excellent 3 day course on powdered metal (PM) parts for people who purchase or design them. I’m really excited about this as PM isn’t a material category that was really focused on in my Engineering Material courses.

2) Attend at least 1 class through Company University: It depends on my schedule but there are several classes offered that interest me. I’ll probably do this toward the end of the year.

II. Study

3) Study Command Line And Scripting: While Ubuntu is perfectly functional without command-line knowledge, I think it would be good to learn for several reasons. It would make me less susceptible to someone recommending a malicious command to me. And this type of interface is common to all Linux distributions even if there’s variation in some of the commands. Knowing the CL broadens the places I can apply my knowledge.

4) Take NISD Class “Intro to HTML”: This is to help me get some basic knowledge. I’m really just looking for enough to interpret and possibly tweak my weblog template.

5) Must read 20 Non-fiction Books: This is under study because (I hope) reading more non-fiction will expose me to a variety of topics. My parents were kind enough to get me several books for Christmas so I have enough reading material to get through over half of this requirement.

6) Begin Process of Linux-Professional Certification: This is a maybe. If I can take the first exam ("101") over the web, I definitely will go that far at least. This would be a good way to test the studying I do for Goals 3 and 8. My eventual goal would be for a Junior Level Certification so I'd only need one more test to do that.

7) How do I Set-up A Charitable Endowment?: I have a number of long-term charity goals so I’d like to have a bit more understanding of how to structure my finances for those goals.

8) How do you build an (GUI?) application in Ubuntu?: Not really a goal so much as a question. There’s two or three applications I’d like for Ubuntu and no one appears to be developing them. If I can answer this, perhaps next year I’ll add creating those applications to my PE list.

9) Take a First Aid / Emergency Aid Class: This didn't get done in 2007. It strikes me as a hugely important skill so it stays on the list until it gets done. At the very least, I’d like to get CPR certification.

10) Teach Myself: Controls Engineering: Note how vague this is. Controls was the one engineering course I did incredibly poorly in. No amount of studying helped me very much. So, I bought a different textbook because the old one makes me freeze in terror. I don’t plan to go through the whole thing this year but if I get through about 1/3 of the chapters, I’ll be quite satisfied.

III. Self-Improvement

11) Take First-Level Test for Krav Maga: Must be done before end of the year. This is in service to my longer-term self-defense goals. I’ll have to start attending more classes. But hopefully, I’ll be able to give it a shot.

12) Make At Home & On-the-Go Disaster Kits: Last year in my area, there was an ice storm and record-level rains due to hurricanes disintegrating over San Antonio. While I have some of the expected disaster survival materials, they are scattered throughout my apartment. I’d like to have everything in one, easy-to-locate bag.

13) Update to Gutsy Gibbon Ubuntu: Currently I'm at Feisty Fawn. This will likely be the first thing I complete. I’m already reading through update threads in the Ubuntu forums to get see what the typical problems are. Once I feel OK to handle typical problems, I’ll back-up my install and update.

14) Develop Better Financial Tracking: Specifically to track non-salary income (like from interest, etc). I do put it into my budget (somewhere) but I plan to do some financial restructuring this year and I’d like to keep a better eye on things.

15) Get Laser Eye Treatments: Kinda terrifying. Even though not wearing glasses would be great, I have trouble picturing my face without glasses on it. They've been a key feature since I was six. I’m going to have to spend a couple months talking myself into this.

16) New Plants for Patio Garden: I tend to plant the same seven or eight plants every spring. So, this year I’m going to mix it up a bit. Try some new things. I need to go browsing in Home Depot to get some ideas.

17) Maintain Weblog: And not just maintain. I have a tentative list of improvements I’d like to make as well as a goal of 20+ posts each month. I think the minimum posting will be straightforward, but the improvements will require some preparation.

18) Go Skydiving: GULP. Exceptionally terrifying. This is my “OMG-Am-I-Crazy?!” goal. A friend did this recently after swearing never to and she had a ball. At some point in my life, I would really like to travel into outer space. This would pretty tame in comparison with that.

19) Be Sociable: Wildly general, isn’t it? But I really do have trouble interacting with people especially those I don’t know very well. Even doing something as simple as commenting on someone else’s blog results in some anxiety. So, I’m hoping I can make more of an effort to engage in activities which require interaction with people outside my circle of friends/coworkers.

20) Support the WGA Strike: Since the strike probably going to be a long-haul, I’m going to do what I can to support it. I’ll maintain my original strike prohibitions AND, if possible, I may additionally support it financially through donations/purchases of Strike Swag. Also, if there’s enough warning, I’d seriously consider attending a Fan Picket Day for either “Bones” or “Supernatural”.

21) Purchase Google OS Phone: This is of course dependent on availability. Due to the horror stories surrounding contracts and phones, I’ve purposely avoided any cell phone beyond the plain old pay-as-you-go kind. My current cell had no camera, music playback or other fancy features. I figure learning a more complicated phone would be good for me and I like the idea of using an Open-Source phone that I can change as I like.

Dear God, this list is intimidating! But if I can have just one or two experiences as fun, educational and fulfilling as my switch to Ubuntu in 2007, I’ll consider it a good year.

Link to full post.

Friday Hit List

1) Much Needed Patent Reform Act. Currently in-process in Congress. Looks like a much more civil discussion then the equally-necessary copyright reform.

2) HILARIOUS op-ed on recent financial troubles in the lending markets. Don't lend money to people who can't pay it back? What a concept. The best quote of the piece:

But as I say, it was my fault, for not studying the poor more closely before I lent them the money. When the only time you've ever seen a lion is in his cage in the zoo, you start thinking of him as a pet cat. You forget that he wants to eat you.

3) Katana Sword vs. 9mm. The world would be such a crappy place without Japanese television.

4) Enable Insults in Ubuntu Command Line. Make typo, suffer the consequences.

Link to full post.

Tuesday Miscellaneous

1) Why are we so scared of offending Muslims? Excellent Question. Good article by the ever-topical Christopher Hitchens. The tone is a bit anti-religion in general but the questions asked are ON.

2) Chinese Govt Once Again Shafting Tibetans. Respect their (outdated, totalitarian) authority. Between this and the Yahoo! debacle, why do we trust these morons?

3) MIT working on a HCCL engine design. Fantastic stuff. Diesel fuels are not the cure-all some people (cough*Europe*cough) think they are. The diesel reduction in nitrogen pollutants are offset by an increase in particulate (soot) emissions. TANSTAAFL people. Making an engine that actually burns less fuel more efficiently seems like better all-around alternative.

4) 10 Tips To Make Sure You Stay Broke. The Consumerist tries it's hand at some reverse psychology.

5) MIT's Digital Water Pavilion. A building whose walls are made of water for upcoming Expo on water and sustainable development. Check out the pictures thru the link. COOL.

Link to full post.