My Life 2.0

WoW and productivity

2009-09-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

So I am getting back into World of Warcraft. I am leveling a Dranai Hunter named Haanah, who is currently at level 27. I am about to start the Darkshire quests, which is one of my favorite zones. My two professions are Mining and Herbalism and I am also leveling fishing and first aid as I go. Both Mining and Herbalism are at 100 and my fishing is at 125, so I just learned Expert. :) My goal is to be exalted with Stormwind by 40 so I can get a Horse as my epic ground mount. I am currently 5% through revered, so it could happen. I'll probably have to go back and do any quests I missed in Goldshire and Redridge Mountains. The repeatable cloth turn in quest isn't doable till 50. :)

I also started a Blood Elf Warlock, named Vycki, so that I can experience the Horde content. I plan to take this one character through all of the starting zones for Horde. So that's my current alt. I probably won't take her past 40 though, since after that, I've seen most of the content with Tosharii.

In my real life, I have a bunch of stuff to do this weekend. I want to:

Do iphone homework
Learn about Micro-niches
Do 3 hours of Work-work
Clean my house and wash clothes

And then play more WoW. :)

Procrastination

2009-09-05T15:18:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning with this grand plan. I was going to spend the day being super productive and just bang my way though my to do list, which today consisted of mainly the gun book. Sounds good, right? Well, right. I ended up starting by working through a Gimp tutorial (Gimp is the linux version of photoshop, for those who don't know). Then I did a bit of the gun book. I worked well for maybe 15 minutes then I got side tracked by looking at linux to-do apps. I found a command line one, which is interesting, but then decided to install Tracks.

Well, you see, productivity is this illusive thing. Some people use paper, others the web, other spend countless hours and gigabytes downloading software. But why?

The dream is that app that will do our work for us. That takes all of the effort and stress out of our lives. That will turn us into little widget cranking robots. Because, you see, the less we think, the more we can do. But this takes the human out of it, doesn't it? Can we have an app that thinks for us? That takes away the fears associated with our work? The boredom?

I'll admit that I also strive for this. I get flustered really easily when I have too much to do. Really flustered. So I try to take the stress away by letting the computers think. But computers don't think, they process. There is a big difference and in the end, I am left unsatisfied.

Saija is my attempt at creating the most think-like task organizer I can, but I can really completely succeed. Even Saija can't do it all.

So where does all this leave me? What philosophy do I try to follow? All I know is that I'm getting more and more unhappy with the state of my projects... I spend all of my time at work. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. I work with awesome people and do flow-enabling work. But here I am, solving other peoples problems. These sites are not mine. They don't solve my problems. I want to solve my problems.

That leaves the weekends and after work. And that means productivity. For a while I was thinking about trying to focus on only one thing, and that seems like a good plan, but I tend to project jump so much. I never really finish anything. I like to work on things that grab me. But that doesn't lead to goals..

This is the challenge of life. The challenge I have always struggled with all my life. But now I don't have a block. I don't have school. I have free time and free money. I have lots of freedom. And I have spent the last 3 months only working. My life is now....

-------

So I guess I need goals, thats what all of the gurus say. But I always come up with corny goals that I look back on later and laugh at. Those are not real goals. So what are real goals?

Well for one, I need to make money online. I need a residual income. I won't be at Web Services forever, so while I have the extra money, I need to learn to make money. I guess that is why I am back online... why I am writing this. The money is leading me home. So more doing, less reading. Here I come.

I also want to fill in my knowledge in relation to websites. I need to learn graphic design and finish djite. I am a programmer... I'll always be programming. I guess that is kinda goal number 2.

I'll stop there for now... I also have health goals... Like getting in shape. but the details can wait for now.

I have a gun book to finish, once and for all.

Ubuntu Remix

2009-09-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I am on a roll, I might as well continue....

I am currently typing on a Dell Mini 9 running Ubuntu Remix. It is so cute and so easy to use and so controllable. I just love it. I never ever thought I'd say that, but I love a Dell. It is true. The mac community can shoot me now.

Mac is still better for graphics. Aperture kicks butt and so do programs like Coda (the IDE), but for development, especially in Python, Linux is really winning me over.

For one, I like the customization. I just customized the look of my windows and picked out exactly what I wanted. They are blackish orange with a similar color desktop. Then I edited the graphic files for the Remix Launcher so the background was see-through. It looks super cool now. :) Yeah for customization.

Another plus is that apps are programmable in Python. I need to learn to use the GTK bindings for python, but it is doable and so I could be programming my own linux apps soon. ( There are cocoa bindings for python too. I guess I need to look at those).

But anywho, I have a big laptop and a tiny one, and I like them both. :) I guess the real moral of this story is that I am a nerd!!

Life Hacking?

2009-09-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

So in the past, I have been uber conserned with a thing the interwebs call 'Lifehacking'. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it. It is this whole idea of super-productivity. Well, I tend to get so caught up in Lifehacking that I forget to be productive. Lol. I guess its a little ironic that I used to spend so much time reading and writing about Lifehacking that I never really did anything... I don't think that is the point.

Well, I quit that. Good for me. I'm proud of you Hailey. I erased Lifehacker from Google Reader, I unfollowed those people in twitter. I'm not going to do it anymore. I am just using a simple calendar and a moleskin as a journal to keep track of everything. And I'm not changing until those finish. I really love my moleskin. It realy is as nice as everyone says it is.

Anywho, I was just reading some old goals in a previous post on this blog and realised how silly some of them were. lol. I wanted to be a VA. I really don't think thats much different than real work.

I want residual income. Not work. Residual... Like that 4 hour work week thing. (No I don't want to be an ass or spam people, I just want to have freedom). Freedom.. That's what it is all about. That is what I fail to have currently. I want my Freedom.

The trouble is, paradoxically, two things:

1. I have too many ideas.Updates
2. I don't have enough ideas.

Yeah.. Lol.

So I guess I have a new goal... I want to make money online. Yeah.. I am not sure how, but I want to. Ok. I lied, I do know one way how... the question is whether I have the will to do it. But I believe I have the motivation. Or it is growing so, we shall see. But no more lifehacking... I actually need to get to work.

My Life 3.0?

2009-09-03T16:39:00.001-07:00

So it has been quite a while since I have even thought about putting my thoughts online. Actually last time I quit because I was so into writing that everything else was being neglected. Well, guess what. Here I am again. Lol. Persueing the blogs once more.

It's kinda ironic that I actually don't like to write. Especially on a schedule (which is one reason topic blogging is hard for me). And I don't write complete sentences and I write 'lol' alot. lol. :)

But the blogs do call and I apparently answered. Hence me sitting here an typing this. Oh, I just got a Mini 9 from Dell. I really like it. Its a real computer that fits in my purse. Just the right size for some blogging, what do ya say?

So a bit of an update. I got a job. At Rice. I'm programming. I am a nerd, so programming is natural for me. I took a programming class a couple years ago and my lab partner predicted that I would be a programmer. I laughed at him then. I'm smiling now. He was so right.

I'm having a bit of a rough time adjusting to work. I am heading up a big effort and it requires lots of communicating. I have writen more emails in the past week then like ever on one topic. Its a bit overwhelming at times, but all in all I like it. I really like the programming part.

I recently learned Django, which is a web framework of the python language. It's a very simple and elegance language and framework. I already have my first pet application started. Its gonna be awesome! (and no, I'm not telling :-P )

I like efficentcy... Yeah, that's funny considering the state of my room.. Anywho, that is the online hint you get on my app. And no, its not a calendar.

Lets see, this is suppose to be an update. So... I quit swing dancing. I got too tired of all of the competitiveness. I'm too heavily effected by that. I started photography. I like it, but no more classes. I don't want my hobby so heavily critiqued when I'm just starting out. (I know, I need it to get better. Well, probably, but let me have fun with it first.)

Pictures are up at: http://web.me.com/lovefaithswing

ok. This enough of an update for now. Hope to post more soon. Remember... the blogs have been calling me home.

Learning and Video

2008-07-10T13:56:00.001-07:00

So, I've never had a time in my life when watching videos were so productive. But with the introduction of video casts, it now is. I have hours to watch.

Here is a list of things I need to watch:

- The cocoa casts up to where I am in the textbook. http://ping.fm/Sx9aA (About 2 more hours before the next homework)

- The javascript videos http://ping.fm/wdZtg

(about 2 hours)

And for fun, I am going through the Macgyver series, but that's not considered productive.

I just finished watching Omnifocus's videocasts. When I get the iphone, I will be buying the Omnifocus GTD app. it's only $20. I don't really like thier desktop interface, but the iphone one looks rocking! I'm excited.

World of Warcraft

2008-07-08T22:04:00.001-07:00

So I have been under some light pressure to join World of Warcraft (as mentioned in my last post). Well a thought just occurred to me about it. My main reason for not joining is the large amounts of time I will spend not being productive because of this game. I will spend quite a bit of time on it, I'm sure as the game does sound fun. I have a to-do list that is really long. Those things normally don't mix.

But the truth is, I spend most of my time being unproductive anyway doing things like monitoring twitter and plurk, tweaking the blog, watching MacGyver, surfing Facebook, surfing the web and more! There are days when I do very little productive work. So maybe things won't really change if I join WoW. It would probably just replace some surfing.

It could even be good if I make playing it dependent on getting the task of the day done. That may even be enough to combat the surfing tendency... so hey, it may actually be good for me.

So a couple points in favor of WoW. I'm not completely convinced yet. I'm scared to start it and find this analysis to be wrong.

Another day as Me

2008-07-08T20:30:00.001-07:00

So today was interesting. Odd. Fun at time. Sucky at times. But that is what life is, right?

I'm not sure I mentioned it before in my last post, but I love my summer job. I work with really kool and friendly people and our lunch conversations are nothing but laughs. It's great! Nothing is better for your day then laughing for an hour.

One topic of discussion was addiction. I have a very addictive personality... I get addicted to things really easily. Be it a certain food, an activity, a book, a game... once I start i can't seem to stop myself. This is to the detriment of everything else in my life. This topic arose in one of the many times I was told about World of Warcraft and how great it is. The thing is... I believe them. It sounds awesome and right up my alley, but that, my friends, is my downfall. I don't need something that is up my alley right now. I need to get the things that I need to do done. Those would be my 9 main goals. Once again, I did nothing on any of them today. :-( Actually, I have a run kitty run post that needs to be finished for tomorrow... guess what I'm doing next. ;-)

According to my schedule, tomorrow's main task for the day is suppose to be my ebook. The topic's a secret, so don't ask me to tell you. But yeah, that's tomorrow. Research and writing for that. Kool. I will prolly go to Te after work... oh that's right, no lap top so I can't write. Oh I can't wait to get that Neo! It's going to kick ass! It's suppose to show up thursday... I hope its early thursday.

I'm going to have to divide up the 8 files that it comes with. OK...

1 My Novel
2 My Ebook
3 ML Biz Plan
4 My Computer Program notes
5 ML Website Notes
6 Run Kitty Run
7 Ideas List
8 Journal

Well that sounds pretty good. Oh course, it will change once I use it.

So, I just decided to start posting these at my old blog again as well as in LJ. The old blog was about changing my life one day at a time, and I guess that is what I'm still doing. One day at a time. Just not numbered. I may pick that meme up again, but not today. Today you just get a post. A little piece of my mind. Glad to be back.

I'm tired and have a post to finish. G'night all!

Blog Redone

2007-08-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I have completely redone this blog and added it to my personal website. (Link Removed)
If you have an RSS subscription to this blog, please subscribe to the new one.

Happy Reading!
Hailey

UPDATE: As of now, I am back posting on this blog. The re-do was on a platform that I was less then happy with. Enjoy!

Day 5: Just a Day

2007-07-19T07:27:00.000-07:00

I worked at Taft in the morning and got nothing done. My plan was to read filemaker, but it is too busy to read something like that there. So I didn't really do anything.

After Taft, I worked on my wikis. My home wiki is lovefaithswing.atwiki.com. I managed to create a Saija and Marion's Ledge Wiki too for me to work in. I filled in the Saija one, but didn't do the one for Marion's Ledge.

I wasn't feeling too snazy and so i skipped my Jung center class and ate something and watched a re-run of House. It was one of my favorite episodes. Here is a quote:

House: Are you going to base your whole life on who you go stuck in a room with?
Girl: No, I'm going to base this moment on who I got stuck in a room with.
That's what life is, it's a series of rooms. And who we get stuck in those rooms with add up to what our lives are.

I like that. :-) I am not sure it is inspirational, but it is very philosophical and I like it.

I did go to Tango and FAME, both I was a little out of it for. I was having a really bad dancing day at FAME. I just couldn't dance well with anyone. But the music was good and I still like that place.

I went to bed late last night and had a series of nightmares, but I was so tired that I had to go back to sleep. I am not sure what was going on there.

Day 4: Wikimania!

2007-07-17T22:42:00.000-07:00

I succeeded in getting up at 5:50 this morning without going back to sleep! yay! I meditated for that earth thing, and I had something of a panic attack. I couldn't breathe and my muscles got all tight. I don't know why.

I basically followed my day plan, although my evening routine was rushed and I just realized that I forgot to put out my clothes for tomorrow.

I spent most of the day working on my wiki. I added a faq page about myself, and put my goals on there too. let me know if there are any questions that you want me to answer. :-)

I also spent some time trying to figure out scripting in filemaker. But I did find a bunch of calendar filemaker examples, so it can be done. I may have to pay a bit for them though.

Tomorrow, I have taft in the morning. I'm going to take my computer, but not the filemaker book, so I'll probably work mainly on my wiki. But i'm also going to try to set up a marion's ledge/clover wiki too for Hank and I. That will help us see what comes next.

oh! and one final note: My clean sink was so pretty that it made me want to clean that toilet and floor next to it. :-)

Tomorrow is clean the vanity day. That should be easy. And I want to get boxes that fit on my shelves to hold stuff like purfume and meds. Another thing to add to wiki!

Day 3: Habits and Saija

2007-07-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

I spent last night starting my control journal. I have decided to do it in atwiki, which is the easiest and phone friendliest wiki I could find. So far on the flylady habits, I am picking out my clothes before bed, shining my sink, and getting dressed when I first get up. My next habit to build is to clean my bedroom floor first thing in the morning. I am going to do that tomorrow.

I really like the habit of shining my sink. It doesn't take long and fits right in with brushing my teeth and washing my face. I have a really pretty sink. And now the toilet is bugging me. It used to never bug me!

Most of my day was spent on Saija. I'll repeat that. I STARTED SAIJA!!!!!!!

I have spent so much time reading about programing and filemaker, but, except for that little menu version in c, I haven't spent any time on Saija. I ran into a lot of problems, but that is the fun part. It was a growing experience as I figure them out. I will post screen shots later. By the end of the day (after going over my problems with Hank), my design morphed into something I will actually succeed at using. (hopefully)

So my day tomorrow:
- get up, eat, get dressed
- clean bedroom floor
- program Saija!
- spend some time with my new wiki, putting in data.
- Cardio swing! (The highlight of my week)
- Brush teeth and shine sink
- Pick out clothes for next day.

2 Announcements
- Tomorrow morning at 6:11, there is a worldwide meditation on bettering the state of the earth. I'm gonna do it!
- This friday at Mixers and Elixirs, I am performing a swing routine to King Porter's Stomp with the newbie Hepcats. :-) Come watch!!

Day 2: Goals

2007-07-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

After writing yesterday's post (which got posted this morning), I sat down and began thinking about all of the things that I do that don't further a goal. These things are time wasters. I needed to sit down and write out some goals that my actions need to reflect. These are the goals that I came up with:

Real Estate: Buy 20 units by the time I graduate that makes more then $50 per unit per month.
Have Marion's Ledge open by August 2012.
Program and release the 1st prototype of Saija by this coming Thanksgiving.
Release the first Marion's Clover product by Jan 09.
Have a Virtual Assistant Client paying me $40/hr to do lead management and other related tasks by this Christmas.
Get my Apartment Clean and build good eating and productivity habits in the next 90 days.

Some Notes About My Goals
The two main tasks involved with learning about real estate is going through Ken McElroy's book The ABC's of Real Estate Investing and joining LifeStyles Unlimited. Both of these teach investing to rent.

I need to sit down with Marion's Ledge and create a big chart of everything that we are doing that the steps that need to be taken. Then I will know what we need to do next.

I am ready to start prototyping Saija using Filemaker.

Hank and I are going to have a mini retreat for Marion's Clover where we do many of the activities from One Minute Millionaire and other Robert Allen books. This will help us get our thoughts straight on Marion's Clover stuff.

I am going to buy a book that teaches about Virtual Assisting and then I will create a business plan, cards, and a web site so that I can start looking for a client.

I found a web site called The Fly Lady that takes you step by step through cleaning your house. I am going to go through those steps to get my apartment clean and in order. I am also checking out Peter Walsh's books on organization. When it comes to habits, I found a habit tracker on Productivity501 that I will be using to help me build good eating and productivity habits. I also used electrical tape and a very small ziplock to make a nike+ipod pouch for my shoe to track my walks.
So Far...
I took 2 30 minute walks yesterday. This is when I learned that the nike+ipod does not work with kangaroos, so I made my electrical tape pouch. I am planning to walk to Rice tomorrow to try it out. Here is my electrical tape sensor pouch. It isn't pretty but it works!

I cleaned my sink, which it the first step in the Fly Lady's site for cleaning your house. Here is a picture:

I printed out the habit tracker and some VA info.

I didn't have too much work time today since I had a Cultural Field trip this morning and swing classes tonight. So that is pretty good for just a couple hours.

Day 1: procrastination by curiosity

2007-07-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

I noticed something about myself today. I am addicted to learning. And, I know that that isn't a bad thing completely, but the problem arises when my curiosity makes me not do the really important things.

I have read so many productivity books in my life, but I have never really applied any of them. I am now reading about all of these ways to become rich and they all sound really great, but I don't act. Despite my love for things that are moving and shaking, I don't normally move or shake myself. I am dead.

The moments in my life when I felt most alive were times when I was accomplishing something. Be it boxing food at the food bank or putting those initial folders together when I started working towards Marion's Ledge. I was doing something. Moving something.

This summer I wanted to move stuff. I wanted to complete the Marion's Ledge biz plan and some marketing things, but so far, I haven't done any of that. Instead, I have been reading a bunch of books. Yes, they are good books, but they are pointless unless I use them. I can't keep putting things off till after that next book. I will never do anything that way. If I really am going to retire by the time I am 30, I gotta get moving!!!

So today I am stopping and looking at what I am doing. I'm not going to stop reading but I am going to start acting. I am going to re work my to do list and spend the next couple days seeing how much I can get done off it. One item I am definitely going to do is start Saija. I will never do it unless I just start and learn as I go.

No more being lazy!!! It is time to achieve my goals!! And the first step is figuring out what really is a goal and what isn't. Let the work begin!

Somethings gotta give

2007-07-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

Ok. I think it is time for an update on my life. I haven't been blogging in a while due to a resolution to stay off of my computer as much as possible. Too much computer time and I start to get antsy. But I wanted to post, so I finally downloaded a blogger client for my phone called mo:blog. I can now update without breaking my computer resolution.

After a couple bad weeks at the beginning of summer which lead to a mini-breakdown when I thought that I lost my ankh necklace (which I later found), I finally dealt with what I was going through. It is so much better now.

New Beginnings

In the middle of June, I got two positive influences that made me stop and look around me and say "Somethings gotta give!" The first was Hank getting a job that required him to get up at 6:30 every morning. The second was having Cardio swing over at Derek's house.

At the beginning of Junior year (wow. I can't believe I'm a Senior!), I was getting up early every day and really enjoying it. But I let that slide. When this summer hit, I was regularly dragging myself out of bed at noon. I lost half the day to sleep. But now that Hank is getting up early, I have been getting up at the same time. The first day was really successful. I got up, cleaned up, worked some, took a walk, meditated at Rothco, read at Bookstop, and ended up at teahouse. Very cool.

Recently I have had varying degrees of success. I'm pretty good at getting up at 6:30. It's the staying up that I have problems with. If I am not doing something active, engaging, or involving food (which I'll get to in a bit), I fall back to sleep.

Another side effect of my mini burnout/breakdown is a burnout with swing. After Lindyfest and spraining my ankle, I lost a lot of my groove with swing. My follow got much worse and I tightened up.This was very noticeable in class with Ryan. I just wasn't as good. And it hurt to do Charleston. After rsds classes ended, I was so frustrated by swing that I just quit. I stopped doing anything swing except taft and an occasional continental. It was just too emotionally trying. And on top of all that, being around large number of people was trying. Specially when I didn't want to be around some of them.

But enter cardio. Cardio is great. A limited number of people, the ability to dance really bad without anyone looking at me with that "What happened?" expression that I was getting from the really good dancers. I was free to suck. That feels good. I slowly built my confedence back up. But it was going to A&M to dance that got me back into swing. I was completely comfortable there. Good people, Good music, Good times!! All of the stress was gone. I had a blast!! (And as a side note, I got to drive Derek's Audi. It likes dulee power in a light tiny box. dude!)

After that, the dance bug caught me again. I'm back at Melody and now Fame has a Wednesday night dance!! The stress is almost completely gone. And when I feel it creeping in, I tell it to go away. Life rules!!

But with all of the things that have happened in the last incredible couple of weeks, I have some more things to change. But I am on the right path!

More Changes to Come!

My House
The first thing that needs changing is also influenced by cardio, specifically that we are meeting at Derek's house. Derek's house is amazingly clean and clear. It's pretty and it makes me look around at the dump that I call home and wish that I lived in a pretty house. but that isn't gonna happen till I get rid of stuff. The debate is still out about whether Derek or I have more stuff. But it is close enough that there is a debate. Derek has a 3 story condo. I have a 600 sq ft one bedroom apartment. There is something wrong with this picture. To get my living space clean, I have 2 options. Get a bigger apartment (which isn't gonna happen on my budget) or get rid of stuff.

Merlin Mann of 43Folders was talking about a book called It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh. It addresses this very topic. I put a hold on it in the library. That should help. But I have to get over my obsessive hoarding tendencies.

Speaking of checking out books, I recently discovered the library (FRee INfo!!) and have been reading almost full time recently. This is a good thing except that I am neglecting work things. but more on that later.

Food
The next thing on my too tackle list is food. I have a big problem with food. I don't eat enough good food. This stems partly from lack of money, partly from lack of a kitchen, and partly from an unwillingness to buy perishable food.

Food sucks. I buy food. Start eating it. It goes bad. I through half of it away. repeat cycle. So much of my money just gets thrown away with wasted food. And it is stressful to throw stuff away. I hate doing it. Talk about frustrating!

So I end up with a lot of frozen food and at times no food at home. By the time I get to where I'm going, I am weak from hunger. And bought out food is expensive so I try to stick to dollar menus or big portions that I can eat on for days. But if I'm not careful, that goes bad. Stupid food. This is something that I have no idea how to fix.

One thing that may help this is that Derek, Hank and I have decided to have cooking parties regularly at Derek's so that we eat good at least sometimes. And cooking is fun in a clean kitchen. :-)

But food is a struggle and will probably stay a struggle.

Money
This brings up money. I've written about money recently, but right now I'm struggling. I spent a little too much on my bunk bed (but I love my new bed) and I'm now playing catch up. My summer electricity bill will be crazy! And gas sucks money right out of my pocket. I would like to start putting money into stocks and saving up for my first real estate purchase. Hank and I are going to be real estate investment partners through our company Marion's Clover. The little bit of residual income from investments should help me not get into this situation again.

Also, I found yesterday what my dream job is. I want to be a virtual personal assistant. I would make around $40 an hour and therefore would not have to work very much per week. 10 hours a week would give me about $1600 per month!! dude! And even with car and health payments, I'd have some extra money and plenty of free time. No corporate crap para mi! And if I decided to go full time, I'd be very close to 6 digits. All from my own house and my own computer using my own talents. I am going to specialize in Lead management in the mortgage/financial broker industry. I had an internship in Highschool where I did a similar job, so I have experience. :-) It will be a good job while I am investing in Real Estate and building up my residual income.

Work
My last recent obsession is a program idea called Saija. It is a productivity tool for people who hate productivity tools. It started with my paper productivity system that I decided would be very useful automated. It is like GTD with steroids.

The problem is I do not know how to program and there are so many options out there. Do I learn PHP? cocoa? filemaker? applescript? AJAX? Ruby? ahhhh! My nose has been spent in too many programming books lately. I think I have decided to focus on filemaker since that will be the easiest way to prototype the program. I'd love for it to be an AJAX program in the end. Any AJAX programmers out there want to help me??? :-D

So saija, real estate and marion's ledge are my 3 main things happening work wise.

So, Can I change?

My goal is to get my life straight. I was reading this blog by JP DeFillippo who is trying to change his life in 90 days. It is inspiring so I am going to try to do something like it. It will be cut in half by my trip to Oregon and then school starts, but I'll try to document what I do. My first action will be to set up the nike+ipod thing to work with my kangaroos. I am trying to walk or bus everywhere I go, so that will help me keep track of how far I walk.

This is the first day of the rest of my life. :-)

Test Post

2007-07-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

I just installed a blog client on my phone. Let's see if this works.

laughing burns calories ;-)

2007-07-12T07:24:00.001-07:00

I know I don't post much any more. Sorry about that. But here are some things that made me laugh that I wanted to share.

Two Chickens:

If you liked these, check out the rest of them at Savage Chickens!

- One Ironic Dummy:

- And One Laughable Onion:

Temp Hides Fun, Fulfilling Life From Rest Of Office

:-D
Hope you enjoyed these!

2007-05-02T21:12:00.000-07:00

It's pretty nice when one of the first things you hear in the morning is "Your powerpoint was one of the best I've ever seen." Well shucks. :-") (that's blushing if your not familar with smilies)

I haven't updated this (or any) blog in a long time. I made a pact with myself to stay off the computer as much as possible. It hasn't really helped my productivity though. I just read books instead of blogs. One of those books was "Retire Rich Retire Young" in the Rich Dad series. That got me on a money kick. And, strangely enough, as I got on a money kick, I began getting lots of money. I got $800 from a photoshop project, and $400 from the international festival, and $500 from the US government (tax rebate), and $6000 from a CD that was in my mom's name but is now in my name (although technically that has always been my money). Oh, and I got $7 from a ling experiment. :-D Funny how things like that happen.

Anywho, if you have not read Rich Dad Poor Dad, head on over to Amazon and buy it right now. It is a great mind expanding book. I have already adopted the 3 piggy bank method of saving.... so cool. I now have one ING account for savings, one for investing, and one for Marion's Ledge (my version of titheing).

In other news, I am sick and tired of my craptastic apartment being such a freaking dump. I hate going home... and that is not good. The other day I got so upset that I decided that it had to change. So I sat there (I was suppose to be reading) and re-designed my whole apartment.

Here is the new design/changes:

I am putting a curtain up to separate the kitchen from the middle room.
I am turning the middle room (currently my unused dining room) into my office. This means I will move my desk out there and my elfa cabinet too. The table is going into my room.
I am turning my living room into a dance room. The small couch is going into my room and the large couch is going on the short wall. The closet is going to be cleared and the TV will go in there when not in use. I will buy a mirror for the wall between the doors. The fridge is going on top of the table and the radio is going on top of the fridge. This can be used for dance privates by Hank if he were to ever need it or just practice room for me.
I am buying a loft for my bed. This will give me more room and I won't be as tempted to work in bed. The bed is going to go on the same wall as the closet and the couch will be across from that. The table and dresser will go where my desk is now.
I am going to buy shag carpeting for the rug in my bedroom in some funky bright color like red or yellow. I am also going to buy a little table and some pillows for the floor so that I can study on the floor Japanese style.

So that is my plan. Some things will change along the way and I will have new ideas. The biggest challenge is getting rid of stuff. I have too much junk that I don't need. I hope to have a garage sale at some point and sale some of it. I also want to open an amazon or ebay store to sell my stuff. But it has to go. I would love to get rid of my dresser and get a new one that works and looks better.

Oh, and the lesson of the week:
Books fit way better on a shelf when they are on their side. I was planning to get an extra shelf but I manage to fit all of my books in just one lawyers case just by turning them on their side. Try it some time and see how much room you can save!

Ok, It is getting late and I better read some before crashing. Night!

2007-05-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

Silly quiz, but can you answer a couple questions about me?

Beatle Meditation - Abbey Road

2007-03-01T13:52:00.000-08:00

I had 2 grade disappointments today. This semester is going very far from good. :-( So after my last class I came home really upset. I didn't know what to do, then I saw my new John Mellencamp album that I just bought. I decided to get out my record player. Instead of putting on John Mellencamp, I decided to actually listen to my copy of Abbey Road. I had a copy that is in really good condition and therefore I had never listened to it for fear of scratching it. But I wanted to hear the real version of Golden Slumbers, so I got out Abbey Road and put it on side 2.

Then I sat down on my bed to enjoy it.

But I found myself thinking about the day and all of the stuff that I have to do and my grades and how I have over stretched myself. Then I realised that I had almost completely missed the first song. I cleared my minded and just started listening.

But then my mind wandered to the Beatles and how they traveled to India...

No, Hailey. Just Listen.

Then I decided that I was hungry and wanted fishies.

No, Hailey. Just Listen.

Maybe I could look at the pictures in the Bhagavadgita.

No, Hailey. Just Listen.

"Is this wasting time?"

No, Hailey. Just Listen.

Then I started thinking about other people and my relationships with them and what I needed to do and what if something happened to one of them and...

No, Hailey. Just Listen.

"How many songs are there before Golden Slumbers?"

JUST. LISTEN!!

Finally, I did get my mind to calm down enough to enjoy the music. After the side was over I realised just how distracted I was. I guess that is what meditation is for - getting your mind to stop going crazy.

I also noticed a couple other things that stopped me from enjoying the Album to its full potential. I kept wondering what the song was called and where one song stopped and one started. It occurred to me part way in that that didn't matter. Things didn't have to be labeled just right.

I also kept wondering what could be different. Would listening to this be better if I had a friend with me? What if... Finally I calmed myself down and realised that it didn't matter. I was listening to it by myself and I needed to enjoy it that way.

Another thing that I did was to anticipate what was coming. Would the next song be faster? slower? rockier? smoother? Again. That was distracting. I just needed to take the song as it came.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These are great lessons to learn, but I just need to make them apply to my life and everything would be great.

My Weekend

2007-02-13T19:30:00.000-08:00

I had a really good and productive weekend:

On Sat:
- I got up early and did an overdue GTD reveiw (which means I finished a lot of short 2 minute tasks I had been putting off).
- I had a short meeting at 1:30 about the Rice Toastmasters Club I am helping to start
- I had an Houston Ishmael Meeting at 3:00. This was my first one and it was kool to talk with like-minded people.
- I visited with Jenny after that meeting (around 6:00). We hadn't had time to talk in a long time.
- I went to the Veggie Club meeting and got a really good Indian Food dinner.

Sunday:
- I got up and read for school until around 11 when I decided to get read to go out.
- I headed over to Te House and finished all of the work that I needed to do for school that didn't involve a computer or my books.
- I went to the Melody Club for Swing Dancing for the first time in ages. It was fun. I had like a mini-private with Tena. She was nitpicky, which was good, but it is funny to see how a lot of what she said directly countered things that other teachers have told me. I think at this level a lot of the advice has to do with personal style. The lesson ended with a random comment from a newbie (heard by Aramis) saying something to the extent of "How does she move that well with her butt sticking out like that". So yeah... I have some work to do.
I spent a lot of time practicing my layout (which I can't seem to get on one side). Since then, I haven't really been able to walk that well.

So that is my weekend. All that I have left to do for school this week is reading 40 pages about Buddhism and writing 3-6 pages on the philosophy of sustainable design. I can handle that! And oh yeah! I am working at Taft now. You can catch me there tomorrow morning before noon. :-)

My Productive Day

2007-02-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

Wow. I had a really eventful/productive day. I got up this morning that did a complete GTD review. I had let things slide a bit. :-( But now things are good. And I had a lot of 2 minutes tasks that I got done that I have been putting off. That was good in and of itself.

After that, I had a string of meetings. I had a Toastmaster's meeting with Igor. And then a meeting with the Ishmael Club. And then I went over to Jenny's for a bit. And then I went to the Veggie Club dinner at Jones (really good cheap Indian food!!)

I am completely caught up on blog reading and email! That feels good. Now I must spend the rest of my weekend reading except for a quick run to the Melody Club tomorrow evening. But I don't plan to stay that long.

I volunteered at Taft for the first time on Friday! It was fun! I will be doing more of that this coming week. I am hoping to take 1 or 2 shifts a week. I liked being behind the counter and running the cash register. And soon I'll actually be able to make coffee. :-) (And for those of you wondering why I am volunteering at a coffeehouse, I am getting school credit for it for my leadership certificate)

Some Thoughts

2007-02-07T15:00:00.000-08:00

I am writing a paper where I am looking at 41 values and deciding how much they mean to me. I have 4 values left on my list and my mind is completely fried! ::ahh!:: This paper is due tomorrow. You can tell that I have a paper to do when I am posting so much on Fearful Symmetry.

Here are some of the things on my mind today:

I have been reading and watching youTube videos about the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. This seemed like a great device and I was actually thinking about getting one once I discovered that it runs Linux and not Windows. But then I discovered it's fatal flaw: It does not run Ajax web programs. So no Google calendar. :-( That is the point of getting it.

I have been thinking a lot about money lately. Not sure why. I want to make money this summer but not actually work that hard. I have been trying to think of something that I can do. And extending this beyond summer, I want to come up with a service that I can offer that makes me good money. I don't need more money to live, but I like the idea of supporting myself when I get out of school. I'd like to put some away now. Here are some ideas:

Blogging - I'd like to put some effort into Fearful Symmetry and get more well know in the blogger community. I believe that I have good information to share. I just have to learn the craft a bit better and find my niche. (And get Adsense).
Some sort of service - I am not sure what I have to offer. I am not yet proficient at Internet technologies enough to do web services. (Although this is a goal of mine). And I don't teach swing well enough to even think about privates. And I am not a even close to a proficient writer.
Resale - I know the resale business well from my mother. But I think it would be a bit too much work for me.
Bracelets - I know how to make these little safety pin bracelets. But I don't think they will be profitable. And where would I sell them at?
A product - I am not sure that I have resources to make a product. Well, it depends on the product.
When it comes to doing something that I like, well, I could do something that involves organization. I don't have all of the answers, but I have tried a ton of different systems. I'd love to help people find systems that work for them. That would be fun. But as of now, I don't think I am qualified to do that.

On the same line of thought, I am going to start asking everyone a question.

The preface: I am not asking this question for real. I don't really want more to do right now. It is more of a theoretical. It is a question for my personal growth.
The Question: What would you pay me to do? (Assume that I possess the skills needed to do it)

social crap

2007-01-20T20:38:00.000-08:00

It seems that life hangs on a point. My social life is either non-existant or painful. There are certain people that I just don't want to be around. At all. Even though I am uber-nice when I am around them (don't worry. If you are reading this, it isn't you).
One person in particular is ruining the swing events for me. Hank says that I just need to ignore them, and I used to say things like that all of the time, but now that I am in the situation, I am not sure it's that easy.

Being around these people is actually nausiating. I don't want it to be, and I am not sure why it is, but it is. And I have found that if I just don't go. If I don't put myself in the positions where I will be around them, I am much happier. And when they are not there, I usually worry about them showing up.

Tonight, I forgot about them. That is, until they walked in. Then I didn't know what to do. I wanted to run, and i didn't want to run. I ended up running. Although I do have work as an excuse.

At the beginning of this year, running was not my style. I actually had the opposite responce. I put myself in the situations just so that i would be sure to know what was going on, but I have learned my lesson. If I avoid and run, I can just not think about it. And that makes me a much happier person.

Ok, before your mind runs all over on this, let me say that this is not romantic. This is not a romance gone wrong, or anything like that. So don't even think it. Actually, the main person that i am talking about isn't even a guy. So don't even think it.

Actually not real sure why I react this way. ok, I guess i do know, but it is a bit uncalled for. And no, I am not giving any details. So don't ask. I just trying to figure everything out. My life has been a little rocky lately. Mentally I mean. I am not really sure why. I think that this is what burnout feels like. I'm burnt out. Mentally. And I have so much to do and not much fire to do it with. To tell you the truth, if I did only what i feel like to doing, I would stay in bed all of the time, curled up either asleep or with my computer and computer learning books. ( I want to learn how to program in PHP, Objective C with Cocoa, and either purl or applescript. I am on track to become an apple developer. :-) That makes me happy.

The worst part of life right now is all of the stuff that I have to do that is not directly connected to Marion's Ledge. That leaves me like no time to do Marion's Ledge stuff. And there is so much that i need/want to be doing. But instead, that just get lumped in with the school work and pushed aside for the stupid papers that I have to write that mean nothing to me. Who really cares about the argument whether all languages have parts of speech. Give me the problem sets dammit!!

I have to much to read for those papers. That is what I should be doing right now, but I have too much on my mind to consentrate. So I am writing this as a mind dump. I am on the balcony of taft overlooking the dance. I danced some. But now i am not. (see above)/ :=/

ok, I think I have dumped enough. I better read some now.

Welcome To My Life 2.0

2007-01-15T17:35:00.000-08:00

This is the first entry in this new blog. This is where I will be posting personal journal entries. That way Fearful Symmetry readers don't have to hear me rant about stuff. This is the rant section. From now on, Fearful Symmetry will be used to post interesting and useful information about Apple, Life Hacking, blogging, and general inspirational material. I hope that you stay tuned to that blog as well as this one. (Or just regularly read the sidebar where I'll have the Fearful Symmetry RSS feed ---> )

Small update since my last post:
- I went to Vegas for my 21st B-day!! That was a good experience (although I am not sure I'd want to go back.)
- I saw snow for the first time while I was in New Mexico visiting my dad.
- I got a blood test and didn't cry. (That's my weak spot)
- I started a new semester of school. Seems like It should be pretty easy.
- The Marion's Ledge website got a facelift!!! Check it out at MarionsLedge.org

Some Not too new stuff:
- My apartment is still messy. :-/
- I am still on the never-ending search for a new way to organise my life.
- I'm still me.

ok. Catch y'all later.