Sam I Am

Slump Busting

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:00:00 +0000

My last post described how I am currently in a "slump" of sorts. I'm not getting much done and have been generally restless ever since I graduated. The first step of snapping out of it was to admit that I was in it (I sound like an alcoholic) and now I'm going to figure out what I have to do to get back to my normal self.

First of all, I need to take a page out of one of my favorite blogs, Zen Habits, and pick one goal to focus on. Right now, the one goal that I need to accomplish before I can move on with my life is finding a job. Ideally, that means a high school teaching job in the southeast Michigan region. However, I need to accept the fact that the job I end up taking might not be the job of my dreams. Once I have landed a full-time job I can focus on many of the other projects I want to start, like moving out to a place of my own.

From now until I find a job, I will be spending at least 45 minutes a day on the job search. Not only will this hopefully result in a job (duh) but it gives me something tangible to do everyday that is productive. Instead of trying to focus on some unforeseen day where I sign my first contract, I can instead focus on putting my 45 minutes or more in each day. Much like breaking a large project into smaller chunks, focusing on each day will hopefully allow me to keep moving in the right direction instead of spinning my wheels like I have for the past few weeks.

So, until I actually land a job, I have one goal that takes precedence over everything else; find one.

I'm in a Slump

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:27:00 +0000

I've been in a slump lately. There is no use in denying it. Basically, from the time I've finished student teaching until now, I've been unproductive and restless. I'll have occasional bouts of productivity but nothing like what I usually am. However, instead of just sitting around and accepting the fact that I'm in a slump while hoping I might snap out of it, I'm going to figure out why I'm acting this way and how to break out of it.

Student teaching was a very stressful time for me. Any education student or teacher can tell you about their student teaching days and they will all have the same hue of exhaustion and excitement. I would get up at 4:00 a.m. everyday, spend about two hours planning, grading and just getting ready for the day. By 7:00 or 7:15 I would be at school and I would stay there until about 3 o'clock teaching 7 sections of two different subjects. I'd get back to my apartment by 3:30 and usually take a nap before making dinner and working on my planning for the next day. Early on I did a good job of working out consistently, but that slowly fell by the wayside as I got more in depth to student teaching. I would usually work on school stuff until 10:30 or 11 before finally hitting the hay. Many of my weekends consisted of driving two hours each way to visit my girlfriend attending another university. I'm not giving you this rundown in hopes of eliciting sympathy; I knew what I was getting myself into and I was absolutely fine with it. I just want to give you a taste of what my days were like for approximately four months.

During student teaching I had to be productive. If I wasn't, I wouldn't be prepared to teach my classes. I quickly discovered that there is no parallel to not being prepared to teach. I didn't have a problem staying prepared and putting in the work to pass student teaching. I was serious about doing student teaching well, this is my profession after all, and I think I did a pretty good job.

Once student teaching ended, I had an incredible surfeit of time. I no longer had to get up at 4 o'clock or spend hours planning lessons. My focus changed from, "What am I teaching today?" to "Woah, I kind of need a job." When the focus is just on teaching, I have plenty to concentrate on and plenty to do. With finding a job, there are stretches of tedious application filling and resume mailing followed by waiting. The reward when you're teaching is actually getting into the classroom and teaching your lesson. The reward when you're trying to find a job is an undetermined amount of time into the future, if at all.

It doesn't help that I think I also deluded myself in how hard it was going to be to find a job. Everything I've ever done has always come relatively easily to me. I don't mean to say that I've skated through life, I definitely work hard. It's just that anything I put my mind to I tend to get done. For some reason I was thinking that somehow the job of my dreams was going to fall into my lap. The reality of the situation is that the job market in my area is abysmal and my optimism has never been lower.

I really don't like how this whole post is turning into a "woe is me" type story, but I really think that this has been the basis of my current slump. If I'm going to break out of it, I need to be honest with myself.

I'm going to wrap this post up now and save the portion where I figure out how to get back to normal for another time. I left you at a cliffhanger, right? I know you are just dying to find out what happens :)

My Five Core Values

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:00:00 +0000

One of my favorite blogs, The Art of Manliness , is conducting a "30 Days to a Better Man" series that I think has the potential to be a very rewarding series of posts. The idea is that each day a new article with a discrete "assignment" will be posted. Assignment number one is to "Define Your Core Values." This is something that is similar to aspects of Getting Things Done, Franklin Covey's 7 Habits, and countless other productivity/organizational systems. As much as I read about this stuff, I've never taken the time to write out what my core values are.

Most people never really sit down and try to figure out what their core values are. Without knowing the core values that you really hold closest to your heart I can see the potential for kind of "floating through life." Brett explains his reasoning for the assignment much better than I can.

After much deliberation I've winnowed the list down to my current five most important values.

1. Family: This one was really a no brainer. My family is the most important thing in my life right now and will be forever. Family comes first. Right now that means my parents and my four little brothers. In the future it will hopefully mean a wife and kids. That is obviously speculative for me right now, but I know a change in my family structure will not change the importance of the value itself.

2. Growth: This is a pretty broad term but I picture it mostly as perpetually trying to improve myself. Right now I picture this as intellectual growth, but there is no reason to limit myself to that. Spiritual growth, growth as a community member, and just growth as a compassionate human being are all things I envision under this value.

3. Simplicity: I value the idea of keeping everything as simple as possible. This includes my possessions, my lifestyle, everything. Simplicity allows me to focus on the things that really matter (i.e. see the first two items on this list and the following two). Keep it simple, stupid.

4. Discipline: I've always been very impressed by people who have incredible self discipline. Elite athletes and entrepreneurs are two categories of people that often have the self discipline I so admire. I see discipline as the muscle behind any goal or objective I set for myself. That may be some future fitness goal, a change in eating habits, or just a change in habits in general. With great discipline anything is possible.

5. Integrity: Lastly, integrity is something that I think sets the truly worthwhile people apart from everyone else. Having the strength of character to do what's right in every situation is commendable. A man without integrity cannot be trusted and a man who cannot be trusted is not really a man at all.

So, there are my five most important values. I think it will be interesting to see how these might change over the course of time. I will be revisiting this list one year from today and I will see if they still hold true.

What are your values?

How I Sold My Four Year Old Laptop for $400

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:53:00 +0000

I was pleasantly surprised to sell my four-year old iBook G4 over the weekend for $400. A lot of people I've talked to were somewhat surprised I was able to fetch such a high price so I thought I'd briefly outline what I did these past four years to insure I could sell it for more than peanuts.

Take Care of the Darn Thing
More often than not I'm unpleasantly surprised at the way a lot of my friends treat their laptops. Fingerprints and dirt all over the monitors, ant colonies in the keyboard, scuff marks that make me wonder if they mistook their laptop for a Frisbee. Come on people, you invested some serious dough into this machine, let's do some preventative maintenance, eh? I settled into a routine where I wipe down the monitor, use compressed air on the keyboard, and wipe the whole laptop down with a damp cloth (or a Magic Eraser, trust me, these things work like a charm) monthly.

In addition to physically taking care of your laptop, you need to take care of it software-wise too. With the proliferation of browser based software out there (i.e. Google Docs, Zoho, etc.) there is much less that you need to actually download to your laptop. Depending on your line of work, you could probably reduce the number of applications you need on your computer by a surprising number. Much like my monthly routine of physically cleaning my computer, I would do the same thing in terms of software. Every month I would run a maintenance program (OnyX for Mac users) and delete any applications I no longer needed. I've always prescribed to the idea of the less I have on my computer, the better. Not only will it run better, it will be much easier to back up your data as well. Between using online software and having an external hard drive to house your media, there really isn't much you need to actually save to your laptop's hard drive.

Usage Habits
The key to making a computer, or really anything, last for a long time lies in the way you use it. When it comes to my computer, I have a couple rules; no eating around it, no touching the screen, and no "floating" it in my backpack. The first two are pretty self explanatory and the last point is to make sure they you either transport your laptop in its own dedicated bag or put it in some type of sleeve before you throw it in a backpack. I've also found it very useful to use an external keyboard, mouse, and a laptop stand. If you are in a situation where you don't need to move your laptop around a lot, it may be useful to invest in these peripherals which will minimize how much you actually touch your computer. The first couple years I had my computer at school I used this setup and it saved my computer a lot of wear and tear.

Upgrade
First of all, it is helpful to upgrade your laptop's RAM to the maximum it can handle. Two years after buying my iBook I noticed that it was a little bit sluggish so I decided to find some RAM to upgrade it with. RAM has come down in price over the years and there is no reason that upgrading should cost more than $100. I used the website www.crucial.com to purchase my RAM, but I know there are plenty of other of reputable dealers such as www.tigerdirect.com and www.newegg.com. Just be certain that whatever you buy is compatible with your machine (www.crucial.com has a scanner that will analyze your system and recommend compatible RAM). It's amazing what a boost in RAM will do for your system performance and if you ever decide to sell your computer the upgrade should definitely raise your asking price.

A lot of this information I fear is blindingly obvious. At least, it seems like it would be but my observations have led me to believe otherwise. Take the time to run some basic maintenance on your computer, treat it like the expensive piece of electronics that it is, and you should be in good shape if you ever decide to sell your laptop and move on to greener pastures.

Time for a Reboot

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Any computer owner (particularly a PC owner) knows that a quick reboot can fix a lot of problems. Something about clearing out all the flotsam and starting with a clean slate is very refreshing. Considering that I've just had one of the most stressful (and rewarding) few months of my life, I feel like I could use a reboot. With my college graduation on the immediate horizon, this is the perfect time for me to concentrate on areas of my life that have fallen into a little bit of disarray.

Over the next couple days I will discuss how I am planning on "rebooting" several different areas of my life. I'm planning on redoing my organizational system, re-examining my eating habits, my fitness habits, how I manage my time, and how I plan on approaching my own self improvement.

I hope you will find these series of posts as useful as I'm sure they will be for me.

I'm Back

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:44:00 +0000

Hello world.

I have completed my semester of student teaching and walk across the stage to cap my college career on Saturday. I'm interested in once again posting here occasionally, but I need to rethink the way I go about doing so. One of the things that you get drilled into your head as an education student and student teacher is your online presence. Meaning, when your students Google you (they will), what do they see? Right now, my front page of Google is pretty solid. My teaching blog, my Facebook profile (which is quite clean), my Twitter profile (also clean), my Google Profile and a few artifacts from my past (club hockey game write-ups and even a cross country result from my sophomore year of high school). Right now, this blog is buried several pages back. Now, I don't really have anything in here that is terrible. Basically, since I write this blog in such a colloquial style, I have a few off-color words scattered throughout (I think I've said that Merlin Mann s***s gold and I once wrote a post about male anatomy).

The last thing I want is to miss out on a career opportunity because some administrator sees my personal blog and is offended by something I have written. So, with that being said, I'm going to try to avoid the occasional curse word I have used in the past. Honestly, compared to what a lot of my student teaching peers have to deal with regarding their online personas (drunken party pictures, inappropriate social media profiles etc.) I think this blog is perfectly tame. It's better to be safe than sorry though, right?

I'll probably write more about this topic at a later date, as it is something that is becoming more and more important with the new generation of teachers. It's something that I don't think most veteran teachers really understand or can relate to yet it is one of those things that can make or break your career.

Anyway, now that I'm rambling I'll wrap this up. Just know that I'm back. I'm planning on writing all sorts of topics but probably with a little bit more thoughtfulness.

Temporary Hiatus

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:11:00 +0000

I'm going to go ahead and put this blog on hiatus until my spring break (April 9th-15th). I have too much on my plate right now and the constant psychic tug this blog represents when I'm not posting regularly needs to be eliminated for the time being.

So, until then, you can follow my online presence elsewhere. Such as:

www.mr-spurlin.com/blog

www.twitter.com/samspurlin

Until then, see ya around!

Penny Pincher

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:44:00 +0000

Welp, I sure blew that one. (See previous post).

Anyway, am I a penny-pincher? I am student teaching in a 12th grade Government class right now and I'm currently in the middle of a unit on personal finance (yes, government teachers have to teach economics/personal finance). In the middle of a lesson on budgeting and living within your means one of my students asked me if I was a penny-pincher. While the question caught me a little bit by surprise, I think I like my answer. It went something like this:

"I'm not a penny-pincher because I don't mind spending money on quality things. I just like to make sure I know where my money is going and that I'm ok with it."

That's the whole point right? Money is a tool so use it as such. I don't buy the cheapest groceries or computers, but I also value these things more than a lot of people. I'm ok with making the trade off of less expensive hobbies or less eating out if it means I get to spend money on things that I really care about. I hope I was able to get that across to my students.

Arizona Wins the Big One

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Today is the Super Bowl and millions of people across the country, including countless people who would be hard-pressed to tell you who was actually playing, will be participating in what is quite possibly the greatest American holiday.

I really know very little about either of the two teams playing, but that won't stop me from making a prediction. Arizona, 17-14. That's right, the Cardinals are going to pull-off one of the most improbably playoffs in football history and cap their season with a Super Bowl win. It really just comes down to the fact that Kurt Warner has God on his side, really. It's tough to win a game when the opposing quarterback is on a first-name basis with the big guy upstairs. Better luck next year, Steelers.

You heard it here first.

My only real hope is that a.) the game isn't a complete and utter blowout, and b.) that the commercials are good. I want some on par with EDS' cat herders or Terry Tate. Come on marketers, this is your time to shine. Don't let me down.

Two Notable Tidbits About Balls

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:31:00 +0000

Cello scrotum not a real medical condition.

Thank God. Glad we have that cleared up.

While we're talking about male anatomy, I suppose this is as good a time as any to show you quite possibly my new favorite Flight of the Conchords song.

Merlin Mann's Creativ(ity)e Talk

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:37:00 +0000

I'm telling you, the man shits gold. For all the self-deprecating humor and feigned ineptitude at this stuff, Merlin Mann repeatedly gets me thinking like very few people do. If you follow his blog, 43folders, at all, you know that he has been having a sort of identity crisis the past few months. He is generally considered one of the founding fathers of the whole "lifehacking" idea yet he no longer wants to focus on the tools of getting things done or being creative, but actually doing something. It's one thing to write about pens and notebooks and quite another to actually create something memorable. As a kind of culmination and first public stepping-off point for this new focus, he has posted the talk he gave at MacWorld in early January. As far as I am aware, this is the first talk he has given on the idea of being repeatedly creative. It is well worth your time and attention and I really think you will find a lot to chew on in the 27 minutes or so that he speaks.

In a related noted, I think a lot of what he talks about in this presentation can be directly related to teaching and teachers. I'm going to sit on those ideas for a little longer before I try to form them into something coherent. Whenever that happens, I'll post it over at my teaching blog.

Until then, I'm off to find The Creative Habit.

Student Teaching Extravaganza

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:34:00 +0000

This is when all the talk about being productive and organized meets the proverbial road. I started student teaching on Wednesday. You'll notice that this will correlate with the reduction in posts on this blog, unfortunately. When the workload increases, something has to give. At this point, I figure I should give my most valuable and efficient time to the events that actually determine a.) if i graduate and b.) if I get a job. However, that doesn't mean I'll stop posting here entirely. I'm still going to have the need to waste time and spout off (like right now). Just don't be totally alarmed if I'm not posting as much as I used to. Though, it wouldn't hurt to check out my teaching blog (www.mr-spurlin.com/blog) if you're curious about what I'm up to. I'll definitely be updating it more than this one.

I'm going to wrap this up since I'm heading to a movie in a little bit (10 o'clock on a Thursday night, I obviously don't have this student teacher thing down yet. Also, it's Valkyrie, so basically I'm doing "research" for my history classes. Or something like that.)

In Defense of Food Review

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Sorry about the influx of book reviews lately. I'm going to try to write down some thoughts on every book I finish reading and I just so happen to have finished several books right at the end of my winter break. So, now that school has started again, I'm sure my book consumption will drop off precipitously.
_______________________

Why does food need to be defended?
"You read the dumbest books. Why the heck are you reading about defending food? Who thinks food is a bad idea?" said my brother as he looked at the title of the latest book I was reading. He has a point, why does food need to be defended? Journalist and author Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma and The Botany of Desire) investigates the western diet and the move toward nutritionism. He argues that we are no longer a society that eats food, but food-like substances. He points to the increasingly important role nutrients (low-fat, low-cal, high fiber etc.) has played in our diets and how our health has been negatively impacted.

He starts the book by looking at the Age of Nutritionism, from eating foods to nutrients. The take away message from this part of the book is the incredibly influential role that various food lobbys have on federal policies. Each time there were any studies conducted that pointed toward a specific prescription (for example, eat less meat), the corresponding lobby would make sure it would never see the light of day. Instead, the phrasing would read, "choose meats, poultry, and fish that will reduce saturated fat intake." A decidedly less direct approach.

Pollan also discusses examples of how Americans are not only eating food-like substances instead of food, but are eating in such a way as to compound the negative health affects. The French, by all accounts, should also be unhealthy (lots of red meat, wine etc.) but are not. Pollan credits this to a culture that puts emphasis on enjoying food and making meal times focal points of the day. In contrast, Americans rarely actually sit down and enjoy food like the French and our health is suffering for it.

What should I be eating?
Pollan summarizes his entire message into 7 words; "Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much." It really doesn't get much simpler than that. He obviously goes on to elaborate on each part of his mantra, but the inherent message is simple.

What did I take away from this book?

I read this book specifically for the second part in which Pollan discusses the details behind his "Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much," mantra. However, the first part in which he talks about the history of food in America, particularly in regards to nutritionism and government policy, was very interesting. It provided a great backdrop and base for the rest of the book. I especially like that you can leave this book with specific actions to take to increase your health. Suggestions like, "Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize," and "Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does," add some humor to the message as well. Overall, I'm a big fan of this book and think there is lots of valuable information that is directly applicable to my everyday eating habits.

Why Do I Have an "Eating Time"?

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:37:00 +0000

My girlfriend likes to make fun of the fact that I have what she calls an "eating time." More specifically, it's more like an eating cutoff time. If it's after 9 pm, I don't eat (or at least, try not to). This is the 30 day habit change that I'm trying to do this month and ideally I'd like to bump that cutoff time to 8 or even 7 o'clock. So what's the point of not eating for a couple hours before sleeping at night?

I'll be the first to admit that I haven't read any scholarly articles or research studies about not eating before bed, but the concept just makes intuitive sense to me. Not only are freshly consumed calories not sitting in my stomach all night, but my body can focus energy on repair and rejuvenation of its cells instead of digestion. Almost every tip-set of suggestions to sleep better includes something about going to bed on an empty stomach.

Something I have done a little bit more research on is the concept of intermittent fasting (IF), which having an eating cutoff time coincides with. The idea being that partaking in periodic and short fasts has beneficial outcomes for health. This is something I'm planning on looking into more in the future and hopefully incorporating into my daily life. Either way, training myself to go to bed a little bit hungry will be helpful if I decide IF is something I want to try.

I'm halfway through this month and so far I'm enjoying the challenge. 9 o'clock is a late enough cutoff that I'm usually not very hungry before I go to bed, so it hasn't been too difficult yet. It will probably get harder once I push that time a little earlier. A nice side effect of not eating past a certain time is that I am legitimately hungry in the morning. A lot of times I would wake up and not feel like eating anything. We all know breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so waking up hungry is helpful.

I'll write another post when I've finished the challenge at the end of the month or have tried moving the cutoff from 9 to something earlier.

Gifting Experiences vs. "Stuff"

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:09:00 +0000

This Christmas I decided I wanted to do something different for my parents instead of the typical gifts. So, instead of getting them books like I normally do, I decided to figure out something I could do with them and experience together. As I get older, I think I am starting to realize and come to terms with the fact that my parents aren't going to be around forever. Tied with the getting older aspect, I'm starting to appreciate my parents more as people. When you're a child you don't really think of your parents as individual or interesting people. They are just kind of a "given" that are easy to take for granted. I want to get away from that frame of thinking and spending money on something we can do together instead of "stuff" is a great step in the right direction.

For my dad, I got him two tickets to a Red Wings game and for my mom, two tickets to Jesus Christ Superstar. These two things are both way out of my price range normally, but I decided to pair their Christmas gift with their birthdays.

I'm really glad I decided to do this and so far it has worked really well. Last Saturday my dad and I headed down to Detroit in terrible weather to watch the Wings play the Sabres. It was nice to just talk about hockey and my old playing days with my dad while we both did something we enjoy. After the game we swung by the restaurant my uncle manages and grabbed a bite to eat. Definitely something that will stay with both of us more than a gift of "stuff."

I want to expand this to the other people who are important in my life, particularly my brothers, girlfriend, and closest friends. I'm going to be on the lookout for events and activities we can do that will be memorable.

An experience-gift isn't as tangible as an object, but it is definitely something I will be able to hold on to much longer.

The Power of Less Review

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:00:00 +0000

I've been a follower of Leo Babauta's blog, Zen Habits, for well over a year now. The topics he writes about, particularly simplification, minimalism, and focused productivity, have struck a chord with me. His blog's amazing rise to blogosphere stardom is a testament to Leo's direct and simple writing style and the timely nature of his message. In our society of bigger, better, and faster, his message of less and slower is resonating with many people. So, how does Leo make the transition from blog to book?

Leo breaks his book into two parts, The Principles and In Practice. Any reader of Zen Habits will find this information and writing style very similar. The first six chapters all have to deal with cultivating and explaining why less is more. Leo talks about setting limits, choosing the essential in our lives, simplifying, starting small, having a simple focus, and creating new habits. The cornerstone of his argument is that by reducing the clutter (physical and mental) of our lives and focusing on one thing at a time, we can actually do more and better work. It's convincing stuff, especially if you feel like you are being pulled in twenty different directions by your current situation.

The second part of the book, In Practice, applies the principles described in the first part to discrete areas such as tasks and time management, email, internet, filing and daily routines. Depending on the level of disarray you find your current state of affairs, each of these sections may vary in usefullness for you. For example, I found the sections on time management and slowing down to be much more useful than the email and filing systems.

My only real criticism of this book is that it basically felt like a condensed copy of Leo's blog, Zen Habits. I was hoping there would be a little bit more new information between the covers. Also, if only because of the nature of his message, the book seems somewhat redundant at times. There are only so many ways to talk about identifying the essentials in your life and eliminating everything else.

What did I take away from this book?
There are a ton of tips that are very useful for learning how to do less, but the number one thing that I am going to take from this book and try to apply to my own life is single-tasking. I'm convinced that the way to work is fully focusing on only one thing at a time while eliminating any and all distractions. Developing this ability to focus seems to be the underlying message behind almost everything Leo writes about and it also happens to be something I'm terrible at. I'm going to try to disconnect from the internet and eliminate other distractions when I'm working. Especially with student teaching this semester, I need to hone my ability to focus and work efficiently.

Me, Myself and...

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 10:00:00 +0000

In which I try to convince myself not to spend a lot of money on something I don't really need:
____
So, I see you're getting a $3,000 check on Monday from the leftovers of your financial aid. You're a responsible guy so you've made sure that you'll have enough money for gas, rent, utilities, food etc. through the end of the semester and you'll still have about $1,200 left. You know what you should do with some of that money? Buy an iPod. You've been working hard for four years of college and you don't really buy yourself anything very expensive very long. When is the next time you'll have $1,200 just sitting around waiting for you to spend it?

Yeah, but that money isn't technically mine anyway. I'm going to have to pay it back eventually. Besides, I've been without an iPod for well over a year now, and I'm still managing alright. It's not like I'm sitting at home rocking back and forth and drooling on myself because I don't have an iPod. In fact, when would I even use an iPod touch? I already have an iPod shuffle which is great for running and working out. I don't spend much time walking to classes anymore since I'm student teaching. When I'm at home, I just use my computer and badass speakers hooked up to it to listen to tunes. The only place where it would be really awesome to have an actual iPod would be in my truck. But even then I'd have to spend even more money to get an iTrip. Is it worth spending $400 so I don't have to listen to the radio in my truck? I've actually been broadening myself by listening to classical music, NPR, jazz, and other types of music I wouldn't normally listen to if I had an iPod/iTrip combo.

Come on man, you know it sucks to drive 2+ hours several times a month with nothing but the radio to keep you company. Just imagine if you could jam to your tunes the entire way! It would be so much better. Plus, it'd probably be easier to stay awake if you were listening to something you chose and not the crappy radio. It's a safety issue! Oh! Oh! You could also listen to podcasts and actually improve yourself while you're driving! Imagine that. Audiobooks, podcasts-- learn a new language for God's sake!

But what about Ireland? Your girlfriend is going to Ireland for three months this summer. You can't go visit her if you blow all your money on an iPod! Do you realize how many guys are going to be hovering around here with their sexy Irish accents? You expect her to hold out for three months?! You have to go visit her if you have any chance at keeping this relationship alive. Plus, how badass would it be to go visit Ireland after graduating? It would be an awesome gift to give yourself after 4 years of college.

Yeah, Ireland would be sweet, but remember, she said she would pay for part of your ticket! So spend $400 on an iPod and then you'll still have $800 for Ireland! If you're short, let her cover it like she said she would.
____

To be continued...

The World is Flat Review

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 10:00:00 +0000

I know I'm incredibly late to the whole The World is Flat party, considering two revised editions have already come out. I read a copy of the first edition and I don't really know what is different in the others, so that is what this brief review focuses on.

How is the world "flat?"
Obviously, this book is not about the world being physically flat-- sorry to disappoint you. Instead, Friedman is referring to the forces of globalization. More specifically, the "triple convergence" among the flattening forces, a new business model emphasizing horizontal collaboration, and the opening of India, Russia, China and other closed societies after the fall of the Berlin Wall. This triple convergence created a more global and level economic playing field. Companies are no longer discrete entities residing in one or two countries, but span the globe. Supply chains reach across continents and cultures while Americans no longer compete only among themselves for the top jobs; but across the entire world.

What does that mean for Americans?
Basically, the competition for the best jobs just got a lot stiffer. No longer can Americans expect to receive top of the line jobs on anything but merit. The increase in education and telecommunication technology across the world is creating a massive potential workforce that is itching to join Americans at the top of the standard of living pyramid. What this means for Americans is that the need to be constantly upgrading skills and becoming more adaptable is absolutely vital for continued employment.

How is American education preparing students for the flat world?
Thomas Friedman refers to an "Ambition Gap" in describing the advantage that Indian and other non-American students have over Americans. After World War II America was truly the only superpower and the clear leader in technological innovation and education. However, that is no longer the case. Now there are students in places like India where the opportunity for a good education is relatively new and the ambition between students in those areas and Americans is almost not comparable. The Indian CEO of 24/7 Call Center, P.V.Kannan describes it best, "Is America prepared [for the flat world]? It is not...You've gotten a little contented and slow, and the people who came into the field with [the triple convergence] are really hungry. Immigrants are always hungry-- they don't have a backup plan."

What did I take away from this book?
First and foremost, the extent to which the world has been flattened became very evident in this book. I have a much better mental picture of the world economy and the dynamics of basic business practices in the 21st century after reading this book. Another key point that I took from this book is the need to always be improving oneself to remain competitive in the global job market. It is no longer sufficient to learn one skill or trade; the modern worker must be continually learning and growing as an employee. While some people view the flattening of the world as a grave threat (low-skilled manufacturing comes to mind), I prefer to take the more optimistic approach of viewing it as an opportunity to improve. In a free-market economy, increased competition is a keystone to a functioning economy. I see no reason why an increase in the competition for jobs caused by globalization should be looked at any differently. In fact, there is so much more to the flattening of the world that is exciting,particularly the potential of massive collaboration on some of the most troubling and advanced problems we now face that a view focused on the outsourcing of American jobs is shortsighted, narrow and far too American-centric to be a valid approach. Sure, the flattening of the world will raise many challenges for many people, but challenges are what bring the best out of both people and societies.

2008 Recap, Financial Style

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:29:00 +0000

2008 is the first year where I have complete data for every dollar I spent and earned. I think the exercise of recording where your money is going is incredibly useful and eye-opening. It's not particularly difficult either-- just a matter of saving receipts long enough to record the transaction into a spreadsheet and consolidating that information at the end of every month.

I'm not going to go through each category of my budget, but I will take some time to point out some interesting (at least to me) pieces of data. Out of 12 months, I had three months "in the black." That obviously leaves me with 9 months where I spent more money than I earned. At this point in my life, I'm not particularly worried about that trend. However, once I graduate in May, I'm obviously going to have to reverse that.

As far as expenses go, the highest were rent ($3,931), gas ($1,694), groceries ($1,695), non-grocery food ($1,117) and social expenditures ($1,033). Looking at those numbers, they don't really have a lot of meaning to me because this is the first year of data I have accumulated. However, I do know that I want to cut down on the non-grocery food expenditures. The last major expense was what I managed to pay back on my student loans this year, $1,301. All in all, I spent $15,624 this year.

Since I'm a full-time student, except for the summer months, my income is obviously quite low. Actually, those three months in the summer were the only months I made more than I spent. My biggest source of income, obviously, was my job at school and my summer job. Between those two, I made $7,735. My second highest source of income was self-employment, which includes mostly summer work that I do. That category added another $1,160 to my bottom line.

Looking ahead to 2009, I expect there to be some major changes to my budget. I graduate in May and that hopefully means I will find a full-time teaching job next fall. In addition to that, I will have many more expenses that I will be taking over responsibility for from my parents. If all goes as planned, that shouldn't be a big deal as it will be off-set by a regular paycheck.

I'm glad I kept all this data and I suggest that everybody at least try to do so for a month or two. It really is eye-opening to see where your money goes.

Break Rocks

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:37:00 +0000

I went to bed last night with grand plans. I was going to get up early, go to the library, and work on planning my unit for student teaching for multiple hours.

--

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I woke up at 10:30. Then, I lounged around for a bit. Then, I went over to my girlfriend's house and read in between watching episodes of Arrested Development. Then, I came home and finished the book I was reading. Then I watched the Red Wings on T.V.

--

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I love break.

2008 in Books

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:36:00 +0000

In the summer of 2007 I started logging every single book that I read. I would record the date I finished reading it, the title, author, number of pages, and genre/sub genre(s). So, I now have a complete year of data to look at-- and if you know me at all, there is nothing more I like than some good data. I'm going to warn you ahead of time, this post might be kind of long. If you aren't interested in the minutiae of my entire year of reading, just skip to the end of the post for some summary thoughts.

Let's dig in! Here is the entire list of books I read for pleasure in 2008 broken down into approximate categories:

(Just a quick note, I don't make any money for any links on this site. These are purely for your convenience.)

Fiction

Non-Fiction

Whew.

So, I read a grand total of 42 books. Of those 42 books, 7 of them I had to read for school. A few were textbooks and a few were books I chose to write reports on. So that leaves me with 35 books that I read for fun. Overall, I think that is a pretty respectable number. However, I definitely intend to blow it out of the water this coming year.

As for my favorite books, I'll pick a few from both fiction and non-fiction. Number one, for sure, is The Stand by Stephen King. This is the second time I've read it, but the first time I read the unabridged version (1153 pages). I also really enjoyed the first two books from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. I will be finishing that up this year for sure. Lastly, both books by Robert Pirsig were incredibly thought provoking and I loved every second of them. They are on my re-read list because they are just so incredibly dense.

I read a lot of good non-fiction this year, so it will be tough to pick. I think the most entertaining read, and hands down one of the best books I have ever read, was Dave Egger's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Al Gore's book was very good and I think it is a valuable read no matter your political leaning. He has some good things to say about the role of reason in our society today and if you disagree with him politically, it's easy to ignore those parts and appreciate what else he has to say. I'll end it at that since I'll have a really hard time picking between all the various Civil War books, biographies, and other miscellaneous history books I read.

As for next year, I'd like to continue reading many non-fiction books focusing on history, sociology, politics, economics etc. However, I hope to read more books outside of my comfort zone, particularly with science and religion. Along with that, I'd like to increase the number of fiction books I read, but with a greater emphasis on classic novels and thought provoking books, like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Lila. Lastly, I would like to read more classic non-fiction books that will really push me intellectually. Maybe The Wealth of Nations or a philosophy tome of some sort.

2008 was a good year for me book-wise. 2009 will be even better.

Swimmingly is an Excellent Word

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:39:00 +0000

Break is progressing along quite swimmingly, like Michael Phelps, i.e. really fast. P.S. I'm working hard to bring that word back to the mainstream (ha!).

ANYWAY.

I've got one more week of glorious break before I head back to the grind. I was trying to do some prep work for student teaching the past couple weeks, but it has been largely futile. I basically just resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to do anything too substantial until Christmas passed. Then I decided I should go ahead and wait until New Year's passed as well. Then that left me with a partial week so I went ahead and gave myself a break until the end of the week. That brings us to right now. So, maybe next week I will be able to actually get some things done.

In the past (like, two weeks ago) I would beat myself up about "wasting" time like I have been. However, I realize that I really need(ed) the relaxation I've had the past couple weeks. I'm trying to worry less about what I'm doing at any particular time and instead just enjoy whatever it is I'm doing. Pretty Zen, I know. Like right now, I just finished reading a book for about two hours while slowly working my way through two cups of quality coffee. Now, I'm finishing off my last cup of deliciousness and am spending some time writing in both of my blogs. Not to mention I've had some great tunes going on in the background the entire time. That is what break is all about and I'm loving it.

Better Luck Next Year?

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:55:00 +0000

Since I live in southeast Michigan I suppose it is expected for me to make a comment on the history that was made yesterday. Not the good kind, either. The kind where my friends will make fun of me as soon as I move back to school (can you believe Cleveland Browns fans can make fun of me, legitimately?). The Lie-downs completed their perfect season with a very familiar loss to the Green Bay Packers to finish the season with a very solid 0-16. Merry Christmas, Detroit!

The only hope I have for the future is the case study known as the Miami Dolphins. If they can go 1-15 last year and make the playoffs this year, maybe the Lions can at least win one game. Though, I'm not sure I'll get to see any games since the infinite wisdom of the Lions management has reinstated the beloved television blackout. Somebody explain the logic of that to me. There can't be any research that actually backs up the absurd idea that if games don't sell out, somehow blacking the game out will encourage people to go. All it does is make people more indifferent and apathetic. It's one thing to watch an 0-16 team on T.V. At least it's free and I can eat my own food and not wear pants. It's another thing to fork over absurd amounts of money, drive into Detroit, and watch the aforementioned smear on the public image of southeast Michigan in person.

I feel like I'm starting to rant. I'll end by thanking the Lions for a great season. If you're going to be bad, be really bad. But if you want to go ahead and be mediocre next season, I'll take that too.

Roughing It

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:59:00 +0000

Once again I am reminded how much of a slave to modern technology most of us are. My house lost power around 5 a.m. yesterday morning. On top of that, AT&T is having some issues with their service so I was also without a cell phone. Doing without electricity is always an interesting exercise and all the modern conveniences you take for advantage (like lights in the bathroom at night) become quite clear (and missed).

This latest power outage got me thinking about the benefits of shaking up your environment once in awhile. While not having electricity may reduce your options for activity, that doesn't mean it is necessarily a bad thing. I'm of the impression that most of us have way too many things going on in our lives anyway-- a little forced focus doesn't hurt. I spent some of my electricity-less evening reading (before it got too dark) and then laying in front of the fireplace with some headphones and music I hadn't listened to in awhile.

I'd be interested in having "electricity-free" nights some time in the future. Instead of sitting around the T.V. or wasting time on the computer, try pretending there is a power outage. Fire up some candles, put a log in the fireplace, grab a book or a board game, and appreciate the people around you. It's sad that downed power lines are what is sometimes needed to help us reevaluate how we spend our free time, but I appreciate the opportunity .

Let's Try Again, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:00:00 +0000

Last year I resolved to do 12 30-day challenges over the course of the year. Unfortunately, that didn't exactly pan out. I think I stopped actually keeping track of my 30 day challenges sometime in August. However, I like the idea and I think I'm going to try it again.

So, for my first 30-day challenge I will not eat after 9 o'clock 6 days a week. I'm allowing myself one cheating day in there. The idea is that eventually I will move that time up to about 7 or 8 o'clock. For now, however, I'll be happy with 9 o'clock. I've read many articles about the benefits of going to bed on a near empty or empty stomach. Logically, it makes sense. Instead of laying in bed with calories that aren't getting burned, I can eat all my calories throughout the day so they actually have a shot at being used.

As a form of accountability I will also be participating over at the Zen Habits forums. There is a whole community of people there that are interested in improving themselves and take on all sorts of different 30-day challenges. If you're interested in the concept, I suggest you check it out.