Goals Update: Jan 09

Not too much has happened in the past week, other than coming back from vacation and catching up with work, sleeping and being sick.

I did do a couple of things that I thought would help:

• I purchased the P90 (not P90x) workout system, it’s supposed to be really good. I’ve read and heard about it from people, seeing and hearing how great it apparently works for people like me that aren’t in shape and certainly aren’t active in any real capacity.
• I also signed up from the Goodreads.com website, to help me track books I read and so I can see how long it takes, etc. Here is my profile there: http://www.goodreads.com/christopherhumphries.

I do have a plan for some other goals for 2010:

• Start praying the LOTH again, in addition to some more free-form praying. I did get some prayer books related to learning to pray from Saint Therese of Lisieux, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Bernard of Clairvoux. I haven’t read them yet, but I do look forward to it!
• Start using fitday.com to track the food I eat. I just need to get to the grocery store to get some real food.
• Create a schedule, to help structure time I want to spend on things. Will require a non-medicated mind to focus on though. Probably finish it by next week.

Goals for 2010

A bit of a laugh, sure… BUT THIS TIME I’ll do them… for longer than 3 months.

• Pray more: Something I really need and want to do.
• Read a lot more: I have many books that I’ve started and never finished. Of all the time I’ve spent catching up on shows and movies in 2009, I pushed books to the back burner. 2010 is where I’ll flip it around and read most of the time instead. During Lent in 2009, I mostly watched movies and tv shows (from “giving up” internet usage at home) during my idle free time. How much is “a lot”? I am not sure, but if it’s a time where I’d usually be watching a show or movie then it’s that time I should be reading instead.
• Eat better and exercise regularly: This is probably the #1 goal people make every year (of which gym owners love). I really need to do this before my weight starts being damaging to my health. Smaller portions, more “clean” foods (no processed foods), exercise at least several times a week of something significant, etc.
• Continue to learn Spanish: I really would like to speak and read Spanish. With the internet and learning materials available, it is really just a matter of applying effort.
• Journal more: This is a healthy thing. I also happen to love pens and paper, of which I have more than enough of both. Time to do something with all the fancy notebooks and pens I have.
• Work on personal projects more: I really need to use my personal time to better help myself. Part of doing that is to engage in my own personal software and other projects for my own good.
• Structure my life and time much better: I am one of those people that works really well in structured environments. I also am wide awake as soon as the alarm goes off. This just comes down to setting out a stricter structure for my life and what I spend time on, so that I can do the things I want and not just end up “wasting days” of my free time and wondering where all my time went with nothing to show for it. This is probably my most important goal for 2010 as it’s a foundational goal that only can help the others.
• Minimize my life more and keep things uncluttered: While much of my possessions are very minimal, I do tend to be very cluttered with what I do have. There is great value in just de-cluttering and minimizing my requirements and possessions more. I think this will have an overall good impact on not dragging/holding me down.
• Keep a food journal: This is something that may be a pain to keep track of, but it is a great idea. I will just have to develop a habit of keeping track of this information. This is not something that I intend to make public, it’s just for my personal health.

2009: Thankful For And My Life’s “Best Of”

2009 was a year of many changes for me.

Most are not physical. I haven’t lost any weight, in fact I’ve even gained some. I haven’t purchased many possessions, all the new permanent items I’ve purchased could fit in a backpack. I still live in the same place and I still do not have a car, which I am content with. I don’t require/desire what I don’t need (for the most part) and I am happy with that.

The most important possessions one can have cannot be owned or purchased.

Here is my personal list of things I am grateful for in 2009:

• Turning 31: After the shell-shock of turning 30 has passed, I am not comfortable in where my life is and the direction I wish to continue. I feel that I can achieve what I want from life. It is not so scary and uncertain, yet will be full of challenges and risk.
• Reception into the Catholic Church: Not something one would have thought 2 years ago, but here I am. On Easter Vigil in 2009, I received baptism, confirmation, and communion for the first time. I couldn’t be happier with this decision. I had a year before I could do this (my conversion story started on Easter 2008). This is the greatest thing to ever happen to me in 2009 and one of the best things to ever happen to me in my entire life.
• Joining the Knights of Columbus: This is a great organization. I love it. If you are a Catholic man, you should check it out (it isn’t just for old men).
• Friends: while I do live sort of an isolated life, I am grateful for the friends I do have. They may be few (mostly due to my lack of reaching out and making a solid effort to continue communication and such), but it is nice to have others out there that honestly care about what’s going on with you.
• Catching up on SciFi shows and movies: This one may seem sort of silly, yet part of my character and personality requires imagination fuel. I watching all of Star Trek: The Next Generation, all of Babylon 5, all of Deep Space Nine and season 1 of the original Star Trek series. I also watching other SciFi movies that I missed out on. While I still have two seasons of the original Star Trek series to watch, I can do it in 2010. I love imagination fuel!
• My health: true, I am overweight, but it hasn’t caught up with me yet. My complete physical shows I am in great health and even better than average. I still have never had a cavity and have no health issues. Hope to lose the weight in 2010 before it does catch up with me.
• My job: My employer is doing well, and so am I. The company is growing greatly, even more so in this economy and I am enjoying the ride along with it. With my job being a software developer that tends to make work processes require less humans, it does help the company grow without needing the scale humans at the same rate as revenue. I never meant to write code that replaces humans, but it is my job and it’s interesting.
• Social Networking contacts: I have met some really interesting and great people via social networking such as Twitter, Plurk and Facebook. While I may not categorize them as my real friends, it is a nice in-between of random people and friends. It is a community and I appreciate it. There is real value there.

Fell Off The Wagon Again

As is a pattern in my life, I start strong and then fall off the wagon and need to get back on. This is what happened again.

If anyone knows a secret to always stay on the wagon, please let me know!

So, will be starting over the 100 pushups program and also start using the exercise bike I purchased. I’m not really upset over it, and I’m not taking this failure personally. I’ll just get back up and on again.

100 Pushups: Week 1

This is my 3rd attempt at doing the 100 pushups in 6 weeks program. This time I will finish!

I did the first week without any problems and it felt good to do pushups. I suppose there is something manly about being able to do pushups that my inner man ego wants to have.

So, did week 1 without any issues. Have 5 weeks left!

Cisco: Goals, Lab and Learning

Goals

First thing’s first: get a CCNA (a core short term personal goal)

I also have additional goals that depend on getting this completed and reusing the lab equipment investment. These goals are getting additional Cisco certifications down the security path. So, CCNA+security and CCSP.

Learning

I’m going to be sticking to official Cisco books and software that isn’t cheating oriented or Cisco emulation.

• Books:
  • CCNA Official Exam Certification Library (Exam 640-802), Third Edition
  • CiscoKits.com CCNA Self-Study Lab Workbook 640-802
  • CiscoKits.com CCNA CRAM Sheet
• Software:
  • Boson simulated test questions (included with Cisco CCNA books)
  • iPhone app “CCNA Exam Prep”

Lab

Not the greatest, yet enough for CCNA right now. I’d like to have another switch, and a router or two that support more features. Yet, right now what I have is more than enough for what I know or need. Will build up when I know exactly what I need and when I require it (no wasting money on impulse buying). Probably need more devices that can run 12.4, for IPv6 and such.

• Routers: 2 x 2514, 2 x 2501
• Switch: 1 x Catalyst 2924 XL

Walking + Outside + iPhone Photography

Ok, this seems like a good idea: go outside and walk around, taking pictures.

This isn’t an original idea (there are a few social flickr groups even that do that), yet I think it’s something I can do to force me to get outside to exercise and also work on photography (3 good things). I don’t have a real camera right now, so I’ll be using my iPhone 3G.

Basically will be drawing upon the experience of Chase Jarvis, with his “The Best Camera Is The One That’s with You” blog post.

I am no Chase Jarvis or a pro by any means, yet every journey begins with a single step, right? Here are some below (excuse the post-processing, it is fun).

On Twitter

I decided to add a separate account for content related to what I’m doing here with this site/project. I plan on updating on tasks that are directly related to the further solving of goals and improving my life.

You can now find updates on Twitter via @operationunplug.

Killing Kipple

I am a clutterer. I drop mail and coins in the same place, most of the time not putting it where it should go. Over time it builds up and it ends up being a cluttered mess that I need to clean up from time to time.

I procrastinate.

When I get home, I empty my pockets and just want to relax in comfy clothes. I do not want to do anything but veg out for a bit.

I need to find a happy balance, of just spending the extra few seconds to throw away receipts if I don’t want to keep them, put change in the change jar, and mail in the keep drawer or trash it also. Those extra seconds really stop things from being all cluttered and disorganized.

So, each day now I’m going to be sure to take the little extra seconds to put things away instead of put it off for later. It should allow for a neater living space and less chaos in my life, as mundane as it may sound.

(Yes, “kipple” is from “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Phillip K. Dick, an awesome book you should check out)

Edit: changed “kibble” to “kipple”, my memory has failed me

Personal Journaling

I started to keep a personal journal about a week ago. It is helping greatly with just getting things off my chest.

I am a man and I journal.

From listening to the GrammarGirl podcast, she talks about how just journaling without an intent and without a clear focus. Just write, ignoring spelling and grammar mistakes. The point is to just write freely, letting everything just flow.

Are any revelations revealed from me writing things down? Not so much, yet it is a great mental relief.

If you’re curious, I’m a Cartesio large orange notebook and Uniball Signo DX 0.38 pen. It is good quality paper and a nice flowing thin line pen (enough ink to glide over the page yet not enough to bleed through), a great combo.

Minimalist Lifestyle?

“on life with the bare essentials”

From the guy that brought the blogosphere zenhabits.net, he has a blog called mnmlist.com. Check out the “best posts” and the FAQ.

There is a ton of helpful hints there on what minimalism is and how to live a life with less (in all areas). This seems like an ideal I can do and could really help me. I already have the possessions thing down, as I don’t like having them (other than my few tech toys).

I especially love this post, “Buying is not the solution”, as linked by @panache on Twitter here. I do have the problem as listed there, where for all things I start I end up spending more money (even if it’s a good/healthy thing to start).

The site really hits home, in a good way. I have much to learn from this site.

43things.com

Just discovered 43things.com while searching for “Move to Chicago”. I was curious what some other people’s stories of living out a dream of moving there may be. 43things was in the google.com search results and took a look. It looked helpful.

Seems that the purpose of the entire website is to work on making goals/dreams come true, with listing yours and encouraging others.

A simple concept yet just what I needed to add to my arsenal of tools to get things done!

Here is my profile on the site.