With Blogging – It is Okay To Pause to Reflect?

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I’ll be honest, my mood has prevented me from blogging as much as I would like to lately!

Perhaps it’s because I know that summer is coming to a close and winter is right around the corner.

Maybe it’s because I didn’t get near enough done this summer season as I hoped to accomplish and I’m slightly depressed?

It could be that I’m not happy with my day job and I need time to think about what and where I want to go from here?

It could be a multitude of reasons, but the fact remains that my blogging activities are starting to wane a bit.  I’m hoping it’s a short phase and I’ll be back up to snuff soon!  Actually, I think once fall and winter seasons hit (at least for those of us that live in the northern part of the country), my blogging activity should pick up again.

During this time I have been thinking a lot about my blogging activities and how I have morphed quite a bit from where I started.  I wonder if Big G’s spiders will still look at me the same way?  That remains to be seen.

During this time of blog inactivity and reflection, I’m starting to think outside of the blogging box, and I’m tapping more into my programming roots.  Perhaps from these ashes of inactivity, I’ll morph my site into something that has more meaning and utility to both myself and the blogosphere in general?  We’ll see.

I hope everybody had a great summer, because if feels like it’s winding to a close!  Take advantage of what little is left of it!!!

Thanks for reading my rambling and meandering thoughts!

Don

Social Freedom, I Am No Longer Bound By Social Norms

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Thanks to Blogging, I’ve changed the way I handle myself in public places!

In the past I would never be caught dead at a public restaurant alone, and on those few occasions while traveling for business, I dreaded going to a decent restaurant, opting instead for the quick drive thru option instead.  But this is no longer the case!

Since I’ve been pushing myself by blogging in local coffee shops, I’ve found that not only do I endure going to restaurants alone, but that I’m much more effective at the work that I’m trying to accomplish!  This is in great contrast to when I first started going to restaurant to do blogging work!

Now when I find that I’m stumped or just not motivated enough at home, I pack up my laptop and head to the local coffee shop!  Once there, I’m in an entirely different mode and anything is possible!

I’m writing this because how would have guessed?  Certainly not me, in fact I would probably tell you that it is a suboptimal idea, at best!  But though my own experimentation (I love to do that stuff), I’ve change my mind and I now believe that such an environment is a much more conducive place to do work.  Perhaps it’s because you feel like someone is watching you, or that you can’t doze off while relaxing at home on the couch… whatever it the reason is, it’s a very strong one!

Just thought I’d share,

Don

 

First Time Golfing With My Daughter

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This past few weeks, we (my son and I) have been taking my daughter to the golfing range.  At first, she was hitting it 5 to 10 feet, but on the first day at the driving range, I taught her that it’s her form that matters most, and after about a 20 minutes of practicing swinging, she started to hit the ball 50 to 100 yards!

For an eight year old girl, hitting the ball 100 yards is quite exciting, and it really showed in her face!  She was smiling ear to ear after she started nailing the ball!  It helped that both my son and I really made over how well she was hitting!  My son is a great guy and looks out for his little sister!

In fact, the entire golfing session was my son’s idea!  He asked me if I thought my daughter was ready, and I agreed!  Next he asked if Grandpa could go too, and of course I thought that was be a great idea too.

And then Tuesday rolled around and I totally forgot! lol…

Luckily he didn’t and ended up calling Grandpa and got the ball rolling again (pun totally intended…)!

Golf Cart

Golfing With My Daughter

My daughter and I rode in the same cart and honestly had a ball.  She actually played much better than I expected, and actually beat my son and tied me on 1 hole in particular (obviously we beat her overall, but for that one hole, it was hers!).  Although she doesn’t hit it 200+ yards, she definitely got it past 100 years a few times!  And you could see the confidence that she gained from playing well.  The funny thing was on the first hole, she even missed the water hazard (unlike my son and father).  I had a rare day where it seemed like everything I hit went super far (on the last two holes that were over 300 years, I landed on the green both time… this is very rare for me).

So all in all we all had a great time, and I was so impressed with my daughter and son that I took them for ice cream and pie.  Both of my kids like chocolate & peanut-butter pie, and so it was a great conclusion to a fun day golfing.

All in all it was a great memory…  I’m looking forward to taking them out again,

Don

My Personal Finance Pyramid Update

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My Personal Finance Pyramid

A few years ago I decided to create a road map while I slowly climb my way up a financial pyramid, trying to acquire more wealth!  I see such a climb as a struggle towards building wealth!  A pyramid (based on Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs) seemed to be a great representation of such a wealth pursuing journey.  In many ways, it helps me visualize the various levels and created milestones for me to watch for since I love feedback!  So without further ado, here is my update on my progress climbing my “Personal Finance Pyramid“!

Financial Pyramid

Asset Accumulation Phase

Yes!  After spending too much time stuck at the “Action Plans For Wealth Development” phase, I can finally state that I’ve crossed the threshold and that I’m firmly in the “Asset Accumulation” level on my Financial Pyramid!

Why was I stuck at the “Action Plans For Wealth Development” for so long?

Originally, I expected to only spend a short time in the “Action Plans For Wealth Development” phase, but the “The Great Recession” took its toll on my planning and caused me to spin for a while, trying to decide what to do.  Fortunately, my money was still swelling from the fact that we paid off the mortgage on our house early, and so I had a small pool of cash available for investing and purchasing other assets.

Upper Middle Class still at a Distance!

I had hoped to be closer to this level by now, but the economy and work haven’t worked out according to my plans.  I could also make the excuse that my wife is a SAHM and even point out this article “Income Loss From My Wife Being a Stay at Home Mom” that makes a great case that we should have been millionaires by now, but really if I wanted it bad enough, I could have worked harder all along.

How Things Are Different on my climb up my “Personal Finance Pyramid”

Having a personal finance pyramid for the goals in combination with personal finance spreadsheets (homegrown), really helps me keep my eye on the ball.  Another big thing that has changed is that I want to start having bigger and better experiences by traveling more often, especially overseas!  And finally, a huge change is that I totally believe that it’s possible for me to get to some of those higher levels on my personal finance pyramid. You see, most people don’t even try, so just believing and continuing to work harder and smarter puts me at a huge advantage!

I’m hoping for the best!  What are your thoughts?

MR