Tech. Business. Life.

So - wow - a whole summer with no posting.  I suppose you could say I’ve been busy, but really, I’ve just been lazy.  You can only do so much before something falls off - and this blog was it.

I’m working on several projects at the moment - not the least of which is still pushing to get HHOD off the ground.  I pursuit of that, I’ve moved back to working completely from home, cutting down my hours at the agency significantly.  This has allowed me to focus more on my clients, as well as new projects to enhance my personal life and hopefully help fund HHOD.

I’ve been looking in to a lot of personal development tactics to go along with this - and I can honestly say, over the last 6 weeks, my overall level of happiness and productivity has skyrocketed.

I’m also currently shopping for some sort of fitness program to get back into the swing of things - since I moved, I’ve been lax in hitting the gym.  Thankfully, I haven’t put any of the weight I lost back on, but I doubt very seriously if I could hit the sidewalk and cruise through a 4 mile run like I could have 4 months ago.

I’ll try my best to keep things posted here - lots of stuff going on to offer my completely unqualified opinion on

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So, I’m a personal finance geek. I worship at the altar of Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman. I love it - it’s interesting and fun to plan. Most importantly, it’s one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Managing your money and credit is vital to your future - so the sooner you start, the better.

In the spirit of that, I did a template of my personal finance spreadsheet for a friend, and he thought it was pretty cool, so I thought I’d share it here as well. You can download a blank version here (I’ve added in some “dummy” numbers for reference).

The purpose of this model is to manage your month to month cash flow, taking into account debt amortization and savings (although no interest is applied to the savings, but that would be easy to add in). It’s pretty basic, but it’s what I’ve been using for quite a while now, and I have to say, it really works!

If you like this - please let me know! Also, if you have questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Just leave comments and I’ll reply.

One last thing - if you’d like to add something like savings account interest but can’t, let me know and I’ll work on it. It would be very cool to see this evolve into a more sophisticated tool that we can share for free.

UPDATE - Andy over at the Bofe Blog saw my spreadsheet, and raised me a savings account.  I say, download both!

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The last video I posted was from Oprah - this is the full, 76 minute version. Thanks Clayton.

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This is absolutely amazing. Watch it.

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5 days without meat.  If you’d have told me a few months ago I’d be trying this, much less enjoying it, I’d have slapped you.  No seriously, it would have been so off the wall, I’d have actually slapped you. Unless you were a lady or bigger than me

So, I started this experiment Sunday.  That was 5 days and 4.5 pounds ago.  I attribute that to not only eating much healthier, but also the 9 miles I’ve run since then (thanks to the Half Marathon Training).  I’m sure my body will adjust and the weight loss will mellow out, but for now, I’ll take it.

My body still feel great - I actually feel more energetic and focused than I have in a while.  I’m sure some of that is just in my head…but again, I’ll take it.  I’m still enjoying the food, and the challenge of coming up with meals that are tasty and meat free.  I think, even when I allow meat back into my diet, it will be in much smaller quantities.

Of course, the way things are going, I’m not sure that will happen, except on special occasions.

On a running note - a 3-mile run is a regular, pretty easy thing now.  I’m actually starting the program Monday (it allowed perfect timing for the Music City Half-Marathon) - so I’ll be a step or so ahead of it for a week.  It ramps up quickly though, so I’m hoping my body can keep up with the demands.

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So, in an attempt to improve my diet - I’m taking a month to go vegetarian.  Not vegan - (I’ll kill you if you touch my cheese) - but critter flesh is out until Feb 28.  I’m curious about this on several levels -  I wonder if I’m going to lose weight, and if I do, will it be sustainable?  I’m wondering if my body can keep up with my demanding lifestyle - and I’m wondering if I’ll just freak out and load up on cheeseburgers in a week.

Mostly - I’m wondering if I can have the discipline to stick it out.

Day 2 - I actually feel really, really good.  I felt good yesterday too - I’m focusing on healthy foods (no cheese pizza, please), and I feel very ‘clean’ and surprisingly alert.   I’ve got whey protein, lots of greens, and plenty o’beans ready, so I no longer have concern about protein deprivation.  I also discovered that I like pita and hummus (with buffalo sauce) more than, well, just about anything.

Note - I’m a HUGE carnivore - so this is a bit of a departure for me.  Any tips are greatly appreciated.

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I promised Keohan I’d run a half-marathon with him in April.

That’s 13 miles on foot.  ‘Tis a long way, no?

Can’t help but feel a bit nervous about this, but it will be interesting.  I’m trucking through 3 miles pretty easily, and apparently this training program will carry me through to the rest.  C’mon shin splints!

In other business news - I’ve merged my triathlon site with Ontri.com - so Jon will be taking that over, which is a good thing - it’ll be nice to see it grow well beyond what I had the capacity to turn it into.

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So, this site is going to turn into “my” business site - but until I free up enough time to increase that part of my life, it’s just going to hang out and be my blog.  However, I thought you guys might be interested in what I have going on (and be able to offer a touch of insight).

1) I consult for a couple great clients.  One of which is going to change the world.  That rocks.
2) I work at siteEDGE Agency here in KC.  We do some great work with some really cool (and diverse) businesses.
3) I’m working on a double-top secret project to create an amazing learning resource for school-age kids.
4) I’m toying with the idea of taking a better stab at my Endurance Athletes Community.

Tips on software for #4 would be appreciated.  Nothing too MySpacey.  It really grew quickly (unmanageably quickly, actually) on Wordpress MU (which wasn’t a very stable system, for us anyway).  Then, I want to a hosted solution, and it was $32/month of suck.  My triathlon training site gets tons of traffic, and I have a huge myspace community built around this….so maybe that’s my “next step”.

5) Speaking of….gonna run a couple triathlons in ‘08.

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Anyone who knows me, knows I’m an avid college basketball fan. My favorite team, the Duke Blue Devils, is constantly accused of being part of some wide-spread conspiracy that allows them to get nothing but favorable calls from the referees. While the data doesn’t support this, I can tell you why it seems this way.

And, it isn’t because they are cheating.

They appear to get calls because they are constantly attacking. On both ends of the floor, their game plan is to get their opponents on their heels and keep them there. This allows them to dictate the tempo of the game, and forces the other team to adapt and play the game Coach K wants them to. Their opponents are often forced into a situation where game events happen to them, and they have little or no input.

The same strategy applies to life folks - there are so many people who talk about “making your own luck” that I’m not even going to try to locate a quote. I’m just saying if your focus is on moving forward, achieving your goals, and being proactive in your life (i.e. “attacking”) you’re going to get a lot more calls than the guy waiting for the right moment to try to make something happen.

So - get out there and attack!

Technorati Tags: Personal Development, Goal Setting, Duke Blue Devils

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