I’m feeling restless.  I want to get out and go do something.  I’ve been working so much recently that I haven’t really gone out with my friends or really even done anything exciting in the last few weeks and it’s starting to get to me.  One of my friends is coming into town from another state this weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing them just cuz it will be something to do.  We’re all going to meet at another friend’s place and grill and have some drinks and just chill.  I’m going stir crazy right now!

I may have to put in some PTO and just go somewhere.  Have you ever just randomly gone on a trip without having any particular place in mind?  Like just go to the airport and get on a plane?  I don’t know if I’m quite spontaneous enough to do that, but I want to do something.  I want to go surfing in Costa Rica.  I’ve never been surfing before but it looks like it would be fun.  Actually, speaking of surfing, I saw a show on TV a few years ago about this indoor surf park they have in Japan.  The waves are created artificially but you can ride them the same as normal waves.  The show talked about this surfer from Australia who went to the park when he was in Japan and he liked it so much that he moved there and now he’s an instructor.  Talk about doing what you enjoy for a living!

Japan may be a bit far away, so I think I’ll stick with Costa Rica for now.  I have a friend from University who studied thee for a semester as part of his degree in teaching Spanish.  He said it was awesome, and in fact when I first thought about going there he popped into my mind so I sent him a message and asked him about his time there and he was like “omg, do it, go, now!”  So, that’s just encouraging me.

Is surfing hard?  Have any of you gone before?  I remember trying to skateboard when I was a kid and I wasn’t very good at it.  Wasn’t skateboarding actually invented because of surfing?  Like they wanted to be able to ride the waves even when they weren’t buy the ocean so they put some wheels on a board or something?  I may have that completely wrong but I think I heard that somewhere.

If I go you can expect pictures!

I use a Mac.  I’ve been told it’s because I’m a girl.  Do more women use Macs than men?  Actually, now that I think about it, most of the people I know who are nerdy into computers are men, and they all have PCs.  I’m sure that’s not a big enough sample size to constitute meaningful statistical data, but still.  I know plenty of guys who use Apple products, too.  Now that I think about it, however, many of them are hipsters.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that!  I’m going to stop here before I get myself in trouble!

Where was I going with that?  Oh yeah.  I use my computer for everything.  I keep music on it.  I have lots of photos.  Bank statements.  Papers from university.  I use it to surf the net.  I watch movies on it.  I check Facebook a few times a day like everyone else.  I would be upset if something were to happen to it, so I’ve decided I need to start backing my stuff up.

I know it’s standard computer using procedure: always make backups!  I save my work when I’m working on it all the time.  In fact, I’m kind of OCD about it.  I’ll hit Command + S every few minutes or after I finish a really good sentence or something.  But I haven’t ever backed up my hard drive.  I want to look into Mac Cloud backup options because I figure that might be easier than having to get an external drive and worrying about keeping track of it.  I know they’re not big but I have a tendency to misplace things.  If I’m backing up on the “cloud” then there’s no actual physical thing to worry about.  Plus, I can access my stuff from wherever I want.  I see those commercials on the tele where they’re like “it’s on the cloud” and they always drive me nuts, but it might not actually be such a bad idea.  But really, why not just say “online” instead?

Anyway, I like my computer.  I think I’ll put it on my list to get this backup thing taken care of by the end of this week, otherwise I’ll keep putting it off and it will be one of those things that I always say I should do but never actually get around to doing, and this is the kind of thing that I want to do before I need it.

I am very frugal.

My mind is consumed with the notion of acquiring and building wealth to the extent that it’s intruding upon my daily activities.

I try to do everything frugally.  For example, when I bought my first car, I didn’t pick the coolest car or the fastest car.  Instead, I picked a car with the best car insurance rates.  I had a list of vehicles I was interested in and I checked with various insurance companies to find out how much it would be for each one.I think it all stems from a fear of not having enough money. I was talking to my mom the other day and I told her I wouldn’t be comfortable unless I had enough money for 10 years of living expenses in a liquid account.

A little background:I’m in my late 20′s or early 30′s (it’s a secret!). My previous job was my first job out of college, and I was there for almost 2 years. I worked in systems development, and it sucked. I would work 50, 60, 70 hours a week on salary (no overtime pay) with mandatory weekends and pretty much as much nonsense as you could imagine. This was a big, international HR firm, and our company engagement scores were around 25/100 (which is absolutely horrible). Basically, no one was happy there. People in the development teams had job stress-induced illnesses. I would see people cry at work, etc. Sometimes I’d go home at night at come back the next day and there were still people there who hadn’t gone home. One of our programmers worked a 35 hour shift once. People’s families would come visit them at work because the employees never got to go home. And all of this for low pay (related to similar jobs at other companies) and 0-1% raises.Alright, so I had been thinking about quitting for a while, but one weekend I decided to finally do it. I gave 2 days notice and quit. I had at least 6 months worth of living expenses saved up in a liquid account at this point, plus I cashed out 21 days of PTO which is over 4 weeks worth of pay, so that was a nice bonus.

I was so stressed out from that job I was then unemployed for about 6 months, by choice. I was literally so screwed up from that job that I didn’t do much for the next 3-4 months. I would sleep in until noon. I had no motivation to do anything. And through the whole thing, I felt secure because I had enough in the bank for a few more months…

Anyway, that experience made me realize that I was lucky to be able financially to up and quit my job. There were so many people there who hated it but couldn’t quit because they were living paycheck to paycheck.

I think that now I’m terrified of being in that position again. I’m always asking myself “what if I get fired? What if I have to quit?” Finding a new job is impossible. “What if I can’t find a new job?” I’m consumed by the need to have enough money so that not finding a job won’t be a problem because I won’t need money.

I think I’m taking it a little too far to that extreme.

Beats the alternative, though.

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been keeping up with my goal of running a few times each week.  I’m quite proud of myself because I have a tendency to set goals and then never really follow up on them.  Kind of like that time I wanted to learn Italian and I bought a bunch of Italian books and courses and studied it really hardcore for about a week and then stopped.  I still have all the books sitting on my shelf, and every time I see them I think “I’ll start that back up one day,” but I haven’t yet.  I think part of the problem with that may have been I jumped into it really seriously, like trying to study for hours a day.  I suspect that if I had only tried to do 30 minutes a day or so I might have stuck with it.  And so that could be why I’ve stuck with the running since I’ve only been doing it a few times a week.

Anyway, I’ve decided that I really like running.  Although it’s only been a few weeks, I can already see a difference in how I look, and I definitely feel better, too.  I’ve got a bit more weight to lose but so far so good.  I’ve also been trying to eat better and I may consider trying a supplement like green coffee bean extract as well, but I think the running will play the biggest part in everything.  One of the coolest parts about running that I didn’t even expect is the community.  I went online to try and find the answers to a few questions I had and ended up finding some forums full of cool and helpful people.  They were able to give me some info regarding shoes, how often I should run, what supplements I should use, etc.  Totally unexpected!  I didn’t know there were such large running communities!

I’m also looking forward to this spring when it gets a bit warmer and I can run outside without needing to wear a hat and gloves.  In the winter you go outside and it’s freezing and then you start to sweat a bit, and then when when the wind hits the sweat it makes you even colder!  Of course, the summer isn’t much better when it’s so hot outside that you start sweating before you even start running!  Somewhere around 10-20 degrees C is perfect (that’s 50-70 F for any Americans reading this).  Of course, I always have the option of going to the gym and running indoors, but I prefer to run outside cuz the air is good for you!

My brother got in a bit of trouble last weekend.  He got a DUI.  Fortunately, no one was hurt, but he’s pretty upset over the whole thing.  And I’m kind of upset with him.  He’s my younger brother and I feel responsible kind of when he gets in trouble — even though we’re both adults and haven’t gotten “in trouble” in years, but you know what I mean.  Of course, it was one of those “I only had a couple” situations, but he still had to take a breathalyzer and I think he said he was just barely over the limit, but the limit is the limit, so there wasn’t much he could say or do.

I told him he should probably find a DUI attorney in Sarasota to help him out.  I sent him a link to a blog thinking that maybe he’ll learn something there.  I know it might be expensive but it will save him in the long run since they may be able to work out a deal or something.

I know depending on where you live, sometimes the penalties can be harsh.  I think you can lose your license for a while, there are classes you have to take, your insurance rates go up, gotta pay a fine, etc.  What a mess.  It was his first offense, though.  He’s never been in trouble with the law ever before so I’m hoping they go easy on him.

Ok, on to another topic: I can’t wait until our job goes back to “summer hours”.  Summer hours are when you get to leave at noon every other Friday, but it still counts as a 40 hour week.  So the way it works is you work a normal week, and that’s 40 hours, and then the next week you work a normal week except you leave at 12:00 on Friday and you don’t have to work any extra hours to make it up.  It’s awesome, and my company does it every summer, except of course right now it’s winter and so we’re on a normal schedule.   And once winter comes to an end, that means an end to this cold weather, too.  And snow.  Sometimes I count the days until next summer.  Maybe I’ll take a vacation to somewhere warm this year when it’s freezing here.  Maybe I’ll go visit my brother in Miami.  Well, I don’t really like humidity that much, either, so maybe I won’t go there.  I guess we will see.  Alright, time to go make dinner.

I have too much stuff.

Seriously.

I didn’t realize it until I decided to move into a smaller flat, and as I started going through my closets I realized that I really, really have a lot of stuff.  I’m also incredibly efficient at organizing, because I have way more things stuffed into various containers and stacked up in the closet than I should.  The problem is that I kind of form a sentimental attachment to stuff.  It’s not that I’m a hoarder.  I most definitely am not!  It’s just that I like to save stuff because you never quite know when you might need something again in the future.  You know, like computer parts, for example.  I have RAM from my old computer that probably isn’t even compatible with current computers, and even if it were, it’s like a 1 gig stick.  Who uses a 1 gig stick?  But at the time, of course, it was like “oh hey, I think I’ll hold onto this just incase I need an extra stick of RAM in the future.”

Anyway, I’m downsizing my living space.  I’m moving downtown where space is at a premium, and so I’m leaving my current 75 meters squared flat for a place that is only 60.  And the thing is, 60 square meters is actually a pretty decent size for where I’m going to be living.  I’m paying more, too.  Luckily for me, I found a place where you can sell stuff online for free, so a lot of the stuff that I have that is still useful (not the 1 gig RAM stick!) I’m going to be able to sell.  All I have to do is scan the barcode.  I’m not expecting to get a lot of money, but whatever I do get will help.  I’ve got some old clothes, a videogame system, and a bunch of books.  I might just put the rest of it up on eBay or give it away or donate it to charity or something.  My new place only has two closets (one hallway, one bedroom) so I have to make sure I don’t get carried away like I did here.  I’m not even sure if all my furniture will fit in my new place.  I may end up having to give away some of that, too.

I’m excited, though.  I hate moving, but I like once you’re actually settled in.   It’s the packing and stuff that I don’t like.  That’s probably why I don’t move very often.

One thing I want to work on this year is my ability to get things done in a timely manner.  It’s not that I’m a procrastinator (yes it is), it’s just that sometimes I tend to get distracted kind of easily.  For example, I will have some work I need to do, so I’ll sit down at my computer and plan on getting it done, but after I work for a little bit, I’ll be like “oh, I’m just gonna take a quick break” and open up YouTube or a forum that I like to read or something, and I’m really only planning on looking at something for a minute and then getting back to work, but what always happens if that I see something interesting, and then that links to something else interesting, and so on and so on, and before I know it, my 2 minute break has turned into 30 minutes and I’m still not even done yet!

This happens with all sorts of things, not just computer stuff.  The other day I had some work to do and I ended up cleaning my entire bathroom just to avoid doing it.  It was like “well, my floors are a little dirty… let me just scrub them really quickly” and then I was like “well, if I did the floors, I might as well do the shower, too,” and then the rest of the bathroom, and like an hour later and I still hadn’t started on my work.  My bathroom was really clean, though!

I’m not sure why I do this.  In university I was the same way when it came to writing papers.  I would put them off until the last minute, but then I would be really motivated to get them done, and I usually got good grades on them, too.  Maybe it’s like I need to feel the pressure of something being almost due in order to do it.  I know that’s not a good way to do things, but I also remember trying to start papers early sometimes and I just wouldn’t really produce anything good.  It seems that’s an old habit that dies hard.

I even do the same thing with my taxes.  I take a while to get all my tax stuff together, which means it takes longer for me to get it to my accountant, which not only probably gives them more stress, but it gives me more stress, too.  And I fully admit that it doesn’t make sense to do it this way.

So I’m gonna try and stop doing that.  I’m going to try and get the things that have to be done taken care of before I do the things that I want to do (like surfing the net).  I’m going to start by making lists of all the things that have to get done each day and doing them in order, and not wasting time until they’re all checked off.

I am on a mission as far as getting my townhouse more organized. I’m just going to be honest and flat out say that I have let the place go in the last year or so. I was really sick there for a while and had some other personal problems pop up but I’m past all that. I feel better both mentally and physically now and want my home to reflect that. My biggest problem is my 2nd bedroom which I sort of just threw everything and anything in there as a makeshift storage locker. The problem is it isn’t organized at all and looks horrendous. I know a lot of it has to go but I have also been looking for plastic storage bins on this site because I do want to keep some of it. There are a few things in there that belonged to my Mom and those are definite keepers.

Besides that my place is in ok shape and won’t need a major makeover or anything. I just need to set aside a full weekend to do a thorough cleaning. I asked my sister Amy if she wanted to come over and help and she said she would get back to me. She likes to think of herself as some kind of master organizer which I think is funny. She likes to start things but finishing them is a different story. You could ask her husband Bill all about that if you knew him. I actually feel sorry for him but he knew what he was getting into when he married her. That was 12 years ago which makes me feel old seeing as I’m 6 years older than her.

I actually want to start thinking about trying to sell my place. I know that will be easier said than done but I am sort of tired of living here. I don’t know any of my neighbors and the location isn’t all that great. I think a fresh start somewhere new would be nice but we’ll see. I know the housing market isn’t great for sellers right  now and I certainly can’t afford to lose money on the deal. I might put out a feeler to my friend James that works in real estate to see what he says. I haven’t talked to him in a while but I think he always had a thing for me so he won’t mind helping me out.

It’s been kind of depressing to watch the news recently.  Well, it’s always kind of depressing to watch the news, but recently with the shooting at the elementary school and then all the following talks about gun laws.  It’s just kind of crazy to see everyone trying to come up with a different solution to the problem.  “Guns are the problem!  Ban guns!”  Or “guns aren’t the problem; the problem is crazy people!’

They’re both right.

Of course, you don’t hear about sane, responsible gun owners shooting random people.

We had guns when I was growing up, and while we were all taught how to use them, we were also taught how to be responsible with them, and all of them were kept in their respective rifle or pistol safe.  Of course, only our parents were able to open them, but still.

So I think the problem recently isn’t necessarily the weapons themselves, it’s that crazy people have access to them.  Banning guns doesn’t work (look at the cities who have tried that; did it reduce gun violence?).  Having a firearm for personal protection/defense probably isn’t the issue, although it would be hard to convince me that anyone needs an assault rifle.  The military has a use for them, but Joe Schmoe gun owner?  No.

But until we have the technology to disable a gun when a crazy person picks it up, I don’t think the issue will ever really be resolved.

This topic is making me upset so I’m going to switch to something else, ready?  Shooting is a hobby of mine, so let’s talk about hobbies.  As it’s been the new year now officially for 3 days, I figured I would talk about a bout resolutions.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I am planning on starting my running program again for this year.  But in addition to that, I’m also thinking about revisiting an old hobby of mine: painting.

I remember in high school when I took an art class and they were teaching us how to paint, except they only gave us the primary colors and we had to mix the rest on our own!  Like if you wanted to use green, you had to mix blue and yellow.  At first I was annoyed, but shortly thereafter something about it struck me as being very cool, and I became really interested in that class.  I didn’t really have much skill (and my teacher didn’t think so, either, seeing as how I ended up with a C), but I had a ton of fun.  I ended up taking a few more art classes in high school, and even buying myself some paints and practice canvases for use at home.  I messed around with them a little in college but was mostly too busy with my real classes, but I haven’t even painted in years now, and it’s something I’m kind of itching to get back into, so I may have to take a trip to the art store one of these days and pick up some brushes and paints (but only the primary colors!).

I’ve been doing a lot of walking recently.  I need to get some new shoes I think.  Actually, I’ve been meaning to order some new shoes for a while now because I want to start running, and I’m definitely going to need some new shoes for that seeing as how I really only own dress shoes at this point.  Don’t ask me how that happened.  I just realized one day that all the shoes I had were dressy shoes or business casual, but certainly nothing that would pass as legitimate exercise shoes.

Maybe I should make getting in shape my New Year’s resolution.  It’s not that I’m terribly out of shape at the moment, it’s just that I don’t really exercise the way I used to when I was in college.  I used to run a few kilometers a few times a week.  I probably couldn’t even do that anymore.  In fact, the last time I went for a run was… well, it was before I moved here, and that was at least a few years ago.

I was looking online to try and find a good deal on some trainers so I can actually get back into running.  Of course you know me, and I like to be frugal, so I was looking for sales or end of the year deals.  I found a few that look decent, actually, click here to see them.

I wonder how long it will take me to get back into good shape.  I wonder if I could even run one km now without stopping.  That sounds pretty pathetic, but I’m not one of those people who are naturally good at running.  I remember the first time I ever went for a run, and I made it about half a kilometer before I had to start walking.  Other people would warm up with a 3 or 4 km jog, and I couldn’t even do one without having to walk!  I felt pretty bad, but I stuck with it and before I knew it, 5km runs were a piece of cake.

But like I said, that was years ago.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it took me at least a few months to get back to that level.  I need to, though; I don’t want to be one of those people who talks about how good of shape they were in back in the day.

On that note, I’ve gotta go meet my friend for lunch.  Maybe we’ll go shoe shopping afterwards!