I've done a lot of things in life that have brought some form of joy to my life. I've experienced a lot of things that have made me happy and glad that I had just done whatever I had just done.
In my opinion, there are few things sweeter than hearing your baby play or sing. Yesterday, while I was talking with neighbors, who are moving to South Carolina, my daughter was saying to her baby doll named Susan, "See Susan, See? Leaf! Leaf blowing." Susan replied, "No" and so MGM chased the leaf as it blow slowly across the driveway and again said, "See Susan, See? Leaf!!" and Susan replied, "Leaf blowing!!!" I absolutely love when she has pretend conversations with her baby dolls.
She will also finish songs that you are singing. I call them her songs because she knows the works or tune. My favorite is 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed. I sing all of it except the last line because I love to hear her say, "no more monkeys jump in the bed."
Ever since I got married, I have prayed that if I am going to die that I have enough time to tell my wife and now my baby girl that I love them with everything I have. Maybe if there is enough time left I could hear her sing the "Monkey song" too.
Happy 600 days old MGM!!! You're still Daddy's baby.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Gardening in Zone 9
I am excited. We are two and half weeks away from March. March is the start of spring. March is when the sun gets high enough for people and plants to notice that summer is coming.
I can't wait. I've already planted my seeds in my planter although with this cold snap of teens at night I'm not sure they are going to germinate, but next week has highs in the 70's and I'm excited. Maybe I'll build another raised bed this weekend or just start getting the materials.
I'm gonna plant a few new plants this year. Things I've never grown. Sugar Snap Peas, something I think our daughter will enjoy and I want to try out an Avocado tree. I read that they can produce up to 200 avocados per year. Even if I get half that I'll save a decent amount in grocery because those little things are expensive. Supposedly you can freeze them in vacuum bags to last longer so we'll see; if not I'll give them away.
The end of March seems so far away looking at the calendar, but I'm learning that time flies by faster than I think and like a player playing chess, I'm trying to think a few moves ahead.
I can't wait. I've already planted my seeds in my planter although with this cold snap of teens at night I'm not sure they are going to germinate, but next week has highs in the 70's and I'm excited. Maybe I'll build another raised bed this weekend or just start getting the materials.
I'm gonna plant a few new plants this year. Things I've never grown. Sugar Snap Peas, something I think our daughter will enjoy and I want to try out an Avocado tree. I read that they can produce up to 200 avocados per year. Even if I get half that I'll save a decent amount in grocery because those little things are expensive. Supposedly you can freeze them in vacuum bags to last longer so we'll see; if not I'll give them away.
The end of March seems so far away looking at the calendar, but I'm learning that time flies by faster than I think and like a player playing chess, I'm trying to think a few moves ahead.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Finances
Disclaimer: I wrote this on a single stream of thought. So it is probably incoherent and full of errors.
I read an article that was meant to help people see where they stack up financially with their retirement goals. It also showed where you stack up with other Americans. We know that even some of the poorest Americans are far far more wealthy than a vast majority of people in the world. This article came with a handy calculator that shows how you compare with people your age and the median average of the entire US population.
I was very pleased to read that we compare well to the median and are doing much better than our peers. All this has been nothing short of God's blessing and I realize that they could be taken at any point in time. I say this because I have more trust in God's provisions than I do my ability or anything else I might say to make it seem like I or WE (my wife and I) have done on our own.
We have less debt, actually we have no debt except our house and even then we have less house debt than the average American. We have investments, college savings accounts, retirement accounts and emergency savings. The only category we were completely and utterly surpassed by our peers is how much our cars are worth. Ours are only worth something to us.
The problem I have is I actually feel broke. It has been a great help that my wife has picked up some tutoring jobs. We've been able to save at a much higher rate than we were previously, and we did just buy a new TV which I got a great deal on for under $400. But overall my spoiled American self wonders why I can't drive new cars. I want an iPhone and cable but I can't make myself spend the money on those things knowing that I could be putting more money to my house or to retirement or to my kids college fund. I can't see how this system can survive when it is so difficult to not spend money on things some see as basics and adequately save for the future.
My financial planner tells me that my daughter's bachelors degree will cost about 230k for in-state public tuition. My AS & BS in Computer Science plus almost completing a BS in Math and including my teaching courses cost about 40k. I've done the math and my degree depending on a bunch of IF's and not really math might have paid for myself. The IF's are usually centered around would I have gotten my current job. Would I have gotten paid at the level I'm paid for my current job. My field does not require degrees. They are nice to have but I work with lots of other IT professionals some with and some without degrees. I could have landed similar jobs with certifications. I know I probably could have landed better jobs with certifications and experience rather than just my degree and experience.
I don't see how a 230k degree, if the financial people are right, will ever be worth it, especially if people have to pay interest on the loans from those degrees. I also have a hard time wondering how people will retire. I again have done math, my financial planner has done the math and based on our current savings we'll live a comfortable retired life. The scary thing is we are miles, if not hundreds of miles, ahead of our peers in terms of retirement. They are no where close to where we are. I'm not bragging, I'm just trying to imagine how a system can function with so many people unable to retire when their bodies start getting old. Will parents get taken care of by their kids or work until they die? Are the kids taking care of them those same kids who either do not have degrees or are saddled with lots of debt not just school debt? If they are paying all their money toward debt how can they buy new things? If they can't buy new things how can the companies they work for make money?
Now I am full of doom and gloom, but this isn't doom and gloom these are real questions for people who don't have savings and drive new cars, with fancy houses and nice iPhones. I'm concerned that the America we know is going to radically change in the next 20 years and that worries me for my kids sake. On the other hand, I guess I'll really find out about God's provision.
I read an article that was meant to help people see where they stack up financially with their retirement goals. It also showed where you stack up with other Americans. We know that even some of the poorest Americans are far far more wealthy than a vast majority of people in the world. This article came with a handy calculator that shows how you compare with people your age and the median average of the entire US population.
I was very pleased to read that we compare well to the median and are doing much better than our peers. All this has been nothing short of God's blessing and I realize that they could be taken at any point in time. I say this because I have more trust in God's provisions than I do my ability or anything else I might say to make it seem like I or WE (my wife and I) have done on our own.
We have less debt, actually we have no debt except our house and even then we have less house debt than the average American. We have investments, college savings accounts, retirement accounts and emergency savings. The only category we were completely and utterly surpassed by our peers is how much our cars are worth. Ours are only worth something to us.
The problem I have is I actually feel broke. It has been a great help that my wife has picked up some tutoring jobs. We've been able to save at a much higher rate than we were previously, and we did just buy a new TV which I got a great deal on for under $400. But overall my spoiled American self wonders why I can't drive new cars. I want an iPhone and cable but I can't make myself spend the money on those things knowing that I could be putting more money to my house or to retirement or to my kids college fund. I can't see how this system can survive when it is so difficult to not spend money on things some see as basics and adequately save for the future.
My financial planner tells me that my daughter's bachelors degree will cost about 230k for in-state public tuition. My AS & BS in Computer Science plus almost completing a BS in Math and including my teaching courses cost about 40k. I've done the math and my degree depending on a bunch of IF's and not really math might have paid for myself. The IF's are usually centered around would I have gotten my current job. Would I have gotten paid at the level I'm paid for my current job. My field does not require degrees. They are nice to have but I work with lots of other IT professionals some with and some without degrees. I could have landed similar jobs with certifications. I know I probably could have landed better jobs with certifications and experience rather than just my degree and experience.
I don't see how a 230k degree, if the financial people are right, will ever be worth it, especially if people have to pay interest on the loans from those degrees. I also have a hard time wondering how people will retire. I again have done math, my financial planner has done the math and based on our current savings we'll live a comfortable retired life. The scary thing is we are miles, if not hundreds of miles, ahead of our peers in terms of retirement. They are no where close to where we are. I'm not bragging, I'm just trying to imagine how a system can function with so many people unable to retire when their bodies start getting old. Will parents get taken care of by their kids or work until they die? Are the kids taking care of them those same kids who either do not have degrees or are saddled with lots of debt not just school debt? If they are paying all their money toward debt how can they buy new things? If they can't buy new things how can the companies they work for make money?
Now I am full of doom and gloom, but this isn't doom and gloom these are real questions for people who don't have savings and drive new cars, with fancy houses and nice iPhones. I'm concerned that the America we know is going to radically change in the next 20 years and that worries me for my kids sake. On the other hand, I guess I'll really find out about God's provision.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
High school spanish
When I took Spanish in high school, I admittedly was not a good student, I remember conjugating verbs could be tricky. Spanish is definitely harder than English in that respect BUT I already knew when a verb needed to be conjugated so it was just learning the proper way to handle that verb.
I am actually pretty good at picking up languages. Immersion being my method of choice, I learned sign-language good enough in two semesters that deaf people I met didn't know I was actually hearing. I hung out with them and had a great time. In Romania, I had a deep internal draw to try and learn as much of the language as possible so that I could communicate with people. Even though we were only there one week. I know how to order my favorite dish at a Vietnamese restaraunt here in town using you guessed it Vietnamese. My boss, who is Vietnamese thinks it is great. I do wish I was fluent enough in any language to actually claim it on a resume but I've yet to take that step. As with most things I pick them up quickly, yet I know how difficult it is to learn a new skill and speaking is much easier than writing or reading.
I wish I knew better how learning language worked. Just to know how it worked. I learned the basics of it when I took Child Development while working on my teaching certificate, but that was all just classroom learning of the theories. Now I can observe it every day and it is fascinating.
Like all my posts I typically start them days if not weeks in advance and then don't finish them usually because I think they are stupid. However, this is one thought in my head that is daily recurring. How did my little girl learn to conjugate verbs. I don't know when exactly this happened; I started this post two weeks ago but sometime over the last month she has started adding, "ing and ed" to verbs. Unlike my attempts in high school, where I knew I had to change the verb for different tenses. All I needed to do is figure out which tense. She learned the rule AND the tense and correctly applies it to every regular verb. She does still say, "I falled" or "I felled." My favorite thing she says is, "I'm running" and the word patience which is not the same topic.
Since I love learning and love learning new skills. I'm sure I'll be in awe the rest of my life as she learns new things. I am sure I'll be jealous at how quickly she learns them and how much opportunity she has to learn them. I just think it is amazing how people learn language, I did in college and I especially do now.
I am actually pretty good at picking up languages. Immersion being my method of choice, I learned sign-language good enough in two semesters that deaf people I met didn't know I was actually hearing. I hung out with them and had a great time. In Romania, I had a deep internal draw to try and learn as much of the language as possible so that I could communicate with people. Even though we were only there one week. I know how to order my favorite dish at a Vietnamese restaraunt here in town using you guessed it Vietnamese. My boss, who is Vietnamese thinks it is great. I do wish I was fluent enough in any language to actually claim it on a resume but I've yet to take that step. As with most things I pick them up quickly, yet I know how difficult it is to learn a new skill and speaking is much easier than writing or reading.
I wish I knew better how learning language worked. Just to know how it worked. I learned the basics of it when I took Child Development while working on my teaching certificate, but that was all just classroom learning of the theories. Now I can observe it every day and it is fascinating.
Like all my posts I typically start them days if not weeks in advance and then don't finish them usually because I think they are stupid. However, this is one thought in my head that is daily recurring. How did my little girl learn to conjugate verbs. I don't know when exactly this happened; I started this post two weeks ago but sometime over the last month she has started adding, "ing and ed" to verbs. Unlike my attempts in high school, where I knew I had to change the verb for different tenses. All I needed to do is figure out which tense. She learned the rule AND the tense and correctly applies it to every regular verb. She does still say, "I falled" or "I felled." My favorite thing she says is, "I'm running" and the word patience which is not the same topic.
Since I love learning and love learning new skills. I'm sure I'll be in awe the rest of my life as she learns new things. I am sure I'll be jealous at how quickly she learns them and how much opportunity she has to learn them. I just think it is amazing how people learn language, I did in college and I especially do now.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Weather
The only thing I can think of about having temps below freezing for 96 straight hours is it makes getting into a cold swimming pool easier. I had a great swim workout today and really enjoyed being in the water. I can't wait for warmer temperatures so that I can swim outside and feel the sun.
Today I woke up at it was 16 degrees winds were 15-20 miles per hour. It was 2 degrees warmer in Madison, Wisconsin than in Austin, TX. It is actually twice as cold in Austin, TX than in Washington DC! Amarillo was at -4 degrees and that' Fahrenheit!! Their winds were 30mph with gusts up to 50mph.
To make all of this worse, ERCOT, Texas' power grid authority, issued rolling blackouts or 30-45 minutes every 10-15 minutes. So while we don't really like having a fireplace taking up valuable space in our house. It is proving quite useful since our heater does not work without power. You see even though it is gas it still needs electricity to run the fan to circulate the air.
I work in a large data center and we have battery backup and diesel generator backup. This morning while shuffling server cabinets around part of our raise floor failed and a server cabinet all most crushed me. Had it happened 2 or 3 minutes earlier the two guys that caught it would not have been there and it would have fallen on me. Each cabinet is several hundred pounds. I could have been seriously hurt. As the cabinet fell it ripped a few cables and we had about an hour of downtime not related to the power outages across the state. Luckily we got everything back up and even temporarily fixed the floor. I guess today is just one of those days.
Today I woke up at it was 16 degrees winds were 15-20 miles per hour. It was 2 degrees warmer in Madison, Wisconsin than in Austin, TX. It is actually twice as cold in Austin, TX than in Washington DC! Amarillo was at -4 degrees and that' Fahrenheit!! Their winds were 30mph with gusts up to 50mph.
To make all of this worse, ERCOT, Texas' power grid authority, issued rolling blackouts or 30-45 minutes every 10-15 minutes. So while we don't really like having a fireplace taking up valuable space in our house. It is proving quite useful since our heater does not work without power. You see even though it is gas it still needs electricity to run the fan to circulate the air.
I work in a large data center and we have battery backup and diesel generator backup. This morning while shuffling server cabinets around part of our raise floor failed and a server cabinet all most crushed me. Had it happened 2 or 3 minutes earlier the two guys that caught it would not have been there and it would have fallen on me. Each cabinet is several hundred pounds. I could have been seriously hurt. As the cabinet fell it ripped a few cables and we had about an hour of downtime not related to the power outages across the state. Luckily we got everything back up and even temporarily fixed the floor. I guess today is just one of those days.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Blue Bell 10k
Every time I comment on EMU's blog, I always get a lot of people reading mine. So I figured I'd post something recent, however it is rarely as informative and much less frequently updated.
Last year my wife and I, plus a group of friends, ran the Blue Bell 10k. The Wifey and I had a great time pushing the baby and running together.
Since my recent moral defeat at the Bandera 50k, which I haven't talked about yet because I'm still stewing with the disappointment, I've really struggled for which race to sign-up for. I enjoy shorter races and like them because you get to run faster. I like fast. I really enjoy 1 mile races but something about the challenges you face during a distance race makes me want to run the 10k or really just rerun the Bandera 50k.
Right now, I really just want to be successful at the race. Which means winning something. Prior to my wife having a child and us adding a little one into our family, we actually had won a few races or age groups at smaller 5k's like the Blue Bell. Those were the days where I could expect to average low 6min/miles or touch into the 5 min/mile range for the whole 5k. Those were the days indeed and now I'm happy to average low 7 min/miles for the whole race. But I know I'm capable of more.
SO I've decided to run the 5k. It is a good quick race, I get to run fast. There is not a lot that can go wrong during a 5k versus a longer race so it could be a good moral booster. I'm going to set my goal for a nice conservative pace of under 21 minutes. I have 12 weeks until the race. I will be using this FIRST's training (Furman Insititute of Running Science and Training) plan. I am looking forward to it. I've used these plans for about 3 years and have really seen amazing improvements. If you want to get faster this is the plan for you. Also, I've lost 7lbs since the first of December and have about 10 more to get to a good competitive weight. It is amazing how much easier it is to run and run fast when you've lost 20lbs. Hopefully, by triathlon season the wife and I will be at a much more competitive place, she'll just say healthy place.
Last year my wife and I, plus a group of friends, ran the Blue Bell 10k. The Wifey and I had a great time pushing the baby and running together.
Since my recent moral defeat at the Bandera 50k, which I haven't talked about yet because I'm still stewing with the disappointment, I've really struggled for which race to sign-up for. I enjoy shorter races and like them because you get to run faster. I like fast. I really enjoy 1 mile races but something about the challenges you face during a distance race makes me want to run the 10k or really just rerun the Bandera 50k.
Right now, I really just want to be successful at the race. Which means winning something. Prior to my wife having a child and us adding a little one into our family, we actually had won a few races or age groups at smaller 5k's like the Blue Bell. Those were the days where I could expect to average low 6min/miles or touch into the 5 min/mile range for the whole 5k. Those were the days indeed and now I'm happy to average low 7 min/miles for the whole race. But I know I'm capable of more.
SO I've decided to run the 5k. It is a good quick race, I get to run fast. There is not a lot that can go wrong during a 5k versus a longer race so it could be a good moral booster. I'm going to set my goal for a nice conservative pace of under 21 minutes. I have 12 weeks until the race. I will be using this FIRST's training (Furman Insititute of Running Science and Training) plan. I am looking forward to it. I've used these plans for about 3 years and have really seen amazing improvements. If you want to get faster this is the plan for you. Also, I've lost 7lbs since the first of December and have about 10 more to get to a good competitive weight. It is amazing how much easier it is to run and run fast when you've lost 20lbs. Hopefully, by triathlon season the wife and I will be at a much more competitive place, she'll just say healthy place.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Winter
I can't imagine living in a place that doesn't get 100 degrees. This cold snap that has come upon Austin really makes me start thinking about moving to Hawaii. There is a Whole Foods in Hawaii and they have plenty of jobs available. Now, I might be broke living there but at least I could enjoy the weather all year round and some of my outdoor hobbies are virtually free.
It is 31 degrees this morning. I've mentioned earlier it could be a lot worse. I have woken up to colder temperatures, but the event that starts my mind thinking about warmer climate is when the mercury doesn't go up with the sunrise. Today to add insult to injury the temperature actually went down with the sunrise. It is now 29 degrees!!!
My mind wonders, why someone would want to live in a place where a significant part of the year is filled with weather you could die in if you accidentally lock yourself outside as you went to check your mail or where you could slip and fall and die from brain injuries as you walked your dog OR where you just have to spend most of your time inside because come on lets face it playing in the snow gets old. As an adult you're going to work and snow adds traffic delays, not to mention the risk of car crashes, power outages from falling trees, etc etc. The cold weather vastly increases the chance of static electricity which can be a fashion pain!
Right now I'm having a hard time remembering that Summer is coming. Next week it might be in the 80's again but it seems so far away to me right now, that I might as well move to a place where the inhabitants are currently strolling happily down the street in shorts and a t-shirt.
The temperature is supposed to climb into the low 40's but yesterday it was supposed to be in the 50's and it never even made it to the 40's and today is looking the same way. Tomorrow morning the forecast calls for 21 degrees in Kyle. This is TEXAS!! Come on now, geez. Northern birds fly here for the winter and this is what they get? I bet they're pretty upset right about now. I hate cold weather.
It is 31 degrees this morning. I've mentioned earlier it could be a lot worse. I have woken up to colder temperatures, but the event that starts my mind thinking about warmer climate is when the mercury doesn't go up with the sunrise. Today to add insult to injury the temperature actually went down with the sunrise. It is now 29 degrees!!!
My mind wonders, why someone would want to live in a place where a significant part of the year is filled with weather you could die in if you accidentally lock yourself outside as you went to check your mail or where you could slip and fall and die from brain injuries as you walked your dog OR where you just have to spend most of your time inside because come on lets face it playing in the snow gets old. As an adult you're going to work and snow adds traffic delays, not to mention the risk of car crashes, power outages from falling trees, etc etc. The cold weather vastly increases the chance of static electricity which can be a fashion pain!
Right now I'm having a hard time remembering that Summer is coming. Next week it might be in the 80's again but it seems so far away to me right now, that I might as well move to a place where the inhabitants are currently strolling happily down the street in shorts and a t-shirt.
The temperature is supposed to climb into the low 40's but yesterday it was supposed to be in the 50's and it never even made it to the 40's and today is looking the same way. Tomorrow morning the forecast calls for 21 degrees in Kyle. This is TEXAS!! Come on now, geez. Northern birds fly here for the winter and this is what they get? I bet they're pretty upset right about now. I hate cold weather.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
