simplerich

If you’ve noticed I’ve been posting book reviews, quite a few of them actually. I credit the kindle and lots of audiobook time while I stare at the windshield for work. While some of the books fit into the over-arching theme of management that I’m trying to focus on here. Some of them, the science fiction ones for example… they’re not exactly that good a fit here.

I’ve tried doing the different blog for book reviews thing and honestly, I’m not that good at it. I’ve started posting reviews of the books on amazon.com and goodreads.com and those aren’t my blog. They’re not my little niche in the internet. They’re not my mothership. This is. After losing the blog to a bad database back-up I sort of lost my way with the blog. I’d lost so much, years worth of writing and it definitely took the wind out of my sails. So, I sulked. Not really sulked… but I sat around waiting for the spirit to move me. You know how well that works right? Staring at the blank pages of a book, waiting for them to fill themselves. It wasn’t writers’s block. It was ennui. I’d lost my connection to my mothership.

I re-established it through book reviews. They don’t exactly belong here, but they’re here to stay. When I can’t get the juices flowing about what this blog is ostensibly about… I’ll write a book review. I love to read. I will enjoy reviewing even if the real reason for being here doesn’t quite click. I’m going to schedule the posts to hit on weekends. I’ll always title them Book Review: * so you’ll see them coming and can duck if you want to.

I don’t say this enough but I really appreciate all of you who read this blog. I know a lot more people read it than ever come here and comment. I see the stats from feed readers and know that there are readers out there. Even if you don’t come by simplerich.com and comment I appreciate that of all the internet out there you choose to read what I write. I find it immensely flattering, and will try and deliver content that you’ll find interesting.

This is how it all started over at smartypig. Well, that’s not how it started, that’s how it ended. The smartypig savings goal was reached and I cashed it out into amazon gift cards. I didn’t have to wait for the cards, they e-mailed them to me.

Rich,

Congratulations on closing your “Kindle” goal to
Amazon.com!  Your gift card codes are as follows:

Yep, that’s right. A personalized letter congratulating me on my success at savings along with the benefits of my savings. I immediately felt good about the whole savings thing. I enjoy saving money. But this money wasn’t saved to sit around in a bank for them to screw it up. I t was saved for an amazon kindle 2.

Next I got this e-mail from amazon.com

The following items have been shipped to you by Amazon.com:
1  Kindle: Amazon’s 6″ Wirele…

After ordering it I sat at home and waited to regret spending that much money on what is essentially a luxury item. I don’t do that a lot really. I didn’t though. Instead I had visions of my reading all the classics. Me sitting in a recliner sipping hot tea listening to light music. Me tearing through all those books I need to read that I’ve got added to my to-read list over on goodreads. I was pretty sure that the kindle 2 was going to solve all my problems.

No pressure at all on this chunk of plastic and circuitry that is currently whizzing it’s way towards me in a brown truck. All it needs to do is give me more time in the day so I can get some reading done just like my Google profile says I need! It will help me manage my time better, Google Calendar is helping with that when I sync it with my blackberry too. But this kindle… coming Monday I think? THAT will be the panacea that cures everything for me.

So… the summer of gadgetry is off to a good start. I’ve got another smartypig savings goal coming up in the beginning of September when I go buy myself a new laptop, a PC. I’ll let you know what I decide on. I’m sort of doing the PC challenge that Microsoft ads have been talking about on TV lately.

I listened to his music for a 3 hour drive last night, and spent quite a while on the net today watching some of his videos and live performances.

At his peak there was nobody like Michael Jackson in my lifetime. (Maybe Madonna) He was one of the only two superstars I ever paid much attention to. Madonna is the other. They’re the only two to this day I cared anything about meeting. If I had a list of people I’d like to meet it would have just gotten shorter by one yesterday.

He had drama in the last 10 years and God knows he did some outrageous things to himself with plastic surgery. It’s too bad. He was immensely talented and the world is a more interesting and vibrant place because of his having been here. His music changed things.

I quit a job to see one of his videos. It was a second job and a part-time one and I’d asked for the time off in advance and they didn’t give it to me. So, I quit to see the premiere of the video after an episode of The Simpsons. I was old enough to know better. But it was Michael Jackson and there was a group of friends gathering to watch the premiere. I didn’t want to miss it.

I’d hoped this come back tour would be the one for him. I’d have happily bought his next CD, probably on Amazon.com for a DRM free MP3 version of it, but I’d have paid for it, like I have the rest of his music.

Take care Michael, and thanks for the music.

Eat Less Move More

I’ve been on a diet for about a month now and lost 10 lbs. I think my general fitness level has increased as well. My priorities have certainly changed. I’ve unsubscribed from my online games. I hardly game at all now, and my reading has been cut way back.

I used to believe I’d exercise more if there were enough time to do that and everything else. The first week or so the exercising was of the make myself do it sort of thing. I didn’t enjoy it so much as endure it. Somewhere in there though it changed to the point that I walk and jog in place while watching Survivor now to make sure I get some cardio in. I won’t lie. I’m not doing crap for strength training and I need to. That’s my weakness right now. I haven’t any room to do it and I don’t want to buy equipment. I did the 30 day shred for a week and then stopped and never picked it up again. I should start again, but the walking & cardio is going strong for me right now so I’m going to stick with it for now.

I’ve found a good walking tracking site. I’m a fan of the pedometer, using a good pedometer, the Omron HJ-112 instead of a cheapo model cut my steps way down… partly because the cheap ones were measuring a thousand steps on the drive to work when I didn’t walk at all. So, using WalkerTracker I’m keeping up with my steps. Using SparkPeople I’m keeping up with my vegetables, water, and other goals, including minutes of cardio per day/week/month. I’ve been using Weight Watchers Online for Men to track my points, that is mostly a low fat, high fiber diet and portion control. I’m better disciplined with that than I was/am with SparkPeople.

I want 3 columns and modern screens are not 640×480 any more so why the hell won’t blogger show me a template that is wider than six inches wide? I hate the narrowness of blogger blog posts. So I’m going to have to self-host, which means trying to figure out how to convince blogger to aim the name I registered through them at the new blog.

Fortunately for most people who read this blog you’ll never notice. You’re feed readers, and thank you for sticking with me through this dry spell. Here’s the thing. I should go into what’s going on or shouldn’t I? That’s a lot of my problem is self-censorship. I feel like I shouldn’t get too personal, or that I should remain positive because of who may read the blog. I’ve considered a clean break with the whole old blog because of employers and potential employers and employees reading it. While mostly my employees are fine reading it… You know who you are. What if one reads more into things that I say than I actually mean?

These are uncertain times in the job market. I’m being extremely careful what I say so that it doesn’t make any employees nervous, or endanger my own job or future jobs… that’s making me very quiet to be honest. I’ve got a problem with that very quiet aspect. So… I think I’ll get a self-hosted blog and quit being very quiet about things. I can’t be the only person out there with concerns about their job can I? Seriously.

I recently got pretty active in Facebook and have had a lot of fun in there. Weird fun. People I haven’t talked to since I graduated over 20 years ago I’m talking to now. Here’s the thing… most of them probably had to look me up in the year book to even remember who I was. I made a point of not resorting to year books though. I was very much on the fringes in high school. If I had my druthers I’d be on the fringes now. I’m not an upfront kind of person socially. I wasn’t then and I’m not now, although for different reason.

I went into the Navy intending to be behind the scenes sort of person, under the radar, finish comfortably in the top 10% but not high enough to attract attention. Day 1 I wound up in charge of making sure everybody was on the bus and accounted for on the stops on the way there and then had to get us in. CRAP! Then I wound up as Education Petty Officer in boot camp, in charge of helping ppl get up to speed enough to pass whatever tests they were having problems with. Fancy title for tutor. I know.

The whole staying just a little bit back didn’t work out for crap. So I scrapped that idea before I was out of Nuke “A” School and haven’t looked back. I don’t go for back of the pack as much any more. I do socially, but not at work. At work I tend to be hell-bent for leather. When I get home I don’t want to decide which movie we should go see. I’ll follow at home. At work though… if you’re not leading I’ll walk on your heels, then your back, then your head. I’ll push for as long as I can. I’ll do everything I can to be the best follower I can be with a whole army of people behind me… but if you’re in a leadership position in front of me… be prepared to lead because in the spirit of Miles Vorkosigan, I’m a huge believer in forward momentum.

If you haven’t already clicked on my bitefight.org link feel free to click away. It’s a web-based diversion that doesn’t take up much time and plays out the eternal struggle of vampire vs. werewolf via html on your screen. No vampires were hurt in the playing of this game (well, I’ve been hurt a couple times, but if you join up you’ll see what I mean and it’s fun.)

In completely unrelated news, I finally beat someone to the punch. Wil Wheaton has finally come around and started using lulu.com to publish some stuff. I got there first! Neener Neener Neener! (OK, my lackluster sales book was out in 2004 and was a result of 2003′s NaNoWriMo and is not the great american novel. But still… I’m sure he went there because I did.) I’m such a freaking trend-setter. If you’re a fan of Wil’s blog (Yeah, now that he’s copying me, I can call him by his first name) go get this most recent publication of his. It’s available in PDF for only five bucks. And it’s a good intro into the rest of his stuff. (No future paragraphs will contain this many parenthetical comments.)

I’m back to listening to last.fm again. That’s something that comes and goes for some reason.