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April 30, 2006

The wedding approaches

It's 7 weeks till June 17th. This is the day of Amanda and my wedding.

7 weeks.
49 days.
1176 hours.
70560 minutes.

Yes, it may seem like a lot of time right now, but it really isn't. If anything, these next few weeks are going to fly by so quick that it will feel like I've blinked and then boom ... there I'll be standing in front of our families and God to be wed as man and wife.

After we're married, Amanda and I have decided that we want to purchase a house. This is actually somthing that I've been wanting to do for quite some time now, but have held off on until we had some stability in our lives. But, since we're going to be married, the government opens new opportunities that will help us with our purchase. There are tax breaks and first time home buyer incentives ... etc etc.

We actually went driving around the east end of Louisville today to see what kind of homes were available and the prices that they're selling at. We've discovered that we're not going to be able to afford a nice big house, but we're not going to be limited to a small, cramped place either. I'm estimating that our first place will be around $140K, which suits me just fine. I can easily see myself living in a place that has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths for some time before we need to look into something bigger. By that time, we will have built up some equity in our existing home that will allow us to move up to another larger (and hopefully nicer) home.

Heck, we're even thinking about having a house built instead of purchasing a home that is already built and has existing wear and tear. I personally like the idea of having all new walls, windows, roof, appliances, etc. At this point, it's all just a lot of research. We'll eventually make a decision and move forward from that point.

The hardest thing to do at this point is coming up with the down payment on the home. At either 3 or 5%, it's a lot of money to come up with ... but ultimately I would rather go without for a few months and have a house than to continue paying rent money that I will never see again.

~out...

Posted by ed at 09:04 PM | Comments (2)

April 16, 2006

Growth and maturity

As we all get older, we have experiences in life that mold and shape us. These lessons are what help us mature into productive and knowledgeable members of society. When I was younger, I was told by many people that I would grow and mature with age, especially in the workplace. As I've climbed the business ladder over the past 7-8 years, I can look back and see the things that I've handled poorly and how my arrogance caused me a lot of problems along the way.

It's safe to say that I've pissed off many people on my journey. Some to the point where they wanted to kick my ass so bad that my boss had to hold them back. But looking back on these scenarios, I can honestly say that I've learned my lesson time and time again. Even though I've made mistakes, I'm proud to say that I've worked hard to correct them and make amends. I've worked hard to prove myself and have made friends with the persons that I've pissed off so bad.

Now that I'm a bit older, I've begun reflecting on my past experiences and I hope that I may help others in the similar positions that I was once in. I'm not saying that I know everything. As a matter of fact, the one thing that I do know is that I'm blistfully ignorant of many things in this life. I also know that I still have much to learn. But I do believe that the knowledge that I've aquired through the past 7-8 years may help others, and I hope that I can pass that information along like those who've helped me in the past.

With that said, I've been watching someone who is starting off in the world of business and is very green regarding interaction between others. I'm watching this person make the same mistakes that I did so many years ago, and I cringe when I see this person do it. I only hope that I can help this person in the way that others have helped me in the past. I'm not sage by any means, but I can honestly see this person *really* pissing off people much like I did, if not worse.

Here are some of the biggest problems that young people bring with them into the business environment:

1. Arrogance.
The person is young and believes that they're on top of the world and know everything. I think that may young people are like this and need to be broken down to have a level of humility about them so that they can be a productive part of a team. While it is important to believe in yourself, believing that you're the best and that you're above everyone else is another thing entirely.

2. Lack of common sense.
The person is too smart for their own good. The intelligence that this person has is only from learning by reading books or from instruction. There's no real world experience to pull from. As a result, decisions made by people like this often fall outside of the realm of common sense.

3. Lack of patience.
The person wants to know it all, and wants it known yesterday. Taking the time to research a problem isn't good enough. Lack of patience often causes people to rush into situations and can cause significant problems for many people. This lack of patience can also keep others from learning as well. Instead of showing people how something is done, people like this just run through it fast and leave others behind.

4. Unwilling to share information.
The person wants to be the top dog, and to do this will keep information that may be beneficial for others a secret. Some people tend to think of this as job security. This is incorrect. I've been in jobs where I've worked with people who thought that their job was secure because of their knowledge. These people are fired just as easy as someone who shares information. Ultimately, even though someone might have all of the information, it doesn't mean that the same information can't be found again.

5. Won't listen to superiors.
The person doesn't follow instructions very well. When an order is given by a superior, it is ignored so that it can be done the way that this person believes is the correct way. This issue really falls into several problems that have already been mentioned: arrogance, lack of common sense and lack of patience. While we all may think that our bosses may be ignorant from time to time, to question or flat out refuse to listen to a superior can be (and often is considered) insuborndiantion and grounds for dismissal.

It's pretty obvious that many younger people start off with some or all of the problems that I've listed above. At one time or another, I've done one or all of these things when I was getting into the business world. The sad thing is that other young people will continue to behave like this long after I'm dead and buried.

I can only hope that some of the information that I pass along will be accepted and understood and maybe even passed along to someone else. Maybe by doing so, I can help prevent some of the same hardships that I've faced in the past.

Here's to hoping.

~out...

Posted by ed at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)

April 09, 2006

The gym closes too early on weekends

I like to exercise later in the evenings. I feel that there are less people at the gym at or around the time we go, which is usually around 8-9PM. This isn't an opinion for us during the weekends, however, as the gym closes at 6PM. On Friday's, it closes at 9PM. The rest of the week, the gym operates 24 hours.

Basically, this means that I don't get to work out as late as I would like on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. As a result, this weekend and the last has really messed up my exercise schedule.

You see, I'm one of those people who prefer to do things at night. I'm in no way a "morning person". Yeah, I have to get up early to go to work, but when I'm doing things on my own time, I like to do them later in the evening. This allows me to do the stuff that I want to do, like napping, during the daytime.

Oh well ... I guess I'll have to work out a bit more tomorrow night.

~out...

Posted by ed at 08:36 PM | Comments (0)

April 07, 2006

The workout continues

I'm almost two weeks into my new diet and exercise routine. Amanda and I have been going to the gym every other day and working out on the treadmill. This week, specifically on Tuesday, I started doing 45 minutes on the treadmill (instead of 60) and spending about 30 minutes on weights.

When I first did the weights on Tuesday, I knew that I was going to be extremely sore on Wednesday. I wasn't expecting how sore I was going to be however. But while it was bad on Wednesday, Thursday came with me having to coax myself to lift my arms during the day because they hurt so bad.

But, I'm really wanting this exercising and diet plan to work, so I went back to the gym on Thursday night despite my pain and did another 45 minutes on the treadmill. After I was done, I got back on the weights and used the same equipment that I had on Thursday. I was working on my triceps and biceps, along with some other muscles that I just don't know the name of as of yet.

After I finished up the reps, 3 sets of 10, I decided that I needed to work out some other muscles as well. I got on the machine that does crunches with weights. I did 15lbs on 3 sets of 10. When I sat up, my stomach muscles immediately began to cramp up. That let me know that I was actually working them. After I was done with the crunches, I went and tried out a few more machines, doing 3 sets of 10 at each.

When I left the gym, I was very sore. I came home and took some pain medicine and went to bed (it was after 10:30 by the time we got home). When I woke up this morning, once again I was surprised to see that I wasn't hurting nearly as bad as I had on Wednesday morning or through the day. Sure, I have a little stiffness in the muscle, but it goes to show that my body is beginning to get used to the work that I'm doing. Over the next few weeks, I'm hoping to lift more weight and perhaps add some muscle.

Also, last week I was weighing myself during every trip to the gym. The problem was that we weren't going at any specific time throughout the week, so based on the time we went I might have food or water in my system. This would give me a very inaccurate weight, ranging anywhere from 5-10lbs depending on the time of day. So, this week I decided that I'm not going to weigh myself anymore. After reading this site, I decided that instead I'm going to purchase a tape measure and let my waist be my weight measuring point.

Well, that's about it for today I guess.

~out...

Posted by ed at 09:00 PM | Comments (1)

April 02, 2006

Spring is here

Springtime has arrived. The trees are starting to get leaves again, grass is growing, and I'm starting to show signs of allergies.

Ah yes ... the wonderful sneezing, watery eyes, stuffy/itchy nose, scratchy throat and nasty headaches.

This morning, I woke up with a terrible headache. It was one of those nasty allergy headaches, with the pain towards the front of my head and around my eye sockets. The tip of my nose kept itching, my eyes watering and a feeling in the back of my throat.

I took some medicine this afternoon to take away the symptoms, but the stuff that I took make me very drowsey. Before I knew it, I was asleep on the couch. I was awoke later in the afternoon by Amanda, who had just come in from a morning trip to Frankfort. Thankfully, even though I had to fall asleep, the medicine did take care of my stuffy nose and headache. By the time I woke up, I was feeling much better and managed to make my way to the gym for a 45 minute workout.

I had Amanda call Walgreens to see if my allergy medicine had any refills left. Unfortunately, I was out. They sent a fax to my doctors office so that I could get a refill, but I will have to wait till Monday before the request can go through.

So, this means that I have at least one more day to wait before I can get something to get rid of this misery that is my allergies.

Ah, yes ... spring is here.

~out...

Posted by ed at 12:32 AM | Comments (0)