Quick Hits – January 2016

This weekend has been better than the past few weeks, and therefore here is the late blog I mentioned in the Wednesday post.  Hope you enjoy.

I briefly considered starting another blog called The Average Person’s Entertainment Reviews where I would review books, TV shows, and movies.  I have a hard time keeping up with the one weekly blog though, so I did not feel it would be a good idea to start another one.  Therefore, my second option was to include the reviews as part of my normal blog.  It would be too much to do full reviews on everything I read/watch each month, so I decided to do brief mini-reviews on some of the things I enjoyed.  The material covered will not necessarily be new or popular, and it will not fall in the same genres all the time.  My tastes vary depending on my mood, so that will be reflected in what is included each month.  I also do not tend to be overly critical of things, so my reviews will reflect my easy-to-please nature.

Movie:  New Year’s Eve (2011)

I have seen this movie before, but I decided to watch it again after enjoying Love Actually over the Christmas holiday.  This movie is a similar concept where we watch several storylines (some interconnected, some not) play out in New York City over the course of New Year’s Eve.  I actually really enjoy this type of film, and usually can empathize with at least one scenario.  The nice thing about this movie is that not all of the vignettes are love stories, although all revolve around human connections of some kind.  My favorite was Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Paul (Zac Efron) who are racing around New York City trying to find creative ways for Ingrid to fulfill her New Year’s Resolution list consolidated from prior years.  I can connect with a woman who has always allowed her own dreams to take a backseat to her job and other people’s demands.  It is a nice reminder to not let life get in the way of doing what you want to do sometimes.  I enjoyed this film, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes small stories with mostly happy endings.

Movie:  Hot Pursuit (2015)

I chose this movie because I respect Reese Witherspoon as an actress and the previews seemed funny.  I was not disappointed.  It is about a cop who is trying to prove herself (Reese Witherspoon) being given the responsibility to bring in the wife of a drug cartel lieutenant (Sofia Vergara) to testify in the crime boss’ trial.  The drug cartel members and some dirty cops all try to prevent the two women from achieving their goal.  The story results in a very funny romp as they outmaneuver the bad guys and bond during the process.  This is a slapstick comedy, meant solely to entertain.  The plot is thin and the characters are not very well developed.   However, I still enjoyed it immensely.  It moved very fast, and the hour and a half was over before I knew it.  I laughed the entire time.  You cannot take this movie very seriously, but if you lose yourself in what it provides then you will enjoy it too.

Book:  The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century (3.0 edition, 2007) by Thomas L. Friedman

This is not a particularly easy read.  I have been chipping away at it for the past two months, slowed by my workload and by the density of the material.  This book is over 600 pages of economics, history, and social policy.  However, it is written in everyday language making it better for the average person than many books on the same subject matter.  Friedman lays out his theory on why the world is flat (basically means interconnected) and what that means for the world population.  He begins with ten events and/or world trends that he says have contributed to the world become a flatter place.  He then goes into a breakdown of what these flatteners can mean when applied to America, developing countries, companies, and individuals.  Lastly, he lays out some of the threats that exist which can disrupt the world from becoming completely flat and some of the hopes he sees for why the world will continue to flatten in the future.  His message is definitively positive on the world becoming flat, and on Americans doing what they can to excel in a flat reality.

I agreed with many of the ideas the Friedman put forward in this book.  Globalization is here to stay, and it is in everyone’s best interest to let it run its course.  This does however mean that we need to let go of previous personal narratives and continuously redefine ourselves with a new worldview.  I absolutely think he is right to warn readers about a certain American narcissism that threatens our country’s forefront status on the world stage.  America has done some great things and continues to do some great things, but we cannot think that this will always be the case unless we put forth the effort to keep it that way.  Other countries have made great strides in their world status in the past few decades (think India, China), and there is no reason to expect them to not keep moving forward with or without us.  I do not however agree with every suggestion Friedman put forth as the best options for the future of America.  For example, he advocates free public college available to every student who wants to go.  I feel refocusing efforts on children actually learning more in the primary and secondary environments would be more advantageous than pushing more students unprepared through a post-secondary education.  Until our students can compete on the same level in reading, writing, and mathematics at the high school level with other nations, what is the point of trying to give them higher degrees for free?  My end recommendation is to read this book, but do so with a healthy dose of skepticism and actually think through the material as you go.

Not very many reviews this time, but maybe I will have more free time next month.  See you next week (or rather Wednesday)!

I Blame the Snow

I hate to do it two weeks in a row, but I am afraid it is necessary.  I do not have a blog prepared again this week.  I blame the snow.  It is actually a combination of the snow and the quarter close.  Again, I find myself without time, energy, or motivation to write anything.  I should be done with quarter close at this point, but I am not.  Nothing seems to be going smoothly, and I am late on several things.  Therefore, I continue to spend extra hours in the evening and on the weekends trying to complete my scheduled tasks.  Additionally, every free moment is spent shoveling snow.  My car is still not completely free of all the snow that was plowed behind it.

If I can get everything completed with work and my car shoveled out, I will make every effort to write a blog for this week late and get it posted over the weekend.  No promises though, because I do not know what the weekend has in store for me yet.  However, I do have this week and next week’s blog topics already planned.  I just need the time to put them together.  Keep your fingers crossed we are back on schedule by next week.

See you next week!

Broken Record

It is that time of the quarter again.  I know I probably sound like a broken record, but I cannot help it.  There will be no real blog this week.  It is the quarter close at work.  I have worked late every night in the past few weeks.  I have worked the past two weekends.  I am exhausted.  I just do not have the time, energy, and mental capacity to write more than the few sentences you see here.  With any luck, I will have all my reporting done by Friday, get a full weekend of rest (With the snow coming, I think it unlikely I will be going anywhere!), and be back in the game next week.

See you next week!

Passion Planner

I love my Passion Planner.  I feel like I need to start with that strong statement because I receive some static when I pull it out around people.  My friends giggle and comment that they cannot believe anyone still uses paper planners.  My husband tells me I need to come into the modern world, and my iPhone can do all the same things.  I sometimes feel like I am being ridiculous when I see the reaction that I get from people.  Seriously though, I love my Passion Planner.  I just started my second year of using one, and I intend to keep going as long as they keep making them.

If anyone is unfamiliar with a Passion Planner, let me give you a breakdown.  It is a daily planner, but with some goal-setting twists which make it so much better.  The first couple of pages are dedicated to how to use the planner and some exercises in setting goals for 3 month, 1 year, 3 year, and lifetime periods.  Next, there are 2016 and 2017 yearly calendars.  Then, a two page spread for each month and week.  At the end of each month, there are some questions to help track progress on personal goals over the past month.  After July, there is another set of exercises to set goals and to reevaluate if all goals are still the same.  Then, there is a final questionnaire with some questions to reflect on overall progress over the past year.  The final pages are blank journal sheets and graphing paper to use as desired.

In addition to the exercises and questionnaires mentioned above, each month and each week are designed to help break goals into smaller steps to be done over time and offer some tools to keep you focused and motivated.  The monthly spread has the matching calendar across the bulk of the two pages with common U.S. holidays marked.  On the left side, there is an area to list the month’s personal and professional focus as well as a few boxes for lists of people to see, places to go, and things not-to do.  The bottom left has to-do lists for personal and professional projects.  The bottom right is a blank area to help break goals into manageable steps.  Most of the weekly spread is divided into hourly schedules for each day of the week along with a daily focus box to list the day’s top priority.  The left side of the page has a weekly focus box, an area to list good things that happened, an inspirational quote, and an activity to try that week.  The bottom left is again personal and professional to-do lists.  The bottom right is blank space to use as desired.

I know that my phone has calendars, and to-do lists, and an infinite number of apps to help me do just about anything, but I personally like having the paper planner.  The book in my bag is a reminder to me to take a few minutes each week to reflect on what I have accomplished, what I want to tackle next, and how to go about doing it.  The act of putting pen to paper connects me mentally to the process much better than touching a tiny little screen does.  I especially appreciate the exercises that encourage me to think big about what I want from my life, help me to prioritize which things are most important for me to work on right now, and guide me through breaking things down into doable projects.   In the past, I have tried to focus on too many things at once.  I get bogged down by things that do not matter to me, and I become discouraged by my inability to accomplish anything.  Now I feel much more focused.  I do not always accomplish everything I set for myself each day, week, month, but I keep moving forward and do manage to slowly tick things off my personal goal list.  I think this past year has been reasonably productive, and I hope this coming year will be even better.

As I said before, I love my Passion Planner and someday I hope it will help me to accomplish all my goals.  This year I am focusing on five things:  organize my time better, redo my front room, get my health under control, develop my writing, and take more opportunities to experience life (have fun, learn new things, etc.).  Some of these goals did roll from last year, but personal growth is a slow and ongoing thing.  I will just keep pushing forward and eventually I will get to a place where I am proud of who I am and what I have accomplished.  At the very least, I have the Passion Planners to reminder myself that I did give it an honest try to be the best I could be with the resources I had available.

If you are interest, here is the website for the Passion Planner http://www.passionplanner.com/.  There are a couple of versions available.  Last year, I had the classic and this year I have the compact (the only difference being size).  I have not decided yet which I like better as the classic is a bit bulky to carry around and the compact has many activity boxes packed into a small surface area.  There is also one that follows an academic calendar and one that is undated so it can be personalized, but I have not used either one.

Happy planning!  See you next week!

Front Room – January 2016

In my last blog, I mentioned a desire to redo the front room of the house.  Since we moved into the new house in February 2014, the front room has never been a priority.  At the beginning, I was still in my MBA program, so I did not have the time to unpack anything but the necessities.  We ended up using the finished basement as the nexus of family relaxation, so most of the former living room furniture, electronics, and toys were put down there.  When I finished school, I chose to focus on organizing the kitchen first.  I also knew that we needed to replace the furnace and air conditioner sooner rather than later, and that this would be a fairly pricey upgrade.  All these factors combined to a front room that has been mostly ignored for two years.

We did the furnace and air conditioner replacement a few months ago, and it has been completely paid off.  I am done with school, work has eased a bit, and I have completed many of the smaller house projects I wanted to do.  So now I have the time and money to turn my attention elsewhere.  Also, I have suddenly become antsy to have a place to call my own.  Lately, I feel like I have no suitable options for my free time.  I do most of my relaxing in the bedroom, but more and more often my husband goes to bed earlier than I am ready to sleep which cuts into my ability to use the space.  The basement is fine for family togetherness, but it tends to be messy and noisy and just not suited to use as my own.  The front room has already been designated my personal zone, so I am at liberty to decorate and utilize as I see fit.  It is time to focus on it.

As part of my blog for 2016, I have decided to do a monthly feature where I track the progress on the front room.  I have posted pictures below of the room as of January 1, 2016, so everyone can see the starting point.  I also included some initial thoughts about what I want to do.  I am starting with only a vague idea in some areas though, so the plan may change a bit as I go along.  Hopefully, the obligation to post will help to keep me motivated and moving forward on its transformation.

This is the first half of the front room.  As you can see, it is filled with boxes and random stuff.  I am unsure of what is in the majority of these boxes or where it all should go.  The first step is to sort through it, figure out what stays in this room, what needs to be moved elsewhere, and what just needs to be removed from the house completely.  This side of the room will turn into the living/entertaining part of the room.  I think I need some chairs, some tables, and some storage for craft project type stuff.  I have no initial thoughts on colors, patterns, or overall decorating schemes.

The second half of the front room is currently functioning as an office area.  You can see it also has a lot boxes and piles of stuff in it.  I am almost positive the majority of the boxes on this side are actually office-related items, but a lot of it needs to be sorted and purged.  This will remain an office area, but it needs to be completely redone.  I have put more thought into this half since I do actively use the desk area and have ideas on what I want from it.  I want to replace the desk with something smaller and relocate it to the middle of the area.  Then along the walls, I want to add some bookshelves and filing cabinets to help organize everything.  I have several diplomas and awards which I hope to display on the open wall area.  I have not really decided on color schemes or general decorating theme, but I know I want it to be lighter and brighter than what is currently here.

This is a small area, but it definitely is not being utilized correctly.  I want to clear out the accumulated junk and get those things moved to where they really belong.  The blank area next to the stairs where there is currently a vacuum, I am hoping to add some kind of storage unit to organize the shoes and coats that are frequently used.

Finally, we have a front closet that is crammed full of junk.  Appropriately, we do have all the coats hung here that are not currently in use.  There might be a couple old ones that can be donated or trashed, but most will remain.  However, the shelf and the floor are a mix of things that were shoved in the closet when we moved.  None of it has really been touched since then, and I am not sure what I might find.  This area just needs to be cleaned as I do not intend to really do anything other than use it as a closet.

This finishes my first look at the front room.  My first goal is to clean it up some, so let us hope that my pictures for February 2016 show some improvement.

See you next week!