It’s one o’clock when we reach the house. Neither Mom nor I have eaten all day. She took her meds sometime before I picked her up at nine; I ate half a bag of peanut M&Ms on the drive to Salem. When we walk into the kitchen, she sets her purse down and says, “I’m hungry.”
“What would you like to eat?” I ask.
“Peanut butter,” she says.
“Just peanut butter?” I ask.
“And bread,” she says.
“A peanut butter sandwich?” I ask.
She thinks about it. “Yes,” she says. She shuffles her feet and looks down.
“Would you like me to make the sandwich?” I ask, pulling the bread and peanut butter from the fridge.
“No,” she says. “I can make it.” I watch as she slathers the bread with thick gobs of peanut butter. “And milk,” she says. I pour her a glass of milk.
While she works, I prepare a place for her at the kitchen table. “Why don’t you sit down,” I say.
“I’m fine,” she says. She stands at the counter and devours the sandwich in great gulps. She chases it with the milk.
When she’s finished, I show Mom the computer at the kitchen table. She sits down and types in a URL. She clicks the button. She clicks the button. She clicks the button. “It’s not working,” she says. I look. She’s not actually clicking the button.
“You’re pressing the space bar,” I say. “You need to click the button.” She presses the space bar again. And again. She looks at me, and I know that I’m making her uncomfortable, so I leave.
Moments later, she’s up again. I can see her pacing. She’s pacing, as if she can’t make up her mind where to go or what to do. I hear her walk into the next room and begin rummaging on the bookshelf. She comes in to my room. “You said I could borrow books,” she says.
“Yes,” I say. “What would you like to read?”
“How long will I be gone?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” I say. “A few days.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she says. “Anything.”
I giver her My Antonia by Willa Cather, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, and a couple of others. She sits down at the kitchen table again, in front of the computer. She opens her e-mail program. I go back to my chair.
Moments later, she’s up again, pacing. “I don’t like it here,” she says. “Can’t we just go someplace and drive around?”
“Yes,” I say. “I have to go upstairs for a minute first.”
“Is the car unlocked?” she asks.
“Yes,” I say. I go up upstairs to send e-mail so the family knows where we are. When I get in the car, Mom is sitting at attention in the passenger seat. She has everything with her: her purse, the pile of books. I start driving.
Tony and Kamie pass us going the other way. They turn their truck around to follow. Tony calls me on my cell phone. “We’re behind you,” he says.
“I’m scared,” Mom says. Her hands are fidgeting uncontrollably. She’s sweating.
“Yes,” I say. “I am too. But it will be okay. It will be fine.” We drive in silence for a few minutes. Mom fidgets.
“Can we go to the hospital now?” she asks at last.
“Yes,” I say. “We’re almost there.”
Tags: FS Important · Friends and Family · Personal History · Psychology · Stories
Today was the beginning of the rest of my life. It was my first official day away from the box factory as an actual writer. From here forward, I’ll be taking every Tuesday off. Starting in April, I’ll add another day off (probably Mondays), and so on. By this time next year, I’ll be working from home full-time.
Though this move comes with some trepidation, I’m pleased to report that one of my fears seems unfounded.
I had worried that by staying home, I’d simply free time for goofing off. The primary reason I want to write full-time is that I feel thwarted by the constant (justified) interruptions at the box factory, and from Kris when she’s home. But would I stay on task when on my own? It appears I will.
Over the past couple days, I’ve managed to reply to about 20% of my e-mail backlog, write ahead for the next week at Get Rich Slowly, and even bank three or four articles in case of emergency.
I’ve also managed to read a couple personal finance books and watch several episodes of Star Trek. What I’m trying to say is: this is going to work just fine. I’m going to stay on task. The quality and quantity of my writing should improve.
I still have some apprehension regarding the financial side of things. Yes, I’m earning enough from my web income to support me, but now that I’ve had a brief taste of earning two incomes, I have stars in my eyes. Two incomes is a lot of money.
But two incomes is also a lot of work, and that’s one thing I’m trying to escape. I want to focus on just the one job, the writing. The writing is what I love.
Tags: FS Important · Personal History
Last spring at Get Rich Slowly, I wrote about the 101 things in 1001 days project (which I learned about from dienu.com). I drafted my list of 101 goals on March 25th, my 38th birthday. I updated my progress for a couple of months, but it’s been a while since I took a look at how I’m doing.
It’s probably no surprise that the financial goals on this list have seen the most progress. They get the most attention. Of my ten financial goals, I’ve accomplished five of them, and am close to completing four others. (This would leave only one financial goal remaining.) On the other hand, I’m far far away from completing most of my health and fitness goals. Let’s hope that Get Fit Slowly can help me remedy this.
Here’s the current state of my list:
List updated 01 Jan 2008
Health and Fitness
14 goals
1. Give up sugar for a week 4 Jun 07
2. Eat only home-prepared food for one month
3. Eat vegetarian for one month
4. Get cholesterol to healthy levels
5. Have a colonoscopy doctor discouraged this
6. Complete a marathon
7. Complete a 100-mile bike ride
8. Play a team sport
9. Do 100 push-ups
10. Bench-press my body weight
11. Complete a one-mile swim
12. Maintain a weight of 170 or below for six months
13. Drink only water for one month 31 May 2007
14. Give up alcohol for three months 31 Jul 07
Financial
10 goals
1. Pay off all non-mortgage debt 3 Dec 07
2. Fully fund Roth IRA (2006) 10 Apr 07
3. Fully fund Roth IRA (2007) 8 Jan 08
4. Fully fund Roth IRA (2008)
5. Fully fund Roth IRA (2009)
6. Establish a $5000 personal emergency fund
7. Open a high-yield online savings account 13 Sep 07
8. Automate bill payments Nov 2007
9. Automate IRA contributions
10. Get a safety deposit box
Home and Garden
19 goals
1. Get the birds out of the workshop ceiling
2. Repair ceiling upstairs in house
3. Clean all gutters and install gutter guards
4. Finish modernizing the electrical system
5. Build a patio
6. Prune the holly trees
7. Learn how to use the chainsaw properly
8. Finish building the horseshoe pit
9. Hire somebody to paint the house
10. Open all windows that are painted shut
11. Park my car in the garage (this entails a lot of sub-steps)
12. Remove debris file from beneath the cedar Oct 2007
13. Add new spigots outside
14. Get a rug or carpet for the library
15. Acquire some nice office furniture Sep 2007
16. Create home maintenance checklist (and follow it)
17. Erect a hammock
18. Aquire a chipper Sep 2007
19. Set up workshop for woodworking
Personal
11 goals
1. Purge wardrobe of anything I haven’t worn in the past two years in progress
2. Get a massage
3. Learn to shave with a safety razor 15 May 2007
4. Update my address book
5. Sell record collection
6. Get rid of computer books Summer 2007
7. Sell CDs, keeping only hard-to-find favorites in progress
8. Sell comic books
9. Sell board games
10. Hold a gourmet potluck
11. Create the Indispensable Comic Strip Reprint Library in progress
Self-Improvement
7 goals
1. Take a speech-com class (Dale Carnegie?)
2. Take a drawing class
3. Take a Spanish class
4. Take a yoga class
5. Take a cooking class
6. Give a good radio interview 6 Nov 07
7. Give a good television interview
Adventure
6 goals
1. Get tickets for World Cup South Africa
2. Skydive
3. Go on a trip by myself
4. Go white-water rafting
5. Ride in a hot-air balloon
6. Learn to shoot a gun Kris beat me to this and taunts me about it
Entertainment
3 goals
1. See all Oscar-winners for Best Picture 53/79, though I want to review some
2. See all Oscar-winners for Best Documentary 5/64
3. Bowl 300 on Wii Sports
Photography
3 goals
1. Sell/publish a second photo
2. Digitize all photos
3. Sell $100 of images at iStockPhoto
Reading
5 goals
1. Read all of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past 1/7
2. Read all of Shakespeare’s plays (no matter what Kris says) 13/37
3. Read all of Dickens 5/17
4. Read all Hugo & Nebula winners in progress
5. Read all Pulitzer winners (for fiction) 8/54
Writing
8 goals
1. Compile and print a Friends Cookbook
2. Sell a short story
3. Sell a poem
4. Sell a magazine article
5. Write a book some progress in the department!
6. Publish a book
7. Participate in National Novel Writing Month
8. Digitize all of my creative writing
Work
15 goals
1. Implement GRS forums 15 Apr 07
2. Implement GRS book section
3. Implement GRS tools and calculators section
4. Start a GRS podcast in progress
5. Complete GRS redesign
6. Complete Animal Intelligence redesign Summer 2007
7. Move all old foldedspace entries to the new database in progress
8. Launch Success Daily site created — building content
9. Launch Vintage Pop on hold
10. Launch Too Much Cat domains purchased
11. Interview Robert Kiyosaki (or host guest post)
12. Interview Dave Ramsey (or host guest post)
13. Achieve $10,000 web income in one month
14. 1,000,000 visitors in one month to GRS
15. 100,000 RSS subscribers at GRS
I now know that some of these will never be accomplished. Setting up other web sites? Not going to happen. I don’t consider this a failure — it’s just a shifting of priorities. And I’d now rather beat “Super Samurai” on Dance Dance Revolution than bowl 300 at Wii Sports.
Happy New Year everyone!
Tags: FS Important
As I get older, the more interested I am in comic strips instead of comic books. They’re more entertaining. There are fewer to collect. They’re less dominated by fanboy culture.
I’ve begun to collect comic strips at the perfect time. We’ve entered a golden age of comic strip reprints — there’s an embarrassment of riches. In fact, there are so many books coming out right now, that I’ve made the time to create a checklist. To the best of my knowledge, these are the in-print reprint projects, as well as some ancillary material.
The idea for this came from a discussion in the Marvel Masterworks forum. This research is merely the groundwork for what I hope will eventually be a subsection at Vintage Pop. I know this isn’t of interest to most people, but I want to get this posted someplace so that I have it as reference.
First, I’ll list all of the books that are scheduled to come out in the next few months. Then I’ll list books by strip name. I’ve placed a happy star 
next to particular favorites. (Happy stars reflect my personal taste, which probably is the opposite of yours.)
Upcoming Releases
Walt and Skeezix, book three (1925-1926) by Frank King (26 Jun 2007)
The Early Years of Mutt & Jeff by Bud Fisher (11 July 2007)
The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art by Jerry Robinson (08 August 2007)
Krazy & Ignatz: The Kat Who Walked in Beauty by George Herriman (15 Aug 2007) — daily strips
Sundays with Walt and Skeezix by Frank King, edited by Peter Maresca (15 August 2007)
The Complete Terry and the Pirates, volume one: 1934-1936 by Milt Caniff (25 Sep 2007)
The Complete Peanuts 1965-1966 by Charles Schulz (15 October 2007)
Pogo: The Complete Daily & Sunday Comic Strips, volume one: “Into the Wild Blue Yonder” by Walt Kelly (19 Oct 2007)
The Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, volume three by Chester Gould (25 Oct 2007)
Popeye, volume two: “Well Blow Me Down” by E.C. Segar (19 Nov 2007)
Growingold with B.C.: A Celebration of Johnny Hart by Johnny Hart (25 November 2007)
Krazy and Ignatz 1941-1942: “A Ragout of Raspberries” by George Herriman (19 December 2007)
Hank Ketcham’s Complete Dennis the Menace 1957-1958 by Hank Ketcham (19 December 2007)
The Complete Peanuts 1967-1968 by Charles Schulz (19 May 2008)
Little Nemo: So Many Splendid Sundays, volume two by Winsor McCay, edited by Peter Maresca (Summer 2008)
The Complete Peanuts 1969-1970 by Charles Schulz (19 October 2008)
Dennis the Menace
Hank Ketcham’s Complete Dennis the Menace 1951-1952 by Hank Ketcham
Hank Ketcham’s Complete Dennis the Menace 1953-1954 by Hank Ketcham
Hank Ketcham’s Complete Dennis the Menace 1955-1956 by Hank Ketcham
Hank Ketcham’s Complete Dennis the Menace 1957-1958 by Hank Ketcham (19 December 2007)
Dick Tracy
The Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, volume one: 1931-1933 by Chester Gould
The Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, volume two: 1933-1935 by Chester Gould
The Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, volume three: 1935-1936 by Chester Gould (25 Oct 2007)
DVD: Dick Tracy movie serial (1937)
Flash Gordon
Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, volume one (1934-1935) by Alex Raymond
Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, volume two (1935-1936) by Alex Raymond
Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, volume three (1936-1938) by Alex Raymond
Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, volume four (1938-1940) by Alex Raymond
Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, volume five (1940-1941) by Alex Raymond
Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, volume six (1941-1943) by Alex Raymond
Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, volume seven (1943-1945) by Alex Raymond
Mac Raboy’s Flash Gordon, volume one (1948-1953) by Mac Raboy
Mac Raboy’s Flash Gordon, volume two (1953-1958) by Mac Raboy
Mac Raboy’s Flash Gordon, volume three (1958-1962) by Mac Raboy
Mac Raboy’s Flash Gordon, volume four (1962-1967) by Mac Raboy
Gasoline Alley
Walt and Skeezix, book one (1921-1922) by Frank King
Walt and Skeezix, book two (1923-1924) by Frank King
Walt and Skeezix, book three (1925-1926) by Frank King (26 Jun 2007)
Sundays with Walt and Skeezix by Frank King, edited by Peter Maresca (15 August 2007)
Krazy Kat
Krazy & Ignatz: The Kat Who Walked in Beauty by George Herriman (15 Aug 2007) — daily strips
Krazy & Ignatz 1925-1926: “There is a Heppy Land Furfur A-Waay” by George Herriman
Krazy & Ignatz 1927-1928: “Love Letters in Ancient Brick” by George Herriman
Krazy & Ignatz 1929-1930: “A Mice, a Brick, a Lovely Night” by George Herriman
Krazy & Ignatz 1931-1932: “A Kat Alilt with Song” by George Herriman
Krazy & Ignatz 1933-1934: “Necromancy by the Blue Bean Bush” by George Herriman
Krazy & Ignatz 1935-1936: “A Wild Warmth of Chromatic Gravy” by George Herriman
Krazy & Ignatz 1937-1938: “Shifting Sands Dusts its Cheeks in Powdered Beauty” by George Herriman
Krazy & Ignatz 1939-1940: “A Brick Stuffed with Moom-Bins” by George Herriman
Krazy & Ignatz 1941-1942: “A Ragout of Raspberries” by George Herriman (19 Dec 2007)
Little Nemo
Little Nemo 1905-1914 by Winsor McCay
Little Nemo in Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays by Winsor McCay, edited by Peter Maresca — the gold standard for comic strip reprints
Little Nemo: So Many Splendid Sundays, volume two by Winsor McCay, edited by Peter Maresca (Summer 2008)
Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend by Winsor McCay
DVD: Winsor McCay - The Master Edition (1911) — a compilation of McCay’s animated pieces, including “Gertie the Dinosaur”
Winsor McCay: His Life and Art by John Canemaker
Mary Perkins On Stage
Mary Perkins On Stage, volume one by Leonard Starr
Mary Perkins On Stage, volume two by Leonard Starr
Mutt & Jeff
The Early Years of Mutt & Jeff by Bud Fisher (11 July 2007)
Peanuts
The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952 by Charles Schulz
The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954 by Charles Schulz
The Complete Peanuts 1955-1956 by Charles Schulz
The Complete Peanuts 1957-1958 by Charles Schulz
The Complete Peanuts 1959-1960 by Charles Schulz
The Complete Peanuts 1961-1962 by Charles Schulz
The Complete Peanuts 1963-1964 by Charles Schulz
The Complete Peanuts 1965-1966 by Charles Schulz (15 October 2007)
The Complete Peanuts 1967-1968 by Charles Schulz (19 May 2008)
The Complete Peanuts 1969-1970 by Charles Schulz (19 October 2008)
Pogo
Pogo: The Complete Daily & Sunday Comic Strips, volume one: “Into the Wild Blue Yonder” by Walt Kelly (19 Oct 2007)
Popeye
Popeye, volume one: “I Yam What I Yam” by E.C. Segar
Popeye, volume two: “Well Blow Me Down” by E.C. Segar (19 Nov 2007)
Popeye: An Illustrated Cultural History by Fred M. Grandinetti
Steve Canyon
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon 1947 by Milt Caniff
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon 1948 by Milt Caniff
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon 1949 by Milt Caniff
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon 1950 by Milt Caniff
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon 1951 by Milt Caniff
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon 1952 by Milt Caniff
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon 1953 by Milt Caniff
Milton Caniff’s Steve Canyon 1954 by Milt Caniff
Terry and the Pirates
The Complete Terry and the Pirates, volume one: 1934-1936 by Milt Caniff (25 Sep 2007)
Modern Classics and Other Oddities
Growingold with B.C.: A Celebration of Johnny Hart by Johnny Hart (25 November 2007)
The Best of Beetle Bailey by Mort Walker
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
The Complete Far Side 1980-1994 by Gary Larson
The Best of Hi and Lois by Mort Walker
Hi and Lois: Sunday Best by Mort Walker
Oh Skin-Nay! The Days of Real Sport by Wilbur Nesbit and Calre Briggs
Anthologies and Reference
100 Years of Comic Strips edited by Bill Blackbeard
The Adventurous Decade: Comic Strips in the Thirties by Ron Goulart
America’s Great Comic-Strip Artists: From the Yellow Kid to Peanuts by Richard Marschall
Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries 1900-1969 by Dan Nadel
Children of the Yellow Kid: The Evolution of the American Comic Strip
The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art by Jerry Robinson (08 August 2007)
The Comics: Before 1945 by Brian Walker
The Comics: Since 1945 by Brian Walker
Great Comics Syndicated by the NY Daily News and Chicago Tribune by Herb Galewitz
Masters of American Comics
Reading the Funnies: Looking at Great Cartoonists Throughout the First Half of the 20th Century by Donald Phelps
The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics edited by Bill Blackbeard
The World on Sunday: Graphic Art in Joseph Pulitzer’s Newspaper (1898-1911) by Nicholson Baker
Periodicals
Comics Revue reprints 64 pages of classic comics every month
Big Fun reprints classic American newspaper strips in a deluxe format (but on an irregular schedule)
Publishers, etc.
Checker Book Publishing Group
Classic Comics Press
Drawn and Quarterly
Fantagraphics Books
IDW Publishing
Ken Pierce Books
Pacific Comics Club
SPEC Productions
Sunday Press Books
Weblogs and web sites
Don Markstein’s Toonopedia
Last of the Spinner Rack Junkies
Vintage Pop will feature a lot of comic strip material when I launch it. Some of that material can be still be found at Four Color Comics
I could actually prolong this by adding movie serials to the list, and by adding Little Lulu. (Lulu was not a comic strip, but contains similar elements.)
Tags: Comic Books · FS Best Of · FS Important
I am largely apolitical. I have certain strongly held beliefs, but I am disenchanted with the American two-party political system. It doesn’t represent me. I find the Democrats as absurd as the Republicans, just in different ways. (And don’t get me started about talk show hosts. I listened to Rush Limbaugh a couple of weeks ago for the first time in years. The man is a fucking idiot. It scares me that he holds such influence over his listeners.)
Kris is sometimes frustrated because I don’t keep up-to-date on current events. I don’t know what has happened to whom. I do catch headlines via the web, and I’m forced to listen to Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! every Saturday. (Kris is addicted.) But most of my political decisions come from reading statements in the voter’s pamphlet or from ignoring the crap and reading interviews with candidates.
Though it’s a long time before the 2008 Presidential elections, it has been difficult to miss the fact that the campaigns have already begun.
To date, the only candidate on either side that has appealed to me is Barack Obama. He first came to my attention (and to the attention of many) through his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Why do I like him so much? Because he cuts through the bullshit and supposes a United States that is actually united and not split in two. From the aforementioned speech:
The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.
Right on.
I admit that Obama’s dream of unity may be a fantasy. The United States was built on a divided platform. Despite what some would have you believe, there’s rarely been a unity of purpose in this country. Our Founding Fathers did not all stand for the same thing, and when people claim otherwise they’re either ignorant or willfully trying to deceive you.
Still: Unity — that’s a nice goal. I like it. So Barack Obama has been my candidate of choice. Everything I’ve read by or about him has re-affirmed this. He’s an intelligent, thoughtful man. He truly believes in building unity, not just politically, but in daily life. When I listened to Rush Limbaugh a few weeks ago, he was ranting about how those who support Obama do so out of “white guilt” (or was it “Liberal guilt” — I can’t remember). This is ludicrous. Most of the time, I barely remember that Obama is black, and it has no bearing on whether I like him and will vote for him. (Rush used to argue that women voted for Clinton because they thought he was sexy, which is just as stupid.)
But I didn’t start this post because of Rush Limbaugh or Barack Obama. I started this post because I just read a piece this morning that has put a Republican Presidential candidate on my radar. I have no idea who Ron Paul is but I’m going to find out. Here’s a piece from FoxNews.com. Radley Balko writes:
The reaction to the showdown between Rep. Ron Paul and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been fascinating. Paul suggested that the recent history of U.S. foreign policy endeavors overseas may have had something to do with terrorists’ willingness to come to America, live here for several months, then give their lives to kill as many Americans as possible.
Perhaps, Paul suggested, the 15-year presence of the U.S. military forces in Muslim countries may have motivated them. For that, Giuliani excoriated him, calling it an “extraordinary statement,” adding, “I don’t think I’ve heard that before.”
Let’s be blunt. Giuliani was either lying, or he hasn’t cracked a book in six years.
The “blowback” theory isn’t some fringe idea common only to crazy Sept. 11 conspiracy theorists. It doesn’t suggest that we “deserved” the Sept. 11 attacks, nor does it suggest we shouldn’t have retaliated against the people who waged them.
What it does say is that actions have consequences. When the Arab and Muslim world continually sees U.S. troops marching through Arab and Muslim backyards, U.S. trade sanctions causing Arab and Muslim suffering and U.S. bombs landing on Arab and Muslim homes, it isn’t difficult to see how Arabs could begin to develop a deep contempt for the U.S.
Why does this get my attention? Long-time readers know. I’ve been saying this same thing for nearly six years. On September 11th and 12th of 2001, I took it upon myself to do extensive research. I visited scores of web sites and printed out articles about Osama bin Laden and the Muslim complaints against the United States. I compiled a binder full of information. In April 2004, I posted a summary of this info in an entry entitled How did we get here?. At the time I wrote:
The results of this research still form the basis for my understanding of the situation in the Middle East. My opposition to U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq isn’t so much because I think our actions are evil — though I do think this — as I think they don’t address the core issues. The people we’re fighting are only going to be satisfied if we remove all of our presence from the Middle East and if we decrease our support for Israel.
[A] U.S. withdrawal is not going to appease anyone now. We’ve gone over and thrown our weight around too many times; now people might just fight back for the sake of fighting back. This is true. But at one time, it would have been a significant step toward pacifying the anger fomenting against our country.
The Middle East has been a source of cultural turmoil not just for decades, not just for centuries, but for millennia. Think about that. Millennia.
It’s ignorant to think that we can go over there with our military might and moral rectitude and somehow make things right. We’re better off worrying about our own neighborhood.
So when I hear that Ron Paul, a man I know nothing about, has the balls to stand up and speak the truth, he earns my attention. Not one politician has said this stuff in the past six years. I’m going to go read more about him. Between Paul and Obama, I may actually break from my stance of always voting for the strongest third-party Presidential candidate.
Well, maybe not.
Tags: FS Important · Rants and Raves
A couple of weeks ago at Get Rich Slowly, I wrote about the 101 things in 1001 days project (which I learned about from dienu.com).
The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.
The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).
Why 1001 Days? Many people have created lists in the past — frequently simple goals such as new year’s resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.
Basically, participants create a list of about 100 things they want to do do in roughly the next three years. I think this is an amazing idea, with lots of potential for self-fulfillment. I drafted my list on March 25th, my 38th birthday, but it’s taken me this long to convert it to HTML. Here are the things I aim to accomplish over the next 1001 days:
List updated 31 May 2007
Health and Fitness
14 goals
1. Give up sugar for a week in progress - 3/7 days
2. Eat only home-prepared food for one month
3. Eat vegetarian for one month
4. Get cholesterol to healthy levels
5. Have a colonoscopy
6. Complete a marathon
7. Complete a 100-mile bike ride
8. Play a team sport
9. Do 100 push-ups
10. Bench-press my body weight
11. Complete a one-mile swim
12. Maintain a weight of 170 or below for six months
13. Drink only water for one month 31 May 2007
14. Give up alcohol for three months in progress - 1/3 months
Financial
10 goals
1. Pay off all non-mortgage debt (and keep it off)
2. Fully fund Roth IRA (2006) 10 Apr 07
3. Fully fund Roth IRA (2007)
4. Fully fund Roth IRA (2008)
5. Fully fund Roth IRA (2009)
6. Establish a $5000 personal emergency fund
7. Open a high-yield online savings account
8. Automate bill payments insurance done
9. Automate IRA contributions
10. Get a safety deposit box
Home and Garden
19 goals
1. Get the birds out of the workshop ceiling
2. Repair ceiling upstairs in house
3. Clean all gutters and install gutter guards
4. Finish modernizing the electrical system
5. Build a patio
6. Prune the holly trees
7. Learn how to use the chainsaw properly
8. Finish building the horseshoe pit
9. Hire somebody to paint the house
10. Open all windows that are painted shut
11. Park my car in the garage (this entails a lot of sub-steps)
12. Remove debris file from beneath the cedar
13. Add new spigots outside
14. Get a rug or carpet for the library
15. Acquire some nice office furniture
16. Create home maintenance checklist (and follow it)
17. Erect a hammock
18. Aquire a chipper
19. Set up workshop for woodworking
Personal
11 goals
1. Purge wardrobe of anything I haven’t worn in the past two years in progress
2. Get a massage
3. Learn to shave with a safety razor 15 May 2007
4. Update my address book
5. Sell record collection
6. Get rid of computer books
7. Sell CDs, keeping only hard-to-find favorites
8. Sell comic books
9. Sell board games
10. Hold a gourmet potluck in progress - date scheduled
11. Create the Indispensable Comic Strip Reprint Library in progress
Self-Improvement
7 goals
1. Take a speech-com class (Dale Carnegie?)
2. Take a drawing class
3. Take a Spanish class
4. Take a yoga class
5. Take a cooking class
6. Give a good radio interview
7. Give a good television interview
Adventure
6 goals
1. Get tickets for World Cup South Africa
2. Skydive
3. Go on a trip by myself
4. Go white-water rafting
5. Ride in a hot-air balloon
6. Learn to shoot a gun Kris beat me to this and taunts me about it
Entertainment
3 goals
1. See all Oscar-winners for Best Picture 53/79, though I want to review some
2. See all Oscar-winners for Best Documentary 5/64
3. Bowl 300 on Wii Sports
Photography
3 goals
1. Sell/publish a second photo
2. Digitize all photos
3. Sell $100 of images at iStockPhoto
Reading
5 goals
1. Read all of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past 1/7
2. Read all of Shakespeare’s plays (no matter what Kris says) 13/37
3. Read all of Dickens 5/17
4. Read all Hugo & Nebula winners in progress
5. Read all Pulitzer winners (for fiction) 7/54
Writing
8 goals
1. Compile and print a Friends Cookbook
2. Sell a short story
3. Sell a poem
4. Sell a magazine article
5. Write a book
6. Publish a book
7. Participate in National Novel Writing Month
8. Digitize all of my creative writing
Work
15 goals
1. Implement GRS forums 15 Apr 07
2. Implement GRS book section
3. Implement GRS tools and calculators section
4. Start a GRS podcast in progress
5. Complete GRS redesign
6. Complete Animal Intelligence redesign in negotiations
7. Move all old foldedspace entries to the new database in progress
8. Launch Success Daily site created — building content
9. Launch Vintage Pop
10. Launch Too Much Cat domains purchased
11. Interview Robert Kiyosaki (or host guest post)
12. Interview Dave Ramsey (or host guest post)
13. Achieve $10,000 web income in one month
14. 1,000,000 visitors in one month to GRS
15. 100,000 RSS subscribers at GRS
I’ll be the first to admit that this is an ambitious list, but I look forward to tackling each item on here. I’ve already finished a couple since I drafted this, and several more are in progress. (I should have the podcast up-and-running in the next month or so.) Some of these will take all 1001 days. Reading Proust? As much as I love him, this is a tall order!
Can you guess which goals I think are going to be most difficult to meet?
Tags: FS Important · Geekiness · Introspection
It was late last year that I realized I could potentially make a living writing for the web. It was today that I knew that this was true. I make a modest (but decent) income at the box factory. But for the last week, my web income has equaled my income from my real job. Scary, huh?
Now this is just one week. Though I’m making good money from my writing, there are many ups and downs. But even the lows are higher than I could have imagined. On November 25th, I made $29.29 in web income. That is the last day my earnings dipped below $30. My best day was last Tuesday: I made $169.90.
Over at 2blowhards (still one of my favorite blogs), Michael writes:
Planning on getting rich writing sci-fi or fantasy novels? Think again. Tobias Buckell writes that the average advance for a first sci-fi or fantasy novel is $5000. Five years and five novels later, the average author is pulling in around $13,000 per novel.
I used to want to get rich off writing sci-fi or fantasy. Then I decided I just wanted to get rich off writing books — I didn’t care what kind. More and more, it’s clear that I may never publish a book (at least not in the traditional sense)! I’m already making twice what a sci-fi novelist makes, and I have complete control of my content. There’s little motivation for me to change directions at the moment.
Some people — and perhaps you’re one of them — look disdainfully upon web income. “You’re not making money from writing,” is a common observation. “You’re making money from advertising.” I can understand this delineation, but it’s not one that I make.
I am writing, and publishing that writing, and it’s making me money. I don’t feel guilty about it. I don’t feel as if I’m compromising anything. Did I ever dream I’d make a living writing about personal finance? Nope. But now I can’t imagine anything else I’d rather be doing.
Tags: FS Important · Personal History · Writing
Dad was an entrepreneur.
He was always starting businesses, or trying to help others start them. When I was very small he operated Steve’s Lawnmowing Service. We still have the sign for this venture sitting out in the Custom Box Service warehouse. Nick loves it. So do I.
He also sold World’s Finest Chocolates. He would bring boxes of chocolate bars with him to church, and sell them after Sunday School. I can remember standing on the front lawn of the Mormon church in Canby, waiting for Dad to sell chocolate bars to all the parents. (I can also remember getting into a box of chocolate bars one day, and eating two of them before Dad found me, smothered in goo.)
He tried lots of other things, too: he was a flight instructor, he sold Shaklee (I think), he raised nursery stock.
But his first real success came with Harvest Mills. Dad started Harvest Mills in the mid-seventies. He built a wheat grinder from scratch. He like it so much — and so did his friends — that he decided to sell them. He developed a system for manufacturing them in a production line. Then, further capitalizing on the craze for health food, he developed the Little Harvey food dryers. These were an enormous success, and before long he had purchased one of the first plots of land in what was to become the Woodburn Industrial Park. Harvest Mills was a success.
Dad sold the business in the late-seventies for a large sum of money. For reasons that are no longer clear to me, he never saw full payment for the business. (My memory is: he sold the business for $300,000 payable in ten yearly installments, and that the buyer went bankrupt and somehow we only saw the first payment.)
The next six or seven years were tense. It was the early eighties, and the economic outlook was poor. Dad moved from one sales position to another: selling staples, selling industrial supplies, selling boxes. On his fortieth birthday — 31 July 1985 — he left his job as a box salesman and founded what would become his biggest success: Custom Box Service.
Died died ten days before the business turned ten-years-old, but his children (and nephew) have kept it running since. None of us are entrepreneurs, though. We don’t have that drive. Sometimes I sense a glimmer of it inside myself, but I recognize that in order to prosper as an entrepreneur, you need to be chasing a dream that you believe in one-hundred percent. Boxes are not my dream.
When I was a boy, Dad tried to get me to develop an entrepreneurial spirit, with mixed success. He encouraged me to sell seeds from a magazine. (I was too shy to knock on doors.) He tried to teach me to peel chittum bark that could be sold to god knows where for use as a natural laxative. (Carving bark from trees didn’t appeal to me.)
The only entrepreneurial bits that took hold were those that I developed myself. In fourth grade, in order to generate money for new comic books, I would take my old comic books to school and sell them to the other students. I would take my Star Wars trading cards and repackage them, selling each thick package for twenty-five cents each. I sold my Hardy Boys books in much the same way.
Now, for the first time in twenty years, I’m beginning to feel a bit of that entrepreneurial spirit. I have an idea, a plan, a vision. I know of a way to do what I love and to make money at it.
I will become an entrepreneur.
Tags: FS Important · Introspection · Personal History
Dad used to tell the following story about me, more as a means to demonstrate the nature of his character than to demonstrate the nature of mine.
When I was a boy, probably around Harrison’s age, I wanted a goldfish. I don’t know why I wanted a goldfish, but I wanted one. Instead of buying a goldfish and a bowl for me, Dad went out and bought a twenty-gallon tank and a pump and filters and scads of tropical fish. “What do you think of that, David?” he asked. I wasn’t very appreciative. I wanted a goldfish.
Dad laughed when he told this story. It illustrated one of his character flaws. Whatever he did, he did with enthusiasm. He didn’t want to just sail boats, he wanted to build his own, and so he did (or tried to, anyhow). He didn’t want to just use computer programs, he wanted to write his own, and so he did.
Many of you will have recognized some of the same tendency in me. It’s often been remarked how I obsess over something for a period of time, only to leave it behind and move on to something else. The list is long: astronomy, chess, computer programming, tropical fish, bicycling, photography, gardening, board games, soccer, Latin, etcetera, etcetera.
I am a dilettante. This is not a quality of which I’m proud.
The crux of the problem is that when I obsess with something, I do so at the expense of other aspects of my life. In reality, these obsessions are nothing more than a manifestation of a fundamental character flaw.
Why am I overweight? Why have I had money issues? Why does my library contain more books that I will ever possibly read? Why? Because I am, historically, unable to practice moderation.
“Moderation in all things,” admonished the ancients (many of them). Aristotle argued that moderation was the course to a happy life. Perhaps that explains why I’ve been fundamentally unhappy lately.
My unhappiness runs deep. It pervades my soul, my spirit. It’s been my dominant mode for the past three months. I could write for a week on this subject alone, but I won’t. It’s something that I need to overcome. (And Kris is helping me to do so.)
Instead, I’d like to draw attention to one possible source of my unhappiness, a drastic lapse of moderation.
World of Warcraft was released November 23rd, 144 days ago. Since then, I’ve spent almost exactly fourteen days playing the game. Yes, that’s right: fourteen days. A full ten percent of my life has been spent in game since Thanksgiving.
This is immoderation at its worst.
What do I have to show for this time? A host of virtual identities:
7 days, 7 hours, and 40 minutes on Proudmoore:
Maturin, 35th level night elf hunter (6d 8h 4m)
Beytu, 7th level tauren warrior (2h 47m)
Judyth, 12th level human priest (17h 41m)
Aylyana, 2nd level troll rogue (13m)
Morted, 6th level undead warlock (1h 53m)
Zapf, 2nd level gnome mage (1h 2m)
1 hour and 30 minutes on Azjul-Nerob:
Muerta, 5th level undead warlock (1h 30m)
21 hours and 17 minutes on Windrunner:
Norrell, 13th level undead warlock (12h 25m)
Poak, 6th level gnome warrior (2h 9m)
Snapp, 8th level gnome mage (4h 43m)
5 days, 18 hours, and 5 minutes on Alleria:
Ocius, 25th level troll hunter (2d 10h 27m)
Chantica, 27th level tauren shaman (3d 2h 6m)
Beytu, 10th level tauren druid (5h 32m)
The really scary numbers in the above list are those for Alleria. I’ve been on Alleria for about six weeks, which means I’ve spent a full day each week playing there. Even scarier, I started Chantica two weeks ago today. So, in the 336 hours since she was created, I’ve played 74 hours with her. I’m afraid to even do that math.
I’ve played this game for 336 hours and 12 minutes since its release. That’s more time than I spent playing Starcraft (and my Starcraft time was spread out over a year). It’s nearly as much time as I spent playing Civilization II (and my Civ2 time was spread out over a decade).
What could I have done with those 336 hours and 12 minutes? I could have listened to thirty audio books. I could have read sixty physical books. I could have probably mastered the rudiments of Latin so that I’d be reading Virgil or Ovid in the original now. I could have taught myself woodworking, and maybe have even built a bookshelf or two. I could have fertilized the blueberries and the grapes. I could have pruned all the trees. I could have replied to e-mail, written to friends, devoted more time to this weblog. I could have made photographs. I could have done lots of things.
I’m not going to quit playing World of Warcraft. It’s fun. Too much fun. I enjoy the time I spend with Will and Joel and Andrew. And Scott S. recently purchased the game, too, and I look forward to playing with him. I am, however, going to practice some moderation, spending far less time online than I am now.
So: Will, Joel, Andrew, and Scott — e-mail or call if you’re going to be on-line and want to go adventuring together. I’ll join you with pleasure. Until then, however, I’m going to be studying Latin.
(Apparently Nate has a similar addiction.)
On 11 November 2004 (08:18 AM),
Lisa said:
On 11 November 2004 (08:56 AM),
Jeff said:
On 11 November 2004 (08:58 AM),
Jennifer Gingerich said:
On 11 November 2004 (09:43 AM),
Andrew Parker said:
On 11 November 2004 (10:11 AM),
mac said:
On 11 November 2004 (10:45 AM),
J.D. said:
On 11 November 2004 (10:51 AM),
J.D. said:
On 11 November 2004 (11:16 AM),
Dana said:
On 11 November 2004 (11:23 AM),
Dave said:
On 11 November 2004 (12:27 PM),
Nikchick said:
On 11 November 2004 (02:23 PM),
Tony said:
On 11 November 2004 (02:23 PM),
Tony said:
On 11 November 2004 (06:11 PM),
Kristin said:
On 17 November 2004 (04:04 PM),
Sambar said:
On 16 August 2005 (09:00 PM),
Me said:
Tags: FS Important · Introspection
Don’t stop being a smart-ass, please.