Watch the video in the link below.
This might be a positive reason to outsource customer service to overseas. Oh my...
Verizon Math Fail.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Monday, February 02, 2009
Epiphany Number 63
I have had some serious epiphanies this weekend. And an epiphany is more than just a simple realization or revelation. It's a sudden enlightenment. There was once a commercial that described the difference. I believe the commercial was for Allstate Auto Insurance, one of the first TV ads they made. I don't recall the details of the commercial, but the way the actor (Dennis Haysbert) describes the meaning of the word has always stuck in my head. I wish I could find the ad on YouTube, but alas, I cannot.
Regardless, the epiphanies are related, and the first occurred at church on Sunday morning. The passage of discussion in the sermon was Matthew 6:19-24. I've read this passage in the past; but it has much more relevance to me now that I'm independently monetarily wealthy; or in the very least attempted to reach that status.
But I realized, and it seems so obvious now, that I'm laying up treasure. I'm making plans on what treasure I'm going to buy next (dishwasher, hot tub, etc). My thought process had been before: After I have this thing, or after I pay off this loan, then I will give. Was I crazy?! Yes. Epiphany.
Although I honestly believe that I can live without so many material things like my TV, etc, I still worry about people breaking into my house and taking things. Hence the reason for the paranoia-induced number of locks I have in my house (not to say being secure is bad). Boom! Verse 19! "where thieves break through and steal"
My car is no better than it was a year ago, indeed, it is probably in much worse shape. It has some patches of rust. I daydream about a new car, but how long til that is rusting and decaying and being eaten by moths? Boom! Verse 19 again! "where moth and rust doth corrupt"
Rabbit trail: It was interesting to note that both the words rust and moth refer to something being consumed; the material, the goods, that people store up is actually being eaten. It not only decays, but is consumed! That was a smaller sort of unrelated epiphany as well. But I digress.
Most times when I have heard this passage being read, and preached upon, the pastor or whomever normally focuses on those first two verses, nineteen and twenty. But this time, the majority of the time was spent on verse 24. There were some revelations here too. The pastor delved into the precise meanings of every word in this verse. Hate vs. love. Holding onto vs. despise. The prior is the emotional while the latter is the practical. Not only will attempting to serve two masters lead to emotional conflict within oneself (that could potentially be hidden from view), it leads to practical conflict (that is much harder to hide from view).
And it's not just a day by day thing, meaning that one cannot serve mammon Monday through Saturday, and serve God on Sunday. This was already apparent to me, but was put very much in perspective.
On to Monday's revelation. I normally read a book during my travels. Since I worked this morning at the facility, and while waiting at the airport for my flight, I read on the plane. My plan was to finish half the book. I finished all of it.
The book is John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life. Essentially, he describes what in his opinion is a purposeful life. While the introduction to me was very overdone, the second half of the book was very enlightening. The intro can be summed up into: In order to not waste your life, define your purpose and fulfill that purpose. The question then all comes down to what is the purpose of one's life.
Purpose.
I will not quote John Piper. I find it unvaluable to quote large portions of text, but find it more beneficial to write my thoughts on said text, in order to expound and even improve on the points made by John Piper. I would recommend the book, though I will admit John Piper's writing style is far from even flowing (he likes his short, to the point paragraphs and then moves on to the next point). And so my thoughts, spurred by what I read; my epiphanies of Monday, February 2nd, 2009:
What does American society say is the goal of life? How does this relate to what should be a Christian's goal? Are they congruent? Are they extremely polar from one another?
(Please note that by no means do I mean that people should have nice things, comfortable things. One way you can fulfill your purpose is to enjoy the things that have been provided. But know to whom they belong. And be happy without them.)
Society says work as hard as you can as early as you can, so you can stop working. The Bible says (paraphrase) if one does not work, one shall not eat. This is not to say that one should not retire (or is it?). And I understand that this is one line from an entire chapter, book, text, and that it should not be taken out of context. And that context is that people had become lazy in one of the cities that Paul visited. Regardless, the end goal that society is that you should work and work and work, and then not work. But I'm now of the opinion that that's not precisely correct.
Society says make a "bucket list," a list of things you want to accomplish, things you want to experience, things you want to own, before you die. My list consists of one thing: owning a Porsche. Society says make this list, and then do everything you can to accomplish this list. If you fail at completing this list, you fail at life. But not so; even if people accomplish this list, their life may still be wasted, in fact there is more likelihood that it is wasted as they were spending all their strength in order to gather to themselves accomplishments, experiences, and possessions.
Would you be happy if you didn't complete your bucket list? If no, then I would say you are definitely wasting your life. If yes, good, there is joy in God and that is the primary source of remaining in high spirits when you don't complete the bucket list. Before this day would I have been happy if I never owned a Porsche? No. Boom! Epiphany!
Society could even be said to view people without material possessions as failures. Are they? In society's eyes? Yes. In God's eyes?
Regardless, the epiphanies are related, and the first occurred at church on Sunday morning. The passage of discussion in the sermon was Matthew 6:19-24. I've read this passage in the past; but it has much more relevance to me now that I'm independently monetarily wealthy; or in the very least attempted to reach that status.
But I realized, and it seems so obvious now, that I'm laying up treasure. I'm making plans on what treasure I'm going to buy next (dishwasher, hot tub, etc). My thought process had been before: After I have this thing, or after I pay off this loan, then I will give. Was I crazy?! Yes. Epiphany.
Although I honestly believe that I can live without so many material things like my TV, etc, I still worry about people breaking into my house and taking things. Hence the reason for the paranoia-induced number of locks I have in my house (not to say being secure is bad). Boom! Verse 19! "where thieves break through and steal"
My car is no better than it was a year ago, indeed, it is probably in much worse shape. It has some patches of rust. I daydream about a new car, but how long til that is rusting and decaying and being eaten by moths? Boom! Verse 19 again! "where moth and rust doth corrupt"
Rabbit trail: It was interesting to note that both the words rust and moth refer to something being consumed; the material, the goods, that people store up is actually being eaten. It not only decays, but is consumed! That was a smaller sort of unrelated epiphany as well. But I digress.
Most times when I have heard this passage being read, and preached upon, the pastor or whomever normally focuses on those first two verses, nineteen and twenty. But this time, the majority of the time was spent on verse 24. There were some revelations here too. The pastor delved into the precise meanings of every word in this verse. Hate vs. love. Holding onto vs. despise. The prior is the emotional while the latter is the practical. Not only will attempting to serve two masters lead to emotional conflict within oneself (that could potentially be hidden from view), it leads to practical conflict (that is much harder to hide from view).
And it's not just a day by day thing, meaning that one cannot serve mammon Monday through Saturday, and serve God on Sunday. This was already apparent to me, but was put very much in perspective.
On to Monday's revelation. I normally read a book during my travels. Since I worked this morning at the facility, and while waiting at the airport for my flight, I read on the plane. My plan was to finish half the book. I finished all of it.
The book is John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life. Essentially, he describes what in his opinion is a purposeful life. While the introduction to me was very overdone, the second half of the book was very enlightening. The intro can be summed up into: In order to not waste your life, define your purpose and fulfill that purpose. The question then all comes down to what is the purpose of one's life.
Purpose.
I will not quote John Piper. I find it unvaluable to quote large portions of text, but find it more beneficial to write my thoughts on said text, in order to expound and even improve on the points made by John Piper. I would recommend the book, though I will admit John Piper's writing style is far from even flowing (he likes his short, to the point paragraphs and then moves on to the next point). And so my thoughts, spurred by what I read; my epiphanies of Monday, February 2nd, 2009:
What does American society say is the goal of life? How does this relate to what should be a Christian's goal? Are they congruent? Are they extremely polar from one another?
(Please note that by no means do I mean that people should have nice things, comfortable things. One way you can fulfill your purpose is to enjoy the things that have been provided. But know to whom they belong. And be happy without them.)
Society says work as hard as you can as early as you can, so you can stop working. The Bible says (paraphrase) if one does not work, one shall not eat. This is not to say that one should not retire (or is it?). And I understand that this is one line from an entire chapter, book, text, and that it should not be taken out of context. And that context is that people had become lazy in one of the cities that Paul visited. Regardless, the end goal that society is that you should work and work and work, and then not work. But I'm now of the opinion that that's not precisely correct.
Society says make a "bucket list," a list of things you want to accomplish, things you want to experience, things you want to own, before you die. My list consists of one thing: owning a Porsche. Society says make this list, and then do everything you can to accomplish this list. If you fail at completing this list, you fail at life. But not so; even if people accomplish this list, their life may still be wasted, in fact there is more likelihood that it is wasted as they were spending all their strength in order to gather to themselves accomplishments, experiences, and possessions.
Would you be happy if you didn't complete your bucket list? If no, then I would say you are definitely wasting your life. If yes, good, there is joy in God and that is the primary source of remaining in high spirits when you don't complete the bucket list. Before this day would I have been happy if I never owned a Porsche? No. Boom! Epiphany!
Society could even be said to view people without material possessions as failures. Are they? In society's eyes? Yes. In God's eyes?
Friday, December 26, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
"Christmas Letter" Blog Entry
As was so aptly pointed out to me, most Christmas letters begin with "I can't believe another year has gone by already!" or something to that effect. But mine shall not.
This has been the longest year ever. For the universe is slowing down, extending time that is measured; and, in addition, it was a leap year, 366 days. A lot has happened in those 366 days. The biggest events were my graduation from college with my degree in Industrial Engineering and minor in Business Administration; being hired by the world’s largest technology distributor and a leading technology sales, marketing and logistics company as an Industrial Engineer; and the purchase of my first home.
The whole concept of a Christmas Letter seems strange to me. I suppose that historically they were written to update a large group of people on a yearly basis with the past events of said year. This letter would be sent to close friends and family, but was primarily directed towards those that one might only communicate with once a year, via the Christmas Letter. And so it seems strange to me to communicate with people only once a year, as this is the computer age. Activities are updated on a daily basis via Facebook, Myspace, Blogger, LinkedIn, or any other variety of online forums. And so, close friends, close family, distant friends, distant family, complete strangers can have insight to every one of my actions that I share with the world.
Regardless, as in general Christmas Letter format, I shall expound on the large events of my life. I graduated on May 17th, 2008. The ceremony was held outside on the dell, and it was significantly warm in the traditional black robes. I did the "walk across the stage," the announcer said my name correctly (they go through everyone's name prior to the real ceremony), and received my college diploma.
About a month and a half earlier I had interviewed with Ingram Micro. The interview went well and I was impressed with their operation. I received a job offer a little while before graduation and I accepted their offer. The company does warehousing, shipping, internal logistics, and third-party logistics work for their own inventory as well as for some major corporations. My job title is Industrial Engineer and I work on a number of projects to improve layout and product flow efficiency. One of the major projects I am working on is the implementation of a labor management system, used to improve employees productivity.
I completed the home buying process on June 30th. The entire process went fairly quickly I'm told, though I thought a month was a long time. But I suppose buying a house isn't quite like buying a hamburger at McDonald's, at least not yet. My house is just over 1300 square feet; 1.5 baths, 3 bedrooms, 2 car garage, shed, a small yard. I use one of the bedrooms as an office where I have my computer and all my books. I sleep in the master bedroom and maintain one of the other bedrooms as the guest room.
So I have obtained my Engineering degree, an Engineering job that I am very happy with, and a very nice home in a nice area with nice neighbors. I have my Ford Taurus that is still running well.
I have good friends in many different places. However, no new romantic developments. Which, for the most part, may be a good thing as I will be traveling approximately 32 weeks out of the 52 next year. But that's for next year's Christmas Letter.
-Adam
This has been the longest year ever. For the universe is slowing down, extending time that is measured; and, in addition, it was a leap year, 366 days. A lot has happened in those 366 days. The biggest events were my graduation from college with my degree in Industrial Engineering and minor in Business Administration; being hired by the world’s largest technology distributor and a leading technology sales, marketing and logistics company as an Industrial Engineer; and the purchase of my first home.
The whole concept of a Christmas Letter seems strange to me. I suppose that historically they were written to update a large group of people on a yearly basis with the past events of said year. This letter would be sent to close friends and family, but was primarily directed towards those that one might only communicate with once a year, via the Christmas Letter. And so it seems strange to me to communicate with people only once a year, as this is the computer age. Activities are updated on a daily basis via Facebook, Myspace, Blogger, LinkedIn, or any other variety of online forums. And so, close friends, close family, distant friends, distant family, complete strangers can have insight to every one of my actions that I share with the world.
Regardless, as in general Christmas Letter format, I shall expound on the large events of my life. I graduated on May 17th, 2008. The ceremony was held outside on the dell, and it was significantly warm in the traditional black robes. I did the "walk across the stage," the announcer said my name correctly (they go through everyone's name prior to the real ceremony), and received my college diploma.
About a month and a half earlier I had interviewed with Ingram Micro. The interview went well and I was impressed with their operation. I received a job offer a little while before graduation and I accepted their offer. The company does warehousing, shipping, internal logistics, and third-party logistics work for their own inventory as well as for some major corporations. My job title is Industrial Engineer and I work on a number of projects to improve layout and product flow efficiency. One of the major projects I am working on is the implementation of a labor management system, used to improve employees productivity.
I completed the home buying process on June 30th. The entire process went fairly quickly I'm told, though I thought a month was a long time. But I suppose buying a house isn't quite like buying a hamburger at McDonald's, at least not yet. My house is just over 1300 square feet; 1.5 baths, 3 bedrooms, 2 car garage, shed, a small yard. I use one of the bedrooms as an office where I have my computer and all my books. I sleep in the master bedroom and maintain one of the other bedrooms as the guest room.
So I have obtained my Engineering degree, an Engineering job that I am very happy with, and a very nice home in a nice area with nice neighbors. I have my Ford Taurus that is still running well.
I have good friends in many different places. However, no new romantic developments. Which, for the most part, may be a good thing as I will be traveling approximately 32 weeks out of the 52 next year. But that's for next year's Christmas Letter.
-Adam
Monday, December 08, 2008
Christmas Tree x2
I now have two Christmas trees in my house. Both have lights. Ornament decoration is scheduled for Saturday.
Pictures here.
Also, all the gifts for my immediate family have been delivered. Now I just need to wrap them.
Pictures here.
Also, all the gifts for my immediate family have been delivered. Now I just need to wrap them.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
3RLOD
On how to descend a hill on a bike. Video.
Last night my Xbox 360 experienced the Three Red Lights of Death (aka, 3RLOD). So today I attempted to fix it using the X-clamp removal and repair method. Pictures here. I completed all the steps in about three hours.
I plugged everything in, overheated the Xbox to re-solder the GPU/CPU to the motherboard, cooled it off, and attempted to turn it on. The 3RLOD were gone!
However, my Xbox 360 then experienced what I would call the One Red Light of Death. The lower right quadrant was flashing. I queried this error, and it is apparently due to a bad ANA chip, or something related to the video output of the Xbox 360. So apparently, every component in my Xbox 360 decided to fail at once.
So all in all, I got to see the innards of the Xbox 360, bought a cool new screwdriver set (complete with Torx T6 through T25 hex heads), and corrected the 3RLOD. But alas, it still is broken. Tomorrow I will be buying a new Xbox 360 and the newly released Call of Duty 5: World at War. At least I can buy a cheap Xbox Arcade and upgrade the harddrive. As long as my old harddrive isn't broken too.
Yay for technology.
And my phone wasn't working today either. I had to call IT so they could fix the Enterprise Activation so I could send and receive network email.
30.
Last night my Xbox 360 experienced the Three Red Lights of Death (aka, 3RLOD). So today I attempted to fix it using the X-clamp removal and repair method. Pictures here. I completed all the steps in about three hours.
I plugged everything in, overheated the Xbox to re-solder the GPU/CPU to the motherboard, cooled it off, and attempted to turn it on. The 3RLOD were gone!
However, my Xbox 360 then experienced what I would call the One Red Light of Death. The lower right quadrant was flashing. I queried this error, and it is apparently due to a bad ANA chip, or something related to the video output of the Xbox 360. So apparently, every component in my Xbox 360 decided to fail at once.
So all in all, I got to see the innards of the Xbox 360, bought a cool new screwdriver set (complete with Torx T6 through T25 hex heads), and corrected the 3RLOD. But alas, it still is broken. Tomorrow I will be buying a new Xbox 360 and the newly released Call of Duty 5: World at War. At least I can buy a cheap Xbox Arcade and upgrade the harddrive. As long as my old harddrive isn't broken too.
Yay for technology.
And my phone wasn't working today either. I had to call IT so they could fix the Enterprise Activation so I could send and receive network email.
30.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Saturday Bike Ride Adventure
Today I drove myself and my bike to the Colebrook trail head of the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail (LVRT). On the way, with my window down, I was thinking that I perhaps should have brought along a sweatshirt, but when I arrived and saw hunters en masse I was glad I had not, and was only wearing my bright yellow T-shirt.
My trip can be viewed here. Pictures are here.
I began by heading west on the LVRT. I passed by what looked to be a hiking trail, and decided to turn around and take a closer look. The trail was labeled as the Horse Shoe Trail, which is a part of the Mt. Gretna network of trails. I had read about this trail online; it was rated as a beginner level trail, but the many comments said that it was more of an advanced trail and the rating was completely wrong. Regardless, I decided to take the Horse Shoe instead of the flat, packed-gravel LVRT trail.
The trail definitely wasn't beginner; there were loose rocks the size of baseballs and steep hills. The first section shown on the map (the little part that goes directly south) was probably the hardest part as it was the steepest hill on the trip (turn on the terrain feature on Google Maps). After that, there were some ups and downs, but it was relatively easy except for one small steep section right before reaching the road.
After crossing the road, I rode through a field like area. Once completing that section, there was a steady incline to the point that I decided to turn around at a trail split (this is also where I saw around 10 orange vests walking around with high powered bows). Total one-way ride distance = 3.15 miles.
The trip back was more intense since it was almost all downhill. It was extremely bumpy due to all the rocks, and I almost flipped my bike once when I hit a large loose rock hidden in the leaves (in retrospect, having only one close call was pretty good). Going back down the steep hill I encountered during the start of my trip was pretty fun. I nearly had my chest on my seat on the way down to maintain some balance.
Once reaching the bottom, I returned to my car, had a drink of water, and continued east on the LVRT a little bit. Overall, it was a good trip. Though I really ought to exercise more.
Next trip, Governor Dick Hill?
My trip can be viewed here. Pictures are here.
I began by heading west on the LVRT. I passed by what looked to be a hiking trail, and decided to turn around and take a closer look. The trail was labeled as the Horse Shoe Trail, which is a part of the Mt. Gretna network of trails. I had read about this trail online; it was rated as a beginner level trail, but the many comments said that it was more of an advanced trail and the rating was completely wrong. Regardless, I decided to take the Horse Shoe instead of the flat, packed-gravel LVRT trail.
The trail definitely wasn't beginner; there were loose rocks the size of baseballs and steep hills. The first section shown on the map (the little part that goes directly south) was probably the hardest part as it was the steepest hill on the trip (turn on the terrain feature on Google Maps). After that, there were some ups and downs, but it was relatively easy except for one small steep section right before reaching the road.
After crossing the road, I rode through a field like area. Once completing that section, there was a steady incline to the point that I decided to turn around at a trail split (this is also where I saw around 10 orange vests walking around with high powered bows). Total one-way ride distance = 3.15 miles.
The trip back was more intense since it was almost all downhill. It was extremely bumpy due to all the rocks, and I almost flipped my bike once when I hit a large loose rock hidden in the leaves (in retrospect, having only one close call was pretty good). Going back down the steep hill I encountered during the start of my trip was pretty fun. I nearly had my chest on my seat on the way down to maintain some balance.
Once reaching the bottom, I returned to my car, had a drink of water, and continued east on the LVRT a little bit. Overall, it was a good trip. Though I really ought to exercise more.
Next trip, Governor Dick Hill?
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Checkpoint!
There are certain points in one's life when one checks on the status of said life. It makes me wish that Pure had been built with checkpoint functionality. But nay, it is track oriented, and whenever you went off the "track" the game made you crash and would reset your ATV. I would have much preferred the game if it had built similarly to Smuggler's Run for Game Cube and PS2. In Smuggler's Run, the entire environment was navigable, and the races were accomplished via checkpoints. I must say, Pure pwnt when it came to a track list.
1. There is no plan.
Check. This I wholeheartedly agree with and am living as such. While I do have a loose plan, I realize that it is all subject to change. Now that I will soon be living in a Blue nation, who knows what will happen (the same could be said for a McCain nation as well though).
My job is comparatively secure, but even if it's not I feel confident that with my experience and skill set finding a job would not be entirely difficult. I have all my options laid out in front of me, and will progress, all while at least preserving the status quo.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
Check. This is something I've somehow developed into doing my entire life. I like what I'm good at, I do what I like, I'm good at what I like to do. And repeat. My entire career has actually meshed very well with my strengths and likes. Though one could argue my career choices were based on my strengths and likes. So which came first? It actually doesn't really matter which came first, only that I know #2 and preserve the check in this box.
3. It's not about you.
Check, sort of. Sometimes I forget this. Though honestly I think other people forget it more often. Everyone seems so concerned about preserving their own life, their own job, that they will do everything in their power to preserve said things: lie, cheat, make excuses. But I've come to realize that for the most part if first attention is given to the collective, the company, the team, others, that this is respected far greater than the best excuse in the world.
I try to live my life now following rule sub 3: Never make excuses, even when at fault. There is normally no reason that it would ever benefit someone to make an excuse. Most times excuses are readily recognized as an excuse. If one makes a mistake, admit it, fix it, and move on.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
Check. While I may be talented, there is nothing more important than persistence. Even the hardest of problems can be solved when consistently persisted at. Plus, anything is possible with Excel, unless you have more than 65,536 lines of data.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
Check. Though I really try to avoid making mistakes altogether. It's not so much about making mistakes, or even making excellent ones. It's about learning from them; what went wrong, how can that be avoided next time.
6. Leave an imprint.
Working on it. So far so good.
Checkpoint complete.
1. There is no plan.
Check. This I wholeheartedly agree with and am living as such. While I do have a loose plan, I realize that it is all subject to change. Now that I will soon be living in a Blue nation, who knows what will happen (the same could be said for a McCain nation as well though).
My job is comparatively secure, but even if it's not I feel confident that with my experience and skill set finding a job would not be entirely difficult. I have all my options laid out in front of me, and will progress, all while at least preserving the status quo.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
Check. This is something I've somehow developed into doing my entire life. I like what I'm good at, I do what I like, I'm good at what I like to do. And repeat. My entire career has actually meshed very well with my strengths and likes. Though one could argue my career choices were based on my strengths and likes. So which came first? It actually doesn't really matter which came first, only that I know #2 and preserve the check in this box.
3. It's not about you.
Check, sort of. Sometimes I forget this. Though honestly I think other people forget it more often. Everyone seems so concerned about preserving their own life, their own job, that they will do everything in their power to preserve said things: lie, cheat, make excuses. But I've come to realize that for the most part if first attention is given to the collective, the company, the team, others, that this is respected far greater than the best excuse in the world.
I try to live my life now following rule sub 3: Never make excuses, even when at fault. There is normally no reason that it would ever benefit someone to make an excuse. Most times excuses are readily recognized as an excuse. If one makes a mistake, admit it, fix it, and move on.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
Check. While I may be talented, there is nothing more important than persistence. Even the hardest of problems can be solved when consistently persisted at. Plus, anything is possible with Excel, unless you have more than 65,536 lines of data.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
Check. Though I really try to avoid making mistakes altogether. It's not so much about making mistakes, or even making excellent ones. It's about learning from them; what went wrong, how can that be avoided next time.
6. Leave an imprint.
Working on it. So far so good.
Checkpoint complete.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Monday, October 06, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Value
I really enjoy my work. Maybe too much. Perhaps it's because I feel as if I am fulfilling my duty, or because it adds purpose to my life. But I feel like I have dedicated my life to my work, though I think I've always been that way to some degree.
Progress is beautiful.
I am satisfied with where my life is now.
I have a job that I love; that keeps me busy. I work alongside other smart, dynamic people. I work for a business that is moderately stable in the current fluctuating markets. My car is doing fairly well considering how many miles are on it. I have a house. Many people would agree with me that I am comparatively successful. But that is nothing new to this blog.
And yet, there are those that would perhaps find changes were necessary, or at least suggested, in order to make me more complete. Or make me more complete in their eyes. In order to add value to me. Or to them?
But what is value even defined as? I recently went to a seminar where a multi-millionaire said that every person inherently has value. This I don't disagree with. But value is much more than that; value is in the eye of the beholder; one man's trash is another man's treasure; and so on. Are the changes proposed to my life adding value to me? Or are they adding value to the person to which is beholding me (and actually detracting from the value that I consider myself worth)?
I don't have a girlfriend. I have no prospect at marriage. I have no possibility of kids. At this moment.
Those facts don't bother me that much.
I have a linear income job. I like what I'm doing. I have no desire to change my source of income. At this moment.
Those facts don't bother me at all.
I am continually learning and improving myself. I am making excellent mistakes. I am successful. At this moment.
Those facts are what I expect. So at this momentary instance, I'm good. Right?
Progress is beautiful.
I am satisfied with where my life is now.
I have a job that I love; that keeps me busy. I work alongside other smart, dynamic people. I work for a business that is moderately stable in the current fluctuating markets. My car is doing fairly well considering how many miles are on it. I have a house. Many people would agree with me that I am comparatively successful. But that is nothing new to this blog.
And yet, there are those that would perhaps find changes were necessary, or at least suggested, in order to make me more complete. Or make me more complete in their eyes. In order to add value to me. Or to them?
But what is value even defined as? I recently went to a seminar where a multi-millionaire said that every person inherently has value. This I don't disagree with. But value is much more than that; value is in the eye of the beholder; one man's trash is another man's treasure; and so on. Are the changes proposed to my life adding value to me? Or are they adding value to the person to which is beholding me (and actually detracting from the value that I consider myself worth)?
I don't have a girlfriend. I have no prospect at marriage. I have no possibility of kids. At this moment.
Those facts don't bother me that much.
I have a linear income job. I like what I'm doing. I have no desire to change my source of income. At this moment.
Those facts don't bother me at all.
I am continually learning and improving myself. I am making excellent mistakes. I am successful. At this moment.
Those facts are what I expect. So at this momentary instance, I'm good. Right?
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Tables in August
I built a table for my lamp today. I got the directions for said project here. Completed project pictures are here. I think mine actually looks better than the website's. I took a little more time on mine, and actually counted every ten pages so everything would be even. The magazines were old mechanical engineering magazines that I had received from one of the engineers at R.H. Sheppard during my internship there in 2006.I'm considering trying to make a coffee table via a similar method. I would create a one-layer magazine legs and then set a piece of cut glass on top. It's surprising how sturdy paper is when it is layered properly. Though I need more magazines for that project. Perhaps I could find some old issues of National Geographic at the library for sale or something. Or a yard sale.
And of course there is the option of using vintage books.
August has been good. I went to Minneapolis for a week of training for work. The weather there was amazing, at least during August. I've heard it gets pretty cold there in the winter though. The only other travel I have planned right now is two days in Philadelphia for AutoCAD training. I might being going to Toronto for work sometime later this year, but not sure about that yet.
Work continues to go well. I'm pretty much constantly busy at work, which is nice. And I still love my job. I certainly am gaining a lot of experience.
My house is good. I still need to fix a few things, like the tub faucet is leaking now, and the toilet still runs randomly because of a leaky fixture within the tank. The kitchen needs some grout or caulk or something between some of the linoleum tiles. I need to install the towel rack on the bathroom door.
I did lots of paperwork today. At least 80% of all the stuff I went through was junk mail. I paid my second mortgage payment and some other bill. I also changed nearly all of my billing methods to online, so the junk mail to real mail ratio is bound to get worse. Though maybe I can change all the important stuff to online so the only value-added mail that I get is Netflix.
My car is running good. As is my computer though I've been having problems with my screen savers not working properly when AIM is running, which is strange. I would like to get a new computer, but I'm gonna worry about paying some of my college loans and short-term debt first.
That's the update on all basic aspects of my life except one.
Purple Door was good. My favorite band was probably The Foxhole. I bought their two CDs that they had available, though I liked their live stuff better. It's good music to just zone out to though. As for bands that have that "rock out" factor, my favorites were either Inhale Exhale or Disciple.
Post Purple Door was even better though.
Time for bed.
π * 10 - 1.189927113691392.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
May and June 2008
I haven't updated in a long while, mostly because I was without access to my desktop computer for a while due to me moving and living in a hotel for three weeks. My trip to Santa Ana was amazing. I got introduced to the corporate headquarters of Ingram and the employees that work there.
I also got to do some sightseeing and some restauranting. Pictures are on my Picasa. I also got to try sushi for the first time, and I loved it. I've only had sushi once more since the trip, but I'm thinking it's my new favorite food. I stayed in a very nice hotel, and my rental car was a 2008 Chevy Malibu LTZ. So it was a pretty awesome trip and further confirmed that my job is perfect.
I've now worked a full six weeks with Ingram, though it really has not felt that long. I love every minute of my job. Furthermore, I'm going to get do some business traveling. I'm going to their facility in Tennessee for four days. I'm also going to Minneapolis with the other engineers for training. But that's all I shall write of work for now. It's easier to just simply not write about work than worry about what's proprietary.
My new house is awesome. I have nearly everything unpacked. I think I have six boxes of stuff left to unpack in the room. I've also completed a bunch of little projects to fix up the house and get everything setup the way I want it. My dad and I installed a new lock in the back door. That project required cutting (more like grinding) a hole in the metal-plated wooden door. The mudroom to which the door leads still smells a little smokey. We also installed a new lock in the garage.
I fixed the garage door. Both of my garage doors have openers and the one side that I use for my car was broken. The door was braced with steel on the top of the door, to which was attached the garage door opener, as it was supposed to be. The problem was that the brace had broken, apparently more than once. So that actually took a while to unbolt all the broken metal, use the scrap to build a new frame, and replace each bolts to the newly configured frame. Not to mention the garage is like a sauna.
Gardening: I weeded the front garden, planted little grassy plants, and mulched. Then AJ and I weeded the side garden. So now my yard is 95% weed free. There is a little patch of weeds near the deck. This was a big project since the previous resident had not weeded in over two years, according to my neighbors. I still need to figure what I want to plant in the garden. I'm thinking that I might go with some shrubbery and garden rocks, or something.
Rewiring: I ran coaxial cable all over the place. So now my computer, AJ's computer, and my Xbox 360 are all Internet capable. This required drilling holes in the ceiling and floors and all over the place. I still need to tack the cable to the window frame so it looks good.
So those were the larger projects. I still have some little projects, like fixing the grout in the kitchen.
I have a grill and used it three times in one week. Made sausage to go with spaghetti, burgers, and pork chops. I love making my own food.
More updates later? Probably within a sooner time frame than last time.
30.
I also got to do some sightseeing and some restauranting. Pictures are on my Picasa. I also got to try sushi for the first time, and I loved it. I've only had sushi once more since the trip, but I'm thinking it's my new favorite food. I stayed in a very nice hotel, and my rental car was a 2008 Chevy Malibu LTZ. So it was a pretty awesome trip and further confirmed that my job is perfect.
I've now worked a full six weeks with Ingram, though it really has not felt that long. I love every minute of my job. Furthermore, I'm going to get do some business traveling. I'm going to their facility in Tennessee for four days. I'm also going to Minneapolis with the other engineers for training. But that's all I shall write of work for now. It's easier to just simply not write about work than worry about what's proprietary.
My new house is awesome. I have nearly everything unpacked. I think I have six boxes of stuff left to unpack in the room. I've also completed a bunch of little projects to fix up the house and get everything setup the way I want it. My dad and I installed a new lock in the back door. That project required cutting (more like grinding) a hole in the metal-plated wooden door. The mudroom to which the door leads still smells a little smokey. We also installed a new lock in the garage.
I fixed the garage door. Both of my garage doors have openers and the one side that I use for my car was broken. The door was braced with steel on the top of the door, to which was attached the garage door opener, as it was supposed to be. The problem was that the brace had broken, apparently more than once. So that actually took a while to unbolt all the broken metal, use the scrap to build a new frame, and replace each bolts to the newly configured frame. Not to mention the garage is like a sauna.
Gardening: I weeded the front garden, planted little grassy plants, and mulched. Then AJ and I weeded the side garden. So now my yard is 95% weed free. There is a little patch of weeds near the deck. This was a big project since the previous resident had not weeded in over two years, according to my neighbors. I still need to figure what I want to plant in the garden. I'm thinking that I might go with some shrubbery and garden rocks, or something.
Rewiring: I ran coaxial cable all over the place. So now my computer, AJ's computer, and my Xbox 360 are all Internet capable. This required drilling holes in the ceiling and floors and all over the place. I still need to tack the cable to the window frame so it looks good.
So those were the larger projects. I still have some little projects, like fixing the grout in the kitchen.
I have a grill and used it three times in one week. Made sausage to go with spaghetti, burgers, and pork chops. I love making my own food.
More updates later? Probably within a sooner time frame than last time.
30.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
The Adventures of Johnny Bunko
1. There is no plan
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
3. It’s not about you.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
6. Leave an imprint.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
3. It’s not about you.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
6. Leave an imprint.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Growing Up
Above is a picture of a Porsche Panamera, a four-door Porsche. I knew it was a Porsche as soon as I saw the picture; it has Porsche lines and profile. It just looks fat. And the spoiler definitely needs some work before they begin production in April 2009. More pictures here.
More pictures here as well. I've uploaded nearly every picture I've taken with my digital camera to Picasa, Google's Web Albums service. All the albums are geotagged. I've also started geotagging each individual picture on Google Maps. This takes a little while, since for some reason there isn't any way to connect Picasa tagging with Google Maps tagging, at least as far as I can tell. The start of my individually tagged photos is here. Navigation can be done by clicking on the place markers or clicking on the links on the left (one link per picture).
I'm growing up.
I have a degree in Industrial Engineering and a minor in Business Administration. Four years of college are complete, and I have the diploma to show for it.
I have a full time non-summer job with the world’s largest technology distributor and a leading technology sales, marketing, and logistics company. That's a quote straight from a wikipage about the company, Ingram Micro. Initially, I'll be helping to work on this project. I leave this Sunday for a week at their corporate headquarters located in Santa Ana, CA. There I'll be training, learning about projects, and meeting people that work at the corporate headquarters. Air travel, hotel accommodations, and rental car are paid by IM.
I have a house. Well sorta. I signed all the paperwork, and put a $1000 down so far. The seller has agreed to my offer. Pictures are in the slide show in the previous post or in the album here. The house is located in Lebanon, about twenty minutes from work. Settlement is slated for June 30th. The house is 1323 square feet and semi-detached, and has three bedrooms. It has a front porch, a back deck, new roof, new furnace, and new water heater. It also has a shed in the back yard, and a detached two car garage.
I have a car. My parents gave me the Ford Taurus as one of graduation presents. I have the title in hand, though it still needs to be transferred. My parents are pretty cool. It's cause of them that I was able to have an amazing credit score, which qualified me for my home loan. They allowed me to have a checking account and bank card as an early teenager. Plus I had a credit card at a ridiculously young age.
People seemed surprised that I am graduated, have a full-time job, a car, and am buying a house. Given, I was slightly concerned that I might not have a job straight out of college (I knew I would have one eventually). And graduating was not a concern for me. The house is the next natural step in my mind, after graduating and securing a full time job.
Rent or Buy? For me the numbers plugged in were:
Monthly rent: 900
Home price: 115,500
Down payment: 5.25
Mortgage rate: 6.375
Property taxes: 1.23
The results? With the default 1% home appreciation and the 3% rent increase, I only need to live at my house four years in order to break even in terms of throwing money away on rent. Which is pretty close to my calculations that resulted in five years.
People are also concerned that I won't like my job and then I'll be stuck with this house. To which I say, many people hate their jobs. Plus I am nearly completely certain that I won't hate my job.
Industrial Engineering degree
Job
Car
House
Something else I want
Computer
Etc
30.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Done with College
As of 11:33:20 AM EST on May 6, 2008 AD, I have completed all college classwork. I am done with college.
/celebrate
/celebrate
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