Goals and Routines

My buddy Steve published the beginnning of his life list. That inspired me. Here is my version.

Here are my current personal goals:
1) Lose weight through more disciplined eating habits.
2) Get in better shape to be ready for escape the rock triathlon.
3) Be a better developer.

Here’s my daily routine that I use to achieve each of these goals:

4:30am: Wake up early to run and lift weights.

4:31am: Decide to forego lifting and sleep until 5am.

5:00am: Decide to forego running and sleep until 5:30am.

5:30am: Get up, shower/shave get dressed for work.

6:00am: Try to make early bus, miss it and get breakfast at McDonalds.

6:05am: Look at copy of work materials I brought home to read last night and decide to read the newspaper instead. (What are those crazy ho’s in 3-B up to today?)

7:10am: Commence work day.

7:15am: 1st cup of coffee. Promise myself that I will limit coffee intake and increase my water consumption.

8:30am: 2nd cup of coffee.

10:35am: 3rd cup of coffee and snack. I promise to eat a lighter lunch because I won’t be so hungry.

11:45am: Lunch. Bakemans again. I get the special. I promise myself I won’t eat the whole thing.

12:15am: Ohhh, I ate too much. Damn Bakemans! How can they charge so little for so much good food?

1:30pm: 4th cup of coffee. I need to drink water at my next beverage break.

3:30pm: Final cup of work day coffee.

4:30pm: Time to head home. Print out material to read on the bus on the way home. I shoulda drank more water. I’ll do better tomorrow.

4:45pm: On bus, reading the rest of the newspaper.

6:00pm: Get home. Time for a reasonable dinner.

7:00pm: Ohhh, I ate too much. I gotta do better tomorrow. I’ll start by exercising later tonite and getting up early tomorrow.

7:30pm: I need to read the material from work. Hmmm, what’s on TV? Any sports?

8:00pm: Okay, nothing’s on, I’ll go on-line for awhile, maybe I’ll write in my blog…

9:00pm: I’ll go run on the treadmill in 15 minutes.

9:15pm, I’ll get on the treadmill at 9:30.

9:30pm: Damn it’s late, I gotta get to bed if I’m gonna work out tomorrow morning. What’s on the history channel?

10:30pm: Nuts! I didn’t read the stuff from work. I’ll read it tomorrow on the bus. Go to sleep.

They say the definition of insanity is repeating the same behavior and expecting a different result. Hmmm…

Being a regular

I have a good friend who always has a new story or new theory to share. By new, I mean new to me, a story I have never heard before. I have known Richard for almost 10 years now and his ability to tell a new tale never ceases to amaze me. Sometimes he shares pieces of his personal Seattle history, sometimes he tells me about different places in and around Seattle, or different local characters that he knows. He has lived here for all his life and his stories are always very personal and they make me feel as though I have been let in on some kind of intimate secret. The kind of tales good friends share because only a friend can be trusted to enjoy the hearing of the tale as much as I suspect Richard enjoys telling it.

Anyway this long preamble is because I had lunch with Richard last week and he shared with me another of his life lessons. This one he calls the secret of being a regular.

To be a regular in an establishment (restaurant, bar, coffee house, bus stop, whatever) you need to go in at the same time and do the same thing about 10 days in a row. For example, go to the same bar after work sit at the bar, drink 1 light beer, and leave. Do this for 2 weeks and you are a regular. You can now go in once a week and the people will remember you. You can even wait 6 months or a year, and when you next walk in, the bartender will have your drink poured before you sit down.

Now because Richard is so able to come up with stories, I don’t often believe everything he says without some proof. So I was compelled to do my own experiment.

I have been riding the bus to work on my new job. As such, every morning at about 6:15am, I stop at the same coffee stand and get the same beverage (tall decaf drip). I did this just about everyday for the 1st 2 weeks of March. Then I stopped. I started going to work different ways. I started catching the bus at different places, riding my motorcycle, and on occasion driving to the office. Just yesterday I stopped at the old coffee stand on my way to the bus, and the lady behind that counter had my drink ready before I stepped up to the counter. I am a regular!

Thanks to my friend Steve, I know that a positive experience is not proof. I need a negative example. There is a coffee shop in the basement of the building I work in. I get always buy at least one cup of coffee from the folks downstairs every day. However, I am inconsistent in my habit. Sometimes I buy my coffee before going up to my office. Sometimes I wait until after I get settled in the morning or after the morning status meeting. Sometimes I get a cup around 2pm. The other inconsistent thing I have done is that I do not order the same beverage every time. Sometimes I get a latte. Sometimes I get a grande drip. Sometimes I order a tall decaf. When I walk up to the counter I get a friendly hello, but the people behind the counter don’t know what I want, and if I skip a day, they don’t even seem to recognize me.

I’m certain there is a lesson in human psychology somewhere in this silly tale, but Richard didn't share that.

Epiphany

From dictionary.com:

• A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization: “I experienced an epiphany, a spiritual flash that would change the way I viewed myself” (Frank Maier).

I experienced an epiphany as to why the liberal’s hate George Bush’s proposed solutions to social security.

I do think we need to address the social security issue now. We are already late. All credible the research says that by 2018, we go underwater to spend a reserve of money we don’t have. A shortfall so close in terms of government spending is an immediate crisis. So be it.

There are only 2 ways to address this kind of issue; you’ve got to reduce spending (cut benefits) or increase income (raise taxes). It’s a tough place to be. The only variance I see is in when you take action. In other words, the longer we wait, the more drastic the cuts or the taxes will be. That’s the situation we’re in, I accept that. So be it.

So George Bush has proposed a plan. Actually this is the second plan Bush has proposed. The first plan was deemed unacceptable. So be it.

I don’t like Bush’s latest plan. I think it is pandering once again. On top of that, I do not any idea that basically punishes individuals for success. In this case, if you are smart enough and able to save enough money, social security is not going to help you. So be it.

Here’s the thing, the left still hates this plan. Why? Because it still has a provision for people to ‘opt out’ of traditional social security investment. Why does the left hate this so much? It is optional. There is no compulsion to manage your own money. I think of it as a federal self-directed 401k. And if you really aren’t geared that way, the safe investment (let the fed manage it) is still there. But the left still hates the plan. So be it.

My epiphany was that I finally realized that the reason the left hates this plan is because smarter people will be able to have more money. I do not believe this to be coincidence. It must drive the left crazy to think that someone, because of their god given ability, be able to excel. Liberals need you to be reliant on federal spending. The left does not think that you can be responsible to feed yourself. So be it.

Wha-evuh!

I was at home Saturday night, preparing to watch the boxing match on HBO with my wife, when suddenly the relative calm of my evening was rudely interrupted by the ringing telephone. Of course, it was a telemarketer trying to sell me something. But I have a new game I like to play.

I call it the “Whatever” game. The rules are simple, no matter what, whenever there is a question directed at you, you say “whatever.” The more ignorant you can make yourself sound the better. I like to say, “wha-evuh.” It’s actually harder than it sounds. The telemarketer will say things to make you want to respond. They will threaten to sign you up or pass you on to another person, but unless you say “yes,” they can’t do it.

On Saturday, I had a great one. This person was trying to confirm that it was me on the phone. Eg:
Telemarketer: Mr. Larry Signorile? (Mis-pronounced of course!)
Me: wha-evuh.
Telemarketer: I’m calling from [some credit card company]. I’m trying to reach Larry?
Me: wha-evuh.

On and on this went. The telemarketer spelled the name for me at one point. Then the telemarketer even tried about a 30 – 45 second silence. But I held firm. After the pause we engaged in a final: Larry? Wha-evuh. Then the telemarketer hung up.

It was fantastic. I'm thinking of reducing my entire spoken lexicon to consist of only this one phrase. It's all about making things easy for me.