Reflection is Important

• January 28, 2012
• #reflections

I’ve been having a nice, quiet and introspective morning home alone with my daughter today. In between floor wrestling matches, diaper changes, and break out dance parties, I’ve had some time to just sit and think. See, Becca doesn’t watch a lot of TV (we keep her to one, maybe two hours of Sesame Street at the most) so when she’s not watching TV we try to keep it off too, just so she doesn’t see us sitting zombie-like watching it all day either. This means this morning has been pretty quiet.

So, I’ve been thinking about life lately; the things I’m ecstatic about, the things I’m okay with, and the things I’m not at all happy with. In this time of thinking I was surprised by the number of things that are making me unhappy lately. I’m a pretty positive person, so I tend to always focus on what’s going right. It’s times like this morning when I realize that in my laser-like focus on the positive I start to miss some areas where I’m really sucking.

There are things I can change, for sure. Things I need to cut back on, things I need to focus more on. But there are also things that are completely outside my control that I can’t do anything about. These are the things that weigh on me the heaviest in times like these. I need to just keep focused on what I CAN do, and try not to worry too much about the things outside my control.

It’s a goal, anyway.

*sigh*

Sheesh - My Ridiculous $$$ Draining Week

• January 27, 2012

In the span of one week;

My ‘99 Galant has been in the shop to replace a windshield washer pump, headlight replaced, and an oil something-or-another replaced.

My ‘99 Galant’s stereo and left door speaker went out. So I replaced the receiver, the two front door speakers, and just for the crap of it, the rear deck 6x9’s. This wasn’t an easy process, to say the least. My entire back seat had to be removed (cushions and all), and the front doors taken apart to put in the new speakers. I discovered a short in the speaker wiring in my driver side door, so I had to snake new cable from the door to my car body as well. Not to mention, taking apart the dash to install the receiver. I started this process on Tuesday, and just finished today.

Then, on Thursday I took our ‘04 Prius in to the dealership for a recall that replaced the hybrid engine’s water pump. Only to be called an hour later to tell me the main gas engine’s water pump ALSO needed replaced, and that one wasn’t free, not even a little.

I’m telling you all this, to simply say that it’s been a rough week for our cars, and for our wallets. But, the upside is this… doing all this work to my Galant inspired me to actually clean it out, and fix a few things on the interior that were simple fixes but I just never cared about. A little effort, various cleaners and some Armor All later and that car looks like it’s ten years newer (on the inside, anyway). I’m in no where near as big of a rush to get it replaced now, and feel okay about putting a little more money in the mechanical side to keep it running for two-ish more years. Despite the short-term financial loss, I feel like this week has probably gained us some serious long-term funds.

So, all’s well that ends well I suppose.

• January 21, 2012
• 2 notes

joshualongbrake:

“I believe every American of every background has been endowed by their creator with the right to pursue happiness.”

Newt Gingrich in the South Carolina Republican debate, January 16 2012

The right to pursue happiness? By God? Where and when did this happen and why didn’t anyone tell me?

Hustler, Defined:

• January 18, 2012

A hustler is the way one lives his life. Going out on the streets or wherever making money and working hard for it. A hustler is not lazy, he’s consistently out earning money. He gets the money by using his smarts and outcunning everyone out there. A hustler has ambition and a more serious approach to life then that of a gangsta or a pimp. He’s more mature, and doesn’t neccessarily carry a gun. It can apply to any race, and it’s the way you uphold and carry yourself.

There you have it. (from UrbanDictionary.com)

YES

• January 17, 2012
• 3,346 notes

jhnmyr:

Officially back on track as of today. Doc says all clear. Ends an 8-month period of extreme patience and a real head trip… Back to it… See you soon.

Officially the best news I’ll read today.

Thoughts on Slowing Down

• January 16, 2012
• 1 note

Almost every day I make myself a cup or two of coffee. I don’t own a Keurig, mainly because I think they’re incredibly wasteful and produce a horrible cup of coffee, which is due mostly to the fact that they sell mostly horrible, stale coffee, but also because I cannot control water temperature or immersion time. I don’t use a drip maker because again, I can’t control the temperature or immersion time. So I use one of four manual brew methods; Chemex, AeroPress, French Press or Pour Over. The knock I usually take on this from people is that “it just takes too long” or “I could have gone to starbucks by now.”

Okay, here’s the deal… getting out what you put in goes a lot farther than just working out. I put the extra time into making myself a cup of coffee because it’s worth it to me. The quality of my coffee is 10x that you would get just about anywhere else save one or two coffee shops here in Toledo. Plus, I believe slowing down a little to get something super high quality is more than worth it. Plus, I believe slowing down to appreciate things, even something as small as a cup of coffee, is completely underrated and a practice woefully underutilized.

But this is the point… I don’t criticize or judge people by their choice not to do these things (other than judging you by the terrible coffee you drink.) Go as fast as you want, I don’t much care. I also don’t criticize people who speed, even though it wastes gas and is illegal. What bugs me is when people give me crap for taking my time and appreciating.

I slow down because it’s the 10% of my day I won’t be hustling my $%& off doing whatever I can to be the best husband, father, employee, provider, family member, creative, and everything else under the sun. If I can start each day with about an hour of time to just slow down, relax, and prepare for the day, then I think that it’s a beautiful thing, for me.

Listen, if you don’t get how I can take 10 minutes to brew a single cup of the best coffee available, why I choose to take the time to make loose leaf tea over a bag of lipton, or how I can get up every day at 6am, stretch for 20 minutes, then have 15 minutes of quiet/reading time, then we simply have a fundamental disagreement on how life should be lived. I won’t criticize you, and I’d appreciate the same. Don’t call me crazy… just call it a different choice or way to live. I may have my opinion on which is better, but you’ll never hear me call someone out on it. If you don’t have something nice to say, keep your mouth shut =).

PS - The sheer fact that I have to defend myself on this says a lot about the speed in which we as a society are going… sheesh.