Happy Birthday to Me

Its dawned on me a reason I may be so "resolute" about my resolutions is because of my January Birthday--I start a new year, and a new age, in the same month.

That's fine with me; the extra motivation only helps me reach my yearly goals.

Fun Fact: I was born 3 years, 3 hours, and 33 minutes after my Brother. Weird, huh?

I'm back from Vegas after a weekend of celebrating. I managed to win my air fair back on the Craps tables!

2008 Goals—A kickoff

It’s been shown that the more eyes watching, the more likely you are to reach your personal goals. In that spirit, I’m listing my set of 2008 goals here. I’m tracking my progress via thorough measurement and will be updating you on how things go.

After listing out my 8 goals I realized most beg for explanation. I’ve added a description of each so you understand what’s going on in Laura’s head.

My 8 for '08

1. Get rid of Muffin Tops—Yes, I’ve got them. They peaked their evil little heads out in Maui . The main suspect here is too much beer and not enough activity. The resolution is to put a work-out schedule in place, and cut down on beer intake. Measurement: No Muffin Tops by summer

2. Open up Other Revenue Channels—this basically means I want to make incremental money in creative ways. I’ll be trying and reporting-out on results from the following channels: day trading, odd jobs, using my real-estate license, & selling stuff I don’t need.

4. Spend More Money—I’m already good at being frugal. I’d like to strike more of a balance and not waste as much mental power and physical energy being consumed with the minutia being frugal sometimes entails. Depending 100% on frugality as a means to wealth building is also not very sustainable, a waste of time, and really boring. Instead I want to decide what’s important to me, and what’s not, and spend my time and energy respectively. See this post on conscientious spending.

Also, after reading “The Four Hour Work-Week” I’m motivated to spend money to be more efficient, and get more out of my life and time. One example of how to do this is to hire a Virtual Admin , which I’ve already done, and will post on the results of here.

5. Save More Money—Even while I’m doing #4 I want to save more money this year (as a result of #3, and of my own natural living below my means) in order to reach a specific net worth.

6. Live More—this means sleeping less. I’d like to keep a consistent 10PM- 6AM sleep hours—8 hours a night, then see if I can cut this down to 7.

7. Eat Whole Foods—After reading Michael Pollan’s insightful Omnivores Dilemma I’d like to take more effort to eat better quality food. This means less processed corn, more whole foods.

8. Start Something—a non-profit, an online-business, a cleaning service. Something. I want to try and fail and learn a lot and invest in myself.

Headline of the Year (so far)

As found on the Gizmodo blog today:

Hawaii Was Great, Except When My Cousin Then My Brother Fell Off A Waterfall

Here's the first of the pictures. You gotta see it to believe it.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/laura/main/the_hike?

Rules For The New Year