You don't have to mow all of it

As I drive home in the evening, I will often see people out on their lawn tractors.  Many people out here own several acres of land.  A riding mower is definitely in order for them.  For that, there is no condemnation.

What I want to tell these people thought is that they don't have to mow all of their property.  It seems like a real waste of the persons time, not to mention the gasoline, to be out there mowing what doesn't need to be mowed.  No one cares if your lawn is fully mowed or if you have long grass on the edges.  You are not a bad person for leaving it untouched in places.  It isn't a crop you are able to cut and harvest.

I would recommend mowing slightly less than what was done last year.  Bring it in a little.  Then plant some trees, shrubs, or even a full garden.  Having a large lawn that nobody uses, doesn't do anybody any good.  Turn that space into something else that doesn't need quite so much attention.  Mow less and use the time that is freed up for something else more productive.

Hitting a plateau

Where I am right now feels like I have hit a plateau.  The essence of what I am doing now is similar, if not the same, as I have done in the past.  There are a lot of good things about how I go about my work.  I have many good practices and habits.  I am polite to my co-workers, I respect authority, I arrive early, I complete my tasks, I continue to learn, I offer suggestions on improvement.  However, I can't seem to push beyond what I have already done and get to that next, more lucrative, more fulfilling, level.

Recently I was listening to a podcasts about eventual millionaires and the guest said we often hold ourselves back.  We have a fear and we live under that fear.  His idea was to take on the worst, most difficult task on your to-do list, at the beginning of the day.  Eat the frog, so to speak.  By doing that, you will be able to get off that plateau and push upward.  It maybe obvious to others but I don't see where I am holding myself back.

I desperately want to move up from being just an ordinary employee.  I have done this before ad nauseam and it is getting so old.  There has to be more opportunity and success out there for me.  For some reason, I can't see it and I don't know how to find it.

If only more days were like Saturday

Saturday is my favorite day of the week.  You may think that I use the day to sleep in and slough off.  To the contrary.  I am up sometimes even earlier and I go like gang-busters most of the day.  It all comes down to this:  I love working on my own things.

This past Saturday I went for a run in the morning.  I had a my devotions and then I enjoyed coffee and breakfast with my wife.  I gave the dog a bath.  I cleaned the bird feeder and put out fresh seeds.  I got out the ladder and went way up into a tree to cut down a top branch that had died.  I mowed the lawn and prepped the mower for the next use.  I worked on my truck by replacing some rusty screws and shinning it with Back to Black.  I blew off the hardscapes and vacuumed the garage.   I gave myself a hair cut, listened to my podcasts and made dinner.

I love Saturdays!  It is the best day of the week.  My hope is that I can take what I love about Saturdays and find ways to incorporate those things throughout the rest of the week.  

Tesla

The name "Tesla" had been on the very fringe of my radar.  I knew they were some electric car company from out west.  But I was reading an article on battery life and in that piece Tesla Motors was referenced and I clicked the link and went to their website.

This electric car company is amazing.  I am very impressed.  The model s that they are selling now is the car for today.  It perfectly fits the smartphone, tablet, internet generation.  From what I saw the model s is more technology than car.  There are a lot of wiz-bang neat little features on this vehicle.  It is so unlike a traditional car.  Under the hood is a large storage place.  There is no motor.  The battery is on the undercarriage of the vehicle.  The car looks great!

From what I have seen, this car is the direction many people would wish for where the auto industry should head.  I am excited when I think that this is the type of car I'll be driving in the near future.

RadioHead

Sometimes I will go back to a big phenomenon to see if I really missed something.  This can be the case with a movie or a band.  My motive is I want to explore what they had to offer and hopefully discover something that has stood the test of time.

I recently did this with the band RadioHead.  I Googled "RadioHead best songs" and a list of 10 popped up in an article in Rolling Stone magazine.  After listening to their two best songs on that list, I concluded that I had not missed anything.  In fact, not giving this band any of my time or attention was a good thing and I am so glad I never bought one of their albums.

My thought is that you are better off skipping RadioHead.  They are not a band with anything that will last.

Geocaching

Recently I watched the television program "Motion" on a Sunday night.  The host of the show hikes and walks through national and state parks.  The episode I watched was about Geocaching.

I have not entered into the Geocaching sport yet.  The hesitancy is probably due to the fact that I don't need another reason to buy expensive electronic equipment.  GPS also creeps me out some as I see it as a way for a big brother government to track citizens and monitor what they are doing.

Yet the idea of taking a hike with a purpose does seem intriguing.  The discovering, the anticipation, and the satisfaction of finding the cache are all things that I would like to experience.  Plus the melding of technology and the outdoors is a really neat combination.

I will keep you informed of my thoughts on this hobby.  If I do decide to take the leap into this sport, I will let you know.

Syncing on the iPod

I have three apps on my iPod that sync with data on my laptop.  One syncs wonderfully and just like what you would expect.  The other two do no sync very well at all and it is a big fail.

The one that syncs is the Toodledo app.  It is a list of to-do's that I use everyday.  I have a list of things to do and I check them off after I have completed them.  On my iPod, I open the app and in 3 seconds the data is in sync with what I have on my MacBook.  This works great.  But it is as it should be.  I wouldn't expect otherwise.

The two that do not sync from my computer to my iPod are Apple's iCal and also Dropbox.  When I first set these apps up on my iPod, the information from the computer transferred over.  I was happy.  But I was also expecting a continuous syncing of data.  Why wouldn't that be my understanding?

My main calendar is iCal.  I want what I have my computer to also be on my iPod.  My documents are up-to-date on my computer.  I would like to see those files on my iPod occasionally.  Dropbox is a much loved system in the Mac community.  How can people love an app that doesn't work?  I have tried everything to get Dropbox on my iPod to refresh but it won't.  There isn't a button for that.  That is terribly disappointing.

I hope one day to have my calendar and my documents up-to-date on my iPod and my MacBook.  Right now, they do not sync.  I hope to find a solution.

Quarterback signs record contract

Our much beloved quarterback recently signed a record breaking contract worth many millions of dollars.  I am happy for him.  He is at the top of his profession.  He is reaping the rewards of all his hard work and effort.

I have overheard more than one person say, "no one deserves that type of money".  I believe that they couldn't pay him that money if the money wasn't there.  The NFL has done a very good job of attracting people's attention for three hours on a Sunday afternoon.  People are mesmerized by the action on the field.  As people sit, watch, and listen, there are many ads between plays.  With that many eyeballs watching, the NFL is able to charge very high rates to companies that want to get their message across.

The thought I have is, if it is possible for this quarterback to earn this sort of money, how can I?  I don't see him as undeserving.  I don't see him as competition.  I wonder, "how can I earn that much money"?

How I use Pinterest

Pinterest is helpful to me because it gives me a visual reminder as to where I would like to be going.  One of my boards is titled "Goals".  On there I have a number of things that are my hopes and wishes for my life.  But really all of my boards are goals.  They are all pictures of good things that I would like to be incorporated in my life.  I like to collect images from around the net that are good, pleasing, and wholesome.  Those are things I want to dwell on and continually be reminded of.  I want to be uplifted and drawn to great things.  Things that are helpful, things that have meaning.  Pinterest is a place to collect pictures that I have enjoyed for one reason or another.

Quarterback signes record contract

Our much beloved quarterback recently signed a record breaking contract worth many millions of dollars.  I am happy for him.  He is at the top of his profession.  He is reaping the rewards of all his hard work and effort.

I have overheard more than one person say, "no one deserves that type of money".  I believe that they couldn't pay him that money if the money wasn't there.  The NFL has done a very good job of attracting people's attention for three hours on a Sunday afternoon.  People are mesmerized by the action on the field.  As people sit, watch, and listen, there are many ads between plays.  With that many eyeballs watching, the NFL is able to charge very high rates to companies that want to get their message across.

The thought I have is, if it is possible for this quarterback to earn this sort of money, how can I?  I don't see him as undeserving.  I don't see him as competition.  I don't envy him.  I wonder, "how can I earn that much money"?

Farmer: pasture your cows

As I drive through the countryside, I pass many farms with cattle.  Often times the cows are penned into a very small space.  They are standing or lying in their own excrement without a blade of green grass in sight.  No animal should have to experience that sort of treatment.

For the heath of the livestock, I would like to tell the farmer to let his cows roam.  They should be able to walk over pastureland.  They should be eating fresh grass and breathing fresh air and absorbing the sun.  When they lie in their own muck, they are getting filthy and are taking in all sorts of harmful bacteria.

Let the cows wander.  The land is there.  Open it up for them to walk on.  It is more natural and would benefit the animal.

Fame is not one of my goals

Often times you will hear the words "rich & famous" together.  I would settle for just rich.  Fame is not one of my goals.  In fact, I don't really want to be known and I definitely don't want to be in the spotlight.  I much prefer to work behind the scenes.  I don't want to be someones entertainment.  Let me do my job in relative anonymity.  It has always been painful and uncomfortable for me to be in front of a group or to speak when more than just a few people are gathered.

You can have fame.  It isn't for me.  I much prefer to live a quiet life where I tend to my own things.

This is my type of weather

Over the last weekend, we had our first couple days of wonderful weather.  The bugs were few.  The sun was out but there were some clouds to keep its strength at bay.  The temps were in the high 60's and up to the low 70's but it never got really hot.  At times, I was in jeans and a polo.  Other times I was in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt.  It was perfect.  I remember remarking that this is my type of weather.  Never so cold that I was driven in doors.  Never so warm that I was down to just shorts and no shirt and zapped of my strength.  If I could experience weather in the 60's and 70's ten months of the year, I would be happy with that.