dreaming out loud…

Archive for February 2008

20 Things…

without comments

Here is a nice little list of things that things that many people hear, but ignore. Including myself. I am currently working on at least 3 of them right now.


  1. How to control impulse spending. If there’s
    anything that got me in trouble financially, it’s impulse spending.
    Buying clothes when I don’t need them. Buying gadgets because I gotta
    have them. Ordering stuff online because it’s so easy. Buying that new
    shiny SUV because … well, because it was going to help me with women.
    I’m not proud of any of that. I’ve learned to control my impulses, at
    least a little better. Now, I give myself some time to breathe. I think
    over my purchases, see if I’ve got the money, think about whether it’s
    a need or a want. That would have been a useful tool 15 years ago.
  2. You gotta stay active. I was in track, cross
    country and basketball in high school, but once I started college, the
    running and basketball began to slowly fade away. Not right away — I
    played pick-up basketball for years after high school. But even that
    went away, until I became sedentary. Playing with my kids outdoors
    winded me. And I began to get fat. I’ve reversed that trend, and am
    very active now, but I’m still trying to burn the fat I gained in those
    inactive years.
  3. How to plan finances. I always knew that I was
    supposed to budget and track my spending, when I became an adult. I
    just was too lazy to do it. And I didn’t have a good idea of how to
    actually do it. Now, I’ve learned how to plan, and how to stick to that
    plan. Sure, I deviate from my plan, but I’ve learned how to handle that
    too. Maybe that’s not a skill you can learn from book reading. You just
    gotta practice. Well, I hope to teach it to my children before they go
    out on their own.
  4. Junk food will come back to bite you in the butt. Yeah,
    it wasn’t just the sedentary lifestyle that got me fat. It was all the
    damn junk food too. I would eat pizza and burgers and Twinkies and
    sugar cereal and desserts and donuts and … well, you get the picture.
    As someone used to being able to eat whatever I wanted, it never seemed
    like it would be a problem. Bad health was something to worry about
    when you got old. Well, my jeans began to get way too tight, and to my
    horror, I climbed several pants sizes and developed a gut that only now
    is going away. I wish someone had shown me an “after” picture when I
    was young and downing the Big Gulp sodas.
  5. Smoking is just dumb. I didn’t start smoking until
    I was well into my adult years. I won’t go into why I started, but it
    didn’t seem like a problem, because I knew I could quit anytime I
    wanted. Or I thought I could, at least, until several years later I
    gave it a go and couldn’t do it. Five failed quits later and I realized
    with horror that my addiction was stronger than I was. Sure, I
    eventually beat the habit (quit date: Nov. 18, 2005) but it took a
    piece of my soul to do it.

20 Things I Wish I Had Known When Starting Out in Life | Zen Habits

Written by brianrsmith

February 19, 2008 at 4:10 am

Posted in Uncategorized

Wine, Wii and a haircut…

with 2 comments

It was a busy weekend. Friday night=date night. Saturday was the Wine and Wii party:

We all had a good time. Wario: Smooth Moves was the life of the party. I highly suggest playing it with 8 or so friends.

Sunday was Super Sunday and I decided to cut my hair and Molly decided to try and dye hers red:

I immediatly shaved my head after that last picture.

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Written by brianrsmith

February 5, 2008 at 5:28 am

Posted in personal

on the inside…

with 2 comments

So starting Monday I will have a new position and job title at Jet Specialty. From now on I will be purchasing manager, head of purchasing, buyer, big money spender whatever you want to call it. Basically I will be the one who orders all the parts and materials from our vendors. At any given point I will be responsible for maintaining inventory on over $1 million in parts. Fun huh? Plus I get to move inside and I actually have my own office. For now. Goodbye heavy lifting and cut hands . Hello carpal tunnel syndrome.

Here are some pics of my office. Click for biggie. Look I have a window!

Office 1Office 2

Well thats fun. Time to get ready for the Wine and Wii party. I’ll probably have some pictures of that that I’ll try and get up here.

Written by brianrsmith

February 2, 2008 at 9:20 pm

Posted in personal, work

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