King of Big Wheels

I hate coming back from long weekends - everyone forgets their passwords on long weekends. They think that consuming too much BBQ, beer, and pool water is a valid reason. A very menial but aggravating part of my job is resetting passwords. I need a mental break. Don't ask, just watch.
Mother, Please! on Transbuddha

Not much to update about. Just working through the process of evaluating my life, set new goals, understand the necessary changes. Good stuff, just hard to do in an honest manner.

Plenty of "I should" or "I could", but I've had plenty of that in the past. I'm tired of small results. My life is not where I'd imagined it to be, and it's my own fault. Time to dust off and move forward. This time in a clear consistant direction.

I'm not looking for sympathy, no whining. My life is good. But, I know it could be alot better.

Marie: Someone is staring at you in personal growth.
Sally: I know him. You'd like him, he's married.

In keeping with the "I should blog about more personal stuff", here's my latest update. I'm in a "why am I not where I should be?" phase. I get in these kicks where I:
1) Evaluate my life and decide I should be richer, better looking, more successful, etc.
2) Pick up some book.
3) Get all excited, start to see results from taking the advice.
4) Fall into procrastination, laziness, and comfortable with the little bit of improvement.
5) Time passes, repeat back to Step 1.

Currently, I am reading Getting Things Done. This really appeals to me. I'm very interested in consistant improvement. I was always interested in time / motion studies and the management strategies of such people like Peter Drucker when I was in college. The GTD book is how to be more efficient using simple techniques. Right up my alley.

My problem is, as interesting as this book is, I'm falling asleep reading it. It's not the book, it's just that I can't get motivated. I feel like I've gone through so many cycles of the above steps, that I should be seeing MUCH bigger results by now. I've made so many little progressive steps that I should be much better off.

I know it's my own fault. If I want bigger results, maybe a $9 book isn't the change I need? I am a firm believer in personal responsibility. You own up to your actions, you take the consequences, and you are the source of achievement or failure. So, what is it that I'm missing / not doing correctly?

To help answer that, I've been adding to my "inputs" lately. I've got the following sites in my RSS reader:
LifeHack
Get Rich Slowly

Maybe I need to go on sabbatical or something? Just get away and focus on myself and my goals. Take a few months off, get away from everything. Let me go run this by my boss - see what he says. SHHHEAHHH RIGHT.

You heard it here first: this year's media induced "shark attack scarefest" will be hosted by alligators.

Ok, of all the Brokeback Mountain re-edits I've seen, this one is the best.

Brokeback Snake Mountain on Transbuddha

* get Signing Times song unstuck from cranium
* pick up mini marshmellows to make puffed rice bars
* measure waistline to form "baseline" for improvement
* start exercising (see above)
* call mom re: plans for Sunday
* call friends re: sorry I dropped off the face of the planet
* call NSA re: that call to my mom, do you really need that on file?
* update blog with something witty, yet personal

Four jobs I've had

1. Deli counter clerk - if one more old bat ever utters the word "switzer" when they mean Swiss cheese.... ARRRGH!
2. Chef - several restaurants
3. Mortuary Transport Assistant - friend of mine owned his own business, picking up and delivering dead bodies. I went on one run with him - just for kicks.
4. Kay Bee Toy Sales Associate - surprisingly, not my worst job.

Four movies I can watch over and over

1. Raising Arizona
2. Dogma
3. John Carpenter's The Thing
4. Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Four places I've lived

1. Apartment in Providence, Rhode Island
2. Dorm in Central London, UK
3. Homeowner in Delaware
4. Mom's basement in Pennsylvania (not currently!)

Four TV shows I love

1. Mystery Science Theater 3000 (remember the guy with the robots who made fun of cheesy movies? yeah, that one).
2. Good Eats
3. Robot Chicken
4. MXC - but becomes pretty boring quickly

Four places I've vacationed

1. Ireland - driving all over the country
2. Paderborn, Germany
3. Key Islamorada, Florida
4. Minneapolis, MN (MST3K convention - see above)

Four of my favorite dishes

1. does homebrewed beer count?
2. Dairy Queen banana split
3. homemade Chicken parm
4. Tira Misu, but only when it's done correctly


Four sites I visit daily

1. BoingBoing
2. Metal Underground
3. Transbuddha
4. eff.org

Four places I would rather be right now

1. home with my daughter
2. Oktoberfest
3. London, UK
4. wherever Salma Hayek is currently residing

Four bloggers people I am tagging

1. I've already done this in my last blog, so I'm skipping this part
2.
3.
4.

Umm, since I routinely discard those "what's your favorite color? favorite ice cream?" type emails - no one sends them to me anymore.

So, does anyone out there have one they want me to fill out? Email me kingofbigwheels [AT] g[REMOVETHIS]mail dot com

or post it on your blog to start the ball rolling.

After a recent comment on a fellow bloggers post, I came to the conculsion that my blog is pretty lame because I separate my real life from my blog life. (the word "life" next to the word blog is used rather loosely here)

For example, I talk to people about silly/interesting/entertaining stories pretty often in real life. But, I completely forget to blog about it. When I do post something, it's usually a GIS of some topic I grabbed off some news feeder or a link farm. (see blog posts below for examples)

The opposite effect is that - if I was to attend a social event of the bloggers I know, I would probably not talk to them. Not that I think badly of them, just that's who I am. I'm "the quiet guy" here at work. I'm unassuming and slightly introverted. No one really knows about me, and that's fine with me. I'm not into gossip. I could care less about your pet's latest shenanigans. And I know you really don't care about how my lawn is doing.

I started blogging for the geek aspect. I ran my own Apache server, had a linux firewall, installed Geeklog software, maintained logs, etc. What I wrote about was the byproduct. I was more interested in the tech side of running a server (when my ISP forbids it!) ~insert evil laugh here~

But now that I don't have my own server, I'm going to try to be a little more open. I think it's good for me anyway. Some people have said I'm a pretty interesting guy, after you get to know me (and after I warm up to you). I'll leave that for you to decide.

Maybe my next post will be one of those "what's your favorite ______" type emails I always discard.

Hypothetical question - what would happen if I took a plane to Germany, was pissed because no one spoke English, demanded a drivers license, and insisted on a tax free under-the-table job?