Diary of a Network Geek

Just for myself.

So, one of my new life goals is to get debt free and stay that way. But, really, that’s just a very concrete way for me to describe getting my finances in order. I’ve started doing a number of things to get that particular set of ducks in a row, among them being to sign up for our 401k. When I first became eligible for that, I was in the middle of a divorce, so I didn’t take advantage of it. Then, frankly, I couldn’t afford it, so I more or less forgot about it. But, with the raise that will start after the first of the year, now seemed like a perfect time to start socking money away. I think the company matches me some, but it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that I’m going to start taking money out of every paycheck, before taxes, and move it into an investment device.

Also, along with that, I plan to start using the automated transfer system at my bank to transfer some of that raise directly into my savings account every two weeks. The idea here, as so many personal investment gurus have said, is to pay myself first. And, from here on out, I’m going to transfer any automated payments from Google directly into my savings account, too. I think of that as “extra” money anyway, so I might as well set it aside.
What I’m trying to do with this pattern, is to set aside a contingency fund. If I really want to get out of debt and stay out of debt, I have to stop making any more debt! The only way to do that is to have some money set aside to deal with anything that might come up. (Incidentally, I’ll be following the basic plan from How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt and Live Prosperously, which is where I got the common sense idea to start building a contingency fund.) I know it will be slow going, but, I think it will be well worth it in the end.

Also, in the Spring, I’m going to find a personal finance magazine of some kind to subscribe to so I can educate myself better on financial matters. I’m not sure which I’ll go with, Money, Kiplinger’s, or SmartMoney, but I’ll most likely stick with one of those three.

And, finally, here are a couple of articles from Men’s Health about financial matters, which is what got me thinking about this today.
First, there’s “Your Biggest Money Worries – Solved“. I have to admit, that one hit a couple of mine, like “Affording Her” and “Paying Off Your Debts”, not to mention “Saving Enough For Retirement”. Surprisingly, this article about easy resolutions for the coming year sort of got me motivated, too. It all reminded me of how my parents taught me that the little things, when added up, can make big changes. Mom’s saying was “Inch by inch, life’s a sinch, but mile by mile, life’s a trial”. She used to say that to remind me that I had to be patient and do the little steps that made the bigger goals possible. It’s a good reminder.
But, what really got me thinking about this the most was Six Painless Ways to Build Wealth.
So, here’s hoping that a more serious, enlightened, “grown-up” approach to my finances will help me achieve yet another life goal. I’ll try to keep y’all updated.

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."
   --Lady Dorothy Nevill

Or, fired even.

Okay, so no one wants to get fired. (Well, that’s not quite true. I actually had someone ask me to lay him off once, but that’s another story.) Still, sometimes, market forces back employers into a corner and they have no choice but to “help employees find other opportunities to excel”. So, what do you do when that happens? Well, an article over at TechRepublic has several suggestions:

#1: Get everything the company owes you

#2: Get your resume updated and out the door

#3: Search company Web sites

#4: List your sources of income

#5: Prioritize expenses

#6: Don’t forget insurance

#7: Don’t burn bridges

#8: Avoid raiding your investments

#9: Get out

#10: Keep up with your debt

#11: Pay attention to your feelings

Thankfully, it looks like not only am I not getting fired, but I’ll be getting a reasonable “cost-of-living” raise this year.  But, with some of the stuff going on at Motorola, I thought my brother might make use of the tips.  (Yes, he reads the blog, too.)

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"'One of these days' is none of these days."
   --English Proverb

The sale over at Threadless has been extended a couple of days.

So, it’s not too late to get some totally cool shirts like these:

(Yes, these are more shirts that I got when I bought my batch.)
Oh, and my shirts have arrived.  They’re superior quality.  Frankly, at $10 per shirt, it’s almost criminal to not get a couple, even if you just use them to work out in!

And, since I might as well throw it in here as anywhere else, if I finally get pictures taken of myself in these shirts, they’ll show up on my Flickr account, here: Network Geek’s Flickr Home.

Well, according to the doctor, I’m still okay.

Actually, when I finally got the results of my PET scan, the results were better than “okay”. It seems that the scar tissue on my lung from the lymphoma has actually reduced and there’s active, visible healing going on there. So, I’m clean for another three months, when I’ll do this again.

I have to admit, I was a little worried, but, I guess that’s fairly normal. My doctor was actually quite pleased with the fact that I’d put on a little too much weight since I’d seen her last. She, and her entire staff of nurses, were positively giggly over my hair and how healthy I looked in general. I do feel good, but, I’m still very aware of how out of shape I am. And, I’m leary of every little cough or anything unusual,health-wise, at all. I hope that goes away, or at least reduces in intensity, eventually.

So, in short, to recap, or, to state again in a slightly different way, I’m good.
Oh, and before I forget, my mother finally found my blog, so everyone wave and say hello!

Time!

Well, I guess to balance last weekend, I got virtually nothing done this weekend.
Okay, that’s not quite true, but I got nothing done that I planned on doing or really wanted to get done.  I did work on a cd cover for one of the Culturcide projects and see The Golden Compass, which was fairly disappointing, but everything else languished.  I blame it on the clinic visit I’m about to have.
In just a few short minutes, I’m going to wolf down some lunch and dash out the door to get blood drawn, then wait to see my oncologist.  I’m feeling…  Anxious, I guess.  Unsettled.  Tense.  I’m afraid of what the results might be from last week’s PET scan.  I’m not sure if I could take another year of chemotherapy.  I’m really not.

Oh, I also pulled some pictures off my camera, but I haven’t edited them at all to put up.  I suppose I’ll end up linking to my Filckr account and spending the minimal money for a “pro” membership.  Well, maybe after the first of the year.

It’s that time of year again!

Two years ago, for fun, and to make a couple of nice girls smile, I programmed up the New Year’s Resolution Generator. I based it, in part, on some ideas from the Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Holidays, but I have to admit, I threw in some of my own warped sense of humor. And, I weighted things a little more toward heavier drinking and looser morals. Hey, a guy can dream!

In any case, it’s been a hit in years past, so I thought I’d bring it around again. A little earlier this year, but just so you all have enough time to whip up a good New Year’s Resolution. Have fun!

I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage.
Friedrich Nietzsche

I love quoting Nietzsche.

He was such a brilliant philosopher and not nearly as brutal in life as you would expect from his quotable bon mots. Did you know that he was such a rigid creature of habit that when he forgot his lunch one day, his housekeeper was able to run ahead and catch him with it on his route from home to the university where he worked? She knew just where he’d be and when and what it would take to catch him. I find it fascinating to know that about someone that advocated the abolition of rules and convention for the “superior man”, Das Ubermensch.

When people tell me how strong I must be to have survived cancer so well and easily, I try not to laugh out loud. Death is easy, but life is hard.
They look at me and ask how it was I could have just gone on and on the way I did. They wonder how it is I can shrug about the treatment now as I try to explain to them that it never entered my mind to do anything but take it and go on. I mean, what other choice was there, really? To be honest, I’m a little ashamed that I made as much fuss about the whole thing as I did. I must have debated about calling the nurse, the first time I was sick to my stomach, for a full five minutes before pulling the emergency call lever in the bathroom. I only did it then because I was afraid I’d fall and crack my head on the sink. But, in a way, that was all fairly easy.

You see, as long as I had something to focus on, something to resist, to fight, I was okay. I had an enemy, lymphoma. It’s easy to fight against something like that, but now… Now that I’m having to sort out medical bills and clinic visits and hair growing back, well, now, it’s hard. I’m supposed to have learned something from this experience. People expect that I have gained some wisdom, some insight into the human condition, as a result of my near brush with death. But, I don’t have any. Not a one. I haven’t learned a thing about life and death and everything in between that I didn’t know already. I promise you.
Well, perhaps I have learned one thing: if I die before my creditors can collect, they’re just screwed and I don’t care.

That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"Unhappiness is in not knowing what we want and killing ourselves to get it."
   --Don Herold

I’d actually forgotten!

Normally, on my birthday, I have queued up a long post about all the interesting things that happened in history and all the people I share this birthday with like Frank “Chairman of the Board” Sinatra, Bob Barker, Gustave Flaubert, author of Madame Bovary, Edvard Munch, and Wells Fargo founder, Henry Wells. Not to mention, Mike Pinder of the Moody Blues, Tim Hauser of Manhattan Transfer, Dickey Betts of the Allman Bros, jazz musician Grover Washington Jr, and former mayor of New York City, Ed Koch.

But, this year, I totally forgot that.
I don’t know, I guess my birthday becomes less and less of a big deal as time goes on. Still, after the past year, you’d think I’d be more aware of surviving to reach 39. So, obviously, I have no plans, outside of breaking the no drinking while on blood thinners rule to have my traditional shot of Scotch. I still have some of that Cask Strength Macallan from last year, I think.

In any case, it sure has been a more interesting than normal year. Again. Hmm, now that I think about it, I haven’t had a “normal” year since college, I think. But, I’m glad to have survived this particular year. It has changed the way I look at things. It’s amazing to me what matters and what doesn’t all of a sudden.
Oh, speaking of which, I have some life goals written up, and I’ve already achieved one! Yea! We’ll see next year how many more I get done.