Scott’s Blog

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It’s 4am and my body has made the exteremly rash decision to wake up.  I’m in no way accustomed to being up this early but it’s not all bad, birds are chirping outside my window and it reminds me of being up really early (generally because I didn’t go to sleep the night before) at camp, sitting in front of the lake and watching the sun rise up over the trees.  It was so crazy peaceful.  My view this morning wasn’t quite as nice but I did happen about some pretty cool stuff on the interwebs.

I’ve been following Tim Ferris, author of The Four Hour Work Week, and his blog has been a pretty constant insipiration on some of the things I’d like to accomplish.  Tim has traveled the world, learned foreign languages, is a productivity genious and own’s a company that not only allows him to do all these things, but pretty much runs itself.  Though I have long way to go, I’d eventually like to see myself accomplish much of what he’s done.  Anyways this morning I found a TED Talk he did and I wanted to share it.

I’ve got some pretty awesome things lined up for myself in the near future.  I’ll be working at the U.S. Open as a volunteer with BestBuy and the Boys and Girls Club.  I’ve also got a vacati0n lined up, going to do some camping in Lake George, a place my family has been vacationing in for decades.  This time i’ll be going with some friends and I’m really excited to show them around.  There is also a good chance I’ll have some really special in the coming months but i’m not quite ready to talk about it just yet.  Keep checking back and follow me on twitter @iamhaen for updates.

Today i’m off to Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey for my friend Amanda’s birthday (Do me a favor and wish her the best @xoxsugarhixox).  I’ll have my Flip on me and i’ll post up a video when I get back.  Looks like my laundry is done, so i’m going to get ready!

I finally got my copy of I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi and haven’t really put it down yet.  It is a financial planning book for people in their twenties and thirties and luckily for me it is written especially for the lay person.  I have a 401(k) and have kept myself out of debt, but I never learned how money actually works and how to manage it.  Right from the beginning this book promises to show you how to handle your money and prepare yourself for your future, not by jumping from one “hot” stock to another, but by automating your savings and getting your money to work for you.  I highly recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a practical, no bullshit financial program.  I am not going to review the whole book, there are plenty of those available on the Amazon.com link above, instead I want to keep a record of what I’ve done to get my finances in order.

Why do I want to be rich?  What does being rich mean to me?

To me being rich is what life is all about!  Money, relationships, experiences, I want to be rich in every aspect.  Being rich with money means having enough to support a stable life while allowing me to have and do all the things I want in my life.  I have dreams of traveling, being rich will allow me to see the world.  I love technology and gadgets, being rich will keep me up to date and current.  I want to support and provide for a family, being rich will enable me put money aside for my children’s education and retirement, as well as my own.  Most of all being rich means being prepared and secure so that I never have to go into debt or worry that I can’t afford the necessities.

Week One’s Action Steps

• Get my Credit Report and Credit Score

By going to AnnualCreditReport.com and MyFico.com I was able to see how credit card companies and other lenders view me.  Luckily I have always taken pretty good care of my credit cards (by doing simple things like paying my bills on time, and keeping myself out of debt) and I am only a 2% risk.  By keeping my credit score high I will save money in interest payments from my lenders in the future.

• Set up my Credit Cards

Though I have a few credit cards open, I have pretty much discontinued using them.  I saw them as a way to rack up debt and never understood the benefits.  Credit cards are an important part of your credit rating and by using them responsibly it will set you up for the future.  I decided to start carrying my American Express Blue card and open a Miles by Discover Card for the rewards.

• Handle my cards efficiently

The Miles by Discover Card is a fantastic card for travelers since it has a low APR (10.99% for good credit), no annual fee, allows me to earn 1 mile for each dollar spent and an additional 12,000 bonus miles the first year.  This card also allows me to book my travel arrangements on my own which is add flexibility I will enjoy.  Because these rewards help me to attain my travel goal I will be putting most of my spending on this card including my regular monthly expenses.  I will set up automatic bill pay so I never incur a late charge and will pay in full each month.  My American Express Blue card has a nice credit limit and will afford me security in case any unforeseen expenses present them selves.  I made sure that I pay no fee’s and I asked for a list of perks from each card so that I can take advantage of all my cards have to offer.

• Pay off my debt

I have been very fortunate in this. the only debt I currently have is from the Flip HD Mino camcorder I just purchased which is on a no interest account and will be payed off shortly.  I worked my way down from a high of over $7,000 and have never over spent myself again.

Mint!!

I have been raving about Mint to all my friends since I signed up last September.  Mint is a free (yep free) online finance tool that tracks all of my accounts and allows me to manage my personal spending in a flash.  I keep track of my budgets and my balances, it texts me when my bills come due and if I’ve spent too much money in any category.  It logs my interest on my Investment Accounts and even has a Financial Fitness program that gives you tips on how to keep control of your money by turning it into a game!  It is awesome and well worth a try!

This is the end of week 1 (It’s a six week program according to Ramit) and I am pretty excited to be getting this part of my life handled.  Please send in your comments and opinions especially if you are also reading I Will Teach You To Be Rich or have your own financial tips.

Guess who can’t sleep again!  Yep, me.  Been tired all day but now I just can’t seem to fall asleep.  Ambulance Corps has been quiet for the last few weeks.  Eight weeks to be exact.  I finished EMT School (still waiting on my test results) and I haven’t been able to practice anything.  Part of me is discouraged but the other part is pretty damn scared.  I always get nervous when doing new things, and EMS is pretty scary on it’s own.  I want to start riding more days so I get more practice, once i’m in the swing of things i’ll be able to turn this nervousness to excitement for new calls.

I have some projects in the works.  I’ve been cutting up the videos from the Neverender: Children of the Fence Edition DVD Set I just got my hands on.  The concert is done beautifully and it was a part of Coheed history I am pretty proud to have been a part of.  I’ve been re-encoding the videos into separate clips that my computer will play as a screensaver with audio.  If it works out well i’m going to amass a collection of music videos to just let my computer play at random.

I am also designing a projection setup for my room.  The new Pico projectors are coming out and the 3M Micro Projector MPro110 will project in 1028 x 768 resolution.  I’m going put up a frosted glass Dry Erase board on one of my walls in my room and was thinking of projecting news feeds, twitter updates onto the glass.  My current setup (picture below) leaves my plenty of space in the middle and with a little tweaking should give me the perfect setup.  I’ll also let it project a slideshow of pictures.  I’m going to test it out with my Hp Mini but if it works out as well as I am hoping i’ll switch to a more permanent solution like the Acer Revo.

Easter just passed and my family came down to visit.  It was great seeing them.  My cousin Amy and I went out drinking which we really nice and on Saturday we went to the NY Hall Of Science.  I got some great pictures of my two little cousins, Lilly and Ruthy.

Under the gaslight street posts Ms. Terri ran clutching her newborn baby to her chest.  Though it has been just minutes since she fled her home exhaustion began to set in.  Her feet bled through the worn rags that covered them leaving a rust colored trail behind her on the cobblestone street, but she couldn’t stop.  No, not even for a moment, there was no time to waste.  Ms. Terri stole a quick glance behind her.  Looking past the church, it’s doors and windows bolted shut till early morning, all the way back to the city centerwhere she saw them.  In their suits and top hats the two men who had ejected Ms. Terri from her home, rounded the corner and were gaining ground.

*         *          *          *          *          *          *

Ona Clemmons grabbed all the blankets and cloths she could find in the tiny house.  These were all dirty and some still wet from the rain that leaked through the roof the previous day.   She pursed her lips and muttered disapproval to herself but there was nothing else in the house she could use.  She scanned the room one last time in hopes that she missed anything that was clean enough to help her stop the bleeding.  There was nothing.  ‘Maybe the neighbors have some clean towels,’ she began but a wailing scream broke her train of thought.  Mrs. Clemmons shuddered deeply for a moment and then started back to the bedroom

*         *          *          *          *          *          *

A loose stone slid out from under Ms. Terri’s pace and she slowed for a moment just to stop from falling to the ground.  She could hear the foot steps of her pursuers behind her own and knew they were not far behind.  One more look towards the city center confirmed the men’s distance had lessened.  She could see the red round face of Mr. H. C. Calhoun and the long twisted grimmace of the cemetery’s grounds keeper Mr. Martin Vandemar, both of their eyes fixed firmly on her.  It was no matter, only a few more yards ahead of Ms. Terri was the city gate and the path that would lead to the river.  There she knew she would find safety and salvation.
“We are almost there, my darling,” She said taking a look down at the small child sleeping pressed against her chest, “almost at the riv…” but before she could finish  Ms.  Terri barrelled head first into a black robed figure who stepped out from the shadows where he’d been hiding.
“No,” she cried, “not you!”
“Ms. Terri,” the priest said smiling down on the woman with desperate hungry intent in his eyes, “I’m so glad I caught you before you left town.  We have so much to discuss.”

*         *          *          *          *          *          *

Ona had been a midwife for the city for the last 23 years and had weathered some of the worst pregnancies of the times, but not a single one had ever come close to this.  Eight and quarter hours of tortuous labor, so much blood had been lost it would be a miracle if she could save just one life tonight let alone two.
Mrs. Clemmons packed the wet blankets she gathered beneath her patient, “It’s time, I need you to push.  Push as hard as you can!”
Ona’s patient belted out screams of pure agony as she strained every muscle in her body.  The bite stick in her mouth snapped in half in her tensed jaw and sweat beaded down her face.  She bore down as hard as she possibly could and then harder.  Her body shook from head to toe and she cried out in pain so loud until finally all her stregnth was gone.  Then, she heard it.  The faintest sound of her baby crying.
Ona Clemmons smiled brining the new born child up to her mother’s loving face.  “Ms. Terri,” Ona said, “your son.”

*         *          *          *          *          *          *

Mr. Calhoun’s cane swung swiftly into Ms. Terri rendering her prone on the ground.  Tears streamed down her cheeks as readily as sweat leaked from her aching skin. “Father,” he said, “It appears we have found your wayward sheep.  Perhaps next time you will do a better job of keeping her penned up. Here, i’ll even lend you a hand.” He swung his cane this time allowing it to fall on Ms. Terri’s knee, the bone shattered under the oaken wood.  She tried to scream but could not as she gasped to reclaim the air that had been knocked from her lungs.
“There isn’t going to be a next time,” the priest hissed, “not since I have the boy.”  With his foot the priest kicked Ms. Terri onto her back and pulled the child from her hands.  She fought with all her might but her strength was gone.
“Very well then,” Mr. Calhoun mused, ” I guess we must find some way to dispose of her.”
A thin smile crawled across Mr. Vandemar’s oily face,  “That will be my pleasure.” he wrapped his cold hand around Ms. Terri’s ankle and began to tow her towards the graveyard, “my pleasure indeed.”

Work is not going well for me lately.  I really don’t even know how to start.  Somewhere in the last 6 to 8 months we have severely lost focus at my job.  We used to be one of the best departments in the company, and now we are definitely the worst.  Each day is getting nearer to the entire department being terminated, and I have no more chances to turn everything around.

We have a new boss who was brought in to fix the department.  He is not in the least someone I would consider respectful, helpful or trustworthy but he is very good at what he does.  There is very little communication between him and I because I am uncomfortable to approach him believing that he is looking for any reason to terminate me (I have been told by more than one co-worker that I am on the top of his list to be gotten rid of and I have been written off as a lost cause).  He sat me down the other night and I thought we had a pretty good conversation until I found out later he was lying straight to my face about more than a few things.  He is critsizing every move I make without giving me advice on how to make a better decision, or improve my behaviors, and I desperatly need improvement.

I am drowning myself in my duties because I don’t delegate responsibilities.  When I do delegate them, my associates I delegate them too don’t do them.  I’m failing at following up on tasks because the next time im in i have a whole new batch of issues to be dealt with.  The other people in my department that I have to help me are causing me more problems than they are solving.  Today we started a new program, I am almost positive that when I come in tomorrow no one will have completed their responsibilites and I’ll be the one to take the blame.  Blame is being put on my not only by my superiors but by my employees as well.

My job description is to coach and council my employees on how to perform their jobs and I am finding this extraordinarily difficult.  Partly because I am too focused on fixing a problem then fixing the process that caused it, but also because I have never been coached or counciled myself.  I don’t know who to go to for advice because my boss believes that if I don’t know how to do that then i shouldn’t have my position and he will coach or council me.

I really don’t feel I have anyone I can rely on.  Even my best friends at work are causing me stress instead of helping me relax and solve my problems.  I am being stabbed in the back, disregarded, and disrespected.

All the blame lies with me, I know this is supposed to be true.  This whole situation is a responce to me being off set but I don’t know how to fix it.  It am going in the wrong direction but I can’t find a map to get me to where  I want to go.

I find it really curious how my life cycles about through the years.  I have had a desire to spend some more time developing my spiritual self recently and tonight I dug out the Bardic Gwersu I started years ago.  Along with the packets I found a notebook that I started last time I went through these lessons and it’s litterally dated exactly 3 years ago to the day.  I find it remarkable how i’m drawn back to the same thing at the same time each year, and especially this at the time of the winter solstice.

Alban Arthan is the traditional celebration to the end of the cycle of life.  The story goes that Arthur the Sun-God dies and is reborn on the night of the winter solstice as the Mabon - the ‘Son Of Light’ - who’s job it was to save the british isles.  This cycle is mirrored so perfectly all around us: Last spring’s plants are dying but in doing so they make room for next spring;  Light returns to the Earth as the nights now begin to grow shorter and the days longer.

Alban Arthan is the crux of the cycle of life, and I wish be reborn as well.  It’s time for me to refocus to cut away the parts of my life that are not working and attract a new way of living.  This is a huge leap of faith for me, I do not have the best relationship with change and I cling too tightly to the things that are comfortable;  I am going to spend some time coming up with a list of items that I wish to remove from my life and a vision for the future.

We had a very interesting discussion in my EMT Class this evening about some different ethical dilemmas someone could face as an EMT.  In the first situation you are out to dinner at a restaurant and a child sitting at a table next to you stops breathing and goes unconscious.  You have no protective gear, and neither does the restaurant.  You would be forced into doing mouth-to-mouth breathing, and it is very possible that you can catch something from the child.  What do you do?  Do you risk it anyway in an attempt to save the childs life, or do you call 911 and wait for someone to arrive?

Average EMS response times in my area are probably around 7 to 10 minutes.  Which is long enough to do some damage to an oxygen deprived brain.  Maybe someone gets there sooner, maybe they don’t.  It’s possible that you could coach the child’s parents through rescue breathing while you do chest compressions (our class was covering CPR), but the parent’s may be to hysterical to do it properly.  You could possibly use a napkin or a table cloth as a protective barrier, but those are designed to absorb and may increase the chance for body substance exchange, they also aren’t the greatest devices to help with ventillation.  It really comes down to whether or not I would risk becoming contaminated to save a childs life, and it may sound insensitive but I really don’t know what I would do.  One of my biggest fears is catching something from a patient.  There are so many different diseases out there and it’s really scary.

The second situation we talked about was being the first to arrive at the scene of a car accident.  The car is on fire and there is someone trapped inside, Fire Department is on the way but by the time they get there it will be too late for the person trapped inside.  It is probably important to note that as far as my EMT training is concerned my safety come first.  I should not do anything without ensuring that I am not in harms way.  When we talked about this though I had a different reaction than I did about the first situation.  I would almost definitely put on whatever safety gear I had (and we really have nothing on the ambulance to deal with a fire) and I would try to get that person out.  I know there is a chance that at any minute the gas tank could explode and I would be in serious danger, but I could not sit by and watch the car burn, I couldn’t listen to the person.

Everyone in the class seemed to have their own take on it, one of them had no problem doing mouth-to-mouth to the child, but wouldn’t go near the car.  I really wonder what this says, if anything, about the kind of EMTs we are.

Its 1 am and I am exhausted but I have a few minutes to update.  I have been crazy busy lately, work has been constantly needing attention and it seems so is everyone else at the moment.  I have had little time to do anything of the things i’d like to, but being busy has it’s perks.  Things should start cooling down soon and I have some vacation time saved up.  Anyone have any ideas on what I should do?  Any cheap vacations?  Maybe I’ll just get a hotel somewhere and chill.

I do have some posts coming up.  Some just about life, others about tech stuff.  I got to play with a Samsun Q1 today which made my day, and I recently traded my Asus Eeepc for an Acer Aspire One.  The One is working quite well.  I’ve also been spending some time on my new Asus G50-X1 Laptop which has become my main computer.  I have been tweaking it out like crazy to the point where my father doesn’t know how to use it, and it no longer looks like it’s running vista.

Well that’s all for tonight.  Sweet Dreams, World.

Decided today on a trip to the mall with my brother that I would pick up some books.  I’ve been spending too much time watching some pointless things on tv and it just shuts my brain down.  The first book I picked up is called The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life; it is by Deepak Chopra.  I was actually looking for something akin to The Alchemist but this one jumped out at me instead.  I’ve only gotten through a few pages but I found one part I really like.  He was explaining that there is truly a mystery to life, something going on behind the scenes, and that the cells in your body are already living this truth:

1.  You have a higher purpose.  Every cell in your body agrees to work for the welfare of the whole; its individual welfare comes second.  If necessary, it will die to protect the body.

2.  You are in communion with the whole of life.  A cell keeps in touch with every other cell.  Messenger molecules race everywhere to notify the body’s farthest outposts of desire or intention, however slight.

3.  Your awareness is always open to change.  Cells adapt from moment to moment.  They remain flexible in order to respond to immediate situations.

4.  You feel acceptance for all others as your equal, without judgment or or prejudice.  Cells recognize each other as equally important.  Every function of the body is interdependent with every other.

5.  You seize every moment with renewed creativity, not clinging to the old and outworn.  Although every cell  has a set of unique functions these combine in creative ways.  A person can digest food never eaten before, thinking thoughts never thought before, dance in a way never seen before.

6.  Your being is cradled in the rhythms of the universe.  You feel safe and nurtured.  Cells obey the universal cycle of rest and activity.  Although this cycle expresses itself in many ways, such as fluctuating hormone levels, blood pressure, and digestive rhythm, the most obvious  expression is sleep.  Why we need sleep remains a medical mystery, yet complete dysfunction develops if we don’t enjoy its benefits.

7.  Your idea of efficiency is to let the flow of life bring you what you need.  Force, control, and struggle are not your way.  Cells function with the smallest possible expenditure of energy.  Typically, a cells stores on three seconds of food and oxygen inside its cell wall.  It trusts totally on being provided for.

8.  You feel a sense of connection with your source.  Due to their common genetic inheritance, cells know that they are fundamentally the same.  The fact that liver cells are different from heart cells, and muscle cells are different from brain cells, does not negate their common identity, which is unchanging.  In the laboratory, a muscle cell can be genetically transformed into a heart cell by going back to their common source.

9.  You are committed to giving as the source of all abundance.  The primary activity of cells is giving, which maintains an integrity of all other cells.  Total commitment to giving makes receiving automatic - it is the other half of a natural cycle.

10.  You see all change, including birth and death, against the background of immortality.  Whatever is unchanging is most real to you.  Cells reproduce in order to pass on their knowledge, experience, and talents, withholding nothing from their offspring.  This is a kind of practical immortality, submitting to death on the physical plane but defeating it on the nonphysical.

I think this stuff is truly amazing.  In my studies of spirituality I have seen so many connections between nature and the inner being.  Druidry has shown me how the seasons and life cycles are one in the same, how balance and flexibility are much stronger than rigidity, and how I am a microcosm of the entire planet.

I am going to read some more, but so far I am liking this book.  I would recommened checking it out!