Life

A little financial lesson I learned

/ hsoi

Like most people, the past some months in my household have involved a lot of belt tightening and reexamination of financial situation. I’ve done my best to be responsible with the money I earn, currently having no debt other than the home mortgage, which is a reasonable mortgage at that. Live within your means; in fact, try to live well below your means. Still, I kept feeling a crunch. I had spent a bit beyond our means the past some months to stock up on various things, dipping into savings and such. I’m wanting to recover from that but was having a bit of a time digging out. It hit me what was going on and I wanted to try it. It’s only been a couple months so it’s a bit early to tell, but so far the results are promising so I thought I’d share.

What was going on was that I was paying too much towards credit cards every month. I use credit cards because of purchase protections, extended warranties, rewards, and other such side benefits. I pay them off in full every month. But that was the problem. When it came time for me to pay the bills, I always paid the full amount. For example, the billing cycle ends with a $500 balance, but between the end of the billing cycle and the time I get the bill in the mail then sit down to pay bills, I might have charged a few more things and might have $700 on the card. I always figured that I’ve already used the money, send it now or send it later didn’t matter I still had to send it, so I might as well zero out the card. Thus I’d write a check for $700 and zero out the card. Technically that’s a good thing to do, but it was having a subtle side-effect on me. I would look in Quicken and see that we had a zero balance so I would think to myself “ok, we can spend X amount”, but in reality, I had kinda robbed Peter to pay Paul. I try to shave off a good portion of my paycheck every pay period to put into savings, but to pay that credit card bill down to zero I might have to reduce or eliminate that savings. Thus I’d have a zero card balance, but I didn’t get to save as much as I wanted to. And so, I was treading water, paying bills, but not rebuilding my savings.

So instead what I decided to do was just pay the required amount. Bill comes for $500, I pay $500. Sure that might mean at the time of the bill paying I leave $200 (going with the above example) on the card, but that’s fine. It does a few things. First, when I look in Quicken I see there’s already some sort of balance on the card, thus I’m reluctant to put more charges on the card thus spending less. Second, when I do my bill paying now I am saving in full or might be able to save a little more. And so far, that has really been paying off. It’s helped me curtail spending and keep my savings on a good pace.

Yeah, it’s a bit of slight-of-hand, it’s just mentally fooling myself. In the end it’s all about budgeting and such and keeping within your means. But for me, this change helped. I keep bills paid in full, no revolving balances on the cards, but I keep the monthly spending correct for the pay periods and don’t “overspend” because I miscalcuated. My savings is rebuilding at a good click, my spending is reigned in more.

Man… wish I had realized this years ago. šŸ™‚

911 didn’t answer

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

An elderly woman in Parker County, Texas dials 911 repeatedly, and receives no answer, repeatedly.

Eventually the woman’s daughter and son-in-law arrived and were able to hold the intruder at gunpoint. Finally 911 gets through. Police are dispatched and arrive 13 minutes later… 13… minutes… later.

According to the article:

[Capt. Mike Morgan of the Parker County sheriff’s office]Ā said he understands the family’s frustration. But he said records show that when 911 dispatchers answered the calls, the family had hung up.

Morgan said cellphone calls can take up to 30 seconds to connect in the dispatch center.

Cellphone technology is great, but it still has problems. When you’re in a situation like this, 30 seconds is going to seem like an eternity. Even still, how much evil can happen in 30 seconds time? And then, 13 minutes to respond.

As the saying goes, when seconds count, police are only minutes away.

While it’s nice to know there are other people in this world that are willing to keep you safe from harm, in the end the only person you can count on being around when you’re being attacked is you. You’re in the best position to preserve yourself. Ms. Hokett now knows that:

Hokett said she hopes she never needs 911 again. But just in case, she said her daughter bought her a shotgun that she has places near her bed.

Going fast

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Rob Leatham is one of the top competitive handgun shooters. In his blog he has an article about shooting fast, and he’s certainly one that knows that area well. While Rob’s article tilts towards the gaming/competition aspect of shooting, the fundamentals apply to any sort of activity, not just shooting.

Shooting fast is about shooting at the highest level of your ability, and that isn’t to say that you can’t raise your highest level even higher through practice and work. But speed that’s sloppy? That’s not speed. You have to be correct. You have to be accurate.

A few weeks ago when I was down in Houston for a black belt test, one of the things Master Alex spoke to us about was being fast, but sloppy fast isn’t fast, it’s just sloppy. One of the 5 principles of forms is “hands fast” but you must be correct, you must be accurate, you must be crisp and clean, then also be fast… never so fast as to lose those other aspects.

Remember years ago when the Pentium processor had floating point calculation errors? Back then it was a wicked fast chip, but I started saying “No one cares about the first person to get the wrong answer.” Fast may be important, but correct is more important.Ā 

Ever have a group of kids, you ask them a question and there’s always those that shoot their hands up first, maybe before you even finished asking the question? Then you call on those kids and many times they don’t have the answer… they just wanted to be fast and first.Ā 

So you see, it doesn’t matter what the realm is: shooting, martial arts, computers, or just life. Yes, being fast and first is important, but I would say being correct/accurate is more important. Slow down, work to be correct, work to be smooth. Speed will come.

Lack of stuff

/ hsoi

Hi folks.

Sorry for the lack of stuff. It’s been a very busy past few days topped off today by the ceiling fan in the master bedroom peeding out (Youngest turned on the light and said sparks came down). A few back and forths to Home Depot, and we’ve got ourselves a nice new and very pretty ceiling fan… goes with the fixtures from the master bathroomĀ renovationĀ we did a little while back. So… I’ve just been away from the keyboard and have much to catch up on.

More later….

Intolerance and Obama.

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Wow. (h/t to Rob)

But this level of massive intolerance doesn’t really surprise me. I’ve found those that scream about tolerance to be some of the most intolerant. Their definition of “tolerance” means that you tolerate what they want you to tolerate. Their definition of “open-mindedness” means you agree with what they agree with. Their definition of “good” is what they deem to be good. If you’re not with them, you are against them.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.

Freedom is something we must give to others if we wish it for ourselves.

If you want tolerance, you must first be tolerant. If you want people to be open-minded to your opinions and ideas, you must first be open-minded to theirs. If you want good in the world, you must first accept what others consider good.

Another tip? Try to not be so hateful, especially towards those you feel “deserve” some scorn or hate. A little love, a little forgiveness, a little true understanding, a little humility… they go a long way.

It’s good to live in Texas

/ hsoi

A new study was released, Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom by William P. Ruger & Jason Sorens, from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. (h/t to Volokh).

Texas came in 5th overall. Not bad for this freedom-loving soul. Certainly one reason I love to live here and have little desire to leave Texas is because freedoms are pretty good here. There’s room for improvement and of course there are threats to freedom every day… but you just gotta keepĀ vigilant.

81st Annual Zilker Kite Festival

/ hsoi

Today the family went to the 81st Annual Zilker Kite Festival.

I have wanted to attend this for some years and for some reason or other it never happened, so I was determined to attend this year. And attend we did!

We took the shuttle to Austin’s famous Zilker Park, and in a way, the shuttle was an event unto itself. The city provided free shuttles to/from the event, and they used school buses for it. This was the first time my kids got to ride a school bus (I rode them all the time when I was growing up), so now they sorta know what it’s like… minus the loud kids, bullying, and other assorted mayhem that comes with the school bus. šŸ™‚ Ā It brought back memories of being on the bus Safety Patrol!

After arriving at the park we went to the “build-a-kite” workshop. It was a free workshop sponsored by HEB and others and you could build a basic kite. Middle child and Youngest child opted to build a kite, and they flew just fine. The wind today was ample for kite flying, but it would die down at times and many kites would be crashing to the ground. Yesterday the winds in Austin were 25-35 MPH steady and gusty, so that would have been some very interesting kite flying weather.

We walked around, checked out many of the kites. All sorts of kites of all shapes, sizes, designs, colors, and variety. It’s almost impossible to describe or even capture on film just how cool it was to look up in the sky and see hundreds of kites flying together. It’s just something you have to experience.

We ate “fair food”, from corn dogs to sausage on a stick to snow cones to cotton candy to funnel cakes. Yes… I can’t pass up a funnel cake, tho the one we had was very oily (I suspect they didn’t let it drain enough). Oh yes, and roasted corn. Mmm. Everything was rather expensive, but all proceeds after expenses are benefiting charities and worthy causes so it’s all good. I think I’m going to have a very light salad for dinner tho. šŸ˜‰

After watching many kites, flying our free kites, and walking around and seeing all there was to see, we ended up buying our own kite. A nice nylon “triangle-style” (I don’t know what the proper term is). It flew quite well, and I had a lot of fun flying it. It was tough flying tho, with so many kites in the air, so many people around, you didn’t have the total freedom to roam where and how needed to keep the kite aloft. Thus, the most often heard thing today was: *thud* “Sorry!!” “No problem!” as kites would dive down, hit someone in the head, strings tangle around you, tails whipping in your face. But no one got mad; everyone expected to get hit sooner or later. It was a day filled with laughter, smiles, and fun. Good times.

If you haven’t been to the Kite Festival, you need to try it. And do like we did, go in the morning, leave in the afternoon. The lines for the shuttle were unreal, but since we’re early birds well… we were in and out no problem.

Crime in downtown Austin

/ hsoi

Overall, crime is low in Austin, but data is showing that crime is on the rise. Robbery, burglary, assault, rape… it’s all going up.

Austin Police Department of course believes the solution is more cops andĀ surveillanceĀ cameras downtown. This isn’t going to stop crime, maybe only make it easier to clean up the mess and/orĀ prosecuteĀ the crime after it’s been committed.Ā 

Folks, the bottom line is simple: if you care about your safety, only you are responsible for it. While it’s nice if someone else can help you stay safe (additional layers), in the end only you can be guaranteed to be where you are when you need it.

Weird ending to the Apple Shareholders Meeting

/ hsoi

I’ve been using Apple computers since I was a kid, so I’ve a bit of a soft spot for the company. I just read about their shareholder meeting and the interesting ending to the meeting.

Ah, the Parent’s Television Council. Y’know, I don’t necessarily have fault with what they do because they’ve got every right to do so ā€” they’re welcome to speak their mind, they’re welcome to busy themselves however they see fit. What gets me about them is if they’re all about helping parents well… why aren’t they helping the parents actually beĀ parents? And can we trust their information is objective?

If you don’t like what you’re kids are watching on TV, be the parent and turn the TV off.

If you don’t know what you’re kids are watching, you should sit down and preview it before you allow them to watch it or at least watch it with them. Discuss it with your kids. If it doesn’t mesh, it’s off limits. If it does mesh, still revisit the program now and again because 1 episode may not be enough to get a proper picture and/or the show can evolve over time.

If you don’t know what your kids are watching, why don’t you get a little more involved in their lives and find out? If it’s because they’ve got a TV in their room, why do they have the TV in their room? Take it out.

Who is in control here? the parents? or the kids? Far too often problems are because the kids are in control and the parent gives up their control. Parents, you are notĀ your child’s friend, you are their parent. Act like it.

Always turning to someone else for opinion about what you should do. Can you not think for yourself? Is your moral compass in lock step with these others? What else can they start to feed you that you’ll blindly accept?

Look… the world is filled with people of all ages, mostly adults. Do I think television (and the world) needs to be sanitized for children? Nope. All the things we’re supposed to be doing for our children is preparing them for “the real world”, for being an adult, for learning how to deal and cope and survive and thrive on their own. To sanitize everything to “keep them safe” does them no long-term good. Better to give them the skills to cope, the morals to know right from wrong, the ability and courage to say “hey, this isn’t the sort of show I should be watching… I’ll change the channel or turn the TV off”. The world is full of ugly things, and while there’s something to be said for trying to rid ugly things from the world, you still need to give your children the skills and ability to deal with those ugly things. I’d say that’s even better, since it not only let’s them deal with the ugly, but is putting some beauty into the world as well because a well-adjusted kid is a beautiful thing.

Isolation

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Ok, time for a little reciprocal blog love. I’m checking my blog stats and see that I’ve been quoted in this article by Sharon Davis. Thank you, Sharon. So as I’m reading the article the first point it touches on is isolation. Sharon refers to Judi Sohn’s article at the Web Worker Daily that discusses that very issue. It’s an issue I’ve certainly dealt with, so here’s my perspective.

Judi’s article hits on a key part of dealing with isolation: communication. I’ve learned that you must communicate; in fact, you must seem like you’re over-communicating. Now, you can’t overload your co-workers and boss such that they wish you’d shut up (they’ll tune out out and that’s even worse), but you just have to make a greater effort to let them know what’s going on with you.Ā If people in your office use Instant Messaging, you should too. Be on all the relevant networks/protocols for all the relevant people you have to communicate with in your office (using a consolidated IM app can help with this, e.g. I use Adium). Get in the habit of using your IM Status to relay what you’re doing; you don’t have to update the minutia of your life, but it does provide some degree of “Hi, I’m active” to those that work with you. Make sure you do respond to emails promptly. Every Friday I send a weekly status report to my boss and other relevant parties at the office so they can know what I’ve been up to this past week. One thing that you can also consider is that all of these things have “time stamps”. They show when you’re working, when you’re available, how long you’ve been online, and so on. Depending how much your boss wishes they could look over your shoulder to monitor your work habits, these things can be useful to demonstrate “I’m working, even though you cannot see me”. Of course you can manipulate those things, but be mindful… too much fibbing will come back to haunt you.

While you need to communicate with them, they also need to communicate with you. You can’t expect the home office will always tell you what’s going on, so you’ll have to ask. When you’re talking to your office-bound mates, ask them what’s going on around the office. This doesn’t necessarily have to be juicy gossip, it could be simple things like “how’s the officeĀ renovationĀ going?” or “I hear some loud noise in the background? What’s going on?” Ā Little things like this help you keep connected to the culture that’s developing within the office walls. You can be “in on the jokes” and other things like that. It’s useful to also have visited the office a time or two so you can know the physical layout, which often is relevant to being “in” on things. You just have to be proactive at getting the information you’d otherwise naturally get if you were in the office.

But while these things cover information, they don’t exactly cover one important thing that being in the office gives us: that human interaction. I’m fortunate that I’m not home alone (wife and kids are here), so I get some human interaction in a day. But for human interaction with my office-mates, I’ve found that instead of IM’ing or emails, just pick up the phone. IM is nice for a quick exchange, but if it’s getting lengthy just pick up the phone… it’s faster in the end, and far more personable and productive. Plus it’s nice to hear someone’s voice now and again. Or if you’ve got a real tech-savvy company or co-workers, do a video chat now and again… it’s nice to see faces. And also remember, every conversation does NOT have to be pure business. If you blow a few minutes just chit-chatting about the weather or other non-business things, that’s not a bad thing. Don’t let it dominate and distract too much from work, but we have to be human, we have to develop relationships.

One thing you can also do? Look for places near your home that have Wi-Fi available, that allow you to sit and use that Wi-Fi for a long time. Every so often, get out of the house. Go work somewhere else, even if just for a couple hours. It changes the scenery. It gets you around some people (even if you don’t talk with them). And you can still take your laptop and stay connected and get some work done. I don’t do this very often because I like my wife’s cooking way too much. But it’s an option.

Honestly tho, I think the only thing I really miss about being in an office? Halloween. It’s more fun to dress up when more than your wife and kids can see you.. šŸ˜‰