Gratitude post for day #8…Today I am grateful for my son, which is likely to be a common theme as I’m grateful for him every second of every day. He fills my bucket by just being.
But tonight we instituted the first official “Boys Night”. He pointed out to me that we’ve had lots of boys nights out, just the two of us, but I wanted him to see this one as something special that we plan, we commit to doing. Was it anything amazing? Nope, we just went out for dinner at McDonald’s, and then off to Chapters to spend the $$ he got for Christmas from his aunt Sharon. Mommy and Daddy added a bit to it and he bought more Magformers. It was awesome watching his brain work tonight, for two totally separate events.
First, before we left, he showed me the “worksheet” that he did at daycare. His daycare provider, Ana, has another kid a bit older than Jacob and she likes to give them homework while they are there — little math worksheets or spelling worksheets. Do you remember J is in Senior Kindergarten? It doesn’t stop him from beating the other kid (Grade 3) on some stuff, particularly spelling. This isn’t the fun part that he beats him, but that he can do it at all, and so well individually. But he showed me his worksheet tonight — Ana has upped the game for the new year. Jacob was doing his multiplication tables for 8x and 9x tonight. 20 questions? J got 17 of them right. Including nailing 9×5. When I asked him again on the spot what a couple of them were, no problem, he nailed them. I think I did multiplication tables in Grade 4!
Second, at the store tonight, he had a choice of three Magformers kits. And while I helped him a bit with his analysis of what was the difference between the boxes, he said “no” to one that was very similar but didn’t have wheels, and “no” to a much larger set that also didn’t have wheels nor the colours he wanted. He knew the other one was more expensive, more pieces, and just plain bigger, but it wasn’t what he wanted — he found the set he wanted, that met his needs, and with the exception of one minor change of mind (he found another set at the back of the shelf with better colours), he worked it all out himself. Then when we went to pay, I had given him too much, not knowing the exact price and wanting him to pay for it in person, but he knew that he didn’t have to give all of it to her and gave the rest back to me. He even commented that we saved money and we didn’t have to “use all of your extra money, Daddy”.
He may not have opened up about his day much today, as that is always hit or miss, but I had a good night and he went to bed happy. He also knows what we’re doing next week, and he’s down with the plan (and knows he can’t tell Mom what the project is!).
I go to bed with an extra full heart tonight. Thanks, cub.
So most of my goals are up on the blog now, with strong commitments across the board. I haven’t talked about two of them yet, nor the “ongoing” day to day stuff. And the other piece missing? Things I intend to cross off my bucket list this year. Let’s start putting the pieces together.
BLUE PRIORITIES (Intellectual, organizational, cerebral)
My two big goals on this for the year are astronomy and a kitchen renovation this summer. Both require some additional planning, but they are the big two for the year, and I’ve already blogged about them.
For my bucket list, I’m going to knock five blue items off the list:
Learn photography — I have a great DSLR, but I want to figure out how to use it better. Probably one of the Coursera or TheGreatCourses options, combined with some books that I have. I might sign up for a course next fall, if the schedule permits. I will probably start on this in March. I’m also going to produce special little cards, kind of like baseball cards, with key situations and settings as reminders.
Learn to knit — I don’t have any great illusions of ability or commitment for the future, I’d just like to make something. Probably a scarf or a tea cozy. Nothing extravagant, I’d just like to try it. Andrea’s a willing teacher, at least in theory. We’ll see if her willingness continues when she has a lousy student. I’m thinking maybe April for this one.
Learn to juggle — my hand/eye coordination sucks. But, most jugglers claim anyone can do it if they practice hard, and I bought a little “kit” a few years ago with some nice soft hack/sack like balls to practice with. There are also lots of videos on the net. I’m thinking I’ll commit to this as part of a creativity challenge one month when I’m tired of blogging on the computer all the time. Sounds like a good fall project.
Learn origami — I’ve had interest in this since Grade 6 when my teacher, Mr. Hutchison, did some basic origami. I’ve learned a few folds over the years, but I’d like to commit to learning one a week once I actually get started. I’m thinking probably in May and then continue throughout the year.
Experience a meteor shower — I might settle for the regular one in August, or set up for a special one another month. Nothing extravagant, and to be honest, it might not even be the best year to do it. But worth a shot.
Under my ongoing day to day stuff, there are still items that will take work and planning, just didn’t make my big list. Obviously, I’ve taken a different approach to my 2015 goals this year in order to roll up to the PolyWogg 4.0 / Commit to the Quest brand. I’m going to continue that with a new logo design, flow chart, and incorporation into a shirt layout for myself at one of those “print here” places. I also need to set up a special type of tracker to let me implement the Seinfeld Method and keep a running total on some of my commitments.
For my mother’s estate, I mentioned I’m going to do the photo scanning, 10 photos a day. Hoping to start by the end of the month. I’d love to have these all done by the end of the year, along with sorting out all my e-files for photos going back to 2002. That also includes learning some new software and creating some photobooks.
A huge portion of my free time involves electronic tools, and I need to continue my improved organization for it. Some of it is wiring, some of it is backups, some of it is copying CDs onto the hard drive.
I have a long list of little projects around the house, and I think I’m going to give them to Andrea as a “Honey Do” list to manage for me — she can choose which ones get done next. We do this anyway now with a joint list each weekend of errands/projects to do, but many of the non-urgent ones never make the list.
I also want to get my passport renewed, and do a comparison of costs between the two major grocery stores I shop at to see how much of a premium I’m paying for convenience when I use the one.
Finally, for the blue category at least, I need to figure out my learning plan for the year. Yesterday, I posted a list of courses for TheGreatCourses and Coursera that I’m interested in, and my approach. But of course, I didn’t actually commit to the courses — there are 125 with Coursera and another 170 with TheGreatCourses. My feeling is that I can probably do one every other month, so six for the year. Time to ante up and commit to the quest. One, two, three, weed the list!
Two courses are carry-overs, and I’m not counting them in the “six” as I can finish these ones pretty quick:
Of the others, I think I want one that is tied to psychology. Coursera has an Introduction to Psychology (University of Toronto) and I’ll go with that. Future options might be “Positive Psychology”, but that is more about self-actualization techniques.
I also want one on music. There is a Coursera course called “Introduction to Classical Music” from Yale that looks great, give me a better foundation than just randomly picking Beethoven symphonies. Plus I’m a bit more eclectic in my tastes, with some of the most obvious choices of little interest to me. Mind you, there is also a Coursera course that would aid my Billboard writing called History of Rock, Part One which is part of the University of Rochester. But it is the fact that both of them are “obvious” choices that have led me to ignore them in front of a TGC course — Elements of Jazz: From Cakewalks to Fusion.
I’m going to play it a little safer for my third choice, something astronomy related. Coursera has an interesting course called AstroTech: The Science and Technology behind Astronomical Discovery from the University of Edinburgh but it’s not active at the moment. If it doesn’t show up this year, I’ll opt for one of the TGC courses, either Skywatching: Seeing and Understanding Cosmic Wonders or the more traditional Understanding the Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy, 2nd Edition.
My fourth course is going to be hard-core. Yep, coding. TGC has nothing in this area, it’s all about the internet courses in general or the Coursera ones, and I’m going to opt for Coursera. I’d like to take Programming Mobile Applications for Android Handheld Systems: Part 1 at the University of Maryland, but it assumes you already know Java which I inconveniently don’t. There’s a simpler version at University of Edinburgh called Code Yourself! An Intro to Programming, and it would probably be a really good idea to start with that one just to refresh my brain since my last programming experience from umm, 1989 and 1992 (!) didn’t use object libraries to combine existing code modules. But screw it, I am on a quest! I don’t have time for namby-pamby basics! I’m going for the University of Illinois’ Creative, Serious and Playful Science of Android Apps.
I’m going to pass on the photography courses and the Greek mythology courses, I have books on those that I’m going to read this year already. Governance and non-profits look great, as does one on giving and charities. There are several good options for ones about religion, cultural literacy, and soul beliefs.
But I really need a refresher on microeconomics to help with some work I want to do on ebook pricing, and there is a simple Coursera course called The Power of Microeconomics: Economic Principles in the Real World from the University of California at Irvine. They don’t have any sessions open right now, but I’ve added it to my watchlist. If by the time I get to it, nothing is still available, I’ll opt for one of the other micro-economic ones.
Last, I’m going to take a flyer on something. Coursera has a course from the State University of NY on Meta-literacy: Empowering Yourself in a Connected World, which is about digital citizenry. I have an idea for a big project in November this year, and this will help lay the foundation early. In fact, it is up first in the rotation, starting in early February. I guess I should get those other two done before then!
That’s it, that’s all for the blue…On to the green!
Gratitude post for day #7…Today I am grateful for crockpots. We did a simple recipe this morning, or rather Andrea did (I just chose the recipe options and did the groceries, she assembled stuff). But tonight when we got home, dinner was ready. We don’t use it near enough, particularly in the winter. But a goal of mine is to do it once a week at least until Spring.
The thirteenth item on my vaguebooking list was “13. Thirteen years and counting”. The year 2015 marks 13 years that Andrea and I have been together. We were also married on the 13th of September, back in ’08, so this will be our 7th anniversary.
We swore that we wouldn’t become home bodies that never went out anymore, and that is certainly true when it comes to restaurants. We eat out a lot. Mostly simple places with Jacob. But, to my mind, that’s not enough. We have very little “just the two of us” time, instead of “all 3” time. And as with the rest of the things I talked about, I feel like we’re just drifting along. Not in a bad way, not at all. More content. Just perhaps a little too content with the status quo.
So, 2015 is the year I commit random acts of romance. Maybe without out the random part as much, after all I am a planner. Nor do I want to mention everything here since Andrea may one day be totally bored on a bus and read my blog. Shhh, it could happen. Just saying, if she does, I don’t want her to know all the plans in advance. Obviously.
However, some are obvious ones that she’ll have to know about. Like the big one, which is supporting her this fall when she takes off work to finish her M.Ed. It’s going to be a long semester for all three of us, with a lot of disruption in our schedules, workloads, etc. But it’s part of the commitment, to make it work for all of us, without her killing herself either.
I’m also committing to more of Jacob’s routine, which hopefully should ease burden a bit on her, as well as taking over a good part of the meal planning so it’s a little more planned for longer periods of time, with built in flexibility. We’ve been running on a 2-3 day cycle the last little while, so we got back to the 2-week plan this past week, and will likely bump it up to a 4-week extended plan to guarantee more variety within weeks. It also helps with my grocery shopping.
We have an entertainment book, and I’m going to pick a bunch of restaurants in advance and then we’ll schedule regular outings. I had hoped to do Stratford this summer, but didn’t really see any home run choices that I wanted. Hopefully we’ll do a play or two next year (hopefully after Xmas!), although we likely won’t have time for the NAC Pops series. We are however doing that now, which gives us at least one outing per month or so up until June sans cubby. For the entertainment book outings, many of them will still involve J, but at least they’ll be different outings.
I’m also hoping she enjoys the “Daddy and me” nights with Jacob, and takes advantage of them to do something more than just hang out by herself out at home (although that’s always fun too).
I have a few other things in mind, but again, won’t be mentioning them in advance. Commit to the quest — romance now!
Given my obvious commitment to setting goals, my wife passed along a new tool called “The Year Planning Booklet” from YearCompass. I am going through it page by page, and it’s a pretty good tool. Let me tell you why I like it.
First and foremost, it starts with a review of the past year. You might think that sounds both obvious and counter-intuitive — you’re looking forward, why are you looking back? The reason you look back is the exact way they start the booklet. They have you identify big events and/or meetings of the last year. Which allows you to basically then categorize them into groups to show where you spent your time, what milestones you considered significant. Note that your memory is a really bad source of information — you might have thought, “Hey, I did a great job on meeting with my financial advisor” only to go back through your calendar and realize that you blew them off more than you met with them. Evidence-based analysis is key, and reviewing your last year is pretty good at providing that evidence.
Second, I really like the idea that you write out some simple declarative sentences that summarize various aspects of the year. For example, declaring what your wisest decision / biggest lesson / biggest risk / biggest surprise / biggest service / biggest achievement was during the last year also helps you think in terms of plans vs. reality, static vs. growth. I also like the fact that they go beyond that to nuance the types of “growths” that were possible. Partnerships, influences, best “moments”, what you needed to forgive, etc.
All of which culminates in the decision to close the book on your previous year. It’s done. Let it go (without the cheesy Frozen song). The analysis is a little long for most people, but it’s a decent set of questions to get you thinking before you get to the hard part — setting yourself up for the new year, which is the second part of the booklet.
I like too the idea of dreaming big at the start of the year. It worked for me this year (2015, the year I commit to the quest), but I confess that it won’t work for most people. Very few people know what their goals are, let alone an overarching theme. For many, it’s too big. However, the second page of the new year looks at what you see in family / private life (green energy); work, studies, profession (red energy); belongings (green energy); relaxations, hobbies, creativity (yellow energy); friends, community, service (green energy); health, fitness (red energy); intellectual (blue energy); emotional, spiritual (green or yellow energy); finances (blue or red energy); and a bucket list (any of the four energies). I find it a bit heavy on the green for my taste, but most personal goals approaches do this, reflecting the fact that “home is where the happy is”. It then takes those pieces and has you schedule them throughout the year. Also a good approach. For me, I use the same idea for the Creativity Challenge that I run with friends on Facebook. In it, people commit to certain projects for a single month (one month on, one month off). But it allows you to break larger ideas (Be more creative! Learn to sing!) into more digestible chunks and assign them to individual months.
I’m not as impressed with the next two pages of the booklet that focus on “magical triplets”, as I think in some cases they simply will not apply. Plus I don’t think there is any magic to the power of 3, outside of the Charmed TV series. Plus 12 categories is a bit heavy for most people. Planning shouldn’t tire you out, in my view, it should be short enough that when you’re done you’re energized, not exhausted.
It then concludes with a 30 day challenge, with some suggested items in it. Personally, I’d replace it with the Seinfeld method instead. Lasts longer, and easier to understand. Lots of people miss a day in a 30d challenge and then call it quits, whereas the Seinfeld method keeps trucking along.
I do however really like the ending — a word (or a phrase) for the year ahead. In my case, 2015’s phrase is “Commit to the Quest”. It reminds me what I’m trying to do, how much I’m aiming to do.
A good tool overall. And maybe might inspire me to write my own guide for next year in a similar vein! 🙂
