2005 Reading List

This past year has felt even worse for reading than 2004. But I guess it always feels like that. It’s just been bad lately because I’ve felt like I can’t get through a book to save my life. It just takes forever to read, no matter how much I enjoy it. I guess I need to read more than three pages at a time.

Oh well, there’s some good readin’ in this list, and as long as I am reading, it can’t be that bad.

Continue reading 2005 Reading List

Numbers

Blogging
12 – Days since I’ve posted an entry on this blog. Not nearly as long of a drought as it feels like.
62 – Days since I’ve posted an entry on Spacebar. Now that’s a drought.

Traveling
1,400 – Miles driven last week in the span of three days when I went to Kansas with my parents to pick up a wardrobe and tried to go to a friend’s wedding.
1 – Kansas ditches I drove through during a snow storm in an attempt to get to said friend’s wedding.
14 – Hours I spent in the car on Saturday after driving through a snowstorm, giving up on making it to the wedding, and then re-routing my trip through Nebraska.
75 – Speed limit in Nebraska, God bless ’em.
3 – CDs I bought in Des Moines, Iowa to keep me awake for the final 230 miles home.
1.5 – Times I was able to listen to each CD before they jammed in the CD changer the day after I got home.

Volunteering
13 – Average hours per month for youth group events (four 2-hour Wednesday nights, one 2-hour meeting, one 3-hour special event).
16 – Hours we spent at youth group this month (two 2-hour Wednesday nights, one 4-hour Christmas party, one 8-hour Operation Christmas Child/Chronicles of Narnia event).
20 – Hours of youth group events we skipped out on (two 8-hour clean-a-thon events to clean up the church’s new addition, one 2-hour Wednesday night, one 2-hour meeting).

Ignoring
215 – E-mails in my inbox needing to be sorted, deleted or (gulp) answered.
8 – Other e-mail inboxes on my computer that we dare not count how many e-mails they contain.
1,894 – Total unopened e-mails on my system, thanks in large part to spam, publicists and e-mail newsletters.
4,241 – Unread blog entries in Bloglines (not counting the Craigslist classifieds).
120 – Total blog feeds tracked in Bloglines.

Expecting
30 – Days until the baby’s due date.
14 – Working days Abby has left until the baby comes (assuming it comes on the due date)
10 – Days left in 2005.
7 – Days until my anniversary.
6 – Days until massive 11-month freelance project is due.
3 – Days until Christmas.
1 – Working days Abby has left in 2005.

The Power of Saying ‘No’

I always thought learning how to say “no” would be one of those difficult life lessons that takes a lot of time and effort and failure before you finally master it. It turns out when you get busy enough, it’s really easy.

I’ve been saying no a lot lately. I’ve said no to about six or seven different jobs in the past couple weeks. I said no to being on vestry at my church (fancy Episcopal word for deacon or elder board). I said no to helping our youth group clean the new addition to our church. This morning I said no to going to the men’s breakfast group (OK, so I forgot, but I think that’s my body’s way of saying no). I’ve said no to friends lately. And I’ve said a big, huge no to the pile of dishes in the kitchen and the pile of laundry in the bedroom.

I’m not sure how that last one helps, but it seems to fit.

Not Growing Your Business

I’ve never understood the mindset that a business always has to grow. Yeah, it’s depressing to see your business shrinking, but isn’t that bound to happen? You can’t grow forever. I’ve always thought providing for yourself (and employees, if you have any) should be the goal. If you can grow that’s great, but all you really need to do is stay stable (which will often mean growing just to keep yourself where you’re at).

That’s why this article piqued my interest. Ah, kindred spirits.