The Meeting Minutes of Michael's Mind

A couple of months ago, I was in a long drawn out meeting at work. Since my participation in this meeting was minimal, I started daydreaming about this question"What would an ideal life look like to me, within the bounds of reality?" I then started making a list, of goals that could actually be achievable, even if they would be unlikely and/or overwhelmingly difficult. So here is is:

• Exercise 3-4 times/week consistently.
• Aside from my regular job, make some additional $ on the side somehow (make an invention and/or start my own business of some sort, etc.)
• Be able to afford having our house cleaned quarterly (take the stress of keeping up with it off of Amanda).
• No (or very few) house or car repairs to have to deal with myself.
• Enough $ to pay off debt sooner, and also do more fun things (with the family and on dates)
• Be motivated to read and learn more stuff for work. I am considering an accountability partner and/or creating a discussion group for this.
• Go on more dates with Amanda, preferably dressing up occasionally too.
• Spend 15 minutes/day with God (reading Bible, praying, etc.)
• For Amanda and me both to set aside 1 day/year spent with God (be alone with Him - just walking, thinking, praying, contemplating, listening, etc).
• To set aside at least 1 full day and night per year for just Amanda and myself to spend together.

Now all I have to do is win the lottery and cut out sleep from my schedule:-) Seriously though, is this list achievable? If not any time soon, then even in my lifetime? And if not in its entirety, then which items should I scale back or just give up on?

Maybe this exercise is pointless, but then again maybe setting these goals could help motivate me more to find a way to achieve them.

An Evening with the Whites

We met our good friends Tim and Tammy White when Lucas and their son Shane were just infants (see picture above). Well, unfortunately for us they moved to the East Coast (Maryland) about a year ago.

Since they were back in town this week for a visit though, they stopped by our house for dinner on Wednesday evening. It was really great to see them and catch up on each other's lives.

You can see how much the kids, and our families, have grown in the updated picture below. And Clara was sleeping, so she's not in it.

Bragging on My Better Half

Saturday evening we had a couple of families over for dinner, whom we were in a Bible study with when we lived in Florida. It was a great time to hang out, catch up with each other, and even pray for and inspire each other spiritually.

But one of the things that I enjoy the most about whenever we spend time with friends is, oddly enough, my wife Amanda. She really shines when in a group of people, especially ones that we are comfortable around and familiar with. And when she's able to just relax and cut loose, her wit spills out into the room like wine and spirits. It's a beautiful thing to watch.

I almost titled this blog "The Trophy Wife". But I think trophy wives are supposed to primarily be just eye candy. And while Amanda is definitely easy on the eyes, her personality really draws people's attention, as well as my admiration.

The real shame of this though is that since leaving Florida (where we had a solid circle of close friends) and having children (making social occasions much more difficult to arrange and/or execute), evenings like this happen only once or twice a year - at best.

My Mind Isn't the Only Thing Either

Well, tomorrow we will take our annual family picture. To prepare for the event, I gave myself a much needed haircut. It came out OK, about as good as usual, which is pretty darned good for the price (free). However, in the process of doing so, I noticed something unusual in my profile - I AM LOSING MY CHIN and JAWLINE!

I knew that I am in the worst shape of my life, due to a combination of lack of exercise (no basketball even, due to rain), and an abundance of holiday treats. But now I am seeing the proof of it in places that I never have before. Drastic action must be taken!

I really should kick my own ass through a fast of some sort - perhaps 1 day of water only, or 3 days of juice only? But it's so damn hard to get motivated for the self-torture. I'm getting soft both physically and mentally - I know it and I hate it, but here I am. For the moment anyway.

I did just purchase the P-90X DVD set (through Craigslist for $50), but now I need to buy some additional equipment to use with it. But more difficult than acquiring the hardware is figuring out how to fit a regular (as close to daily as possible) exercise time into our schedule. Ugh.

Losing My Mind?

I meet with 3-4 other Christian men/co-workers on Thursday mornings before work to have breakfast, socialize, discuss a spiritual topic of some sort, and pray together.

Well, this week the four of us were praying for the person on our left, and when my turn came up I had the ultimate brain fart - I absolutely, for the life of me, could not remember the name of the guy on my left. Not only is he a co-worker who I meet with once a week for prayer/breakfast, but I've been working with him on my current project almost exclusively (besides my boss) for 8-9 months now. To make it even worse, I consider him to be one of my best friends at work. Heck, I even had him and his wife over to dinner recently!

Needless to say, it was awkward to say the least. The only good news is that I did finally recall it again before we finished going fully around the circle. So I was able to make my prayer request on his behalf before we were finished. It scared me a little though, I must admit.

Observations of Political Attitudes

One thing I've observed about liberals is that they are generally a bitter lot. In fact, I think the more liberal an individual is, the more bitter they are about life, politics, their circumstances, just about everything.

Liberals are also generally blame shifters - they are usually the last ones to blame when something goes wrong in their life. As for me, I am usually the most critical of myself, and when things go wrong I get frustrated with my own actions that were taken to encourage the situation, or not taken to prevent it. Only after scrutinizing my own decisions will I look elsewhere for blame.

Another thing I've observed about liberals is that they generally think they are owed something - from their company, their family, their friends, and (since we're talking about politics) especially from the government. Maybe this is the cause of the bitterness, or maybe they feel they are owed something as a result of the source of their bitterness (you owe me because you let me down, etc). Either way, they probably go hand in hand.

As for me, I have high expectations for no one but myself. I only expect my employer to fulfill their promises of what was in the paperwork that I signed for employment - namely a paycheck, whatever benefits they agreed to, and hopefully a fair review for my performance every year. Anything else they choose to provide (bonuses, Christmas parties, lunch, etc) is above and beyond that, and I am thankful for whatever that may be.

I also expect my government only to provide me with just a few basics necessities - freedom (to speak my mind, move about at will, pursue my dreams, etc) and an orderly society, such as protection from other individuals looking to take my life, liberty, or property. Anything above or beyond that I expect to have to provide for myself.

The big question for me is this: Is there a right and a wrong here, or is it just differences of opinions? I don't know for sure, but I can tell you this - having lower expectations of others and conversely higher levels of gratitude generally promotes a much better attitude.

Make Waste, Not Haste

Well, in addition to playing a crappy game of basketball today (what the $@*& happened to my confidence?), and having a frustrating day at work, I found out that we wasted $365 yesterday. That was the cost of an appraiser, in the interest of pursuing refinancing our house.

I knew our home has lost value (as everyone's has), but our circumstances (good credit rating, current mortgage is with a Freddie Mac affiliated bank) qualified us for a %125 loan-to-value refinance.

Since interest rates are low it would have not only saved us money on our monthly payments, but also in overall interest paid, and we would pay off our loan at around the same amount time as our current one, by paying just half of the $200 monthly savings back into the loan.

Zillow and another similar web site estimated us at only %107 loan-to-value, and the mortgage broker thought we could even skip the appraisal. He ended up being wrong though, and unfortunately the appraiser estimated the L-to-V at approximately 133% - screwed!