My New Year Resolutions

With the pitfalls mentioned in my previous post in mind I made a list of simple changes that I would like to achieve consistently through the year. To achieve the list I selected a number of domains in my life and tried to select three things that I would like to do to improve in that area. Some of the changes are minimal and some may be gradual, but I think all will improve me.

So here is my list, please don’t make fun of me :-) :

• Work Goals
  • Set up a two achievements per day behavior. I had a successful co-worker and friend when I used to co-op at Tivoli, which used to have a two achievements a day goal, which meant she set a to-do for the morning and one for the afternoon. She use to be surprisingly efficient, but if you look in your days between meetings and calls a lot of important to-dos get left behind, this way you always make time to get two done even if they are small.
  • Establish, actively update and promote an IBM internal blog. I got started on this one earlier, setting up the InfoSphere Security Talk blog, but usually my problem is actively updating the blog… that will be my challenge.
  • Complete status reports on time and keep a work log. Usually I got my manager asking me for status reports and then I don’t remember everything I’ve done.
• Personal & Fitness Goal
  • Lower my Body Fat Percentage to 15% by the end of the year. Right now I’m around 20 to 23% , I need an accurate measurement so I can start tracking my changes.
  • Continue to log my activities and food consumption daily. Pretty self-explanatory.
  • Better Grooming (Shave at least a couple of times daily and dress better for work.) This goal may seem weird, but I hate shaving… I don’t particularly like having a beard, but shaving is a pain, my skin get irritated and and I get ingrown hair, but I would like to increase my customer interaction at work so I should dress more presentable in a constant basis.
• Hobbies and Photography Goals
  • Setup and maintain a website in addition to this blog. I’m hoping to have a place where I can display my photography and to keep it updated monthly.
  • Complete a creative photography challenge book. David du Chemin is the author of the ‘pixalated image’ blog and a number of books, but some of his most interesting work is through PDF book (here) which usually number 10 different challenges for photography enthusiast to improve their skills. I’m hoping to complete one of these and publish it in my future website.
  • Photograph 2 zoos this year. Last year I visited the Austin Zoo with the goal of getting some animal photos for my nephews room (which he got this Christmas), but I ended up getting some pretty cool photographs and I enjoyed it very much. So I’m hoping to visit a couple of more and improve my technique. V already told me she was going with me to the Houston Zoo. Maybe I’ll get to go to the San Antonio Zoo as well.
• Home & Finances Goals
  • Pay off any wedding expenses accrued by the end of the year. For those of you who don’t know this year is my wedding, crazy times… But with any wedding a certain amount of debt is accrued, I’m hoping to get rid of it by the end of the year.
  • Completely Decorate 2 Areas out of the 6 areas of the house. V and I have been going back and forward on decorations for the house and what not, but I’m hoping to completely decorate two out of the Bedrooms, Kitchen/Dinning, Living room, Backyard and garage areas.
  • Bring down debt by 15%. We do not have a lot of debt, but between the cards, cars and house it adds up. I would like to take a chunk of it out by the end of the year.
• Relationship Goals
  • Bi-Weekly Date. I would like to take my bride to a romantic date avery so often and make it kind of like a tradition, so we can have nice us time.
  • Continue and Improve Communications. Now that the wedding is coming up I would like to continue to focus on our relationship. Not that is bad now, but I don’t want to let it slide.
  • Find and/or develop a hobby for both of us. V usually does her running and triathlons and I do my own thing, but I would lie to find something that we both enjoy doing together. Until now that has been going to nice restaurants, which we both enjoy, but I would like to do something more engaging.
• Family Goals
  • I would like to see my immediate family members at least 2 times a year. This difficult since my family is all over the place, but I should make an effort to accomplish this task.
  • Attempt to strengthen family ties and relationships. Aside from my immediate family (and some may argue that), I have not been a good family member. I would like to reconnect with my family and develop new relationships with cousins that I haven’t even met or have not seen in years.
  • Family Photo. My mom has not been able to take a family photo, since 2000… I think it is due for her to get her photo.
• Friends, Social and Volunteering Goals
  • Volunteer once a 1/4 with SHPE.
  • Volunteer once a 1/4 at Church.
  • Strengthen friend ties. I was thinking I can do a monthly get together or social outing. I know I’ve been a bit of a loner lately.

New Year Resolutions

Every one has them, but most do not accomplish them. Why is it? Every year thousands of people make new resolutions and I’m willing to bet that the most popular is to get in shape or lose weight. That’s the reason most gyms’ membership count jumps every January and parking is terrible during January and February. After Valentines, parking starts getting easier and that’s about the same time when people start jumping off the ‘resolutions’ wagon. It happens to everyone and it definitely happens to me.

This year is a big year for me. I got my wedding and my 30th birthday and I also wanted to be the year that I stick and complete my resolutions. So I went online and did some research on why people do not accomplish their resolutions and what I can do to be successful at it. I found out that the most popular 2 reasons for people dropping their resolutions are:

1. The Goal is not specific enough. For example, “I want to loose weight” or “I want to get in shape.” There is no way of breaking that down or knowing how much progress you have done or more importantly when are you done. A better goal would be to “lower my body fat to 15% by the end of the year.” In which case you have number to reach and a deadline. Depending on your current percentage you can plan accordingly.
2. The Goal is not realistic. For example, “I want to look like a magazine model.” Achieving major and healthy remodeling of your body needs time, persistence, and most of the time changing your lifestyle. Achieving all three takes some trial and error, so don’t expect to get there in a couple of months.

Tax Rates for the North Austin Area

I just got my 2009 Property Tax Receipt and I figured I would share with you the tax rates for my area. I had no idea the School District would tax so high.

City of Austin	0.4209%
Travis County	0.4215%
Pflugerville ISD	1.46%
Travis County Healthcare	0.0674%
Austin Community College	0.0946%

How does it compare to yours?

My Holidays

Hello everyone, I hope you had the best holidays. I know I did. I spent the holidays at home in Austin with my parents and a brief visit from my brother, his wife and my baby nephew. It was great because I got to share with all of them a little bit of my day to day life, something that due to distance we don’t get to experience from each other. Small details like my mom liking toast with sour cream and apple juice like three or four times a day, my dad liking super sweet coffee, my brother being a responsible parent, my sister in law loving to bake, but doesn’t like to eat what she makes and the baby liking the bouncy game I played with him. It was all great.

We spent Christmas Eve cooking. I had invited some friend over for dinner and the Puerto Rican Christmas experience. That meant cooking a lot of the typical dishes you would find during the season; Arroz con Gandules, Pernil, Papas Majadas, Pasteles, Guineitos en Escabeche, Zorullitos, Coquito, etc. There were a couple of popular extras like Rum Cake and good Cuba Libres. The night developed into some singing and poetry recital performances. I would like to thank, Andres and Oliver for their performances. We had a great time.

Santa Clause was nice to this year too… I was expecting coal, but instead I got some nice items I’ve been wanting for a while.

New Years, was a bit tone down. My mom wanted to go to San Antonio for New Years Eve, so we did. We went sightseeing at the Alamo and River Walk. They had a blast. Later that night after eating a big Tex-Mex meal we drove back to Austin, but by the time that midnight rolled around we were all super tired. I promised Vanessa that next years we will party the new year up.