ajterreault

Today was one of those days that really reinforced to me how much I need to get out of where I am. I spent the whole day really busting my behind, and when I think about how much money I got paid, it really was not worth the effort. One co-worker that actually does know what she is doing did not say more than three words to me the entire time I was there. The nominal person in charge, who has a reputation for being “lazy”, really didn’t do much to pitch in and help. I have some sympathy for him as supposedly he has ADHD, but if you have a disability like that, you need to try to limit how much it impacts on you and others. He refuses to take any medication for this disability, and the result is every one else has to pick up the slack for him. It is not a situation that really makes for a happy work environment. There are always people, places and situations where some one does not contribute as much as would be liked or expected, but the continuing nature of problem really is making this a place I dread going to. I need to get out.

Fortunately, some one I know emailed me about one job today, and I have to follow up with some one else on Monday. Hopefully, I can make a change soon.

Okay, while today I did get a money order for a payment that will get rid of one debt, I need to write out what steps I need to get done.

1) List out all my creditors. This seems obvious, but there are a few I am sure I will over look if I don’t state this explicitly,

2) Address debts which are not legitimate. – I have one debt that I know is being held against me that is not legitimate. It will take time and effort to resolve, but I need to get it cleared up.

3) Get all balances for debts. There is at least one debt where I do not know my current balance. I need to send a letter to get my record of payments and current balance.

4) Add up all debt. This is just so I know what 1/5th of the debt is, which is my goal to have paid off for the year.

5) Determine what to address when. Some debts are more important than others. I need to list out and prioritize.

6) Get’em done! All this writing and planning is for naught if I do not pay the bills. Need to keep this front in center in my mind and try to stick to plan. I am sending out payments for January, but I need to make a plan to address all debts and which I can refer to for reinforcement and guidance.

I think at this point my goal should be to have 1-4 addressed by 1 February. Setting up a reminder for this one for one week.

Well, Thursday I could have made a Meetup, but did not schedule myself very well, and did not get home in time to get there. This one is going to be tough to do for a couple of weeks, as my schedule is not very friendly to when most Meetups occur. Still though, am going to try to find one I can get to before the end of the month.

I didn’t choose “Pay off my debt” for this one, as I am thinking of what I would like to see happen this year, and I do not think I could reasonably expect to have all of my debts paid off within that time frame. However, I would like to see myself having reduced my amount of debt by about a fifth by the end of the year. I think that would be a good start, and something that would be something I could see and feel as progress, and build on for the future.

I’m not a fan of social networking sites. I find most of them way too superficial and impersonal. I don’t like listing people as “friends” who my soul interaction has been a request to add them to my list! But I do have profiles on a few sites, and because there are people I would like to share with what is going on with me, I’d like to see myself update these profiles about once every other month. I see this as something that should take no more than a couple of hours each month, and would give me some fun, and a way to interact with some long distance friends.

I’ve actually been on Meetup.com for several years now, and have gone to a few Meetups, but not regularly. I really enjoyed the ones I have been to. While this will be tough to do in January, I would like to see myself going to at least one a month for the rest of the year.

In the past two years, I’ve gone from about two hundred and seventy, down to about two hundred and ten. Ideally, I would like to be about one hundred eighty at my current level of activity, which is much to sedentary. If I was exercising more, then two hundred would be okay (remember muscle weighs more than fat). I’ll be happy if at this time next year, I’m in the low 190’s, but would like to see myself be twenty pounds lighter.

I am by no means a hard corps cyclist. I have no desire to challenge Lance Armstrong on some celebrity cycling camp, or go as fast as I can down some seventy degree slope with nothing but a foam helmet as a protection. But I have always enjoyed cycling at a casual and fun level. This would be something else that is social, enjoyable and practical. Spending about four hundred on a decent bike and getting out once a week for most of the spring and summer is a reachable goal.

Actually, this should be “take a couple of classes”. I see this as two things, first, taking one of those non-credit adult education classes, and the other seriously looking at and taking a night school class.

I’d like to do this for multiple reasons, social, practical, and educational. No reason I could not have part of this set up in about a week, and started, if not partially completed by the end of January. Lets see how I do!

I have an idea for a story, that I bounced off a published author, and received a very enthusiastic response to. I’ve started making notes and ideas for the story, and even written part of what I think would be the first chapter. However, I am great at starting things, and not finishing them. This is going to be a hard one to stick to. But I would like to see it done come the first of July. I think I could get it published as a serial in a particular magazine, and if it reached the level I would like to see it, be further developed into a series of novels. So. goal for this one is to have it done come the first of July, 2008.

I have more than one blog I have started over the years, most all have rarely been updated or maintained. I’d like to see myself post at least once a week to one of them. Writing is work, and not something that comes naturally to me. But as a friend of mine has reminded me time and time again, few things worth doing do come easily.

Coming from where I am right now, I am not expecting to have a lot of money in the bank at the end of the year, but I would like to have five hundred dollars tucked away in an emergency fund when New Years 2009 roles around. My ultimate goal would be to have in savings and investments a total equal to three years gross income, but that would be a bit hard to accomplish in one year! Five hundred seems like a reachable, if somewhat modest start.

Well, I have put off doing the 43 things thing long enough. So today, I signed up for this.

I don’t expect this job I want to find to be “the job” I will be happy with for the rest of my life or even four or five years, but I need to find something that gives me a bit more stability and income, and lets me work on some other things that will lead to advancing myself and my career.