Darrin S.




I'm doing 33 things
 

Darrin S.'s Life List

  1. 1. be more disciplined
    2 cheers
    388 people
  2. 2. Stop Putting Things Off
    4 cheers
    88 people
  3. 3. work out
    1 cheer
    646 people
  4. 4. improve my wardrobe
    3 cheers
    359 people
  5. 5. keep in touch better
    2 cheers
    25 people
  6. 6. make a random person happy
    9 cheers
    39 people
  7. 7. learn ruby on rails
    1,319 people
  8. 8. learn ajax
    320 people
  9. 9. Contribute to an open source software project
    762 people
  10. 10. Get involved in more online forums
    2 people
  11. 11. start a blogger community
    1 person
  12. 12. be politically active
    2 cheers
    26 people
  13. 13. Be a popular blogger
    1 entry . 1 cheer
    5 people
  14. 14. publish something in a respectable journal, magazine, or edited website
    4 cheers
    390 people
  15. 15. have conversations late into the night with fascinating people
    2 cheers
    2,068 people
  16. 16. let my imagination control me
    3 cheers
    27 people
  17. 17. edit my book
    10 people
  18. 18. Write and publish a book
    850 people
  19. 19. Participate in NANOWRIMO
    101 people
  20. 20. learn speed reading
    1 cheer
    92 people
  21. 21. Worry less.
    2 cheers
    4,749 people
  22. 22. Obtain enlightenment
    1 entry
    9 people
  23. 23. stop holding grudges
    1 entry . 3 cheers
    126 people
  24. 24. Pay off all of my debt
    2 cheers
    598 people
  25. 25. watch all movies on AFI's 100 Best movies list
    444 people
  26. 26. Read Modern Library's 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century
    582 people
  27. 27. see a game in every major league baseball stadium in one season
    1 cheer
    1 person
  28. 28. own a baseball team
    2 cheers
    16 people
  29. 29. Work on a movie
    1 entry
    11 people
  30. 30. be remembered
    2 cheers
    1,212 people
  31. 31. move away
    245 people
  32. 32. Lose 20 pounds
    7,411 people
  33. 33. 43 things
    44 people

How I did it
How to have a totally different life by this time next year
It took me
2 years
It made me


Recent entries
have children
The Coolest Thing I Ever Made ...

Not much more to add to that …



invest in the stock market
Helium is up; feathers are down; paper is stationery.

As with most things I knock off this list, this was completely impulsive, unpremeditated, and done just because I had the proverbial “bug up my butt” today.

Having a substantial chunk of change left over after paying bills this month (for the first time in two years) and finding myself defending a bold assertion about a particular new technology that I think is going to take off, it was suggested that I put my money where my mouth is. Always one to rise to a challenge, immediately after lunch, I opened an account at sharebuilder.com, transferred some money into it, and bought ten shares of stock in a company that I think has some interesting growth potential over the next 24 months. If I’m right, I’ll probably make enough money to buy the good, fresh steaks instead of the “throw out after today” ones. If I’m wrong, I’m only out what I would have spent on a couple of “date nights” with the wife. Either way, it’s probably a better investment than buying comic books or MP3’s, which is what I WOULD have spent it on.

... and assuming I don’t lose my shirt, I’ll invest a similar amount next month and try to build one of those “diversified portfolio” things that people keep telling me about.



get an ipod
Technically ...

Okay, so when I added this goal, it was intended as “Get and iPod-Like device” and to be fair I did research the iPod in making my seletion. However, not wishing to be locked into the iTunes store, or to pay a premium to have the apple logo on my MP3 player, I eventually narrowed it down to the iRiver Rhapsody and the Creative Zen.

The Rhapsody was the only major model that had my favorite feature, variable speed playback, which allows you to listen to podcasts and audio books at accelerated speeds and hence cram more listening into less time. The Zen on the other hand, offered and SD card expansion port, which was very appealing since it would effectively better than double the capacity of the device, and allow me to have different libraries on different cards. One card can be downloading podcasts or video while I’m at work, while the other can travel with me.

The tie breaker between the two finalists was a quick review of their support offerings. Creative had a phone support number right on the box, an extensive knowledge base on their website, and numerous published contact methods (email, message boards, etc.). iRiver had an unintelligible menu system that claimed to understand English, but didn’t, and pretty much nothing else.

Selection made, my lovely and charming wife bought me Zen as my birthday present, and I purchased the additional SD cards and some smart accessories to round out the purchase. All-in-all: completely satisfied with the decision so far.



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