Out of work, rest and time, choose 2.
This is now my second year of working. The project that I am working on is pretty busy. I am now pulling 80 hours of over time/month. Meaning that I do on average, 4 hours of over time everyday.
Fear not, I am being compensated for it.
With the regular work day, being 9 to 5:30, I am at work until about 10:00 pm ish everyday. Well, not really but it is something like that. One of the nice things is that I live rather close to the office, so I don't have much of a commute, in effect. I am converting the time I would have spent traveling into money, which is a good thing. The problem with coming home so late is that I don't have a whole lot of time do anything else. Or is it really the case?
On a good day, I wil lget home by about 7 or 8 pm. After having some dinner and relaxing for a littl,e, it'll be about 9 pm. Usually I just end up vegging out on the internet until a bout 1 am before heading off to sleep. Thinking about it, I usually have 2~3 hours for "spare time" before going to bed.
The tricky part is getting into a productive mood after coming home from work-- it just feels kind of strange trying to do something after 9 pm. But I am going to have to kick the vegging out habit.
The one thing I've started to realize, is that my age is starting to creep up on me. I just turned 28 last month and got another 2 years before I turn 30. It's crazy, but yeah. Life is short and how much longer can I consdier myself young?
The one thing I just realized is that I want to be young and be successful at something. Saying that I'm always busy is just an excuse... and the other thing is that you're only young once.
It's now or never... and shit, I'm going to have to make time for it.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Friday, July 03, 2009
Don't believe everything you're told, especially from the media
The Dow to 36,000, or so we are told in September of 1999. A new era of prosperity, where the old rules don't apply. This was the long bull, so we were told and the authors proceeded to ridicule the nay-sayers.
We never even got half way. The Dow, for all it's flaws, peaked last year at 14,000 and now it falters in the lower 8,000s.
Everyone has opinions, but no one take responsibility for them
Opinions are cheap and they're a dime a dozen. Follow the wrong ones and they may end up costing you and if they do, it's "whoops, my bad. Here's a pat on the back, I'm sorry for you." and that's about it. This is one of the reasons why I am sick of TV pundits, commentators or whatever. Watching a debate on TV makes my stomach churn because it's all garbage.
It's always with the chest thumping when they're right, and they'll pretend that they never said anything if they are wrong. Anyone can be right sometimes, a broken clock is even right twice a day. And that's the problem, we've got too damn many broken clocks, dinging all the damn time. And what if someone's opinion was wrong and it caused damages or losses to you? If they can't stick their neck out and take responsibility for what they say then there is no point in listening to them.
This is how shallow discourse has become; it isn't about trying to find the best explanations or truths together, it's instead about everyone trying to show off that their opinions are always right, all the time. I'm sorry, but as a viewer and the common man, I'm going to have to call bullshit on these people. For all the people always yammering about their opinions all the time, it is dead certain that not all of them, and not even most of them are going to be right. If I had any advice to give to them, I'd have to say "please, shut the fuck up."
If there is one thing that we are missing right now, it's honest people (and no, I don't mean people pretending to be honest). The truth is not about some person being right, quite often the truth will be inconvenient. Those loud opinionated people usually ignore anything inconvenient. When a person with the need to be right trumps the facts, that is the time when the conversation ends because you will never learn anything good from these kinds of people. People that demand that their opinions are always right have no perspective. So thus I shake my head at the mass media. I've given up on them.
If you want to find truth, then you're on your own
A person that believes everything they're told is naive or even a fool. And that's what our society is becoming, especially through the mass media. The mass media has no incentive to be right or punishment when they're wrong. All they have to be is convincing and it's easy to be convincing when everyone doesn't know better. A 10 year old, for as silly as they can be, will always be incredibly convincing to their younger sibling... and I'm afraid that when it comes to the general public, they're stuck with big brother.
If you want to find truth, it will be a hard path to walk. Every detail must be scrutinized, sources verified and your perspective must always be in check. Sometimes the truth isn't what you expect or even want it to be, those who can't except it will never find it.
For those that can't walk this path, then you're stuck with listening to the truth as told from others. But one day it might not be, and you'll never see it.
It's not my job to tell people what to do, so choose your path.
We never even got half way. The Dow, for all it's flaws, peaked last year at 14,000 and now it falters in the lower 8,000s.
Everyone has opinions, but no one take responsibility for them
Opinions are cheap and they're a dime a dozen. Follow the wrong ones and they may end up costing you and if they do, it's "whoops, my bad. Here's a pat on the back, I'm sorry for you." and that's about it. This is one of the reasons why I am sick of TV pundits, commentators or whatever. Watching a debate on TV makes my stomach churn because it's all garbage.
It's always with the chest thumping when they're right, and they'll pretend that they never said anything if they are wrong. Anyone can be right sometimes, a broken clock is even right twice a day. And that's the problem, we've got too damn many broken clocks, dinging all the damn time. And what if someone's opinion was wrong and it caused damages or losses to you? If they can't stick their neck out and take responsibility for what they say then there is no point in listening to them.
This is how shallow discourse has become; it isn't about trying to find the best explanations or truths together, it's instead about everyone trying to show off that their opinions are always right, all the time. I'm sorry, but as a viewer and the common man, I'm going to have to call bullshit on these people. For all the people always yammering about their opinions all the time, it is dead certain that not all of them, and not even most of them are going to be right. If I had any advice to give to them, I'd have to say "please, shut the fuck up."
If there is one thing that we are missing right now, it's honest people (and no, I don't mean people pretending to be honest). The truth is not about some person being right, quite often the truth will be inconvenient. Those loud opinionated people usually ignore anything inconvenient. When a person with the need to be right trumps the facts, that is the time when the conversation ends because you will never learn anything good from these kinds of people. People that demand that their opinions are always right have no perspective. So thus I shake my head at the mass media. I've given up on them.
If you want to find truth, then you're on your own
A person that believes everything they're told is naive or even a fool. And that's what our society is becoming, especially through the mass media. The mass media has no incentive to be right or punishment when they're wrong. All they have to be is convincing and it's easy to be convincing when everyone doesn't know better. A 10 year old, for as silly as they can be, will always be incredibly convincing to their younger sibling... and I'm afraid that when it comes to the general public, they're stuck with big brother.
If you want to find truth, it will be a hard path to walk. Every detail must be scrutinized, sources verified and your perspective must always be in check. Sometimes the truth isn't what you expect or even want it to be, those who can't except it will never find it.
For those that can't walk this path, then you're stuck with listening to the truth as told from others. But one day it might not be, and you'll never see it.
It's not my job to tell people what to do, so choose your path.
Consumed by work
It's 3:30 am, I came home from work at about 8 pm, ate dinner, fell asleep and then woke up at 12:30 am. I know I should be sleeping but I needed some time to surf the web and think.
I just started realizing that I've been using the "it's been a while" a little too often. Somehow, my spare time has been sucked up into an abyss and the only thing I've been doing is working, resting and going out on the weekends to relax. I've been at this life style pace for the last few months after my project has gotten significantly busier. It feels like I am missing something tangible, something measurable.
I don't feel like I am making real progress at work, nor does it feel like I am picking up skills that I consider to be highly valuable to me. What I am doing and learning right now, lacks impact, and yet I am toiling long hours at what I am doing. Sometimes, I wonder, for what am I working for.
I traveled through SE Asia almost 1.5 years ago. I loved my travels incredibly, it was one of the times that I felt the most alive. I remember my experiences vividly and I met so many amazing people along the way. My travels were inspiring, I felt alive, it was incredibly liberating. I've never felt so free in my life. I miss backpacking.
I've been busy and I've been tired. Even keeping keeping up with people feels like a chore for some reason. I've gotten tired of just hanging out with people. I've realize that I need more then that, I need a collection of people with inspiration and skill, people that I want to learn and share from, people that I can meet up with and when we go home, we've all gone away with something.
Now that I think of it, perhaps my surroundings haven't changed, I've probably set the bar higher.
I just started realizing that I've been using the "it's been a while" a little too often. Somehow, my spare time has been sucked up into an abyss and the only thing I've been doing is working, resting and going out on the weekends to relax. I've been at this life style pace for the last few months after my project has gotten significantly busier. It feels like I am missing something tangible, something measurable.
I don't feel like I am making real progress at work, nor does it feel like I am picking up skills that I consider to be highly valuable to me. What I am doing and learning right now, lacks impact, and yet I am toiling long hours at what I am doing. Sometimes, I wonder, for what am I working for.
I traveled through SE Asia almost 1.5 years ago. I loved my travels incredibly, it was one of the times that I felt the most alive. I remember my experiences vividly and I met so many amazing people along the way. My travels were inspiring, I felt alive, it was incredibly liberating. I've never felt so free in my life. I miss backpacking.
I've been busy and I've been tired. Even keeping keeping up with people feels like a chore for some reason. I've gotten tired of just hanging out with people. I've realize that I need more then that, I need a collection of people with inspiration and skill, people that I want to learn and share from, people that I can meet up with and when we go home, we've all gone away with something.
Now that I think of it, perhaps my surroundings haven't changed, I've probably set the bar higher.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
A 6.9% Savings rate in the US?
It's July 1st, therefore, happy Canada day. It's also the first of the month, were I tally up all my living expenditures for the previous month.
It was previously posted in the National Post that the average savings rate in the US has risen to a 15-year high of 6.9%... 6.9% !? This value is also defined as the amount of disposable income saved, which I take to mean: Total income - taxes - fixed living costs = disposable income, and then divide the amount of money saved by that number, giving you a measly 6.9%. The graph posted at the National Post illustrates at positive savings rate for all but 1 year in the past 20 years, but yet it seems that the US is piled high in debt.
Seriously, how is it possible that the average savings rate be always be positive and yet you have an entire country ridden in debt? It perplexes my mind.
I've just calculated my savings rate from January to the end of June. I've decided against doing any fancy math and decided to calculate how much of every dollar I've saved that came in. My raw savings rate is 51.25%. Meaning that I've saved more than 1/2 of all the money I've had coming in. If I were to convert this number to something relative to my disposable income, it would be ridiculously high and no, I am not some crazy high roller that brings in a fat pay cheque in every month.
I'd have to lose at least 40% of my income to have a raw savings rate of around 10%. I'd be making ridiculously little money but I'd still be saving more than the average American easily that I'd have to call bullshit on those numbers. Sure the stock market crashed and the housing market crashed, but if everyone was able to save money before, then they shouldn't be in the rut that they are in right now.
It was previously posted in the National Post that the average savings rate in the US has risen to a 15-year high of 6.9%... 6.9% !? This value is also defined as the amount of disposable income saved, which I take to mean: Total income - taxes - fixed living costs = disposable income, and then divide the amount of money saved by that number, giving you a measly 6.9%. The graph posted at the National Post illustrates at positive savings rate for all but 1 year in the past 20 years, but yet it seems that the US is piled high in debt.
Seriously, how is it possible that the average savings rate be always be positive and yet you have an entire country ridden in debt? It perplexes my mind.
I've just calculated my savings rate from January to the end of June. I've decided against doing any fancy math and decided to calculate how much of every dollar I've saved that came in. My raw savings rate is 51.25%. Meaning that I've saved more than 1/2 of all the money I've had coming in. If I were to convert this number to something relative to my disposable income, it would be ridiculously high and no, I am not some crazy high roller that brings in a fat pay cheque in every month.
I'd have to lose at least 40% of my income to have a raw savings rate of around 10%. I'd be making ridiculously little money but I'd still be saving more than the average American easily that I'd have to call bullshit on those numbers. Sure the stock market crashed and the housing market crashed, but if everyone was able to save money before, then they shouldn't be in the rut that they are in right now.
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