Category Archives: Journal Entries

A Span of 7 Years

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“Every seven years we become a completely different person.” – A coworker told me this once. Do you think she was right? Of course, she didn’t mean that we change instantly.

The first thing I thought when I hear that was: “Couldn’t the same can be said about five, four… or even three years?” The answer to that is: “Probably.”

Today, for one reason or another, I got to thinking about who I was seven years ago vs. who I am today and I must admit it was a little disconcerting. When we hear/read that statement, we can’t help but to think back on how our lives looked seven years ago. And of course, we instantly begin to compare a large number of life’s differences between now and then.

So why seven years? Does this give any merit to the “seven year itch” myth? – I’ll say no to that, but concede to the fact that seven years is a long time considering how short life really is.

It’s time to consider the past seven years and answer the following 5 questions for yourself.

1. Where were you 7 years ago?

Remember the Autumn of 2004. Do you remember the details? Where were you living? Where did you work? What cell phone were you using? Can you even remember your phone number? What email address where you checking every day? Did you have a pet? Did you know your closest friend? Where you on speaking terms with your parents/kids? Were you financially secure?

The older I get the more I realize how little I know. – original author unknown

2. What’s different?

Seven years ago, I would have been 21, still very naive, probably more shallow, and I remember being a lot more fearless. I always thought I would do something big and make some huge difference in the world. But here and now, I am completely content with my currently small place on our tiny little planet Earth. I think I would like to have the courage back, but then again it’s the fearless people who have a lot less to lose. So… that’s probably not true.

3. What remains the same?

The thing that remains the same for me is that I am still a total geek. I love being a geek, hope I always gravitate toward new technology and have something to learn and challenge me.

4. Would you go back and do it all over again?

There are some people who live in the past as if it where the present. Some people would pay big money to go back and relive certain spans of their lives like high school and college years, when others are more like me and wouldn’t want to go back. Frankly, you couldn’t pay me enough to relive those years.

Well, maybe that’s an overstatement. :)

5. Would you change anything?

What I mean is, I wouldn’t want to experience it all again because I know that I would not be able to change a single thing. I prefer living with the good memories and dodge the thought of accidentally making a single change that might change who and where I am right now.

Here’s the important question: Who will you be seven years from now?

Goals for Me: to Make, Break, or Reconsider

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I’m sitting alone (well at least I have no children sitting around me) in a random Starbucks contemplating all of the things that I am going to get accomplished this year.

Yep, it’s that time of year again. The kiddies are back to school, everyone’s back to a different schedule, and I am back to the same place I was a year ago (metaphorically speaking) when I wrote Change is Inevitable, Progress is Work.

It’s been a while since I wrote a post, so be prepared for all the info I’ve stored up! I am changing my schedule now, so I will be writing to you on Tuesdays from now on.

I have no idea why (perhaps it’s the very caffeinated iced coffee I am drinking despite the fact that I really don’t like coffee) but I have the strangest urge to type out all of my goals for myself, my family, and my work for the year. Like so many of you other virtual assistants, my life requires balance in three very distinct areas. Today I am going to write about how I have incorporated new habits to keep myself healthy and in top “working condition”.

1. Finding Balance for Myself

I must be healthy. This means:
to eat right
I wrote a post a few weeks ago about a documentary I watched called Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. I had to write a post about this film because it has so many great points about how we jeopardize out healthy every time we don’t choose the foods we consume wisely.

We eat so much over-processed and vitamin/mineral depleted foods that our bodies are fighting a losing battle to stay healthy. Check out that movie to watch real people reverse the damage that years of poor eating habits caused.

to get enough sleep

“I found this great new medicine… It’s called sleep!” – I told this to my doctor during a checkup and she laughed and wrote it down and told me she had to use that.

Even though I said it with humor, I meant it earnestly.

Last September, I did a sort of health experiment with my sleep and actually made myself sleep 8 hours every night for a full month. Beating insomnia was well worth the effort.

After a few months of sleeping eight hours every single night, I felt amazing. Of course I have slacked off since then, but I am not nearly as bad as I was. :)

Sleep is the time of the day when the body rebuilds, repairs and re energizes for the next day. The skin is the largest organ of the body and without the proper levels of sleep, it will also be the largest age-showing part of your life. At the surface of the skin are millions of cells that die off each day due to environmental influences, dry skin and sun damage. While lotions and cream may ease the effects of these factors, sleep is the only regenerative cycle that can truly undo the effects of the day. Without enough sleep, the skin will be unable to rebuild those dead and dying cells and this is when aging occurs.

- Sleep and Anti Aging excerpt from the Top Anti Aging Website

and to exercise often enough.

In a post called Exercise? Blah, It Just Sounds Like More Work I wrote last November I wrote about exercise videos, and then last April I wrote about more spontaneous styles of exercise in Time for Recess.

I think the trick for exercise is simply keep changing it up so we don’t get bored. I love to run, so I’ve been running at least three times a week all summer.

What about you?
What do you have to do to keep yourself in top working condition?

Good Navigation

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We are in Michigan today and we’ve had an awesome weekend of skiing over this long holiday weekend. I’ve really come to love this ski resort called Boyne Highlands.

However, while I was going down one of the runs earlier, I got confused about which direction I should go.

There are different “levels” of ski runs that u can go down depending on your experience level…

* There’s the bunny hill which I definitely prefer to be avoid.

* Green runs are easy, they are the kind of runs the are enjoyable for the first couple of runs that I go on… you know, to get familiar with the conditions, make sure my boots aren’t on too tight or too loose.

* Blue runs are ranked “difficult” and “more difficult”. These are my favorite runs. I usually stay on these for the better part of the day.

* Black diamonds are the most difficult and you won’t see me on one of these runs until the end of the day.

* Double black diamonds are for experts only. You probably won’t ever catch me on one of these. Unless I’ve gotten lost… which is almost what happened.

Anyways, on my way down our first hill, I was inspired to write a post about signs and navigation. Here is why:

image

image

Notice how the two pictures are showing you how to get to Mac Gully… an easy run, then a little further down the hill you see a sign to continue on Mac Gully but supposedly turns into a double black diamond!

Actually this sign was letting you know that Mac Gully was to your right as well as an entrance to another run that actually was a double black.

Why in the world would anyone running a ski resort want their visitors to get confused, lost, or have to stop in the middle of a run to try and find a way to go?

Then I got to thinking about website navigation. This week I am planning on doing some serious research on best practices for site navigation and where to place certain buttons,nav bars, search forms, etc. to make everything on your site to be as easy to find as possible.

Beating Insomnia Plan: Successful Since September

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Ok, so I found this great medicine… it’s called SLEEP!

It took me about 2 weeks to realize how much better I feel when I am well rested. I really felt as if I was aging very quickly, and my eyes often looked dull, and I was extra grouchy sometimes.

Well, since the middle of September, I have been REALLY trying to get 8 hours of sleep every night. And I tell you what, I highly recommend it.

Of course, if you are like me and “used to” 5 hours maybe less sometimes, it’s difficult to get to sleep sometimes… The only advice I can give you for that is: “Keep trying.” It’s worth the energy you get when you finally get caught up.

Night 5

Bedtime: 11:45pm

Day 5

Woke up: 9:45am

Night 6

Bedtime: 11:30pm

Day 6

Woke Up: 9:00am

Night 7

Bedtime: 11:30pm

Day 7

Woke Up: 7:30am

Night 8

11:30pm

Day 8

7:30am

Night 9

11:00pm

Day 9

7:15am
and so on….

Beating Insomnia Plan – Day 4

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Night 4:

Bedtime: 11:45pm (- little late, I know)
(Morning After)

Day 4:

Woke up: 8:45am
9 hours later
How I feel:
I didn’t want to sleep in, but I suppose I needed it. Yesterday I was a bit tired. I still feel kind of yucky this morning. It’s a good thing I have been getting extra … scratch that… enough sleep this week. Who knows? I might actually be sick!?!?

I am usually sick about once or twice a year, maybe I can just get mildly sick this time and learn my lesson to get enough rest. Maybe I’ll never get sick. :)
Toward the end of the day yesterday, I realized why I was so sleepy in the morning. In fact, the way I felt today definitely verified my suspicion. Both kids have been bouncing around with yucky colds and sore throats, and I found myself with a sore throat this morning as well.

Did you know that getting better sleep helps your immune system?
Quotes from WebMD article: Can Better Sleep Mean Catching Fewer Colds?

Info from: Diwakar Balachandran, MD, director of the Sleep Center at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston

“The more all-nighters you pull, the more likely you are to decrease your body’s ability to respond to colds or bacterial infections.”

“A lot of studies show our T-cells go down if we are sleep deprived. And inflammatory cytokines go up. … This could potentially lead to the greater risk of developing a cold or flu.”

“One of the things that happens when we sleep is that we can get a better fever response. This is why fevers tend to rise at night. But if we are not sleeping, our fever reaction is not primed, so we may not be waging war on infection as best we can.”

“Studies have shown that people who are sleep deprived also get less protection from flu vaccines than those who are getting adequate sleep.”

Beating Insomnia Plan – Day 3

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Night 3:

Bedtime: 11:05pm

(Morning After)

Day 3:

Alarm set for: 7:00
Woke up: 7:48am
(sh**t I overslept)

How am I feeling?
I am tired today. Not as tired as I have been before, but more tired than yesterday. Maybe my theory wasn’t right. Maybe 5 hours is enough sleep for me. If I am going to feel so sleepy anyway, I don’t see why I should continue wasting so much time sleeping, but I did say I’d give it thirty days and it’s only been three. I’ll stick it out a little longer I guess.

Beating Insomnia Plan – Day 2

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Habit to break #2: No watching TV just before you fall asleep.

“It is too stimulating to the brain and it will take longer to fall asleep. Also disruptive of pineal gland function for the same reason as above.” according to this article called: “33 Secrets to a Good Night’s Sleep”

Night 2:

Bedtime: 11:29pm
So I watched a DVR of Jersey Shore from Sunday (they had some special before the awards program) and went to sleep. I guess it does take me a little time getting to sleep.

(Morning After)

Day 2:

Woke up: 7:45am

How am I feeling?
I am not feeling ready to conquer the world or anything, but I am not really so sleepy today. This could be really great. I definitely feel better than I have the last couple of days. :)

Habits to break

#1:  NO snack after dinner

#2:  NO watching TV just before you fall asleep

Beating Insomnia Plan – Day 1

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Ok, so I don’t think that I have any sort of serious case with insomnia. However, I have been doing some reading because lately, my eyes are feeling tired. I shouldn’t say lately, I should say THIS YEAR, my eyes feel and look tired. I look at photos of myself and realize that I need to give them more rest. So, I wrote this post: How well do you sleep at night? and I decided that I would keep tabs on this here on my personal blog. I figure blogging about it makes me sort of more accountable so I might actually stick to it.

Habit to break #1: I was reading that you should NOT snack after dinner. (Oh my gosh! No Cheese Nips? No popcorn? No Doritos while I’m watching Jersey Shore!?!?!) Bummer, for real.

It’s true apparently, your body can’t sleep well while it’s trying to digest food. (Go figure.)

Night 1:

Bedtime: 11:11pm
Yeah, I felt like I was in grade school again. Keep in mind I usually see 3 and 4 am before I crash.

Nighttime snack: a little fruit and Cinnamon Life cereal
I know, I’m bad, but if I don’t have a little something to eat before taking my multi vitamin I get nauseous… not the “I’m a little sick to my tummy” kind, the “my stomach knows that it’s not real food and rejects it” kind. :/ (Blah, you probably didn’t want to know that. ;)

I know it’s still something, but I reasoned it’s probably easier to digest than many things.

(Morning After)

Day 1:

Woke up: 7:30ish am
Hmm, had my alarm set for 7am, I still must have hit the snooze like 4 times. :/ Maybe there is a little something to that sleep debt thing.

How did it feel to sleep for 8 hours?
I’m still tired today, but I am not quite as tired as yesterday. (went to bed at 3:15am had to get the kids to school the next morning so I got up at 7: 45 – I had the alarm set for 7, so I had to have hit snooze like 6 times … for real.)

The reason this is so important? Well, I’ve been learning a lot of what I am doing (only getting 3 or 4 hours of sleep) is really jeopardizing my health. I am starting to get super cranky in the evenings sometimes and well… there’s that tired look in my photos thing. Eight hours sounds like a HUGE part of the day to be sleeping, but I am very active and involved in everything so I think I need it.

Short Essay About My Internet Job

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The Internet uniquely provides us with a wide variety of “truth” and a sort of bi-product of “experience”. As I see it, you have two choices with this powerful medium of communication. You can either accept it at face value or press on to learn more and come to your own conclusion. At thirteen, I began doing tech support for a small ISP (Internet Service Provider) in the small town I grew up in. Anything you learn on the internet is available to learn somewhere else. However, the time that it would take to research and validate your data could easily take hours, days, and in many cases years to come to the same conclusions that now come with simply typing in the right keywords into Google or Wikipedia.

The Internet has also produced a new problem with its exponentially growing number of solutions. The problem will come when so many answers will be available online yet so many “experts” are online preaching their version of the truth. How will we verify our international network of shared “answers”? Will we be believed if we come to a different conclusion? The truth is I have no idea. However, I choose to see the Internet for its possibilities and dare to hope that its “powers” will be used for good.

The Internet is now the source of my work life and the reason I am able to have such a fulfilling personal life. I am a work at home mom now. I am going to keep my Internet job even when both of my children are in school and I am home alone. (By then, I plan to open a new office outside of my home.) The discipline or knowledge it takes to really make money while working from a home office is not going to be found in some scammy “make money online by doing absolutely nothing” program that are unfortunately too popular nowadays. My life’s ambition has even become helping other talented parents work online and still be able to be there for their kids when they need them.

The Self Conscious Smile

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In middle school and high school, I thought I had “dodged a bullet” by not having to deal with braces. Well, the thing was, I was presented the idea as an option by the orthodontist that I visited at 13, maybe 14. The truth was, my teeth were pretty straight. However, I had a cross-bite. Whenever you have any kind of issue like that, let me tell you right now. . . it’s going to get worse. As soon as your wisdom teeth start coming in, it will get worse.

Not many people turn 25 and get braces. I did. I have no idea why, but I let a dentist (that I really didn’t like) convince me that I had to get braces. (I was clenching my teeth as I slept and hurting my jaw.) When it’s over, I will probably be very grateful. So, here I am, 26, and next month I’ll be 27.  I think I may have them for 2 more months, and seriously I have had these braces for so long it feels like I haven’t really been able to smile with confidence in almost 2 years. I wasn’t nearly as self conscious with crooked teeth. ;) I can’t wait to spend my 27th year without metal constantly cutting into the sides of my cheeks and spending forever and a day flossing. If I had gotten them when I was younger, then my teeth wouldn’t have needed them again. Not even after my wisdom teeth. Just maybe a retainer? I dunno.

The moral of the story:

If your kids have a need for braces. . . don’t let them avoid it. Make them get braces when they are younger, and their teeth aren’t already set in their ways! Besides, everyone looks goofy in during adolescence right? LOL! My daughter who is 7 1/2 already has her braces. And she LOVES them. Of course, it might just be because, mom has them so they must be cool right?