Because you only live once…
iPad Day 1
Apr 5th
Today was my first day with an iPad so I’d thought that I’d write up some thoughts about the device. First off, I’m an Apple fangirl so I’m a bit biased, but I’ll try to keep this as unbiased as possible.
So here are some of the things I like about the device:
- I love typing on it. Yes. That is right. The on screen keyboard is actually super easy. It’s way easier to type in then my Dell mini 9. It’s a bit harder to correct errors, but that’s not too hard.
- I can curl up with it. Like a book. Seriously awesome. Try doing that with a laptop.
- It has netflix. Yeah for them. This made me reactivate my netflix account.
- some really good apps. I am using CourseNotes as my note taking app. I love the design and the way that app is structured. Very nice job.
- and did I mention the on screen keyboard?
Some things that I’m not really liking:
- Get a screen cleaning cloth. The fingerprints build up and can get distracting. Especially when watching movies.
- I can’t get a blogging client to work. I’m writing this in CourseNotes right now. If you are reading it, then I got it online somehow. But the WordPress app has issues, the web version isn’t working, and the premium blogging software I bought won’t let me log in. But I guess that’s not the ipads fault.
- the calendar app doesn’t seem to let you add or edit calendars. At first I was stuck with one and then I synced to mobile me and now I have my calendars from my desktop but can’t edit them or anything.
- Am I just blind or is there really no world clock/timer app built in to this thing? Seriously guys? Surely this is coming at some point.
So yeah. The pros far out way the cons. Love this thing!!!
It’s Okay to Relax!
Mar 29th
During college, I pretty much quit working about 3 weeks before finals.
Okay, so I usually would start working on stuff again about a week later, but I always had my week. During this week, I would get a bunch of novels and read them non-stop for the whole week. I would go though 5 or 6 novels during that week. I pretty much would just veg out for the entire week.
Some would look at me and wonder how I was going to make it through the semester. Seriously, what was I thinking?
The truth is that I wasn’t thinking. And that was the point. I would take a week off from school so I didn’t have to think. And every single semester, I would come out of my week long hiatus ready to take on finals. I would go from being burnt out to refreshed.
Without my week off, I would have never made it through finals. My brain would have been so tired, It would have gone on strike as soon as I really needed it.
It’s okay to veg out.
So if you ever feel that you just want to sit in bed all day and read novels or watch movies, give yourself the break. It will help you be more refreshed and ready to take on what life throws at you. Your veg out may last a day, a week, a month, or even a year, but as long as you do actually come out of it and start working again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.
Have you ever been so over worked that you need to take an extended veg out session? Did it help?
Photo By: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sethmazow/ / CC BY 2.0
Efficiency Redefined
Mar 26th
Efficiency as defined by a Workaholic:
Doing things as quickly and easily as possible so that you can get more things done.
Efficiency as defined by an UnWorkaholic:
Doing things as quickly and easily as possible so you can get on with doing the good things in life.
Which definition do you use?
Spirit of a Traveler
Mar 23rd
Look around you.
Right now.. Look up for your computer or phone or iPad or whatever you are readying this on and look around you.
Notice one thing that you have never seen before. Even if you are in a really familiar location you can probably find something that you have never seen before. Maybe it’s a crack on the wall. Or something that fell off of your table. Doesn’t matter. Just notice something.
Next time that you are on a walk, do the same thing. Notice 5 new things.
Okay, now do it while riding in a car. (Maybe not while driving. I don’t want to be responsible for a wreck.)
There are amazing things waiting to be discovered in your own backyard. But why haven’t you noticed them before? I’d guess it’s because you got so comfortable with your surroundings that you never really looked.
Now think of a time when you were looking. When was the last time that you went on vacation and were a tourist in a place you have never been to? Think of all of the Amazing things that you saw and discovered that day. I’d bet that you saw things that the locals had never even bothered to notice.
This, my friends, is the Spirit of the Traveler. You discover things because you are there to do just that.
But my challenge to you is this: Try having the Spirit of the Traveler in your every day life. Who knows what you will discover?Find something? Love to hear about it in the comments below.
Photo By: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uggboy// CC BY 2.0
A Book Changed My Life
Mar 20th
It was a nice fall day in Houston, Texas. I was planning to meet some friends for dinner at 6. It was 3 and I was already in the correct part of town.
Driving around, I saw a Borders bookstore off to my right. What a great way to waste some time! As a total book junkie, I love just wandering around aimlessly in bookstores with all those book and their seemingly endless supply of knowledge. So I pulled in.
In a bookstore, the books draw me in and lead me from place to place as something new catches my eye. Today, it was the self help books that were calling to me. That’s when I saw it. ‘4 Hour Work Week’ was its title. Little did I know, that book would change my life.
I sat down with some quality time with Tim Ferris as I started to read the first chapter. In it were exciting stories about Tango and Travel (both of which I love too). Well that book had me. I bought it and read it all that weekend.
Speaking to my Heart
What that book was able to do was to awaken a deep desire inside of me. Growing up, I had always claimed that I would take the bull by the horns and live a life that was uniquely me. I wasn’t going to work for someone just to earn money. I wanted to make a difference.
What Tim Ferris’s book awakened in me was that same desire. Decrease the work and increase the play. Or for me, if was to decrease the work and increase the ‘UnWork’, or the actions that you are truely passionate about and adds to your life and to the world.
UnWork
I coined to word UnWork to distinguish it from being lazy. Going to start a preschool in Asia or traveling the world to further develop a better understanding of your world neighbors is not lazy (as opposed to spending all day watching TV), but its also not work as in sitting in a cubicle and doing whatever your boss tells you to.
So my goal… decrease the amount of Work I do and increase the amount of UnWork. I want to be judged by the amount of UnWork that I do. As such, I am becoming an UnWorkaholic.
If you had all the money in the world, what would you do to make a difference?
Photo By: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adangarcia/ / CC BY 2.0
