Being Realistic...Financially

          So as I mentioned in the beginning of the month here, that I was in desperate need of a financial makeover and the month of July was the start of it all.  Now that July is officially over, how did I do?  In a nutshell, I did OK considering it could have been a lot worse, but let me explain...

          Unfortunately I strayed from all 2/3 of my guidelines that I laid out for myself in some capacity, the first being my "no eating out" rule.  I managed to go out 4 times for dinner which was more than the 2 times I had allotted myself with one of the bills being WAAAY higher than I budgeted for, but well worth it.  I also gave in a little to buying outside snacks when I ran into a Cinnabon while on my way to a movie and was craving some Moose Tracks Emack and Bolio's Ice Cream while window shopping in the mall.  Good thing about it all was even though I blew my goal of $200 I never once this month went out for lunch and managed to make due with 2 grocery store runs both worth no more than $65 each.  Yay me!

          As for the "no new stuff" guideline, MAJOR fail.  An American Apparel circle scarf, maxi skirt, and new lip stain were no where near in my budget I couldn't resist.  $70 unnecessarily spent ::hangs head in shame::

          However, the "no travel" guideline was followed thoroughly as my feet never left the ground this month with my many usual excursions.  Though a few extra trips to Boston sent my gas budget a little over the norm.

          While I could have stuck true to the guidelines for July, it wouldn't have been very realistic because in reality there will be times when I want to buy a few things for myself and get invited out to eat more than I planned, its life.  All in all it wasn't the best I could do, but it put my monthly spending into a realistic point of view and that's a great start for my new financial plan.   

               

Color Me PROUD!

          This past Sunday was my first 5K! My friend Shanice and I completed the Color Me Rad 5K in Boston in 32 minutes :). I know, not the best time but my goal wasn't to make a certain time, but to not stop or take a walking break the entire way, and I did it! ::pats self on back:: 

          It was held at the South Shore Plaza Parking lot and there where tons of sponsors from the mall. Speaking of which I have to pick up my free Northface arm warmers this weekend :). It was tons of fun and well worth the hour long shrubbing session in the shower to get all the color out my hair and skin.  But don't take my word for it, see for yourself!

Before

On your mark, get set, GO!

The Aftermath

Next up, a triathlon!

 

My Workout Must-Haves

          Alright, there has been soooo much going on in my life right now between family, SA10, and a very big thing in which I shall share once I'm all settled :).  But still, its no excuse for me not to keep on top of my fitness goals.

           So with the help of my EC planner, I mapped out a plan to reach my weight goal by my Miami Trip.  1.5 lbs needs to drop every week from now until May 24th.  Ambitious?  Yes, but reasonable? Yes. 

"Anything I put my mind to I can achieve"

          I just have to stay motivated and on top of my game remembering that everything I eat will either push me closer to my goal or further away from it and every little bit of excerise counts.  So to have something to work towards and keep me on track, I will be doing my first 5K in July.  The Color Me Rad 5K in Boston to be exact.  If you're interested in joining hit me up, we're forming a She's A 10 Team for it!

          Now I haven't seriously ran in like 2 years so I have to get in the zone and focus.  Which brings me to my workout must-haves.

1.  My Underamor Cold Gear Fitted:  Yea I splurged on this, $50 BUT a shirt like this is essential for running outside in the cold

2.  Have you had your 8 servings of Water Today?:  I love this waterbottle.  No more trying to keep track of my water intake because all I have to do is drink one and done!

3.  Wahoo Fitness:  I haven't got this...yet.  But definately a must have for a serious runner.  Transforms my iPhone into my personal workout tracker complete with heart rate monitor. 

4.  Funky Colored Sneaks:  I don't know what it is about this bright blue in contrast to my typical all black workout outfits but it gets me motivated. 

5.  Motivational Ts:  Nothing like wearing a little motivation

What are your workout must haves?

Wake Up, Wake Up, Wake Up Cuz' Its the First of the Month

          Ahhh, February 1st.  A fresh new month filled with tons of possibilities.  I like to start off the month by cleaning out my phone, email, and apartment of all the stuff that's clogging my productivity.  I make a new set of goals and clean out my to do list from last month and probably my favorite part in it all and starting fresh on my financial spending.  It sucks looking back at all the things I spent money on that I could have avoided but the new month brings new hopes.

          In the spirit of new beginnings, I even tried a new style on my hair.  Having thick unruly natural hair often proves difficult to have neat tamed styles like a simple bun, which is why I never usually attempt them but armed with a fresh twist out, banana clip, bobby pins, and some advice from one of my new favorite bloggers lykelambswool I tamed that bad boy into the meanest looking bun I ever seen. 

            So proud of myself :)! So with all this positivity I will leave you with my lesson of the day (I know its been a while).

LESSON OF THE DAY

Everyday is a chance to start anew, don't let yesterday's worries prevent you from accomplishing today's goals.  

A Fresh Start...Again

          Random fact about me, I'm a big fan of fresh starts.  So to try and change my funk around I'm starting anew. My friends have been amazing in trying to lift my spirits and get my mind off of the negative and its about time I listen to them.  To be honest I don't know if I'm ready to fully get over everything that has been going on but I got to at least try and put forth a valiant effort. 

          So today marks the start of it.  I'm doing a mind, body, and soul detox of all the negative shit in my life.  It includes...

1.  Keeping up with my workouts, which have been very relaxing mentally

2.  Drinking half my body weight in ounces of water each day to help clean out my body

3.  Taking my vitamins, to help put the good stuff back in

4.  Sticking to a good eating plan free from red meats, processed meats, and making a conscious effort to reduce and eventually eliminate ALL artificial ingredients (sugars, flavors, colors, etc)

5.  Getting on a weekly schedule and keeping productive
6.  Setting at least 2 hours every week to just sit, breathe, reflect, and think. 

          All of Saturday I spent cleaning out my apt of all the junk.  I relaxed, reorganized my room and took in where I am in life right now.  Cleaning and reorganizing are definitely stress relievers for me.  Sunday I just sat.  Nothing special just sat, watched TV and waited until I became a cursing sailor as I watched the AFC and NFC championship games.  All went well after nearly collapsing from multiple heart attacks from the close game between the Ravens and my beloved Patriots.

           But I digress.  Here is my fresh start, and here is my plan to a "Happy, Healthier, more Positive" Q  :)

This Too Shall Pass

Keep it together.  Don't flip out.  You have responsibilities to take care of.  This is only temporary. This is only temporary...

          These are the words I chant in my head everyday at work.  To put it simply this isn't the field for me.  I tell myself all the time that maybe its just a bad experience with this project, but in the end I get no sense of fulfillment from what I do and to be honest can't see me ever receiving it by staying here.

Think positive.  Be positive.  This too shall pass...

          But it won't pass on its own.  I am making a goal this week that I will apply to at least one new position each day outside of this field and into one that I actually would enjoy.  I'll keep you updated.

          Though in spite of everything going on in my life, this weekend was much needed.  A mini vaca filled with lots of adventures, venting, some secret cries, and plenty of poor eating.  I'll share more tomorrow.  But before I go a quick...

LESSON OF THE DAY

Stay positive because this too shall pass.  But until it does, keep your head up and "take it like a champ."  :)

Taking It To the Next Level

          Writing is my therapy.  Its what makes me feel good when I'm down, what helps me to collect my thoughts when I'm confused and cleanses my soul so that I don't have such a heavy burden to bear.  One of the best things 2011 yielded was the birth of this blog.  It has allowed me to express myself freely without feeling the need to hide or keep my thoughts and feelings to myself.

          So to honor it, I'm taking it to the next level.  I recently discovered Tumblr where I can crowd my "mini-blog" with all the photos and thoughts that I have and ones from others that ring true to me.  I've always loved taking pictures (even took a class on it during high school) and decided today that I want to add a personal stamp to all my pics.  I'm even thinking about trademarking it. So tons of changes in store for ADailyPieceOfMe and I can't wait to get them up and running. 

LESSON OF THE DAY

Find something you love.  You never know where it will lead you and what doors will open up from it.

25 Days of Blessings: Dream Big!

          Hello, Good Morning, and Happy Holidays to all!  Yes I'm in a VERY good mood today.  Why?  Well this morning I discovered I have $200 dollars on a company health care card that I can use to pay my bills and its Thursday!  My last day of work until next Tuesday when I have a 3 day work week.  Saweeet! 

           But in addition to that I'm just in a good mood.  Everything is going well and I have no major complaints.  Did all my Christmas shopping and I must say I'm very proud of the gifts I got for the fam.  I'm so thoughtful ::pats self on back::. 

          In other news, I'm prepping for the New Year.  Every year around this time I go through my things get rid of old stuff I no longer use, throw out the unsalvageable and donate the rest to make room for the new.  So what is the new?  Well I'm in the process of putting together a vision board and discovered that I tend to dream big.  The good thing about it is that I'm fortunate enough to be able to have these aspirations and know that if I put in the right effort I can actually achieve them and for that I'm blessed.  

          What's on my board you may ask?  Well here's some of them!

Goal Weight: 130 Ibs

Au Natural:  Step up my natural product game

Grad School:  Get accepted to all my choices 

My Latest Obsession: Mr. Louboutin

A Motorcycle: Started bike, Kawasaki Ninja 250r Blue (or white)

New(er) Car:  The Nissan Juke

 



LESSON OF THE DAY

Dream big or small, but dream!  Aspirations and goals keep you moving forward.

25 Days of Blessings: Another Day

Today's Morning Commute, The Only Bit of Sun I See for the Day

          Yesterday didn't really end off on a good note and I can't stand going to bed upset.  But I guess its my fault, I get too emotional sometimes and expect too much from people.  So today, I've made an effort to just take those annoying little things called emotions and bring them down 50 notches.  Time to schedule a little me time and self reflect for the day.  Not on my job because I've already started the ball rolling on changing that, not on my relationship because that's what kind of been making me crazy, and not even on my friends or family because for the most part I always make time for them, but some time to reflect on just me. 

          So today I'm doing just that.  What do I want for today, tomorrow, and in the distant future?  I've been able to cross out some of my personal short term goals, like refinancing my car, getting my money in better order and even joining a gym.  To give myself a little brake from everything else I'm taking today to wind down and relax.  What do I have in mind? Well after I do a little shopping for my little get-together tomorrow I will be pampering myself at home with a facial, mani and pedi, then off to the movies to see New Year's Eve with Me, Myself, and I.  Yes people, it is perfectly fine to go to the movies by yourself.  And to end off the night a little studying by the fireplace for my GRE tomorrow. 

          Even though yesterday wasn't the greatest, my blessing of the day is that I was fortunate enough to wake up this morning and see another day.

Mellow Wednesday

          Why is it only Wednesday?  I feel like the week is CREEPING by.  This week hasn't been that eventful and its been a real mellow day for me.  Since there hasn't been anything to do at work, I've kind of just been poking around on the Internet.  One of my favorite things to do on days like this after I do my little routine is to read natural hair blogs. 

          I love hearing other natural's stories, regimens, and rants.  I even put in a request for my friend (a fellow naturalista) to give me a lesson on how to do Henna on my hair.  I'm itching to get out of these braids and if it wasn't for the money I paid to put them in, they'd be gone by now. 

          But any who, my goal of establishing a solid daily routine is going well minus the working out part.  So far I'm getting the swing of my sleep schedule and once I feel good about that I'll move into getting on track with my running.  Baby steps people, baby steps.

          After work my plan is to do a little dive shopping at the goodwill before my weekly sushi session with my old neighbor to see what kind of knick-knacks I can pick up for my apartment.  I don't care what people say about "second hand" stores.  It doesn't matter if its a brand new $600 tablet or a used $5 side table, if I like it I'm buying it. I love finding good deals at second hand shops, craigslist, ebay, you name it.  Guess its the frugal side of me that always comes through :).

          Well I should probably go one of the managers of my business unit is in, and I should probably at least look like I'm doing work.

          Til next time!

My Aim for the Week and Beyond

          So to keep the theme of getting happy and staying productive I dedicate this post to the goals I would like to accomplish this week and beyond.  The new year is approaching and it has me thinking about what my New Year's Resolutions will be.  The only thing is that this year I want to have those resolutions already in place so that there will be less chance of back tracking in the New Year.

For this week my goals are...

Stay busy after work:  Sleeping my life away isn't and shouldn't cut it.
Get into a good daily routine: Inclusive of sleep, work, eating, and exercising
Apply to at least one higher Ed job: I'm getting too comfortable with my less than exciting job and I
     need a reminder that this is only a placeholder until I find a job that fits my needs.

Long Term Goals...

Cook a new healthy meal everyweek:  I want to expand my cooking skills and this is a great way to
     do it.
Rock my natural hair:  Yes, its bye bye braids after December.  For the New Year I will fully dive
     head first (no pun intended) into the world of complete natural hair.  Baby steps though, my first goal is to
     do a month straight of doing my own hair, then I'll see where I'm at and if assistance from a Natural Hair
     salon will be needed. 
Keep up with My Fitnesss Pal:  For so long I've been trying new health tracking methods and
     programs and I've finally found one I can stick with.  Now all I have to do it stick with it. 
Become addicted to working out:  Maybe addiction is a strong word, but I want to get to a point
     where I don't have to fight tooth and nail with myself to get up and go to the gym.  Once I get this down
     reaching my goal weight of 130 will be a walk in the park.  Lets just hope I can accomplish it before my
     Memorial Day Weekend Trip to Miami :). 
Be more social and open:  I'm trying to expand my social network in real life, forget facebook and
     twitter.  It doesn't matter how many friends or followers you have if you can't actually hang out with
     someone without being creepy or feelins weird.  I have a wonderful apartment with tons of nice things but
     all that mean nothing if I can't through a party now and then and share them with people.
Be smarter with my money and save more:  I know, with all those spreadsheets and calculating
     down to the penny, you'd think I'd have that down pack, but there is always room for improvment and
     sometimes I'm an impulse buyer when I see something I really like. 
Continue to build my blog:  This little thing right here has saved me from my bordem at work but
     also opened up so many other doors in my life that I only want to continue working on it to see what
     other great things it'll bring me. 

Countdown to LA

        Happy Halloween everyone (even though looking out the window feels more like Christmas).  Its Monday and I'm trying to keep a positive state of mind even though its only the beginning of the week.  The main thing helping me is counting down the days until my trip to LA!  Yea my destination changed from Chicago to LA but either way I'm getting the hell out of New England for a week and some change because right as I come back from Cali I will be on another plan to Dallas (work trip).

          Needless to say I'll need my Miami beach body MUCH sooner than anticipated.  So, I am following a strick 2 week get fit quick scheme so I'll be ready for the California sun. 

          The plan consists of a strict daily caloric intake of 1500 calories per day coupled with a workout of some sort 5 days a week for no less than 20 minutes each workout.  No junk food and lots of fresh food and veggies.  I figured this would be a great time to start a running regimen so I found one at Coolrunning.com.  

Week	Workout 1	Workout 2	Workout 3
1	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
2	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.	Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
3	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following: Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds) Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes) Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)
4	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes) Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
5	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes) Walk 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking.
6	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then: Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes) Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes) Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2-1/4 miles (or 22 minutes) with no walking.
7	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).
8	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).
9	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).	Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).	The final workout! Congratulations! Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).

          To help stay on track with my food intake and workout schedule, I am keeping a very detailed journal of it all.  My goal is to be at least 140Ibs for the trip, which is very realistic considering I would only need to loose 5 pounds over 2 weeks to meet it.  Even so, it won't be easy.  Today there are some delicious apple cider donuts in the break room staring me down every time I walk in to get some water and tomorrow we are having a working lunch meaning that there will be greasy subs and pizza for the taking.  I just have to keep the countdown and a mental picture of the Vicky's Secret Models in my mind.  Let the challenge begin...

Good Morning Monday: Remnants from an Inspiring Weekend

          Usually I dread Mondays, but this weekend was filled with inspiration for my personal life, career, blog, and weight loss (even though I slacked) and that inspiration has carried over into today.  I've been super productive since Friday and I feel like it will only continue to last all week long. 

          Friday I started adding completion dates to my ever changing To Do list and have actually been following through with the timelines.  I finished painting and refinishing my cabinets (details to come later this week), cleaned and unpacked nearly everything in my apartment (minus a few decorative items) and think I finally came to a decision on where my boyfriend and I will vacation.  Get ready...

Chicago!

          I know I am mad excited for many reasons.  1: I've never been and I really want to try their famous deep dish pizzas (I know, my inner fat girl will have a field day which is not good for my weight loss but you only live once) 2: I'm dying to get a break from my boring job and 3: this will be my first vacation with the Mr and I can't wait :). 

          Saturday night, one of my mentors from college came down to visit me.  We went out for coffee and I picked her brain about her thoughts about me going to grad school for higher ed.  She told me about her story about how she got to where she is now and needless to say I was inspired and got the reassurance I needed to make the next big step in my life.  Its always refreshing to have support from the people who you value in your life.  But the inspiration for my career change it didn't stop there. 

          Sunday, I went to help out with some admission work for my Alma mater in CT.  It was nice to meet up with the interns and staff I used to work with and even better getting their enthusiasm and support for my decision.  One of the newer staff I worked with over the summer was an Mechanical Engineer Alum from WPI and has been working in higher ed for a number of years and to hear her story on why she switched careers and the few students she worked with that also made the change from engineering to Student Affairs gave me comfort to know that I wasn't alone. 

          But just in general this weekend was good.  I went out with my roommate Saturday night for her friend's birthday and it was fun.  It was cool to meet new people and get out of the house every now and then, but this very thirsty man trying to dance with me all night who wouldn't get the hint did remind me of why I don't go out to clubs that often.  I have a whole theory on that and more which will come later. 

          Until then I will leave you with the...

LESSON OF THE DAY

Get inspired.  It just might be the fuel you need to put your plans and goals in motion.

My Personal Assistant

          Happy Friday People.  For those who know me, know how organized and sometimes anal I can be (for those who don't, well now you know :D).  But there is a method to my madness and extreme organization and I would like to share with you, in hopes that maybe my tips and tricks will help you too get organized.

Tip 1: Get Your Finances in Order
          After all this is the foundation of your life and goals.  For me, all things financial can be found in my "Personal Assistant."  Essentially is is a excel spreadsheet containing my budget, my accounts, and any possible expense you can imagine.  This thing is accurate down to every penny that leaves and enters my pocket.  Explaining it can't full do it justice so here is a snapshot of the main component of it.

          If you want your own Personal Financial Assistant complete with instructions and tips, just click on the link and download the file.

Tip 2:  Find a way to keep track your life with a good calendar and task manager that works for you.
          I used to be a big fan of Outlook when my life ran off of emails in college.  It had my email, all my contacts, and I could put tasks I wanted to get done in it too.  Best thing of all was that it synced to my phone so no matter where I was I could always be up to date with what I needed to get done and where I needed to be going. 

          Now that I email isn't so much apart of my life anymore, Outlook isn't really that effective.  Right now my tool of choice for keeping track of my life is Google.  Now before you read any further Google is not paying me say any of this shit (though I wouldn't mind if they did).  But in all honesty, they don't have to because their services speak for themselves. 

          It's email, calendar, and task tracking sync to my phone and tablet but does way more too.  Google Maps lets me keep track of places I want to go or more important, for me being in a new place, helps me find and remember my favorite chains that are nearby.  But I must say my favorite thing about Google is Google Voice.  Since my stepmom kick me off the family plan after I graduated, I was forced to find my own plan.  However, I lucked out because my company gave me a cell phone.  Now I didn't want to change my number so I transferred my old number to Google and all my calls go to my free work phone.  So not only was I able to keep my number, but I don't have to pay for a plan.  Another cool thing about it, is because its a call forwarding service from Google every text and voicemail I receive is online, so say I forget my phone at home one day, I can still get all my messages (and send them) from online.  And not to mention my Blog is through them too :D.

Tip 3: Find a place to keep your thoughts, goals and everything in between
          While Google (or whatever you may use)is great for keeping your life scheduled and on time, I find it useless for all the other things that run through my mind that I would like to keep track of.  This is why I use Evernote.  The website takes the simple concept of a blank notebook(s) and makes it accessible anywhere there is Internet access (i.e. your phone, tablet, computer...anywhere!).  For the things I can't find space for in Google, like my grocery lists, food logs, goals, recipes, websites, and the random brainstorming fits I have I use Evernote. 

LESSON OF THE DAY

Get organized.  It will help you IMMENSELY.

Back at Square 1

          What I was hoping would be a great week to put in motion my plans to achieving my happiness in terms of my career, was just shot down with an AK-47.  Why?  Well, I have been researching higher education graduate programs and finding one that would either A, pay me to do a graduate assistance ship, or B allow me to work full time while getting my degree was more than a challenge.  But there was a ray of hope.  UConn had a program HESA (Higher Education and Student Affairs) that would pay me around $20,000 for 9 months to do this assistance ship while getting my MS in Higher Education.  No GREs required.

          Seemed too good to be true, well that's because it wasn't.  UConn's graduate program has a minimum GPA requirement of a 3.0.  Mine's was a 2.85 for either one of my degrees. When I called to ask about how strict they were on that policy, I was told that the HESA program has a 6% admittance rate and of that 6% who make it, the average GPA is a 3.7.  The woman who I was speaking with basically told me that you can apply but with that GPA we don't encourage it. 

          Great, now I'm back at square one.  I bet the reason why all those student's GPAs were so high was because they went to liberal arts colleges and got degrees in subjects like English or communications.  Not saying they aren't smart, but you have to admit, its a lot easier to do well in classes where there is no wrong answer.  Engineering, on the other hand, you either get it or you don't.  I bet if you asked any one of those kids what the Pythagorean theorem is or to integrate or derive an equation, they would look at you like they're stupid. 

          Damn GPA.  I'm just as smart if not smarter than those kids from liberal arts schools but GPAs don't explain what subjects you got As or Bs in, just that you got them.  So the question remains should I still apply even though my chances of getting in are less than 6%, or should I save the $55 application fee and potential dissappointment?  I know, you never know something unless you try, but with that staistic it seems almost worthless to...

Statistics 101

          There are 8,760 hrs in the year.  A typical person works an average of 40 hrs a week which breaks down to a total of about 2,080 hrs a year (a little less than 3 months).  For most of us, we don't live where we work and according to Dateline the average Americans commute to work is roughly about 25 minutes one way (on the conservative side).  That times 2 times a day, 5 times a week for 52 weeks brings you to about 216 hours a year. 

          Now your also suppose to get an average of 8 hrs of sleep per day (in a perfect world) which would mean that you sleep 2,920 hrs a year (which is 4 whole months of just sleep).  That combined with your work and commute schedule comes to a whopping total of 5,216 hrs a year (roughly over 7 months of the year) that you can't even enjoy (unless you have the job of your dreams in which that case I wouldn't call it "work").

          Needless to say you have about 40% of your adult life to actually live and enjoy.  I don't know about you, but I'm going to try and enjoy that 40% as much as I possibly can.  I know every day won't be roses, hell maybe even some weeks will be hard, but my ultimate goal in life is to be able to die and say that I did all I could up until that point to make sure I LIVED, with no regrets and enjoyed it. 

LESSON OF THE DAY

          Time is not your friend.  You really only have 40% of your life to fully enjoy and accomplish everything you want to outside of work and sleep, so do it.

Happy Thursday!

          So I woke up today feeling better than usual, still not where I want to be emotionally and mentally, but definitely a step up from where I've been.  I think its attributed to ending my convo with my man on a positive note and having a lot of things in motion that I want to change. 

          For starters, I found a new place that I really like that will help me save the money I want to without giving up too much on my wish list.  And to help, I have made the decision that if I get the place I will be getting a roommate.  2 bedroom 2 bath condo, why not?  Not something I thought I was gonna go for but getting one would help me save more and get rid of the sting of loneliness by having someone around.  I mean chances are whoever I find I won't wind up being my best friend, but I'm open to the possibility and kinda hoping that it plays out that way.  I didn't really finalize that decision until I found Roomster.com though.  Its like facebook for finding roommates, so its not like I'm searching creepy ass craigslist for someone I am planning to share my home with.  Anyways we'll see how it all pans out.  Everything looks good, just hoping someone doesn't snag it from me while I wait to hear back from my current landlord.

          Then to relieve my social isolation from people my age, I've become real good friends with my neighbor two doors down.  We actually have a LOT in common in terms of moving here and not knowing anyone and not really enjoying where we wound up in our jobs.  Real chill guy.  Today is Thursday funday in which we will indulge in a little pre-weekend celebration with some drinks.  Then tomorrow another trip back to the woo to enjoy some barhoping with a few friends for a birthday celebration. 

           And THEN, I hopped on the scale this morning to notice I droped 1 Ib in 3 days.  Been keeping track of what I've been eating and writing it all down and its been paying off.  At this rate I'll reach my goal weight in half the time I slated for myself. Go me!

          Needless to say the week is looking up as it winds down :)