Project Miner

I have always hated the idea of New Year’s Resolutions. First, I get geeky about it and think it’s lame to make them just because the calendar happened to flip – why wait until then, or choose that specific day? Why not an April 17th Resolution? Which, of course, leads me to “why resolutions anyway”, why not just realize there is a problem and fix it, without some grand statement made at the start of the calendar year? Bah, humbug says me.

Until this year. Ah, Eric the hypocrite. I can’t defend it, but this year, as I thought about my hatred of the New Year’s Resolution, I started thinking of all the things I’d like to do differently, or make happen, or make some grand proclamation to do for the upcoming calendar year. So, well, crap, here goes my resolutions for 2008…

1. Read more.
   My reading patterns go up and down all the time. The most I’ve ever read was about a book a month when I was taking the bus/rail in DC every day. So, that sounds like a good goal – read an average of one book a month in 2008. I plan to read a blend of fiction and non-fiction, I’ve got a reading list in-place already, thanks to the generosity of friends and family during the holidays. Here is what is on the book shelf as of today:
   • Summerland, The Final Story, and The Yiddish Policeman’s Union – all three by Michael Chabon. Should be interesting to read the same author for a while, I’ve never done that, and I loved Kavalier and Klay.
   • The Invention of Solitude, and City of Glass – both by Paul Auster.
   • Jackie Robinson: A Biography – Arnold Rampersad
   • The Soul of Baseball – Joe Posnanski
   • My Life – Bill Clinton (Dad just had a heart attack)
2. Finish Software Projects.
   Sigh. I’ve got at least a half-dozen projects either sitting in my head or further along (some even have art and some code done). I really need to get off my bum and get some projects finished. I plan to take it out of my own hands a little bit and bite the bullet and hire a cheap developer (entry-level type) to knock out some of the projects so I can throw them at the wall and see if any stick (and, ahem, use some of them, because the majority are things I need!). Finish and release 5 software projects in 2008.
3. I really miss playing ball.
   I really do miss playing baseball/softball. I’m not as crazy about softball, but it’s more socially fun (softball = beer) and a lot easier to find a league to play on, and requires much less “remembering how to play”. That said, I really do still want to look into playing baseball on some adult league team (a scrub one!). Play baseball or softball in a league.

I think that’s enough. I would love to add things like “be healthy” and “lose weight”, but I’m still too much of a resolution hater for those types of generic things. Hopefully not having a car and riding my bike everywhere will be a big help in taking care of the newfound chub.

The common thread in all three above are that they require time… and effort. Both of which I tend to lack. I guess it’s not worth striving for if it’s going to be easy…

A few months ago, I read about a website Kiva.org where people can supply “micro loans” to small business owners in small/developing countries.  Micro loans are basically small loans, done person-to-person or “multi-person”-to-person (which is the case with Kiva).  With Kiva, the company uses contractors who look into the business owner to see how viable their business is and how financially responsible they’ve been in the past.  They have something like a 98% successful loan repayment rate because of the up-front research.  So, with all the information at hand, I went and found some business owners and issued my first two loans of $25 each - one to an electrician in Kenya and the other to a soft drink vendor looking to open a grocery store in Cambodia.  I’ve been notified several times that each of them are doing well and repaying their loan on schedule.  Yippe!

 Today, I got an email from them, their Holiday Newsletter.  The very first sentence was:

 You’re receiving this email because of your relationship with Kiva.org. Please take a minute to confirm [confirm was a link] your continued interest in receiving email from us.

Whoa, asked to confirm that you want to continue getting email?  Not having to tell them to bugger off, but instead “here is one, confirm you want more”?  Wow, that’s what I’m talking about! 

I heart Kiva.  It’s really great stuff, not only a great cause, but well done website development and design.  Hooray for them, please go make a loan if you are in the sharing mood!

Quick update on the recent happenings…

Thanksgiving was awesome.
Sean, Dee and Isabella came into town. Super fun to see them, it’s been a while and they hadn’t seen our house or been to the East Coast since 2004 for our wedding. Sean and I went and rode go-karts at Andretti Speed Lab and had a blast. Note to anybody listening: don’t compete with Sean on car things. He nearly lapped me once and also managed to hit me directly in the side t-bone style. Ouch. He did teach me how to drive them properly and I actually nearly passed him, but ended up eating dust. Fun as hell, though.
Mom put out an awesome spread, as usual, and it was a great day.

War Eagle, bitches.
Went to Auburn for Iron Bowl, where we beat down Bama for a 6th straight year. Coincidentally, every year since I first met a former co-worker Tony, we’ve beaten then down. Maybe there is a God?

DC on business
Was in DC last week, feelin’ the super guilt for leaving Katy and Ona alone for a whole week. They did awesome, as is to be expected from Super Mom and Super Baby. It snowed in DC, which was sad because Katy and I always got a little extra romantic in the snow in DC.
DC was fun, got to see Jol a few times and the Carliles and Thomas. Thomas has a new cat, who is super cute and made of rabbits feet. Hartley is her name. Best cat name ever, says me.
Got the sinus suck at the end of the week, so it was nice to get home and medicated.

Ona is awesome.
She just gets more and more cute every day. I always thought I hated babies, but she’s pretty rad. Even with reflux problems, she doesn’t get too pissed off and yelly, so she can stay. There are still times when I want to pull my hair out (errr, if I had any), but the vast majority of the time, I spend saying “damn, she’s awesome”. She is smiling a ton now and sleeping 6 straight hours. Yay, super baby.

Date night.
Katy and I got sitters (G’parents) and went on awesome date night Saturday. Super nice to get out and just be alone, even if we were old people and went out at 5:30. She dressed up all super hot and it was a great night. She is now wafer-thin and I’m going for high score. Sigh. Back to the gym, I go.

MINI goes bye-bye.
We sold the MINI. It was a blast for a year, but I put like 6K miles on it in just over 12 months. Can we say “unnecessary”? I sold it to a really cool family that lives south of Atlanta. Got $18,200, which was my “priced to sell” asking price. Hooray for MINI’s keeping their value, we didn’t have to pay anything to get rid of it. All things considered, it was a wash price-wise (taking our deposit into account). So, we are a one car family now! Hooray for trying to do things smaller. I will be biking and walking more. Hooray for not going for high score anymore!

There is my quick summary. Hope all is well with everybody in internet land.