Gas for the trip

April 8, 2011 by 5 Comments

Stop getting just "Gas for the Trip"

My wife goes to the gas station and, instead of filling up, will put $20 in her tank.  It drives me crazy.  After fifteen years together, it’s one of a very short list of items that she does that bugs me.  Her list for me, by the way, is much longer.  In fact, I think she’s hired a consultant to build a database around it.

But this affliction is very, very prevalent.  We all suffer from it in one way or another.  It affects us personally, as well as professionally; emotionally and even physically.  It may very well be one of the main barriers toward sustainable success in our lives.  Taking shortcuts, it should come to no surprise, is as destructive to growth as any other actions or thoughts we have. Read more of this post

Filed under Application (Excel, Access) and Process Development, Deep Thoughts and Philosophy, Self Improvement & Motivation Tagged with , , , , , ,

One Shining Moment

April 5, 2011 by Leave a comment

We all have (at least) "One Shining Moment"

I decided to work out early on Monday so I could go home right after work.  My family and I had carpooled, so I couldn’t have gone to the gym later anyway. I had to pick them all up and get my butt home.  The NCAA National Championship game, a matchup of dog mascots (UConn’s Huskies and the Butler University Bulldogs), was on soon and I wanted to make sure I watched at least part of it.  This had been one of the craziest postseason’s the country had seen in a while.  Upsets and nail-biters had been the norm throughout, culminating in the first Final Four that had no number one or number two seeds.  (It was also only the third time no number one seeds had made the Final Four.)

In case you can’t tell, I love sports!  The competition.  The teamwork.  The hard work and determination.  Underdogs given no chance to win.  And dynasties with targets on their back as everyone tries to knock them off their throne.  All of it.  I love all of it. Read more of this post

Filed under Deep Thoughts and Philosophy, Family and Friends, Self Improvement & Motivation Tagged with , , , , ,

127 Hours LATER

April 3, 2011 by 3 Comments

Early this week (or last week, depending on when you are reading this), Julie Manriquez, one of my esteemed guest posters, wrote a fantastic post, called One Hour or 127 Hours: BE in Every Moment.  Julie is a deep thinker, dedicated to daily work toward personal growth and enlightenment, as well as humble (she’s much more talented in so many areas than she’ll ever admit) service to others.  And like is often the case, her message was one that was needed.  Not only by me, but by many others, evidenced by the tremendous response and appreciation she received from other readers.

Her message was pretty simple.  Be in every moment.  Stop making excuses not to fully participate in life. Stop asking for a “hall pass” so you can skip the learning lesson that goes on every day of your life if you’ll just reach out to those who are more than happy to teach.  She went so far as to even dare us to be an active participant in our lives. And if you know me, I never saw a dare I didn’t like. Read more of this post

Filed under Deep Thoughts and Philosophy, Family and Friends, Julie M., Self Improvement & Motivation Tagged with , , , ,

What quarter is it?

April 2, 2011 by 1 Comment

When you’re working with financial data (forecasts, revenue or sales targets, financials), you are certainly used to working at the annual and monthly level.  And doing so, whether with a spreadsheet or accounting software, is straightforward.  Grouping by quarter, though, is not as simple, at least when working in Excel.  But, as we accounting and finance people learn, it can be the most useful.  Monthly information often represents too small a slice of data to offer any useful insight- at least in its own context.  On the other hand, while annual information gives you a much better feel for what’s going on with the business, it happens too infrequently to allow management or ownership to do anyting about it.

It makes sense, then, to organize and analyze important information by quarter.  After all, there’s a reason big companies report these results to all who are listening. Read more of this post

Filed under Application (Excel, Access) and Process Development, Business Stuff Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

A Bit of Workout Advice

March 30, 2011 by 3 Comments

Knowing why you're training is the first step!

Jared, a friend of mine at work is getting himself back into shape.  He comes to me now and again for tips and to answer any questions he might have.  I consider it a privilege and obligation to be as helpful as I can.  This morning, he walked into my office and told me that, after a few weeks of working out, he was no longer getting tired, or at least not as tired as when he first started.  Well, first I chuckled and told him that he was probably bullshittin’ (anybody who knows me, knows that’s one of my patented sayings; in fact, I’ve reserved the domain stopbullshittin.com for later use!), After that, I gave him my thoughts.

I first asked him to give me an idea of what his workouts were like.  He said he was trying to get toned (then ripped, but first things first) and that he typically did about 15 reps (repetitions) for each set he did.  After hearing him talk for a few minutes, I realized this was something that I’ve heard–in one shape or form–several, several times in the 20+ years I’ve been working out.  I feel blessed to be able to have kept in shape for this long, both for the physical ability to work out and also for the inner drive God has given me.  And as is the purpose of this site/blog, I am here to share those gifts with others. Read more of this post

Filed under Application (Excel, Access) and Process Development, Fitness Stuff Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

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