Life and Optimism

The point of life is to have fun and meet people.
Optimism helps that.

A man becomes and remains optimistic by loving the people and experiences he has, learning from but not comparing anything to the people and experiences from the past, and not worrying about the people and experiences of the future.

The present masters most because it is here, and it is the only thing possible to experience. The past was there only to teach us, and no one knows what the future holds.

The future will be best if a man simply does his best, acts genuinely, and is receptive to others.

Enjoy the present. It makes up the entirety of your life.

Routine… Finally!

With the addition of a job, I’ve finally developed some kind of a ‘normal’ day! I’m excited because this allows me the stability and good habits I’ve wanted for a long time, but couldn’t do them because I couldn’t predict plan a day, let alone a week!

So here’s my approximate daily routine:
• Wake up, 6:00 to 8:00, depending on late night working the night before
• Business (networking or working at home, typically reading business news and scheduling my social media posts for the day). Sometimes the networking starts at 7:30. I miss these 50% of the time because I am often working until 1 or so. That’s where I could hone up my tendencies. I do this until lunch, often there are lunch networking events
• Go to work until evening. I usually leave work by 4, 5, or 6
• Evening free time: I get to do what I want. Frequently (3 to 4 days per week), I just happen to want to do business-type things. Either client meetings after work at one of my offices or networking of some variety. This is also when I host my social events. If I had a lady-friend, this would potential be an opportunity to see her, but we would mostly see each other on the weekends
• About 8 or 9, I go for a run. After I get home, I go directly to the gym for weight stuff. I mix abs and a protein shake somewhere in there. The protein shake is usually dinner, along with fruit. I basically eat a lot of fruit, as I’ve used it to replace cookies (well, usually….)
• After I get home from the gym, I have free time. I use this to clean, type notes here, work a bit, or do whatever
• Go to bed hopefully by 12ish. When I spend this free time working, it turns into 2 because I get on a roll. Then I miss my 7:30 networking

I am so very happy! This is a sustainable routine, and it’s making me super healthy and obtain my goals! Believe it or not, I actually prefer being stable!

Changes

People say that when you get older, it’s harder to stay in shape because your body changes. Your metabolism drops and your energy drops.

I don’t think that’s true because my energy levels do not drop. I’m able to contain my energy more, but it’s definitely always there.

In the past, I was like a bowling all on a tight rope – a lot of potential energy that can be released at any moment.

Nowadays, I’m more like  a car at the top of a hill – it can roll down the hill whenever and however fast the driver wants.

However, it is, in fact, harder to stay on shape, but that’s because this summer I have had to take a week or two off here and there because I get hurt easier.

It sucks.

So now I just have to be more careful and not be oblivious to my body when it tells me to pay attention to something.

Luckily, I still heal about as fast as Wolverine, and I don’t get sick after my surgery in January.

Grease

I watched Grease for the first time last night. I’m always a fan of musicals, so I liked it.
I need to work on my ridiculous swing moves, though, but I’ll probably need a consistent dance partner first.

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After the movie, JJ, Kristen, and I walked to Sebastian Joe’s. They were closed (oops on the planning), so we walked to Tilia. I got some chocolate cake, JJ got some smoked trout (which was a joke suggestion, but I guess sometimes a guy feels like smoked trout at midnight).
Kristen helped with both, but quickly retreated from the trout after biting a bone.
Overall, fun night.

Happy One, reposted

I am a happy one!

I am happy to be alive, I am happy to have a great career (even if you can’t see much on LinkedIn, it is growing according to plan), and I am happy with the people in life!

I’m just being silly and laughing because that’s what I do. 2014 is an awesome year. It’s above anything that’s happened before it (because it’s a higher number, get it?).

J Out!

Summer Nights

Since I work all day, I do take occasional nights off. Instead of working, sometimes I work. Here are the results (I tend to do 4 feet at a time. There are no ‘before’pictures. Just imagine a bunch of weeds and a few other plants I decided I didn’t like so ripped then out as if they were weeds (I’ll just update this and make the days current when I do more).

[update]
No significant progress today, but I did take a picture during the day!
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I didn’t do any more work, but I decided to use my real camera because my phone images didn’t do it justice. So here’s my backyard at night:
f/4.5, 20/1 s, ISO-200
back yard lights

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(This is actually 3, 4 foot sections and 3 separate nights)

Someday I might even think to take pictures during the day.

Happy Fourth!

Today was a good day.
For lunch, I made BBQ chicken on the grill – turns out I’m a natural at feeling chicken, too!

I talked to my buddy, and after mowing the lawn, I joined him and his friend at Lake Calhoun at the beach.

We hung out there. While he was taking a nap (on my towel, so I couldn’t chill much), I was talking to a lot of people. I started BSing with a group of about 5 women and two guys.

Fast forward about 30 minutes, and there was a dance party on the beach.
Yay!

We all had a lot of fun! I, of coursed, enjoyed just having fun conversations with a couple ladies and one lady’s fiancé.

Later, I was talking to Jeremy and Rohit about what to do. They were planning on either Roseville fireworks or Saint Anthony fireworks. I told them about Boogie Wonderland at Mystic Lake.

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First, they wanted food, and they like saving money right now, so I offered burgers at my place, and they accepted. However, after deciding to go to Shakopee, my house was out of the way, so Jeremy offered to make burgers at his house in West Bloomington (right off of Old Shakopee Road, which was perfect for Mystic.

The show was awesome, and my friends were very happy that I suggested it.
After the show, since Rohit has never been in a casino after leaving India 8 years ago, Jeremy and I decided to show him around while we waited for traffic to die down.

Overall – great night!

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