Ender's Game

As friend of mine gave me Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" as an audiobook. I've never been a huge science fiction fan, but this book was great. Once I started it, I had trouble turning it off. This book has won many awards, and as far as I can tell it deserves them all.

The book follows a child, named Ender Wiggin, through his training at battle school. He is recognized as a tactile genius and quickly progresses through school at a very young age. All his training is focused on destroying an evil alien race known as the "buggers". As would be expected, there are sweet battle scenes and plenty of childhood bantering.

One interesting point is that at the end of the book Card gives a quick interview. He talks about the book and how it came about - kind of like a special feature on a DVD. He also says that he was originally a Broadway play writer and that when he writes, it's meant to be spoken out loud. Therefore, he concludes, listening to the audiobook is the best way to enjoy his story.

Being that this is an award winning best seller, I'm sure many people have already read it. However, if you have not, I highly recommend it. It's an easy listen and really entertaining.

The Business School For People Who Like Helping People

Some friends of ours let Jessi borrow Robert Kiyosaki's book The Business School For People Who Like Helping People. She read it and loved it. Jessi then let my mom borrow it. She read it and loved it. My mom returned it to us to return to our friends (are you still following?) and that's when I saw it, read it and loved it. I think now we can return it.

As with all Kiyosaki books, this one is about starting your own business. Instead of it being a how-to book, Kiyosaki stays with his tried and true style of convincing you WHY you should do it and hopefully motivate you enough that you actually go and do something about it. It works for me, though others hate it.

As a side bar: A how-to style get rich book won't work. The fortune is in doing something creative - providing a good or service that hasn't been thought of yet. When you do that, you create value and people are willing to pay for it. Someone holding your hand, telling you exactly what to do, does not create value. Beside, unless you're the one writing the book, chances are enough other people have done it that even if there is value, it's small.

OK, on with the book review. In this book, Kiyosaki talks about the benefits of network marketing.

1. There's true equal opportunity - everyone is qualified to try and all types of have been successful. The low start-up costs and included training make this possible.
2. Life changing business education - this one is huge. You are taught how to run and operate your own business. More on the benefits of a business later.
3. Friends who pull you up, not push you down - your business partners want you to be successful because that feeds their success. It truly creates an atmosphere of helping.
4. The value of a network - the trick is not just to only sell yourself, but to train others to sell. When you do that, the results are exponential (Metcalf's Law).
5. Develops your most important business skill: sales - in order to be successful in a business you MUST learn how to sell. Networking companies train you how to do that.
6. Leadership - as you succeed, you get put into leadership roles. You also learn how to speak to large crowds and motivate people.
7. Not working for money - if you choose a business that offers residual income, you are building wealth, not income. In other words, you no longer have a direct 1-to-1 trade off of trading time for money. Even the tax advantages alone make it worth it.
8. Living your dreams - Networking companies encourage you to dream and reach those dreams. This goes right with #3 & #7. They also allow you to start part-time and build at a pace that is right for you.
9. Marriage and business - Jessi and I know this to be true. Unlike working for company alone most of the day, Jessi and I get to run our business together. We lift each other up.

One of the concepts Kiyosaki keeps refreshing is the cash flow quadrant.

I've talked about this before, and the diagram is relatively self explanatory, so I'll get to the take-away. In Built To Last, Jim Collins talks about clock building. Some companies tell time. Other companies build clocks. Both have the same end result when asked what time it is, but building clocks allows people to continue to tell the time on their own... when you are gone. That's what being a true business owner is all about: You create an independent system that works for you. Network marketing is about creating a duplicate-able process, a system that self duplicates. This is what #4 talks about - the power of that leverage.

Like most of his books, this is a quick read that is definitely worth it. You'll enjoy it and definitely learn something new.

Microtrends

I was given Microtrends as an audiobook for easy listening. I especially enjoyed listening to it while running. It gave me something to think about while not completely distracting me.

Mark Penn describes a microtrend as something a group doing something makes up at least 1% of the population and is growing. He then goes on to describe 75 microtrends he has observed based on poll data and other research. Interestingly, this book was published in 2005 and it already showing signs of being old: He predicted the Zune was going to transform the way we share music.

One interesting trend Penn points out is the coming difference in age between the US and Europe. Currently, US birth rates are keeping up with death rates. However, Europeans are having far fewer children then deaths. Right now the average age in US/Europe is 25/26. However, in 15 years it will be closer to 26/50. There will literally be a generational gap in addition to an ocean. This could have huge implications. If Europeans this we're brash and stupid now, just wait.

So, if you're looking for a fun read to fill you with a bunch of facts you probably won't remember, then I recommend this book. However, I would probably go with something more timeless in the future that talks about principles. Still, it's fun to review the last 10-15 years and talk about explicit trends and discuss why they're happening.

In an effort to stay more up-to-date, Penn does have a website which features more current trends. That's at least worth checking out.

Spend Less Than You Earn

This week's financial class was one that seemed pretty basic on the surface, but when you start digging into it, you find it's really not that easy. We learned four principles:

1. Spend less than you earn
2. Avoid the use of debt
3. Build and emergency fund
4. Set long-term goals

Clearly, all of these are inter-related: If you can't spend less than you make, it makes it hard to avoid debt and build an emergency fund. When looking for practical advice, I recommend the book The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason. It's half a how-to book and half a story book. There's a bunch of short stories, and each one has a clear, practical tip. Though, in all honestly, I think it's more a mindset than a lack of ideas. Once you decide to get out of debt, you will figure out ways to do it on your own.

So, I would follow Stephen Covey's advice. In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, one of Covey's habits is to "Begin with the end in mind". I like doing this because it helps to focus on what's important. So, I recommend setting long-term goals first. Give yourself a purpose to get out of debt. Once you have that - and truly want to achieve that goal - you will begin spending less and saving more.

Your goals will obviously depend on where you are in life and what your priorities are. So, think of the following suggestion as a primer for some possible goals.

• Pay off your house.
• Save enough money to send your kinds to college.
• Contribute $5,000 to a mission organization over the next 10 years.
• Pay off all credit cards.
• Contribute $4,000 each year towards retirement.
• Save $20,000 for a down payment on a rental property.

Think broadly and pick things you really want. My mom wanted to be able to take the whole family on a nice vacation every 5 years. She would save around $100 each month which generally would pay for all 5 of us. Two years before it was time, she would start to ask us where we wanted to go. A year before it was time she would start actually making plans. By the time we went we had most of, if not all of, it paid for. Now, that is a savings plan anyone could get excited out.

As a final thought, I'll leave it to SNL. Then next time you're thinking about spending money you don't have, picture this: (hulu.com)

Dedicating Our Finances

As promised, we've learned more about managing our personal finances and I'd like to share. Here's what we learned this week.

The first step in managing your finances for God is to dedicate it all to Him. I realize this is much harder to do than what I just wrote.

The first step is realizing you own nothing. "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." (Psalm 24:1). This means your wealth is not actually yours. Instead, you are simply a steward. A steward of your house, car, family, and money. Everything. Take a minute and wrap your head around that one. This is the exact same relationship I have with HP. They gave me a computer to use and take care of. When I'm done at HP, I will give the computer back. Everything I do on the computer should be to help HP. Now image you worked for God and he gave you everything in your life. Are you using all of it for the good of Him? I realize it's a high standard - I'm not even perfect with HP.

Of course, there are some benefits to this situation too. Since I'm just a steward (or manager, whatever), I do not need to be wrapped up in all "my" things, because they're not mine. If I lose or gain something, it shouldn't matter because it wasn't mine to begin with. Hopefully you also understand that, like when borrowing something, it's still your responsibility to take care of it and try not to break or lose it. It's a subtle shift in thinking, but a powerful one.

It was strange waking up this morning because when I looked at Jessi, I realized she's been temporarily entrusted to me. I need to take care of her, but not for my own pleasure, but for God's pleasure. In some ways, that implies a whole lot more responsibility.

The Fine Art Of Small Talk

I recently read a short, but powerful book. I originally saw it in a Kinkos and probably over a year later got around to actually reading it. I was going to be taking a short plane trip and wanted something I could easily finish. Debra Fine's The Fine Art Of Small Talk slid right to the top of the list.

The book starts out recognizing that everyone is afraid of being stuck in a situation where they don't know anybody. Where you literally have to start up a conversation with a complete stranger. You absolutely wish somebody would come along and take YOU out of your misery by simply starting up a conversation with YOU. The great revelation is that YOU can be that somebody that rescues somebody else, and in turn rescues each other. The book then goes on to give advice and tips to make it easier to be that person who succeeds in small talk.

At the end of the book, Fine gives a list of Do's and Dont's which I printed off for each car and Jessi and I now review on our way to any event. It serves as a great refresher, and gives us the courage to be better at small talk. I won't give away all of Fine's secrets, but here are some of the good ones:

• Do take the risk and introduce yourself to others.
• Don't hope that your grandmother from St. Louis will arrive and introduce you to all these strangers. (Jessi's favorite)
• Don't use nicknames without permission!
• Do make people feel special by using their names during conversation.
• Do ask a person's name if you've forgotten it.
• Do prepare icebreakers that show a genuine interest and are tailored to the occasion or situation.
• Do "play the conversation game," offering information about yourself and your activities so others can learn about you.
• Don't monopolize by speaking for more than four to five minutes - throw the conversation ball back and forth. (I'm guilty of this)
• Do practice an "elevator speech," offering a couple of interesting sentences about your work.
• Do use humor whenever possible to overcome uncomfortable moments.
• Don't tell jokes unless you're a master joke teller.
• Do get excited about other people's activities and interests.
• Don't melt away from conversations.
• Do issue invitations to continue relationships.
• Do regularly stay in touch with those you meet.
• Do keep track of what you learn about people so that you can use that information in future communications.
• Do use open-ended questions such as, "tell me about..." and "How did you come up with that idea?" to jump-start a conversation.
• Do come prepared to change topics if a conversation has lost steam or encounters a roadblock.
• Do compliment others about their behavior, possessions, or appearance.

Fine has many more which are just as good. The book is a quick read, and it is worth reading.

Managing Our Finances

Jessi and I recently started a personal finance class put on by our church. The curriculum is called Managing Our Finances God's Way and was created by Crown Financial Ministries (lead by Rick Warren who wrote Purpose Driven Life). We're just getting started, but already it's got us thinking.

In all honesty, I didn't really want to go originally because I'm not a really a fan of spending a ton of time thinking about finances. I don't like creating and tracking budgets. I don't follow the stock market. I don't compare 401K and IRA plans. I don't like trying to figure out the right amount of life insurance. I don't calculate my personal saving rate or any other measures of "success". The only thing I really look at is my bank balance twice a month which tells me how much I can spend. That's just about the most time I want to spend managing my finances. I'm able to do this by following Timothy Ferriss' 4-Hour Workweek plan: I invested the time upfront to create a system I could walk away from (I give credit to Timothy for helping me articulate and refine a system I had already created).

I also didn't want to go because I had a feeling the class was designed for employees. Robert Kiyosaki has a visual he uses (you can see it on the cover of Cashflow Quadrant) to talk about employees, self-employed, business owners, and investors. It isn't that any group is better or worse than the other, they just have different values when looking at life. We all occupy each in some way in our life, it's just that some tend to dominate others. Here's a quick description of the different values:

E values security

S values independence

B values teams work

I values financial freedom

I'm trying to transition my thinking from an employee to a business owner. Talking about retirement planning is boring (unless it's with my mom. She does it for a living and we get into awesome debates). Instead, I'd rather talk about businesses and investments. I want to know how to structure and run a business that glorifies God. Again, I don't want to spend my time thinking about finances, I want to spend my time living life and working on a business.

Even though I don't spend much time thinking about finances, it doesn't mean I have a super simple structure. Here's how I set up my system: I currently have 10 checking/saving accounts (ING is amazing because it's so easy to set up new accounts as I need them) where each one has a specific purpose which draws automatically from my main checking account. For example, I have a car maintenance account, emergency savings, rental reserves, travel fund, gift fund, and charity fund, etc. Trust me, it's really hard to spend extra money when it's all in separate accounts and all I see, and can access when shopping, is the money transfered to my living expenses account. Plus, since everything gets transfered automatically, I don't have to remember to do anything. Thanks to Mint, I've aggregated everything together so keeping track of it all is a breeze too. I literally spend less than an hour a month quickly checking over everything to confirm the system is working.

I remember when I first proposed this structure to Jessi she thought I was crazy. She wanted to have one joint account that we did everything out of. I had her read The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach who gave me the original foundation for this structure (I always give her permission to skim the technical parts :-). She loved it and quickly saw the benefits. She no longer has to track everything in a spreadsheet. She no longer has to remember, or rely on will-power, to transfer money or save. All of this translates into less time thinking, and typically worrying, about finances. It has freed us up to do more important things, like actually living life.

Maybe you can see my apprehension to join this class. I already have a sleek system in place that works. At the least, this class would waste a couple hours for the next 7 weeks. At the worst, it would create more work which I didn't want.

Thankfully, after going to a couple of classes, I don't think either one of these will be the case. I probably won't need to change much in my system, but I can already feel a shift in my attitude toward managing our finances: from wishing I didn't have to, to respecting it's importance and remember the purpose behind finances. Plus, this gives me an opportunity to share here.

The first thing we learned (and my original topic when I sat down to write) was the importance of managing our finances. The Bible has 2,350 verses in the Bible about money. Clearly it's important, but why?

How you manage your finances is preparation for Heaven. Luke 16:11 says "If you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?" In Paul's letter to Timothy about the people of Ephesus he says, "Tell them to use their money to do good... by doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven - it is the only safe investment for eternity!" (1 Timothy 6:18a, 19a).

What does this mean practically? Well, I'm not 100% sure yet. What I do know is that whatever I do I need to do it purposefully and carefully. God will be watching to see how I do with this small(ish) task. It's OK to spend time thinking and planning about finances as long as it's done for the right reason. Furthermore, running a business that is designed to glorify God has two benefits. 1) It glorifies Him. 2) It uses our finances for a good purpose.

Over the next few weeks I hope to learn more about how to successfully manage our money. I'm pretty sure we're doing it right, but the reason why we're doing it right will probably shift slightly. I'm also pretty sure the focus will be 100% on personal finances.

To end with, we were shared a prayer from Agur in Proverbs 30:8-9. I really liked it because it talks about balance in respect to finances.

"Don't let me too poor or too rich.

Give me just what I need. If I have too much to eat,

I might forget about you; if I don't have enough,

I might steal and disgrace your name."

2010 Goals

I don't know about you, but this year has taken off like a rocket for Jessi and I. We started the year in Michigan with Jessi's Aunt (A Qik video). Then we headed home and remodeled one of the kitchens of our duplex with my family (Another Qik video). We advertised it for rent and just found our new tenants yesterday.

Somehow I also managed to sit back and reflect on what I want to accomplish this year. My friend, Biraj, said I should post them to my blog, so here it is.

In an attempt to create SMART goals, I tried to get pretty specific. I explain what it is and my plan to accomplish them. Furthermore, these are in order of importance.

1) Read Bible 3x/week

As the foundation for all my decisions, I need to spend more time in the Word. Last year I said something about being more "consistent". This year I want to be more concrete. Eventually, I'll be up to every day, but right now it'll follow my workout schedule. So, when I do my push-ups and crunches, I'll read between reps.

2) Share the Gospel with 1 person

Our church has been talking about the importance of not only living a Christian life, but sharing our faith with others too. I'm not 100% sure how to accomplish this goal yet, but it's something I want to do. It'll start with building genuine relationships and taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves. I still need to work on the "take advantage" part and will spend time developing that.

3) Hug more people

Hugging people is so much fun because it's so personal and better communicates how I feel about them. I don't even do this enough with Jessi. I realize it isn't exactly SMART, but it sounds weird to say, "hug at least 3 people a week" (IMO).

4) Communicate my excitement!!

I think this goal relates to hugging pretty closely. I need to improve sharing my emotions with others. I've had a couple people doubt my excitement because I can be pretty placid when I am actually excited. I'm not 100% sure what this looks like, but I do know how I acted when Jessi and I went to Disneyland (I was visually excited) and Jessi herself gives a good example of what it looks like to be excited about something.

5) Achieve ZERO short-term debt

Thankfully, we don't have a lot of short-term debt. However, Jessi and I started taking a finance class put on by our church and this is one of the goals laid out in it. I think it's achievable. The way I typically spend money is to use my credit card and then pay it off that month (or shortly after). It worked really well until we started doing repairs on our duplex. Now I need to pay off those repairs and make a shift from spending on credit to spending from a checking account, which requires a shift which income I spend. Without getting too mathy, we should be able to accomplish this because our expenses are less than our income. It will just take time and smart choices each month.

6) Find 3 business builders

Our Univera business has been fairly stagnant the last two months and now that our duplex is starting to switch over to autopilot I need to focus more here. Again, this will start out with building genuine relationships and if Univera fills a need for someone, present the business to them. I also need to get better at being rejected so I can engage people without fear.

7) Level 4 conversation 4x/week

Have you noticed a trend yet? Lots of my goals this year revolve around building and maintaining relationships. It's become very apparent that I'm OK at it, and if I truly want to be successful, I need to include others and build them up in the process. I don't remember where I learned the 4 levels, but here they are:

Level 1: Superficial (ex: talk about the weather)

Level 2: Facts (ex: talk about what you do for a living)

Level 3: Opinion (ex: talk about what you think about the latest political bill)

Level 4: Deep Insight (share something personal)

You typically need to work down each level before you can learn something special. I worked on this a lot the second part of last year and am looking to further improve. This will lead to having deeper, higher quality relationships instead of just a bunch of superficial ones.

8) Find 3 customers

Finally, I want a obtain 3 new Univera customers. I'm pretty sure this will happen naturally as the other goals develop over time, but I wanted to explicitly remember to do this.

That's it. It should be a fun year, and a busy year. By accomplishing these goals I believe I will be living a rich life and a life on purpose for God.

How to Install a Water Back Flow Prevention Valve

Have you ever wondered how to install a water back flow prevention valve?

When my parents came to visit over Thanksgiving my dad helped Jessi and I install one. We were concerned that water was getting under the house from the storm drains and installing this valve will stop that from happening. This video chronicles the process and fun we had installing the system.

Garage Videos

Jessi and I are currently in the middle of our garage adventure, and believe me, it's an adventure. So far we've only had to buy one item because we couldn't find it - a can opener. We've created our own inside joke for anything else we can't find, "Oh, it must be with the can opener." Let me tell you, whatever container that can opener is in, is huge.

I created these two videos during our move, but haven't uploaded them until now because I didn't have my personal computer out. The first is me ruminating on our "stuff" and the second is a short clip of Jessi and I playing "I Spy".

My YouTube Channel for more videos.

All Fixed

For all of you worried sick about our Lego accident I thought I'd give a quick update. Tonight Jessi and I started a show on Fancast and worked to fix our tower. We slowly sorted all the pieces and started sticking it back together. Thankfully it's such a symmetrical structure it wasn't too tough.

So our Lego Eiffel Tower is once again complete and Jessi is all smiles again. It is a happy ending. :)

A Broken Tower

This evening I was getting ready for a meeting with a tax consultant regarding our duplex. I was looking over documents and had asked Jessi to find some other paperwork since she always seems to know where they are. When the door to the garage opened (remember, we're still doing that whole thing) I heard gushing tears. I immediately jumped up assuming something had fallen on Jessi and that she was hurt.

Not exactly. While standing up with the paperwork, she bumped our Lego Eiffel Tower and sent it crashing to the cement floor. Jessi was in tears because she had accidentally broken a set of Legos. Now, I'll be honest. This kind of warmed my heart in a "guyish" type of way. I knew Jessi enjoyed building Legos with me, but I didn't realize she was THAT attached to it.

So this weekend I will get to play the role of super husband who figures out how to put our Eiffel Tower back together. At first glance I don't think it'll be too tough and I'm actually kind of excited to try and build it again. Then I'm going to store it in one of our obscure corners where we don't go... next to the Death Star which would probably make both of us cry if broken.

Leadership Definition

This last Saturday Jessi and I went to a Univera regional event. It's a ton of fun because we get to see many friends from across the country. It's also educational with great speakers all day. I thought I'd share one of the things I learned today: The definition of a leader (at least according to Univera, though I'll try to generalize)

Clearly Established Priorities & Values

First and foremost it's important for a leader to have balance in their life. Some areas to consider are spiritual, family (spouse, children), business, recreation, fitness & friends. If their life is in balance, they will find consistent success and not burn out.

Desire to be Free Financially

A leader has goals, both short-term and long-term. More importantly, they're willing to sacrifice to achieve those goals (yes, be willing to sacrifice TV). It's actually this desire, not just financial freedom, that drives people to be and do their best. Without desire you get one of two possibilities: 1) They give up when times get tough or 2) There's a flurry of activity with little actually being accomplished.

Coachable & Teachable

A leader will use a system that works, and improve the system when it doesn't work. They will study and strive to be the best they can be. Part of that involves reading daily and attending training courses.

Is a Team Player

A leader is willing to do the work themselves to become great (sometimes called "Leading from the front). Others are inspired others because of their leader's work ethic and compassion. Obviously, leaders work well with people. They are positive, energetic, empowering and engaged.

Invests in the Business

I'm talking both time and money here. A leader invests in people and themselves to help achieve their goals. With Univera, this involves buying products and going to team events. Maybe it requires buying a piece of equipment for a different business.

Has the Magic!

People are attracted to leaders - they are inspired and believe the vision set by the leader. Leaders are fun to be with. They laugh a lot and are always smiling. They also submit their ego, utilize personal power & credibility, are mentally tough and have a huge heart for people.

Draws out the Key Leaders In Their Group Everyday

A great leader figures out who else is a leader within their organization and helps them become even better.

Well, those are some thoughts on leadership I took away from this weekend. I know it's much more complicated, and in some ways simpler, but I thought this was a good way to think about leadership. Enjoy.

A Couple Thoughts On Getting Out of The Rat Race

I recently had lunch with a new friend and the conversation quickly turned to one of my favorite topics: getting out of the rat race. I love talking about why people want to get out and then sharing ideas on how they're doing it. I've learned a lot from reading and talking with people and thought I'd share just a little bit.

The Why

Despite everyone having seemingly different reasons (travel more, sleep in, be with children, etc.), I've found that it always boils down to one thing: they're seeking some sort of control in their life. Once I realized this, it opened me up to even more possibilities. What I am looking to control? Can I achieve it without getting out of the rat race? For example, if all I wanted was to be able to sleep until 8am, I could simply change jobs and reach my goal.

The How-To

Just as much fun to talk about are ways to create passive income which frees up your time to do other things. Note: passive income does not mean you never have to touch it. You will have to check in and do stuff, it just doesn't require 40 hours every week. Now we all know of the classic businesses like real estate and laundry mats which take a significant amount of capital to get started. Instead, I wanted to share a couple smaller ideas I've heard.

• Own and rent pinball machines to other businesses. This is exactly what Warren Buffet did when he was a kid.
• Own and rent candy/soda machines to other businesses. Jessi knew some family friends who did this with each of their kids to teach them about passive income.
• Raise animals for later sale. My friend bought some cows, is raising them, and will sell them in a couple years. His kids help him feed and take care of them. If you already have the land, this could work well.
• Grow plants. Another friend grows hay. It's relatively low maintenance, you earn some money, and the tax advantages are nice.
• Create a website selling drop-shipped items. You sell it, another company makes and delivers if for you. Being an amazon affiliate is another type of example.

There are tons of ideas out there. Each idea I just mentioned could potentially get you out of the rat race, plus they're great learning tools for kids. You start small and continue to reinvest to grow your business. Eventually, you reach a large enough scale that you can hire someone to help with the day-to-day operations (Raising 12 cows is do-able. A couple hundred requires help). For example, we own a duplex now which we manage. We will buy and manage more property in the future. Eventually we'll own enough that we can trade them in for a larger complex and hire a management company to run it for us. Remember: owning a business, not managing it, is what you want if you're looking to get out of the rat race.

Fix Up Videos

Jessi and I were in high gear this weekend working on our new digs. It's a lot of work, but ultimately we're enjoying it. Here's one of my favorite videos which captures our realization that we still have a long ways to go on this painting project.


We have more short clips which you can watch on my YouTube channel.

The First of Firsts - A Slumber Party!

Since last night was the first night we owned our first property we decided to have a simple dinner and spend the night there.

Since I had jiu jistu practice last night we didn't arrive until 8:30pm - dark and wet. We set up our sleeping bags in the living room while our water boiled for Macaroni & Cheese. Then we did, what I imagine any new home owner does the first night: we walked into each room, doubled checked the lights, heaters, cabinets/closets and basically took a mental inventory of things to be improved in the future (oh yeah, we need to buy a shower curtain bar).

Of course, improving things on a rental property is much different that your dream house. Everything we decide to do will be measured against some sort of future ROI. So, as much as I think granite counter tops are cool, we will not be installing them.

Once we finished dinner we talked a little bit about Univera and our short-term plans to grow the business. You see, if Jessi moves one more rank up, she will be earning enough that she won't need to substitute teach if she doesn't want to. Since we woke up at 5am to get back to our apartment so Jessi could get ready for school, this is our next big priority after we do the initial improvements. :)

Speaking of improvements, here's our plan: On Friday we're going to deep clean the entire interior - I don't actually know what this means, but Jessi seems to know what she's talking about. Then, sometime on Saturday we'll prep the interior for painting. I imagine this will involve lots more scrubbing and minor touch-ups, we're not going to dive into any major improvements yet. Then Sunday through whenever, we'll be painting.

Then we'll focus on the exterior, while moving our stuff in at the same time, of course. One of the major issues with this property was water under the house. From crawling under it, it's clear that water was at one time at least 12" deep - not great. So, we've fixed all the damage under the house and now we'll be focusing on preventing water from getting under the house in the first place.

Normally, this would be a deal killer for most people. It almost was for us. Thankfully, my dad was able to come up and check the property out and provide his insights. He's an underground contractor, so dealing with water, especially underground, is something he's excellent at.

First, the drain under the house shares the same main outlet as the other rain gutters on the property. We believe this is causing back pressure on the drain under the house. So, not only is the drain under the house not working (ie not draining), water is actually flowing back into the crawl space. Therefore, we'll be installing a back flow prevention valve to at least stop water from flowing the wrong direction. Could this cause an issue with the other rain gutters? We'll see, and we have a plan if it does.

Finally, we need to re-grade the front and backyard. Currently, the backyard's slope is relatively flat. It's not bad, but it also means that water isn't running away from the property. We're going to add a little more slope in the backyard to get the water a little further away. The front yard has a similar situation so we'll be re-shaping that as well. All the roof's gutters have already been fixed, so that'll help too.

Then we'll just sit back and watch. If we need to, there's more we can do, with each solution getting more and more creative. Installing a sump pump is actually 3 or 4 on the list of "try this next".

Clearly we have lots to do in the short-term. Personally, I'm excited for all the new toys... err... tools we get to buy for our projects.

New Property

Jessi and I are officially investment property owners! We purchased a duplex in Albany Oregon and it is sweet. We will be living in one side with the other side rented out. This is fantastic! We're excited on so many different levels. We're excited to start making improvements on the property. We're excited to actually have a front and back yard. We're excited to be one step closer to getting out of the rat race.

We've been kind of hush about it because the process is so uncertain. With the credit crunch, everything has become so stringent that seemingly little things have been killing deals. This one was particularly interesting because we kept finding little surprises at every turn. Thankfully, the people selling the property were remarkable because they were very professional dealing with issues as they occurred. With everyone's perseverance this deal came together perfectly in the end.

Now the real fun begins. Our first step is to paint the inside of our unit and start moving in. Then we'll begin working on some preventative maintenance to make sure it gets through the winter just fine.

So, this is the first of what I'm sure will be many posts. We just wanted to share that we've got our first property and it is awesome!

Media Fast

This last week, you may [not] have noticed little - actually, zero - online activity from me. That's because I've been on a media fast.

What is a media fast? Well, it when you don't consume any form of media. This is typically when legalistic friends would start to clarify what counts as "media". Basically, I took a break of news (Google Reader), videos (Youtube), social media (Facebook, Twitter & Friendfeed), talk radio, TV, video games, movies and books. If it was entertainment related, I ignored it. The only thing I allowed myself to have was music since it was mostly just background filler only.

I got the idea from a book I was listening to: "The 4-Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferris. In the book he talks about eliminating distractions and batching activities (and sooo much more. I HIGHLY recommend this book). In one part he challenges readers to go on a media fast for a week. It sounded like a fun challenge and I took it.

Here are a few things I observed:

The first day was REALLY boring because I didn't have anything to fill the time. At one point I was sitting on the couch staring off into space. Jessi walked by and ask if I'm OK. I replied feebly, "Yeah, I'm on a media fast for a week. This about all I can think to do right now. I don't know how I'm going to make it."

When work started on Monday I actually really started to enjoy zero distractions. I don't know about you, but my main mode of operation is to have open Gmail, Google Reader, Facebook, Twitter and Friendfeed in addition to whatever I'm working on which might be 1-3 things at once. Throughout the day I jump between all of these. With only one project open at a time, I found I got more work done - shocker! Seriously, the surprise came on Tuesday when I was working at my desk and a co-worker came over to ask about something. Normally this is not a big deal, I'm half doing everything anyways. However, is was exceptionally weird this time because it really disrupted my flow. It was at that point that I noticed how "hard" I was actually working.

Speaking of work. I got more done last week than I normally accomplish. The really impressive part is that I put in less time than normal from a time-sheet standpoint. In terms of actual work, I actually put in more time and the quality of that work was better. So, I accomplished more in less time. Media fast = good.

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention perhaps the hardest part of this weekly challenge. I only checked my email twice a day for at most an hour each time. As an email addict, this was particularly tough. Ferris suggested that we never get email that is so critical that we need to check it once every 10 minutes. I can say, after a week of only checking work and personal email twice a day (I even missed some check-ins on my personal email) - I get absolutely zero critical emails. If I did get something critical, like from my real estate agent for the property we're trying to buy, it was followed up by a call or text.

The most surprising part was my in box. When I started, I had about 40 emails in my inbox. By Monday, it was empty. Now there have been many times I've had an empty inbox, but this is the first time I easily maintained it an entire week. Here's the secret: I allocated an hour to read and respond to each email. Previously, I would check my email when I had somewhere between 30 seconds and 10 minutes of dead time. That wasn't enough to respond to longer requests and so they would just get piled up. Since I had a dedicated hour to respond, I easily got through all of them.

So, my week of fasting is over. As I re-integrate back to normal here are a couple of things I hope to improve:

I'm going through my Google Reader and applying the 80/20 rule. I'm going to find the top 20% of news sources that give me 80% of the news I care about. I'll depend on David Parry and my brother for the rest.

I'm also going to be more purposeful about email. I probably won't be able to stick with twice a day, but it might turn into three 40-minute chunks. I still need to experiment more to find the right balance. I might also batch all my Internet communications together. So, in that 40-minute time frame, check email, Facebook, Twitter and the news. That way I get my "fix" and can maintain relationships while keeping it separate from when I'm working.

Feel free to ask more about it. I even suggest giving it a try. I realize for some of you this won't be a big deal at all, but for others I think it'll be a great learning experience.

Celebrating Summer Successes

On Saturday Jessi and I headed over to Newport to hang out on the beach. We set personal goals for each other at the beginning of summer and the reward, if we met our goals, would be a trip to the beach. We try to follow the SMART method when setting goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely - though I think A & R are the same...) and it worked this summer. One goal for Jessi, for example, was to set up and hold a woman's health night once a month during summer. She did that, and it was a blast (so I hear).

As you can tell, I'm a firm believer in goal setting, visualizing and rewarding. I felt this was going to be especially helpful for Jessi this summer because without work (teaching)... summer... can... quickly... slip... away and... you wonder... what...happened... to... all those... plans. I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about.

So, we headed out to Newport after doing our weekly team Univera call. I tend to try and fit as many activities as possible into a day so here's what we did:

• We started out with a picnic on the beach. The weather was still cool and the waves were crashing hard. I kind of (kind of!) wished I had brought my swimming suit.
• We tried flying Jessi's kite. The experience was OK. The wind was blowing, but not really hard enough to just stand there and let the kite do it's thing. As a result, I did a lot of running...
• Afterward we took a break. I half napped while Jessi read out loud. She's currently reading "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan. I must say, it's an entertaining book and packed with a lots of great information about trends in the nutrition industry.
• With enough sand in our pants we headed over to Newport's Bay to hunt for Salt Water Taffy. We found a great shop called Doodle Bugs that supplied us with more than enough candy for the night.
• We then watched the sea lions and did some superficial window shopping. My favorite part was guessing how much this one tiny house for sale was selling for. If you can cobble together $495,000, this tiny house that almost has a view could be yours.
• Next, we walked around the piers and checked out all the fishing boats. Since it was a Saturday evening by now 90% of the ships were docked. We spend time guessing how they worked and what type of fish they caught. I decided it would be fun to work on a fishing boat for a week or so, but realized it might be a while before I realize that dream.
• We finished up the night eating at a restaurant called Pier 839. It's a relatively new place and definitely worth checking out. We ate in the place called the living room. We literally sat on a couch near a fireplace with a view of the bay. I know. For the first half of dinner we had the place all to ourselves - very romantic. :) I was determined to get some seafood and they came through on that promise. The best part was that their prices were great. While walking around earlier I had downloaded Yelp's iPhone app and that's how we found this place. This experience has certainly made me a Yelp believer.

So that was our day of celebrating summer successes. We took 15,700 steps and each one was a total blast.

Looking forward, our next checkpoint will be the end of the year. So far I have mixed results on my yearly goals, but there's still time. ha ha. I highly encourage everyone to set, accomplish and reward a couple goals in these next three and a half months.

First Parry-Furlo Camping Trip

For the first time in recorded history and Parry and Furlo clan headed over to Oregon's coast for a good ol' fashioned camp out. For the most part it was pretty sweet. It was the first time the Parrys had been as an entire family which meant it was hilarious watching their kids experience the greater outdoors for an extended period of time. I would say both Grace and Ethan handled it very well - especially the nearby sand pit. It was also no surprise that Ethan loved smorse.

The only semi-weird part of the whole experience were the neighbors. You went to a camp ground called Sandbeach. We thought, "Oh cool, sand and a beach. Perfect." We quickly realized that the rest of the world recognized this as a perfect spot to go ATVing. Thankfully there were quiet hours from midnight through 6am, so we at least got a couple hours of quiet. Still, after the first evening we acclimated to the constant drone of engines and not-quite-all-burned exhaust. We did go out and see what all the fuss was about, and I must admit that does look pretty fun. We decided that next time we'll try a different location or buy ATVs so we can join in the fun.

I'm not sure when Kelli is going to talk about it, but you can check http://parryfamilychronicles.blogspot.com/ to read more about the fun.