Tag Archives: certifications

The Rest of the Year

04 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by in Changes & Progress, Health, Home

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I was going month to month and even though I was slack on posting it, I had it running in my Outlook To-Do list.  So, to somewhat stay on track, here’s the “rest of the year” to set the tone for upcoming articles.

Home:

  • Paint the exterior – scheduled for early August, hiring a contractor for that one
  • Paint the porch – to expensive to use a contractor, so that’s on us
  • Master bathroom – needs painting, grout cleaning and plants over the tub
  • Kitchen – needs painting (walls & cabinets), countertop repair, new microwave (done), tile cleaning, sink resurfacing, curtains
  • Back hall – needs painting, floor refinishing
  • Halls & stairs – painting, floor refinishing (upstairs hall)

Career:

  • ITIL Service Operation
  • ITIL Continuous Service Improvement
  • Upgrade MS MCSA
  • Upgrade MS MCSE
  • Renew MS MCT – complete in April
  • Update Resume & LinkedIn

Finances:

  • Update wills
  • Comparison shop insurance – home & car
  • Cut food & dining spending
  • Increase retirement savings – (2% contribution increase in May)
  • Comparison shop wireless – switched to T-Mobile ($360/2 year savings, blogged)

Health:

  • 3 5Ks – Rock ‘N’ Run (August 10th)
  • Endomondo – develop a habit
  • Kinect – develop a habit
  • Weight – 135 goal
  • Stress Reduction – streamlining, reading goals
  • Visit somewhere new – bucket list

January In Detail

02 Wednesday Jan 2013

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The checklist – to be edited/updated as we go along.

Finances – Tax Preparation

  • File all 2012 receipts, bills, etc. for tax filing.
  • Shred all unnecessary old records by schedule.
  • Set up 2013 file folders.
  • Save online statements as needed to archives.  (No paper)

Health – Exercise Journal

  • Join 2013 Challenge on Endomondo – done
  • Schedule 5K.
  • Enter mileage schedule for January to calendar – done
  • Pick a Kinect fitness program for “don’t feel like going out” days.

Home – Guest Bathroom

  • Buy & install replacement toilet seat, mirror, trash can & doorknob (budget $100, use rewards points where possible)
  • Deep clean
  • Touch up paint – matched and bought paint
  • Before & after pictures – dangit, took the door down before I got pics.
  • Sand and stain door, rehang to adjust to house settling – sanded

Career – ITIL Service Operation Exam

  • Schedule exam time
  • Study

Another Year, Another Set of Resolutions!

01 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by in Changes & Progress, Cheapskate, Health, Home

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Last year actually went pretty well resolution wise, though there were things that didn’t get done or only got partially done.  This year the first resolution is to do a weekly blog article to keep up with progress (and because I’m a blog slacker who really needs to do a better job so my entire life isn’t Facebook postings).  Going to stick with the format from last year as it worked quite well – four categories of improvement, one new resolution per month.  Categories are – finances, health, home and (new for this year, replacing paperless) career.

For January:

  • Finances – have everything ready to file taxes as soon as the W-2 is available, shred old records, close out 2012, set up folders for 2013.
  • Health – this year we are going to do food and exercise logging using LiveScape & Endomondo with the goal of consistency.  January’s goal is exercise journal.  February is food journal.  The overall goals are to improve my 5K times and do a 10K this year.
  • Home – going to pick a room per month (2 months for the major projects) and do “the stuff that needs doing” in it.  January is the guest bathroom which needs the doorknob fixed (doesn’t close well) and toilet seat (scratched by dog) replaced, a mirror, new trash can and a top to bottom cleaning.  No paint necessary, though!  (Revision – door frame needs paint.  D’oh!)
  • Career – ITIL Service Operation certification complete.  This should have been done in December, but what the heck.

And we’re off!!!

Still Catching Up – Yikes!

28 Monday May 2012

Posted by in Books, Changes & Progress, Health, Minimalist, Paperless, Travel

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Amazing how fast the year has gone by – school getting ready to be out, summer vacations starting.  While I’m not taking the summer off, I’ve decided to focus on completing and extending goals – upping my game to a 10K, repurposing the office to the heir’s new room, home improvements too long neglected, finishing up all my certifications and updates.  So, the punchlist is:

  • Bill simplification – June is the month for the last utilities budget billing which should finish this off.
  • Bank changes – Need to close the last account and move my safe deposit box and all will be clean, neat and consolidated.
  • Will & Retirement – just need to get this one done
  • Certifications – upgrade the existing ones, move forward on my ITIL expert
  • Books, books and more books – Goodreads challenge
  • Health and fitness – 10K by the end of the summer, allergy testing
  • Bucket list – update and cross off one per month, cause I’m not getting any younger

And finally – upload all the pictures from the earlier finished goals!

2012 – Marching into Spring (Cleaning)

05 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by in Changes & Progress, Health, Paperless

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This year is going waaaay faster than expected.  Still, so far so good.  I did do a couple more substitutions in February, but a couple were huge and had been hanging around for a very long time.  Electronics clutter got moved to March in favor of a massive garage cleaning which actually restored enough space to do things in the garage.  So, here we go with the February summary:

  • Finances – 2011 taxes complete and filed.  This will be the earliest ever, but I have kept up with my filing and have all the information on hand, so we’re going for the record (and the early refund).  This will, however, finish up the “location for important information” and review 2011 part of January’s original goal. – Completed
  • Paperless – Set up auto-pays, paperless billing, equal payment plans and get finances into an electronic format to make life easier next tax season.  – Completed
  • House – Electronics clutter.  In January I moved the “family computer” to the upstairs spare room.  Time to redo the wiring, get rid of out of date hardware and electronics, sift through those chargers, cables and whatsits. – Substitution: Garage Cleaning
  • Health & Sanity – Certification updates since I’ve been a bit of a slacker.  And the traditional professional credentials and resume refresh – while I don’t plan to change jobs, this is something that is easier to keep updated “as you go” than to try and remember after a few years.

March Goals:

  • Finances – Passports & wills.  Time for the boy to get a “full passport” and our wills are horribly out of date.
  • Paperless – Shredding month.  Get rid of anything older than the “required record keeping” limit.  This should actually eliminate an entire file cabinet, but we’ll see.
  • House – Electronics clutter.  In January I moved the “family computer” to the upstairs spare room.  Time to redo the wiring, get rid of out of date hardware and electronics, sift through those chargers, cables and whatsits. – Carried over since there was a February substitution.
  • Health & Sanity – Continuing with certifications.  1 per month until they are all current.  This is also the month for my second 5K and I’ve signed up with a training group to push myself a bit more.