Posts Tagged ‘9to5’

Life has changed

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

My life has changed quite a bit recently, but I’m really loving it. Don’t worry, nothing wrong with my personal life, however there’s been a big change in my working life. The end result is that I am still employed with the same company, but now get to work from home full time.

The company I work for has had quite a turbulent history. I was one of the first employees to come on board, and we grew quickly, too quickly. First We moved offices and had a nice office downtown with a great view. But within a year, it was decided that we outgrew our our lovely office, and so we moved again. This time to another downtown office with another great view, but now we had the entire floor. Problem is, around the same time, we stopped growing. Oh yea, and the economy took a crap. So over [...]

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Overloaded

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

I feel like lately I haven’t been writing as much, and when I have been it’s been sort of off topic. (I went back to some of my archives and I feel like my writing has changed, not for the worse, but the recent posts have been a bit superficial.) But I do intend to get back on track here shortly. Around the New Year I was out of the country, and then I had a month or two consumed with my migration from Blogger to WordPress, and in typical fashion, I got caught up quite a bit in the details, and even making some cosmetic changes to the site which I’m happy with, but where probably unnecessary.

Then more recently I’ve had some of my attention diverted with trying to network a bit. After a year or two of writing for just myself and few people, I realized that if [...]

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Can I possibly create a business based on things I already know?

Friday, September 4th, 2009

I’ve been thinking and reading a lot about this topic lately, and about how ordinary people are learning to monetize their existing skills, and ultimately employ themselves. Is it really possible? And do I have any skill or knowledge that people would pay for?

Often I’ll find myself browsing random job postings or gigs on Craigslist for non-traditional types of employment, and I’ll look and think, wow, I wish I had the skills they are looking for, then I could hire myself out rather than work for someone. (By non-traditional I really mean any jobs that won’t require me to sit and get paid for my time rather than my work, like most jobs in my field do)

My goal has been always to be self employed, but my major stumbling block is that I don’t feel like I am an expert at any one thing or skilled enough to [...]

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Are you swamped at work? Here is how to fix it.

Monday, July 6th, 2009
Swamped at work

Photo credit: Sarah Mae

How often do you hear someone tell you that they are “swamped” at work? I’ve been thinking about this phrase a lot, and it’s no irony that it’s usually while I’m at work. I haven’t touched a topic like this lately, but I used to quite a bit in the past. If you’ve been a reader for a while you know that I am a big fan of the the concepts of the 4 Hour Workweek and the idea of ROWE (Results Only Work Environment). And since I’m still a 9 to 5 working man, I still very often have thoughts like this, even though I’m not writing them.

I think everyone has found themselves saying “I’m swamped at work” at one time or another. How often do you hear it? Do you [...]

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The Next American Dream explored

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
The American Dream

What is the American Dream?Photo by hellochris.

The other morning on the way to work I was listening to NPR and they were having an interesting discussion about the American Dream. What they were considering was the idea that the American Dream is now outdated in the face of current events and the current state of the economy. It was an interesting discussion and one which I am glad that I caught. And I have to say that I am happy that people are looking for the Next American Dream rather than the old one. I have thought for a long time that the pursuit of the American Dream is making people unhappy, and this conversation really was able to help me put my finger on why.

According the the discussion, there are (or were) four pillars of the [...]

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How to find the job you love

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

Disclaimer: I should preface this article by saying that I do not currently have the job I love. This is really an article based on my thoughts, and one that can hopefully one day help me.

The situation

Perfect hit - bullseye

Perfect hit – Photo credit cloud_nine

The situation I seem to perpetually be in is one where my job is tolerable and pays decently with decent benefits, however I know that it is not the right place for me to be. In today’s economy, conventional wisdom seems to say you should stick with something that is decent, however I don’t necessarily agree with that. Sure, people are out of work and some would do anything for a job, but does that mean I have to tolerate something I don’t enjoy? I’m not talking about walking out on a job, I’m [...]

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Quick Green Office Tip — eliminate cubicle and desk trash

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

At home and when I’m out I always try to avoid wasting plastic bags, and actually I try to not even use them when possible. But when I do get them, I always re-use or return them to the store for recycling. I can not ever bring myself to throw an empty plastic bag into another plastic bag, which is usually lining the trash!

In my office, each desk has a trash can, and each trash can is lined with a plastic bag. Well, recently I realized that if I put anything into the trash at my desk, even just a tiny little piece of trash, that it gets replaced at night by the cleaning crew. It just seems so wasteful to replace that bag every night, especially when I work so hard to avoid ever throwing out plastic bags.

So here is my tip for all you [...]

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Eating a Raw Diet while surrounded by meat eaters

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

Let’s face it, changes in diet freak a lot of people out. Raw, vegetarian, vegan … Many people get freaked out by these terms. Many people don’t get it, and when people don’t get it there’s usually no point in trying to explain it to them. So to clear things up right up front, let me say that I am NONE of what I just mentioned, not raw, vegan, or vegetarian. However I do incorporate all three into my regular diet. I have been doing a lot of raw eating recently, and have always been interested in vegan and vegetarian. But I’m just not ready to give some things up, like Italian sandwiches, an occasional organic hamburger, teriyaki chicken, or even — gasp — pizza and beer. So needless to say, I am not 100% raw, and clearly I’m leaving room for cheating, [...]

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