Monday, February 29, 2016

Dear Kerby,

This past week has be weird. Over night it snows, then the next day everyone tries to shovel out after the snow (blizzard). Schools and churches were closed among other things. Where do we put all the snow? I tried to move it into a grassy area. A few days later it rains and the snow melts. This makes a watery mess due to warmer temperatures. The ground can not handle that much melting snow. Weather forcasters say that this next week will bring more snow. A lot of people take the forcasts from them lightly because they are hardly spot on. The weather is wild over where I am.

With more and more people using GPS on phones/mobile devices do you trust an app for weather or would you rather trust the person on the tv/radio? I have an app that lets me confirm the weather or change it to make it correct. The app does not automatically change for my area because of one person updating the weather, it does take my change into consideration.

How often do you check the weather? Does the weather make or break your daily plans?

Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh





This is me standing on my front walkway videoing the snow falling down. The lens was set on a slightly wider depth of field than normal. When taking picture with most of my manual focus lenses I use a shallow depth of field. Hope you enjoy my neighborhood covered in snow.


Blizzard

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Dear Kerby,

I am looking good with the move I am making. I took the time to run some paper goods through the paper shredder while cleaning out my room. I took them out along with other items because I have not touched or used them in the past year. Some of the itmes were beginning to fall apart from just sitting around.

During my high school years I was just beginning my knowledge and production of graphic design. This resulted in a heavy use of the at home printer.  In my room was a pile of mostly amature graphic design/art items that did not need to be saved. These items stayed in my room due to me not living at home and enjoying dorm life. You can tell that I was glad to get rid of them and free up space in my room.

The desk I have been using is in the room. I do question where it is because it is right in front of a window, mostly the monitor and because of how high it sits. This is a move I will need to adapt to. The two other itmes that will be moved into th room are three crates of records and a record player along with an old wooden radio. If I do this just right I can find a place for them where they will be functional.

The other big task is to take items off the walls. This includes some artwork from high school. I would like to just have blank walls with at most one or two pieces up. Not going to go crazy putting everything haphazardly on the walls like I did when I was younger. Some items are in the original spot from when my room was arranged differently.

I will try to attach some photos with an upcoming letter to show you how this all turns out.

Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh

Moved

Monday, February 22, 2016

Dear Kerby,

I thought I would share some things you might not know about me. These might not be the most shocking but they are interesting.

  • I have more than three jazz stations on Pandora.
  • I have a Grateful Dead vanity plate on the front of my car.
  • My first smartphone was purchased in 2014.
  • Owner of an iMac, iPad, and iPod Classic but not an iPhone.
  • On various sites and computer drives I have artwork saved just for the color scheme used.
  • My art has been hung in an art gallery before.
  • When I was a kid I had a Furby and Tamagotchi but not a game system. I minimally played on the computer. I remember the video games that came with the Windows computer.
  • The school system had enrichment summer school. I did a summer session of archery.
  • When in Cub Scouts I attended one summer of day camp. I never did the summer camp experience like you saw on tv or in movies.
  • The upstairs bathroom in my parents house is in Montana style with canoes and meeses. The set came from Kohls where we frequently shopped.
  • I pay for premium Lose It! but I do not pay for premium Fitbit.
  • I eat pears more than I do apples.

Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh

Hidden

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Dear Kerby,

Yesterday, I felt like I had nothing going on this week. In return, I stated tackling some organization. Here is what happened the first day:

  • Recycled a somewhat nice size pile of photographer magazines.
  • Started a bad of items that need to go in the trash. This may include clothes and other such items that can not be recycled.
  • Clothes than can be worn again by people other than myself.

Here are my goals in organizing my room:

  • Be able to fit my desk into the room.
  • Easy ways to find the items I want.
  • Every item has a nice clean home in a drawer, in the closet, or on a shelf.
  • Make sure it smells fresh and clean all the time.
  • Remove sticky from the walls. This person had the same exact problem. Some items are better for the walls and this was not one of them.

This seems like an endless task but it will be worth it in the end. I have not done a deep clean in almost two years. How do you tackle a project? How long does it take you do a task?

Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh

Schedule

Monday, February 15, 2016

Dear Kerby,

My old 17 inch laptop was semiprivate because I was able to not have people look over my shoulder when I was sitting at my desk. Also, I could easily move it elsewhere in the house when I wanted. The laptop was on an old desk I had put in the living room area. With the new iMac everyone can see and hear what I am doing in the living room. Having a 21 inch screen is pretty big and lacks privacy. I can also hear the loud tv at the same time I am sitting at my desk using the computer. This becomes a problem when I would like to listen to music or watch videos on the computer. Currently, my nephew shares the space with me and the desk. A number of times I have told him to watch out for my computer when he goes wild with his toys.

One way to solve this problem is to move the desk into another room (most likely my bedroom) with more privacy. I am making space in the bedroom to put the desk and all of its current contents. One space that I would like to put it is in front of my main bedroom window in the alcove and the other in along the wall of my smaller window. I would rather have it looking out onto the front yard if possible. Both places are near outlet. Each outlet contains one plug that controlled by the rooms light switch and the other that is independent of the switch. I am already using a power strip due to the fact that I have a computer, lamp, pencil sharpener, and computer dive to plug in. I would hate to have my computer get shut off because I plugged it into the wrong outlet. The house not only has wireless internet but a wireless printer the are easy to use. When the desk gets moved I will no longer have a piece of art in front of me but a nice view of front yard and street the street from the second floor window. Making the computer more private I plan on using it more in the new location.

In the process of putting the desk and computer in the room I have to simplify the "clutter". I would not call it clutter as much as saving old school projects and items from middle school, high school, and college. Everything will find a place even if it happens to be the recycling or trash. I already broke a plastic storage container trying to organize items. From my experience, plastics to not last as long as you would hope they should. This will help me simplify and begin to get on a nice path for moving out soon.

As a result of moving the desk into another room I leave a nice size void in the living room. Not sure what will go in replace of the desk other than more room for my nephews toys. The living room is one room that I wish could be better utilized.

I am keeping on track with one of my goals of getting more organized this year. Hopefully I will have pictures to share. Are you on track with your goals?

Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh

Reorganization

Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Dear Kerby,

I failed on the morning worouts. I tried and got myself into a mess. I need not get into the details. Believe me, I found my rhythm of night exercise. Night time is when everything is shutdown and quiet. It is very peaceful and zen time. In the morning I feel more rushed to complete the exercises. My Fitbit alarm goes off at night I know that I have a few minutes to get ready to exercise. 

When you know something works then why mess with it? What is something you do every day or weeks that you know works well with your schedule so you do not mess with it? Does it feel good to have one item to rely one? 

Talk to you later, 

Bluelaugh

Lesson Learned

Monday, February 08, 2016

Dear Kerby,

The other day I calculated the total of my weekly income from when I started my job at the restaurant in May till when it closed in October. In total it was enough money to pay for a new 2015 iMac and then some. I remember that the first thing I purchased was the Fitbit Charge HR. At that time I wanted to start tracking my activity/weight more better since I had a job where I was walking around all the time. I am not quite sure where the rest of the money exactly went but I can imagine it went to gas, date nights, and other odd things.

I started an account with the bank where $25 a week would automatically go into it. The account was to help me save money and make it harder to touch. I switched to to $25 a month now that I do not have steady income.

This year I stated looking closely into my finances. Tracking finances is not as easy as it sounds because I have skipped tracking a few small items. Every time money comes in or goes out I have to remember to go to my computer or iPad and pull up my finance document so that I can adjust my income and outgoings. A category that I would like to see money grow is paying off the computer and saving up for moving out. When I get a new job I plan on changing my automatic transfers into my other savings account so that savings for these items are made easier.

No one is borrowing money from me (except my boyfriend) and or I am not offering to pay for things that do not directly affect me and my personal growth. It sounds a little selfish. Personal growth would include paying for the Adobe design programs I once had.

How do you manage and track your finances? Are you on track with your ins and outs?

Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh

Finances

Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Dear Kerby,

Monday — Friday is equal to one workweek according to Fitbit. Fitbit has a competition called the Workweek Hustle. During the week of February 25 — February 29 I hit a goal of 55,384 steps total with a daily goal of 11,000 steps. Some days I did less and other days I did more to make up for previous days. I am proud of myself for doing this many steps. Some of the steps happened to be during exercise.

This week is a new month. I am trying something new. I read in various places that morning workouts are better than other times of the day. For one week I am going to try morning workout and see what difference it makes. Take a look at what the American Heart Association has to say. When I first got my Fitbit I tried some morning workouts just for fun. When I did a morning workout I burned enough calories to not have any of my calories show up in Lose It! for that day; everything zeroed out. I did not know what was happening but for myself it was hard to reproduce.

This week I plan:

  • Not to over eat and stay in my calorie budget
  • Meet my daily goals.
  • Meet my weekly goals.
  • Try and earn a few badges along the way.
I am not exactly sure how this is any different than any other week. I feel a little bit with it since I upped my daily steps from 10,000 to 11,000 to help with reaching my weight goal.

Since December, I have a had a turn around; I started to gain weight. I do not think it had anything to do with the holidays because November/Thanksgiving did not cause a problem. I have been under my calories and have met my calorie burn/step goals or close to meeting them every day in January. The Fitbit has a polygon for how many days I exercise. Every day I do what constitutes an exercise I get a side to a polygon. I normally do 5 days which equals the pentagon. My goal is set for 5 days. If I do only 4 days it never turns into a square but rather an open polygon.

I will let you know if this makes any difference and I am on the up for the weight loss. Are you where you should be in life with your goals? Are you doing what makes you happy?

Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh

Turn Around

Monday, February 01, 2016

Dear Kerby,

I have been on Lose It! ever since I purchased my iPad2 many years ago and still am throughout my technology upgrades. The health tracking company has created a nice website and app where I can log the food (calories) I consume in the form of meals and snacks. When I am not consuming food I can track my activity. Activity can be anything from walking to vacuuming; anything that gets you moving.

To keep you motivated and excited about fitness the program awards badges for eating so many veggies (such as a trunk load), weighing in multiple many times a week, or keeping on track (train tracks) with your health goals. These are a few I have received since signing up.

Lose It! let me connect a fitness tracker to my standard account. This is partly why I got the Fitbit Charge HR. The fitness tracker began to work seamlessly with what I currently had. I could record my steps, sleep, and workouts with one and my food with the other. Shortly after logging on one app or website the data would be in sync with the other website/app.

Fitbit is a lot like Lose It! where it gives badges to motivate the user. Since Fitbit is for fitness badges might include: number of floors climbed, lifetime distances, or best ______ in a day. Each badge is equal to a real life event such as crossing the London Underground, becoming a skydiver, or even climbing the Redwood Forest.

For myself, I like the badge system. The badges let me know that I am not out floating in space with my fitness. I was always excited to get badges from Lose It! app when I first started. I am always looking on either app for goals I need to accomplish in order to achieve a badge. Sometimes a badge will come by happy accident. If you have fitness apps or websites you use frequently do they offer badges/rewards? How do you feel about a reward system like this? Which badges or goals are you currently working towards?

Talk to you later,
Bluelaugh

Badges of Accomplishment

© letters from bluelaugh 2008 Dapinder