My Uninteresting Life

Payback Time!

myuninterestinglife — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:45:21 +0000

Wow, I haven’t followed through with reading my .NET architecture book, but I got through the book “Payback Time” by Phil Town in one sitting! I think it’s an amazing book, and I will try to start applying the principles discussed in it. I will try to write a post to summarize the key points of the book. I will try to keep a blog keeping track of my investments as well. I hope to have financial freedom really soon. And it makes me realize all the more, that I have to keep my day job.

245 shares of Citibank at $4.025

myuninterestinglife — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:08:03 +0000

I just bought 245 shares of Citibank (C) at $4.025 per share. I figured it has no way to go but up. When it reaches $12, I would have tripled my investment. Keeping my fingers crossed since I really wanna fast track my earnings so I could stop working.

American Express Lowered my Credit Limit to $1000 !!!!

myuninterestinglife — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:44:07 +0000

I paid off my credit card balance on my AMEX Blue Cash last month and I just received an email that my credit limit has been lowered to $1000, down from $2000. I have another AMEX Blue Card with about $1200 balance which I thought of just paying off slowly, but after what AMEX did, I decided that I will pay off that balance and never use my AMEX EVER AGAIN! To think that I’ve been using my AMEX to earn the rewards, it’s just not worth it. I will stop using credit and just use cash from now on. I wanted to close my account but I figured that I need it to keep my available balance to credit ratio high, even if they already slashed it to half. I really, really resent it. I hope all AMEX cardholders stop using their AMEX cards. I would have understood this move if I had been delinquent, but I wasn’t! I hate American Express.

AAPL – To buy or not to buy?

myuninterestinglife — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:08:44 +0000

I should have bought Apple last year when it was less than $100. At $226.60 as of Mar 14, 2010, it’s at its highest ever which might now be a good time to buy it. But something tells me that this stock is going to blow past Google. I love all Apple products, so I think I should buy a share or two so i can say I own Apple. I don’t really have a lot of money to buy with, so I’ll probably get 5 shares. This is actually money I should have used to pay off my credit card, but, what the hell…. I can absorb the finance charges of $30 for about a month or two. I’ll be fine. I don’t want to regret, not owning apple even if only for 5 shares.

Career crossroads

myuninterestinglife — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 07:53:00 +0000

I’m a 36-year old IT professional. And at my age, I should be senior management, but I’m not because I lack communication skills. I just observed recently how important communication skills is, than actual computing skills. You can always talk your way out of any situation, and impress people with your eloquence, if you had at least some average computing skills. Appearance is very important. Comportment and confidence are key. And if you really want to get ahead, social skills are very important as well. I found out that I need to learn to be a social drinker too.

I think I am a very lucky individual. To tell the truth, I don’t think I am even qualified to take the role I’m doing now, but I’m just winging it. I’m not that good at winging it, and the people around me are probably just too polite, which is why I’m still here.

I know I am in a very, very good position to do something good and great, but my own laziness and work ethic hinders me. I hope it won’t be too late, lest the people I work with discover what a fraud I am.

But the whole point of this particular post is that I think one of the reasons I’m not successful, is because I’m too scatter-brained. I have a sort of adult ADHD, where I can’t focus on one thing. I know focus is one of the most important skills of successful people. I just don’t have it.

Anyway, just see this list of endeavours that I’ve started and haven’t done anything of import in any of them:

IT programming
Blogging
Stock investing
Domaining
Photography
Cooking
iPhone programming (want to start)
Linux programming

So I need to pick one (well, IT programming is definitely on the list since that is my bread and butter) and focus. I need to focus to be successful.

PROJECT PLAN

myuninterestinglife — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 07:11:02 +0000

Okay, so I can track my progress and keep me honest, I have decided to post my list of projects – actually, more like a to-do list, so I don’t get side tracked. I will tag it as DONE, with the date when it was finished, after I complete the task…. much like an online Project Plan.

I think I might blog about the things I’ve learned too… possibly in another blog, cause this one is a bit of a personal, life improvement blog for me.

Mar 14, 2010 – Read chapter 1 of my book “Microsoft .NET: Architecting a Applications for the Enterprise (DONE)
Mar 14, 2010 – Port this blog to www.myuninterestinglife.com and monetize it
Mar 15, 2010 - Read chapter 2 of my book “Microsoft .NET: Architecting a Applications for the Enterprise
Mar 16, 2010 - Read chapter 3 of my book “Microsoft .NET: Architecting a Applications for the Enterprise
Mar 17, 2010 - Read chapter 4 of my book “Microsoft .NET: Architecting a Applications for the Enterprise
Mar 18, 2010 - Read chapter 5 of my book “Microsoft .NET: Architecting a Applications for the Enterprise
Mar 19, 2010 - Read chapter 6 of my book “Microsoft .NET: Architecting a Applications for the Enterprise
Mar 20, 2010 - Read chapter 7 of my book “Microsoft .NET: Architecting a Applications for the Enterprise

Netflix = at least 1 month per year of my life watching movies

myuninterestinglife — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:56:18 +0000

I’ve subscribed to Netflix, and I realized that if I want to get my money’s worth, I should rent at least 5 movies per week. Let’s say, at 1.5 hours each movie, that amounts to 4.5 hours per week, or 234 hours per year or almost a month in a year of my life that I’ve spent watching movies. I should spend that in more worthwhile purposes like learning new technology in my field, researching stocks, trying out new recipes, meeting a friend… something that brings value to my life. So, with that I will cancel my Netflix subscription next month.

Apple sells 50,000 iPads in two hours

myuninterestinglife — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:57:17 +0000

http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/03/12/apple-sells-50000-ipads-in-two-hours/

Wow! I want one too! But I just got a Windows 7 laptop last December. I’ve been wanting to get a MacBook Pro, but I will try to find a way to hack my laptop so it could run Mac OsX Snow Leopard. I can’t affor 2K for a MBP. I have a serious case of Mac envy. Hmmm….. maybe now is a good time to buy some Apple shares.

WordPress on iPhone

myuninterestinglife — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:47:32 +0000

I love my iPhone! I’m typing this blog right now on my iPhone 3gs. It’s absolutely great! I don’t need a physical keyboard. Virtual keypad is fine and does not require exerting too much pressure. Anyway, I’m very happy with WordPress on iPhone since now I can blog anytime anywhere and not have to wait until later when I’m sleepy like now. I’ll blog about my thoughts tomorrow when I’m having lunch or something. Good night world!

Blogging, .NET and iPhone development

myuninterestinglife — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:36:36 +0000

Ok, got another blog. I just figured I need to do something this weekend. I’m trying to immerse myself in .NET and Web Services programming, but I’ve watched ‘A History of Violence’ dvd instead. BTW, I liked the movie. I can’t wait to watch ‘The Road’, another movie with Viggo Mortensen. I like that he hasn’t become commercial. Ok, see? I digress again!

As I was saying, I need to immerse myself in Microsoft .NET programming, you know, since it’s my bread and butter and I need to improve my knowledge so I get to keep my job. But, I keep getting sidetracked with other stuff, like browsing through the Apple website and thinking of ways that I can get a Macbook Pro cheap. I’ve been browsing eBay and Craigslist instead. I somehow got this notion, that I should learn iPhone development instead and try to become rich by selling a hugely popular app, which I still haven’t thought about. Cause I wanna eventually (hopefully, soon) quit my day job and be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want it. Oh well…. I can dream can’t I?

OK, I should really study now…

Update: OK, I got sidetracked again. I went and registered 6 new domains for $53.83. I should be able to park it and get some passive income. I hope. I need to write content at some point so at the minimum I could recoup my investment.