Abandon Nest

In this, my triumphant return to blogging, I’d like to go through my list of the 5 best things you can do on a weekend. Now, weekends are very distinct from the ordinary weekday because you tend to have less things to do. There’s no work, no school, and few obligations, freeing time for other activities. Here’s what I recommend.

• Sleep – I don’t know about you, but during the week I don’t get nearly enough sleep. Every day I have so much that I want to accomplish and it just never seems to get done. Sure, I’ll work hard all day but I’m still up late into the night with work or some activity that I wanted to partake in. Weekends provide an opportunity to shut off the alarm and just sleep until you wake up. Recharge the batteries and let your body tune itself up.
• Play Sports – Ready to put all that free time to good use? Get off the couch and out on the football field or onto a basketball court. Get your friends, lace em up, and get ready to play. Sports are a great way to build endurance, expend energy, and live life to the fullest.
• Go to Church – After your physical expenditures, it’s time for a mental, physical, and spiritual rebuilding. Attending church services on the weekend is a great way to focus on your life, come together with a community, and think about the direction you want to head. It lasts an hour and you’ll be grateful you spent the time you did.
• Pursue Your Hobbies – Every day the average person is put through the grinder. You have to work, there’s huge expectations of you, you need to pay bills, and so on. The weekends allow you the time to focus on your hobbies and spend some time on things that you really care about. For me, I like to do a little bit of programming on the weekends to relax and explore my different options.
• Road Trip – Sure, three days isn’t that long of a time, but visiting family or friends a couple of hours away is a perfectly reasonable weekend task. Set off right after work on Friday and come back Sunday night. Sometimes getting away from your normal life is what you really need to do.

Take this weekend to jumpstart your life and try out one of the things I’ve listed. I assure you you’ll be a happier person.

Well, as you can probably guess my life has been quite busy lately. That’s why I haven’t been posting the last four days. However, I’m not here to grouse about that. Instead, I’d like to go through how I dealt with my busy schedule and how you can use my three principles to make your life better. Here goes:

• Prioritize – This is the first thing you’re going to have to do when you become busy. You need to first look at everything that needs to get done, then decide which items are the most important. Of those, what is super critical and absolutely must get finished on time and what can be held off for a while is really up to you (well, you and your boss) The super critical things absolutely must be done, without any doubt, first. They are of highest priority and you work on them until you have them complete or they cannot be pushed forward anymore.
• Short Things First – Now that you’ve prioritized your to-do list, it’s time to order it even more. Look at the things that you believe have the same priority and estimate how long each will take. Move the items that will take less time towards the top of that priority section. This way, you’ll be getting a lot done right off the bat without having to worry too much about the rest. You’ll know it will get done in time, but at least you’re making progress.
• Rest – Some people seem to forget this ultra-important step. If you’re busy all the time, you need to take a few moments for yourself to rest and relax. Without this period of time, you’ll eventually lose focus on the overall scope of work that needs to be done, causing you to fail miserably (or just fail… but I’m trying to sound dramatic here.) Sit down and take a load off for a few minutes of every day. Drink a tall glass of iced tea, read a magazine, and don’t think about all the work you have left to do. It’ll get done, but for that moment you’re not worried about it. You’re thinking instead only of making yourself feel better. Don’t skip this!

So, next time you get busy, you need to prioritize, time things up, and relax a little bit. Things will work out if you work hard, so don’t get stressed. Take it steady, and you’ll easily get through busy periods. Good luck!

Recently, my car has been acting a little funny. The engine has been getting hot and it looks like I’m leaking coolant. Tonight, I’m taking it to Midas to get looked at, but in the mean time I figured I’d go through a few points regarding why you should get your car serviced.

Nobody likes taking their car to the mechanic and everybody has their own reason. Some people think they’re getting ripped off every time they get work done. Others just don’t like how much time it takes. Finally, some abhor the prospect of sitting in a greasy auto shop while their car is being fixed. Whatever your reason, you need to get over it. Otherwise, you could do irreparable damage to your vehicle. Now let’s go through some reasons you should get your car serviced when something seems suspect.

1. You’ll save money in the long run – Really, you will! A few years ago I was an irresponsible teenager. I drove a 1990 Chevy Corsica. Now, this wasn’t the nicest car in the world, but it got me around. However, for the longest time the check engine light would flicker on and off. Because I didn’t have any money to pay for repairs anyways, I figured it wasn’t a problem. I mean, it only came on every once in a while. One day, the check engine light came on and decided to stay on. I decided then and there to take it to a mechanic. Unfortunately, as I was finishing my ride to school, my car pretty much self-destructed. As coolant flew all over the hot engine, I started to trail a long cloud of white smoke. It was like something right out of a spy-thriller (probably cooler because it was real.) Anyways, to sum it all up, I had to get a new car. It probably would have been much less expensive to just go to the mechanic when problems started occurring.
2. They know what they’re doing – Unless you’re a total gearhead, you probably don’t know your differential from a ball-joint, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They say you can’t know everything, and I have to second that. It is not in my interest to know what is going on in my car as long as it works and gets me from place to place. Your mechanic, however, has a fairly good understanding of what is going on underneath the hood. Because he does, he’ll be able to diagnose your problem fairly quickly and accurately. This will save you time and effort if you were considering doing the work yourself. The only serious car work I’ve ever done involved replacing my alternator in a ‘84 Chrysler Laser. That was a heck of an experience, and something I really don’t ever want to go through again. From now on, I leave the complicated work to the mechanics.

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