The Misadventures of R.D.Steamgray

check out http://steamgray.com for updated posts.

So with 2011 drawing to a close I was force to look at what I did as far as my goals for the year are concerned. 

My Goals for 2011:

1. Better time management at home & corporate job & online business ventures.
I would have to say success… I did this very well. Still room for improvement though. 

 2. Reduce amount of garbage produced to one third of what it is currently.
100% SUCCESS!!!   With the yard sale and the starting for a compost pile, to name two things, we totally succeed in this goal. 

 3. Minimize wardrobe to more than half of what I currently have.
 100% SUCCESS!!!   the yard sale and giving back to Goodwill AZ totally helped reach the goal.

4. Read at least one book every two months & write about it.
FAIL!!! Only read 4 books all the way through in 2011… on well, only being 2 short wasn’t bad… and I’m half way through one at the moment.

5. Meditate/Pray at least 1 hour a day.
Half FAIL!!!  I’m doing this now…. but only after halfway through the month of December.

6. Get down to 195 lbs with the ability to run 3 miles in less than 20 minute.
FAIL x2!!!   I started out strong…. but I now weight more than i did last year :(
Though the Mrs and I will be starting a new diet come the 2nd week of January.
the Paleo Solution Diet… going to commit to 30 days hard core.

7. Make over $2.5k outside of my corporate job.
Nope…. but I figured out that money wasn’t the issue and this goal was set before taking Dave Ramsey’s FPU…. only I learned the eBay.com is of the devil. If you ever care to ask me why in person, I have no problem explaining why I feel this way. 

This all said, I have some new goals for 2012… one being to finally finish my Steampunk Keyboard mod… of which I plan on starting this weekend… and I’ll be posting my progress here. Follow for updates.

Also, The Paleo Diet my wife and I are doing… I’ll post some of the progress on here as well. I have some other “resolutions” but I’ll just list those as I complete them,

Thanks for reading and God bless you and your family in 2012,

R.D. 

So as of yesterday, my iPhone 3GS is officially out of commission and past its warranty. This brings me to a few choices. 1, replace my iPhone 3GS with the iPhone 4 and sign a new two year contract with AT&T. 2, sign up with Verzion and get the iPhone 4 through them. 3, use this as a chance to completely downgrade from a smart phone to a “dumb” phone. Here is a simple break down of each.

1. UPGRADE & STAY W/ AT&T: I am able to upgrade both mine and my wife’s iPhone 3GS’s to iPhone 4’s for $199 eacch (16GB Model)… However, I have to sign a new 2 year contract and AT&T has less than stellar service. Total out of pocket for option 1; about $400. Monthly cost $150 (that’s $4,000 spread out over 2 years)

2. MOVE TO VERIZON: My contract with AT&T goes up on October 1^st of this year (45 days), but after that time my wife and I can get iPhone 4’s for about 4’s for $199 each (16GB Model)… However, I have to sign a new 2 year contract and as much as I like Verizon’s service… not being able to talk on the phone and surf the net does matter to me. I use it a lot. I would also lose my unlimited data plan. Total out of pocket for option 2; about $400. Monthly cost $170. (that’s $4,000 spread out over 2 years)

3. DOWNGRADE: Get cheaper AT&T Prepaid phones that take our SIM cards and get rid of DATA. Out of Pocket: about $50. Monthly cost $90. (that’s $2,210 spread out over 2 years // or a 44% decrease from what I currently pay // though because no contract is signed can sign up any time I want to in those 2 years)

I don’t know what to pick.

(Video Trailer) The Man Who Stopped the Desert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUAXBgYm1Ko&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This got me wondering if this Zai Farming technique that is used by this guy, could be used in the low dry deserts of the southwest United States.
I’m going to look into this more later, just wanted to share with you all what I had found and was thinking about.

Also check out this site:
Amaranth to Zai Holes, Ideas for Growing Food under Difficult Conditions
(http://www.cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/cd3wd/AGRIC/EF01AE/EN/B31_9.HTM)


Thanks for following,
R.D.

The argument for Creationism over Evolution, or Evolution over Creationism is invalid regardless of which side you take.

One is a theory based on Scientific Evidence and the other is an Existential Religious Belief.

Neither can be validly used to refute the other.

Not every belief that can be called “Creationism” believes in the literal 6 day creation story, that contradicts the Theory of Evolution.

In fact, most don’t.

Western Thought has lied to you … It is Westerners (Western Europe, America, Etc) who can’t seem to wrap their heads around this.

They are neither mutually exclusive, nor inclusive of each other… People need to stop making everything black and white.

It’s people who claim to have religious tolerance who are the most intolerant.

—-that’s my rant for the week—-