Archive for May, 2011

Stock Market Downs

I’ve been investing in the stock market for the past couple of years (largely after the low point of the recession). I’ve done fairly well over the few years, but lately, it’s going sideways. With the trouble in the middle east, ongoing concern over the USA’s debt ceiling, troubles in Europe, etc… I’m starting to drip back into the negative.

While I know I shouldn’t watch the market as much as I do — its painful to see days where I swing down $1000. I’m almost starting to worry that we’re drifting back into a recession around the world. Too many countries are up to their eyes in debt, along with ongoing politics around it (you know, talking about the problem, rather than doing anything to solve the problem.)

I’m almost at the point I’m going to start switching into lower-risk investments, and switch back to paying off my student loan. Throwing more money into the stock market at this point, is making me uneasy. (Even though, everything’s cheaper now, and I could see better returns.)

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you manage it? Just ignore it and let it ride out, or actively sell and buy different stocks?

May Challenge: Halfway Point

Earlier this month I wrote a post about how I’m going to try to clean out my cupboards/freezer of food, by actually eating at home. It’s been going alright — I’ve definitely been making a dent, but theres still a lot left. So far, I’ve had a lot of soup, a bunch of frozen food, a bunch of canned food, and some of the random crackers/granola bars.

Here’s where I’m at so far — still have half the month left, hoping to make it even further. A couple things, I outright threw out, as it was expired. But its getting there.

I Suck at Networking

One of my goals this year is to network more — to get myself out there, and meet like minded people with similar interests and career paths. While I’m an on-and-off again networker, when the opportunity does come up, I tend to do quite poorly at it. Rather than being my outgoing self (well, most of the time), I find it hard to just walk up to some random person and introduce myself.

The other day, I was put in the same situation — went to an industry event, and knew no one. In situations like this, I like to whip out the “oh no, theres some urgent emails that needs dealing with, and I’ll get to networking right after that, I swear” strategy. Basically, I sit by myself and type away on my computer or phone, until the event/presentations start. It works for avoiding people, but not so much networking.

This year, I’m trying to make an active change to become better at it. This includes actually talking with people (either in registration lines, lunch lines, before, after, etc), but it takes a bit of a push.

To help counter this, I ended up buying an ebook on it, called Networking for People Who Hate Networking. While I think its only part of the solution, its a good step. I’m 1/4th the way in, and it seems to be helping a bit… but I still think I need more practice.

The good thing though is — I’m fairly committed to continue attending these networking functions. Its part of my professional growth plan/goals, so its not going away. I figure, the more events I attend, the easier it will get. Its the motion of getting the ball rolling that takes the most effort I find — once I’m past that, I’ll be better off.

How do you network — online or off. Share your tips in the comments below. Any idea helps!

Monthly Spending: May 2011

 

May Challenge

With it being a new month, I figure its time to do some spring cleaning. I’m normally pretty good about getting rid of things I don’t need, but I seem to have stockpiled a bunch of food — time to eat!

Here’s the before picture of my storage cupboard — by the end of May, I want to have about 25% of it left, at the most. This works well, as I’ve been trying to get more in line with cooking at home, and bringing my own lunch to work.

So, from the picture to the right, the next month is going to involve a lot of Cereal, chili, mustard (or not), soup, oatmeal, pasta, and granola bars. I think I’m up for it… and it will probably be a bit healthier than the fast food fixes I’ve been used to.

And then there’s my freezer — here, theres lots of frozen food, ranging from home made soup, waffles, fruit, chicken, burritos, hamburgers, etc. Again, I’m going to try to get down to 25% of it, by the end of the month.

I’m not going to eat this exclusively (I’d be sick of it in 3 days), but will be the primary source of inspiration for meals for the month of May. And looking at most of it, its stuff I do like to eat as it is, so I just have to follow through.

And once the goal is met…. I’ll figure out how to go to Costco and not get suckered in by the cheap ass prices!

I’ll post an update every week or two, and see where I’m at. For the month of May, I have 30 days x 3 meals = 90 meals to eat, so it should be dooable.

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