CES Day -1

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I’m currently in the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, and this is where I will be for most of next week. Yes, I will be covering cell phone related matters for CNET at the big Consumer Electronics Show here in Las Vegas. And since I’m kind of a gadget geek, I will also be wandering around taking photos of wacky robots and things if I have time (I’m hoping to sneak off to be more of a tourist on Wednesday. I might even visit the Sands if I have time).

So I’ve decided to do something different this year. Besides all the crazy blogging and things that I’ll be doing for work, I’m also going to record a short little Seesmic video everyday summarizing and chronicling my experience at CES and Vegas. It won’t be very exciting, since it’s just a talking head, but it’s a lot easier to talk on video than write stuff. Of course, the real scoop is to be found on CNET, Gizmodo, Engadget, etc. but hey, this is just from my perspective.

So here’s the first one. Don’t mind my blinking.

Hello 2008

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Every time the end of the year rolls around, I have a difficult time trying to sum up the year or come up with a lengthy list of profound moments. Life is, for the most part, a series of boring events punctuated by moments of imagined importance. Sure every once in awhile something huge happens, like a wedding, a birth, or a death. But those are few and far between.

Nevertheless, 2007 was a pretty good year. I rediscovered enthusiasm in a job I wasn’t sure I liked. New friendships were made, existing friendships were reinvigorated. Perhaps more importantly, I also realized that I can’t be friends with everyone, and that it’s actually okay to stay home more often than not. A huge highlight this year was our friends (WoW guildmates) from Hawaii coming to visit us in San Francisco, and us traveling to Hawaii to visit them as well. I think that more than anything has cemented my belief that real relationships can be made anywhere, even within the virtual walls of Ironforge.

So what will 2008 bring? In short, I’m cautiously optimistic. I have a sneaky feeling that I’ll get a lot more responsibility heaped on my shoulders, perhaps more so than I can handle. Not just career-wise, but socially as well. I really need to learn to be a lot more organized with my time, and currently, that’s not going so hot. No matter how much I try, I can’t rein in this whole time management thing. And that starts off the 2008 resolutions list:

1) Finally READ GTD. And perhaps implement some of it via OmniFocus or some such.

2) Read more books. I’m pretty bad with this. Hoping that V’s S&L book club thing will help, though I’m pretty bad about discussing topics. I generally just like to gush about scenes and characters. “OMG, that scene where he discovered the secret of that old man? SO GOOD.” Me, English major? Yeah, sad, huh?

3) Get more active and perhaps lose weight in the process. I think the idea of weight loss being a goal is the thing that’s holding me back, because it seems like such an unachievable goal. I tend to be pretty impatient, so if I don’t see results immediately, I get frustrated. I got into running late last year, but a knee injury kept me from going back. Maybe a combination of pilates and running will help somehow.

4) Save more money. I kinda blew this in 2007, but I really got back on track late in the year, with my credit score finally getting to a comfortable level. I owe this to three things: 1) Signing up for myFico.com, a credit service that alerts you to any changes in your score 2) Signing up for ING Direct, an FDIC insured bank that lets you earn interest with your checking account, and 3) Mint.com. I know, Mint.com makes a lot of people nervous, but I honestly think it’s not as bad as people think. I’ve gained a lot of insight into my entire financial portfolio, in a single interface. Not a lot of programs can do that. Plus, it updates everything in real time. I trust them so far. So much so, I believe I can be debt-free before the end of the year.

5) Relax more. This means I need to not stress out over the little things. Worry less. Let things go. Ohmmm. Maybe I’ll actually use more of my vacation time as well.

And finally, I hope to maintain my existing friendships and perhaps satisfy my readership to some degree as well. I love you guys. Happy new year everyone!

Wake up call

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So far the best part about taking a week off has been the realigning of my internal clock. Throughout last week, I was struggling with wonky sleep hours — I would go to bed at noon and wake up at around 8 pm, for example. By the time Monday rolled around, I had forced myself into a proper sleep schedule. For the past three days, I’ve been waking up consistently around 7:30 a.m., without the help of an alarm clock, which is a pretty big deal for me. I actually had time to go through a proper morning routine like applying moisturizer on my face. The only “bad side” to it is that I need to get to bed around midnight, which means I have even less incentive to go out at night. It’s not at all terrible really — I like waking up and not rushing out the door like I usually do.

We’ll see if I keep this routine up.