My fitness commitment

I started a new work assignment last week. It's with a financial institution, located downtown. My work space is on the thirteenth floor - yes, this building has a thirteenth floor.

When I started, I made a commitment to myself, to my fitness. My commitment is that every day I walk down the stairs, all the way to the bottom, then back up again, all the way to the thirteenth floor. I am pleased to say I have been faithful in this commitment for the past two weeks.

Ironically, the power was out when I arrived yesterday morning, and only one elevator was working. Being the morning rush hour (yes, the elevators in this building have a rush hour), I didn't feel like waiting forever for the one elevator to arrive on ground floor, then pack in like sardines. So I took the stairs up.

A life worth living; a life worth blogging

There are people in my life that remind when I need to put out the garbage and when I need to put out the recycling. They remind me when we're low on groceries and need to go shopping. They remind me when I get behind on my household chores, or as we call them in our household, my duties.

There are lots of companies that will remind me when I've gotten behind on a bill payment. Particularly if it's their bill I'm late on.

I don't have kids, but I'm sure if I did, nature would remind me when it's time to feed them, or time to change their diapers.

Duties, duties, duties.

What I'd like to have in my life is people to remind me about my music, or my writing. Those people who ask, Did you take out the garbage?, if they would also ask, Did you get to spend any time this week on your song?, Did you get to spend any time on your writing?, Did you get to spend enough time on your video project?

When I get to the end of my life here, if I look back and all I can say about how I spent it is I kept my house clean. I paid all my bills on time. I always showed up to work on time, that would be pretty sad.

Doing my duties is important; they do need to be done, but that's not what's important about life.

I want to get to the end of my life and be able to say I wrote a book, I wrote my songs, I made videos that made people around me happy - that would be a life worth living, and a life worth blogging.

Chinese Groundhog Day

I know it was Chinese New Years a couple of weeks ago. Isn't Chinese Groundhog Day coming up? I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Wuhan Willie.

My second DVD project

I finished my second DVD project this week. Well, maybe not quite "finished" - I still want to create labels for the disks. My objective in this project was to make a copy of a wedding DVD from one of my cousins in Poland.

My parents went to Poland last year to attend his wedding. He gave them a nicely produced DVD as a memento. Unfortunately my parents weren't able to view it on the player I got them for Christmas. Without understanding too much about DVD technology, I guessed the problem might be a formatting incompatibility. Like NTSC versus PAL for video tape. I was hoping the software that came with the burner would let me create a copy in the appropriate format.

Now sometimes I have a tendency to make things more complicated than they need to be. I struggled with the authoring features and the menu setup features, to try to create a menu that would look just like the one on the original DVD. I thought I would have to re-author the entire DVD. However, all I had to do, was just copy all the files from the source disk to my hard drive. Then use the recording software to copy those files from my hard drive to a blank disk. It was a slow process but I felt victorious when it finished.

My Valentine Promise

This is what was written in the card I got for my Valentine, for my fiance, J.

My Valentine Promise

Despite any obstacles that come our way and all the many
differences we've shared, I find myself loving you more with time.

I love you when our moods vary

and when our opinions go in
opposite directions.

I love you when your ideas aren't quite the same as mine
and our beliefs clash. I love you when you take a stand on what you feel is
absolutely right, even if I don't feel the same way.

I even love you when you're tired and grumpy and don't
want much to do with me at that moment.

What I'm trying to say is that I love you no matter what,
even as we struggle to be our own individuals.

It doesn't matter how different we may be.

As I've spent more and more time by your side, I've
learned that I love you most of all because you are different from me and can express it.

I love you for what you believe, for the emotions you
feel, and for your ideas that help me open my own mind to possibilities I
haven't yet explored.

- B. K. Metott

Blogging real estate

I've been reading a few real estate investment blogs that I've found. They are written people who are actively working to build their real estate portfolios in order to achieve financial independence. I read them because I like reading blogs that are easy to read, and I like reading about people who are goal oriented and are taking action to reach their goals.

I've thought about starting a separate blog to chronicle my own adventures in real estate. What's holding me back is that I'm not comfortable about putting too much information about my investment activities on the internet. Maybe in time I will get over that; perhaps in time I will feel confident about being able to write about my journey through real estate without giving too much away.

As I travel towards my financial independence, I try to keep in mind what it's all for. I don't want to reach my goal then find myself thinking, "Now what?" This blog is about a different part of my journey. It is a reminder to me of what my financial independence is all about. It's about the creative endeavours I want to pursue; it's about the interactions I want to have with the people around me; it's about having the time in my day for all that.

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A few of the real estate blogs that I find interesting to follow are:

Shaun's Real Estate Adventures
My Real Estate Investing Venture
Joe Kelley's Real Estate Investment Weblog

Electrical update

I arranged to have an electrical contractor go to the rental property I have - the one with the electrical problem. I didn't go to the building myself to meet him, but the tenants were home, and one of them called me with an update.

The tenant described to me in general terms what the electrician had said, but said that I needed to call the office to get more information. I called the office a couple of times this week, and finally connected with the electrician today. He had made a temporary fix when he was there, but to fix it properly he wants to install another circuit, so that the basement receptacles are on a separate circuit from the main level.

He spoke quickly and had an accent, so I couldn't follow everything he said. I want to get a written report before I decide how to proceed from here.

Some days...

Some days I am fast, focused and furious. Some days I am slow, lazy, lethargic. Yesterday was the latter. It was what I call "having a bad brain day". And then I find out that Star Trek: Enterprise is going to be cancelled at the end of this season, after only four years.

*sigh*. Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you. Some days the bear just wants to lie down and not get up again for a good long time.

DVD burner is cooked and ready

I finally got the burner installed. I had the Geek Squad at Best Buy install it for me. The process took a couple of days longer than I had expected because they found some issues with my computer and it took some time to clean them up.

I burned the first DVD on Sunday. I put on three of the videos that J and I made during the Christmas holidays. The DVD didn't play back too well on my computer - it had problems playing the audio track. But when I tested it on J's mom's DVD player, it worked perfectly.

J's mom is really happy with the DVD. It brings back good memories to her.

To me, putting together the videos and recording them onto a DVD was a Creative Playful Explorer thing to do; something my inner spirit just drove me to do; something I did just because I wanted to do it.

To do something just because you want to, and to find out it makes someone happy - that makes for a good definition of success.

The emperor's new electrical problem

I drove up last week to my rental property to do my own inspection of the electrical system. I tested some of the receptacles in the affected areas, and the power was working fine. The overhead light in the basement kitchen worked. Therefore I've cancelled the appointment with the electrician. We'll monitor the situation in case it turns out to be an intermittent problem.

The day after my visit I got a message from the tenants that it "crashed again". Doh!

DVD burner simmers on back burner

A few weeks ago when we were out grocery shopping I noticed a flyer up on the bulletin board. The flyer was an advertisement for a guy who creates a DVD slideshow from his customer's pictures. I can do this too, thought I, when I get my DVD burner.

This morning at breakfast with J and her mom, they started talking about some business ideas that included making DVD's for people, just like the guy who had put up that flyer was doing. So I got all excited again about the prospect of getting a burner.

At lunch today, J picked me up at work and took me to Best Buy and I finally bought one. Hooray! I can't wait to get it installed.

Mission: Dawn - completed scene "Dr. who?"

I've completed, in a loose sense of the word "completed", the scene titled "Dr. who?". It's a little rough and feels rushed at the end, but it serves its purpose, which is to continue the introduction of the major characters.

I started writing Mission: Dawn because I needed a creative outlet that wasn't being served by my other creative outlets. I used to co-write a serial called The Tales of Dirk Halfspeed in the eighties. When I and my writing partner started that series, we hadn't given much thought to the characters or plot; we just made it all up as we went along, and we regularly tried to stump each other by creating a problem for our characters and leaving it up to the other writer to solve. This approach led to a very disjointed, uneven, and inconsistent story line and characterizations.

I hope to be able to approach the Mission: Dawn story from a much more mature writing process. This time, I gave some thought to the major characters, who they are as people, and their back story, before I wrote even one scene.

Told my parents

I told my parents this weekend that J and I got engaged. Their reaction was not all that enthusiastic. I just wish they could be genuinely happy for both of us. *sigh*.

Worked out chord chart for Painted Smiles

I managed to squeeze in some time last night to work out the chord chart for Painted Smiles. It's in a minor key. A colleague of mine said to me recently that he noticed that I use a lot of minor chords when I write. I guess that's how I hear the music in my head. I'll work out an arrangement of Painted Smiles in a major key so that I can develop my major key inner ear.

Technically I should still have time to make a recording demo of Painted Smiles in time for the February Date With A Tape event. However, I haven't seen one scheduled for February yet.

There is a meeting scheduled for the Regional Writers Group, on Monday February 14. Their web site says "Share your material in workshop format. Bring your lyric sheets if you want constructive feedback. Interested in recording a compilation? Let's discuss some group goals!"

It sounds interesting, like it could be a good way to network with other people that have similar goals. I don't think my fiance would be too happy though, if that's the way I chose to spend my Valentine's Day.

Out of the hot water, into the electric frying pan

John Lennon said "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."

A few weeks ago I was planning to buy a dvd burner for my pc. I was about to go to Best Buy, then put that off because I got a call about a problem with a rental property I have. The tenants had been complaining about dirty water coming out of the hot water taps, which made the hot water completely unusable. Well, I couldn't leave the tenants without usable hot water. After about a thousand phone calls, I got an appointment with Direct Energy to do an emergency replacement of the hot water tank.

The new water tank has cleared up the problem, and cleared up the water. The tenants were happy with my efforts and happy with the solution. But their happiness hasn't lasted long.

Now there's a new problem. There's no power in some of bedrooms. The tenants checked the circuit breakers, thinking one had tripped and needed to be reset, but the circuit breakers are all fine. There could be a problem with the electrical system.

Life is, indeed, happening.

Revising Friday Nights at The Wedge

After the Date With a Tape last week, I found it hard to revise the lyrics for Friday Nights at The Wedge. First, I just felt too attached to the song. Also, I thought if I changed the lyrics too much it would water down the meaning.

So I started revising another song I've written instead, Painted Smiles. It's funky, and somehow, it just seemed easier to trim out extra syllables. I had used a combination of time signatures in the original version, but I managed to rewrite it all in 4/4 time and still maintain its funkiness. If I can get a recorded demo done in time, I'll bring this one to the February Date With a Tape.

The process of revising Painted Smiles inspired me to revisit Friday Nights at The Wedge. It just hit me, that revising it won't necessarily water down the meaning, instead it would enhance it. Kind of like editting an essay. I managed to rewrite most of the first verse, but got stuck coming up with the last line of the verse. I'll just leave it for now until I get a chance to work on it later.

Confirmation from Song Assessment Service

I received a confirmation from the SAC that they have received the two songs I had submitted to the Song Assessment Service last month, Isabella and Detours.

I also received a flyer for Songposium 2005, which will be held in March. This event is a day-long seminar for songwriters. Working professionals will demontrate various aspects of the craft and business of songwriting. There will also be a demo evaluation, which is an opportunity for participants to have one of their songs heard. I'll have to mark this event on my calendar.

Date With A Tape - Friday Nights at The Wedge

Due to some disorganization on my part, I almost didn't make it to this month's Date With A Tape event. However, in the end (and with some encouragement from my fiance) I managed to pull my stuff together and get out there.

Date With A Tape is a songwriting evaluation workshop. Attendees bring a recording of a song that is played and critiqued by a panel of industry experts. I submitted the updated version of my song, Friday Nights at The Wedge (I reworked it last November).

There was a small turnout, only about six participants, plus the two panelists, and two of the event organizers. Because there was such a small turnout, we got to hear everyone's song entirely, rather than the norm which is to play just the first minute of each song. In fact, the discussions ended so early that some participants had a chance to have a second song critiqued.

The panelists were down to earth and delivered their feedback in a constructive, rather than critical way. I found their comments quite helpful. The comments that I got on Friday Nights at The Wedge were that it was "musically fine" and the criticisms were primarily about the lyrics; uneven cadence, the need to trim some wasted syllables, and the need for a chorus. Oh, and one of the panelists actually knew where The Wedge was!

"It's a nice box"

I gave my girlfriend the ring yesterday. We spent the evening home, a quiet night in, just the two of us. We had dinner and watched tv. She fell asleep while snuggling with me during Star Trek - Enterprise. I had the box in my pocket at the time, just waiting for an opportune moment to give it to her. I slipped the box out of my pocket and placed it in her hand, then waited for her to wake up.

The box slipped out of her hand a few times while she slept and I moved it back into position each time, careful not to wake her. Eventually she woke up. "What's this?" she asked as she noticed the box, all gift wrapped. She removed the wrapping paper and under that was a packing box. Inside that was the jewellery box. She looked at me expectantly as she opened the jewellery box, waiting for me to say something.

Meanwhile, I just could not say anything. A number of smart-ass remarks came to mind, as they usually do in serious moments, a defensive mechanism that protects me when I am feeling vulnerable. I swallowed the remarks though, and didn't say anything. Besides, I think my heart had stopped beating by then.

She took the ring out of the box and looked it over, then looked over the jewellery box it came in. She turned it over to where the tag was on the bottom - Made in China. "It's a nice box," she said.

"I'm glad you like the box!" I retorted, looking at the ring she held.

"So what does this mean?" she asked.

"It's an engagement ring," I told her. "Do you want to get married?" I asked. Then thinking I better be more specific, I added - "To me?"

She said yes and hugged me. The rest is history waiting to happen.

Lord of the Ring

My New Year's resolution in 2004 was to get engaged to my girlfriend. I missed my target, so I decided I would change that this week.

I went to the jeweller on Monday. He still had the two diamonds I looked at with my girlfriend when we went, some time back in November or early December - the 60pt and the 76pt. I took the 76pt. I couldn't remember my girlfriend's ring size so we went with a stock size 5. The jeweller said he would mount it and that it would be ready for pick up on Friday.

Well I just got home from the jeweller, with the ring. It is quite stunning. The lady at the jeweller's asked if it was going to be a surprise and if I had something planned out. I said yes, it's going to be a surprise but I don't know exactly when or how I will give it to her. I'm kind of playing it by ear.