Martial Arts Training

One of my resolutions was to exercise more, so what better way than to get involved in some boxing and tae kwon do? I had my first day of training yesterday, and am going again tomorrow. Levon, Araks' brother, is the one training me, and he is very good at what he does, so it's very fun.

I'm looking forward to getting in shape this year. I think it will really help my overall mood and my work productivity.




Photo credit: Tomm Hansen

And So The Year Begins (And Why The Rose Parade Sucks)

I was about to go to bed today, and then I realized I was already close to breaking my first new years resolution: blog more often! Now, I have 3 blogs, so it's not easy to keep all of them updated, so I am going to focus this one on daily events, sort of like a diary. I don't really have any other focus for it, so why not document my life? It's not going to provide much benefit to anyone reading it, but it is definitely worth its weight in gold years down the line when I look back and read about what I was doing day to day and what my thoughts were.

So anyways, I spent New Years with my parents until midnight. Nothing very exciting there. Then, I went out with Araks. We were going to meet a few friends at a party in Pasadena, but by the time we navigated all the street closings caused by the Rose Parade, the party was over.

I seriously never understood the appeal of the Rose Parade. It's just a bunch of arranged flowers going very slowly down the street. Wouldn't it be much more effective to take a picture of each float and post them online as a slideshow? The only thing that would be missing would be people no one knows artificially waving at people they don't know.

Even if you like the Rose Parade, why the hell would you camp out in 36 degree weather on New Year's night instead of watching it at home? You really don't have anything better to do? Just seeing people sleeping on the streets with their blankets and comforters touching the dirty sidewalk made me nauseous. You people need to get a life!

Anyways, so we just ended up driving around some dark neighborhoods and looked at some very nice houses. Of course, ours will look better, but now we are just getting some ideas on what to do :-)

I got home around 4am and knocked out until 1pm when I woke up from the sounds of my nieces' gigglings.

My sister and her family was over, so we had a bit of an after-new year's early dinner (which was my breakfast). Then we all went to my grandmother's house to wish her a new year, where my brother and his family were already doing their wishing. Afterwards, they came over and I got to spend quality time with Angela and Hovik. Hovik is growing up fast and is always fun to play with. I let him loose playing Call of Duty 4 for a little bit. He's not bad for a 3 year old.

Angela was an angel as usual. She definitely acts much older than she is. I always think of what it is going to be like to look back 20 years from now and remember how they were as little kids.

And that about rounds out my day. I am looking forward to waking up early (8am) and getting a lot of work done. I am really set on keeping my resolutions this year, and this blog is just another tool to help me stay on track.

Goodbye '06, Hello '07!

This is my 100th post for 2006 and the last for the year. That averages out to a post every 4 days or so. Horrible!

Anyways, 2006 was quite a year for me. I started a company, 5 months later I bought out my partner, worked day and night, fell more in love with my lady, and got used to sleeping at 5am.

If you look back on my posts for the year, you'll see they hardly mention a thing. Why? No time! Too many things to do, too little time. That ends up causing a lot of stress. That's one of the things I have to fix in 2007. But before we jump into those resolutions, let's go back to my December 31, 2005 post and review the resolutions I had set for 2006:

1. Get engaged - definitely didn't happen, but 2007 looks to be the year!
   
2. Pay off all debt - still working on that and it's heading in the right direction
   
3. Hit the damn gym that I prepaid 3 years for! - yeah, no.
   
4. Start a company (or 2) - definitely started one!
   
5. Become an insurance broker - don't even care about this anymore
   
6. Hang out with friends more often - you can thank #4 for this not happening
   
7. Wake up early, sleep early - see #4
   
8. Spend less - definitely happened. I am still getting my act together, but I've come a long way from the craziness of my past
   
9. Read and review 10 books - numero 4 at it again
   
10. Watch the entire Godfather series... again - what a stupid resolution. No, it didn't happen.
    
11. Write a short story - I don't even recall writing this. No time for that!
    
12. Get a new cell phone - Got my PEBL, let's see how long THAT lasts
    
13. Learn to read and write in Armenian... again - no time for this either.
    
14. Write in blog at least 5 times a week - ha! Not even close.
    
15. Learn to play the piano... yet again - I don't think I touched my piano once in 2006.
    

3 out of 15 isn't bad. Oh wait, it's a pathetic 20%. Ouch!

Ok let's see if we can make 2007's resolutions a bit more realistic:

1. Pay off most of my debt. I've been spending less and making more, so this is realistic.
   
2. Get engaged. I've been dying for this! I have to propose before Araks realizes I'm a psycho!
   
3. Sleep by midnight and wake up before 9am on weeknights. This is going to take some work.
   
4. Stop trying to please everyone. One of my biggest weaknesses and the cause of a lot of my stress.
   
5. Stop being afraid to rock the boat. See above.
   
6. Finish all my projects on time. This will improve cash flow and reduce stress. Doesn't get better than that, does it?
   
7. Read an hour a day. Why not?
   
8. Exercise regularly. Exercise reduces stress. We all know that. Now let's do something about this!
   
9. Eat healthy. That means a drastic cut in my meat intake and a drastic increase in fruits and vegetables.
10. Write more blog entries! YET AGAIN!
    

What are your resolutions for 2007? How did you do on your 2006 resolutions?

And with that, I shall say farewell to 2006. You have been quite a year. Here's looking at you, kid.