The Weekend Update

It was an extremely relaxing weekend for me, even if I woke up on Sunday and lost an hour of sleep because of Daylight Savings Time. But I’m actually getting used to it, I enjoy the thought of having “extra” sunlight in the spring/summer months… it is so refreshing!

There’s not a whole lot to report on from this past weekend, I got to sleep in and get some work done around the house. In addition to that, my niece celebrated her third birthday on Sunday which is always enjoyable.

I think the biggest thing in my life right now is hope for the future… which is something I haven’t felt in a while. I have begun looking at apartments and I’m very excited about the prospect of having my own place for the first time in my life! Don’t get me wrong, living at my Dad’s house rent-free is pretty sweet… but unfortunately the benefits are no longer there. I have always loved living with my Dad, but having my two brothers there is just getting too much for me. There is just so many details I could go into here, but I’m not going to. Just to say that I think it’s time for me to spread my wings and fly a little bit. And I have to say, I’m looking at apartments in Carmel… so I don’t know if they helps or hurts my credibility to be moving north of 96th Street!

But things are starting to come together for me which I’m really excited about: I’m losing weight, I have most of my credit cards paid off, I’m going to start paying on my college loans (ahead of schedule), I’m saving money, and I’ll hopefully be moving out soon. Woo hoo!

So yeah… things are going alright. This week has a lot in store, I begin my independent studies this week for Eschatology… so I’ll be spending time on Monday nights at working on primarily Eschatology, but tonight I’ll be focusing on preparing my sermon for Wednesday. My favorite study spots? The Central Library, IUPUI Library, Lazy Daze Coffee, McAlister’s Deli, and my corner Starbucks will be my study areas. Because let’s face it, if I sit at home in front of my awesome computer, I’m going to want to play Call of Duty 4 online, which will only put me farther behind.

I hope to have another blog entry or two this week, so stay tuned!

P.S. I’ve been listening to some Mozart and Chopin which I got on Amazon.com MP3 Downloads… it’s some good music.

The Weekend Update

Hi Friends!
I’m just going to update everyone on what’s going on in my life right now, as it has been turbulent at times, but good. The beginning of last week was extremely difficult for me on a personal level and I won’t go into details here, but I was very lucky and happy to be given a couple of days off (Monday and Tuesday). I took that time to go down to Indiana University and spend the night at the lovely IU Memorial Union. That night I spent some time with my friends Char and Jake, and also got to do a lot of bowling.

The next morning was pretty good for me. I spent some time reading my Bible and having quiet time with God… which is something that I haven’t allowed for too much in the past year or two. However, in the past few months since my break-up, I have regained that time with God. It was extremely refreshing to spend that time reflecting and meditating on where I’ve gone wrong, what I’ve done right, and all the in-between. Needless to say, I am feeling a lot closer to God than I have in a while and take comfort in His grace and mercy.

I got a nice surprise this week, my tax refunds were deposited into my bank account… woo hoo! I received a lot back this year and in my heart, I knew that I should use the money to pay off my credit cards (I have four total). So I took the two highest credit cards and paid them off, it felt so good! But then the unexpected happened, I looked at my bank accound and looked at my third credit card and realized there was some wiggle room for me to pay off the third credit card! Now I’m left with one credit account to pay on, and that is for my Dell computer that I bought this year. Hopefully I will have it paid off in the next month or two. So essentially, I will be free of debt, except for my deferred school loans (which I’m currently putting money aside to pay on).

So at the present time, I am evaluating my budget and making adjustments. I’m looking at putting aside money for a house and also possibly putting money away into a Roth IRA for my retirement. For the first time in my life, I finally have a hold on my finances and it feels good.

In other news, I’ve been losing weight, which is a pretty awesome thing. I’ve reduced what I’ve been eating and working out more, which seems to do the trick. I’ll have to write a blog posting about it some time.

But in a nutshell, that’s all I’ve got going on for the time being. I anticipate being busy at work with Easter coming up and also staying on top of my classes. So my apologies for the lack of blog posts, but there has just been too much going on and I will try to fill all of you in later in future blog postings.

Tags: finances

The Weekend Update

It was a gorgeous this weekend to get out and have fun. For me, I spent time with the family. My brother has custody of his kids (ages 2 and 3) every other weekend, so it is a great to see them. We went up to Lebanon, IN to see my grandparents and to meet up with the rest of the family. It’s so cliche to say “wow, time has gone fast” and to actually believe it! It seems like yesterday that we were just bringing these kids home and now they’re talking and running around, it’s completely awesome! Don’t get me wrong, newborns are exciting, but I’m more interested in watching them grow and explore.

It was also a good weekend to head over to Half-Price Books and apparently I wasn’t the only one with that idea. I’m always intrigued by bookstores, always filled with intellectuals, pseudo-intellectuals, and the just plain weird. I love walking through Half-Price Books, but I rarely buy anything. I have a routine down: check out the used DVDs, move on to the software, check out the technology books, sneak over to the religion section, and occasionally check out the history section.It’s also interesting to see what other people are reading, it would amaze you the passion that readers have about books. I was at Fry’s Electronics on Friday checking out the new Sony eBook Reader and I thought, “what a great technology,” however knowing many of the readers I know, it’s not going to take off. There’s something about opening a book and feeling the pages and building up a collection of good books. So far, I don’t think that technology companies get that! The Sony eBook Reader is pretty sweet, but unfortunately eBooks cost just as much as normal books… so for now, I will stick with the real thing. I will have to go more in-depth about eBook readers another time!

I also went to Trader Joe’s to buy some Organic Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup, it is always a great choice! Well, this seems to be a rambling blog post, so I will stop for now. Suffice to say, it was a pretty good weekend!

Tags: books, family, Half-Price Books, neices, nephews, soup, Trader Joes'