2008 Roundup

I wanted to provide my results to all my goals for the year. Even though they were not clearly dictated like next year, I'm going to gather several ramblings and provide an update.

• I am on milestone number two which is getting down to 185lbs by May 2008. It's currently March 2008 and I weight a little under 195 lbs.

I didn't gain weight this year but didn't lose any. I'm currently at 201 even after the holiday eating. My motivation for working out declined after I injured myself in March and took 2 months off. 2009 I'm getting back on the horse and sticking to running 3-4 times a week, and lifting twice a week.

Eliminate debt:

• Best Buy Card($1,200)
• Litman's Jewlers Card($1,500)
• Fine($2250)
• Car Loan($13,744)
• Student Loan($9,802)

I think I did really well this year in debt elimination:

• Best Buy Card-PAID
• Litman's Jewlers Card-PAID
• Fine-PAID
• Car Loan($8281 remaining)
• Student Loan($9365 remaining)

If you compare the amount of debt I eliminate with also the amount of money I saved, my networth went from: -$17,896 to $7,684. That means that I have adjusted my networth by $25,580 this year. I would say I did a good job this year. I got a raise this year and put a majority of it to my 401k contributions. I raised it from 5 to 15%. If the economy wasn't so bad those numbers would be through the roof, but i still did well in tough times.

• So I have already read 3 books and am almost done with my 4th so I decided to set this goal to now 12 books in 2008, 1 book a month.

I destroyed this goal. I am currently at 29 and probably will finish #30 before the end of the year. I never really read many books growing up. I got in 2 kicks where I read more than 3 books but never like this. I think the reason for this was I aquired a DVR. I watch tv shows when I want so it doesn't take up my evenings and I read in the later hours of the night. I also only watch tv i record unless it is a sporting event and sometimes a program here or there, but not like I would do before. Also, when Ali moved in we removed the TV from the bedroom so that eliminated late night channel surfing replaced with reading.

I think I would rate this a pretty good year. I achieved mostly all my goals and along with that I've educated myself more about personal finance. I have become used to a budget and working towards debt elimination. I also am enjoying my free time by reading more, but also working out, and doing many other things. I see no reason why I should fall off track for 2009.

2009 Financial Goals

I have been reading several blog posts about 2009 financial goals so I thought I'd put mine here and refer and update as the year progresses.

• Pay off my car loan by end of the year
• Save $14,500 for my portion of a house downpayment
• Continue educating myself about investing, finance management, etc
• Educate myself about real estate and decide to purchase end of 2009 or wait until 2010
• Devise how to combine bank accounts with Ali
• Increase income by adding a secondary job(web design, computer repair)
  
• Continue to not rely on credit for purchases
• optimize my budget to reduce spending even greater
• Increase 401k contributions?(perhaps)

I will either comment on this post or update as I complete these tasks. Along with a car loan, I have a student loan. I've been paying the minimum for 4 years now and I need to decide how much more I should contribute to this to get it paid off faster. I could also see a possible new debt of being a mortgage but that is it.

UPDATE: I forgot to include other goals for 2009.

• Lose 16 lbs to get to 185. I gained some lbs over the past few months and I want to get to that weight for wedding
• Continue reading books, 1-2 a month(loose range of 12-24)
• Run the Baltimore Half-Marathon, i've been saying this for 2 years and last year i injured myself. I want to say run a marathon but this is a goal that is up in the air. but we'll say half for now
  

It's Raining in Baltimore

It is close to mid December and it is...raining. It was as high as 60 degrees. I don't know what to expect when I'm in my 60s, it may be sunny and 80 degrees here. Anyways, a few weeks ago our nation finally declared that we are in a recession, I feel like breaking into the SNL bit of "Really?." I understand our nation declaring recessions are usually several months/years behind because they have to await statistics before declaring it. So now that it's official, what now? I plan on staying my course, eliminating debt and accumulating savings as I go. Ali and I had a discussion this week about combining savings so the money that was owed to me will now be a moot point. We have a goal, save $20,000 for a down payment. I expect I should be seeing a large sum of money for a bonus at work. I was not able to save money this past month because I had to drop $540 on new tires for my car, but it was well worth the money. I was doing research about auto insurance, and passed on my emergency fund, I increased my deductibles and restructured some other coverage and was able to cut my 6 month policy, equaling about a $30 savings a month.

As I may have said in previous posts, my net worth is now out of the red. I plan on building upon that, not as fast as I should because of my 401k. As many people in our country, I am anxious to get Obama in office and let him start putting his policies to work. I just finished reading Your Money or Your Life, I recommend it to anyone interested in personal finance. I don't agree with everything in the book but it makes you think about how you value your money based on how you make it. A lot of the 9 steps in the book I've been slowing implementing and plan on going forward with a majority of those. I actually enjoy my work for the most part so in the immediate future I do not forsee leaving it to enjoy my life free of relying on a paid employment. Two things I do enjoy using my money for are live music and traveling. I admit I would love to have the financial freedom to travel all the time but at the same time while traveling I hit a point where I want to return to my normal life, working and enjoying my nights and weekends. I think my ultimate goal would be either freelancing, or owning my own modest IT business. I don't want to be the richest man in the world, I just want to live comfortably. I think once I eliminate my debt, I will take on a new debt of a mortgage but a mortgage in which I can afford comfortably.

I'm still unsure as to where I want to settle down for the rest of my life. I'm happy with Baltimore, but I love the pacific northwest and Barcelona. I would love to pick up and move to Barcelona for a few years but the risk is leaving everything I enjoy in the states like family and friends. Granted I could make a new life with new friends but it would only be temporary. I'm also interested to see where our country is headed into 2009 and more importantly 2010. I'm happy about being more educated about finances and the housing market. By the time we decide to purchase a home, I think the market values of homes will be about where it needs to be and not where it was in the past few years. A lot of unknowns and I will constantly be learning but such is life.

We Can Change

It has been while since I have posted. It may be a little off-topic, but I'd like to comment. This day last week marked a very important day in the future of our country. Not only was an African-American elected president, but it appears as though the Regan era has ended. Mr Obama has a lot of work to do, but I feel more confident with a fresh, intelligent, mindful man running this country in 1 month...Who are we kidding, he began taking over last Wednesday. During the campaign, McCain and the right-wingers were accusing Obama of being a socialist. I may not agree with that 100%, but I do think we need a little spice of socialism to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression. There is no one to point fingers at when talking about this collapse of our economy, it was a collective clusterf*ck but I sleep better at night knowing who will be in charge of rebuilding this mess.

I told many friends that if McCain was elected I was gone from the US of A. That may have been a stretch, but I don't think I could've taken it any longer. To my republican friends who think Obama is going to take your money and give it to the poor, or we are going to lose out on even more job creation because we are going to increase taxes on the upper echelon of America, get real. I may not agree with spreading the wealth completely but if I had to choose between spreading the wealth or giving it to rich, filthy, pompous a-holes, I'd pick spreading it all the way. It feels awful that in order for us to get where we are now, things had to get soo bad. I don't know how John Kerry would've run this country, and I am not glad we had to wait another 4 years but if you would've told me 4 years ago that Bush would continue being president and America would be holding on by threads...but Obama would be elected president, I think I would've endured the hell of the past 4 years.

Obama is unproven in many matters of being chief of state, he is a junior senator, but I don't care. He is passionate at doing what is right for this country, and can back it up with genuine words. I was undecided on who I was voting for in the primaries until that day in Philadelphia when he delivered his speech on race. It was the best speech I have heard in my few years on this planet. From the moment forward, I wanted to find out as much as I could about Obama, and everywhere I looked nothing disappointed me. It's good to have such a diverse man at the top of the country who didn't work it way up through a family name. The hilarious Chris Rock said it on Larry King Live several months ago, he was voting for the man with 1 house, not 8. I think Obama is winning over many naysayers, and still maintaining enthusiasm in many races and demographics. I am excited for the next 4 years, and as I have said before, he isn't going to magical fix this country, but he is going to lay the framework that will help this country prosper into the next several decades.

Anyways, enough of the political comment. Last post was mid-August, before the financial meltdown. Bailout bill was passed and the money is starting to rescue many failed financial institutions. Stock market is more erratic than ever, but I try to ignore it and stay the course. Yes, I have lost several thousands of dollars over the past 3 months but investing is never a guaranteed return at all times. I wish more people were more educated on investments, and stopped trying to maximize their returns daily. This month I have dug myself out of the negative in networth for the first time ever. It feels good, but I can't stop now. I am on track to pay off my car by end of 2009. I will not be able to save any money the next two months because one: I had to get new tires today and it set me back $565 and I have to spend ~$400 on Christmas gifts for everyone. I think the only real positive to come out of this recession is the price of gas. Last night in South Baltimore I saw it at $1.89. Around here it is $2.12. The money I'll be saving is gas can go towards more saving. I will be getting $400 back in the next 3 months on an interest free loan I gave out to Ali to help her pay off her credit card a few months back. I'll try to stay on this more often, I have been really busy and lacked the motivation to write.

You win some, you lose some

So I will not be putting any money into my savings account this month. August was an expensive month. I attended a wedding 5 hrs away and dropped $400 that weekend. My fiance moved in last month so we just had the carpets cleaned, and then there is the annual fantasy football fees. Many things I knew were coming but kinda forgot until they actually arrived. I'm not worried though. I think as soon as this month is over I can shut down into fall/winter mode and save lots of money. Summers are crazy, with weddings, parties, just getting together with friends, it racks up the bills. I have been conscious about spending but you can't avoid some things. I don't want to NOT attend these events just because I'm trying to save money. I just have to be smart with my money, which I think I am doing. I should be starting my side job within the next week or so. That will be nice extra income to go towards down payment on a house.

One thing I need to start working at better is working out. Ever since March when I injured my ankle, I've had a hard time getting back into consistently working out. This week was the first time since March that I actually ran at a pace I was used to running previous to the ankle injury. Now I need to focus on working on 3-4 times a week. Lately it's been 2 maybe 3 times, also need to life more as well. My goal of getting down to 185 lbs by August 2009 will be cake compared to others I set in the past 2 years. I only need to lose, and maintain 8 lbs in a year.

Some things to think about for the next month:

• Steelers football, try not to go to the bar and blow money..
• Orioles, will they sign Matusz and also how bad will they fall by the end of the season
• Finalize wedding photographer and random things for the wedding
• Work out more often and begin to lift consistently
• Step out of the red for net worth. I'm right now at $-2652. That is something to be proud of especially at my age.

Side note, Michael Phelps is two gold medals away from making history. I watched him dominated in the 200 IM last night, and this guy is a freak of nature.

Turn back the clock 5 years...

So 5 years ago...

I was broke, worked two shitty jobs, couldn't sleep at night from a case of scabies, missing my months studying abroad, and began to accumulate credit card debt like it was my job. This day 5 years ago I was in the summer before my senior year of college. I was broke because my minimum wage job working at Elizabethtown College plant operations as a lawn mower guy, and waiting tables was paying for my rent, saving my money for rent for the upcoming school year, beer, and not putting a dime towards paying of the debt I was building with impulse buys with the credit card. I had a habit up until several months ago to buy dvd's, games, and cd's like it was my job. I had scabies because of one of the dirty hostels I resided in while in Paris for a week, and having scabies is painful. I remember when I was in Spain that I couldn't wait to get back to the US of A in the last few weeks of being there, but for what? Yes I missed friends and family and being able to understand your surroundings but after a month of being back in the states I wanted to return to Spain.

That was then, this is now....

I'm engaged to be married on August 8, 2009, have lost 78lbs, and my net worth is still in the negative but not by much. I still did continue to accumulate debt but within the last 7 months have been making a conscious effort to rid this evil doing. I must say, I am doing a good job and I think I have a handle of my finances. My budgets have been broken, but I have been learning to reduce spending to save more, and eliminate more debt. Since Feb 2008, I've been able to save $6,500 while eliminating $3006 of debt. Which means my net worth has went from -$13,946 to -$4,456! If it wasn't for our recession in America I would have more considering I have lost several hundreds of dollars in my 401k, but such is life.

I would have never predicted that in 5 years I would be where I am at in my life. I feel like the last 1.5 years of my life have changed for the good. I began exercising more, leading to my dramatic weight loss and have been able to keep it off. My 2008 resolution was to eliminate debt but also to read more books. I set a goal of 6, then 12, now I'm shooting for 25. I have read 17 already, and think this will be cake. Also, my career is constantly on the rise, had a promotion in May with a compensation increase, and this week I began having discussions with a guy who owns a web development firm and I think I am going to start doing contract jobs in web design. I've been wanted to find a side job to earn some extra income to pay off debt and save more towards purchasing a house, and last weekend I saw an opportunity from a friend and received a business card. Sent a few emails, had a long discussion about the web and am waiting to hear back about the first project I can work on. If all goes well it should bring in anywhere from $500-2,0000 a month! Anxious to see where this takes me....

Off Topic-iPhone G3 & definr

Yesterday Steve Jobs announced the new iPhone 3G. I'm not really into fully-functional cell phones, which may seem odd because I work in IT and love new gadgets. I just don't see when I would use it. At work, I'm always at a computer, and at home I have access to the internet through out my apartment with a laptop. I guess there are those times when I'm to and from work, running errands, in the bathroom, or on vacation..But do we really need to be connected for 100% of our day. I don't think so. That was my reasoning for declining a purchase of an iPhone, also because of the hefty price tag and having to join AT & T network. But the iPhone 3G only costs 199$! I'm not going to run out in buy it but it sounds a lot more affordable considering I paid 150 for my crappy RAZR and 200 for an iPod nano. I would have to switch from T-Mobile to AT & T, but I'm willing to do so. I'm also thinking that Apple is going to allow other carriers to allow iPhones since that is what they are doing overseas in many European and Asian countries. So next phone will be the iPhone. Also cool new web toy I found the other day: definr. It is a superfast online dictionary that if you use firefox can be done a lot easier as well. Simply type definr/ in the address bar of Firefox. But instead of pressing Enter to browse to the address, press CTRL+Enter, and it will be smart enough to know to add the "www" as well as the ".com" to the address and the way they have their website configured, each word has the definitions in its own folder after the webroot. I've finally eliminated the use or dictionary.com, it was ok but too many adds and a few extra clicks to get to the definition.

I know this was off-topic but thought I'd share, to myself since I think I'm the only one that uses this but oh well.

Summer of Recession 2009

What a difference a year makes...

I am fortunate, but at the same time this summer is going to suck if you are planning on saving. Last week I hit a new milestone first, spending over $50 on a tank of gas. Not only that but my budget for food has increased as well. With my revamped plan for debt elimination, the current status of the economy is not assisting me one bit. I've had to cut back on savings by $75 because of increases in gas as well as money spent on groceries.

I've returned from Thailand, hating life back in America. I absolutely loved it: Pics. I went to many sights in Bangkok, ruins of Ayutthaya, bridge over the River Kwai, and Koh Samui. Samui is where they filmed The Beach. I never saw the movie but immediately rented it on Neflix when I returned, not impressed. I usually dislike Leonardo DeCaprio movies, so to me it did not disappoint. The Thai people were all very friendly, and willing to negotiate on any price in any market, that kinda got to me because I was sick of haggling. But it was great because we were travelling with Thai people so got to see some of the real sides and not just touristy areas. Also, got to snorkel and ocean kayak for the first time.

My ankle is still a little tender but when I returned I've ran about 10 miles/week and things seem to be holding up. Not 100% convinced that it will be ok but we'll see in the next upcoming months as I start to run more in preparation for the Baltimore Half-Marathon. I'm holding off on registering until I can confirm that my ankle will hold up.

Update...last entry I said I was going to increase my 401k contribution from 291 to 580/month(12%) but after some number crunching I'm able to increase my contributions to my full company match which is 25% up to 15%. I figured why give more money to Uncle Sam now. It may be a gamble down the road, if I'm in a higher tax bracket, but I'd rather save more money now then pay more to the government. I've also restructured my debt snowballs and will work to still pay of my car by November 2009, but then begin saving a little more. I was going to shift all my money used to pay off my car loan to my student loan but I'm just going to increase payments from 86.49 a month to somewhere between 300-400/month. I haven't decided total amount but I have a year and a half to decide that. My reasoning behind this is because a student loan is not "bad" debt, it is debt but it's very manageable. I really only wanted to eliminate my car loan debt before I applied for a mortgage, so this way I would have achieved it.

I've been thinking heavily about purchasing a house. Housing continues to slip which is not level with what is was several years ago but every few months the houses I've been eyeing are becoming more affordable to me. Also had some discussions with friends who are homeowners and I asked about PIM, well first I asked if they had it and they did. I'm still naive to most benefits of homeownership so I will not say much but it seems like the good outweighs the bad, if you can afford it. I'm not going to purchase my first home as it is going to be my last, I will compromise on a lot but still want something I enjoy. My next milestone after paying off car is still saving the 20,000-25,000 grand to put down on a house. I probably will have to take out PIM because I doubt I'll be able to find a house appeasing to me that 20-25,000 grand accounts for 20% of the home cost. That is in the cards within the next 18-24 months. My fiance, Ali, will be moving in with me at the end of July so I'm looking forward to that. Also, probably have to start wedding plans, I know she is going to start looking at reception places and then the floodgates will open. I'm trying to be cognizant of budgeting on the wedding because after doing some research I see we Americans like to go over the top. We aren't looking for anything extravagant but even the little things can add up, so I'm going to make sure we keep these all in mind in the upcoming months.

Even though the summer of 2009 will be awful for saving, it should be fun for other things in my life. It's already starting to feel like summer with the temp at 97 and very humid. But with weddings, parties, and talks of our wedding and future, bring on the Summer of 2009!

Reached a new milestone

I know it has been a while since I last posted. In mid-March I suffered a severe, untreated ankle sprain. I'm still unable to run without pain but I am holding off on going to a professional until I return from Thailand. I performed a self-rehab and things were going well but a month into it I started running outside and after 2 weeks of running 10 miles, I started getting pains in my achilles tendon. I usually would stick through it but I didn't want to screw up my left leg for life. I proceeded to using an elliptical trainer 3 times a week for 30 minutes, and when I return from Thailand I will try to run 2-3 miles 2 or 3 times the first week and see how it feels. If I'm still in pain I'll go to an orthopedic doctor.

Anyways, this last month has been a big step in my goal to becoming debt free. Starting in March, I increased the amount of money I was throwing at my debt(student loan, and car payment), and was on target for 31 months. I knew I wanted to eliminate it much sooner but my current financial status only allowed me to put $650/month while I was saving $5,000 to put in my Emergency Fund. Well, that all changed last week. Thanks to G.W.'s brilliant plan to stimulate the economy(if you don't know me, that was sarcastic), and receiving a well-deserved bonus, I have reached the goal of $5,000 in an emergency fund. I also received an unexpected, but well-deserved 16% raise, which is effective June 1st. So it has been a big month, my next milestone is very lofty but seems very doable. Save $14,500, and eliminate all debt by October 2010, more importantly pay of my 2007 Mazda 3 by November 2009. Also, with the compensation increase, it has allowed me to increase my 401k contribution from 291/month to 580/month. I realized since I began budgeting I didn't need anymore money to spend on "stuff", and I also wanted to get closer to the 15% employee match of 401k. Although I haven't fully achieved my goal of 15%, I upped my contributions from 7% to 12%, and have budgeted to increase my debt snowball to $850 a month. I'm in the dark for one reason, a wedding. I'm not sure how much is expected of us to put towards our wedding, I know my parents are paying for the honeymoon expense but there is a lot of things I don't even know about that I will probably be responsible for. Also, saving $14,500 is for a down payment on a house, total of $20,000 but my fiance is working to save the remaining $5,500. Depending on the housing market at the beginning of 2010, it will dictate whether or not I can wait to save $14,500 or just use what I have saved up until that point. So that is my plan for my short-term financial future. I feel good that I have a $5,100 cushion for any emergencies. In the next month, I will also look into investment options for part of that money, since inflation is rendering my savings account pointless. Oh when will the recession end, but at least I have a clear head to endure the storm. I'll write when I return from Thailand at the end of May. Until next time...

Every bit counts

I definitely have a new approach to life, every bit counts.

I've taken this into account for the three highlighting themes of my blog. For instance, tonight I was planning on not running or lifting. I have been running 3 times a week and lifting twice, sometimes 3 times. But tonight was an off night. I finished eating and was perusing the WWW and realized that I was grasping for things to do. I decided to take advantage of the daylight and go for a quick bike ride. I had to hit the ATM up so I decided to bike it. It's about a mile away, but I got there and decided to take a trip around the block, Mt Washington. I burned around 250 calories for about 22:30 worth of time. That is 250 more calories I burned, further helping me reach my goal of 185 lbs by May 2008. My previous self would've plopped down on the couch and starting channel surfing or stalking people via myspace, facebook, insert your social networking site of choice. In the final minutes of my bike ride I started realizing that I've been making a conscious effort to make every bit count.

Another example has been in my quest to become debt free. I've only committed to this last week so it's still early but I'm making good efforts. I have paid off two retail, 0% interest credit cards in the last week, and have a balance of $0 on my Capital One credit card. I currently have around $25,000 in other debt: student loans, car loan, and legal fees. Yea, I had a run in with the law this past summer and am finally repaying the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Anyways, since I paid off the two retails cards, I'm using the money that was going towards those two cards to add to my debt reduction. By using the snowball approach to eliminating my student loan and car loan debt I am increasing monthly contributions from $402.57 to $650. By using this I will eliminate my debt in 41 months! It is not my ideal situation, but I plan adding to that as soon as I save $4,000 as an emergency fund. I currently have $2,333.67. So I estimate in about 6 months I will increase that total to about $1,000 a month, getting rid of my debt in 26 months! So it's a start and I will be tracking my progress here.

I am down to 194 lbs so I've lost 1 lb since my last post! 9 more lbs to go until May 2008. I'll be svelte for my trip to Thailand.


In other news...if you don't use Firefox, use it, you're wasting your time with IE7, I'm only assuming you are using this. If you own a Mac, I apologize...but Safari is good as well. Waiting for Firefox 3. Yes, I did mention I'm into computer so I will make one nerd statement of the day. It appears that the WYSIWYG Editor you use for blogspot is fckEditor, only reason I think so is because we have integrated this editor into our product at my workplace.

----------------
Now playing: Led Zeppelin - Trampled Under Foot
via FoxyTunes

Welcome to my Realm

Welcome. I had many reservations to beginning a blog. I needed a place to write down my thoughts and have them easily accessible just in case I had a new idea. I don't like dwelling on minuscule details of my daily life. Thus the title of this blog: Fitness, Finances and Future. I tried to think of something profound but decided on the latter. The reason for this title is because that is what this blog is intended to highlight.

Fitness- I started taking this seriously in November 2006. Being two years and some change out of college, I thought I would be losing all the weight that I gained. However there was a reversal and I was actually adding to my college weight. In November 2006 after a well deserved physicial, I found out that I was up to 265 lbs. In reality I had the label of being "obese", I always joked about it throughout my life but it never got this high. To make a long story short, I needed to take action. I formulated a diet, workout plan and modified my lifestyle to reach my goals. My first goal was to lose 65 lbs in one year. So by August 2007 I had achieved the 65 lbs goal, 2.5 months ahead of schedule. So I am on milestone number two which is getting down to 185lbs by May 2008. It's currently March 2008 and I weight a little under 195 lbs.

Finance-This has become quite an obsession within the last few months. I've always been loose with a budget, purchasing using credit cards, and just not knowing where my money was going every month. I started by doing research on the WWW and got hooked on several blogs: Get Rich Slowly, I'll Teach You How to Be Rich, Me vs. Debt, and Millionaire Mommy Next Door, and also began using Mint to track my spending. I set a goal just recently to elminimate all debt(Credit Cards, Student Loans, and Car Loan). I actually eliminated all primary Credit Card debt but will be paying off a 0% interest Best Buy Card(bought a 55" TV) and a Littmans Jeweler Card(we'll talk about this shortly) later this month. I currently owe a little over $24,000 and have formulated a plan using the Snowball Debt Calculator have all this paid off by mid 2011. Also, probably discuss investment options when I get to understand this complex topic.

Future- I've hit a time in my life where this is starting to mean something and I need to prepare for it. I recently got engaged to someone who I love very much, and cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with her. We have set a tentative date of Fall 2009. I'm trying to get organized before getting married and I think I've done a hell of a job within 18 months. Lost some weight, started saving money, educated myself on the "real world", etc. This posts from this topic will probably be related to wedding plans, and other personals goals. This topic is open-ended so within this I will probably talk about Music, Books, Computers, and other events in my life. One which I am actively working on is reading more books. I started by setting a goal of books in 2008. If you know me, I'm not an avid reader. I went through a kick while studying abroad in Barcelona but as soon as I returned to the US of A, I was sucked into the world of mindless television. So I have already read 3 books and am almost done with my 4th so I decided to set this goal to now 12 books in 2008, 1 book a month.

Ok, first post in the blogsphere. I don't care how it looks but its a stepping stone to tracking my thoughts, goals, and ideas.