If I was buying a new car right now, I think it would be a Jetta TDI. I’ll let this video explain:
Archive for May, 2009
Volkswagen Jetta TDI
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009My Career Plans
Thursday, May 7th, 2009My career goal is to make a bunch of money so that I can spend my time focusing on my passions:
- My religion (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
- My family
- My liberty
- Food (eating, not cooking) - My wife is a rock’n good cook.
- Recreation - particularly skiing, biking, and basketball.
- Cars
How the heck am I going to do that? Ummm . . . I’m not sure; but I am living by some principles that will help me get there:
- Spend less than I make
- Only use debt as an investment tool (education, home, business, etc.)
- Never use debt to buy a toy
- Tithe 10%
- Save 10%
- Continue my education (in and out of school)
- [I keep writing "I" or "me" but really everything I just listed fully involves my wife and family so I should use "we"]
My talents are:
- Teaching - my key is focusing on underlying principles.
- Long, hard, manual labor - keeping my head in the books for more than a few hours is taxing, but when I’m doing physical work I get in a zone where I become almost unstoppable. I HATE leaving a job undone.
- Fixing things - this talent really manifested itself when I competed in automotive repair. At the request of my teacher, I entered and won a competition at the local level. That spring-boarded me to state and national competitions where I took 1st and 2nd respectively. Before that point I knew I enjoyed it, but I had no idea how good at it I was.
Throughout the path of my career I would like to:
- Work in the automotive industry - I think market research would be a good fit.
- Work in the renewable energy industry - solar, wind, hydrogen, geo-thermal, and others fascinate me!
- Write a book - I have one outlined already. I should write a post to tell you about it.
Near term:
I am using my time at the Census Bureau to gain some experience working with surveys and data. I might even pursue a Master’s degree in survey methodology or applied economics. I think this will position me well to make a transition into market research. I hope to end up in positions where not only do I analyze markets, but I also develop strategies for capitalizing on them.
My current job, while not particularly fulfilling, has been a great opportunity for my wife and I to get on our feet. We both graduated from college last year. We followed that shortly with a new baby.
Blogging has introduced me to a whole new skillset. I am working to become proficient in:
- Basic Wordpress development
- Web writing
- Web Analytics
- Various forms of online advertising
- Basic web design using Photoshop and/or Illustrator
- My latest project was a blog for my mom: http://mamacrane.com
So, going back to the orginal question of how I plan to make a pile of money, I obviously don’t know. But I think I am positioning myself well to take advantage of opportunities that come my way.
What do you think? Am I headed in the right direction? Are there other essential skills I ought to be developing?
Note: I hate MLMs and am not interested in getting involved in one. I have to throw that out there because this last year, for some reason, has brought on a bombardment of MLM proposals. MLMs do not fall under my career goals.
I am Pressing Pause on My Liberty Rants
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009Because I am an employee at the US Census Bureau, I make sure not to blog about political debates or candidates. It would not be right for me as a public servant to do so. If I did I’m sure it would jeopardize my employment.
Instead, I have made it a note to focus on underlying principles—the philosophy of liberty. My thought in doing so was that these principles are simply *American.* I didn’t think that writing about these principles would involve me in any politics.
Looking back over my posts, however, it is clear that I have not successfully avoided *politics.* I criticized bailouts when they were a hot political topic, I complained about the 2 party system, and I’m sure there were some other violations along the way.
I have decided that as long as I work for the government, I will no longer blog about liberty. It is a subject that I love and am passionate about, but it will have to wait until a different point in my career. It is just too closely tied to politics.
I apologize to my readers who enjoy my rants about liberty. Don’t worry though, they won’t be gone forever. I am certain there will be other points in my career where I will be in a position to write about political issues without restrain. In fact, I think I will follow this post with one about my career goals.
In the interim, I will continue to write about cars.
Reason and Principle
Monday, May 4th, 2009Is anyone else fed up with the never ending Republican vs Democrat debates? I am really bothered that any successful politician has to fall into one of two thought camps. I am even more bothered that both camps ignore guiding principles, stomp on the constitution, and spend like Paris Hilton on a shopping spree.
Thomas Paine said of himself:
“He is unconnected with any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private, but the influence of reason and principle.”
From that *reason and principle* he wrote one of the most influential manuscripts in American history: Common Sense. He based it on true principles that motivated our young country to demand independence and freedom.
So next time you hear about a new political proposal, ask yourself a few questions about it:
- What is the underlying principle?
- Is it the proper role of government?
- Does it diminish any of our freedoms?
- What is a better solution?
If you get in the habit of asking this type of questions, you can join Thomas Paine in saying that you are guided by reason and principle. That’s much better than riding your party’s bandwagon down one side of the aisle.
