Hello 2018 - I'm so glad you have arrived

You know how they say that you should send the year out with a bang?  Well, 2017 was so horrendous that it sent me out with a bang instead.

First up was a computer crash where I couldn't get it to boot up properly and it kept going to a diagnosis screen that told me there was an issue and once it gathered all of the data it would reboot itself and try to boot again.
It stayed on that screen for multiple hours before I gave up on it.

Then my new phone decided to completely freeze up on me and nothing that I could do (nor anyone else) would actually get the screen to come on.  So here I sit waiting on a replacement phone to come in the mail.  Luckily my old phone still works (although with bad battery life) so that I can function properly over the next few days until my new (new) phone arrives (again).

All that said, 2018 is still looked damned good.

So, with that being said what do I want 2018 to look like for me.

The biggest goal is the financial goal because we ARE buying a house.
This means that every single month I have to do a budget and I will be looking back over it every week to see if I am on track or if I can make some changes.

My main form of budgeting will be through the Everydollar app provided by Dave Ramsey and company.  However I do plan on creating a spreadsheet and utilizing that because I'll have more control over what I can do with a spreadsheet than what the app allows me to.


After Financial comes Physical because they start with the same letter.

Last year my goal was to do 10k steps every single day and I was on track until a horrible case of Planter Fasciitis started acting up.  I've been dealing with it off and on for at least a decade but this past year it was so bad that half way through most of my days I could barely walk and it stayed this way for about 9 months.  Every single day was a struggle just to get through a work day with an extreme amount of pain.

Luckily a a bunch of stretching exercises every single day and a brace on my foot at night made it so that I am now back to normal and I am not having those issues. 
So, Now I want to pick up where I left off and get back to making sure I get my daily steps in.
I have a tab started on the main blog page where I will be tracking it, usually updating it once a week.

I also plan on eating better and tracking my calories in order to hopefully start losing weight.
I started today, January 1st 2018 at 278 pounds which is higher than I thought I was at and I need to
make a change.


To exercise my mental muscles I will be continuing to listen to Podcasts and Audiobooks and my goal is to read an actual book (with my eyes) via my Kindle or actual paper one book every two months. 

And finally, that brings us to the Creative side.
I've been neglecting my creative side for quite a while.

So, I want to get back to this, the blog post.
I might not be much but I enjoy having some time to sit down with just my thoughts and some tap tap tapping keys and see what comes of it.
Every time I actually get around to writing a post I remember how much I miss it and the reason I don't do it more often is because I don't make it a priority in my life.  So for 2018 I am making it a priority to, at least, once a week give myself an hour or so to sit in front of the computer screen and churn out something y'all hopefully find interesting.

I will also be recording 1 podcast every month dealing mostly with video games and catching up on games I have missed over the last few years.

I will also spend more time watching comedians perform.  Chat up my good friend Linda Lou (she hasn't written in a year and a half, talk about slacking) and work towards embarrassing myself in a way I have not done yet.


So, with all of that being said I am trying to start out 2018 on the right foot and keep it going.

Yesterday I went to a local pawn shop and bought a new (to me) Fitbit to replace the one that broke several months back.  The journey to 10k everyday starts with the first day and I will get there (i'm nearly half way there already). 
I wrote this up for y'all and I've got a couple of podcasts ready to roll or when I take a walk later today.
I did my January budget yesterday and based on my estimated income I had an extra $50 to throw into savings and I have a couple of items I am debating cutting out in order to increase my saving power.
I'll charge my kindle later so that I can start reading but I'm not sure if I should try to finish the last book I was working on (a book about Krampus) or if I should pick something else out and start fresh.

Yes yes y'all - 2018 is going to be an amazing year and I hope it is for all of you grrouch-a-holics as well.