Navigation

Archive | Ramblings

Get Psyched to Workout!

January 5, 2017 in Fitness, Personal, Ramblings

To stay motivated, I read a lot of Amazon reviews on various workout videos. It is addicting and it gets me excited to try out a video (and get sweaty!). It’s a way of visualizing how the future can be for me through other people’s experiences!

Not somewhere I want to be unless I am the only person there!

So I’m reading the reviews and occasionally someone would mention how they have been doing exercise videos for decades and self-identify as intermediate or advanced exercisers (or specifically mentioning that they are not beginners). Many would follow up with how they do not go to the gym, ever.

After reading that statement as many times as I have, I realized that I want to be like these people and just workout to videos at home. I want to be like those who have been doing it decades!

And why is that?

Because like them, I don’t want to go to the gym to workout. I have a certain loathing for the gym as you know it, a big smelly room full of equipment and mirrors. Frankly, I don’t know the first thing to do and just feel like a moron when I go.

I mentioned before that I am the perfect gym customer: someone who pays the yearly fee, go once or twice, and never come back. It’s not for the lack of motivation, but because it is embarrassing for me to go. It is embarrassing not because I am out of shape (sure, I can tone up a bit), but because I feel like a clueless idiot! I am a clueless idiot, but I want to be a little secretive about it and not broadcast to the world, ha!

The whole point of a gym is to work out and feel better about yourself right? But not at a gym like that for me. I feel like I have to work out and get some experience just so I don’t embarrass myself.

So there you have it. If all I need is a TV, DVD player, a mat and some hand weights to get a good workout, that is all the gym that I need. The best part, is when it is in your home, you have NO EXCUSE to work out!

Continue Reading >> Yaks

I’m Still Alive: 2014 Edition

June 21, 2014 in Letter to the World, Personal, Ramblings

Dear World,

I suppose this is my annual “I’m Still Alive” post for the year.

I moved a couple of time since the last post. I would like to stay in one place for at least 2 years before another move (bleh), so here’s to hoping everything remains stable. I haven’t really been working on the personal business stuff since I’ve gotten back to working full time at a more demanding job and started working on a masters degree. So the business-for-fun, the writing, and other intensive hobbies have kind of tapered down. Now that things are kind of settled in terms of moving, working, and school, I think I can slowly get back into the fun stuff. Yeah, it’s time to get back to work, work on the fun stuff!

Love,

Ann

cat-no-work-allowed

Cat says, no work allowed!

 

Continue Reading >> 0 Yaks

Moving to WooThemes

January 14, 2013 in Business, Ramblings

So the last post before I lost the site was how I had moved this site from Thesis Themes to WooThemes (Canvas). I’ll most likely be moving some old sites to WooThemes and most new sites that will be created/is in development will be using WooThemes instead. And as this move was not part of the backup, here I am writing about it again.

The last cached version didn’t really go into the hows and the whys, so I thought I’d flesh things out a bit. So why am I switching frameworks?

The Cons about Thesis:

  • Thesis 2 had launched recently. It feels like a totally new framework. It has a lot of great things going for it. Unfortunately, most of these are/feels fairly technical. While I can write a bit of code myself, I do not consider myself a developer. Learning and then moving everything over to 2.0 is possible, but it will take a whole lot longer for me. I really don’t have the time.
  • I understand that Thesis 2 is still new, but again, I don’t have time to wait for it to settle in and have available all the plugins and skins that I will need.. like right now.
  • There is currently no clean upgrade path from Thesis 1.85 to 2.0. Again, this is a problem with that time thing.
  • I do not create all that many sites anymore and only have a few here and there. So the out-of-the-box-SEO benefit of Thesis no longer matters that much. Since I only have a handful of sites now, I have the time to tweak and manage the necessary plugins for the non-Thesis sites to fill in the gaps.
  • I don’t like how Thesis has functionality that overlaps what WP core does. An example would be the featured image functionality. This has caused some headaches on my end. Integration is not it’s strong point.
  • Most of my current Thesis sites are using 1.85. DIYThemes say they will continue to update and support the 1.x versions right now, but what about the future? WP will continue to evolve. With Thesis 2 being worked on, will 1.85 be kept up with? Where is it in the priority scale? I don’t like this uncertainty.

The Pros about WooThemes:

  • The theme I am primarily (almost exclusively) working with is the Canvas theme. It’s very easy to use with and is super intuitive. At this point, my requirements for the functionality of the site is basic. So as long as the foundation is solid, being able to “skin” it with custom CSS is good enough for me.
  • As mentioned previously, I don’t create all that many sites for myself anymore. I also am extremely picky in taking on freelance web design projects, so I don’t have to worry about that either. Now, I have the time to focus on just a handful of sites and I can keep things lightweight by just downloading the plugins for the functionality that I need.
  • WooThemes has terrific support and a great community. Things are constantly being updated and I can get the help when I need it. I feel like they will be around forever. It gives me a nice feeling of security.
  • My main reason for my move to WooThemes as opposed to other frameworks (Headway, Genesis, Catalyst) is that my primary source of income is from the sites/brands that currently sell things or will do so in the future. The shopping cart platform that I use is WooCommerce which is actively developed by WooThemes. They have fantastic plugins for the shopping cart and really fantastic support. So why wouldn’t I buy the themes from the creators of the shopping cart platform that I use? Integration between the two is seamless and easy. I like that!

So there you have it. These are the main reason for the switch. Of course it’s not to say that I am giving up on Thesis forever. I am just pursuing other options that make more sense to me given my changing business model. AnnAgain.com will most likely be the Thesis 2 playground once their documentation is more complete and as soon as I find the time to do so.

Continue Reading >> Yaks

Being Effective Only Once A Day

December 10, 2009 in Business, Management, Personal, Ramblings

I like to make lists. I make short term lists and long term list. I make lists for the day, the week, the month, and the year. I make lists for things I need to buy, people I need to talk to, and most importantly, I make lists for tasks I need to do.

“Gosh Ann, you are so organized and decisive!” you may gush. While I’d love to agree with you, that sentiment is far from the truth. The truth is that my lists depress the hell out of me and impede my effectiveness and productivity.

At the end of the day, my daily tasks list have way more things still on the list than things that are crossed out. This either means I am a lazy, ineffective shithead, or that I am unrealistic on what I can do during the span of a day.

While I’m fully aware that my tasks lists are pretty unrealistic, I do try cut them down. But I inevitably end up adding more things to the list, because I always feel like I can do more, especially when many things are crossed out. Yes, I am also fully aware that I might have some demented psychological problem.

Also, being alone and staring at a computer all day does not lend itself to optimism. So here I am kicking myself in the ass. The rationale then follows along the lines of “man, I suck at this” to “why do I even bother?” Once I get to that point, I abandon all hope of getting work done and just play video games all day.

Not so organized and decisive then.

But now, to feel better about myself, I’m simply going to lower my standards. And I’m going to stick to it dammit! I’ll just do one, single, most important and effective task each day and that’s it. If I do more that’s not on the list, then fine. But that one thing needs to be done and I am OK with it. I really can’t fight myself otherwise.

Things are much happier this way.

Continue Reading >> Yaks

.bleep:bloop.