Sunday, November 8, 2009

Ready for Change

Since I've been living at home with my parents, I've kind of felt like I'm in limbo, mainly because I'm in between educational independence and financial independence. I've got a good start with my education, but now is the time to start building my own independence, one that is financially separate from my parents. Don't get me wrong, I love that my parents are glad to help me out as I continue to build support for myself.

I thought that working for Aflac would help me in this way, and it certainly can. But this job isn't exactly what I expected to do as a career. And, unfortunately, this is a job that is meant to be a career, not just a job, because it requires a huge time and effort investment before you start seeing real returns. Even so, you then are building your client base to help you survive in the long run. The only problem is, since this isn't what I want to be doing long term, I don't see the true point of putting all this effort into this sort of job.

Ever since I learned of the possibility that my parents would be moving back to Indiana, I've sort of lost the motivation to put in a lot of effort into my job. Mainly because I believe that if my parents move away from Franklin, there really is nothing left here for me. Sure, I have a few good friends here, but I don't really see any of them that often. Also, my brother and I have been talking about living together for a while now, so we can be close siblings again.

I told myself that until my mom hears the final decision about the possible job she may have in Indiana, I would continue to put my full effort into Aflac, as if I was going to stay here for a while. But as this continues to drag on, and the decision really should have been made by now, I find it harder to find the motivation.

No, I don't really like sales. Sure, I haven't been doing it for a while, so how would I really know until I give it a better chance? I have a few things going on that could really turn up to be a great profit for me, to help me make up for the little wages I've been earning so far. But I've thought to myself, even if and when I do get compensated for it, I won't feel any different about the job. The truth is, I just don't like it. And I continually think about how this job is not for me and how much I dislike doing it.

For now, I've been pushing through with the job for the experience. But I'm getting to a point where I almost don't care anymore. If my mom does get the job, I know my next step will most likely be to move to Indiana, move in with my brother, and hopefully land a job there. If she doesn't, then do I just continue to do this job, even though I really don't like it? I know, I'm lucky to have some sort of job right now, and I am at least grateful for that. But I just don't think I will be able to keep doing it, and I would rather put my efforts into finding another job. At this point in my life, I don't think insurance is at all what I want to be doing.

I've been praying a lot about this lately, and prayers for an answer would be greatly appreciated. I'm tired of this limbo, and I'm really ready for a change.

Please feel free to comment with your thoughts.

Monday, August 10, 2009

My inTake on Nutrition

Over time, I've heard a lot of people complain about their weight, that they are too fat, or they just feel like crap when they eat certain foods. I don't blame anyone, especially when we live in a world where such unhealthy food is so close to our fingertips, and at every turn.

"I'm hungry, why not just stop on over to Sonic or McDonald's for a quick bite? I don't have time to go home and grab something or cook anything."

I've heard many people state these things over and over before. Yes, I agree, sometimes, it seems like we have no time to make healthy food choices when we need to fill our bellies. But with careful planning ahead and conscious thought put into what we eat, we can all make healthy choices...most of the time.

My next few blog posts will probably involve things that I have learned through various websites, magazines, nutritionists, etc. that involve nutrition. I will go ahead and say that I am no expert, but I have learned a thing or two that have worked for me, and I don't mind sharing this information in a simplified manner.

Who knows, maybe it will help other people to improve their lives.

Update

After a little consideration, I think I know how I will use this blog for now. I've been introduced to the AdSense world for a while, but I've never really thought of taking advantage of it. This is my attempt to try and make a little money on the side by writing about things I know and like. Hopefully, this will work out for the best!

The things I will most likely write about (for now) will include personal finance and fitness. Maybe people will be interested in what I have to say.

Friday, April 24, 2009

P90X+

So after I was wondering what to do next, I found out that there is P90X+. It's the program that is meant for people who have finished P90X and want to get even better results (or just maintain the results). I've been doing it for two weeks now, and I'm liking it. It's not as time-consuming. It may take an average of 45 minutes a day, 5-6 days a week, depending on if I take a break on the Yoga day or go for a run.

I've never been a truly active person, so this is sort of weird for me. But I really enjoy staying in shape, so I guess I'll be fine with it. :P

FRRREEEEDDOOOMM!

Today marked my last and final day as an undergraduate student at UT. I will graduate on May 8th with a 4.0! I'm 1 of 4 top graduates in the College of Business Administration! I can't believe I actually achieved that, but for some reason, I had an inkling that I would do it even before I started college.

My degree is: Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
My major is: Marketing w/ a Dual Concentration in Logistics
My minor is: Spanish

I'm done! I accomplished all the goals that I set out to do before graduation, and I'm so excited that I did it.

On another note, I checked out the Sherwin-Williams job that I was sort of interested in. The one with the Management Training Program. Wel, I learned that it is not what I want to do, so I will tell the recruiter tomorrow.

On a lighter note, however, I received a call today from a recruiter with yet another technical recruiting company. This marks the third company in this industry that has reached out to me. The first two rejected me after the first interview. I'm guessing this isn't much better.

However, I got an email from the recruiter with Comcast in Knoxville. I applied for a job of "Associate Marketing Creative Services Professional." Basically, the job entails some graphic design, marketing strategy alignment, document write-ups, communications, etc. For a first job, this sounds amazing. I sent a stellar email back to her, answering her preliminary questions. I'm praying that she likes me and feels I have what it takes. I really want to interview for this position, and I hope that you will pray for me.

As William Wallace would say, "FRRRREEEEEDDDDOOOOOOM!"

Friday, April 17, 2009

To-Do List Until Graduation

This is mainly for me, in order to dramatize my final assignments for school. I will cross the things off until I am finished with everything.

M460
-Country Manager submit decisions
-Country Manager final report

L421
-Final exam, part 3

L460
-Print LOGEX reports
-Write SSDI case
-1 quiz

M401
-Personal reflections memo
-1 quiz

I can't wait until all of it is done!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

P90X done. Now what?

Today marks the final day in my P90X program. It's been a long journey, 13 weeks to be exact, since I started this ultra fitness program. For those who don't know, it's an intense workout program designed to turn people who are somewhat fit into really fit people. This means I worked out 1 hour a day, 6 days a week. 3 days were weight training, 3 days were cardio-type workouts.

I started out doing the workouts religiously and eating, for the most part, pretty well. I would have meals here and there that weren't that great, but I still stuck to the eating plan really well. However, the more I started to see results, the more focused I got about eating right. After a while, I was really pushing myself during the workouts, and I began eating exactly like the plan told me to.

I was amazed of the progress after the first 30 days, but only until I kept going did I truly realize the results that I was getting. Days 60, and now, day 90, have really shown the progress of the sculpting of muscle and the trimming of fat that I have achieved from this program.

It did take me a little longer than 90 days to do this program because there were days when I couldn't do the workouts (like when I went skiing), and I didn't do it during Spring Break. But I did not skip a single workout, and I made sure to make them up and just continue where I left off the next day.

Here's a photo montage of my journey.

Day 0 (Before Starting P90X)





Day 30 (Phase 1 Complete)





Day 60 (Phase 2 Complete)





Day 90 (Phase 3 Complete; Entire Program Complete)



So, now I'm done. It took a lot of hard work and dedication, that's for sure. But I don't want to stop, and I'm not sure what the next step is. I'm very happy with the results, and I would like to get even better results. Maybe that means I need to keep doing it until I find another program I can do (one that is less time consuming) to maintain the results.