uvageek

One of the biggest problems that I see as someone that enjoys toying with technology is burnout. No, not talking about the game, or something along those lines but more about burning out in your career.

I think I can say that I’ve been through burnout a few times over the past years, girding myself back up and pushing forward to kick butt and chew bubble gum.  Pause and read through this article published by our friends at Lifehacker.com

“Burnout and How to Deal With It” by Jeremy Hutchings

A few years ago I decided I’d had enough with burn out and decided I would just start going to the gym two hours a night. I was far from being a gym rat, but definitely was stress free and scared a lot of people when I would effortlessly lift certain amounts of weight.  Exercise, rest and healthy nutrition were great for blowing through stress, until another “exciting” project was presented to me and it all went out the window, though I do still try to maintain a sleep pattern that provides for ample rest.

So what’s all that mean for me? Probably that I’ll start jumping back into a pretty hardcore gym workout schedule as well as putting some more barriers in place between work and life – Google Voice works pretty well for this, taking calls and letting me do my own thing in the evenings… TokTumi’s paid service would allow me to further direct people to appropriate resources through a virtual assistant.

So what’s it mean to you though? It means that you need to learn to live your life and not sweat the small details. Get the heck out of dodge, disconnect, take a Kindle loaded up with books. You should be good for about a month if you’ve got that much vacation stored like I do

Recently I was reminded how precious life is through a few different events occurring. I was reminded that life is not something that we can live later, but rather something that we seize today and live the moment. If we rather decide to live later and work now we cheat ourselves and others of enjoying the life that we are blessed with.

Nevertheless, in an effort to get back in shape and remind myself how relaxing just wandering aimlessly outside can be well, just what I need, I’ve started wandering 20-30 minutes at night at a nice leisurely pace of about 3 mph.

So far, so good and definitely feeling more relaxed after only a few days – who knows, maybe I’ll be jogging and running soon

What about you? I’d encourage you to get out and walk, take your music player with you and disconnect for thirty minutes and just let your mind rest for a little while and feel your blood course through your body as you relax and recuperate.

Seize the day.

There is nothing more to be said.

Well, following up on my last post about drivers in Washington, DC being non-cognizant of their surroundings, paying attention to texts, tweets and something other than the road (blog post), it’s official according to AllState Safety Survey (2010 Best Drivers Report).

Looks like DC is the worst around where on average Washingtonians get into an accident every 5.1 years, 95.5% higher chances of getting in an accident than the average American.

Baltimore rates a little better in next to last position with an auto accident occurring every 5.6 years for Baltimorians (is that even a word?) – 79.4% higher chances than the average American.

Other areas near DC including Alexandria, VA and Arlington, VA are near the bottom of the list as well. Arlington ranking with a 35.3% greater than average chance likelihood of being in an accident – accidents occurring every 7.4 years.  As for Alexandria, VA statistics are similar with a 38.0% greater than average likelihood of being in an accident – accidents occurring every 7.2 years.

I think it may be time to move to Fort Collins, Colorado where the likelihood of getting in an accident is 31.2% less than the average American and the average years between auto accidents is 14.5 years.

Recently I took my Nissan Maxima on a long road trip on the roads of the Southeast and have to say that I was impressed with the drivers along the way. How so you might inquire? Quite simply – they were paying attention to the wheel, they were being courteous and they actually stopped for pedestrians at crosswalks.

That’s right, they gave pedestrians the right of way.

So here I am back in Northern Virginia and I was pretty ticked off by the number of drivers that either

• a) drove with their high beams on
• b) weaved in and out of traffic aggressively and
• c) texted while driving to the point that they were having difficulties controlling their driving at 55 mph.

Seriously people, pay attention to the road and get over yourselves – you’re not doing yourself any favors by getting stressed out about getting somewhere more quickly – take a chill pill and leave earlier. If you don’t have time to leave earlier, consider some hard conversations with your manager to change times.

Bottom line, it would be nice to actually live here if it weren’t full of folks that while driving aren’t thinking about driving…

More and more I wonder to myself, “What’s next?”

Both in my life, my work, and in the society in which we live.

I continue to press forward toward excellence as my parents encouraged me to do, but to what end when it becomes fruitless and merely a struggle?

In this society, I only ask what has happened to common sense, personal responsibility and thinking of others before yourself.

Living in the Washington DC area, there are a few things that you tend to know about happening… for instance WTOP News is your friend with traffic and weather on the 8’s… the Marine Corps Marathon in October is a pretty big deal… the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on the National Mall is also a pretty big deal…

So now imagine the collision of two of these three items – WTOP News and the Susan G. Komen Race for the cure. Over the past couple of years I’ve always chuckled when the radio announcers / broadcasters / news desk folks talk about Sleeping in for the Cure, always wondering if it was just something that WTOP News did or if it was legitimate.

After a little thought and analysis, and a visit to the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure web site, sure enough it’s possible to register for Sleep in For the Cure. Initially I thought, “Maybe I’ll get a group together to go and walk the 3.1 mile hike, that’s a nice hour long walk.” But then I started thinking about it… 45,000 participants on the metro on a Saturday morning in DC… hmmm. Maybe I need to relax a little.

So while everyone else is out for the fun through DC, I’ve registered to sleep in on 5 June, and I intend to

Similar to runners, we get race shirts and bibs, but the bib is a little different

And if you’re interested in contributing to the Race for the Cure and looking for someone that’s registered, wander on over to:

http://globalrace.info-komen.org/goto/usher

Better yet, sign up and enjoy sleeping in