Report Card for January/February 2009
One thing about setting goals is that it helps when one is held accountable, either by oneself or by friends, family etc. So here is what I have done so far this year.
Fitness
I set out to become much fitter again, chasing myself ca. 1999, when I lived in the States, ice skated and went to the gym a lot. Two bouts of illness basically leave me way behind, but I’ll get moving.
Reading
The list is long, and I finished these:
McCarthy’s Bar (370p)
The To-Do List (330p)
Evelyn Wood (212p)
Personal Devolopment for Smart People (160p)
The To-Do List wasn’t on it, but I am still par for 26 which is almost all. Furthermore, I am two thirds in to Time of Our Singing and one third into Shadows of the Wind. Not sure though, whether I’ll finish the latter.
In addition (due to the illness), we basically breezed through The West Wing’s first 4.5 seasons. And we thought, getting rid of the TV would help watch less TV…
Web projects
- The Speaking English Podcast continues to run. Six episodes in 2009 so far.
- One work project went online as planned.
- The “taking the cell phone off the grid” project was a nice idea, but the charger didn’t put out enough power for the iPhone. Will try it on the Nokia 95 to use that as a camera maybe.
- Three Kanal 14 episodes were published, two more interviews are done, this week I have two more scheduled.
- My “Portfolio Project” looked like dead on arrival after early criticism. Illness didn’t help here either, but I re-started recording again. It will certainly look different than announced, but I’ll pick it up for sure.
- The band has now a repertoire of about 40 minutes (all covers). I hear Jessica Simpson’s sets are not much longer.
Nachtrag zum SpOn-Artikel: Kanal 14 Interview mit Hans-Josef Fell
Um mich nach dem SpOn-Artikel und Folgen (inkl. Interview bei der Sendung Trackback auf Radio Fritz) ein wenig schlauer in Sachen EEG und Emissionshandel zu machen, habe ich in der vergangenen Woche Hans-Josef Fell von Bündnis 90/Die Grünen geführt und auf Kanal 14 veröffentlicht.
Es ist vollbracht, jetzt Bett
Seit einigen Monaten in Vorbereitung, ging Donnerstag ein Werbespot auf Sendung, den unsere Agentur sich ausgedacht hat.
Dazu habe wir uns eine Webseite ausgedacht und seit Weihnachten mit @sebaso und @langalex umgesetzt. Die letzte Woche war noch einmal Crunchtime, insbesondere da die Familie krank zuhause war. Nun ist Wochenende, und meine Nase trieft. Recht so, arbeitgeberfreundlich wie immer. Hoffentlich ist der erste KiTa-Winter bald vorbei…
Resolutions taken to task: sports and reading
I have finally made it back to the rock, I think after a three+ yrs hiatus.
One of my goals this year is, to become nearly as fit as 10 yrs ago. That year was insane, sports-wise, ergo the nearly 
Also, I have read the majority of this book about speed-reading and will put the concept to the test on some of the non-fiction titles on this list.
I have to admit, the concept of browsing through once or twice and then
writing down some questions the book should answer makes sense. Much
more interaction with the content. I’ll report.
Meanwhile, the cell-phone-off-the-grid project
has not yet left the ground, due to hardware issues, missing plugs and
wrong cables. However, watching the load meter of the solar loader, I
am confident that it is possible, no question.
Reading list for 2009 (enough with the resolutions already)
As you may remember, we will be moving in spring 2010 and we want to trim down the number of boxes of stuff to be moved. A good place to start is books, we own a lot. And I mean, a lot.
One way to go about it, is stop buying new books and reading the ones we have and didn’t get to yet. Another is to bookmooch and a third is to give books away. We’ll do all these.
As I went through the shelves (books are standing in double rows) to fill a box to go in the attic, to make room for the books lying around elsewhere, I created a little “books on reserve” shelf (Handapparat aus der Uni), with books I really need to get to and intend to read this year.
Here is the complete list:
Macolm Gladwell – Outliers
Carlos Ruiz Zafón – Shadows of the Wind
Wallace Stegner – Crossing to Safety
John Irving – Until I Find You
Siri Hustvedt – Sorrows of an American
Dan&Chip Heath – Made to Stick
Paul Auster – Book of Illusions
Richard Powers – The Time of Our Singing
Jasper Fforde – Eyre Affair
Joseph Jaffe – Join the Conversation
W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne – Blue Ocean Strategy
David Foster Wallace – Infinte Jest
Siri Hustvest – Enchantment of Lily Dahl
Hermann Scheer – Energie Autonomie
Dan Tapscott – Wikinomics
Sten Nadolny – Discovery of Slowliness (*)
Ken Follett – Pillars of the Earth
Charles Frazier – Thirteen Moons
Nick Hornby – Slam
Jonathon Franzen – The Corrections (*)
McCarthy – McCarthy’s Bar
Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird (*)
Jonathan Safran Foer – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Paul Auster – Oracle Night (*)
Naomi Klein – Shock Doctrin
*=reread
That’s 23 books, more than two weeks per book which should be manageable. The number of business books seems low, but you can add to that 1-2 books I will still get for Christmas and 1-2 I intend to pick-up as the year progresses, depending of what comes out and my way. And course Lee Child – Nothing to Lose once that comes out as paperback.
The Irving tome, Shock Doctrine and Infinite Jest look scary thick, but what’s a guy to do.
However, I have finally started to read Stephen D. Frank’s The Evelyn Wood Seven-Day Speed Reading and Learning Programm, a book I had lying around for years. Last night’s speed was 580 words per minute, faster than average they say, but they are striving for at least 1.500 words per minute. That sounds scary too.
Have a great 2009!
