Little Things

I'm still thinking a lot about goals for the new year and constantly revising my list, which I think is fine so long as I'm simultaneously getting things done. Something that's struck me lately is the importance of execution vis-a-vis extended evaluation. Sure, reflection has value, but too much of it holds back so many capable people.  This year, I'm trying to be more of a doer and less of a thinker.

Predictably, I'm fixated on my student loans at the moment. My lender has increased the rate on my loan a full percentage point in the last few months. This isn't the end of the world because the rate was so low to begin with and, thanks to years of prepayments, my loan will be repaid in full soon. I suppose my worry has more to do with the larger changes to the public and private markets. I'm hoping that the impact on home values and my employment will be minimal, but I'm nervous about it.

On to things I can control...

I'm working on discarding or recycling a couple of very old laptops. As a first step I've consolidating my digital photos and am now looking to back them up using some sort of cloud-based resource. Do you have a service you'd recommend for photo storage? I find Dropbox unreliable in my day-to-day work so I don't want to use it. Also, what have you done to dispose of or recycle your laptops in the past?

While I wasn't able to cross laptop disposal off my list, I did get a lot done this weekend.  I spent my time billing at the office, culling my closet, dropping off donations at Goodwill, stopping by the dry cleaner, visiting Costco and Lowe's for a couple items for the house, gardening, making a soup to eat for dinner next week, cleaning the house, washing the car, and making a little carrot cake. Sounds mundane, but it was... really great.

Tiny carrots from the garden that ended up in a carrot cake.