NevBlog

Neville's Digital Surrogate Brain

Red Light Photo Shoot

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So I got another traffic ticket….except this time it was more high tech than all my previous ones:

One of those red light traffic cameras caught me running a light “slightly” after it turned red. To my defense, this particular light EVERYONE runs….although that excuse didn’t really help at court (seriously, I tried).

I must say, I’m a little jealous my ticket didn’t have a cool picture like David’s Viper. At least for the price of his ticket he got a nice, frameable picture!

From now on I’m only going to run red lights at scenic intersections.

Evolution of The Daily To-Do List

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It’s kind of interesting to look back on this blog and see the ways in which I’ve kept myself organized.

Everybody has their own personal preference when it comes to organization, and I thought I’d take a quick analysis on the evolution of my daily to-do list:

—–2004—–

I was still in college this year, and my tablet PC was with me pretty much every step I took. I opted to keep all my tasks on the tablet using Microsoft OneNote (the most underrated piece of software on the planet) and my desktop:

As you can see all my tasks were physically displayed on the desktop of the computer, and I could edit/drag those boxes with ease.

—–2005—–

Around this time I started realizing that having to open my laptop to view my to-do list was not the most convenient thing, so I decided to go more low tech and use plain old sticky notes:

I would generally start with one sticky note, then start “chaining” them as the list got bigger. I’d say this method was pretty effective since you can carry them anywhere and edit them with ease.

—–2006—–

Around this time I realized the sticky notes were too small to write larger tasks, so I stayed low tech but upgraded to full sized sheets of paper:

Piece of paper with my tasks on it…basic and works very well.

—–2007—–

After a while I realized while I was getting my tasks done, I wasn’t sure how much time they’d taken me. In fact I wasn’t sure if I was even getting at least a full 8 hours of work in per day.

Solution: The ancillary to-do list tracking sheet:

I would make this sheet everyday in addition to the to-do list, so I would have two pieces of paper on my desk at all times. I would record the hour, what I did during that hour and the dollar value that work brought in.

After a while I removed the dollar value column since most work I do doesn’t bring in money itself, but helps make money down the road.

This tracking sheet worked extremely well since it made me self conscious about how much work I was actually completing per day. If I was slacking off, I could clearly see it.

—–2008—–

So the to-do list plus tracking sheet seemed to be a great combination for me, then one day I got the brilliant idea of combining the two sheets. I don’t know why I was messing around with two separate sheets per day when I could just as easily combine the two. So now I have something on my desk everyday that looks like:

Top column: Date, daily goals (if any), random reminders.
Right column: Daily events and times, hourly work tracking.
Bottom footer: Daily summary, income earned.

—–2009—–
(updated 10-08-2009)

The 2008 formatting was very successful and I still use it till this day, however there was one problem: With so much work to do every day, I’d get overwhelmed and scatter-brained about the work. Almost immediately I’d see tasks which I avoided doing or wanted to put off. This lead to many incomplete to-do lists, and postponing work till the next day, then next etc….

So one day I took a sheet of paper and covered the whole to-do list. I inched the paper down to reveal ONE task. I completed it. Then I inched down to reveal the next. Completed it.

Having a singular goal to work on helped immensely!

Towards the end of that day I inched down only to reveal I had completed every single task I assigned the day before! It was a great feeling to get through all the work in such a quick and easy manner. Since then I’ve been using this little trick to help me complete to-do lists, and it’s still working great.

Here’s a quick video documenting how I structure, complete and save my to-do lists:

At the end of every day I put each to-do list into a binder for future reference.

After doing this for several months, it’s nice to go back and look through them. If one month I didn’t progress much, I can clearly see why by looking at these daily performance reviews. I make notes of good days, bad days, workout regimens, interesting happenings etc.

My Best Advice On To-Do Lists:
Figure out your own way and try many different methods. Most methods work extremely well for about two weeks then trail off. Your work and commitments are most likely much different than anyone else’s, so come up with your own to-do list style.

The one piece of advice I will give that should work for everyone:
Always make your to-do list the day before. If it’s Wednesday right now, you should have your Thursday to-do list made before you sleep. Seriously, it helps a lot.

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NEVILLE’S TO-DO LIST
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1.) Write post about evolution of to-do list.
2.) Say goodbye.

Goodbye!
-Nev

Advice To A Soon To Be College Grad

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A close family friend (Burjis) whom grew up like a brother is about to graduate from college with a degree in electrical engineering (which I think right now are the highest paid graduates). He’s recently started asking me question about money, but I sensed he didn’t really didn’t know what to start asking.

Even more sad, was I didn’t know what to tell him, or even where to point him.

There’s a million and one books on the subject, but of course they’re all too long and detailed to give any practical advice which can be acted on in the next few hours (although reading them is a great way to start).

So after feeling bad that I couldn’t immediately impart any valuable knowledge, I decided to write down what personally helped me when I was ready to graduate college.

My own brother Ashdin will also be in the exact same boat in one year, so I figured this is a good time as any to give this sadly un-discussed subject a shot.

So this post is dedicated to Ashdin and Burjis:
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Just FYI:
I’m a little different in that I never started a job hunt (didn’t want to, need to or plan to), but at the age of 25 I’ve seen many close friends go through it, take jobs, and many of them regret their choices.

I can count the people I know my age who like their job on one hand, and still have several fingers left over.

So are the things that helped me most during those pre-real-world-transition years. If you want more detailed advice, go read a book (which is coincidentally tip #3).
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I think the single most valuable thing you can have near graduation is options. This means you have a sufficient amount of money in the bank to live for a while without having to immediately accept a job offer just because they’re giving you a $3,000 bonus, and you have several different good job offers. This is why people usually end up in bad jobs, because they’re desperate.

If you manage to find your dream job before you even graduate, awesome.

By all means possible, avoid being desperate once you graduate. The list below is what I think helped me attain that.

1.) Save money
Stupidly simple advice that is in the #1 spot for a reason. If you go out on the town use a flask, only pay cash for your spending (so you can phsyically see and feel how much you are spending), don’t waste money on dumb stuff, use your money wisely. Whatever it takes.

I absolutely guarantee not spending a little money now will help A LOT later. If you work an internship, immediately put 50% or more away immediately before you can spend it. Let your friends spend $100+ several nights a week at the bar…good for them….your eye is on a bigger goal.

2.) Split up your bank accounts
It’s free and is possibly the greatest financial move I ever made, and you can do it online or at the bank in 15 minutes. Seriously, do it right now. It gives you a MASSIVELY better idea of how much money you can allocate to certain activities.

Do this anyway you like, but what I did in college was:

  1. General bank account: All money earned went into this account and was then distributed to the sub-accounts.
  2. Savings account: I didn’t know what I was saving for, but this proved to be amazingly valuable. When this account gets too big, I max out my Roth IRA with it.
  3. Spending Account 1: Going out, seeing a movie, having fun etc all came from this account. 10% of income was allocated here.
  4. Spending Account 2: I put 10% of my income to this account per month. This account strictly used for vacations and holiday spending (since buying gifts and going out during the holidays puts a strain on Spending Account #1).
  5. Investment Account: 30% of my money went here. This was money that could be used on anything that would help make money or continue my education.
  6. Bills account: 30% of my income went to this account. Paying rent, buying groceries (minus alcohol purchases or supplies for a party), gas, bills, insurance costs, phone bill etc. were all paid from this account.
  7. ROTH IRA: I opened one with Ameritrade even though I didn’t really know what the hell it was at the time. I just knew I needed it. It’s free and easy to open, and you can read a thousand books on how to squander the money in there. Point is, just open one now and learn about it later.
  8. Whatever you want: Open accounts that help you save for a cause like a ‘car account’ or ‘buying a condo in two years’ account. I opened many more, but the aforementioned 6 are the ones that helped kick it all off.

You probably won’t open this many accounts right away, but AT LEAST have 3 separate accounts for now.

3.) Read (about financial stuff)
Go to the public library (don’t bother actually buying these books) and start picking out books about personal spending. Go through at least two of these a month and you’ll start learning a wealth of different financial techniques and simple tricks. I’d say about 20% of what’s in these books is useful (and you’re both smart kids so you’ll know which 20%).

They mainly preach the same things, but they often throw in random gems of information. For example, I read the book “The Automatic Millionaire” which could’ve basically been summarized to this sentence: Setup your bank accounts to automatically transfer money to your savings accounts every month. Book done.

Read the stories, get inspired, learn from each book. I heard Jerry Seinfeld talking about all the books and classes he’d taken say, “I view all these things like supermarkets. I go into them, take what I need, then leave.”

I can’t stress how important it is to educate yourself on these financial matters. It’s enjoyable and will make your life a whole lot easier.

4.) The Investment Account
I liked experimenting with different small business ideas in college, so I create the Investment Account so I could use that coffer of money for anything I deemed would improve my understanding of something, satisfy my curiosity, educate me or make me money (primarily the last one).

I put a full 30% of my income into this account. In the past I have used it for piano lessons, guitar lessons, books, weird musical instruments, buying a tuxedo to crash parties in, making trips for business purposes and various money experiments for this blog.

Freely spend this account when needed. Investing back in yourself is absolutely imperative…and you’ve often gotta have money for it. I feel this particular account was a great help during those years.

5.) Have Job Options
Since I’ve never had a real job don’t take one bit of this advice…but hear me out:

Want to do electronics research…or maybe environmental design? Make sure you’re in the right place. Don’t be fooled by euphemistic job titles which sound cool but mean nothing. The term “Analyst” comes to mind.

The people I know who enjoy their jobs and learn the most from them are the people who made absolutely damn sure they get to do what they want on the job.

What I mean is they properly planned out the type of work environment they liked, what type of talents they’d like to develop, what industry they’d like to learn, and what type of work is the most intellectually stimulating to them. They then sought out companies which could offer this.

How could they do this? Because they had options. They had enough money to live for a while without having to take the first opportunity that gave them a starting bonus just so they could pay rent.

Oddly enough, these people were usually the FIRST to find great jobs and have offers thrown at them! I guess there’s something about a confident applicant who knows what he wants.

If the company gives you an offer you don’t like, you can tell them to, “Take this job and shove it” (of course never say that out loud…no matter how hilarious and satisfying it may be)! Your work will take up over 60% of your waking hours, you might as well get something worthwhile out of that time besides a check.

Don’t get ‘having options’ confused with laziness. The friends I see in good positions were also the friends who went to the MOST interviews and wisely and respectfully played company offers off each other.

…but I’ve never had a real job, so please don’t listen to me.

Good luck both of you, not that you need it.
-Neville

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In the comments anyone can impart their own advice to these young 20-somethings who are about to enter the working world. What worked for you? What didn’t work? If you could do it all over again, what would you have done?

Experienced advice is likely far greater than mine.

Phun With Photography

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There’s really no reason for this post, although I suppose it can somehow relate to the ghetto photo studio (except professional grade cameras were used for these). Just for fun, my inner super hero in digitally rendered pictures!
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(featuring John Erik Metcalf)
Original:
Cropped
Modified

Serious Sidekick
Original

Cropped & cleaned
Modified
Modified 2

The Hadouken
(featuring Jon Ray)
Original

Cropped & cleaned

Modified

Nev in Cali – Aug. 19th till 26th 2008

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California’s about to get more crowded, I’ll be visiting again Aug. 19th (Tuesday) till Aug. 26th (Tuesday) 2008.

I’ll primarily be staying with my good genius goofy friend Cyrus:


(Feel free to make fun of that superhero entrance)!

I’ll primarily be in Mountain View during the week, but will probably be lurking around San Francisco and San Jose a bit too.

The trip will be part fun, part business (I find trips to be most satisfying when you get a nice dose of both).

So if you’d be interested in meeting up, give me a shout!

Arrive – Aug. 19th, 2008 (Tuesday)
Depart – Aug. 26th, 2008 (Tuesday)

Snagged Me An iPhone

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iPhone’s are awesome, but I never really had the drive to buy the first generation. A friend told me the other day the new 3G ones are coming out and all the cool features it’d have so I went out and bought one.

If you think I have anything bad to say about the iPhone you can stop reading now, because I’m basically going to gush about how great it is for the remainder of the post.

I moseyed in the AT&T store Friday afternoon and they didn’t have any. A line of fanatical iPhone fans waited overnight for the first set of phones on Friday afternoon. Crazy people.

Well I turned into one of those crazy line-standing people on Saturday morning at 7am, two hours before the store opened because I specifically wanted the white iPhone (since it was the rarest) and they told me I’d most likely have to wait in line early.

I stood 12th in line Saturday morning and got the first of only 3 white phones they had at the store and have been living happily ever after since.

I knew the iPhone blows away pretty much every phone on the market, but I didn’t realize it was THIS good. I never had one before so I was mesmerized at how unbelievably intuitive this thing is. Even though it’s the most advanced phone out right now, it’s the absolute simplest to use. Everything utilizes the dragging/flicking feature which makes browsing around very easy (and fun):

If you recall I once bought a Treo 700 a while ago which turned out to be a disaster. That thing was HARD to use. It required lots of clicking, searching and tapping to do basic things like check email or play a song. For that reason the Treo ended up being more of an overpriced text messaging machine than anything. I couldn’t do too much else on it. The iPhone is like an easy-to-use computer that happens to have an amazing phone on it.

Now a top of the line device doesn’t cost a bottom feeder price (I totally didn’t mean for that to rhyme).
So let’s break down the pricing here:

iPhone: $400 (With two year contract)
Activation: $35
T-Mobile Contract Break: $200
AT&T Monthly billing: $145

So my first month of having this phone will cost: $780
Subsequent months will be $145/month (more than twice my $71.00 monthly rate for a basic T-mobile phone).

However the iPhone is so much more than a phone. You can do all sorts of things on it (and if you’re not careful, waste a whole bunch of time). When I’m not near my piano, I can now play on the go:

Or browse the web…the browser is amazing. The Treo I had could hardly load anything but Google, this thing can easily load big, ugly, un-optimized, bandwidth-hogging websites like yours truly:

For now I’m extremely satisfied with the purchase, and really glad I have all these extra features chilling in my pocket now. We’ll see if it’s worth it in the long run. However like all my previous expensive electronics I generally end up losing or breaking them in less than 6 months, so look for the “I lost (or crushed) my iPhone” post soon!

Money This Blog Makes

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Blogging about blogging, my most hated subject but sometimes of most interest to other people. Anyhow, I got a couple of emails asking about how much money (if any) this blog (NevBlog.com) makes.

I’m not too interested in monetizing this blog but if I continually update something, I might as well make some cash on it. Here’s the breakdown:

Selling text links (June 2008): $800/month
There are usually between 8 and 12 text links placed throughout the site that advertisers pay $80/month for.

Google Adwords (June 2008): $116/month
They run on the header and left navigation. These just kind of sit there and make a few bucks a day.

Adify Ads (Through Forbes Network): $20
I’m part of a network run by Forbes, and they run those ads you see on the header and left navigation bar through the Adify network. I have a minimum pay-per-click clause set on my Adify settings, so if an Adify advert is lower than my Google Adwords, it shows whichever is the highest paying. So sometimes the advetisement is from Adify, sometimes from Google.

So to answer all of your questions, for June 2008 this blog made roughly $900.

The Independence Day Computer – Please Donate (Update: All $1,075 raised)!

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For years I’ve made extensive use of public libraries. In high school I would read at least 1-2 books a week, all from the library at my school. During summers in college when I was at home and doing homework or correspondence classes I would go to the public library near my house for hours at a time to study.

Till this day I still visit the public library about 2-3 times a week. At least once a week I sit there and read every newspaper I can and every magazine that interests me. I also still checkout at least 1-2 books per week.

This equates to a lot of trips to the library…and all that information, all that wealth of knowledge in there, is free.

Here is the Ruiz branch of the Austin Public Library System which I frequent:

This library caters mainly to a low income crowd. Something I love seeing every time is the publicly available computers are always packed. But mainly I love seeing that it’s mostly kids using the computers. Generally they are using the computers for things that are seemingly “useless” like MySpace, Facebook, playing games or watching videos on YouTube….but those things are very important. When a kid grows up on a computer like this it gives them familiarity with using computers which is the goal.


(In case you were wondering….Yes, I did look like a creepy guy taking photos of the computer area)

…so anyways, the reason I liked this was because till this day I make my living from a computer. I remember having a computer since I was very, very young, but by high school that 33 Mhz computer was getting outdated. I remember my school getting brand new Pentium II computers that ran at 400 Mhz, I was amazed at how fast they were. I was impressed that a public setting had such advanced computers.

I would stay every day after school for these new computers with high speed internet lines, playing around on them with friends. All this ‘playing around’ resulted in deeper curiosity about computers and how to make web pages, program in different languages, how to use different graphics programs and opened up worlds of information.

Thanks to these computers I launched my first websites and even first internet business (HouseOfRave.com) from classrooms in high school.

SO after visiting my local library quite frequently and seeing the computers almost always fully occupied by kids, I wanted to do something small for them and donate a computer.

Now I don’t want to donate an old clunker, but rather something modern that will last a while and allow for fast usage. I felt almost a little…not sure how to word this…”special”…getting to use such new computers when they installed them at my school, and hopefully this can give the same feeling to someone younger.

I spoke with the technology coordinator and the library specifically needs Dell OptiPlex 755’s with several upgrades. They gave me a long list of must-have requirements, and the desktop with a 19″ flat screen comes to $1,075.00. …not bad computers for a public library. In fact the computer they need is far superior than my own desktop!

Installed the computer looks something like this:

I’m asking the NevBlog readership to help me in getting this computer donated. We need to raise $1,075 for the full system. It comes with slim desktop, monitor and plenty of power for a library computer…and it won’t be outdated for quite some time.

I will donate $300 out of my own pocket. I am making sure the donated computer will be placed in the Ruiz Branch Library of the Austin Public Library System, because I persoanlly go to this library all the time and know for a fact they need more computers, and also know for a fact that 80% of the users are always kids (the Central Library in Austin has 40+ computers, and I’ve hardly ever seen a kid use one..it’s almost all adults).

HELP DONATE, GET SOME LINKAGE:
So here’s the deal:
Anyone is free to anonymously donate, but I’ll throw in some incentive for some larger amounts. I’ll link your website if you donate these minimum amounts:

$25 – Relatively established blog (PageRank 3+)
$75 – Website advertising a service (anything legit).
$75 – Unestablished blog (PageRank 0-2).
$100 – Website advertising a service such as mortgages, home loans, credit cards etc..

You get a permanent link on this post with your choice of link and text.

If you’re an advertiser looking to get text links to your site, the $100 option gives you a permanent link from this post from a financially related website (#1 Google result for ‘Financial Blog’). Considering there are currently 11 advertisers paying $80/month for text links on this site, I’d say you’re getting an absolute steal.

THANKS TO THOSE WHO DONATED!:

Total Needed: $1,075
Total Raised So Far: $1075

Still Need: $0.00

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GOAL REACHED
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Use the button below to donate. Any amount is greatly appreciated.


(NO MORE DONATIONS NEEDED)

I retain full right not to link your site if it’s shady or spammy (you know who you are).

I’ll also be getting a small plaque made for the computer, so anyone who donates more than $50 will get their name or website name on the plaque:

I’ll make sure the plaque goes on the side of the computer as to not be so invasive to the user, and I will pay for this plaque using my own additional funds. I will also pay all PayPal transfer fees incurred in the donation process, so if you donate $100, every cent will go towards the purchase of the computer.

I call this “The Independence Day Computer” because I want to donate this computer to the library by July 4th. I’ll also make sure to post pictures of the computer when the money is raised and it arrives!

Thanks again for helping!
All donations are greatly appreciated, and go directly to a good cause without all the red tape or administrative fees.
-Neville Medhora

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UPDATE (6-20-2008): ALL MONEY RAISED
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Roughly 3 days after I posted this, all the money was raised for the new computer. As I type this I’m placing the order for the new OptiPlex from Dell and should have it in about a week.

I definitely want to re-thank everyone who donated for their generosity, and to let them all know that 100% of their money is going to a wonderful cause.

Sincerely,
Neville Medhora

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UPDATE (6-27-2008): COMPUTER ARRIVES
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The OptiPlex from Dell arrived via FedEx today:

Now I’m waiting for the engraver to get the plaque with the names finished. There were some problems with fitting all the names on such a small nameplate, so they had to contact me back and forth which is wasting time. If it doesn’t arrive before the 4th of July I’ll send it to the library sans the plaque.

I find it funny that it takes the engraver longer to make a nameplate than it does for Dell to completely build and deliver a new computer!

Anyhow, I’m glad to say the computer will most likely be delivered sometime during next week. For those of you curious about the price, the total paid at checkout was $1,241 for the full system. In my initial estimate of $1,075 I forgot to add on a few options and account for tax. Since that was my fault, I’ll be picking up the additional expenses.

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UPDATE (7-09-2008): PLAQUE FINISHED
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The plaque I was getting made finally arrived (over a week later than a fully customized computer):

…so now I can finally deliver the computer to the library.

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UPDATE (7-10-2008): Computer Sent
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So with the computer and plaque in hand I packed up the computer in my trunk and drove it to the library:


(No, my car is usually not that dirty…just got back from a trip)

What made it extra sweet was when I showed up, the staff was JUST talking about where they really needed a new computer to go….lo and behold I show up with two big boxes in my hands like Santa Clause! It was very serendipitous:

Now the Central Library tech guys have to come by to setup and format the computer, but soon it will be put to good use.

Hopefully this single donation makes at least some tiny difference in the world. I know when I was a kid I always wanted to use the “new” computers, and it definetly had an effect on my outcome.

Once again, a big THANK YOU to all those that donated. This is a gift to the library that will continue to give for years to come!

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UPDATE (7-23-2008): Thank You Card
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I just got a thank you card from the library thanking all the sponsors for the computer:

This was addressed to me and the co-contributors:

Reads:
“Thank you again, Neville, for your generous gift of a computer to the Ruiz Branch Library. Please convey my thanks to your co-contributors as well.”

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UPDATE (8-07-2008): COMPUTER INSTALLED
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The library main office got their people to format the new computer for the library network and has the computer up and running! The computer we donated is officially the coolest and by FAR the fastest in there. Checkout the computer next to it…..HA…still using a CRT monitor!

The picture above is the actual computer which was bought and donated with the NevBlog donations. Makes ya feel good, no?

And there you have it, from donations to actual results, thanks everyone!

How Gas Prices Do and Don’t Affect My Life

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All this talk of rising energy prices, just for fun I decided to see how this affects me personally. Since everything has some correlation to transportation which is directly related to gas and energy prices, the prices of pretty much everything has (or will) rise.

I want to see what areas of my life are affected more than others in respect to rising energy prices.

How They DON’T Affect Me (much):

  • Driving in Austin. Thankfully most things where I live are pretty close. My gym is 5 miles away and I usually ride a bike (bicycle) there. Downtown is also about 5 miles away.
  • The Scooter. I bought a scooter a while ago to bypass traffic and parking when I was in college. That scooter gets 122 MPG (Yes, one-hundred and twenty two miles per gallon), and I can comfortably ride anywhere within about an 8 mile radius (can’t use freeways). Full tank of premium gas (1.9 gallons) used to be about $4.30, now about $7.80. However it’s still negligible. 200+ miles of travel for less than $10 is pretty good.
  • Groceries. I know all the prices have gone up, but I eat a very simple diet of mainly fruits and a few other things, so each trip to the grocery store (about once per week) costs me roughly $20. Simple trick: use one of those hand-carry carts instead of a normal shopping cart. It’s hard to stuff that little thing with more than $20 worth of food and it forces you to only buy the essentials, no junk. So while rising energy prices DO affect this area, it’s not extremely significant yet.
  • Going to work. I wake up, walk to the next room and BOOM I’m in the office. Zero commute time = zero transportation costs.

How They DO Affect Me:

  • Prices on my websites go up. For example HouseOfRave’s shipping prices have literally doubled in the last year. Many products have also gone up in price to correlate with higher shipping costs from Asia. People accustomed to paying $5 for shipping are sometimes surprised to see $10+ shipping charges on relatively small orders.
  • When I drive to Houston. My family and lots of friend live in Houston so I try to go back often. It’s exactly 150 miles from Austin to Houston, so a 300 mile round-trip (Roughly one full tank of gas in my GS300). Each trip to Houston equates to about 450 miles of driving which equates to nearly $110 in gas per trip.
  • When I drive IN Houston. This city is huge, and no matter where you go, I’d say it’s at least a 15-30 minute drive. There’s really no way around this in Houston.

Conclusion: So far rising energy prices are more of an annoyance to me than a real issue. They haven’t really had too much effect on my lifestyle, although I’m pretty sure this is something that will slowly become more of an issue in the coming years.

*By the way…this article really tested my grammatical ability to differentiate between ‘Effect’ and ‘Affect’!