We saw this amazing rainbow from the balcony of our hotel in Monteverde. It was great just to look out over the clouds and rainbow.

Decluttering My Possessions

In an effort to achieve my previously stated goals I'm on a mission to also dispose of some clutter. For some reason getting rid of stuff is particularly difficult for me. I envy those folks who can just decide they are ready to toss aside a piece of furniture, book or "knick knack". I'm not one of those people.

Over the past 4 years since we bought the condo things have just started piling up. Our one spare room became the dumping ground. At one point it was organized and all put together, but when it comes time to find something all hell breaks lose.

It got so bad that we just stopped going into the room. Every effort to straighten it up ended in futility because we couldn't rearrange one item without rearranging the ENTIRE room. What a headache! And I just couldn't bear to part with some things that I should just get rid of.

So I cam up with a solution. And its working....sorta. And the solution is based on a big motivator....money. We rented a storage room and hauled the stuff there. Yes, its costly but the expense is motivation enough to clean it up. Everytime I pay the rental on that room I start to think how much I could save if I just "decluttered" my life.

At the other end of the motivation spectrum, I'm able to part with stuff if I can sell it, give it to a friend or charity. Throwing it away when there is some useful life to it just seems wrong to me.

I'm getting excited about selling the stuff because now I see $$ signs everytime I look at an unused "thing" in my storage room.

This is just another step in trying to live a more intentional life.

Next up: I'll write about my $20 theory I'm testing out.

This man made his dreams happen

On Zen Habits this guy made the transition from a a career to a more fulfilling passion. Now that I've found his website I'll keep watching to see what happens.

Vagabonding

I picked up a book last week titled Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts. In brief I describe it as a "how-to" book on creating a lifestyle that affords one the resources to enjoy long-term travel and experience the world on your terms. Resources in this case means primarily time but also money. You can read more about the book and Potts at Vagabonding

The ideas really fit into my idea of trying to live a simpler, more intentional, aware and fulfilling life. The back cover describes Vagabonding as "Not just a plan of action, vagabonding is an outlook on life that emphasizes creativity, discovery, and the growth of the spirit." BINGO! That's what I'm looking for in my life.

About 6 months ago I got a substantial raise at work (about $1000 extra per month). YAY! As you might guess I was excited about this. I'd made it! But it wasn't but a few months after that this extra money didn't seem to make me any happier, life any easier or stress go away. I was still short on time. I still had the regular responsibilities. I still daydreamed about going to new countries, sitting on the beach. Anything, anywhere other than the dull khaki walls in my cubicle dealing with the same problems and complaints day after day. I still had this yearning for something different.

I realized that the career I was pursuing wasn't giving me the results I had hoped for. I thought that making more money would allow me to afford to travel to exotic locations. But this isn't true. What I needed was more TIME not more money. What I needed was less clutter and less accumulation of "things".

First website

Last week I set up my website hosting on GoDaddy.com. I'm first working on my StayFidoStay.com website. The site will is a resource for pet travel. End users will be able to search hotels and inns that claim to be pet friendly. However, unlike other pet travel websites I will feature reviews and critiques that I write or other pet lovers submit.

So about the technical part of the web site....I'm working on setting up the SQL Database right now. This is my first SQL db but I seem to be learning it quickly. Along with setting it up I'm having to learn ASP and brush up on my HTML. I decided to host on a GoDaddy Windows server because the VB scripting used in ASP pages is intuitive to me. Its very similar to Lotus Script which is my current job and expertise.

Advertising Websites

I've been experimenting with Google's adsense on my house rental site for about 1 month now. Out of 661 page impressions I have 42 clicks so far. So I've got $14.76 in earnings to date; not quite enough to get a check from them. When I first started Adsense I was excited everytime I got a click. My first thought was that I'd make $100 in no time. Well...thats not quite the case.

At this point I need to find other methods of driving traffic to the house site. I know my efforts have been a bit lax on that. The only two places the site is advertised is the yard sign and Craigslist. Fortunately, every time I renew the Craigslist ad I get more hits and potentially more clicks.

I'm thinking of taking out a cheap classified ad in a local paper. Or maybe I need to buy some ad space on Google. But first I'm doing it the poor man's way....free ads.

Making Change Happen

With inspiration from Tim Ferris and the Working Nomad I'm embarking on my own web-based venture. Over the next several months I will launch websites. And to get things started I'm setting 3 goals for myself in the following order:

1. Earn $900 per month
2. Replace my current monthly income
3. Quit my 9-5 job to travel more.

Truth be known, I'd rather do #3 first and then figure out the rest. But right now I'm a bit too chicken to do that. Plus the bank wouldn't appreciate me not paying my mortgage. And since I like where I live right now....lets start with goal number one.

I've launched other unsuccessful blogs in the past. They problem was I had no direction or purpose for them other than to rant about current events. This time I have goals in mind. I have a plan and a purpose.

Come along on this journey!