zittiblog.com

As I think some of you know, I have had some challenges with work lately and am wondering if I am starting to get a little restless and really I think realizing that what I do now is not probably what I want to do for the rest of my life. It is what I want to do this very moment still, but I think all of that has gotten me really thinking and asking the ‘$64,000 Question’… “What do I want from life”.

I think a big part of finding what brings happiness to your life is just staying in motion (career wise, with personal interests, etc.) and seeing what comes up along the way. But that doesn’t help me figure out really what’s next. So I started reading about the topic of figuring out “What I want?”. After much search I came across some interesting psychological research from a Stanford Ph.D psychology student that basically went into how the thing to do is really create a list of things you want to do in your life that is 43 things in length. Why 43? Because its not too many to think about and its not too few to meet your full potential. Some should be something you can definitively accomplish, while some other should be goals you can really work on forever.

I really thought it was cool… so I found website, www.43things.com. It is a social internet site where you post and comment on the progress of your work toward your 43 things. I thought this was soooo cool. Intellecatual solution and supported by the social internet! So I did it, I spent the time to come with my 43 things. These will change over time, but for right now these are my life goals. Big step huh?! So, from now on, I am going to make a point to make sure everything I do is aimed at making progress toward one of my 43 things. I highly suggest trying this yourself!

And without further a due… here are my 43 things! If click on any given one you see entries (more details) I have made for that particular thing. Let me know what you think and what I forgot.

Lately I hear the question a lot, “Is privacy dead?” In such a connected world, many people argue it is. Well, I happen to think its not entirely dead if you don’t want it to be, but with new blog layout I launched here a few weeks back, I am trying to kill off the last bit of mine (half joking)!

Anyway, wanted to do a quick run down of “all the Dan you can get” with the new blog. I feel kind of sorry for anyone who does read the blog but it turns out there are quite a few of you. Don’t know why but there are. Long story short, I want the blog to become kind of the “table of contents” of my presence on the internet. The new layout is my first attempt and here are the features.

So on the main page, we of course have Shannon and I’s blog posts. In the blue column immediately to the right, there is first a rectangular picture grid that shows my most recent digital pics pulled from my Flickr account so you can see the latest pictures (click on them to go over to Flickr and see larger size ones). Next, below that is the Categories links where you can click to get just posts from me or just posts from Shannon. Next, below that is a Digg widget which shows all of the stories I “Dugg” on digg.com. It is a good way to see what interesting stories I have come across on the internets lately. Next, below that are where you can see who has been commenting on blog posts. I love the comments, I wish more people left more of them! Below that are my recent running stats, as previously discussed. Finally, below that is the black Last.fm widget which shows what music and/or podcasts I have been listening to the most over the past week.

The next column to the right is the very dark blue one. In this column you can see what I have been up to lately under “What Dan’s Doing”. These are the little one liners I post to Twitter every so often. Below that is “Dan’s shared items” which lists interesting stories, article, or blog posts that I mark in Google Reader (which is like how I read the newspaper). Finally, below that are links to other websites of mine and other “social” internet sites I can be found on.

Finally, across top are the links “About”, “Contact”, “Software”, and “43 Things”. Pretty self explanatory except for “43 Things”. My 43 Things will be the topic of my next post… so catch you next time for that. Hope you like (or at least don’t totally dislike) all the new stuff and as always, thanks for coming by.

So I know that was a lot of Ron Paul RAH RAH to put up with yesterday, thank you for that. And especially thank you to everyone who has taken the time to listen to me on this one. A few donors came out yesterday and many are emailing and Facebook-ing me about Dr. Paul. Overall I am very proud of what happened yesterday. Below is the message of thanks that Ron sent out as well.

December 17, 2007

What a day! I am humbled and inspired, grateful and thrilled for this vast outpouring of support.

On just one day, in honor of the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, the new American revolutionaries brought in $6.04 million, another one-day record. The average donation was $102; we had 58,407 individual contributors, of whom an astounding 24,915 were first-time donors. And it was an entirely voluntary, self-organized, decentralized, independent effort on the internet. Must be the “spammers” I keep hearing about!

The establishment is baffled and worried, and well they should be. They keep asking me who runs our internet fundraising and controls our volunteers. To these top-down central planners, a spontaneous order like our movement is science-fiction. But you and I know it’s real: as real as the American people’s yearning for freedom, peace, and prosperity, as real as all the men and women who have sacrificed for our ideals, in the past and today.

And how neat to see celebrations all across the world, with Tea Parties from France to New Zealand. This is how we can spread the ideals of our country, through voluntary emulation, not bombs and bribes. Of course, there were hundreds in America.

As I dropped in on a cheering, laughing crowd of about 600 near my home in Freeport, Texas, I noted that they call us “angry.” Well, we are the happiest, most optimistic “angry” movement ever, and the most diverse. What unites us is a love of liberty, and a determination to fix what is wrong with our country, from the Fed to the IRS, from warfare to welfare. But otherwise we are a big tent.

Said the local newspaper (http://www.thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=36475b4d132fc0a1): “The elderly sat with teens barely old enough to vote. The faces were black, Hispanic, Asian and white. There was no fear in their voices as they spoke boldly with each other about the way the country should be. Held close like a deeply held secret, Paul has brought them out of the disconnect they feel between what they know to be true and where the country has been led.”

Thanks also to the 500 or so who braved the blizzard in Boston to go to Faneuil Hall. My son Rand told me what a great time he had with you.

A few mornings ago on LewRockwell.com, I saw a YouTube of a 14-year-old boy that summed up our whole movement for me. This well-spoken young man, who could have passed in knowledge for a college graduate, told how he heard our ideas being denounced. So he decided to Google. He read some of my speeches, and thought, these make sense. Then he studied US foreign policy of recent years, and came to the conclusion that we are right. So he persuaded his father to drop Rudy Giuliani and join our movement.

All over America, all over the world, we are inspiring real change. With the wars and the spying, the spending and the taxing, the inflation and the credit crisis, our ideas have never been more needed. Please help me spread them https://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate in all 50 states. Victory for liberty! That is our goal, and nothing less.

Sincerely,

Ron

The fourth quarter fundraising goals WAS 12,000,000. Everyone said it was impossible. Here he is now, and Tea Party 2007 is just half over. Go Ron GO!!

On December 16, 1773 Americans dumped tea into Boston Harbor starting the American Revolution. NOW, 234 years later we desperately need another revolution. The Tea Party is happening again today. Please go to www.teaparty07.com and consider donating all you can. I am so proud to be a suppoter of Dr. Paul. It is now 11:30 AM and we’ve hit $3 million for the day so far. I made a donation. My third one, and it was substantial. I truly believe, right now, this is the most important thing I can do support my country.

My hero, R. Buckminster Fuller once famously said that integrity is the essence of everything successful. This is the man to return integrity and the essence of what made America the greatest country in the world, back to the White House, to Washington, and to America. Viva le rEVOLution!!