The plan for Jutan in 2008

Since I'm still in the PST time zone, it's 4:23am and I am wide awake. Anyway instead of going to sleep or not blogging, I figured I'd blog. Good times.

Anyway I had a really long chat tonight with the Jutan Clan about what my plans are for getting myself a little better settled in San Francisco in the New Year... I've got a plan (now don't worry, this isn't New Years resolution-y, I'm actually going to do this stuff) of a few things I want to take care of as soon as I get back to San Francisco...

1. Plan for a 2 week trip to South Africa
2. Weight training
   
3. Getting my apartment completely unpacked and organized
4. Making more quiet, relaxed time for myself
5. Start grocery shopping at better places
   

Now since I'm pretty much making a list I'm going to break these down a bit more and plan it out a bit... just want to get my ideas out here now so I have something to follow...

1. Plan for a 2 week trip to South Africa
This involves some MAJOR cost savings and has implications on a lot of stuff:

• Take muesli cereal into work for a snack
• Finaaaallly start preparing my own lunches for work
• "Skim" money off the top of my paycheque every week, transfer it to my ING Direct Savings Account, don't touch it
• Do taxes early to get my refund earlier if possible
• Actually plan the trip, decide if I am going for sure, decide what airport I am meeting Norm (my sister) in, and then planning to travel together from there
• Organize Visa requirements
• Save, save, save: stop spending on stuff I don't need, delay those purchases until later
• Pay Mom and Dad back the rest of the money I owe them (that I borrowed for Europe) as quickly as possible
• Likely skip things I wanted to do like the Xavier Rudd concert, skiing in Tahoe, traveling with friends, etc. I HAVE to make tradeoffs... if I want to go to South Africa, the money has to come from somewhere. I can't do *everything*, so I need to cut down where I can.

2. Weight training

• Continue my 1 hr/day of biking to and from work throughout the winter
  
• Join the gym at work, go regularly with Matt Parrott... or...
• Start rock climbing again, go with Ian from work and Sivanny (who is moving to San Francisco)

3. Getting my apartment completely unpacked and organized

• Just get this done asap
• Get empty boxes/bags ready for the following: stuff to keep packed, stuff to sell on Ebay, stuff to throw out, stuff to unpack
• Take care of stuff to unpack (more posters, stuff to hang on walls)
• Sell "Ebay box" of stuff on Ebay
• Pack away "stuff to keep packed" into a nice box and put it in my dining room as a table
• Buy a Vacuum for the rugs and hardwood floors

4. Making more quiet, relaxed time for myself

• The last 2 months (Nov and Dec) have been INSANE. I have been bounding from one major event to the next, flying to multiple states, traveling a lot, partying a lot with friends, eating in restaurants waaaaaaaay too much, spending too much money... it's been really fun but insane. I neeeeeeeeeed a "Shabbos" - I need to give myself the chance to relax and collect my thoughts after the week at work.
• When I go places on the weekend don't ALWAYS call people to hang out, start doing some stuff on my own again
• Continue reading the novel I am reading now, start reading more
• Continue blogging, cause it rocks
• Stop wasting so much time on the computer doing unnecessary stuff
• Go to Costco and stock up on some nice food, frozen salmon, etc.
  
• Start cooking more, fancier dinners, different recipes for myself
• Make my weekends a bit more calm, cool and collected
• Start biking in the Golden Gate Park
• Do activities on the weekend that I really want to do, rather than joining up with big groups all the time
• "Take time for solitude" as Larry Smith told me... and give my mind some time to wander and be creative rather than constantly doing stuff and occupying myself with 100 things to do
• Take walks in the park
• Go to the beach more
• Continue renting movies from work and watching them in the evenings

5. Start grocery shopping at better places

• The local grocery stores near my house are both expensive, and the one has overpriced stuff and bad produce, and the other one never has any sales.
• Make a point to go to Trader Joes or Whole Foods, better prices, better food, much bigger selection
• Make a point to go once a week or once every 2 weeks for produce, ingredients for muesli, and so on. I can bike there most likely, and can take back stuff in a backpack. Or take the bus there and take a lot of stuff home
• This will affect other major items like saving money (not wasting on local overpriced store) and making time for myself (buying nicer ingredients and making nicer food)
• Also, try to talk to Rachel and Justin and go to Costco to stock up on supplies.

Anyway that's about it for now. Lots of other stuff I want to sort out soon too, but this is a good start.