Day 001 - Only 364 more to go

My mind raced when it should have been resting last night. So many ideas of things I want to do this year. So much excitement about taking a photo every day, meeting goals, trying to live a fuller life. I just couldn't stop thinking about everything I wanted to do. So, what did I end up doing today.

In addition to all my other goals, I'd like to change my finances a bit this year too. Blogging is one way I hope to do that, but I also hope to take a more proactive stance on freelancing, consulting, and generally engaging in tasks outside of work that make me money - and allow me to do things I love. Whether that's writing, taking pictures, teaching, or hanging out with my dog, I want to spend more time on my own schedule and less on someone else's schedule if I can find ways to do that. And money isn't about how much you have - it's more about how you view it and what you want to get out of life. So, my first cost saving effort - install a Magic Jack.

Installing the Magic Jack wasn't hard, but it also wasn't as easy as the package said. I have Windows Vista on the machine I installed to first, so that meant a trip to the magic jack web site to download a software update. After downloading the update, the wizard started as it was supposed to, however when I got to selecting a number the software seemed to hang. I just walked away for several hours, came back and picked up again and everything went fine. I had my new number in minutes. There are a LOT of selections you have to make along the way to avoid paying additional fees, although I did go ahead and opt for the five additional years at half prices ($69.95 for five years of phone service - when added to the $39.99 I paid for the Magic Jack I will recover that entire cost in three months without my current phone service provider). We'll see how it works. You do have to get a new number with Magic Jack - it doesn't allow you to port over your old number, but I already use Google Voice so the Magic Jack number will just be a number I add to my Google Voice account to ring - I'll never give out the new number.

While I didn't do any geocaching today, my Travel Bug 2010 race participant started the race today. Hopefully this will be a fun experience and an opportunity to learn more about geocaching.

I downloaded and installed Picasa today. I've been a flickr user for a long time now and last year even upgraded to Pro. However, I have been without tagging/photo organization software on my PC since purchasing my new PC this past summer so I thought I'd give Picasa a try. I've used it before, but never really liked it. However, many people have said it's much improved so I'm going to give it a try.

Also got to cook a LOT today which is nice. I love to cook - especially when there is someone else here to eat it with me. Since G is here I'm enjoying the cooking. Didn't really do much else today - just enjoyed the day off.

Hope everyone had a great new year.