Catharsis of the Bogue

Oddities, Profundities, Profanities and Dad Stuff

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Should I sleep or Write more?!?!

May 27, 2014 / / 6 Comments

The time for bed approaches and I am trying to decide if I should give up and go to bed or keep writing posts! My body says tired, my mind says tired, the energy drink I had a while ago says Write you lazy bastard!  So I write.

Lately I have been working on organizing my day to get everything done that I need to.  I have discovered that I can’t just go all out and hope to get my blog maintained, posts written, house cleaned, family taken care of, and the “other” stuff done.

I found myself glued to the computer, reading blogs, trying to figure out where I am going to be able to open my rss reader, and all of a sudden it was time to get the kids from school and get dinner started.  Oh crap the laundry hasn’t made it downstairs yet.  Oh crappier, the dishes still have to be done…so that was the smell…did we eat lunch?

Yea, it was getting to be a mess.  I am working through some sort of “getting to writing procrastination” garbage that is not helping.  I am still getting my stuff done, just not how I want to.  I started to divide up the day and use the timer method that many others use.

I even got a special timer to help with this, I will have a review of that later this week.  It’s called the Gymboss, it’s beauty.  Anyway, it seems that the timer method is very much going to help get me organized.  I am splitting time into 2 hour blocks and devoting 30 minutes to each task.  At the end of the 30 mins, I have been just stopping and going to the next task.  It has been great to actually get some things done around the house.

Now I have to get time figured out to add in outdoor stuff.  Spring is coming to Utah and my yard needs some help.  If you know how to get rid of freaking grape hyacinth, let me know.

I think I am getting a good balance figured out.  Writing, emails, reading, commenting, maintenance, housework, outdoor work, writing, and blog posts.  A good way to fill a day.  I also realized that I have got to crank out some more fiction for my Saturday Series.  I have used the only 2 complete short stories that make any sense already.  Time to get writing some new stuff!

So now you all must be asking yourselves, how can I help.  Ok most of you are probably not asking yourself anything but when this post is going to end.  Soon I promise.  Here is how you can help.  Keep reading my humble blog, recommend it to your friends, your enemies, and that guy down the street who may have a use for it.

I am going to be running a poll this week about future posts that you may like to see.  I hope to get some great feedback from that.  I have decided to place the mailing list on pause for a bit, I will still make myself put out the newsletter every month but that will be about it.  Please sign up if you are so inclined, I will start putting up exclusive to the newsletter stuff starting in May.

Now for the big one, Please leave comments with how you organize your time so that you can get everything done that you need to do.  What things do you slack off on?  What do you give up on altogether?  I hope to get some great comments and be able to do a followup with lots of backlinks and credits.  Maybe a prize for the 17th commenter…

Of course if you feel so inclined as to write a ton of stuff and want it included, I am open for guest posts!  All you have to do is email me.

If you are reading this, you are fabulous!

-Justin

PS.  If you are reading this, you are incredibly patient.

PPS. If you are reading this, you are finally at the end!  Go comment and get on with your life!

How I Got Into Kettlebells

May 27, 2014 / / 6 Comments

It has been over a year now.  I mark the weekend of St. Patricks Day as my official entry into the kettlebell world.  I guess that I could say it was February of 2009 that I started but that was not as memorable.

So here is the chronicle of my rise to the kettlebell.  My wife and I have been looking for something to supplement our weight machine and elliptical.  She asked if I had heard of these “kettle thingies”.  I didn’t realize it but I had.  I remember saying “those are those Russian things that are supposed to be really good exercise.”  I did some research after that and decided that I was right, kettlebells were a great workout.

In February, I went a bought a set of kettlebells at Big 5 sporting goods.  The set had a 5#, 10#, 15#, and 20# and it was on sale.  That is what sold it for me.  I looked up some exercises and started with the 15 and 20#.  I was quickly done with both as they were way too light.

It was St. Patricks Day weekend in 2009 that I bought my first 35# bell and went crazy from there.  Now I have written about how cool kettlebells are for me before.  I have also written about how much time I have spent researching and playing around.  I am fairly content now, using my 35# for most things and my new 55# that I got for Christmas for swings and heavier practice.

I just love using the things.  I don’t do much with the lighter bells anymore.  Even with all the time I spent drilling out the 15# bell I don’t load it up much anymore.  I am teaching my kids to use the bells though.  My 3 year old uses the 5# for “up downs” which are her versions of swings.  This is one of the main reasons that I started with kettlebells.

I want to get healthy and stay healthy.  I want my family to be healthy.  I want my family to have something to do together that will let us go play baseball all day long.  I want my kids to be strong both mentally and physically.  They should be able to lift heavy things.

I would live to hear comments!

Justin

I guess Winter is here!

May 27, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Check your local listings but here in Utah we have had more snow in the past 2 weeks than we have had for years.  There was actually enough snow for me to get my snowblower out  a few times, last year it didn’t leave the shed.

So it brings me to this, when did it go from 60 degrees one week to 12 the next?  I haven’t finished getting my roses pruned  or my air conditioner covered and there is much snow to contend with.  I have a couple of big trees that still have leaves on them.  But the kids are having fun playing in the snow.  Even in the Blizzard warning from last Saturday.  Technically it was a blizzard but even that wasn’t that bad.

Left to right: Amelia, Leatha and Cameron playing in the snow on 11/28/10

Change is inevitable, and it will always come at a time that we may not want it to.  Just remember this, adversity DOES make us stronger, and we can all just deal with the snow.  If you don’t like it, move to Florida.

Let me know what you think about or even how the weather is at your place.

-Justin

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Running Out of Either Steam or Caffeine

May 27, 2014 / / 8 Comments

Hello and welcome to Thursday!  I have to apologize for yesterday, domestic tasks needed to be taken care of  and the computer was few and far between.  Yet another reason for the pre-writing challenge and having a queue of posts built up.

An update on the challenge:  it has been nearly 1 week since the challenge started and so many of the participants are  producing fantastic blog posts and ideas.  I don’t have any posts written yet but the titles are in my drafts queue and waiting for fabulousness!  I have to let life catch up without losing focus and blowing off the challenge with procrastination.

So I am at the point in my blog where I can see many people giving up.  The novelty of the blog is gone and the work is really beginning.  Posts are still not hard to write, it is harder to get to the writing.  I can produce better content but is it fulfilling a need somewhere or just belching out crap from my brain that no one cares about?

I really feel like my posts are better with some facts and research in them.  I like to brag some about my blog and how it is doing.  Yesterday I did zero promotion on my blog.  Zero and my stat press recorded 48 visitors.  Today as I write this there have already been 12 visitors.  That tells me I have been doing something right.  My Alexa rank has gone from 12,850,206 on Feb1 to 1,149,880 today.  I am not obsessing with Alexa but many places look at it and it is a good universally compared to ranking.  People are looking from all over the world.  Alexa lists the UK, Philippines, and Australia on it’s list.  That is so freaking cool I can hardly contain myself.  I love the internet.  With all of this in mind, I really need to keep up with my posts and comments.

I haven’t been reading and commenting as much as I need to to bring more traffic in.  Like I said the “work” part of this online journey is really beginning.  I have to take a page from my buddy James at the infopreneur, (I talk about him a lot.  He is going to get a big head) and get my stuff in a pile.  That and write and comment!  I am approaching 2000 visitors to my site so I can’t give up now.  I am only 1 month away from the magical 3 and not being one of the statistics.

Yesterday was an interesting introspection for me.  I was catching up on housework and helping the kids with homework when I realized that all of the organization, prioritization, and time management stuff I have been reading and talking about is barely getting incorporated.  I have been doing the stay at home dad thing for quite a while now and I still try to figure out how my Mom always had it together and kept everything clean and running.

I don’t think I am running out of steam on my business, I just need to stoke the fire and get it flowing again!  Therefore, I need more caffeine and less excuses.

If you are reading this, you are awesome.  Pat yourself on the back and then go enjoy the day.

Justin

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