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2nd Quarter Review

So I must admit I've been slacking on my blog posts lately.  When the weather starts getting warmer and you start vacationing, it's a little more difficult to stay in a good routine.  These aren't necessarily bad distractions but I'm at least I'm aware of it and one of my goals for the 3rd Quarter (and 2nd Quarter next year) is to fight through those distractions and stay more focused.

Before I move on with my goal updates I wanted to share something sad that happened right before we left for vacation.  The night before we left my daughter's guinea pig died, must have died in her sleep.  We didn't realize this until about 20 minutes before having to leave for the airport.  I also didn't want to break the news to my daughter before the trip b/c I wasn't sure how she would react.  So we decided not to tell her until we returned and had someone dispose of the guinea pig later that day.

When we returned from vacation we told her the bad news, but to our surprise she already knew!  She then broke out in full tears!!  It was sooo sad!  What we didn't realize was she had seen her the morning we left, and she wasn't sure 100% if she was dead or not.  I believe she was hoping the guinea pig wasn't dead and was scared to say anything right before we left.  Anyhow, the entire vacation she "knew" but you wouldn't have guessed she had known!  She was very upset as we have had the guinea pig since she was in 2nd grade, a little over 6 years!  Good thing is the other guinea pig is still alive and kicking.  But when that one dies it will be even worse I believe, as she has always been closer to "Midnight".

Anyway, no matter what kind of pet you have, it's always sad to lose them.  She adores guinea pigs, and even though they really don't do much, they were still a part of her life growing up.  You hate to see your kids get sad but it's also a good learning experience concerning death.

I'm getting off topic now!  Ok back to the goals!

I'm not very happy with my focus this past quarter, especially the month of June.  I know vacations have been a distraction but I should find ways around those distractions.  I was still able to focused on my health and continue my workouts.  I am in the middle of my 3rd book, so I'm still on track for my reading.  My German has taken a hit as I haven't been studying that as much, but I will make up for that in the 3rd Quarter.  And I need to step up my C# learning as well.

I have been working on some side websites as well, so that has taken up some of my time.  I've also been working on some web apps for my real job, and have learned some things with SSIS packages in SQL Server.

I also made my first visits to Toastmasters, which I really enjoyed and am excited about enhancing my public speaking.

As mentioned in my last quarterly report, you sometimes add or modify goals as things come along.  I hope to have at least 4 books read before Q4 as I'm almost finished with "Straight to the Top - Becoming a World-class CIO".  My next book is going to be "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.

I also have some other goals which I will discuss hopefully within the next month or so! :)

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