Here we go...

Alrighty... long story short, it's been a long time since I've kept a blog, but I figured posting goals of mine would be a good reason to start... Because I over-do so many different things, I figured I might as well over-do a simple list of goals, so they are in tiers. Tier I is 'long term', which has a 3-5 year timeframe. Tier II, 'mid-term', has a 1-year scope. Tier III is 'short term', which has a scope of 3 to 6 months. The idea is that my short term goals lead to my mid term, which in turn lead to my long term. The purpose of this is to help me get some goals that will make sure I am heading the direction I WANT to go in eventually... I want to avoid SAYING I will do something, and not trying to move myself in that direction. Let me know what you guys think! I'd like to get any comments and/or suggestions. The long term tier has some descriptions that are lacking in the other tiers, since the goal of the shorter-terms is to get me to the long term goals.

Tier I: Long Term (3-5 Years)

- Pursue or complete a terminal degree (PhD)
I've been wanting to do this for a while now. I'd like to go into a field of education, but I've got a lot of things I need to figure out to get this under way.

- Save for a downpayment on a house
Right now I'm at the 'wanderer' stage of life... I'm not interested in a more permanent piece of property because I'm not sure where I'll 'set my roots'... tell the truth, the concept of 'setting my roots' is something I am NOT interested in. I like the fact that I have mobility. Besides job and family (and I have family all over), the one big thing I have keeping me where I'm at is my church. I can tell God wants me here right now, so I'm here. If He lets me know I need to be somewhere else, then I am at the point in my life where the stress of moving is kept at a minimum (no family to take care of, debt, etc.) However, I say all that knowing that, under the better safe than sorry plan, I wouldn't hurt to have some money tucked away (and yes, I do have a specified dollar amount, and no, I'm not posting that dollar amount on the world wide web).

- Keep retirement stuff going
Because I'm anal (and I have two accountants and a financial planner for a Mom, Dad, and brother), I've been keeping up with an IRA and retirement-focused accounts. I have a moderate amount of money put in a 'I'll-never-see-this-until-I'm-old-and-senile' account, and I want to continue to do that... part of that means putting as much money as I can into a 'Roth IRA' account early (Don't know what one is? Talk to the financial planner nearest you). Yeah, I'm doing that... I'll be poor now, and it's going to suck, but if I happen to live on the streets for 30+ years, by the time I turn 59 1/2 I will have at least some money to buy my prescription drugs.

- Run half-marathons regularly (at least 2 times per year)
I enjoy being able to run... but I want to be able to work up to half-marathons... it won't take 3-5 years to train for one... it only takes a few weeks of intense training (half-marathon = 13.1 miles), but I'm not really interested in full length marathons (obviously, 26.2 miles), and I'm putting this goal up here just to ensure I have a long-term health goal.

- Be very familiar with more Bible
Whatever the reason is, I've always been very attracted to the Books of the Bible considered 'Wisdom Literature'... like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. I used to have the book of James memorized word-for-word in KJV back in senior year of high school and freshman year at UGA (I recited it before with someone reading along... I missed about 3 words, and they were minor grammar mistakes... the English language has changed slightly since 1611). That was when I was in my 'hey-day' of uber-Christianity (and not always in a good way). It's ironic though, since by my junior and senior year of college I was doing good to make it to church once a month (and usually I didn't)... But it wasn't church that was the issue... it was the fact that I didn't really care (about ALOT of things). I said I cared, and occassionally I felt bad about not 'doing what I knew I should'. But, in reality, if I really did care, I would have put up a heck of a lot more of a fight.

Then grad school came along, I went to a Vietnamese church, and then I find myself freaking out last Sunday b/c I'm serving at a large church and the pastor's powerpoint slideshow is not ready. Did I overstress? Probably, but I think it's funny to be stressing over something as trivial as a church powerpoint in comparison to what might have been going on four years ago.


Tier II: Mid Term (1 Year)

- Have selected schools in mind for degree

- Have {deleted number} in semi-liquid or liquid assets
aka money that's easy to get to (I'm such a nerd)

- Put {deleted number} into Roth

- Run a 10K this year (at least one)

- Work out regularly

- Study James, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Hebrews, and Pauline letters


Tier III: Short Term (3-6 months)

- School search, pick degree, and develop Top 5 Schools

- Save {deleted smaller number} in liquid or semi-liquid assets
This will be done by saving {deleted even smaller number} per monthly paycheck

- Put money in Roth for 2008 (yes, there's a deleted number here, too)

- Run 5 to 10 miles per week (at least)

- Join a gym, work out at least twice (preferably 'thrice') a week

- Begin to study Pauline letters