Finding the Time

I've finally landed a job, and now I'm slowly making the payments off of what owe. 

I work a job that pays just enough to get by and enough to build up to invest toward my passions (fitness, technology, and music). 

The only problem I'm reaching right now is how to go about managing my time. I only work part-time (30 hours a week), and the drive to my work is mostly spent in traffic for about an hour to an hour fifteen. I'm trying to make the most of the time I have to workout, cook, and learn a program for a potential construction position. 

Below is an old computer that I picked up for free, that the owner couldn't get running again and didn't want to bother with it anymore. 

I was able to restore it with the Windows COA and now have a simple workstation to work with. The computer is very dated and is an old HP from 2007.

The computer when it wasn't working.

After I cleaned the dust out and rearranged the cables.

After purchasing a GT 620 to support my Dell and the monitor it came with

There are people still telling me that I'm making terrible choices, but like Elliot Hulse said, "You make your decision right."

This is finally becoming a reality to a new start, and finally reaching full independence. 

The struggle I've been going through lately (though nowhere near as great as others) has shown me true appreciation for whats it's like to earn your keep.

Define Your Passion: Technology

Linus Sebastian and one of his tech videos

Getting to my next passion, I will talk about the reasons for why I love technology.

Technology plays a major part of my life, not because of the things I do with it, but mainly with how it will contribute to the future.

Focusing on what it does for me just helps to make living a whole lot more enjoyable:

• You can be more efficient
• Organized (no more paper files)
• Ways of keeping in touch
• Creates more ways of entertainment
• but mainly to simplify living

These are a few of the smaller views of why technology is something I've grown to love. 

But truly what it is that makes technology important to me that I think others should see, is that it is a very important part of living because it is always advancing. I try my best to keep up with the latest and greatest, not because of it being the hottest thing out there, but because I don't ever want to find myself left behind.

How often do you see people slowing down or have a disruption in their workflow all because they didn't know how to use a particular piece of equipment or what something does. My parents for one are always having difficulty with payments because they refuse to learn how to do online payments. In no way is it bad, but from time to time, they find themselves sadden at the fact they do not know how to work a new blu-ray player.

Linus Sebastian

This man has incredible understanding of how several pieces of computer hardware work and the in's and out's of almost every component that I've wished to handle. And I don't mean like those youtube reviewer such as Marques Brownlee, John from TLDtoday, or those people who just talk about why they like a particular product but don't really understand how it works. I'm talking about legitimately knowing how something runs and what makes it tick.

For me technology runs most of what we do and what we have to use. 

I favor technology and learning more on it because of the fact that it is becoming more of a necessity each day.

I've built a few machines in the past, but the one I only took pictures of was the one I had build for my dad.

A simple microATX case

A quad-core AMD processor

BIOstar Motherboard

Noctua Heatsink

The heatsink and fans help keep temps at an all time low

2 solid state drives for ultra fast boot times and access

All components installed

The main reason behind even bothering to make this for him was because, I disliked the fact that he was always given a hand me down computer from his work. I wanted to give him something future proof and would run extremely fast while staying cool and quiet. He deserved something better than just outdated machines.

I love technology and what they have given us. I will strive to continue working hard so that I can keep building and keep learning about all there will be to know on tech.

Speech is Valuable Part 1

Something people tend to take for granted these days is actuyourconversations. We find ourselves wanting to type or text things out rather than living each moment. Eventually we see more and more people losing the ability to be social among others.

It begins to separate bonds between people and we start to lose the human factor in us.

Finally it leads to dependence of only being able to communicate through a device. It doesn't seem like a big issue, but it also carries over into other actions we do.

What I've noticed is this strongly affects:

• our confidence 
• want for attention
• social skills

People tend to feel that its easy to just keep things electronic and hide behind a phone or a computer. At times they pretend to be a completely different person but in reality are completely opposite.

Finding a constant need to have people look at you. 

Using different or fake terms to come off as witty or interesting.

It can't be said that social media doesn't give its form of entertainment, but when it begins to pollute ways of thinking as well as social development, its hard to justify what people try to do through social media.

Where it comes into play

People are finding it harder to see why communication is an important factor in everyday life.

Just as an example, in the job market, strong communication skill:

• builds your value
• gathers respect from others
• and creates higher opportunities just by how you can converse

Better confidence can go a long way. Being able to begin with your social skills can greatly improve ones overall value.

Admitting Weakness

There are a lot of things about me that have really held me back from achieving much. The one main flaw that I can admit to is my lack of dedication.

To be able to accomplish anything, is to focus on what you want. 

My passions in life have been 3 things:

• Health
• Technology
• Music

The only problem that I have come across would be that I lack the ability to put complete focus which I want to advance in first.

Another cousin of mine had told me, "You work well in all different aspects, but you aren't truly good in one thing. Its nice to be a jack-of-all-trades, but it's better to be a master in one."

This started to force things into perspective and now I find that I have wasted time scattering my attention. 

In order for me to reach success, I have targeted my health and physical well being first.

This was taken August 22,  2013

Though many people would ask why don't you focus on your career, or your financial situation. I feel it necessary to focus on the values I care about and fit my work around that. I take health into consideration only because of the possibilities of how it can affect the way you perform and how people perceive you.

My focus on health and fitness provide:

• more energy
• stress relief
• aesthetics
• and a way to track self progress through my own body

One way I look at it is even with the best car, home, job, and even friends, most of them wouldn't be worth while if poor health was keeping from enjoying it.

If everything you had was to be taken from you, the last thing you would have for yourself would be your health.

My next focus and my next passion would be technology. Not only because I enjoy the reward of building computers or working with software, but because its one thing in life that continues to advance. If you don't follow along, you will just be left behind.

One of the many computers I've built. This one was for my dad

My final passion and focus is music. Simply because it is something I enjoy, as well as find a means to express myself.

My cousin's studio setup. He was the one who told me to master a skill. 

Focus on my current setup

Added a 21" monitor to help with productivity.

"For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer."

-Arnold Schwarzenegger