Last years goals and the results

It's time to review the goals that I set out last year. Here they are and how I did:


1. Get maximum performance bonus from Microsoft for doing outstanding work. Work towards a management position.
Result: Nailed this one. I got an A+ grade at work and as a result I received a nice cash and stock bonus.


2. Learn Spanish
Result: I failed at this. I could make excuses, but I just don't have the drive right now to pursue this goal. Other goals were more important.


3. Have no retail debt (Canadian or Euros) and have 10,000 Euros in the bank or in stocks.
Result: We did it! This was a massive goal. I had $18,000 CAD retail debt 1 year ago. Through a series of miracles (including the large bonuses as a result of achieving goal #1) we hit this target! It's an incredible accomplishment.


4. Take a 3 week, action packed, trip to Thailand
Result: Still in the works, this one could take awhile longer though. Although, we have travelled over the last year to Bulgaria, Paris, Prague, and Madrid. I'd say that's pretty damn good.


5. (sorry, #5 is private)
Result: I hit this goal as well!


6. Play soccer and/or Gaelic football twice or more per week
Result: I hit this goal as well!


7. Visit Family (including Ted & Aba) for 2 weeks around Christmas
Result: I hit this goal as well!


8. Reward yourself with an awesome smart phone and service when Goal #3 is completed
Result: This will come soon enough, unfortunately goal #3's money is tied up in pension, stock, and other monies that will "eventually" come. I think I will do this when we have 10k euros in the bank.


9. Work from home at least 2 days per week.
Result: This goal didn't work out as planned at all. Working from home isn't necessarily a good thing. Sometimes its far better to work in the office. I now live within walking distance from work and I simply prefer to work at the office.


10. Read at least 3 books per month
Result: While I didn't read 36 books this year, I did listen to a hell of a lot of audio programs that were highly stimulating. I would consider this goal about 70% hit.


11. Create & maintain friendships while doing all of the above.
Result: I am happy with the group of friends and acquaintances we have collected :)


Wow! What a year. The law of attraction is an amazing thing. Many of those goals were stretch goals that I thought would be quite tough to pull off, but I did it! I am very happy with what has been accomplished and I am not sad about what has not been accomplished.

Now, I will have to come up with some even more ambitious goals for myself. Who know what adventures are in store next year. I will post my new goals soon here.

I appreciate everyone reading my goals because it holds me accountable for them and it strengthens the law of attraction.

The bookstore story

A few weeks ago, when Julie was in Madrid, this happened:

So Julie had been gone for a few weeks by this point and I was bored after work. I decided to go to the local bookstore and read until they closed. It was 7:30pm at this point. I wasn't sure exactly what time the store closed though.

I got to the bookstore and since I was going to be visiting Madrid, Spain in a week, I figured I would read a few books on Madrid. The travel section was tucked away in the back corner of the bookstore. They had 6 books on Madrid, so I grabbed all 6 and sat on the floor and started reading. These books were surprisingly riveting! Did you know many restaurants in Madrid close at 4pm and then reopen at 10pm - interesting. That means most people must eat supper at 10pm or later - interesting.

Anyhow, I'm reading away on the floor in the back corner of the book store. I look at my phone and I see it's now 9pm. The lights and the music in the store were still on, so I figured the store must close at 9:30pm. I kept reading for about 5 more minutes, but then I got bored of Madrid books. So I got up and headed over to the magazine rack. The store was strangely very empty. I grabbed a magazine and started reading. Something inside me felt very wrong at this point. I figured the store had probably closed, but the employees were probably still cleaning up somewhere. Still, I felt so uncomfortable that I decided I should just leave. I walked up to the sliding glass doors at the entrance to leave the store. They didn't open!

The store lights are still on, the music is still playing, but the store is definitely closed and I am definitely locked inside! I walk around the entire store yelling loudly "Hello!?" - nothing. Then, all the sudden the motion sensors pick me up and the alarm goes off. In my head I'm thinking this is good that the alarm went off because they will send someone from security to come get me. So I waited 10 mins but no one came! Maybe I should have waited longer, but I had a feeling like this alarm was just an audible alarm and not hooked up to anything.

I didn't know what to do exactly. Julie was out of town so I couldn't call her. I thought of calling the emergency number 999 (like 911 in Canada), but I figured this didn't really classify as an emergency. I didn't know the number for information (411 in Canada). I figured I would just call 999. When the lady at 999 answered I said "ummm, I don't know if this classifies as an emergency, but I am locked in a bookstore". The lady at emergency transferred me to the police station. I told the officer on the phone my story and he just laughed. He said he would send over an officer.

When the officer came, I looked out the sliding glass doors with my puppy dog eyes. He just shook his head with a grin on his face. I could tell he was thinking "you silly, silly man". The officer went and found the security team responsible for the complex.

A security officer came and called me over to the sliding glass doors. We talked through the glass doors for a bit. He wasn't a whole lot of help because he didn't have any access to the store, but he did call the manager and told him to drive over. The security guard wasn't sure but he thought I could get out through a stairwell in the very back of the store. He said, whatever you do, make sure you don't go through a door that you can't come back from. He didn't want me to get locked in the stairwell and some doors may lock behind you once you go through them. This task stressed me out a bit because the last thing I wanted was to get locked in another place. My brain works terribly when I'm stressed.

I went to the stairwell and went through a few doors (none of which locked behind me - I think), finally I got to a door that obviously led to the street. I pushed on it but it was magnetically locked to the frame. I pushed harder, but the magnetic lock was very strong. I looked to my left and saw a sign that said "In case of fire, break glass to open door". I was thinking to myself, does this count? Can I break that glass? Like I said, my brain wasn't working well. Luckily I had enough sense not to break that glass and keep looking. There was another button that didn't have any glass to break that just said "emergency exit". That sounded better to me, so I pushed that button instead and opened the door to freedom!

I ran around the building to the complex security guard who was excited to see me. He told me the store manager was on his way and he would rather I waited around with him until the manager got there.

The manager (Damian) got there 5 minutes later. He was very nice and apologetic. He brought with him the guy who closed the store that night who had nothing to say to me. I asked Damian when the store closed that night, he said 8:30. Apprently, I had been reading for 30 minutes after the store had closed without even realizing it. I gave Damian my contact details and went home.

The next day Damian called me and apologized again. He said he reviewed the security cameras and found the whole thing rather funny. He offered to send my some Madrid books as compensation. I said I would rather have a gift card instead. So, he mailed me a 40 euro gift card.

The end :)

Madrid 2009

Hello,

I just got back from Madrid, Spain. We had an awesome time!
A few interesting observations about Madrid:

Madrid is a desert! There's no other way to put it. Crops just don't grow in that area of Spain unless they are irrigated. That being said there are several very large parks right inside the city of Madrid that are full of lush green grass and forests (but they are all irrigated).

When I went to Toledo (a very old, small city, outside of Madrid), the entire city was just rocks and cement. There was no green at all - it was actually a little depressing. So I was very glad to see Madrid had lots of irrigated green space. I found out that they water the parks with dirty water rather than city water which is good. I hope Spain will continue to have enough water to maintain its beautiful parks and cities. (click to make the pics below bigger).




The other observation of Madrid was how lively the people are. I was so impressed by how many people were out doing things during the day. In Parque Retiro, there was so much going on. Every few steps I walked, people would be doing interesting and different things. In one section there was a large collection of various "monkey bars" that many men were doing all sorts of exercises on (chinups, situps, etc). Then I walked to a long and wide asphalt strip in the park where there must have been 100 people learning or practicing how to roller blade. Then I walked to a large lake in the middle of the park where there were many people practicing some strange game that seems to be a combination of kayaking and water polo. I just love to see people out there, doing things with their lives.



Despite the meat centered cultural diet, we were able to find several great vegetarian restaurants.

We went during late July, so it was hot! One day I saw the temperature was 38 degrees and I image most other days were about that too. However, its a very dry heat, so it wasn't as bad as it sounds - the humidity during a hot day really does make a huge difference.

You can find all my pics here:

And Toledo pics here: