Nagel Family Website

Girl overdoses on espresso coffee

OK… even I’m not that bad!

This entry was posted by Eric on Monday, August 13th, 2007 at 3:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

File this under impulse purchases… I bought a DVD of the Dark Side of OZ, forgot about it, and it arrived in the mail the other day. So, while I was cleaning the house, and the kids were playing, I popped it in and 1/2 watched it.

The verdict?

Eerie. Yeah, there are parts that line up, but I think it’s only because I’m looking for them. Much like horoscopes. If you read a horoscope, then look for how it applied to your day, you’ll find similarities.

Strangely, even Becca & Jason, while running through the room, froze and stared at the TV for the longest time. It’s just mesmerizing.

This entry was posted by Eric on Monday, August 13th, 2007 at 2:40 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Exciting title, eh? Some things on my mind…

I saw a cool episode of Modern Marvels on TV last night, all about renewable energy. It was so good, I saved it on the Tivo, so I can burn a DVD then rip the DVD and put the episode on my iPod. Then, in the middle of the show, a little ad appeared that Modern Marvels is available on iTunes! I’m so excited… this particular show isn’t on yet, but others are. I wonder how long they take to get posted online?

Also yesterday, it was a big delivery day at my house. I received an order from Land’s End, which included a pair of Beach Trekkers. I love them… they’re just a bit big. I should’ve ordered a 1/2 size smaller, since you don’t wear socks with them. So I called them up, and was talking to a person before it even rang on the other side! And… get this: the person was speaking perfect English! On a Saturday morning, I called customer service and spoke to a real person within 2 seconds. Amazing. The exchange process was even easier… she took my new order, and when they arrive, I can choose which pair to keep, and either return the other using the prepaid postage label or take it to my local Sears store. Land’s End has just won a lot of my future clothes shopping.

I also received a couple books from Amazon.com, along with Snatch on DVD, and a Christmas decoration that, I must say, I’m a bit disappointed in. Oh well, good thing Christmas is still 4-1/2 months away!

This entry was posted by Eric on Saturday, August 4th, 2007 at 10:46 am and is filed under Energy, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

I am Ryan. You are extremely smart and perceptive, and it irritates you to no end when inferior people try to tell you what to do. Sometimes, though, your critical eye makes you come off as aloof and bitter to others, and it may take awhile for people to get to know you.

Which Office Character Are You?

This entry was posted by Eric on Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

While reading Life’s Missing Instruction Manual : The Guidebook You Should Have Been Given at Birth, I came across a section by Dr. Paul Hartunian titled, Three Life Lessons I Wish I Had Learned Earlier. After I read his, I began to think if I had three to offer others. Well, I’m going to try:

1. Watch out for #1 - That means YOU. There’s only one person looking out for you, and it’s not your mom (sorry Mom, I still love you!). Some people may appear to be your friend, or a business colleague you can trust*, but they’re also looking out for their #1 (themselves). So, take care of yourself, first. This goes for your professional, family, and social life. While family may sound harsh, if you don’t take care of yourself first, who will be there to take care of your family?
   *I fully trust only 2 people in this world: my wife and my colleague Paul. I’ve just been burned too many times before to fully trust anyone else. I’m not saying I think the rest of the world is scum… I just don’t fully trust anyone else.
2. Getting into credit card debit is quicker (and more fun) than getting out of it - Do I need to elaborate? The point says it all. Based on the program I’ve been following for 1-1/2 years now, I have 41 months left just to clear my credit cards! Is it fun? No! Well, OK… a little. I enjoy whacking down the balance. But I had a lot more fun buying lots of crap and letting a balance ride!
   I’m not saying only use cash - in today’s society, you need a credit card. What I am saying, however, is to keep that card paid off. “Just once” is all it takes to go down the slippery slope of credit card debt.
3. When today is done, there’s no getting it back - I had two ideas for the last life lesson, and I managed to cram them both into this one. This lesson has two meanings to it:
   1. You must live with what you’ve done today
   2. You must live with what you haven’t done today

   Pretty deep stuff. Whatever actions you took today, you did it. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Hopefully there’s more good than bad & ugly. If not, I’m sorry to say, you have to live with that for the rest of your life. There’s no taking it back. Do more good tomorrow than you did today, and someday you’ll be where you want to be.

   On the other hand, what about the things you didn’t do today? I think about this all the time, as I have kids who are growing up way too quick. When one comes sneaking into our bedroom, and asks to sleep with Laura and I, every time we say no is a lost opportunity. Every time I choose to work, rather than play with them, or tell them they have to go to bed early is time I cannot get back. This is probably the reason why I set my alarm clock on the weekend - so I don’t miss anything. I’m up at 6AM, well before the rest of the family is. That’s my alone time - not when they want to play. As Steve says, “you can sleep when you’re dead” - right now, there’s too much life waiting to be lived.

I’m going to turn this into a tagging exercise. Because there are three life lessons, I’m going to tag three people:

1. Paul
2. Steve
3. Shoemoney (I’m stretching on this one - he doesn’t even return my emails - it’s like tagging Steve Jobs)

If you post about your three life lessons to share, be sure to trackback. Or, leave your list in the comments. I’d love to hear some others, as they’ll benefit us all.

This entry was posted by Eric on Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 at 8:28 pm and is filed under Finance, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

It took a while… over a week, but I think my reboot is done.

These past few days have been nuts. A wedding, birthday parties, parade… just too much going on.

However, after the Lost season finale last week, I turned off the TV, and haven’t turned it on since. It’s amazing how much more you can get done w/out watching TV.

I finally read The Richest Man in Babylon; I think I’ll soon post my list of “must-read” financial books - this one will be on it. It’s a quick read, and very simple to understand. I started on Saturday night, and finished up Sunday morning. I think it took me 3 sittings to cruise through this book.

Last night, I started reading Life’s Missing Instruction Manual : The Guidebook You Should Have Been Given at Birth. So far, I’m not terribly impressed. I don’t really like the format, although I may get a few things out of this. One idea that I got from it was starting a blog post & tag titled something like “Three things I wish I knew when I was younger”… something like that. I already have (well, had, because I forgot them) 2 of the 3.

Oh, and I read some of the paper for the first time in ages; typically, I just look through the ads, but this weekend, without watching TV, I had the time to read, and a desire to know what’s going on in the world. Thanks to reading the paper, I read about the LDK Solar Co. IPO coming this week, which is one I’ll keep my eye on. Chinese manufacturing of solar cells is supposed to be hot in the upcoming years.

Saturday morning, I also installed my rain barrel. It smells a little funky… but nobody can identify the odor. I think it’s Simple Green. I’ll take pictures of my set-up soon, ’cause it’s really cool. I calculated the size of my roof, and based on the barrel size, it’ll take 3″ of rain to fill the barrel. Buffalo usually gets 3″ every month, but this May is very dry (even though it was supposed to rain Friday, Saturday and Sunday), so it’s still pretty much empty. There was a quick shower the other day, which gave me about 2″ of water, which I used to water the flowers in the front garden. It’s supposed to rain Friday, with a chance of rain every day ’til the following Thursday, so I should have a good supply of water after that.

Becca’s been asking for a cat, so we’re going to the SPCA today to see what they have. I just can’t say “no” to her; I wish I could. Just wait until she’s 16, and wants a car!

This is part of the reason we want to move; instead, our kids go to private school. Kenmore-Tonawanda ranks 58 out of 97 WNY school districts. What a shame - good thing we pay such high taxes.

Finally, I got in two runs: Friday and today. Both were 3.5 miles; Friday’s time was 30:35 and today was 30:47. I plan to run 3 more times before the Corporate Challenge next Thursday.

This entry was posted by Eric on Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 at 9:10 am and is filed under Family, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.