Tag: life

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life Productivity

I need two of me. (Two Keith's? Scary thought.)

Two Keiths How many times in life have you wished there were two of you? I think that usually people wish this when they have two events to go to, or they are so busy that they can’t get everything done. I was chatting with a friend of mine earlier today and this subject came up. My wish for two of me is an offshoot of being too busy. However, I have clearly defined roles for the two Keiths.

Keith #1
This Keith’s job is to run Souza Financial Group. I love my career, clients and what I do. If I didn’t, I would have let the other Keith take over long ago. Being able to wake up everyday and go to a job that you truly love doing and feel rewarded for doing it, is the best feeling in the world. So, the first Keith gets up, goes to SFG, meets with clients, and does it with a smile.

Keith #2
This one is the “creative” one. This Keith’s job is to write, to create iPhone applications, build killer websites, become a great drummer, did I mention write? One of my biggest frustrations is that I don’t write more. Writing is one of my favorite things to do, but I don’t make more time to do it.

Since the dual-Keith idea is a dream, I will have to change some priorities and move some of the creative side into the forefront. Right now the “business” Keith is about 80% of my life. With a little effort, I am going to work on getting that more balanced. Check back soon…..

Categories
Big Picture life Technology Web Stuff

Wolfram|Alpha & I'm halfway there.

wolframalphaWolframAlpha was launched this week. It’s been touted as the possible Google killer. While that is yet to be seen, it is pretty cool. I see it as Google for math geeks, but then again I have only tried it out for about 1/2 hour.

If you type in your birthday, you get all kinds of info about the date. I am officially 38 years 9 months and 29 days old. Or for the more math-happy 2026 weeks, 14182 days or 38.83 years ago. I was born on the 199th day of the 29th week.

Half my life is over

According to WolframAlpha, the life expectancy for a 38 year-old male is 77.54 years. Divided by 2, you get 38.77. Wait a minute. Didn’t I say that I was 38.83 years old? That means that this week marks the halfway point of my life. (In fact, if I do the math, it was yesterday) Wow, that’s depressing. Or is it?

I don’t want to dwell on this for too long. However, we all know that I will.I guess the real question is: What will I do with the remaining 14182 days? Enough for now, this post is about WolframAlpha.

Other Cool Wolfram Stuff

Did you know that my son is 6″ taller than the average 7 year old?
I finally know how much wood could a woodchuck chuck?
If you are vain (and who has not “Googled” themselves?) you get your name rank. (Before you ask, Smith is number 1)
You can compare stocks.
Want all the information about weather you can handle?
And of course, how far is it from Danville to Cleveland?

Wolfram is still in alpha, meaning that it was just launched and there are plenty of bugs. Gotta run, my life is 1/2 over and I got a bunch of crap to do!!!

Categories
life

How well do you know yourself?

I am rarely shocked. Here’s why: I work in the stock market, my best friend is Mark, I am an Indians fan (remember the ’97 World Series?), I served on the Danville City Council, and I am Russ Souza’s son. So needless to say, my shock meter is seldom activated. However, it was triggered tonight.

One of my clients stopped in the office and brought her daughter with. I used to work with the daughter at the bank. She told the story of when her mom had first met with me. Her mom asked what she knew about me. She told her that when I was looking for my first car out of college I researched the hell out of it. That is what she remembered about me 16 years ago. I guess that I’m grateful THAT is what she remembers about me. The thinking was that if I was that rigorous then, I would surely take investing with the same great detailed care.

I thought it was funny, so I shared it with my wife. When I told her that I was surprised she remembers me as a “research” guy that would put so much effort into buying a car. Jen started laughing, “Yea, BIG shock there.” I said, “What? I have never put that much effort into car buying.” “Are you kidding me?”, was her reply. “You put hours into every car you have ever bought?” That was when I should have just shut up. I started to plead my case, only to have every point shot down. We came up with the phrase for me: calculated spontaneity.

The thing that ticks me off is that she’s dead on. I AM that guy. That was my shock. I thought I knew myself, guess not. Then tonight I’m sitting here on the sun-porch listening to the Tribe game and reflecting on things. I research almost everything I do to the point of nausea. I never realized that until tonight. Wow, almost 39 years old and I’m still learning about myself. I almost want to go to a dealership tomorrow and trade cars just to show Jen up. If only I hadn’t done so much research on this car….damn, there I go again.

Categories
Big Picture life

Putting it all in perspective.

perspective - burning man 2007Priorities, sometimes they get screwed up, sometimes they’re in perfect alignment. I have always been a fairly level-headed person (no comments from the peanut gallery). What I mean is that I have always tried to think about the consequences of my actions. Putting into perspective the “bigger picture”. It’s helped me make better choices.

When I was 19-years-old, I went off to SIU. I joined a fraternity, I blew off class, I enjoyed the bar age in Carbondale being 18. Bottom line: I took in all the college experience. After one semester, I was on told that if my grades didn’t improve, I would be booted from the School of Business (SOB). I came back in the spring and picked up where I had left off; Thursday Night Club at the Tap, the weekend begins on Tuesday, FAC (Friday afternoon club), etc, etc, etc. At the end of the year, I got my grades, along with a letter from the SOB telling me that I was officially in the category of “Undeclared Major”, as I had been kicked out of their group. Then I got the letter from SIU that said, “If my grades did not improve in the next semester, I would be asked to leave campus.” Wow, kicked out of my major and put on academic probation, I’m making good choices now.

I will never forget getting that letter. I showed it to my dad and in typical Russ-fashion. He said, “Son, there is no shame in coming back and working at the bank. If you want to be a teller all your life, that is your choice. If you want more than that, you have some work to do.” That’s my dad. No, red-faced, “What the hell is this letter?” No sobbing. Just tell it like it is. The choice I made right there and then is that I didn’t want to be a teller all my life (no offense to career tellers, you are the most important people at any bank).

I went back to school, watched “Where there’s a will, there’s an A.”, got a job on campus, pleaded with the dean to let me back into the SOB (she did), studied, and made the Dean’s list every semester after that. My dad put it in perspective for me with one conversation. I’m forever grateful that my parents always helped me put things in perspective. In a small part, I think that’s what my blog has become. I am amazed at how many of my friends read this and tell me they get something out of it. I’m thankful to all of you.I was approached by three different people last night that told me they enjoy what I write. That tells me to keep writing (no surprise I’m posting the morning after those kind words).

Life gets crazy sometimes. We all have careers, kids, kids activities, houses to maintain, bills to pay. But don’t be afraid to take a step back, and think about things and make some big picture choices for your betterment, down the road. Be it a diet, quitting smoking, ending a bad relationship, or moving forward on a good one (as afraid as you might be). It won’t always work out as planned, and guess what? That’s ok. But you at least gave it a fighting chance by thinking it through and moving forward on what’s important for you.

Categories
Big Picture life

Teach your kids not to suck.

special2.jpgTo say that growing up I was nice to every kid that I came into contact with would be a flat-out lie. I think that me and some of my classmates could have put a couple of kids in therapy later in life. I was not a bully. I have never been in a fight in my life. My quick tongue kept me out of those. I did pick on kids that were different from me. I’m not proud of it, but it happened.

My 5th grade teacher taught me a lesson one day. We made fun of some girl in our class, don’t ask me why maybe she said something silly or whatever. Our teacher said, “You guys are making fun of her?” He then proceeded to pick something off each one of us. Me? He said,”Souza, you got a big booger hanging out of your nose, maybe we should call you Booger-Nose.” Now, by today’s standard, I could have him brought up on charges, but then, it did what it was meant to do; Put me in my place.

I have a simple request for all parents: Teach your kids not to suck. (Underlying message: Teach them some acceptance.) When you see a child with Downs Syndrome, tell your child not to stare. When you see someone in a wheelchair, explain to your child that they use a chair because they can’t walk. Explain to them that just because they look different from you, that they have the same feelings as you. Don’t use the term “retard”, it degrading. Special Olympics has started a campaign to end the use of the “R-Word.”

When my son sits down next to your kids and they scoot away and say “eeewwww.” It hurts. I’m not naive enough to think that kids will stop being kids, but if you can teach your kids that we are all God’s creatures, we will go a lot further on this planet.

r-word.org