Erik’s Blog: Board Shorts and Business Suits

Becoming a good engineer isn’t something that will happen overnight, some may say you are born with the skills; that may be partly true, but I believe you need to acquire the thought process that engineers have through years of experience. You can speed up the process if you know what to look for and how to handle problem situations.

I have always liked math growing up and once I got to college figured I should go into some sciences. Plus reading wasn’t a big priority for me yet. Engineering seemed like a good fit because it seemed like the most rewarding. Becoming an engineer offers you the opportunity to learn the skills needed to be the designer of things, get patents, get your name written into history books, literally. There are many disciplines to choose from such as mechanical, chemical, electrical, civil, etc. I chose Biomedical because of its being brand new and having the least discoveries. Much easier to get your name in the books. I finished off my degree in BME at the University of Michigan and landed a job at a great startup company in Honolulu, Hawaii.

That’s neither here nor there though. You came here most likely to learn HOW TO BECOME A GOOD ENGINEER, MAYBE EVEN GREAT. Well, I won’t give you any sure fire way but I can begin this category of posts to come with some great tips to get you headed in the right direction. I have learned a lot over the last year and a half, and continue to learn everyday how to become a better engineer.

Problem Solving
First off you should want to solve problems. If you don’t like to solve problems you are going to most likely be miserable as an engineer. If you are in classes right now you are probably wondering, as I did, why the heck your professors are making you do problem sets that take 10-15 hours to complete, and make you search several sources (textbooks, computer programs, online resources, even scientific papers) to complete one single problem. Well the answer to this is one they never told me during my years at Michigan, or at least not loud enough it would wake me up.

You do all that problem solving and looking up to train your mind to look at problems from all angles. Of course you’re never going to be asked to solve a mass transfer problem without referencing a formula, but if you know that the formula is there, you can begin to see the problem from that angle before you even know the answer. Think of all those problems you are doing as a way to increase your mental toolbox. Every ME problem you do, or CHE problem allows you another look at a very similar problem. You’ve also more than likely said, “All these problems are the same” in some sort of frustration. When you’re on the job you may only have access to 50% of the tools needed. If you didn’t do problems to prepare yourself you wouldn’t be able to tell your boss, he who signs you paychecks and OKs bonuses, “here’s the answer, if we just go at it from this obscure angle it’s simple.”

Taking things apart
A big thing I learned in my last year of undergrad and I continue to notice on the job is that people who take things apart are able to find more solutions. This stems from knowing what’s out there. If you take say a typical desktop computer apart you know that there are a lot of circuit boards, come wiring harnesses, and a fan. That would be one way to look at it. But if you begin to look at each board you see what type of surface mount resistors were used, what processor was used, are there gold leads? Then you look at the wiring harness; what type of connectors were used and why do you think they were used, is the wire stranded or single, can the connectors withstand humidity? Then you look at the fan; where is it placed, why is it in that location, how much power does it consume? Then you begin to look at the whole computer tower and how the parts fit together; why is a board where it is, what about the wiring routes, what looks like it needs the fan the most, will the computer stop running if you place the fan in a different location?

Once you begin to look at the interconnections of each of the pieces you begin to realize why the engineers responsible for it used it. Then, and this can make you some money, you may see a solution to a problem that the current design causes. If you take enough things apart or read enough about how things are made you will have more solutions to the problems you face as an engineer. Good things to take apart are, radios, printers, clocks, TVs, engines, phones, keyboards, computers, speakers, toasters, phones, drills, air tools, and anything else that interests you.

WARNING: Some of the above mentioned items can shock the crap out of you and cause some wicked damage, please be careful and don’t take it apart without consulting someone who knows about it or a super online resource.

Super Online Resources:
HowStuffWorks.com
About.com
Bill Nye the Science Guy
Wikipedia.org

Know your tools
If you want to sit around and do equations all day then go to a big name school that’s completely hands-off. If you want to learn how to engineer things and design great things then don’t say no when someone says you want to get some Machine Shop time. Those really greasy rough looking guys/gals that spend all day turning cranks and programming CNC machines (CNC stands for computer numerically controlled) could probably design circles around some of the A+ engineers that have come out of top schools like Michigan. If you know a person who works as a machinist, pick his or her brain and try to get them to show you around a mill or a lathe for a bit. It will be the most informative Saturday afternoon you could have.

Don’t be afraid of the tools that are out there. Even if you don’t pick on up know what they are, how they work, and how best to design for them. When I first arrived at Tissue Genesis, Inc I was told to redesign a plastic molded piece that used a heat staker and a sonic welder. I had no idea what these machines were let alone how to design for them. Then I began calling companies, asking for design tips, sheets that showed design tips, googling everything I could, and basically asking as many questions as possible. In the end I was able to redesign the piece (actually 10 down to 7 main pieces) sonic weld 2 pieces onto a larger one and save $15 a disposable in the heat staking procedure. That was all from just asking a lot of questions and learning about all the tools that are out there.

Some great catalogs to get you started are:
McMaster Carr
MSC Industrial Tools

Be Curious

Lastly I am going to say be curious. Be curious about problems, be curious about solutions, and be curious about all those tools (equations, connectors, and machine tools) that will help you find solutions to problems. If you let your mind just sit waiting for a solution to easily manifest itself, it won’t. You have to be curious and be active about wanting to become a better engineer.

I plan on posting a lot of the things I have learned during my first few years as an engineer within this blog category. I am trying to remain open to new solutions everyday and not believe that what I learned in college will get me through tomorrow. I hope to learn ten times the amount about processes that are out there within the next year and another 10 times that the next. Only then will I begin to easily see creative solutions to some of those most difficult problems.

Other Interesting Articles and Categories:
Become Good at Everything - A How-to
Starting a Business
Setting Intermediate Goals

I have had a few responses to continue my surviving cancer story which I started previously in Surviving Cancer Part I. I meant to post this earlier but now’s as good a time as any to continue the story. If you haven’t read Part I go back and read it so you can be caught up with the story. If you don’t have time here is a quick recap.

Recap of Part I
I was 20 years old and transferring schools from Stevens Point in Wisconsin to Michigan in Ann Arbor and had just finished up a season of XCountry running. My plan was to continue running the next season at UMich so I stayed training but began to feel pain in my abdomen. One thing lead to another and after a few miss diagnoses (hernia, infection, infection) I found out I had testicular cancer upon returning home for the summer. My testicle needed to be removed the next day so I had less than 24 hours to say good bye.

Part II - The First Surgery
Friday Morning I was up early ready to go, or as ready as someone could be. the night before I had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep staying up most of the night reading Lance’s book It’s Not about the Bike. My mother was quite distraught the next morning remembering that she couldn’t make me a nice breakfast because I wasn’t supposed to eat or drink after midnight the day of the surgery. I felt a little bad because she is one of those great ladies who loves making their children breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or at least that’s what I like to tell myself. I’m sure it can get old sometimes, but she does it without complaints.

On my way to the hospital I decided I needed to tell someone in Kim’s (girlfriend) family. I had gotten to know her father over the previous few years and decided I would give him a call and let him know, making sure he realized I hadn’t told Kimberly and didn’t think it was a good idea for her to know while she was playing tennis at NCAA’s.

We arrived at the hospital and cruised through the administration back to the surgery prep area. I was given a robe and shown to a curtained off pre-op room. I was also given a state of the art brown paper bag to put all my belongings into while I got in my nice robe without a back. Now at this point in my life I was OK with my body and had already done the naked mile in 45 degree weather back at Stevens Point. Showing my body wasn’t that horrible of an experience to me. So without warning I thought it nice to moon a few passers by as I appeared to be stuffing my civilian wear into my grocery bag. Once that was complete it was time to get tagged and answer a lot of interesting questions. The only question I wanted answered was where was the doctor so I could tell him it was the right one, my right.

This continued to weigh on my mind right up until surgery. Every nurse or doctor that came into my room was told to make sure it was noted in big black letters that it was to be the right testicle that needed removal. As I was saying bye to my parents I reminded them that it was the right, just before the anaesthesiologist knocked me out I told him it was the right and the last words I remember uttering before I woke up was to remember it was the right…

Surgeries are crazy things. You’re out as fast as you’re up. I remember getting groggy and then waking up in the post-op room spitting on myself as I was in some kind of horrible pain. I guess I was a little over reactive, but the guy next to me seemed to be moaning and spitting so I thought this was the natural thing to do when you woke up. I was given a little bit more morphine and all was well. Next thing after that was waking up in my hospital room with a nurse at the ready waiting to give me some percocet.

Also in the room were my mother and father and Kimberly’s father Pete. Check to make sure it was the right… Nice job Doc. I can rest a bit easier this time around. Wait, they shave all that, gone, hmmm, could be a new look for me. I should have remembered this from the surgeries I stood in and watched the previous winter but forgive me if I was a bit out of it. The percocet didn’t seem to sit very well as I remember feeling queasy for quite a while and unable to eat much of anything. My mother tried but I wasn’t having any of it. They took a while to wear off and the nurse switched me to vicodin which was much better. Little pain and not as much drowsiness.

My mother had called a few of my good friends who stopped by and said hi. I didn’t want her calling the whole world because I figured people would just worry and I of course was going to be fine, no need getting a fussy about such a little thing. All in all though I was really glad to see my friends and hear from them. Great to know people care, remember that if you ever hear someone has cancer. Give them a call, it’ll probably make their day.

The rest of the day went by at a snails pace. I began feeling much better physically and was walking by 5:00 pm. I thought about what I was going to tell my girlfriend and if I was going to tell her. The night before she asked how the doctor’s results came back and didn’t sound too convinced when I said fine and that it was only a bad infection. That night wasn’t going to be any easier so I thought I would tell her when she no doubtedly would call. She did and as expected it wasn’t easy, telling someone you love you have cancer is a tough task. She was on a bus with her teammates on their way back to Ann Arbor from Kentucky, so at least she was with friends. I still think I did the right thing but realize it meant she had to drive from Ann Arbor to Wisconsin with the thought that things were bad. I tried to tell her everything was fine and it was just a little cancer and nothing to worry about. I guess little and cancer don’t really go together.

That evening my mother debated with herself whether or not to stay but my father and I thought it best if she went home to get some rest. You see my brother was finishing up Airborne School (82nd Airborne, Army) and had 3 jumps planned for the very week/weekend and I don’t think my mother was getting any sleep at all. She inherited a very big worry gene from our grandmother and kept a rosary close to her at all times. So she left dragging her listening to me say I was going to be fine and that the nurses would take great care of me.

What I didn’t realize is that hospitals are creepy places at night if the only place you’re really allowed to be is in your room trying to rest. It was a tough night. I’m not gonna lie to you, I broke down a few times and the worst was when a nice old lady began moaning and talking about how sick she was next door. The nurses tried to calm her but I think she was a bit too far into her illness and old age. I tried to rest a bit more but wasn’t able to sleep much.

The next morning couldn’t come soon enough. My parents arrived at 7:00 am when visiting hours got going and I was released by the doctor say I was recovering well. I hadn’t mentioned anything about the previous night to my parents. I thought it best if my mother didn’t worry any more than she already had. We chatted with the doctor and nurse a while longer about when I would find out the results from the biopsy. They said it would take about a week to get results back and I would be seeing my oncologist in the meantime. Now, when someone has just taken your right testicle and you are told that you have cancer, you want to know what type of cancer it is and how severe the diagnosis is. This is the worst part about getting cancer in my opinion. Sure there’s the chemo, the surgeries, and the living at the hospital, but the real agony is in waiting. You have to wait what seems like years for a couple lines on a piece of paper with your name and address on it.

Mine was due back in a week or two and I would just have to wait until then to find out how “good” it was.

This past week I was able to attend the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii. A former co-worker whose family belongs to Waialae gave myself and another employee Waialae guest passes good for the whole weekend. My main goal was to make it out to see two people, Michelle Wie and Vijay Singh. The first I really wanted to see to put my doubts to rest. I have heard many o’ stories about how this 16 year girl is able to launch the ball over large trees at her home course that I play at regularly (Olomana). Usually when I venture over there by myself and get paired up with at least one person they end up telling me all about the times they saw Michelle hitting buckets of balls off blah blah tee box.

Well mystery solved. She can launch it, and it’s not that she hits far, she hits it far and high, towering. Every player at the tournament hits the ball hi and far off the tee. I can usually do one or the other but these guys manage both. It was pretty amazing. Made me reconsider what the proper launch angle is. Anyway, I was able to follow her for 3 holes on Thursday during my lunch break (this was the day her short game wasn’t on). She was constantly right up with the other two in her grouping, at times out driving them. Her swing is very mechanical and her presence on the course professional. I was also able to watch a couple holes of the Singh and Appleby group but had to return to work before someone noticed I was taking a bit long to be eating.

Sunday, the final day, I surfed in the morning then wondered over to Waialae in time to catch the last three groups play the back nine. Vijay was in one, Appleby in another, and David Toms, the leader, in the last. It got a bit long in parts but there was a nice breeze from the east and enough shade to keep me cool. Toms was one the whole day and Campbell and Sabatini just couldn’t get close enough to make a good push to him. I finally got to watch the leader of a pro tournament walk up 18 with the crowds lining the hole clapping him in. It was a great experience and fun to see all the people enjoying the professionals.

As for what I will take away from watching them all, CONSISTANCY. Everyone had a slightly different way of hitting the ball, some looked really similar, but they all had one thing in common. They could repeat the swing with every single shot. Drive, fairway wood, or 9 iron in. I am sure there were tons of people who went home that night and tried to copy what they saw and probably went out today during the holiday and shot horribly. Rather than changing my swing, I strove to keep it consistent and follow the same steps I have been following to get the club face back around to square.

This is the key, I believe, to becoming a scratch golfer. Get a swing that is repeatable and gets the club face back around to square. Once you get one then you need to pick a few points out during the swing to think about while you are hitting. For example these are the key points I think about during the course of my swing (or at least try to think about.)

1. Keep my lower body still during my takeaway until it can’t resist turning due to the torque built up in my back. I think club straight back, angle same as address, turn shoulders 90 degrees. Never turn my hips.

2. Straighten left leg, turn my hips.

3. Leave my arms loose all the way through the swing and turn my right wrist over my left just after impact to make sure I close the club face.

4. Finish with the club pulling my arms out in front of me and gently taping the back of my head.

5. Throughout the whole swing I think about looking at the ground where the ball is. This keeps my forward body tilt constant.

These are just an example of the things I try and focus on while I’m on the course. I find it helps correct mistakes without completely changing my swing. Some people I have played with finish the round with a totally different swing than they started the round. The course is the worst place to change your swing. Warm up a bit before you play (all the pros hit every one of their clubs before the round), and work on swing mechanics here. Then once you feel ready, get on the course and repeat what you were just doing.

Enjoy and let me know if you saw me on TV.

Aloha,
Erik

Are becoming an entrepreneur? I am not sure if I ever wasn’t (?) an entrepreneur but the last 2 months have put my creative juices into overdrive. 2005 saw me buying and selling surfboards through Craigslist, selling silver bullion on ebay, and starting to use google adsense as a primer into online advertising. In 2006 I hope to expand on the knowledge I gained from those 3 experiences and march ever closer towards my goal of becoming a millionaire in only a few years.

In order to get there I strongly believe you need to surround yourself with people who are willing to share your excitement with whatever you are trying to accomplish. I have been feeding my drive through reading blogs like Yaro’s and Steve Pavlina’s, but more importantly through my friends. Within the last month 3 people close to me have begun entrepreneurial endeavours of their own. Cesar, Kevin and Courtney, and my brother have all jumped in, feet first, to the world of online entrepreneurship.

Cesar, for starters, has been mentioned several times within this blog. A former co-worker, he is in the transition stage of moving from Honolulu, Hawaii where he had a steady job as an engineer, to L.A., where he plans to stay job free for as long as possible. Check out his blog at FleetheCube.com where he discusses how he is becoming an online entrepreneur. His current projects are working on domain state, building content based niche web pages, and thinking or more creative ways to park his domain state like his page BuyiPodVideo.com.

Kevin and Courtney - Kevin is my old college roommate who lives in Chi-town with his fiance (Courtney). He an I have big plans for the future, involving business ventures, but for now we are learning what we can with our respective jobs; he trades options on the CBOT and I am an engineer at a BioTech. He and his fiance have also been developing a great little product that I think will be a huge hit, especially here in Hawaii. The basic idea behind it is a pillow you can take to the beach that breathes and is comfortable. The real design is in the pillow case which is removable for use with your favorite pillow. I won’t try and describe it much more, I just direct you over to their great site at Sandillow.com. He is on his way learning about the ins and outs of both product design and marketing.

Lastly my brother, Jeremy. He has really jumped into the online business world and is taking on multiple projects at once. He is currently investing a lot of time into managing product sales on eBay, trying to find his market and make a name for himself. Check his products out at his eBay site. Along with that he is developing several other sites with great potential. Jeremy has a very creative side which he is trying to explore and capitalize on. There will definitely be more to write about in the not so distant future. I have also joined forces with him and we have come up with a great online venture we hope to publish and promote within the next month or so. Stay tuned for more on that.

These 3 people are just a sample of those I love to surround myself with. People not afraid to take the risks associated with entrepreneurship. All of us want financial independence and the ability to be our own bosses. Go check out all their sites and help support their projects. Spread the word even. As for what you should do after that… Find some people with similar goals and feed off of each others drive. Knowing someone close to you is trying their hardest will only make you want to succeed more.

Aloha,
Erik
2006 is the year of the online entrepreneurs

Today is the official day which I have been blogging for two months. This blog has slowly evolved and is taking shape into a place where I am posting my progress on various goals I have set for myself. In the process I have received several comments as well as emails from people telling me I have helped them out in one way or another. I use these comments as motivation to keep on moving forward and build more concrete methods to accomplish whatever it is I or anyone wanting to has set out to accomplish.

Take for instance my goal of increasing traffic to 500,000 visitors a month. Last week I had 318 Unique Visits with 179 of those coming from search engines. I also am claiming 831 page views. I am unsure how well my stat counter is working but I feel as though it’s getting the bulk of visitors. I switched mid way through December so January will be my first full month with the same stats. I also began using FeedBurner as my RSS client and can now track my those that subscribe to my RSS feed. As of today my feed circulation is 7 people. This is no where near Yaro’s 1,000 in 6 months or TechCrunches 21,000, but it’s a start.

I have also redone my goals list to better reflect my intermediate goals and allow my readers to easily navigate my goals. My front page has evolved to a color scheme that I feel is gentle on the eyes and looks professional enough to keep visitors who visit via search engines. My hope is that over the next few weeks and can round off some of the sharp edges and make a more bubble feel. It shouldn’t be too difficult and I’ll be sure to post some help on the topic within my easy html lessons.

Athletically my goals have been up and down and I believe I need to refocus some of my energies away from this computer and more towards my goals. With that said my plan is slow down on monetizing and work on building content. I mention this in several posts but now have to practice what I preach. This way I can spend more time working on my backhand and less time checking my monetization results.

It’s a new year and I plan to follow through with my goals like never before. I have reached a few bumps in the road here and there which I will no doubt post about in order to help others avoid similar mistakes but I have learned from each and every one. I plan on shooting for the stars again this year and you can’t fail unless you try.

Hope everyone has a prosperous new year, if you want to link exchange send me and email.

Aloha,
Erik
(a new daily high with my new stat counter, 64 unique visitors)

I just couldn’t pass up writing about this one. I recently read an article on CNET news titled Create and e-annoyance, go to jail. President Bush passed into law a prohibition making it illegal to post annoying web messages or send annoying email without disclosing your true identity. You’ve got to be kidding me.

Buried in the new law, rewrite, or what ever it is, there is a statement saying to “[Prevent] Cyberstalking” by amending the existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet “without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy.” What the heck is intent to annoy? As the CNET article exclaims, “What is annoying to some people isn’t annoying to others.”

I can wholeheartedly agree with the annoying email. Essential those who send junk email found me not the other way around. If this law was passed to stop spam emails from occurring then I say rock on. (Although I really don’t think using such official legal terms as annoy will stop viagra pushers from showing up in my email box telling me I shouldn’t be afraid of my erectile dysfunction problem.) However, in terms of publishing something on the internet, why should the US government tell me what I can publish. Now I’m not big on getting into arguments about civil liberties and just and unjust who-ha. I just wonder if someone lands on my site and finds it annoying, can’t they just click close or click back. Is it my fault MSN search got them to my page, shouldn’t MSN be responsible for showing my content to a user? I didn’t find them, they found me.

All I have to say is good thing my name is the site, I don’t want to annoy someone and incur a stiff fine or go to jail.

Read the article and let me know what you think.

Erik

“I tell you stocks before they can make you money, those other guys tell you stocks after they could have made you money.” Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money repeats this religiously. If you haven’t tuned into Mad Money or flipped past the crazy man yelling with excitement about energy companies and emerging tech stocks, you should. He’s on at 7:00 pm est and worth every minute. Prior to having Tivo I was never around at the right time to watch him. Now that I can record his show I have been tuning in more and more.

Jim Cramer is beyond crazy. His show has the sound effects that a 1940’s radio program would have but with some balding middle age man (Jim) running around, throwing little foam bears and bulls around, ripping their heads off and kissing pictures of himself. The crazyness doesn’t stop there. His newest theme song to promote going global with your portfolio is Ludacris’s Pimpin’ all over the World. Yeah, he’s big on appealing to a broad audience.

Aside from his crazy antics the biggest takeaway from Jim Cramer should be that he wants to tell you the stocks which will make you money, not the stocks that could have made you money. The way he does this is by researching, researching, researching. Take for instance yesterday’s first pick of the day. He opened by discussing the California Board of Energies vote coming up on whether or not to pass a $2 billion bill on Solar Energy Funding. He then raddled off 3 or 4 solar companies which he previously told his audience to buy then sell, making them money on all of them and “MAD MONEY” on one of them. He finally lands on his most recent solar play which he is recommending you get into ASAP. It turns out to be a tool automation company out of Canada called ATS Automation (ATA.CN). It’s traded on the Canadian stock exchange, so if you have access to their market, I would buy.

ATS Automation is an industrial automation design and manufacturing company that has a solar energy development department. Jim Cramer points out that the big players, both in the US and internationally, use ATS for their solar manufacturing automation needs. He also found out that they hired a prestigious banker type to unlock the value of a company who’s stock is currently at $14 a share.

You see, this is what Jim Cramer does on Mad Money. He has been around a while and knows what makes stock prices rise and what makes them flat line. He’s been there and now he wants to share this knowledge with everyone. Many of his stock picks are like the one above. He researches the players behind the obvious. He then weeds those out to find the ones that are trying to make their shareholders more money. Of course there are many researchers like this out there but you would have to pay thousands a year just to get their knowledge. Jim Cramer offers this to you for nothing and if you have Tivo, you don’t even have to pay attention to the commercials.

He started and I believe still runs TheStreet.com and has many books available (I suggest Jim Cramer’s Real Money) to tell you how he does it. He also runs a charitable trust portfolio that’s valued in the multi-million dollar range. Now if you don’t have time to watch his shows and don’t’ have Tivo, I found a great site called Mad Money Recap where the publisher quotes Jim on all his stock tips throughout the show, good or bad. It’s a great site even if you watch the show.

My plan over the next month is to use some of my savings to invest as Jim Cramer says to invest. I currently have a Sharebuilder portfolio which I add to regularly to build shares in different stocks. This is great for a more longer term look at investing. Jim Cramer on the other hand is all about getting in before the stock is big and then taking your profits. Once a stock has made you some money, get out and look for the next deal. My goal is to put together $1000 and go with a company like Scottrade or eTrade to buy and sell stocks along his suggestions. I will post here once I start and even post the value of the portfolio, good or bad.

If you haven’t seen the mad man speak, stop by and watch, if even for a minute. You’ll surely be entertained and you might learn something.

I leave you with a big Hawaii Boo-Yah. (Tune in to find out more about that)

Erik

This weekend I played at Hawaii Country Club which is located towards the west side of the island. It was sunny and partly cloudy but very windy, up to 25 mph gusts. The course is a nice island course with alot of dog legs, trees blocking the greens and a few narrow fairways.

My driving was on, hit most fairways, as well as my chipping. My putting was decent, 1 or 2 putts on every hole except for 3. One I 3 putted for a double bogey, I was on in 3. Two other ones I choked on. For the first time in my golfing career I had a chance to be under 90, SHOOT IN THE 80’s. The first choke came on 9. It’s a 272 yard par 4 with a really large sprawling tree blocking the green about 40 yards short on an uphill slope. The wind was blowing from left to right and my thought was to aim left of the tree in hopes to be close to the green. I hit a great shot and played the wind beautifully, just over the tree and on the green. A birdie would have given me a 44 on the front 9. I was within 20 feet and was 2 putting from this point the whole day. First putt I read horribly and put it 7 feet from the whole, bent left. The next putt missed just left of the cup and I was in for par. Not bad, didn’t bother me too much.

The next choke was on the last hole, another short par 4. 250 yards, straight uphill, I mean like 50-75 yards elevation, to a small green. I need par to shoot 44 on the back 9 for an 89. I hit a nice 3 wood which stayed up and didn’t come rolling down the hill. 15 yards from the fringe. Took out a 7 iron and chipped up the remainder of the hill and onto the green 15 feet from the cup. 2 putts, easy, under 90. Same thing happened as on 9. 3 Putts, bogey, over par.

This brings me to a great point that is pointed out in the book I use for my swing mechanics, Swing Machine Golf. When you get to a score you’ve never been to before don’t worry, don’t think about it, just act like you’ve been there before. I didn’t do this and it showed. I had ample chance to shoot under 90 and every time I got in position that’s all I thought about. Next time, just think “I’ve been here before.”

Aside from the mishaps I think my score is coming around. I need to get the short irons more consistent to land more greens in regulation. I will continue to work on staying loose and just letting my arms fly free. The last two times out (90 and 90) have brought me a lot of confidence and I hope to keep the steam going into my next round.

I am unofficially out of credit card debt. I just posted my last payment to my Bank of America credit card which once cleared will make me debt free of credit cards. In one and a half years I wiped out almost $5,ooo in credit card debt following some easy quidelines I set out for myself. I do still have some very large student loans to pay off but at least I don’t have to worry about the $50-$100 monthly payments I was making to my credit card companies. I had two and was able to pay them both off.

Most of my debt stemmed from college. After I was unable to work for the summer I was undergoing cancer treatment I used a credit card to make silly purchases like going to the bar, or a dinner here and there. Pretty soon I was making them all the time and using my cash to by other things, it was like having two sources of income. Most of my cards were new so they had some promotional deal like 0% interest for 15 months or something. Wonderful, free money and I don’t have to worry about the interest. Well I kept using them when I shouldn’t have and left college with about $4,500 in credit card debt.

That summer I ripped up my cards and began the long path of paying them off. I had 3 in all and implemented a few strategies to do just that. It took me a year and a half but I was able to pay off all of my CC debt and can proudly say I now have none.

1. Cut ‘em Up

First thing you have to do is simple, cut up your credit cards. Don’t even give yourself the chance to use them impulsively. Even though you could still potentially use them online with just the number at least you’ll have to get your statement and look it up to do that. This will give you time to think about what a mistake you are about to make.

2. Transfer to 0%

Next thing you need to do is transfer your balances to a 0% interest card. There are tons of them out there that offer introductory rates of 0% for the first year or so. Be sure to get one that doesn’t charge a transfer fee, if it does look for another one, they’re there. I made the mistake twice of transferring my credit card debt to one that charged a transfer fee. With the debt load I was carrying they charged me the maximum of $75. That’s usually more than one payment you’ll be making. Learn from me and don’t make that mistake.

3. Pay more than the Minimum

In order to pay off your debt in a reasonable time period you need to pay off more than the minimum. If you don’t think you can, look closer at your finances. Do you need to buy that extra case of beer, or pack of cigarettes, or 24 hour fitness membership you never use. Cut out a few things a month that aren’t necessities and you’ll be able to scrounge together $50-$100 rather than $15-$30 (usual minimum payments).

I was paying $100 a month on any credit cards I had. This meant living paycheck to paycheck but I needed to do it. I cut out some going out, (getting a job really helps this), and I began finding ways to squeeze a few extra dollars out of my paychecks every month.

4. Switch again

If you’re 0% introductory rate is running out don’t fall behind. The month before it runs out find another credit card with the same rate and no transfer fee. It usually takes a month to process the transfer, although they seemed to be speeding things up towards the end. Sure you’ll have more credit cards and people think this lowers your credit score but who cares. Isn’t the goal to get out of debt completely?

Just do it (thanks again Nike) and make your payments on time. That’s way more important.

5. Use your tax refund

If you’re in any type of significant credit card debt there’s a good chance you’ll get a refund at the end of the year, that is if you have been paying a little more than your share each month. Which most people do. Last year was my first year working at a career and it was my first large refund. All of it, and I mean all of it, state and federal went to my credit card debt. it was money that I didn’t know I had so why should I go waste it on a want. Unless you have a really, really, really good reason not to, you should be putting all of towards paying off your debt.

6. Pay a final lump

Try and make the last payment in one lump sum. I made two large final payments to my carriers and was able to wash out the debt completely. Being the holiday’s and having switched my student loans to interest only (not a great idea) I was able to save more every paycheck. Then when I had enough saved I didn’t go looking for “wants” to spend it on, I took the plunge and payed my debts off. Go for it, don’t mull it over and think what you could be spending the money on. You need to get out of debt.

These six steps are what helped me reduce and get out of credit card debt completely. Look them over and see how simple it can be. There’s no magic formula, no crazy Suze Orman telling you what to do. Just a guy who is in debt up to his eyeballs and managed to slice away over $4000 while still playing in paradise.

Aloha,
Debt Free Erik
(credit card debt at least)

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Become A Closer

Starting projects, coming up with great ideas, solving world hunger; all these are great, but if you can’t deliver there’s no point to them. You need to finish, you need to become a closer. Now when working with a team hopefully you have one of these people. You’ll have your great thinkers, your innovators, and your work horses, but if you have one guy (or gal) that can organize and keep the team towards the final goal you’ll “get ‘r done.” They may get a good chunk of the credit from the outside, but these types of people are invaluable.

The reason I am writing of this is because during this past week my direct boss sat me down and had a discussion about this very topic. (I don’t believe he reads this blog so I won’t hold back on any of my comments.) As I mentioned before I work as a biomedical engineer for a research and development company called Tissue Genesis, Inc. The company is 4 years old and 4 years into development of a perfusion system for cell culture in the research and clinical areas. I came in a year ago with the hopes to take what an outside engineering group built and designed and redesign it so it would work and be able to be brought to market. I came in and redesigned the disposable part (there is two disposable parts and two durable) within the first 4 months and one of the durables within 6. It took a lot of work but I learned a heap load in the process. Our goal was within 8 months of my arrival to bring it to market. Way too lofty of a goal considering all the molding and testing that needed to be done. To make a long story short it has now been a year and a half and we still don’t have the product to market.

Many other things were wrong with the product and we have been working feverishly to weed them out as best as possible, but we still don’t have a sale as a company. Now I’m not going to sit back and take all the blame here. I was a new engineer fresh out of college and to expect me to come in a completely redesign a product and deliver it for sale is out of the question. I also don’t think anyone expected that. However I do think I missed an opportunity to do just that, deliver big, and I could have taken better approach to capitalize on it.

With that said my new goal of 2006 is to become a closer. What do I mean by that? Let me steal the analogy my boss used. It’s like in a football game where your workhorses, fullback, tightend, and lineman, have gotten you all the way down to the 2 yard line. They sprained their ankles, gotten bruised and bashed, and smashed their ribs over the middle, but they’re unable to punch it into the end zone. That’s where you bring in your stud running back who knows what the end zone tastes like. He passes the goal line and everyone remembers the score. The thing that rang in my head was closing. I have worked really hard over the past year but have only delivered some decent ideas and an almost saleable product. There’s a good chance TGI will bring in an engineer with a little more experience to close it out and get the product to market.

HELLO OPORTUNITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I haven’t woken up to smell the roses now is a good time to do it. I have to close the deal, close the product, and make TGI some money. I have a great opportunity and work with some great people whom can help us make this happen. I just have to realize that,…. realized.

I. Noticing the opportunity

Like I just said, you have to realize the opportunity is there and take it. A lot of people might think this is the most important step to becoming a closer and I sort of agree. There may be many chances to see it but realizing the opportunity is there is not the same. You could be working on a project for well over a year, know that something has to get done, try to take hold of the situation many times and still not realize the opportunity (sound familiar). I was given sort of a second chance to deliver. Literally. My boss took me aside and said, hey, “I don’t have time to be chasing down all the loose ends on this project. We may bring in someone to do just that, another higher-up, but you have a chance to close the deal you might say. You have a chance to be the guy to deliver the product.”

That was too easy, but finding your opportunity could be just as simple. Signs to look for it are:

1. Disgruntled people saying “when will this end”
2. A current leader that is being pulled farther and farther away from a project- here’s where you can kindly say “Let me take some of the burden”
3. Something that gets you excited - not always a winner but at times will coincide with opportunity
4. Listen for the words, “It would be great if…”
5. Things nobody raises their hands for

Opportunities are all over the place. If one passes you by don”t sit a lament over it. There will be more. Jack Welsh wrote about this in his book Winning. He said that if the deal of a lifetime comes along and you pass on it, don’t sit and talk about what could have been, get back out there and look for the next one.

II. Seize the moment

When the moment comes along and you realize it you have to go for it. Jump in and go, go, go. Don’t sit back and wait for the people around you to help you become the leader, the closer. Just do it (thanks Nike.) Don’t, however, leave those people by the side, they’re who will be helping you close. This is the point where you have to get excited. Jump right into everything the opportunity has to offer. You will need to begin writing list, figuring out who will do what, or what block of time you need to devote to which portion of the project.

Organize. You need to organize everything, the only way you are going to get anything done is by organizing. Microsoft project is a great way to get the organization going and engineers use it a lot for product development. We at TGI have used it off and on and may go back to it. It allows you to show which items are critical to the end result and who will need to do what. You don’t necessarily need MS Project, but it helps. You could instead just write lists of what people are doing on a week to week basis and make sure your team is getting them done.

Most importantly you need to stay enthusiastic about what you are doing. If you’re excited you get other people excited, and you get more done. That’s the best way to seize the opportunity, stay on track and get to the prize.

III. Close it out

Now I myself am learning how to close. If I knew and was good at it I wouldn’t have had a “discussion” with my boss. So I’m not going to sit here writing a lot about how to close. I can say this though, closing is all about keeping that enthusiasm straight through to the end. This blog is basically about all those things I’ve started and tried to become good at in the past and just fizzled my enthusiasm for before I got to the end.

You have to be able to see that the end is right around the corner and don’t put off the little things that could make the close happen. One more phone call to a manufacturer, one last control document, one last run, a few more forehands. Whatever it is just keep at it. If you’ve gotten close there’s a good chance you’ve done way harder or more creative work to get there than you would ever need to finish. You just need to take the plunge and do it.

In closing just remember to always be on the lookout for and opportunity, organize and be inspiring, and keep your enthusiasm to the end. Don’t stop short (a classic Mr. Costanza move). See it through to the end, whatever it takes, remember you’ve probably taken harder steps before that last little bit.